Highlights from the 11/10 HOA general meeting

The official minutes from the HOA general meeting on 11/10/16 should be available HERE in the next couple weeks or so. In advance of the official minutes, below are a few highlights from the meeting, attended by four current board members; Board Treasurer Pat O’Donnell was not present. Property Manager Matt Brown and Building Manager Karen DeGraw were on hand. Approximately 33 additional Esplanade residents were also present.

2017 HOA budget ratification:

• Tonight's meeting was divided into two segments: a general meeting to ratify the 2017 budget, and then a board meeting to conduct board business. The stated purpose for the division was to allow homeowners to attend the ratification, and then leave if they did not want to attend the entire board meeting.
• The board ratified the budget (which had been mailed to all homeowners on 10/19 and had previously been approved by the HOA's Finance Committee and the board). The budget ratified automatically without an 80-vote majority to reject it.
• Homeowners present at the meeting asked that the board allow discussion and questions regarding the budget; the board considered this request and ultimately agreed:
• A clarifying question was asked regarding the difference between "common" budget items and "residential only."
• Several questions were asked, and discussion ensued on the solvency of the HOA's reserves. General consensus was that the reserves are in a good position.
• Despite the divided format to the meeting, virtually all present remained for the "board business" portion.

Treasurer's report:

• Board Treasurer Pat O’Donnell was not present, and Property Manager Matt Brown stated that the monthly financial report was not yet available from his company, Condominium Management, therefore there was no treasurer's report.

Committee reports:

• Finance Committee:
  Committee Chair Tim O’Donnell raised a few items of note regarding HOA finances:
• Per the board's request, the committee has set up a schedule for reinvestment of the HOA's reserves into higher-yielding CDs. The reserve funds are currently in CDs with varying dates of maturity, and the new investment schedule will continue this laddered approach, but will schedule all future maturity dates for the same month (May) for the sake of continuity. 
• The committee recommended the new investments consist of CDARS in $300,000 increments, which will ensure no risk, with a significantly higher rate of return than the current investments.
• Tim also asked that any homeowners who are interested in serving on the Finance Committee please contact the board; additional volunteers on the committee would be appreciated.

• Safety Committee: 
  Committee Chair Pat Pound noted a few items related to the Safety Committee's work:
• Pat explained that 52 residents participated in the fire drill during the "Safe and Secure Saturday" event on 10/22. The event successfully combined emergency preparedness and a social gathering.
• The committee would like the board's support in gathering information about possible expiration dates for the building's smoke detectors. Apparently, the functionality of smoke detectors expires after approximately 10 years, and the building is reaching that age. The board requested that Karen Degraw check with our fire and safety vendor regarding this matter.
• Pat also brought to the board's attention that despite previous board approval, action has never been taken on replacing the lever-style handles on the exterior of the stairwell doors. These handles can be fairly easily forced open by an intruder, and indeed this happened in 2012. It has been recommended that U-shaped handles be installed on the exterior of the stairwell doors, with push-bars on the interior. The board agreed to keep this recommendation in front of them. [Editor's note: later discussions at tonight's meeting regarding fob vs. key access to exterior doors may affect this issue. See "New Business.]
• Pat also asked that any homeowners who are interested in serving on the Safety Committee please contact the board; additional volunteers on the committee would be appreciated.

• Social Committee:
  Committee chair Sallie Zimmer detailed past and upcoming social events, including:
• "Safe and Secure Saturday" was also considered a success from the perspective of the Social Committee.
• The Social Committee has now hosted two guest speakers in its series of "Esplanade Speaker Forums." These are not decision-making forums, but invited guest speakers. The next speaker, on 1/18/17, will be Norm Gollub, director of the Foss Waterway Development Authority, who will talk about development on the Foss.
• In late November, the bins currently set out in the lobby for the food drive will be replaced with bins for "Toys for Tots." 
• Sallie also mentioned several additional upcoming Social Committee events, including the decorating of the lobby and community room at 10:00 a.m. on 12/3, and the annual holiday party and auction on the evening of 12/10.
• Finally, Sallie noted that the Social Committee is still exploring options for an espresso or coffee machine in the Community Room.

Building Manager's report:
Below are a few of the projects on which Building Manager Karen DeGraw is currently working. This is not a comprehensive list of all Karen is doing - it is merely a glimpse of a few projects.

• Fourth floor carpet replaced
  Badly stained carpet in front of the elevator on the fourth floor has been replaced with carpet "tiles." The advantage of these carpet squares is that in the event of a stain, individual squares can be replaced much more easily than traditional carpet.

• Elevator wiring
  After many delays and challenges, the wiring for the elevators' emergency systems has been upgraded as needed.

• Treadmill repair/replacement
  The broken treadmill in the fitness room may need replacement instead of repair. Options are being investigated.

• Covers for exhaust fans in P1
  During periods of high rainfall, water comes into the lower parking garage through the exhaust fans in each corner, which then can flood parking spaces and storage cages. Covers are being made to alleviate this problem.

Old business: None

New business:

• Proposal for fobs to replace keys on exterior doors
  The board requested that Karen acquire bids for replacing the key locks with fob readers on some exterior doors. There would be several advantages to fobs over keys. Fobs cannot be copied as easily as keys, and there is no telling how many copies of our door keys are currently out in the world. Keys also deteriorate the locks over time - the front door lock has been inoperable on several occasions due to residents pulling the door open with their key. There was some discussion about which doors would have fob readers installed - if the fob readers would be installed on all exterior doors or just a few. There was also discussion about putting fob readers on the elevator foyer doors on P1. [For a more complete explanation of security issues in the building, please read THIS.] It was noted that installing fob readers on a few doors might be the first stage in a process that would take several stages.

• General meeting and HOA board election will be 2/9/17
  The board determined that on Thursday, 2/9/17, they will call a general meeting of the HOA to elect new board members. Dave Rodenbach, Debra Goodrich and Kelly DeLaat-Maher will all see their terms expire in March of 2017. Any HOA member who would like to run for a board position should contact Property Manager Matt Brown. Anyone running for a board position is encouraged to submit a written statement, and possibly a photo, to this blog for publication in advance of the election meeting.

Resident questions and comments:

• A few clarifying questions were asked regarding items above, and that information has been inserted into the notes above where appropriate.
• A question was asked regarding the HOA's monthly financial statements, and why those statements are not always available for board meetings. Matt Brown explained that Condominium Management prepares the statements for all of its properties on a designated day each month, and the Esplanade's board meetings happen to fall on that day quite often, so there is little margin for error. The board's position is that the statements are generally available to them as needed, and it is not necessary to move the board meetings away from the second Thursday of every month. Matt Brown once again agreed to send the financial statements for posting on the documents page of this website every month.
• A comment was made about the possible cancellation of bus service on Dock Street. Pierce Transit is proposing the elimination of Route 14, which runs along Dock Street in front of the Esplanade. More information can be seen HERE. To give feedback to Pierce Transit on this proposal, click on the "feedback" tab on their website, or attend the public hearing THIS MONDAY AFTERNOON, 11/14 at 4:00 p.m., 3720 96th St. SW, Lakewood.
• A comment was also made regarding information for contacting the City of Tacoma about homeless individuals camping under I-705. This contact information will be provided in a separate, upcoming blog post.