FEBRUARY 17,2008
| February 17, 2008 To Ocean Walk Owners, It has been already two months we took over the management of Ocean Walk and many of you wonder what is going on with the new Board. Moreover, some of you might be thinking that nothing has changed … We have been trying so hard to collect information about the “ongoing project” in order to finish it. We did have a meeting with Mr. Irizarry on January and, although he answered our questions, it did not help much. In order to move on, we need to lower around 50 sprinklers located on the hallways. We were not able to find any bid on this from the previous board. Donna, diligently, got one that appeared to be affordable, and after waiting for almost two weeks for this plumber to begin getting the permit, he told us won’t be able to. He wanted but MB declined to issue permits to a plumber vs. a fire Co. I got two more estimates and we are waiting for another one from RM. (2/23/ 08 still did not arrive). We expect to take a decision this week to whom assign this job. It requires a city permit and to pass inspection. Also, part of the project implies electrical work. Part of it has been done but did not go trough city inspection. We reapplied for the permit and inspection has been schedule for Tuesday February 19, 2008. Going over the contract signed by OW and C & M Electrical, this is the name of the company, it seems to be extremely vague and without specifications and detailed description of the work to be done. Also, we were not able to find any drawing for this and any other project. Just 50% of this project has been paid by the previous board. Moreover, since the permit expired last November, according to the contractor, for lack of cooperation from OW officials, we had to pay for the new permit. After inspection, hopefully we will know how to proceed. The third part of this disconnected task is the drop ceiling. It comes after lowering the sprinklers. We still have some issues with this contractor whose permit has also expired. I did not see yet this contract, but just 50% of it has been paid by the previous board. The condominium Unit AC project, fully accomplished and paid by the previous board, $70,000.00, turned out to be a waste of money, in my opinion, for the following reasons: . 1- Good A/C units wee replaced for lower quality equipments. 2- Many units were not installed properly; therefore, water is leaking inside. 3- In a near future, some of these AC’s will have problems like stop working.( owners can shift their positions in the boxes, the drains must be kept clear and in order, the filters must be cleaned, these are owners responsibilities.) 4- The warranty for all units has already expired., according to Donna 5- The installation was warrantee for just 30 days. ( Donna) Donna says that “since was a serious violation pending by MB for having various size exterior boxes and they were not installed to current code. This was a driving force for A/C replacements. However, the Board cannot be responsibly for the AC’s. The AC’s have a filter inside that MUST be clean frequently. Just put it under running water. Sometimes leaking is due to a dirty filter. I found that many people don’t know about this. Just a reminder, on January 24, 2006 OW owners voted for a package called “Common Elements of The Condominium” which included the ongoing project, the condominium AC project, interior common element remodeling and exterior painting that was supposed to be paid “with funds from existing Association bank loan and the existing Special Assessment”. After two years, the Condominium AC Project was the only one accomplished, with the already mentioned problems. We did not find any estimate for painting and remodeling. We did find empty bank accounts and a loan to be paid off that is now in the $73,000.00 range. We also paid unpaid bill from the previous board. For Example: $3,501.75 to FPL, elevator unpaid service maintenance, a maintenance/cleaning worker who claimed not being paid for the past two months, another bill for $1,400.00 for work not easy to prove if done. Many more people sent us bills claiming work done a as far as March 2007.Most of them hard to believe and difficult to confirm. Therefore, we are going to put them on hold. Another important discovery was that the last inspection done on the building fire alarm was on June 2006. I was told that it is required one per year. The scary side of this: it was NOT working. It was repaired on Thursday, February 17, 2008. You might find interesting to know that we also received many bills from the former association attorney. The election held on December 11 cost $600.00 in attorney fees just for that evening. There were many more bills associated with the elections process. I found to be a contradiction, and also weird to spend this amount of money for the election and not being able to pay the janitorial worker his salary or a bill from March 2007 for example. We hired a new attorney to take care of OW legal matters and one of our goals is to drastically reduce attorney’s fees. Her name is Ms.Cecilia Armenteros. Also, we have a handyman on site; his name is Mr. Osvaldo Fiecconi. He will do all the maintenance and cleaning in the building. We are replacing the rear side door, the electrical room and the storage room doors. We do have a web site http://www.oceanwalkonsouthbeach.com where you can post your comments, read them, and join the owner’s forum. Although too little, compared to all the difficulties encountered in the first two months, we do have some good news. Several owners had brought their accounts current. Collections of past due fees is quite a task. And it continues to be a huge task – and it is important that each of us pay our HOA fees on time. HOA fees pay your condos, electricity, gas, water and cable TV. We review the entrance cards issue with RM and we reach the following agreement: they will do the FOB’s for 50 dollars. We might be able to incorporate fast speed internet to OW by April 30th which will make our condo more attractive and easier to rent. Terry is working hard in our finances. Although he is in the middle of tax season, he makes time for OW. He is on the final steps of our budget and future special assessment. Finally, you should know we have paid all bills and several “past bills”. The Operating Account balance at January 31, 2008 was $6,125.16 and Special Assessment account balance: $21,592.34. While the BOD has been working on all of the above obstacles, Ocean Walk’s owners need to understand the work ahead. As owners, we need to accept the responsibility of disposing of old furniture, appliances and other bulk trash items. Bulk trash items placed in common areas, have caused several hundred dollars in costs for removal. Hope to see you all in the next meeting. Susan Omil |