For those of you who missed the meeting Thursday night, here's a recap:
According to Kevin, it's only necessary at this stage, to meet once a year to have an official meeting. The two main things we need to do every year are elect officers and approve a budget.
Chris Mattler (the author of this article) was re-elected as your Director. I enjoy improving this building, and look forward to helping make this development a nice place in which to live. Contact me with any of your concerns.
The budget is basically the same as last year - estimated round numbers for services like cleaning, trash, snow removal, etc. It was approved.
One set of owners wished to see specific numbers for the budget, so they could see how their condo fees were being spent. Blue Urban tried to get us that list by the meeting, but couldn't because of time restraints. They promised to present us with a detailed budget in the near future.
Right now, renters account for about 75 % of the budget and owners make up the other 25%.
Now that the building is almost full, Blue Urban has decided to charge the owners the full condo fees ($0.14 / sq. ft.) This means that your condo fees will now double. The extra money will go toward improved services.
Billing was discussed. Some owners had two concerns with billing: They weren't getting bills, and their checks were not being cashed in a timely manner. It was decided that a date would be given for payment, and envelopes would be given at the beginning of every year for all twelve months. Christine said ACH would be set up eventually. (Personally, I've been paying with ACH since my second condo fee. I just set up the payments through my bank.)
Services were also discussed at the meeting. We now have a full-time employee for cleaning, whose services are divided among our building, GW, and Packard. Before this, we just had cleaning services once a week. The advantage to a full-time employee is that we can have an immediate response to something like a spill on the floor.
Some specific cleaning questions were asked about the elevator. The rugs will be removed from the elevator, and the curtains will be cleaned. The curtains will remain in the elevator until the last four units are rented.
There was also a question about window washing, and we will have another one before the end of the year. Blue Urban promises to give us all notice, so we are not in the middle of something naughty when the window washers come around. If, by chance, your windows do not get cleaned, contact Blue Urban immediately so they can get the window washers to remedy the situation.
Trash collection was another issue. Currently we have trash picked up twice a week, and cardboard is picked up once a week. Some felt that it was not enough, and Blue Urban is aware of the concern.
The trash chute was also discussed. Part of the reason we got the cardboard recycling is to prevent people from clogging up the trash chute with cardboard. Kevin candidly said that in most of his other projects the trash chute has been eliminated from buildings because people don't use it correctly, and clog it with items that are not meant for it. I'm guessing if people are not responsible with this trash chute, it too will be closed.
A question was raised about whether the renters knew rules of the building (like cardboard in the trash chute) and Jenni assured us that not only were rules provided, but she personally walked them through the building, showing them where everything was.
The pool / rec. center was also discussed. Kevin showed us plans for a rec. center that would include a pool, sand volleyball court, BBQ / picnic area, and a gym. A likely location would be the building in our parking lot. There are still many hurdles to get past in this process (especially obtaining money from banks in a recession) but Kevin is optimistic that it will eventually happen. There is also a possibility that the building across Washington could still be a club too. In the mean time, Kevin said he would not object to a temporary recreation area being placed in an area like the wedge-shaped area next to the basement parking garage door. The budget will eventually allow us to purchase some things like picnic tables, etc., but Blue Urban will probably wait until spring to make these purchases. Someone also asked if we could perhaps have access to another McGowan property's amenities. Kevin said he'd try, but the owners probably wouldn't be too keen on sharing. If a club is built, it would add another $0.05 to your condo fees.
The basement rules were proposed at the meeting. Blue Urban presented us with a finalized version of the rules. I'll send the owners a copy. Review them and tell me any changes you would like to see in them. Probably at the beginning of November we will ratify these rules. After passage, owners will have a few weeks to make storage arrangements before the rules take effect. These rules might potentially apply to the renters as well, but Kevin is thinking of taking it a step further and not allowing any storage by the renters.
According to the new rules, bikes will be allowed in the basement, but they are encouraged to be kept in the bike room in the lobby. Only owners will have access to this room with the exception of three renters who were given keys. Jenni is aware of who has these keys. A bike rack could eventually be added to the bike room.
Packages / security cameras was another issue discussed. Kevin's opinion seems to be that in any building, whether is has owners or renters, there is the possibility of theft. He thinks cameras could be a deterrent, but would be would an added expense that still might not work. He suggests not getting packages delivered at all to your residence, and either picking them up at the delivery service's building, or having them delivered to your job.
Some owners objected to people parking in the loading zone by the stairs on 22nd Street. Blue Urban plans to have this area striped as a no-parking zone, and will try to tow people who constantly park there.
This brought up the issue of parking and towing. Jenni says the towing company Blue Urban uses, usually can arrive in about five minutes if someone parks in your spot. Since she knows most of the cars in the lot, she can usually resolve issues before it comes to removing the cars. A release form from Blue Urban needs to be signed before the towing company can remove a car from our property. If Jenni is not available, it was suggested that the Director has the power to enforce towing. The Downtown Children's Center will no longer be allowed to park in the residence's parking lot.
Both Abby and Debbie brought up ideas about removing unwanted junk from the building. Abby is going to call the Salvation Army for a scheduled pick-up soon. If you have something you would like to get rid of, contact me, and I'll ask her the details of the collection.
Someone wanted to know if Kevin could be available for more meetings. Due to time constraints, he will probably only be available at the annual meetings. This does not prevent us, as owners, from meeting to discuss issues and come up with solutions. I plan on having meetings outside of the annual meetings when enough issues come up, but feel free to contact me if you feel you would like to meet as owners, and I'll set up a meeting. You can also contact Kevin at kevin@blueurban.com, and he'll respond to your concerns.
Any other minor issues - like cleaning, trash cans for the basement, etc. contact me, and Jenni and I will resolve them.
One final thing, Jenni will begin sending out a monthly newsletter in the form of an email that will update all of us on issues dealing with the building.
I'm looking forward to another year with a nice group of people in our great building!
