Minutes of the Trustee Meeting

Queensberry Condominium Trust

April 23,  2012

Pursuant to the Article V.  Section 5.9 of the By-Laws of Queensberry Condominium Trust,  a monthly meeting of the Trustees was held on Monday,  April 23,  2012, at 6:30PM at the offices of Boston Choice Properties, 125 Jersey Street, Boston, MA.

Those Present:  Ning Hernandez, Sheryl Kelly and Jeff Schwarz , Trustees
Pamela Pendias , Modica Associates  

The meeting was called to order at 6:40 PM.   

FINANCIAL REVIEW

An electronic version of the monthly financial report for March had been e-mailed to the trustees along with copies of all paid bills.    The balance sheet at the end of March  reflected $6,369 in the operating account and $45,588 in reserves.    Ning asked if the pest control company sent in an adjustment for the over payment.   Pam stated that all invoices for pest control had been put on hold – the March financial reflected no charges for pest control.  Jeff asked what the monthly charge for pest control should be.   Pam stated that she would check and follow up with an e-mail and/or send Jeff the contract.   Sheryl questioned the charge for snow removal – specifically the charge for ice melt in the amount of $74.25 for an ice storm on March 2nd.    Pam stated that the ice melt charge was for applying  ice melt on the sidewalks.   Sheryl stated that she thought that she had been told that the $225  charge the association paid last year was for ice melt for the entire year.   Pam stated that was true – but for the buckets of ice melt that are left at the entrances to the building for residents to use on the stairs as necessary.    Modica keeps the buckets full of ice melt throughout the winter months at no additional charge to the building.    Ice melt that is applied during snow fall/ ice events is at additional cost as is snow removal.    Sheryl questioned the cost of the electrician’s invoice, $266, for replacing a light fixture and globes.   Pam responded by saying that the electrician needed to visit the building to see match the globes that needed to be replaced, go out and purchase the material and return to the building to install.   Furthermore any vendor that Modica uses is licensed and insured.   

Pam informed the trustees  that at the end of March, 2011, the association incurred costs of $23,741  for oil and gas as compared with this year total costs of $17,113  representing an overall savings of $6,628 as a result of the conversion.     Although it has been a mild winter compared with 2011 it still represents significant savings.   Sheryl asked about the oil payment of $2,909 in March.   A review of the invoices reflected that the payment was for an oil delivery received January 7th, 2012.   The association has a net profit of $6,245 for the first quarter of the fiscal year and is current with all operating bills.   Ning asked about aging receivables  (3) owners are behind in their fees but are making monthly payments.

OLD BUSINESS   

The first item of business was the status of Eagle Rivet.    A big thank you to David  Sherf for successfully negotiating a settlement with Eagle Rivet.    Arthur Dias signed the settlement agreement accepting a check in the amount  of $2,500  as full and final payment for the roofing work.    

Neither Sheryl nor Jeff had any further issues of moisture infiltration in their units.

The door sweep on the front door at 107 Jersey has now been installed

Painting the common areas has yet to be done in building 107.

Minutes of the Trustee Meeting
4-23-12
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Sheryl asked about the status of the laundry equipment – contract.   The board did not wish to extend the contract and defective machines have been repaired or replaced.

NEW BUSINESS

Pam had prepared the paperwork for the new trustee for recording at the registry.    Since not all board members were present, this will be signed next month.

The wrought iron railing around the perimeter of the property is in dire need of repair.   Pam had obtained an estimate last fall from Logan grate to repair it for $5,500.    Pam obtained (2) proposals from Nino’s Iron works – 1) to repair 200 lineal feet of railings $4,500, 2) for furnishing and installing a new railing $13,100.    Pam obtained a 3rd proposal from Eliot Iron Works.   Their proposal to repair the existing railing was $16,500-$18,000.   Their estimate to replace the railing was $130,000.     The trustees were very interested in Nino’s bid to replace the railing with a new one.   Pam to get the particulars, find out would it would look like – would they replicate the existing fence, etc.

Pam obtained a bid from B & M Restoration & Contracting for digging out the existing concrete in the courtyard, re-grading and pouring a new concrete patio for the sum of $17,900.   There is no inexpensive way to alleviate the ponding water due to the pitch of the existing courtyard.    The job is also labor intensive since there is no access to bring any large machinery out back.    The old concrete would need to be carted out by hand.    Pam has had several contractors look at it and will obtain additional estimates.

The next item on the agenda were the agreements from Comcast.  A Facilities Easement Agreement, Services Agreement and Compensation Agreement.   Comcast would be willing to pay the association the sum of $5,160 within (45) days after receiving executed agreements  in exchange for the association allowing Comcast to keep and maintain their equipment in the building for ten years.   .   Sheryl stated that she recalled David Sherf saying this was a “no-brainer”.  Pam to get the agreements to David Sherf for his review and recommendation.

Sheryl noted a musty odor on the first floor of building 111.    Modica will look into this.    

There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 7:20PM.  

Respectfully submitted by:
Pamela Pendias
Modica Associates
For the Recording Secretary
Queensberry Condominium Trust

Minutes of the Trustee Meeting

Queensberry Condominium Trust

March 19, 2012

Pursuant to the Article V. Section 5.9 of the By-Laws of Queensberry Condominium Trust, a monthly meeting of the Trustees was held on Monday, March 19, 2012, at 6:30PM at the offices of Boston Choice Properties, 125 Jersey Street, Boston, MA.

Those Present: Ning Hernandez, and Jeff Schwarz

Sheryl Kelly via telephone conference

Pamela Pendias , Modica Associates

The meeting was called to order at 6:40 PM.

OLD BUSINESS

The first item of business was the status of Eagle Rivet. The association issued final payment to Eagle last month, less $4.500 as negotiated with the President of Eagle Rivet and David Sherf. Eagle Rivet is now seeking payment of the $4,500 the association withheld due to the lengthy duration of the project. The trustees asked Pam to send an e-mail to David Sherf explaining that they wanted to settle the matter as soon as possible asking that David reiterate why he felt that a verbal agreement had merit which now Eagle is reneging on.

Jeff stated that he wanted to meet with David one last time regarding the moisture infiltration in his unit and review the moisture level readings prior to replacing windows. Sheryl stated that she too wanted to proceed with repairs to her unit. Jeff asked if Sheryl had cracks in the walls in her unit and she replied that she did not.

Pam informed the trustees that the door sweep has still not arrived for the front door at 107 Jersey and that it would be installed as soon as it was received. The sweep on the door at 111 has sufficiently worn down and is no longer binding preventing the door from closing.

An electronic version of the monthly financial report for February had been e-mailed to the trustees along with copies of all paid bills. The balance sheet at the end of February reflected $6,559 in the operating account and $45,584 in reserves. Jeff noted the $675 charge for pest control services and reference to (3) buildings. Pam stated that the bill must be in error – and would notify Heritage Pest to issue a credit. Pam reported that at the end of February, 2011, the association incurred costs of $17,900 for oil and gas as compared with this year total costs of $10,500 representing an overall savings of $7,400. Although it has been a mild winter compared with 2011 it still represents significant savings.

The association collected $16,762 from the insurance company under the boiler machinery section when the heating boiler failed. The association is current with all operating costs.

Sheryl stated she would like to purchase a concrete urn for the front of each building for flowers. There was some concern that they may get stolen or knocked over but the trustees agreed to try it provided the cost not exceed $100.

Pam asked the trustees about the railing around the perimeter of the property. It is badly rusted. Pam obtained one bid from Logan Grate last fall in the amount of $5,500. Pam will obtain other bids as well to discuss at the meeting next month.

Laundry equipment – Automatic Coin Laundry has confirmed that the leaking washer in 107 has been replaced. Pam made it clear to Jay Lizotte that the association was not interested in any further extensions to the laundry contract.

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3-19-12

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NEW BUSINESS

The overall condition of the courtyard was discussed. Pam stated that she did not believe there was a simple inexpensive fix. Sheryl suggested adding some gravel or crushed stone. Pam to check for options between now and the next board meeting.

Sheryl noted that the sconce in building 111 going to the second floor is missing a globe and the bulbs do not match. Pam will check and have this taken care of.

Ning asked about the woman who is leaving trash in the hallway of 107. Pam stated that she has contacted the manager of the unit on each occasion and has now levied a total of (4) $100 fines for leaving trash in the hallway. The trustees suggested posting a notice advising that trash should at no time left anywhere in the common area and should be taken out to the dumpster along the alley side of building 10. Any infractions will result in a $100 fine.

Pam asked the trustees what they were doing about a 5^th board member. The consensus was to put it to a vote of all unit owners and furnish a ballot with the names of the three candidates who expressed an interest in serving on the board.

There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 7:30PM.

Respectfully submitted by:

Pamela Pendias

Modica Associates

For the Recording Secretary

Queensberry Condominium Trust

Trustee Meeting Oct 18,2011

Pursuant to the Article V. Section 5.9 of the By-Laws of Queensberry Condominium Trust, a monthly meeting of the Trustees was held on Tuesday, October 18, 2011, at 6:30PM at the offices of Boston Choice Properties, 125 Jersey Street, Boston, MA.

Those Present: Bill Gentz, Ning Hernandez and Jeff Schwarz, Sheryl Kelly, and David Sherf via telephone

David Modica and Pamela Pendias , Modica Associates

The meeting was called to order at 6:40 PM.

OLD BUSINESS

An electronic version of the monthly financial report for September had been e-mailed to the trustees along with a “draft” budget for fiscal year 2012. The balance sheet at the end of September reflected $1,242 in the operating account and $110,352 in reserves. Assessment revenues are being deposited into the reserve account. There is one more month (October) to collect the balance of the $130,000 assessment.

The first item of business was the status of the roof replacement project. Everyone agreed that the work has taken an inordinate amount of time to complete. Despite the contractors difficulty obtaining permits, and having electrical wires moved, the project started in June and it is now October. Several owners are not pleased with the finish of the skylights in their units and have requested that the white vinyl be removed and replaced with a wood trim. A unit owner has contended that the roof is not pitched properly as there is some standing water that can be seen after heavy rain. David Modica explained that the board opted not to seek bids for a fully tapered roof due to the higher cost. The board opted instead to level and taper the roof down to 4’ of the gutters. There are dips, low spots on the roof where water will accumulate after a rain. The engineer has stated that as long as the water evaporates within 72 hours it should not jeopardize the integrity of the roof. The board opted for a fully adhered rubber membrane roof in lieu of a vinyl roof, again due to cost constraints There is an area of standing water outside of the penthouse at 111 Jersey and the engineer called for the application of a secondary cover strip over the top of the seam to add another layer of protection to this location. David Sherf offered to speak with the contractor about liquidated damages for untimely job completion. Once Modica compiles a final punch list, Eagle Rivet will be given a specified period of time to complete and if necessary another contractor will be called in to complete and the costs will be deducted from monies owned Eagle. It should be noted that Eagle was initially paid the sum of $14,000 in July to mobilize, and is owed the sum of $55,575.

The magnetic doors leading to the roof have been installed and are working properly. David stated that Modica would put a simple handle on the inside of each roof door to aid in pulling the door shut.

The gate on the alley side was replaced a few months ago as a security measure. It had been working satisfactorily until a resident reported that the gate would not latch. The company that installed the gate was called and found that the latch was filled with metal shards that prevented the mechanism from retracting so in fact it would not lock. A new latch was installed the following day at no charge to the building. .

The ceilings on the 4^th floor of both buildings have been repaired and painted. The contractor will also be re-finishing the wood doors and frames on the exterior of the building as well as touching up the paint in the common areas. Once the painting is finished the carpets will be steam cleaned.

The exterior front door at building 107 has a new “roton” hinge that picked up the door enough so that it would open

without binding on the tile. This has exacerbated the gap under the door. The vendor is looking into options for a door sweep that would insulate the door as well as allow the door to open and close without binding.

The trustees will not renew (extend) the laundry contract in exchange for new laundry equipment for building 107.

Residents were notified that any bicycle parked in the courtyard is required to have a bicycle sticker. Stickers were distributed and any bicycle found without a sticker was removed.

The association paid $5,496 to the gas company to install a new gas line into the building so the association could convert from oil to gas heat as a cost saving measure. Currently, oil costs approx $1.00 more per gallon than it did last year. The gas company will be providing (2) new gas burners at no charge to the building. Other costs associated with the conversion include having the chimney flue re-lined $5,900 and new piping for the boilers $12,500. The revenues from the assessment will cover the costs associated with the conversion.

Modica distributed a memo informing building residents that air conditioners need to be removed from the windows to conserve energy and as required by the City of Boston.

The trustees signed an access agreement with RCN. Residents will now have a choice between using Comcast or RCN for cable and internet service. David Modica is also talking with Comcast about a lump sum payment.

Pam furnished the trustees with proposals from two other pest control companies. Both were within dollars of one another for the service they would provide. Pam to get clarification and report back to the trustees to make a decision to change vendors.

NEW BUSINESS

The next item on the agenda was to review the “draft” operating budget for fiscal year 2012 that Pam had furnished the board to review. Pam noted that the only outstanding item of which she was aware the trustees were entertaining was creating a planter on either side of the stairs at the front entrances to discourage vagrants from loitering in the front of the buildings. David Modica stated that due to the monolithic construction of these stairs that the board may wish to entertain installing metal urns to hold plants that could be embedded on either side of the stairs. Modica to obtain proposals for this as well as repairing and painting the iron railings out front.

The proposed operating budget provided for no increase in condo fees. Pam will review the proposed budget after the month of October closes and up-date the figures and send it to the board for final approval next month.

There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 7:55 PM.

Respectfully submitted by:

Pamela Pendias

Modica Associates

For the Recording Secretary

Queensberry Condominium Trust

December 21, 2010, Meeting

Attending:

Pam McNeil (MA) --Modica Associates
Ning Hernandez (NH) --Trustee, Queensberry Condominium Trust

Douglas McClennen (DM) --Trustee, Queensberry Condominium Trust
Bill Gentz (BG) --Trustee, Queensberry Condominium Trust

Distribute to:

Yelena Chigirinskaya (YC) --Trustee, Queensberry Condominium Trust
David Sherf (DS) --Trustee, Queensberry Condominium Trust

107 Laundry Room Floor
Same. No action.

Bad Smell in 107
The broken sewage line in street was repaired.  A leak inside a broken steam pipe was found. Dave is on the bids, with mud floor, insulation all a part of the quote to fix the problems in 107 basement.

Budget 2011
$130,000 assessment over 9 months beginning February 1, 2011.

Roof Replacement
Scope of work--inquiring about adding in chimney removal and vents. Standard roof thickness was asked (please correct me here--I think I missed the average roof thickness.)

Convert Heating Boilers from Using Oil to Using Gas
Oil to gas conversion-needs new gas service-$5,500, and to line chimney - $2-3000. On hold for winter since the benefit will basically need to happen next year.

Miscellaneous

• Break in-Police report was filed.
• Pest control-needs attention to the rats outside of 107
• Apt split- permits are in place to split a unit, approved by board.
• Owners meeting in February will be held in Canestaro's Restaruant--Thanks Pam!

These minutes are written to Bill’s best recollection. Please notify her of any discrepancies immediately.

November 9, 2010, Meeting

Attending:

Pam McNeil (MA) --Modica Associates
David Modical --Modica Associates

Douglas McClennen (DM) --Trustee, Queensberry Condominium Trust

Bill Gentz (BG) --Trustee, Queensberry Condominium Trust

David Sherf (DS) --Trustee, Queensberry Condominium Trust

Ning Hernandez (NH) --Trustee, Queensberry Condominium Trust
Yelena Chigirinskaya (YC) --Trustee, Queensberry Condominium Trust

The board held a special meeting with David Modica to discuss

• how to improve the efficiency of the communications between the board and Modica
• roof replacement
• the budget for 2011

Possible ways to improve how the board communicates issues to Modica:

• the board could consolidate all concerns into 1 email
• the board could conduct all communications with Modica through a trustee "liason", where trustees take turns acting as the liason
• the board and MA could hold a special meeting just to discuss capital repairs in order to prioritize and estimate costs for each

Possible ways to improve how Modica communicates issues to the board:

• the board asks to be notified of all issues in the buildings (perhaps a report sent out once a week)
• the board asks that for each issue MA provides a status, resolution and a recommendation whenever applicable

The following issues are outside of Modica's scope:

• problems with vagrants outside
• issues between units that do not involve problems with common areas

Roof Replacement

The roof replacement will also include the following:

• remove the chimney that does not get used in 111
• replace existing skylights in the common areas
• install security magnetic locks on the 2 doors leading out onto the roof

The board would like to get the work on the roof started in April or May.  The board currently expects the roof work to cost ~$105,000.

In order to protect the new roof, once it is installed, the board wants to install magnetic locks on the doors leading out to the roof to prevent residents from going out onto the roof.  Also, the board would like to establish a policy anyone going out to the roof has to be accompanied by Modica and pay a fee (for example, when a roof inspection happens for selling a unit). 

Budget 2011
The association has to raise money to replace the roof and to replenish the reserves.  In order to do that, the owners will be assessed in 2011 to collect $130,000 over the course of 9 months.  MA suggests to raise the condo fees by 5% in order to balance the budget for the year. 

MA estimates that the association might save about 15% in year on the heating bill, if we switch from using oil to using gas.  MA will investigate what it would take for the buildings to switch to gas to see if we can avoid raising the condo fees.

Convert Heating Boilers from Using Oil to Using Gas
MA will be meeting with the gas company on 11/10/2010 to determine how quickly we can do the conversion, and the gas company will provide us with the burners at no cost. 


These minutes are written to Yelena’s best recollection. Please notify her of any discrepancies immediately.

Convert Heating Boilers from Using Oil to Using Gas

(11/09/2010) MA estimates that the association might save about 15% in year on the heating bill, if we switch from using oil to using gas. MA will investigate what it would take for the buildings to switch to gas to see if we can avoid raising the condo fees.  MA will be meeting with the gas company on 11/10/2010 to determine how quickly we can do the conversion, and the gas company will provide us with the burners at no cost.
(12/21/2010)  Oil to gas conversion-needs new gas service-$5,500, and to line chimney - $2-3000. On hold for winter since the benefit will basically need to happen next year.