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Summary of August 2 imposition of fines hearing; Parker Dorado Condominium Association, Inc.

Dear All:

Despite objection from the city attorney, we managed to obtain a favorable result at this morning’s imposition of fines hearing for both the laundry rooms case and the riser pipes case.  The testimony of Al Villaverde and Steve Sibelman as to the progress that has been made was instrumental, and the special magistrate granted our request for a 30-day continuance of the imposition of fines in each case subject to one condition – that no further continuances will be granted.

The City of Hallandale Beach holds code violation hearings once per month in the first calendar week of each month (usually on the first Thursday of the calendar month).  Consequently, the next imposition of fines hearing will likely be on Thursday, September 7, 2018.  However, in an abundance of caution and since the date of the hearing could unexpectedly be earlier, we should proceed as if the deadline to remedy the violations is Friday, August 31 , 2018.  It is vital that the property is brought into compliance by this deadline so that we may coordinate a final inspection with Corinne Yoder prior to the date of the next imposition of fines hearing.

Corinne Yoder has represented to us that, if the property is brought into compliance prior to the deadline, all of the fines that have accrued in these two cases will be waived, no lien will be filed, and there will be no need to schedule a mitigation of fines hearing.  To date, the total fines accrued in these two cases is upwards of $100,000.00.   If the property is not brought into compliance by this final deadline, then all fines through the date of the imposition of fines hearing will be imposed, a lien will be recorded, and the fines will continue to accrue.   Therefore, it is absolutely essential that the property is brought into compliance by the deadline.

Steve will take the lead on obtaining the required approvals from the building department and pushing officials to review plans and perform inspections in a timely manner,  but I am also available to provide assistance on this front if needed.

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions, comments, or concerns.

Victor Sanabria, Esq.

Siegfried, Rivera, Hyman, Lerner,

De La Torre, Mars & Sobel, P.A.

Hazardous Materials in Storage Bins

Please be advised that we will begin refurbishing the storage rooms, which will include painting and repairs.

During a recent inspection, we noticed that residents are storing hazardous and flammable materials in their storage bins for which the Association is subject to fire code violations and fining.

 If you have any of these items stored in your storage bin, For Example: paint, gasoline, coolant, batteries or anything that is flammable and is considered hazardous, PLEASE REMOVE IT IMMEDIATELY. For your convenience, there will be a storage bin for you to dispose these items.

Our Maintenance staff will do a walk-thru and conduct an inventory and report their findings to Management.  For those that are not in town, we will notify you and you will need to make arrangements to remove these items.

Thank you for your cooperation.

Weekly Update 7/27/2018

Good day.  I am pleased to provide you with another weekly update.  I have received several positive comments from residents who appreciate this open communication.

CANOPY AND UMBRELLAS:

Some Board members requested another, final, inspection by a structural engineer to make sure we cannot use the existing structure.  While we have done this before, we are doing it again. So far we have received two opinions advising against.  Once this is finalized, which should be relatively soon, we will proceed to get a canopy.  In the meantime, we have ordered, today, 10 new umbrellas which are identical to the newer white ones you see on the pool deck which were also purchased fairly recently.  They are good quality, made in the USA and will all be uniform around the pool deck.   The ones ordered previously from China have almost all broken and/or are breaking. Our intention is to buy properly the first time to avoid wasting money and inconveniencing you, the Owners.

POOL LOUNGE CHAIRS:

The exact same thing is occurring with the lounge chairs ordered in the past, which were also of inferior quality.  They are breaking.  However, every time a chair breaks we are able to replace it with a new chair that has been kept in storage since they were ordered.  There are not too many left so we will revisit the lounge chair situation in the future.

LAUNDRY ROOMS:

If you have seen someone hanging from the outside of the building, they are filling in the holes we had to make to  the exterior and are installing the dryer vents. We were on target for July 31sthowever,   the Hallandale Beach building inspector is obliging the PD to construct the shaft wall enclosure on each floor in the laundry rooms with a 2hr fire rating vs. the 1 hr fire rating approved on the plans and approved during permit issuance. There will be no additional cost to the association but it will delay the delivery of the project by 5 days.  Once completed, the rooms will be painted and delivery shortly after of the machines.

WEBSITE

The website has been ready and we have just finalized an automated process so everyone can register.  You will each receive an email to the address we have on file with a generic password to make it easy for you to login.  Your password can be changed after in the “profile” section.  Stay tuned for the email please.

Now to the questions.

Red are my comments.

As I have previously stated, the President represents the Board. My voice IS the Board’s voice.  As for the assessment, it was the Board’s decision to reduce the amount of the assessment after, yes, hearing your opinions, but also after speaking with representatives of the City and professionals on the time constraints we would have.

Concerning your request for email addresses, as I have stated, every owner has the right to contact us directly.  For those of you who have joined this “group”,  your choice.  My responsibility is to address EACH AND EVERY OWNER individually.

What happened to our direct question about budget? Couldn’t you just give us a straight answer “yes, on budget or no, not on the budget” and providing us with amounts above or below?  By going around you are insulting our intelligence!!!  The answer “all information will be shared soon” is not a good answer or when we are asking for treasury report for the last few months the answer” it will be posted soon” is not what we expected.   The website is  the forum we will use, reason I responded as such.  You have all received January to April financial statements.  The financials are on the website and I was hoping to have the website up earlier, however I am attaching May financials to this email.  Furthermore, to answer your question immediately,  as of 6-29-18 , we were $50,772 behind in our operating budget.   We are expecting to be back on budget next month as some expenses were assessment related.

-We are asking why $550,000 we had in our “reserve” account and were planning to use on laundry rehab was not used on rehab and you answering: “we used the money to subsidies expenses like laundry services”? That does not make much sense. Could you provide us with the total amount spent on laundry subsidy from our reserve account  instead of operational income. What is the amount left in that “reserve” account from $550K and if all or part of that money is spent please let us see the list of emergency expenses those money were spent on?     We are not using the monies in that “reserve cash account” for the laundry rehabilitation because it is an assessment item, as I have previously stated.  It is not prudent to not have any monies on hand in case of emergencies, particularly with the hurricane season approaching.  The $550,000 is currently at $359,786.60.   Please refer to January through April financial statements you have all received, and now the May statement.  The June statement will be sent to us shortly and will be posted   Furthermore, as you are requesting the list of expenses, I direct you, Boris,  or any owner, to send a written request to the Management office who will gladly provide you with that information.

– On our suggestion to combine duties of some service people you replied that slow season starts July 5 and K.C. saved somebody’s life. He sure did, but if you think that he is there by the pool all day, you are very much mistaken. We see people asking for him and waiting for services all the time. You also mistaken about slow season – by the middle of May, not July our building is almost empty. There are probably 10 – 15 people by the pool on one given summer day. Some people like an idea to have rower and somebody need to check contractors in, but with some planning 4 or maybe even 3 people could easily fulfill all the duties of 5 that we employ now.

There are always many opinions.  Some people I spoke with around the pool tell me that some days are busy some not.  K.C. does other duties so perhaps at those times, he was on the beach helping someone, on his lunch hour?  Difficult to say. As I stated, we reduced the valet by one person (this is a savings of $385 per week ) and already people are complaining about the lack of service.   The front driveway is apparently very busy from early morning until after 10:00ish and then again towards the end of the day.  We ask everyone to please be patient.

Boris, as per your request to me on Tuesday, please be advised that I have instructed security to advise all contractors that they must use ADA bathroom only.

Neighbours, feel free to contact us directly with any questions or concerns.

Respectfully,

Marla Hopkins,

President, Board of Directors

Weekly Update 7/12/18

Dear Owners,

I am pleased to provide the first Parker Dorado weekly communication.  Until our website is fully functional, I will send emails weekly with similar updates. After that, your PD news will be available on line, on our website.

I wish to point out that some of the emails being sent from some owners are misleading.   These emails simply disturb some owners and cause undue confusion and worry.  You are always welcome to submit your concerns or questions directly to the Management Office and they will be responded to weekly.  But we must all deal with the facts.

I hope you find this communication tool helpful.

PAYING YOUR ASSESSMENT BY ACH (Automated Debits from your account)

Some of you have questioned this procedure.  Here is an excerpt from an email sent  June 11 which states:

If you are currently enrolled on ACH (automatic clearing house) for your monthly maintenance, your special assessment will automatically be debited from your bank account. Your monthly bank statement will show one amount combining your maintenance and special assessment amounts debited from your account.

If you currently pay your monthly maintenance via ACH and you do not want to pay your Special Assessment the same way, you are required to CANCEL YOUR ACHby contacting the Management Office immediately and requesting an “ACH Cancellation” form. Coupon books for your monthly maintenance and special assessmentwill be mailed to you shorty after.

As well, for those of you who enrolled in the ACH for your regular monthly maintenance payments in the past,  you completed the ACH form when you enrolled and provided details.  At the top of the form it clearly states the following which authorizes Parker Dorado Association to withdraw the assessment payment:

I (we) hereby authorize ________________________ hereinafter called the ASSOCIATION, to initialize entries to my (our) checking account at the DEPOSITORY INSTITUTION listed below to debit the same to such account for any and all assessments as approved by the Board of Directors. I understand my participation in this program involves deduction from my account listed below, which can be subject to corrections and/or adjustments as instructed by the ASSOCIATION.

PRE-PAYMENTS TOWARDS THE ASSESSMENT:

We have received $ $683,532.42.  These monies have been placed in the Special Assessment Bank Account and will be used solely for the assessment.

Question received:   “You have represented that such prepayments would dilute the monthly special assessment amounts due by those owners who elected not to prepay said assessment and appreciate being subsidized by those who prepaid special assessment.”

 

Response:  What we have said from the start is any monies collected up front and/or monies collected  from owners from July 1st until the end of the Line of Credit which do not get used, will be put towards the Loan (amount of monies to be borrowed when the line of credit converts in 18 months).  This means, the amount of money we need to borrow will be reduced by those monies received.  This is what we have explained as a “true up”.     At no point in time did we say the monthly payments by owners will be reduced.

MOLD CONTINUES TO GROW IN THE HALLWAYS:

For those of you in the building this summer, you have no doubt noticed the mold spreading rapidly in the hallways and despite our best efforts to clean,  it is coming back twice as bad.  The Board has decided to repair the existing Steam System which will help temporarily until we get the Upper and Lower Mechanical Rooms functioning.  We have reached out to several companies and have received three bids:

1-Airstron $ 17,837.00

2- Airtech $ 19,560.00

3- B&I        $ 21,000.00

Board is evaluating and a start date to be confirmed shortly.

NEW ENGINEERING FIRM:

We have reached out to several engineering firms and the Board has narrowed the choice down to two.  We will be meeting with the chosen Firm next week.  A contract is to be finalized and then designs can commence.

Again, if you have any questions, please submit them directly to the office and they will be addressed in subsequent newsletters.   We are committed to provide you with factual information.

I look forward to updating you on a weekly basis.

Marla

Engineering Company Update

Dear Owners,

I wish to advise you that we have terminated our relationship with our engineering company, TRC Worldwide Engineering. While the entire Board voted to engage them, we have become increasingly displeased with their services. They were given instructions from this board in May to start designs on our priorities with deadlines to follow which were not upheld.  As well they did not adhere to the established agreement.

In order to save money and time, we amicably concluded that the best thing was to dismiss them, which was done effective June 15th.

Our Project Managers have been amazingly professional and with their continued  assistance we anticipate that we will quickly find suitable replacements.  Once we do, they will be ensuring the new engineer firm follows all deadlines and will verify the quality of work. We will, of course, continue to keep you updated on all developments.

Thank you.

Marla Hopkins,

President, Board of Directors

2018 Special Assessment FAQ & Answers

Special Assessment Reminder Notice

Our Special Assessment is to start July 1, 2018.  As of that date and for 6 1/2 years, you will be paying the required monthly amount (unless you have chosen to pay in full by June 22, 2018).  Please consult the monthly payment schedule previously sent.

The first 18 months are a line of credit (LOC).  We will only draw down money we require.  All the monies that owners are paying will be put into an interest-bearing account. We will use those monies to pay the interest on the LOC AND/OR to pay down the LOC

After the initial 18 months LOC period, a Term Loan starts at which time the Association has to start paying back the loan.  ALL MONEY REMAINING in that account from what the owners have paid during the first 18 months will be put towards the amount of the Loan, therefore reducing the amount of money we will have to borrow.  As well, all monies paid in full by owners at the start of the assessment, will also be used to lower the amount of the loan. All this will help reduce the interest.

2018 SPECIAL ASSESSMENT

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS & ANSWERS

PAYING VIA ACH

If you are currently enrolled on ACH (automatic clearing house) with your monthly maintenance, your special assessment will automatically be debited from your bank account. Your monthly bank statement will show one amount combining your maintenance and special assessment amounts debited from your account.

If you currently pay your monthly maintenance via ACH and you do not want to pay your Special Assessment the same way, you are required to CANCEL YOUR ACH by contacting the Management Office immediately and requesting an “ACH Cancellation” form. Coupon books for your monthly maintenance and special assessment will be mailed to you shorty after.

 

PAYING WITH A PERSONAL CHECK

If you pay your monthly maintenance with a personal check, you will be required to pay your special assessment with a separate check and the special assessment coupon. The special assessment payment should be sent to the address found on your coupon.

 

AUTOMATIC ONLINE BANKING

If you pay your monthly maintenance through your personal online banking, you are required to set up a separate payment for your special assessment.

ONLINE PAYMENT SERVICES THROUGH ATLANTIC PACIFIC

By using this service, you have the option of paying by electronic check or credit card. If you are currently paying your monthly maintenance with this service, you will be required tochange the total amount due to include your special assessment.

 

WHERE DO I MAIL MY CHECKS?

The Special Assessment coupons have been mailed to those who pay their monthly maintenance in a check form. Please mail your checks with the coupon to the remittance address as indicated on the coupon.

 

CAN I COMBINE THE MAINTENANCE AND THE SPECIAL ASSESSMENT WITH ONE CHECK?

We are requesting separate checks because the monthly maintenance payments and special assessment payments have different remittance addresses. The addresses can be found on the coupons.

 

WHAT IF I LOST MY COUPON?

If you forget to submit your coupon with your check, it is important that you indicate your unit number. Also indicate that the payment is for the “2018 Special Assessment”.

 

HOW CAN I AVOID INTEREST CHARGES ON THE SPECIAL ASSESSMENT?

The deadline for your Special Assessment payment in total without any interest must be received in the Management Office by June 22, 2018.   AFTER JUNE 22nd ALL PAYMENTS MUST BE PAID MONTHLY.

 

WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE SPECIAL ASSESSMENT IF I SELL MY UNIT?

Since the Special Assessment is assumable, either the seller can pay the total due amount at closing or the buyer can assume the monthly payment amount.

Letter from the Board President

Dear Neighbours,

In advance of this evening’s meeting, I am pleased to provide you with an overview of our assessment  plan.  I fully realize there are questions some of you have and these will be addressed at the meeting.  For those unable to attend, I invite you to email us your questions today and we will respond to these as well this evening.  As a reminder, you will be able to access the meeting via the on-line link.

On May 10th we sent out a complete package, by mail and email, with the financing arrangements and payment schedule for the

$5.6 M assessment. I am attaching this now for your convenient reference.  Also attached is the schedule of priority projects we will be undertaking and the list of itemized items with their associated costs.  In order to move forward quickly and get designs started, we chose to start the Priority design process before soliciting all bids.  Therefore, the dollar figures listed are approximate, but were arrived at after lengthy and careful analysis.

I am proud that our Board has made changes in response to some of the concerns voiced.   We have hired professional engineers and a project management team to oversee the work and ensure that everything is being done properly and on budget.   We are taking all necessary steps to ensure your money is spent prudently and effectively.  You deserve nothing less.

For those of you who will be in attendance, I look forward to seeing you this evening.  For those of you who will not, please send any further questions you may have after the meeting and we will respond to them as promptly as we can.

Thank you,

Marla

Some reminders:

  • The reason we are going with a $5.6million assessment in Phase I is to focus on the Health and Safety issues in the building.
  • The original line of credit we obtained still exists.  It is up to $10 million. We are working with an 18 month line of credit which will convert to a term loan.
  • We will only draw down monies as required from the line of credit.
  • During those 18 months, we anticipate having the bids for all projects.  This will allow us to evaluate how much more monies will be required to complete the entire assessment (Phase 1 and Phase 2).  As I mentioned, $10million is available to us IF NEEDED.
  • Should we require to obtain additional monies, a  second assessment will have to occur at that time, in order to fund the remaining monies required to complete all work.  It is possible that we may not NEED the full $10million but that is to be evaluated once all bids are in.
  • You have heard us mention the term “true up”:  this is whereby the amount of interest paid towards the line of credit is MORE THAN the amount of interest we were required to pay, that excess money paid by the association will be put towards the amount of the loan, possibly reducing the amount of the loan.
  • As we stated, the new assessment for Phase I of our plan will be for $5.6million.  You have all received the payment schedule which indicates the amount you will have to pay (principal and interest) starting July 1st, 2018 or, should you wish to pay the full amount, you will not have any interest to pay
  • As we have stated, we are able to amortize the loan twice per year which would bring down the amount of the term loan as well (i.e. any monies we receive from owners who have prepaid would go towards that)
  • As we have previously mentioned, if someone decides to pay up the assessment, for example half way through, you would be charged interest up to the month preceding your payme

Association Update

  • TRC Worldwide Engineering has completed their evaluation of the building and have officially started the designs on all the priority items. Full report is available for owner’s review, please see Management office for copy.
  • Elevators:  We are hiring an elevator consulting firm to evaluate what is required for the elevator modification project.
  • Fire Safety/Sprinklers:  We are hiring ELSS (emergency life safety system) consultant to evaluate what is required for the fire safety system, to ensure we are up to code as per requirements for year end 2019.
  • Laundry Room:  Our contractor has received the Environmental review certificate from Broward County and has been submitted to City of Hallandale. We expect to receive a notification within the next ten days acknowledging that the permit has been approved and begin the completion of all the laundry rooms.   As per last years contract, the leased washer and dryers will be installed as soon as the work is completed.
  • Power Outage Saturday, May 19, 2018:  At approximately 4:35pm a section of Hallandale Beach buildings experienced a power outage for approximately one minute and then again at5:37. Due to the power outage we blew 2 elevator control boards, 4 light ballasts, 1 copier control board (Management office) and the Comcast router which control the phone and internet service.

At 6:28 the elevator company arrived and determined that it was a voltage problem due to the power outage and had to order 2 Boards that dispatch the elevators. In the interim, the technician combined boards so that some elevators could go to the ground floor while others could not as a temporary solution until the parts arrive from California.

We are looking into improving the communication system by possibly installing a land line at the front desk as a result of future power outages. This will all be addressed during the 40-year electrical certification in addition to adding surge protectors to the main electrical panels and new transfer switch from generator limiting current surge through the building.

Due to aging equipment and the short span from the power going out and returning, the generator did not have proper time to switch over power systems. Because of this, the generator kept running for approximately 30 minutes until it was manually turned off.

After this unfortunate event, Security has been trained on procedures while power outages occur.

In the sixty days that Elton Savery, our Chief Engineer has been at the Parker Dorado, he has been very instrumental in resolving many problematic issues in the building as well as improving our overall maintenance and appearance.

Marla Hopkins,

President, Board of Directors

Special Assessment Documents for May 24th Board Meeting

Dear Fellow Owners,

The matter of the proposed renovations to the building has resulted in much anger, confusion and misunderstanding among different factions of the Owners in Parker Dorado.  This letter is written for the purpose of clearing up any confusion and misunderstanding so everyone is on the same page because after all, we are all in this together.

The question of what it will cost and how long will it take appears to be the basis of the disagreement.  We are also aware that previous renovations in the past did not go as well as anticipated which resulted in cost overruns and lengthy delays. Based upon recent professional inspections of the building, we estimate that the cost to complete all of the needed repairs will be at least $10 million.

Our initial idea was to take out a term loan for this amount.  After listening to the concerns of many residents, we changed the loan to a line of credit for up to $10 million for 18 months. The Board of Directors thought this was a good idea so as to allow smaller payments for the first 18 months.  Notwithstanding our good intentions, many residents were not satisfied with the amount of interest that was going to be charged and payable by the owners.  In an effort to address these concerns, the Board of Directors and Management met with our engineer, bank representatives and our management’s financial team to come up with an alternate strategy.

We now have decided to perform the needed renovations in stages.  The initial stage will be to address Life and Safety issues of the building (for example, the air conditioning system/mechanical equipment and remove the mold throughout the building, electrical upgrades etc).  This initial work will cost approximately $5.6 million and will be paid for with funds from an 18-month line of credit (LOC) we have obtained.  The previous $10 million assessment will be repealed.

The benefit of using a LOC is that we only pay interest on the money actually used, instead of the entire amount.   After 18 months the LOC will be converted to a 6.5 year, $5.6 million term loan. As well, at that time, there will be a “true up”.  A true up is what occurs when monies collected from the Owners totals more than monies drawn down from the line of credit.. Therefore those monies will go to reducing the loan.  Please refer to the  payment options for this proposed special assessment,

While the term loan payback period is scheduled to be 6.5 years,  this could be reduced depending on how much principal we are able to pay towards the loan. In the event the loan is paid early and there are monies left over from the assessment, this money will be used to finance other projects that are needed.

We have listened carefully to many of the resident’s concerns.   We considered and studied many recommendations and have contacted numerous professionals for their opinion.  Some of the scenarios we were asked to consider will not work for such a large-scale project that the Parker Dorado needs to undertake, involving multiple simultaneous contracts.  After careful consideration and analysis, we believe that the scenario described above for approximately $5.6 million for the first stage, addresses the financial concerns we were asked to consider.

To address concerns about how this project will be managed and funds spent, we have hired engineers and project managers to guide us through this process.   Our engineers are ready to start designing what is needed.  Once the designs are complete, we will solicit bids from licensed and insured contractors.  Our engineers and project managers will help us to ensure that the work required is done properly and in a timely and cost-effective manner.

We recognize that the costs of this special assessment may be a hardship for those on a fixed income, however, given that the building is in desperate need of repairs, there is no viable solution possible that is without cost.   Your Board will work hard to ensure that the Owners are kept up to date on the progress of the work.  Towards the conclusion of the first stage of work, we will be in a better position to determine what additional work is needed and the potential additional costs involved.

We have worked diligently to find the best possible solution to a very challenging situation.  Thank you for your understanding.