I have been contacted by a number of residents regarding the letter from Property Manager Jason Levy (here) and the two letters from Criterium Inspection Engineers (here and here) that were email blasted to unit owners by our management team yesterday. First, let me make it perfectly clear that I did not approve these letters for distribution and I am disappointed that I was not given the opportunity to review them before they were sent to the unit owners.
I have several concerns about the letters which I have communicated to our property manager Jason Levy. I am particularly concerned about the alarm they seem to be creating that a special assessment is in the works. As I have said before, I do not believe any additional special assessments are needed to keep International Village structurally and financially sound. Just prior to my joining the Board of Directors, maintenance fees were raised by 18.5 percent, and a $1.3 million special assessment was collected over a four-month period, causing great financial stress on unit owners. Levying another special assessment at this time would drive many owners into foreclosure and lead to even more panic selling, which would further drive down property values in the Village. This is not a wise course of action.
I also question many of the estimates for roofs and other projects quoted in one of the letters from Criterium Engineers, which you may recall is the company that prepared our $22,000 engineering report in the summer of 2012. After being urged by me and a number of unit owners to search through our files for contracts, our property manager recently discovered a contract for the Marseilles roof, which Criterium had recommended for replacement at a cost of over $320,000. We now know that we do not have to spend this money because any necessary repairs will be covered by the current contract’s warranty. We need to continue to search through our files to make sure we locate all our roof contracts, as well as to hold past contractors accountable for any shoddy work they have done before we even consider hiring new roofers.
It’s also important to note that the city has not ordered us to begin the 40-year certification process, and there is no need to act hastily to complete these projects, despite Criterium’s alarmism about rising contractor prices. In fact, waiting already has saved us hundreds of thousands of dollars by giving us time to locate at least one of our existing roof contracts, although the majority of our current Board of Directors seemed content to not bother looking.
Our buildings may not all be in pristine condition, but they are generally in good shape, and the idea that we need to spend $120,000 to $150,000 in repairs per building as claimed in Criterium’s letter is preposterous.
Let me add that I am totally opposed to hiring Criterium Engineers as a general contractor for any of the work they are recommending be done in the Village. It would be an inherent conflict of interest, and I am offended that they are even offering to “lock in prices” for us. I don’t know if Criterium was ever told to expect to serve as a general contractor, but if they were, that would make me even less inclined to rely on their report. Moreover, the company’s false claim that every item in the report needs to be completed for 40-year certification is directly contradicted by the 40-year certification specialist we invited to our Town Hall meeting earlier this month. (See video.) Fitz Harris, a respected local engineer with many years of experience in the field, explained to us that Criterium’s report does not follow the county’s format for 40-year certification studies and that most of the report consists of cosmetic items that have nothing to do with safety -- which is supposed to be the sole concern of a 40-year certification. Why should we take Criterium Engineers’ word when they are proposing to be made the general contractor? I would be far more inclined to believe an experienced engineer who has no financial stake in the matter, especially since neither the Board-approved bid that Criterium submitted last year nor the cover page of the report itself even mentioned the words 40-year certification.
At this point, given my grave concerns about Criterium’s reliability, I will not support the hiring of any contractor to do any of the work in the report until we can have a more impartial engineer thoroughly review it and give us a fair and unbiased assessment of what really is and is not needed.
I also believe it may be time to form a Special Assessment Prevention Investigative Committee. Please email me if you are interested in starting such a committee and being part of it.
I have several concerns about the letters which I have communicated to our property manager Jason Levy. I am particularly concerned about the alarm they seem to be creating that a special assessment is in the works. As I have said before, I do not believe any additional special assessments are needed to keep International Village structurally and financially sound. Just prior to my joining the Board of Directors, maintenance fees were raised by 18.5 percent, and a $1.3 million special assessment was collected over a four-month period, causing great financial stress on unit owners. Levying another special assessment at this time would drive many owners into foreclosure and lead to even more panic selling, which would further drive down property values in the Village. This is not a wise course of action.
I also question many of the estimates for roofs and other projects quoted in one of the letters from Criterium Engineers, which you may recall is the company that prepared our $22,000 engineering report in the summer of 2012. After being urged by me and a number of unit owners to search through our files for contracts, our property manager recently discovered a contract for the Marseilles roof, which Criterium had recommended for replacement at a cost of over $320,000. We now know that we do not have to spend this money because any necessary repairs will be covered by the current contract’s warranty. We need to continue to search through our files to make sure we locate all our roof contracts, as well as to hold past contractors accountable for any shoddy work they have done before we even consider hiring new roofers.
It’s also important to note that the city has not ordered us to begin the 40-year certification process, and there is no need to act hastily to complete these projects, despite Criterium’s alarmism about rising contractor prices. In fact, waiting already has saved us hundreds of thousands of dollars by giving us time to locate at least one of our existing roof contracts, although the majority of our current Board of Directors seemed content to not bother looking.
Our buildings may not all be in pristine condition, but they are generally in good shape, and the idea that we need to spend $120,000 to $150,000 in repairs per building as claimed in Criterium’s letter is preposterous.
Let me add that I am totally opposed to hiring Criterium Engineers as a general contractor for any of the work they are recommending be done in the Village. It would be an inherent conflict of interest, and I am offended that they are even offering to “lock in prices” for us. I don’t know if Criterium was ever told to expect to serve as a general contractor, but if they were, that would make me even less inclined to rely on their report. Moreover, the company’s false claim that every item in the report needs to be completed for 40-year certification is directly contradicted by the 40-year certification specialist we invited to our Town Hall meeting earlier this month. (See video.) Fitz Harris, a respected local engineer with many years of experience in the field, explained to us that Criterium’s report does not follow the county’s format for 40-year certification studies and that most of the report consists of cosmetic items that have nothing to do with safety -- which is supposed to be the sole concern of a 40-year certification. Why should we take Criterium Engineers’ word when they are proposing to be made the general contractor? I would be far more inclined to believe an experienced engineer who has no financial stake in the matter, especially since neither the Board-approved bid that Criterium submitted last year nor the cover page of the report itself even mentioned the words 40-year certification.
At this point, given my grave concerns about Criterium’s reliability, I will not support the hiring of any contractor to do any of the work in the report until we can have a more impartial engineer thoroughly review it and give us a fair and unbiased assessment of what really is and is not needed.
I also believe it may be time to form a Special Assessment Prevention Investigative Committee. Please email me if you are interested in starting such a committee and being part of it.
4-27-13
ReplyDeleteTo the majority of the board, Jason and Chad.
I live in the Village 11 years and I saw board come and board go many times now.
the majority on those boards always : mismanaging, throwing our money to the garbage,
doing illegal things under the table, driving many good residents out and bringing
bad residents in, because of their self interest, stupidity and any other reason you can imagine.
when our property manager Jason and his assistant Chad came to our village, I thought
that now, the things will be different, meanwhile we elected a new board that any one of them
promise in his resume to be efficient, to save money, to be transparent, to let the residents
participants in decisions and not to make any increase in our already out of control and stifling
assessments!. but guess what?? as soon as they got elected.....more increase and more
assessments, and they blame it on the previous board.... as usual! (some of the current board
members were in the previous one) and Jason and Chad joined them, instant of pushing
for more cuts and saving, as their job suppose to be, and not only that, they sent us - the residents
a threaten E mails to prepare for more millions $ of assessment, without looking left and right how
to avoid or minimize the costs, it easy for them of course, they will not have to pay for it, and also
they mention some ridiculous project about speed humps!? again money to the garbage!.
we have already restrict Speed limit of 10 mph and ridiculous! Stop signs all over to annoy most of
the residents. we have to Restrict the speed limit and to replace all the stop signs with yield signs!
our village is not the 5 Ave. of New York, we never had a car accident here and we'll never have one
If we'll only restrict the speed! and not to annoy the residents with stop signs every a few yards and
the ridiculous speed humps project. those people whom thinking day and night how to invent
and to spent more money on idiotic projects, either they are millionaires or just stupid.
we elect people to the board and hired a property management to handle and mange our community
within our means! not above it! we are not an exclusive millionaires community from Boca Raton!
If you'll give to any child from a third grade millions and millions he will be able to mange us too!
Criterium Engineers does not give a damn on us the residents, and they do not care how much
the residents are paying every month, they only care about their pocket!.....period!
that is why they sent a slick persuasive letter to Jason and Chad and they (Jason and Chad)
embraced that letter and its content (and again, its easy for them not to make any search and
efforts against that), and they sent it to all the residents without notify all the board members,
that "smells" fishy and "sounds".........suspicious.
The only person who is really doing some efforts in favor of the community is the board member:
John Labriola too sad that he is in the minority of the board, as we had in the past -
the good people who really wanted to help the community, were always , the minority in the board.
If you, The majority of the board, Jason and Chad, will go ahead with the way you are behaving and thinking now, the receivership will replace you soon.
Avi A.
E3B