Village update

I hope everyone had a great Fourth of July weekend.

I’d like to take this opportunity to once again thank all the unit owners who took advantage of last month’s Wilma Special Assessment Early Payoff Bonus offer. More than 20 unit owners reaped hundreds of dollars in interest savings by paying off their Hurricane Wilma special assessment balance three years early. In all, the association collected more than $60,000 in special assessment payoff checks during the month of June, which will go toward reducing our debt with Wells Fargo. If you happened to miss the June 30 deadline, your next opportunity to save money by paying off your Wilma assessment balance early will be in December. Although the savings won’t be quite as large as they were in June, they will still be significant. The association will be posting reminders as we get closer to that time.

On a sad note, I'm sorry to report that David Friedman, our property manager for the past year, had to step down last week for health reasons. David was one of the most hard-working, trustworthy, dedicated managers we’ve ever had at International Village, and he will be deeply missed. Not only was he an excellent manager, but I also came to regard him as a good and trusted friend. A search for a new manager is currently underway. Please keep David in your prayers as we wish him a full and speedy recovery. Our doors here at International Village will always be open for him.

John Labriola

International Village President

2 comments:

1. 
   Sandra OxleyJuly 6, 2015 at 11:19 PM

   Very sad to hear David had to step down for health reasons. The insults and the pressure on him these last months would have made anyone sick. He recently had bypass surgery. And since his return he has repeatedly been bad mouthed and insulted and attacked by Mr Weiss and others relentlessly. Thru numerous e-mails and many many phone calls. David is a nice man. Did not have a mean bone in his body. I have never seen or heard him be disrespectful to anyone. I hope he can move on to a property that can appreciate him. A place where there is not so much hatred And mean spirited people. He knows his profession inside out. And will be asset to a decent kind community. I wish him well. I am so ashamed of the way some people in this community behave. And the nasty inflammatory environment here. But I do believe in Karma.
   My name is SANDRA LEE OXLEY AND I SIGN MY NAME HAPPILY
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   John LabriolaJuly 6, 2015 at 11:38 PM
   Thank you Sandra. I hope our next property manager will not have to put up with the type of relentless abuse and slander that David handled with such dignity even while battling significant health issues. Nobody should have to be subjected to that kind of mental and emotional harassment. I also believe in a just God and that the dishonest and pitiless attacker you mention by name will soon get what he has coming.
   
   John Labriola
   International Village President

Wilma Special Assessment Early Payoff Bonus Reminder

I’d like to thank all the International Village unit owners who have contacted the property manager in the last few weeks regarding the Wilma Special Assessment Early Payoff Bonus.  The office has received about 50 inquiries so far from unit owners interested in paying off their Hurricane Wilma special assessment balance, and a number of owners – including myself – have already reaped the substantial savings available during the month of June. In the case of my one-bedroom unit, I’ll be saving about $436. Two-bedroom unit owners will save well over $600.

By paying off your special assessment three years early, you are not only saving yourself hundreds of dollars, but you are helping the association reduce its debt with Wells Fargo, for which we thank you.

For those of you who haven’t taken advantage of this opportunity yet, there’s still time, but you must act by June 30. Just visit the association office, call 954-484-9106, or send an email to manager@intlvillage.com with the subject line “Wilma Payoff” and include your name, phone and unit number. You will be told how much you owe and how much you can save by paying off the balance this month.

Thank you,

John Labriola
International Village President

Wilma special assessment early payoff bonus!

Did you know you could save a lot of money by paying off your Hurricane Wilma special assessment this month?

As announced at the May 26 Board of Directors meeting, International Village unit owners can now take advantage of hundreds of dollars in savings by paying off the balance of their Wilma assessment during the month of June 2015.  

By making a lump sum payment no later than June 30, 2015, a one-bedroom unit owner can save about $450, while a two-bedroom unit owner could save well over $600. The discount would come from interest saved by paying off the assessment – which started in 2007 – three years early.

The amount of the lump sum payment required to pay off your assessment will vary depending on the size of your unit (from about $1,300 for a small studio to about $5,000 for a four-bedroom, according to this breakdown).

Please visit or call the association office at 954-484-9106 for details, or send an email to manager@intlvillage.com with the subject line “Wilma Payoff” and include your name, phone and unit number in the email.

Be sure to act by June 30 to take advantage of these savings.

John Labriola
International Village President

New laundry machines, landscaping company and cameras

Has it been taking more than an hour to dry your clothes lately? Relief is coming soon.

International Village will be replacing its aging washers and driers with brand-new machines over the next several weeks as its eight-year lease contract with Aaxon has come to an end. Rather than renewing the contract – which was based on a 50/50 revenue-sharing arrangement under which the association and Aaxon each collected approximately $4,500 in laundry revenue per month – the Board of Directors last month opted to purchase new Maytag machines from Mesmen Inc. at a cost of approximately $127,000.

Purchasing the washers and driers instead of entering into a lease agreement will allow the association to collect 100 percent of the revenue from the machines once they are installed, instead of just 50 percent. At that rate, the machines will not only pay for themselves in about a year’s time, but over the long run they will result in a significant net revenue gain that hopefully will enable the association to continue reducing maintenance fees.

The new Maytag washers and driers will utilize a new smart card system and new card-reloading machines that will soon be set up in the clubhouse so residents can familiarize themselves with them before the new laundry machines are installed.

In other actions last month, the Board:

• Approved a new lawn maintenance contract with Davey Commercial Grounds Management (formerly known as Lawn Logic) following the expiration of the association’s one-year contract with Smart Choice. The switch came after months of complaints regarding the previous vendor’s failure to adequately pick up leaves. The new contract specifically requires leaf pickup, and compliments regarding the superior landscape work have already been pouring in.
• Approved purchasing a new security camera system for the association’s residential buildings following the recent membership vote in favor of installing cameras in the common areas. The system will consist of 12 cameras per building. Although I have not been an enthusiastic supporter of security cameras, my main objections to the camera plan advanced in 2013 by AMG (which I’m happy I was able to stop) were its massive $150,000 proposed price tag and the attempt to push the project through without the required membership vote. By doing things the right way and rejecting AMG's preferred vendor, we have not only respected the democratic process, but we will be spending a tiny fraction of what AMG and the 2013 Board were saying was needed. The total cost of equipment and installation will be an estimated $10,000. That’s a total savings of about $140,000!

John Labriola

International Village President

A Weiss special assessment?

In the last two Board of Directors elections, International Village unit owners have made it abundantly clear that they want to spend LESS, not more. This year, when one candidate ran on a platform of higher spending, higher maintenance fees and more special assessments, he barely received 20 percent of the vote.  Your overwhelming rejection of his agenda, however, hasn't stopped him from trying to achieve it through his incessant bogus lawsuits, collusion, sabotage, and outright bribery. 

Last night, a number of you received a “blast” email from that failed candidate – Ilan Weiss – in which he revealed his seedy financial arrangement with disgraced board member Wendy Hernandez. (For those of you who may not be aware, Miss Hernandez is currently under criminal prosecution for battery, and she is still looking to “get back” at the Board for rejecting her outrageous demands last year to put her on the association's payroll, grant her access to all unit owner files and accounts, and fire virtually all our employees.) In exchange for Mr. Weiss’ promise to pay her legal bills (which he openly admits and even brags about), Miss Hernandez has been acting as his personal stooge by busily doing Mr. Weiss’ bidding – including violating board member confidentiality by feeding him sensitive information about ongoing legal matters; engaging in defamatory and false accusations against the association, its employees, Board members, and other unit owners; and even contacting the association's insurance carriers to urge them to NOT cover us after AMG – the company that gave us convicted embezzler Jason Levy as property manager – vindictively sued us for firing them. 

Most recently – again at Mr. Weiss’ behest – Miss Hernandez, joined by another disgruntled resident and Weiss follower, invited the City of Lauderhill’s code enforcement department to visit International Village to look for violations of the City’s aesthetics code. (This from a city which – with the exception of Inverrary – is best known for its blighted conditions and elevated crime rates). Bureaucrats being what they are, the code enforcement officer was more than happy to oblige Miss Hernandez and issued the association a violation notice, instructing us to re-paint the building outside walls and address a number of other cosmetic issues with the building exteriors.

It’s important to note that as part of last year’s 40-year inspections, the City certified that all 10 of the buildings that were inspected by the engineer are structurally safe and sound. That means the only issues the City could technically cite us for on those buildings would have to do with aesthetics (despite the irony of being cited for cosmetic issues by the City of Lauderhill). But to address all these aesthetic issues at one time on a tight City-mandated schedule – instead of in order of priority and within the framework of the budget – would not only require a substantial special assessment (Mr. Weiss’ number one goal), but it would also force the Board to cancel or postpone the renovations currently underway in the interiors of the buildings. (So if your building hasn't been renovated yet, and if this latest trick forces us to divert our resources to other projects, you can thank Mr. Weiss and Miss Hernandez for their vindictiveness.)

So we are faced with a choice: We can either fight the City over its ridiculous selective enforcement of its aesthetic codes, or we can allow Mr. Weiss and Miss Hernandez to get away with their malicious scheme to make us dig deeper into our pockets to cough up another special assessment.

How do YOU think we should proceed? And what if anything should be done about Miss Hernandez’s repeated and blatant breaches of her fiduciary duties as a board member? 

The best way to let us know is to show up and speak up at our Board meeting tonight (Tuesday, April 28) at 7:15 p.m. in the clubhouse. If you are unable to attend the meeting, please share your thoughts by replying to this email and copying the Board of Directors. We need to know how you feel!

Thank you,

John Labriola
International Village President
Villageviewpoints.blogspot.com

Condo doc amendments vote results

I hope everyone enjoyed a blessed Easter and Passover with their friends and families this past weekend. My thanks also to all the unit owners who took the time to participate by proxy or in person in last week’s reconvened Special Membership Meeting on the proposed amendments to the association’s governing documents. The number of proxies collected was well above the quorum requirement. To view the results of the vote, click HERE.

Forward as One Community

Serving as president of an organization the size of International Village is no small job, but it’s a lot less daunting when your predecessor has done most of the heavy lifting. As I begin my term as President of International Village, I feel very fortunate, not to mention honored, to follow in the footsteps of Marcio Jaspan, who nominated me to serve as his successor last week due to his increasingly busy work schedule. Marcio, who led International Village successfully through one of its most challenging and transformative years, has paved a path of progress that will make the journey forward that much easier, and I look forward to continue working with him in his new role as Treasurer, as well as with Duv Wolff as Vice President, Carl Simmonds as Secretary, Hayden Joseph as Assistant Treasurer and Luis Jimenez as our newest Board member, to keep International Village moving in the right direction. 

My number one goal as President, as it has been as Treasurer, will be to keep saving money so we can continue reducing maintenance fees while making the necessary investments to improve our property values and quality of life. An equally important though less tangible goal is to continue to foster a sense of unity. As President, my job is to represent all the owners, not just the 80 percent who voted for me in last month’s election. This is one community, and we all have a vested interest in seeing it prosper, so let’s work together with a renewed sense of cooperation to make International Village the best place it can be. 

On a somewhat related note, as I mentioned last month we are still accepting proxies from unit owners who have not yet voted on the proposed amendments to the association's governing documents. The new deadline for submitting your three-page pink proxy is Tuesday, March 31. (If you already turned it in, there is no need to obtain or submit another one.)

I look forward to your continued involvement and suggestions.

John Labriola

International Village President