New tenant screening process and pre-Labor Day party

International Village has automated its rental and purchase application process. From now on, instead of filling out an approximately 20-page printed application, prospective renters and buyers will be directed to a website where they must complete the application online. The new system, which was approved by the Board of Directors at last week’s meeting, will streamline the process and reduce the Sales and Lease Committee’s workload by eliminating the need to hound applicants for any missing information, as the automated system will not accept incomplete applications.  

Tenant Evaluation, the company International Village has been using for years to conduct applicant background checks, will provide the service at no extra charge. International Village will continue paying the company $45 per application out of the $100 processing fee the association collects from applicants. The Sales and Lease Committee, chaired by Board member Frances Mesirow, will continue performing the job of approving or disapproving applicants.

Another benefit of the new system may be a reduction in the number of people who lie about their income in order to qualify to lease or own a unit -- a very frequently voiced concern among owners. As a deterrent to providing false income data, the Board adopted my suggestion of requiring applicants to authorize the association to obtain their most recent tax return from the IRS as part of the application process.

In other action last week, the Board retroactively approved the following emergency projects that came up during our summer break: $14,800 for a new clubhouse air conditioning system, $3,250 to stop a leak in the outdoor pool, and $5,900 to replace 15 feet of storm drain between Heidelberg and Edelweiss to prevent the seawall from collapsing due to a sinkhole that formed during the recent heavy rains. (See the Aug. 19 meeting video here.)

Finally, International Village owners and residents are invited to a pre-Labor Day potluck party this coming Sunday, Sept. 1 from 5-10 p.m. in the clubhouse, featuring a live band and dancing. Bring a dish or barbecue items and come out and meet your neighbors as we say goodbye to the summer!

Board of Directors returns from hiatus

The International Village Board of Directors will meet this Monday, Aug. 19 at 7 p.m. after more than two months of being on hiatus. It should be a short meeting, since we will only be retroactively approving some emergency projects that came up while we were on break: $14,800 for a new clubhouse air conditioning system, $3,250 to replace the outdoor pool piping, and $5,900 to replace 15 feet of storm drain between Heidelberg and Edelweiss to prevent the seawall from collapsing due to a sinkhole.

We also will be getting an update on the clubhouse roof project which is now under way.

Some of you have expressed concerns about a proposed children's playground, which was discussed at a July 13 community meeting. But the idea seems to be going nowhere, as no meeting of the Projects Committee meeting has been scheduled to take up the proposal. (Read my post about the issue here.)

Play area issues

No basketball court at International Village: That was the verdict from the recent community meeting to discuss the installation of a children’s play area in the Village.

About a dozen residents – mostly owners – turned out on July 13 to talk about whether and how to address the recreational needs of the community’s growing number of children, although the day’s rainy weather may have kept many parents away. (See video here.) Several owners pushed for a playground for small children, but they strongly rejected the creation a basketball court.

“We’re definitely not for the basketball court,” said owner Jennifer Moloney, the mother of a toddler. “That’s just going to bring obscenities and a different dynamic... No one wants that kind of trouble.”

Most of those attending the 37-minute meeting appeared to back a plan to convert one of the condo's underutilized tennis courts into a tot lot with key access and parental supervision required. Parents said a playground is needed to keep children out of the street and safely away from cars. Left unresolved was the issue of how to pay for it, but one suggestion called for interested parents to put up the funding.

According to the association’s property manager, converting one of the tennis courts into a children’s play area would not raise the association’s insurance costs because it wouldn't require a change to the condo's existing insurance policy, which already covers the courts.

But a playground could be a long way from becoming reality. International Village President Marvin Tow, who attended the discussion, said the meeting was only the first stage in a four-step process that may present some significant hurdles to the proposal. The idea next heads to the Projects Committee, which will discuss it once its new chairman, Sidney Schulman, schedules a meeting. The committee’s recommendation will then be forwarded to the Board of Directors, which still might not have the final say. Mr. Tow believes creating a tot lot would constitute a “material change” to the condo’s common elements. Under Florida law, that would require putting the idea to a vote of the owners, 75 percent of whom would need to approve the change.

Clubhouse roof update and more

It’s been quite a peaceful past several weeks. The Board of Directors is on hiatus. We’re taking July off and probably won’t meet again until August 19, unless something urgent comes up. But some of you have been asking me for an update about the clubhouse roof, so for those who have not had a chance to check out the video of our last meeting on June 10, which I posted several weeks ago, here’s a recap…

We approved a $117,000 contract with Todd Knapp Inc. to install a Durolast roof, for which we will receive an $8,000 FPL rebate. We didn’t really have much of a choice, because as I previously reported, Citizens Property Insurance is refusing to reinstate the clubhouse's canceled wind insurance coverage until a new roof is in place. The new Durolast system will cover the entire flat roof area, but we saved about $65,000 by going with the contractor’s recommended option of removing only the damaged parts of the old roof instead of the whole thing. The new roof will come with a 20-year warranty. While working on the roof, Todd Knapp Inc. also will install an $18,900 new air conditioning system to replace the current failing system. Work on the new roof is expected to begin by around the end of next week and take about three weeks to complete.

At the same meeting, the Board approved a $30,000 tree-trimming contract with National Property Services, arguing that it will reduce the risk of property damage from trees during a hurricane. I voted against the contract because I never got an explanation as to why it’s costing nearly twice the $15,750 we paid Lawn Logic to perform comprehensive community-wide tree-trimming in 2010.

The Board also OK’d a $3,925 contract with Atlantic Southern Paving to install four speed humps at strategic locations around the Village as a pilot project to test their effectiveness. Although I was glad we shot down a much costlier plan to install 24 speed bumps at a cost of $14,500, I voted against the final contract because I think we should be saving as much money as possible for more critical projects, since by my calculations our special assessment fund will soon be down to only about $250,000 after accounting for the aforementioned projects plus the recently completed $10,350 clubhouse termite-tenting.

Finally, we put off discussion of an $11,000 plan to reinforce a delaminating portion of the Grenoble building’s brick façade while we explore other alternatives including removing the affected section and applying a paint-like material to the underlying wall to match the look of the façade.

In other news, the Association will host a meeting this Saturday, July 13 at 2 p.m. in the clubhouse to discuss the possibility of creating a play area to address the needs of the community’s growing number of families with children. All residents, whether owners or tenants, are invited to attend or send an email to admin@internvillage.com to share their ideas about what type of recreational facilities should be installed and where. Among the ideas currently under discussion is converting one of our underutilized tennis courts into a basketball court. Funding options under consideration include asking our current owner-investors to pay for the changes, since the tenants they collect rent from make up the majority of the Village's families with children.

Clubhouse roof decision this Monday

John F. Kennedy once said that the time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining. Rainy season is now upon us, but we may unfortunately have to ignore that sound advice. In order to reinstate the clubhouse’s wind insurance coverage before the heart of the hurricane season, Citizens Property Insurance insists that we do something about the clubhouse roof. That could be either completely replacing the roof or removing only the damaged parts and covering it with a new roofing system. In terms of cost, the difference between these two options amounts to about $70,000 if we go with the lowest-bidding roofing company, which would provide the same 20-year warranty regardless of which of the two options we choose. It’s rare for a business to urge a potential customer to take the less expensive option, but that’s exactly what this roofer is doing. In the words of the contractor: “There is no sound reason to remove any more of the existing roof than is necessary for the 20-year warranty.”

With a cost of anywhere from just over $100,000 to over $200,000, the clubhouse roof is the biggest ticket item the Board of Directors will take up at a special meeting tomorrow (Monday, June 10 at 7 p.m. in the clubhouse). Others include approximately $30,000 for tree-trimming, between $15,000 and $30,000 for speed humps, and about $11,000 for repairs to part of the Grenoble building’s brick façade. Considering that only about $400,000 remain in our special assessment fund and many more projects still have to be addressed, I hope we end up either voting down some of these items or tabling them to examine less expensive alternatives.

Tree trimming is being described as necessary to prevent extensive property damage from trees during a hurricane. But in 2010, the Village paid Lawn Logic $15,750 to perform extensive community-wide tree-trimming. Why should we pay nearly double that amount only three years later for similar work?

As for speed humps, it’s a bit disturbing that a proposal to install 24 speed humps throughout the Village is appearing on the Board’s agenda after the Projects Committee overwhelmingly rejected the idea at its May 22 meeting. Why is the committee’s recommendation being ignored? At its most recent meeting on June 8, the committee again rejected full-fledged speed hump installation, recommending instead that only a couple of speed humps be installed as a demonstration project to determine their effectiveness. It’s worth remembering that the Village installed speed bumps a number of years ago but was forced to remove them at the fire department's behest because they were slowing down emergency vehicle response times.

As I have reported previously, the issue with the Grenoble brick façade is strictly cosmetic. Part of the façade facing the Orleans is delaminating (coming unglued), but this is a decorative – not structural – element of the building. Behind it is a solid concrete wall. One member of the Projects Committee, which voted Saturday to table the repairs, suggested simply removing the damaged part of the façade and repainting the underlying wall as a far less expensive alternative to repairing it. We need to determine whether such a change to the building’s appearance constitutes a “material change,” which would require a vote of unit owners to approve.  

On another note, I would like to thank everyone who participated in or helped organize the very successful and well attended International Village Food Festival party on Saturday, June 1, which was sponsored by owners and free to the association. Events like this help build community spirit by bringing neighbors together in a positive way. International Village could use more of that.

Roof decision postponed - Party this Saturday

Installing a new roof is serious business, and we need to make sure we get it right. That’s why I, along with the rest of the Board of Directors, decided unanimously last night to postpone a decision on what to do about the clubhouse roof until a special meeting to be held on Monday, June 10. (See 5/30/13 video at the top of the Meeting Videos page under BOARD OF DIRECTORS.) That gives us another week to consult more experts and look into several issues that will help us make a more well-informed decision by clearing up warranty concerns and giving us a better basis for price comparison. Specifically, we will be obtaining more bids from companies using a specific roofing system that will save the association tens of thousands of dollars by allowing us to cover rather than replace the existing roof. The system, which has been certified by our architectural and engineering consultants, comes with a 20-year manufacturer’s warranty that appears to provide excellent coverage but needs clarification on certain points. Postponing our decision will not necessarily delay the project because the clubhouse will first be tented for termites. The Board approved a $10,350 contract with Accurate Pest Control to perform the tenting. It includes a lifetime warranty for re-tenting as long as annual warranty payments of $1,560 are kept up.

Our meeting was notably free of rancor and bickering. It was heartening to see Board members get along and work together so well. Tomorrow will be a good opportunity to celebrate this new spirit of comity. The Village is holding an owner-sponsored International Food Festival this Saturday, June 1 from 5 to 9:30 p.m. in the clubhouse. It’s being billed as an opportunity to meet neighbors and enjoy international foods, live music, dancing and a 50/50 raffle. Neighbors are being invited to bring a dish to share with friends. I look forward to seeing you there!

Replace the clubhouse roof?

The Board of Directors will hold a special meeting this Thursday (May 30 at 7 p.m. in the clubhouse) to consider two clubhouse-related expenditures: replacing the clubhouse roof for up to about $170,000 and tenting the clubhouse for termites at a cost of about $17,000.

It’s an unusual juxtaposition. Obviously, assuming both projects are necessary, we should be doing one at a time, so why are both things being placed on the same agenda? According to termite experts, if a building has a termite problem, it should be fumigated before any roof replacement. So why not take care of that first and then revisit the roof issue after the tenting is done? There was no mention of termite tenting at last week’s meeting of the Projects Committee, which voted to forward a positive recommendation for roof replacement to the Board of Directors. In fact, most committee members were probably not even aware of the issue, and the committee chair did not allow any comments or questions from the audience. (See meeting video here.) Had they known that the clubhouse was due for tenting, perhaps they would have tabled the roof replacement item as they did the issues of tree trimming and speed humps. Committee members’ main argument was that the roof is currently not insured and that hurricane season is coming. But by the time the termite tenting is done, we will already be well into hurricane season, as well as in the heart of the rainy season – not a good time to replace a roof. Besides, even a new roof is often no match for a major hurricane, as we have seen in the past, and then (if, God forbid, we have a hurricane) we would find ourselves having to replace our brand new roof. So wouldn't we be better off waiting until after hurricane season?

Some committee members also mentioned that they were not given the opportunity to examine the three roofing bids before the meeting so they could make a more informed recommendation. They apparently also did not examine the section in Criterium Engineers' report covering the clubhouse roof, which actually appears to describe it as not one roof, but separate roofs. Only the “Office/Indoor Pool roof” is described as poor, with “1 to 3 years remaining useful life.” But the main roof is described as being in “fair condition with approximately 3 to 5 years remaining useful life.” If that’s the case, why are we discussing replacing the roof for the entire clubhouse? With proper repairs, certified by our insurer, I believe we could get several more years out of the roof without having to dip into our limited special assessment account funds. After all, we have only about $400,000 left in the account with several other important projects to address and absolutely no other money in reserves to deal with a tropical storm, hurricane or other unforeseen circumstances. We need to save as much money as possible. To simply rely on imposing yet another special assessment is not fiscally responsible.

Obviously, there are many issues that need to be addressed before we make such a major decision as replacing the clubhouse roof. At a minimum, I hope we can get one or more of the roofers submitting bids to come to our meeting Thursday to answer questions of the Board so we can make as informed a decision as possible.