Aquarius Condominium Association

Minutes of the Board Meeting,    March 7, 2011

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CALL TO ORDER:  The meeting was called to order by President Pablo Villagra @ 7:08 PM

ESTABLISHMENT OF A QUORUM:            A quorum was established.  Present were Pablo Villagra, Alla Sapozhinikov, Arkady Chase & Paul Finfer.  Absent: Robert Leviyev.

READING OF THE MINUTES:            Secretary Paul Finfer read the minutes of the Meeting of January 26, 2011.  Mr. Chase Made a motion to approve the Minutes as read.  The motion was seconded by Mr. Villagra and approved by the unanimous vote of the Board, without comment.

STATUS OF PROJECTS:

Domestic Risers:                   Arkady Chase brought the Unit Owners up to date on the status of the Domestic Riser Project with an in-depth presentation of where we are on this project.  There have been several approaches reviewed with the engineer.  Further, board members have made their own study on the subject to make sure that the most intelligent decision is made.  We currently have two sets of 2-1/2 ” risers for each line.  We have one set of risers feeding the first 9 floors and the second set feeding floor 10 to the PH.  We have one pressure regulator for the lower floors and the upper floors pressure is regulated naturally due to the loss in pressure per foot of riser.  A brief study indicates that we have a wide range of water pressure depending on the floor.  The current design being studied is the installation of one rise per line using the previously presented tapered approach beginning with 2-1/2″ on the second floor and ending with 1-1/4″ riser in the PH.  There will be a pressure regulator for each unit so that we will have uniform pressure in each unit – even if all Unit Owners turned all the water in their units on, at the same time.  We believe that this approach will simplify the horizontal design.  The next step is to have another engineer do a peer review of the design to ensure we are moving in the right direction.

Waterproofing & Concrete Restoration:                        Pablo Villagra gave an update on this project.  The engineer’s specifications that were sent out for bid included in-depth construction details that would entail waterproofing all our surfaces.  We had various discussions and an in-depth meeting with the engineer to develop a top level scope of work.  Currently, we are looking at the complete waterproofing of the pool decks and expansion joints; restoration of the West pool; addition of collector tanks for both pools; restoration of the 2nd floor garage cantilever; raising the entrance to the lobby to allow access of a rescue vehicle to the lobby; and waterproofing the planters in the lobby plaza entrance that are leaking – including the expansion joints.  The next step in the process is to bring in an architect to develop a plan to finish the decks and the lobby plaza area.

Restaurant:              Paul Finfer brought the Unit Owners up to date on the status of the Restaurant.  He first thanked the 2010 Restaurant Committee for all the work that they did on taking inventory, and updating the condition of all existing restaurant supplies & equipment; meeting with and interviewing the couple that applied to run our restaurant; and for beginning discussions with Chef Anthony on the satisfaction of his and our claims.  As of the date of this meeting (March 7th), arrangements are being made for further interviews by Board Members, due diligence, and the revising and updating the former contract with Chef Anthony, so that it can be in place for use in the signing of our next restaurant operator.  We are shooting for April first as the date for re-opening the restaurant.

GYM A/C AND NORTH TOWER HVAC BOILER:           An update was given which included a discussion of disassembling the A/C unit on the roof of the gym and it’s replacement with a 10 – 12 ton indoor A/C unit that would hang in the space between the inside of the gym ceiling and the currently hung ceiling.   The project also include a new HVAC boiler.  This discussion also included a comparison of costs of this approach versus a complete overall/replacement of the currently non-working unit on the gym roof, including the additional costs of bringing it up to Code.

OTHER OLD BUSINESS:

Second Story Garage Panels:           Alla Sapozhinikov brought the unit owners up to date as to what was being done in this area.  Ms. Sapozhinikov is working with a designer concerning the “look” of the panels and has contacted potential vendors.  Mention was made of the fact that this project cannot move forward beyond these initial steps until the issue of the structural soundness of the garage’s bearing walls has been addressed.  In the meantime, we will take down the old framing so that the garage will have a clean, open and airy look.

Repair of the North and South Tower Roof A/C Units:         A very brief discussion was held with respect to the repairs that had to be made to the roof A/C units on each tower (disassembly, reassembling, and replacement of non-working valves).

Elevator Issues:             Arkady Chase briefly discussed the issues that we are having with both the elevators (including the temporary loss of use of the elevator phones).  Also discussed was the deterioration of the quick response to repair/replacement  items and the use of less qualified repair people by ThyssenKrupp, our current repair & parts replacement company.  The Board will contact and have discussions with Thyssen-Krupp with respect to improving the latter issues.

Financial:                Copies of the 2009 and 2010 Capital Expenditures Report, as well as the January 2011 Profit and Loss/ Budget versus Actual, were distributed to the Unit Owners present.

NEW BUSINESS:

From Unit Owner Database to Condominium Website:      Paul Finfer briefly discussed the Board’s decision to move forward towards the creation of an Aquarius Condominium Website (within two months) for, among other things, to create a formal but very user-friendly vehicle, for the timely dissemination of information to all unit Owners. Such information will initially include Financial Reports, Board Minutes, Project Updates, and other items that will keep unit owners current with all that is going on here.  It will also become a way to access Association By-Laws, the Declaration of Condominium, Operating Rules & Regulations, etc.  To this end, a request was made for all Unit Owners that have and use computers or other devices that enable them to access the Internet, to submit their current Email addresses so that certain information will start arriving even before the website is up.  Ultimately, the Website will give all Units their own Mail Box (with their own unique passwords) and the ability to do many things.

There being no further business to be brought before the Board, Mr. Finfer made a motion to adjourn the meeting.  The motion was seconded by Mr. Villagra and passed unanimously by the Board at 9:27pm.

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED:

Paul M. Finfer, Secretary   (signature)

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