April 2010 Annual Meeting Minutes

*The below notes are NOT official minutes and are a recap. For full text, contact a board member.*

Minutes of the Annual Meeting
MacLaren Hill Condominium Association
April 19, 2010
1392 Carling Drive Lounge Area

Officers Present:
President, Kerry Scott
Vice President, Allison Sandve
Secretary, Catherine Mason
Treasurer, Rich Robbins

Board Members Present:
John Guyer
Erv Berg
Carolann Winther
Sandy Durand and property Manager Bill Gores represented Durand and Associates.

An informational session preceded the meeting. Representatives of the Port Authority and Ever-green Energy came to talk about the proposed changes in the heating/cooling system. (For notes on that session, see New Business item A at the end of the Minutes.)

Call to Order
The meeting started at 7:35 p.m. At that time, we were assured we had a quorum, so President Kerry Scott went ahead with approval of the Minutes of the 2009 Annual Meeting, approval of the Agenda and Officers’ reports even though we did not have the certification numbers determined yet. John Guyer moved to approve the Agenda for the 2010 meeting and the Minutes of the 2009 meeting. Allison Sandve seconded. The motion carried. Proof of Notice of Annual Meeting was presented. The notice was sent out on March 25, 2010.

At 7:45 p.m. the roll and proxies were certified with 24.99 % of homeowners present and 27.71% represented by proxy. No indication of the proxies that were sent to Durand and Associates to be counted only and are not to be included in the voting for members of the Board was provided. The total representation was 52.70%.

President’s Report
Kerry Scott, current president, thanked everyone for serving the Association, especially our outgoing Board Members. All who participated in Association activities, including the planning of the Association summer ice cream social and the holiday get together were thanked for their efforts. Kerry has been on the Board for six years and has decided not to continue. Several Board members left during the year, Carol Roth had health issues, Tom Duke moved, and Dean Reed had personal reasons for leaving the Board. Carolann Winther, Erv Berg, and Allison Sandve stepped in to fill out the remaining length of the terms of the Board members who had resigned. At the 2009 Annual Meeting, Bill Gores indicated that Bigos owed the Association a considerable amount of money for its share of the heating/cooling costs. This proved to be wrong. The confusion regarding the heating/cooling billing with Bigos was due to the labeling of the bills. There was no money owed to us by Bigos. On Association finances, Kerry talked about the fact that in the past five years we have not raised dues. We have worked hard as a Board to control costs by being proactive in selecting vendors and repairing rather than replacing where possible. The property is in good condition. Recently, we have undertaken a search for a new way to manage the Association. Originally, the Board considered a plan with a separation of the management and the financial accounting, but in the end a new full-service management company was chosen. Jason Parr of JSP will be introduced at the end of the meeting. Another concern is the outside lighting. The lighting system for the Association is controlled in the hotel building and there are problems with it. It is being reviewed and some changes are probably needed. We have asphalt work that needs to be done, but it is only surface—the understructure is in good condition. There are some major landscaping being planned. For 2010, there is $10,000 in the budget for landscape replacement for the townhouses and $10,000 in the budget for the Atrium buildings. A request was made to take pride in our neighborhood and pick up the trash around the buildings. Also pick the rock up off the lawns. Finally, take some responsibility for safety and if something seems untoward, please call the police. Recently, two units went through foreclosure and they were both sold and are owner occupied. There has been water infiltration in the Atrium buildings this spring. In the past we had a fire with the heat tape on the roof of the Atrium building. The Board considered a number of options regarding preventing ice damming. We went with Jeff Berg from Durand and Associates recommendation to put in bubble packing. This failed to keep us from getting ice dams. We will need to be vigilant in removing the snow from the roofs and/or come up with a new system to keep the area under the roof cold in the winter so that the ice dams will not build up. Better ventilation is needed. It was noted that 2009 was an especially bad year for ice dams in MN.

Vice President’s Report
Allison Sandve is the current vice president of this Association. She has also been involved in the Communication Committee. She thanked the homeowners for their patience with us during this transitional period.

Secretary’s Report
There was no secretarial information to report. The Association files are currently being maintained by Durand and Associates and will be transferred to our new management company. Old files are on property and are still in need of attention. Some old material needs to be removed and other information needs to be put into files. Homeowners are asked to volunteer to help with this project.

Treasurer’s Report
Rich Robbins has been our treasurer for about four months. He did not provide a report, but indicated that Bill Gores would update us on the state of the Association financially.

Committee Reports

Atrium Committee Report
Carolann Winther has taken over as the chair of this committee. She reported that the committee meets on the second Wednesday of the month. Homeowners are invited to attend and participate in the Association. The location rotates between the Atrium buildings. The next project is the planting of the Atrium planters and homeowners are requested to help out.

Townhouse Committee Report
Catherine Mason reported on this committee. In 2009 we welcomed several new townhouse owners to the Association. Some concerns were the storage of materials on decks and in the Association common areas. In addition, landscape is an issue. Some parts of the Association landscaping are over 20 years old, so we need to replace aging landscape material including the arbor vitae in front of the townhouses and some of the bushes along Spencer Road. In the summer of 2009, the Board authorized the money to relocate some of the sprinkler heads to better water the lawn. Finally, it was suggested that painting be done on an annual basis to better maintain the property and to spread out the cost. This committee is meeting on the second Saturday of the month in the 1392 lower lounge area at 9:32 a.m.

Social Committee Report
John Guyer has been serving as the chair for the Social Committee. He organized the ice cream social in the summer and the holiday pot luck party that was held in the 1372 building which was beautifully decorated for the occasion. Both events were successful. In addition, John maintains the Association web site. He indicated that the slide show of the Port Authority presentation will be put up as soon as it is received.

Landscape Committee Report
Rich Robbins is the chair of the landscape committee. He reported that the committee is working hard now to plan what we would like to see around our grounds with regard to replacing edging and plants and rock. We are also concerned with the emerald ash borer. Around the two western-most townhouse buildings there are about 50% of our Association ash trees. So far, no trees are infected.

Annual Manager’s Report
Bill Gores, the Property Manager, gave his report on the current state of the Association. The Association is financially solid. The final audit figures are not available yet. There are no lawsuits against the Association currently. Insurance is carried in adequate amount. It comes up for renewal in October of this year. Unpaid assessments for the entire Association are approximately $6,500.

General Meeting
Nominations
There are three vacancies to be filled on the Board. The candidates listed in the packet were Kerry Scott and Catherine Mason. Kerry Scott had decided not to run for re-election at this time. Susan Schnasse submitted her name in nomination. Caitrin Mullan has also placed her name in nomination. Nominations were taken from the floor. Erv Berg nominated Greg Barron. After the votes of the homeowners were tabulated, it was announced that the new Board members are: Catherine Mason, Caitrin Mullan and Greg Barron.

Old Business
The issue of the heating/cooling payments supposedly owed by Bigos was discussed under the President’s report. Again, it has been determined that there was an error of understanding and no money was ever owed to the Association. Bigos was being billed correctly.

New Business
A. Energy Park Heating and Cooling Project:
Laurie Hansen, representative of The St. Paul Port Authority, was present to explain the proposed change to the heating/cooling system. The Port Authority hopes that the change will take place beginning this summer. A slide presentation was given about what is coming in the next year or two. The Energy Park Heating and Cooling plant will be changed from a two-pipe to a four-pipe system. The Port Authority will continue to own the system for heating and cooling. Ever-green Energy manages the system. The representatives from Ever-green Energy, Andrew Kasid and Jeff Volovsek, explained what the new system would allow. We would be able to have either heating or cooling as we determine. The water will come from a central boiler and a central chiller through the different pipes. Right now there are critical times when there is the need to changeover from heating to cooling and that takes time. With the four-pipe system, the homeowners can have heating or cooling when the businesses have the opposite. The Port Authority will need to put in new pipes. It will entail some construction on property. Each building will be able to choose heating or cooling as required. When asked to clarify what he meant by “building,” the representative explained that means heating or cooling can be chosen at our central distribution point. This means that because our heating/cooling comes through the Association garage, the entire Association, both Atrium buildings and townhouses, will need to choose heating or cooling. There are going to be changes in the rates and the charges for the heating/cooling. More information on the economics will be provided later. Energy Park/The Port Authority will need to come back to us to get our agreement on the changeover to the energy system. The Port Authority is working to determine costs and will present to us what will be a cost-effective system for us. We have the possibility to opt out, but then we would need to find an alternate source of energy. One unique aspect of a central system is that you do not need to have your own furnace and/or central air conditioner. The other benefit is with energy savings that the central system can provide. The Port Authority through Ever-green Energy can interrupt the system to conserve energy/ make use of cheaper alternatives for providing energy. As to the timetable: right now they are in design and engineering phase. The financing will come from consumer use, Port Authority money, and bonds. The bond is a revenue bond and the financing rate will be based on the history of the system, the payments that have been made, etc. This will affect how much we pay for our energy in the future. The individual units will not require retrofitting because the entire complex (our Association and Bigos’ part of the Atrium buildings) will be changed at the main input source (the pumps in the Association garage.) We will need to make a plan as to how and when to changeover from heating to cooling and vice versa. The Port Authority is looking at about a 16-month period for planning and construction. The new pipes will run alongside the current pipes and it does not appear that the current pipes will need to be replaced. The old pipes have about a 50-year lifetime and the new pipes will have about a 100-year lifetime. The Port Authority is operating on the knowledge that different users have different needs at different times and so a four-pipe system would serve more people. Two years ago the Port Authority met with all the “major groups” to discuss with them the plan for this new project. There was a consensus at the meeting that we had not been consulted. The representative from Ever-green explained that Bill Gores had attended a meeting where the general terms were discussed. Bill Gores indicated that the follow-up meeting he expected had not occurred. In any case, the Association was not informed of the proposed change by either the Port Authority or Durand and Associates. The new project is based on the use of new technology and a European model that uses renewable energy sources such as wood chips. A request was made that the Port Authority provide the Association and homeowners with some further information about what are our options and the opportunity to see the plan in print so that we can understand it. Having the control of the system would allow us to maintain heat in the spring and fall when we want it and the businesses want cooling. However, it appears that the four-pipe system would be controlled in one place for all the townhouses, the Atrium buildings and the Kendrick. It was stated that our contract is running out in July of 2012 and that we will need to determine what we want to do about providing heating/cooling for our property. It is the position of the representative of Ever-green Energy that we will need to opt into a system by then or go out and get alternative heating/cooling. Homeowners were reminded that there is no gas line for this area at all and we would need to acquire electric heat.

B. New Management Company:
The new management company was introduced to the membership. Jason Parr is the head of the company. He handed out welcome packets to the owners. The new maintenance person’s name is Matt. JSP will take over on May 1st and have been working with Durand and Associates for the last couple of weeks on the transition.

C. Lighting problems:
The wire for the Association lighting on property (the lamps on the fire lane, on Spencer Road and on Carling Drive) was originally laid without being put into any protective conduit. There are recurring problems with the system including the breakers in the hotel and breaks in the lines underground. Muska Lighting is working to determine the extent of the problem and to provide the Board with options for future repairs. It should be at least two weeks before there are working lights again.

Kerry Scott was thanked for her work for the Association. With the completion of the business section, the meeting was adjourned at 8:50 p.m. Joe Schnide moved. John Guyer seconded.