Date: February 11, 2014 6:30 pm Location: Ixonia Town Hall Ixonia, WI Owners in Duwayne Schaenzer #101 Attendance: Eida Dougherty # 102 Bob Buchta #107 Jim Moravec #112 Julio and Jennie Castillo #115, #212 Sarah Mueller #202 Jerry Laganowski #209 Tom Hagie #216 Barbara Brand #302 Terry Horst #306 Adeline Schultz #308 Sally Gleason #309 Harold Pete Schlaefer #312 Louie Brenning #313 Heather Dennison #314 Jim Hilgendorf #315 Owners Voting by M.M. Stanton, LLC #103, #104, #105, #106, #108, #109, #110, #111, #113, Proxy Appointment: #114, #116, #310, #311 (Jennie Castillo) Gail Surges #201 (Jennie Castillo) Dale Zastrow #207 (Jennie Castillo) Douglas Strache #208 (Jennie Castillo) Susan Stoltenburg #316 (Jennie Castillo 1 vote NOT to increase dues) Call to Order The meeting was called to order by Bob Buchta at 6:30 pm. A motion was made by Tom Hagie to approve the minutes from the January 29, 2013 Association and Board meetings. This motion was seconded by Jim Hilgendorf with unanimous consent from all present. Introduction of New Owners/Owners Present at the Meeting Everyone stated their name and Unit number as a matter of introduction. Jennie Castillo informed the group present that there were three new owners at Stanton Place East this year: James Moravec, #112, Joel Philbrick #213 and Pete Schlaefer #312. Welcome! Page 1 of 5
Management Committee/Board of Directors Bob Buchta initiated discussion about the continued effectiveness of the current owner-managed Association. Everyone was in agreement that the arrangement continued to work. Jennie Castillo indicated that she was willing to continue in her role handling the secretary and treasury duties. However, she is moving, so as of March 1, the Association address will change. She looked into opening a PO Box in Ixonia, but the lobby hours were not flexible enough for her to maintain that PO Box with her work schedule, so the address will change to her new home address. Jennie WILL leave the current drop box in the southeast lobby wall for dues and will check it a couple times a month, so owners can still deposit dues there if they wish. Bob Buchta indicated that with some pressing work issues on the horizon, he was looking for significant help to relinquish his position in the maintenance and vendor management roles for the association. There was a discussion as to what the role would entail, and Bob indicated the importance of someone needing to be available on short notice to tend to more emergency matters that might come up such as floods in units, fire alarm pulls, etc. Bob mentioned he would be willing to stay on and help someone new acclimate to the position as well. Bob then asked for names of people who might be interested in helping out in that capacity, and Adeline said her husband Cory Schultz would be interested. Also Louie Brenning said he would be interested as well. Everyone agreed that having Eida Dougherty appointed as the first point of contact for Association issues was working out well. The system helps to funnel the requests and concerns to the appropriate person and the Board agreed it was working out much better than having unit owners call them directly. Please continue to call Eida at 262-844-1113 for all Association related matters. Financial Report/Budget Approval Jennie Castillo opened the financial report discussion by addressing the following overages in the budget: 1) Lawn Care overages were a result of repairs needing to be made from the 2012 drought season. 2) The Snow Removal budget from this winter has been blown out of the water, and was almost double for last year. There is a new snow removal company this year who has been doing a great job, but the winter has just been one of the harshest in recent memory. The snow removal crew is the same company who does the landscaping for the Association, and they are going to work with the Association during the landscaping months to try to make up some of this overage by cutting back on cuttings and other services throughout the summer. But, as the winter continues on, Jennie Castillo indicated that Page 2 of 5
the Association was already within $3,000 of meeting their $8,000 budget for 2014. So, the hope is for a mild end to winter 2013-2014 and a mild beginning to winter 2014-2015. 3) Building Maintenance costs continue to rise as the buildings age. There were a lot of window, boiler and electrical repairs in the past year. Some of the regular maintenance items such as the basement cleanings and the dryer vent cleanings were not done as a result of lack of room in the budget. 4) Two areas of increase that will be re-bid this year are property insurance and trash removal. Jennie Castillo will rebid out the insurance when the insurance policy expires in March, and Bob Buchta will head up the rebidding of the trash removal. Advanced Disposal is the current provider. Sarah Mueller asked if the Association currently has equipment breakdown on the insurance policy. Jennie Castillo said she would check and email Sarah. 5) Jim Moravec asked about the sewer overages. Jennie Castillo explained that that Association had to pay an extra month this year because the Town switched their billing system changing up their quarters. So, instead of billing retroactively, they were going to be on a standard 4 quarter annual system now. This meant the Association had to make up a payment in 2013. But, in 2014, it will go back to normal again. Jennie Castillo explained that with those overages in the budget, the cash flow in the operating account has become more cash-in, cash-out than in recent years. But, there was still no need to use reserve account funds in 2013. Given the natural expectation of rising costs due to cost of living increases, and the need to ensure the Association remained financially solid, Jennie Castillo explained the need for the dues increase. She and Bob explained they felt this was a better way to handle ongoing increases than doing an assessment that may be unplanned for. An overall dues increase allows owners and the Association to better budget for the needs ahead. James Moravac asked how the dues were calculated, and Jennie Castillo explained that they were calculated on a square footage basis of the units, and then when adjusted, Jennie took into consideration the fact that the 1BR volume was higher in the units than 2BR s and 3BR s. 1BR dues proposed increase was $14 per unit per month, 2BR -$13 and 3BR-$12, so it was still kept pretty uniform across the board. With that information, Bob Buchta asked for a motion to approve the budget and the dues increase as outlined on the proposed budget. Sally Gleason moved to approve the budget and dues increase as proposed and Barbara Brand seconded with unanimous approval from those present. Discussion Regarding Vacant Parcel Bob Buchta opened the conversation about the vacant parcel to the north of building 2 and west of building 3. He informed the group that the bank had approached the Association about buying the Page 3 of 5
parcel, but it is way overpriced. Bob explained that per the condominium documents, someone who builds on that parcel before 2016 needs to be a part of our Association, and that the Association was approached by a developer about building apartment building there which would NOT be a part of the Association, and the Board said no. The Association would have to grant access and utility easements to anyone who wants to use that property at this point because it is currently landlocked. Jennie Castillo suggested just letting it sit, and eventually, if the bank wants it off their books, they might come up with a price that would be advantageous for the Association to pursue, but at this point, she felt it was best to let it sit. Bob Buchta mentioned that he felt it would be important for the Association to eventually have an attorney review the condo documents and make sure they are updated. Unit Financing/Sales Discussion Sarah Mueller brought up the conversation about financing of the units and that they were still considered non-warrantable. Jennie Castillo indicated that she previously had the project approved for 100% USDA Rural Development Financing for new buyers through Waterstone Mortgage, but that the qualification requirements change often, and the project may need to be resubmitted for re-approval. Sarah Mueller and Eida Dougherty indicated they were told by their refinancing providers that the reason they couldn t refinance was because of the investor ownership concentration of M.M. Stanton, LLC. Jennie Castillo informed the group that M.M. Stanton, LLC was trying to sell their units one by one as the leases expire. She indicated there was a lease option in the works for one of their units as well as a new 2BR listing at $82,500. She asked the group to send Buyers in because selling the units would help us all. She also indicated that the one-investor concentration was not the only problem lenders have, but the non-owner occupied units will also quickly become a problem. It is a situation that everyone hopes will work itself out as the market improves. Additionally, Eida Dougherty mentioned the tenant issues in Building 1 have decreased significantly since M.M. Stanton, LLC bought the rental units from the developer. So, that is a positive note. Barbara Brand asked if the USDA Rural Development Program could be used for refinancing. Jennie Castillo said no, only initial purchases. Election/Re-Election of Current Board of Directors Bob Buchta opened up the floor for anyone to nominate themselves to the current Board of Directors. No one volunteered. Jennie Castillo then asked for all ballots to be left with her before everyone left. The current 3 person board remains in place Bob Buchta, Jennie Castillo and Eida Dougherty. Page 4 of 5
New Business/Old Business Barbara Brand brought up a concern about the weed cutting on the vacant lot. Bob Buchta indicated that was Ixonia Bank s responsibility since they owned the lot, and the Town should be enforcing that. Louie Brenning brought up the issue of dirty stairwells. Jennie Castillo indicated that the Association had hired a carpet cleaning crew to take care of that this year, but Louie indicated they were bad again in his building and that perhaps mats would help. Jennie Castillo said a mat service was not really in the budget right now, and Louie suggested buying mats at the hardware store, and throwing them away when they are in bad shape. No resolution was reached on this matter. Tom Hagie offered to help get a crew/committee together for cleaning of the basements which may help with the dirt and salt tracked up the stairwells. Sally Gleason brought up a safety issue of the address numbers not being listed on the outside of the building for Fire/EMT professionals to be able to find units efficiently. Bob Buchta agreed that this was a concern, and he is going to talk to Gary Timmel at Oconomowoc Sign to see what kinds of ideas Gary might have for the Association. Building 3 appears to have an issue with people parking in the wrong spots. Just a reminder that all the parking spots are assigned with title to each unit please check your title policy to confirm your parking space. Please only park in your assigned spots unless you have made solid arrangements with another owner. Please see below for the assigned spots. Do not park in any spot not assigned to you. ALL 1BR units have one spot, ALL 3BR units have 3 spots, and the ONLY 2BR units I show having 2 spots are Unit 301 and Unit 309. Unit 308 and 316 each have 1 spot. Problems in the underground parking should be addressed with each other. And, any owner who has tenants must ensure their tenants are not parking any spot other than their assigned spot. Adjournment With no other business to discuss, a motion to adjourn was made by Tom Hagie at 7:47 pm and seconded by Jim Hilgendorf. Page 5 of 5