Annual Meeting 2023
MINUTES OF THE ANNUAL MEETING OF THE
BROOKRIDGE CONDOMINIUM AND HOMEOWNERS' ASSOCIATION
https://sites.google.com/site/brookridgehoa/Home
The annual meeting of the Brookridge Condominium and Homeowners' Board of Directors was held on May 30, 2023 at the JCMW. Present at the meeting were: Paul Spindel (Unit #1), President; Monica Teuscher (Unit #43), Vice President; Leslie Molinoff (Unit #45), Secretary; Paul Roberts (Unit #40), Treasurer, and Ann Gittelman (Unit #31), Member at Large - all of whom are Directors constituting a quorum.
Also present were Joe Badolato, Property Manager: Michael Leonard, Assistant Property Manager, Alexis Ferrara, Property Manager; and owner representatives from units 3, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 13, 14, 15, 21, 29, 37, 39, 42, 44, 46, 48, 49, 51, 53 and 55.
Paul Spindel acted as Chair of the meeting and Leslie Molinoff took the minutes.
CALL TO ORDER AT 7:35 PM.
The President introduced the new owners of Unit #51, Eric Weinstein and Natasha Arora who will be moving in mid-June, and welcomed them to Brookridge. He introduced the Board and the Ferrara Management representatives. He also acknowledged the passing of our beloved resident, Louise Clark (Unit #41) and wished a speedy recovery to Joann Marx and Elliott Malki.
President’s Report – Paul Spindel:
Paul highlighted the ways in which Brookridge is much more than a neighborhood; that we enjoy the meaningful involvement of many of our residents which makes us more cohesive and engenders community spirit. For example:
We have the involvement of a number of volunteers who help with the testing of the pool chemicals 3 times daily, a task which would otherwise require the hiring of an attendant.
We are fortunate to have the input of a professional horticulturalist, Ned Greenberg, who walks the property with Monica to inspect the health of our trees and shrubbery.
We have the input from Andi Stix and Elliott Malki, who each did an enormous amount of research on solar panels on behalf of the community.
We have Peter Clark, who entertained us throughout the duration of the pandemic and continues periodically to give concerts.
We have facilitators for several pickle ball groups and the numbers of players keep growing.
These are just some examples of our resident involvement, and we have a strong sense of community as a result. Paul indicated that there are several projects being contemplated for the next 2-5 years that could benefit from a collaborative effort between the Board and several volunteer committees, which he indicated he would bring up later in the meeting.
He also summarized of some of the major projects that were completed during the year which he indicated would be more fully addressed by individual Board members later in the meeting:
The condo conversion
The exterior painting project
New Mailboxes
Slope Improvements to help prevent flooding
Roadway Pothole Repairs
Pool Inspection Compliance – (changing the 1/2” tiles to 6 inches in order to obtain this year’s pool permit)
Continuing street light bulb conversion to LEDs.
On a humorous note, he awarded Vivian Ruben the 2023 Green Thumb Award!!!
Congrats, Vivian!!! Well deserved!!
Treasurer’s Report – Paul Roberts
At the moment, we are running a $10K surplus against our budget and have total funds of approx... $665K, $500K of which is invested in laddered CD's and insured government bonds, yielding 5% and generating approx. $2.1K a month in interest. Our common charges will NOT be increased this year, as has been the case for the last 4 ½ years, but we changed the allocation between operating expenses and reserves by $5. We continue to use Flagstar Bank (which bought Signature Bank) and all of our funds are covered either by the bank’s insurance or by the US government.
Landscaping Report – Monica
Every two years we get our trees trimmed by Bartlett Tree Company, which does a wonderful job of preserving their shape and health. We usually do this in two phases, the perimeter trees and the interior trees. The tree trimming has been completed for this cycle. Our newly (last season) planted rose garden amid the rocks on the hill beside the pool are thriving and beautiful! Please take a look when you have a moment. Our professional landscaper, Nancy, maintains the two islands, the entrance driveway flowers and box and the pool box, all of which look great. We just finished planting the community vegetable garden and look forward to seeing the fruits of our labors starting in a few weeks.
The Painting Project, Pool, Tennis/Pickleball Court and POOP - Ann Gittelman
Our $300K + exterior painting project came in pretty much on time and on budget, and, from most of the feedback received, residents are happy with the result. The first touch-up will probably be scheduled in the Spring of 2024. Our contract provides for two touch-ups.
Pool - Unit owners should have to no more than a group of 6 guests (including themselves) at the pool at any one time to continue to be mindful of social distancing and to avoid general overcrowding, especially on weekends. Please observe this rule and please remember to close umbrellas and return lounges and chairs to pool deck before leaving. Pool parties are allowed during week days (not weekends) during regular pool hours with advance notice to the Board and its approval, and with the understanding that the pool will remain open to residents during the party. Under discussion is whether to require the party host to hire a lifeguard. The total pool capacity is 32 which should be taken into consideration and adhered to by the party host.
The tennis/pickle ball court continues to get more and more use. This year, there can be TWO SIGN-UPS a week, but not for 2 consecutive hours during the same day.
Poop continues to be a very unpleasant issue. Dog owners, their guests and dog walkers must clean up after their pets and deposit waste in the dog owner’s waste receptacles, NOT in our common area garbage pails.
Property Tax Reduction – Leslie Molinoff
As of this writing, The City has corrected the 2023 assessments as of June 1 to reflect our condominium status. By now, you have probably received a written notification from the City Assessor alerting you to your 2023 assessment. Our attorney has reviewed the 2023 assessment roll and confirmed that the reductions in assessed values for each unit are in conformity with our tax certiorari settlement.
The notice identifies your 2022 assessment, the corrected 2023 assessment and the overall change in the assessed value. If you divide the assessment change figure by your 2022 assessment, you can determine the % reduction for your unit. The reduced assessed value for 2023 will be the figure upon which your future tax bills are based.
YOU DO NOT NEED TO TAKE ANY ACTION as a result of receiving this letter.
With respect to the refund we will receive for the years 2019 – 2022, thus far, the City and School District have been unable to provide us, with certainty, the anticipated formal approval dates. The School Attorney has advised us that she is trying to get the settlement formally approved by the Board of Education. But we can still expect a delay of at least 9 more months from now. Those refunds will be apportioned in accordance with the assessment reductions set forth in the Judgment, which were based on the rental rates for each unit concluded by our appraiser. Our attorney will handle the distribution and each and every unit that participated in the conversion will received a check, closing statement and letter of explanation.
A question was asked at the meeting about the approximate percentage of reduction in taxes we can expect. See the answer (per our attorney) above in “red" ---- which should compute to approximately 29%. There will be some owners that achieve bigger % reductions and others that achieve smaller % reductions. The assessment relief being implemented will vary based on a myriad of factors, including, but not limited to the fact that the assessments for various owners were previously reduced while the assessments for similar units were not. With respect to unit owners who pay their property taxes as part of their mortgage payment, most banks will not change the monthly escrow withholding amounts until the bank has the chance to review several tax bills based on the corrected assessment. If owners wish to alert their banks they can, but they may get different responses.
Another question was raised about whether the refund amount will be considered income for tax return reporting purposes. Per our attorney subsequent to the meeting, you should check with your accountant.
A third question was asked about the duration of the 2023 reassessment. Per our attorney subsequent to the meeting, the 2023 assessment will be frozen for 2024 and 2025.
Results of Election of 3 Board Members: Three Board members were up for re-election: Paul Spindel, President, Paul Roberts, Treasurer and Leslie Molinoff, Secretary. In addition to the votes cast by attendees, included in the tally were proxies from units 2, 4, 11, 19, 25, 47 and 54.The two Pauls and Leslie were re-elected. Congratulations!!!
New Business – Paul Spindel
Two long-range projects:
Replacement of Garage Doors – Most of our garage doors are more than 30 years old and at some point will need to be replaced. The Board has done some research on the cost of a new custom-made wood door to match what already exists as per the architectural requirements in our By-Laws. The best price was approximately $15K. The Board felt that requiring unit owners to invest that much for a new door would be burdensome and are examining other options, while trying to maintain our concern for architectural uniformity. A plain new metal door without any façade costs about $3,000 and can be painted to match the existing doors. The Board would like to enlisted volunteers to do more research on this topic and make recommendations. If anyone is interested in heading up this committee, please contact a board member.
Solar Panels – Although in our recent survey, the majority of residents (75%) would not like there to be solar panels on the front roof of any unit, legally we cannot prevent this and one resident is going forward with installation. Once again, in the interest of maintaining architectural uniformity, the Board would like to enlist volunteers to make recommendations on the “look” of any front panels, frame color? size? placement (horizontal or vertical)?, or whether we should try to have any standard at all. If anyone is interested in heading up this committee, please contact a board member.
An opportunity to get involved: We would like a volunteer to manage our web site. If you are qualified and interested, please contact a board member.
Questions:
Arielle Churba asked if we could get the community sprayed for mosquitoes. The Board will look into this.
Barbara Schiff asked about the status of Unit #6 arrears, Paul Spindel explained the history of that situation for our new residents but said the bottom line is that the estate of the deceased owner, not the resident “squatters,” is responsible for the fees we are owed. The estate is in the hands of the courts. Wells Fargo, the mortgage holder, is paying the city taxes and is trying to foreclose, but the courts are extremely backed up, which has been the case since the start of the pandemic.
The next Board meeting will be held on July 18th at Ann Gittelman’s house.
There being no further business before the Board, upon motion made and duly seconded, the meeting was adjourned at approximately 8:15P.M.
Respectfully submitted,
Leslie Molinoff, Secretary