Letter to Mayor Bob Buckhorn

The following letter was sent to Mayor Bob Buckhorn on behalf of of Skypoint:

777 N ASHLEY DRIVE, TAMPA, FLORIDA 33602

Mayor Bob Buckhorn

City of Tampa, Mayor's Office
306 East Jackson Street
Tampa, FL 33602

Dear Mayor Buckhorn:

I am the current Board of Directors President for the Skypoint Condominium Association, located across from Curtis Hixon Park in downtown Tampa.  I am encouraged by your renewed focus on enrichment and development projects centered around the downtown area.  Having lived at Skypoint for three years, I believe in a thriving city center for a more efficient and livable city.

On behalf of the residents of Skypoint we would like to bring to your attention three concerns: the safety of our surrounding neighborhood,  parking, and noise.

SAFETY:

Last evening one of our long time residents was walking with his two dogs across the Zack Street crosswalk with a walk signal.  A vehicle traveling north on Ashley made a right on red onto Zack Street and struck the resident and his dogs at slow speed.  Luckily there were no serious injuries, but I think you can agree that the outcome of this incident could have been tragic. 

Turning Zack into a two way street has increased the danger to our residents as they cross the intersections.  We are asking that all streets that immediately border our building be designated as no turn on red intersections.

A recent attack at the Ft. Brooke parking garage also concerns me because of the increased number of homeless that appear to be taking refuge downtown.  There is a perception that this increased homeless population has not been met by increased police patrols.  I also know that many residents will not frequent local businesses after dark because they are simply scared of being attacked.  We ask that for the safety of our residents and the vitality of our local businesses that you please look into increasing patrolling of downtown either on foot or by marked/unmarked vehicles.

PARKING:

The zoning for Skypoint was pushed through during the great building boom of 2005.  The city approved our building with the bare minimum in terms of resident and guest parking.  Directly across the street from Skypoint is the underutilized Poe garage.  We would respectfully request that you consider granting Skypoint the use of a small number of parking spaces on the top floor of the garage to alleviate our guest parking problem.  We would also like for you to consider zoning the parking on Polk St. directly adjacent to our building  as a Skypoint loading zone that can be used by the many contractors that service the building.  Currently contractors have no approved on site parking while servicing our residents.

NOISE NUISSANCE:

The CSX railroad is an important link between our port and inland as well as east coast Florida cities.  We understand the value of this important transportation component to the local economy.  The noise produced by the passing train is something that I understand can be mitigated by establishing a "quiet zone" around both our building and our sister building, Element.  We would like the office of the Mayor to assist us in designating the area adjacent to our two buildings as a "quiet zone".    

Skypoint is home to nearly 800 residents.  As the first residential high rise ever to be built in downtown Tampa we feel a certain pride and responsibility to our community.  We believe that by addressing these three important issues you will improve the quality of life for our residents and future residents, increase our property values, and give a boost to local businesses.

When would you have time to meet with me to discuss these items and how we can best work together to find a mutually agreeable solution? I may be reached at 813.699.0755.

Respectfully, 

Jeffrey S. Zampitella

President, Skypoint Condominium Association, Inc.

Skypoint Skylife Facebook page

I have created a facebook page for the new branded socials from our management company - Skypoint Skylife. 

This new page will allow for social networking of our Skypoint Skylife events and a place to interact with your neighbors, management, and the Board of Directors. 

You can find the facebook page at: www.Facebook.com/Skypointskylife

Skypoint Skylife

Happiness is serious business.  That is the motto at Continental our new property management company.  Continental started their work managing Skypoint on November 1, 2012.  They immediately set out to create a new social feel for Skypoint.  Their idea - Skypoint Skylife.

 

Skylife is a way of living here at Skypoint.  It's a new feel for a beautiful building that centers around social activities that Continental is very good at executing. 

 

The recent Skylife Holiday decorating party was the first event.  Sandy Guillette (our Vice President) had an idea.  He and his wife Melody thought that the first event to be thrown by Continental should be in the lobby and centered around our beautiful tree.  The turn out was quite impressive.  Over 100 residents and their guest showed up for the Holiday decorating party. Check out the pictures on Facebook

 

The next event will be held on December 4.  This is the Skylife 8 on 8 social.  I hear Continental is working on a specialty drink to be called the Skylife, served in a branded glass.  Skylife looks to be on track to be an impressive idea. 

 

Skylife socials are tentatively planned throughout 2013. 

 



www.facebook.com/Skypointskylife

Skypoint Wish List

Earlier this year Skypoint residents responded to a survey that I commissioned regarding our North Garden Terrace Deck.  The responses were nearly unanimous - It was underutilized and the pool deck was at times overused.  At the top of the list were the desire for additional grills.

If I have the honor to serve on the Board in 2013 this will be a top priority prior to the busy summer season.  Ideally at least two additional grills would be added and the pergola replaced with one similar to those found on the pool deck.  

Electricity use is also a hot button topic.  Vice President, Sandy Guillette, recently began an audit of our energy use with the help of a third party vendor (this was done at no charge to Skypoint).  The efficiency of our building is, frankly, embarrassing. 

For example the developer installed 440 volt electrical lines in the garage, most likely to save money by allowing less lines to be installed and more fixtures to be operated on each line.  Each round fixture in the garage uses a 400 volt, metal halide bulb that burns just under 300 watts of electricity per hour.  Until recently these bulbs burned 24/7 at a tremendous electrical cost. 

For about $800 we recently separated the emergency circuit from the normal circuit for the garage lighting and put the lights on a timer. About 60% of the lights on floors 3-7 go out each day during daylight hours. Already this resulting in lower electrical costs.

Because each round garage fixture has a manufacturers useful life of 7 years it makes sense to begin to plan for a more efficient replacement.  Sandy is spearheading the effort to stage replace the garage lighting with LED fixtures and bulbs over the next few years.  Not only will this save on electrical costs, we get a rebate of 17 cents per watt reduced from Teco once we can prove that the new lighting was installed (show the receipt!).  That's approximately $1400/ garage floor in rebates just for doing something that will need to be done within 2 years anyway.

My Proudest Accomplishment - New Skypoint Property Management

I have been so lucky to have served the Skypoint residents since May 2012.  What brought me to the Board and ultimately the Presidency was the mis-handling by the 2012 elected Board of Directors of the first property management selection.

The three elected Board members of 2012 (January to May - Former President, January to September - Former Vice President and Secretary) set on a mission to replace our management company, who at the time was Homeowners Advantage.  Homeowners Advantage was the management company from the day Skypoint opened, an arm of the Developer Novare/Skypoint LLC.

There was no disputing the fact that the management company needed to be changed.  It was the way in which the elected board members went about the process.  I was outraged by what was being done to Skypoint.  My campaign to expose this process began and ultimately led me to being asked to serve on the Board of Directors, by two of the remaining elected board members and the Retail/Commercial Directors.

What started as a crusade to expose the process and  reverse the original decision to go with a management company called AMG found me being voted as the new Skypoint Board President.  I made a promise to myself that we will select a new management company, but this time it will be done above board, and with fully transparency,  in open, public resident meetings.

Immediately I began talks with our property manager to learn from his twenty something years in city government and his extensive knowledge of the Request for Proposal (RFP) process.  If the Board of Directors was to select a new Property management company this was the most honest and thorough way to go, though very time consuming.

The RFP process began with the Board of Directors creating a Property Management Committee.  This committee was tasked with creating the specifications for the RFP.  Within weeks the committee had done its job and presented to the Board an RFP package that included strict pre-qualifications for any company that was thinking of submitting a proposal.  The Board adopted the committee's recommended RFP and directed the committee to advertise the RFP and to collect all proposals.

The RFP was advertised and also sent directly to over 50 companies.  In the end 14 proposals were received.  Three were immediately eliminated due to them not meeting the pre-qualifying criteria.  The committee then developed a standard scoring criteria that was distributed to the all committee members.  Each committee member independently scored each proposal and then convened for a meeting to average the scores. 

When the committee meeting ended there were six finalists that remained.  These finalists were then recommended to the Board for review.  Each Board member was given the same task as the property management committee members -  to independently score each proposal based on the developed scoring criteria.

A Special Board meeting was called and the individual scores were added to come up with an average for each company.  At the end of that meeting there were four companies that were invited to come to Skypoint for a Board administered open interview.

Once again the property management committee developed a standard question set to be asked of all companies.  There was also a standard scoring criteria that was developed for each Board member to keep in mind while scoring each company independently. These scores combined and averaged.

In the end this extensive and thorough process led to two companies being selected, one primary and one secondary.  The task that the Board then gave me was to negotiate the best possible contract with the primary winner and if need be to go to the secondary winner if the primary was not willing or able to meet our contract requirements.

Two additional special Board meetings were called to review the contract that was negotiated with The Continental Group.  It ended with Skypoint getting a very favorable contract with a class act company. 

If I am not elected to the Board next year I will always be proud of what I, along with the property management committee and the other Board members, have done for Skypoint residents with respect to our new management company.  The process was long, tedious, and frustrating at times, but I can honestly say, from the deepest depths of my heart  that this decision will be a source of pride for me long after I leave my position on the board. It was the right thing to do. 

Why not renters?

In order to preserve the character of the Residential Units as predominantly owner-occupied, and to comply with the eligibility requirements for financing in the secondary mortgage market, leasing of Residential Units is regulated in our governing documents. 

If a unit owner wishes to lease their unit they must first obtain either a lease permit or a hardship lease permit.  A unit owner that holds either of these  permits allows them the right to enter into a lease with a third party for the duration of the lease permit.

At Skypoint, the number of lease permits are hard wired into our declaration at 25% or 95 units.  Once a lease permit is obtained it is held by the unit until either of the following occur: the unit is sold, the unit owner moves back into the unit, the unit has not been rented for a consecutive 180 period, or if the unit failed to maintain a consecutive tenant for at least 180 days. 

A unit that holds a lease permit may enter into a lease with a third party ONLY if their dues are current and according to the rules that were passed on 02.23.2011 no leased units shall be permitted to keep a pet without board approval. 

Also written into the declaration is a provision for a hardship lease permit.  The number of these permits is set by the Board of Directors and can be any number from 0-75%.  As of November 24, 2012 the hardship lease permit percentage is set at 14% or 53 units.  The resulting total leased percentage rate of Skypoint is now at 39% or 148 total units.

When I was appointed to the Board of Directors in May our hardship lease permit percentage was at 19% and climbing.  This resulted in 167 units being leased (44%).  This was the highest rental percentage since Skypoint opened in 2007.  At this rate, and factoring in lease turnover of around 50% and new sales Skypoint was moving 100 units per year.  When put in terms of wear and tear of the building each move required a move out AND a move in which brings the number closer to 200 moves per year or nearly 17 per month. 

Instead of a peaceful place to live Skypoint created an apartment like feel where competition for the service elevator became fierce.  Those of you with pets that follow the rules and try and use the service elevator just simply gave up and started using the residential elevators, because the freight elevators were always locked out for moves.  If you were a unit owner and wanted to schedule a furniture delivery often times it was nearly impossible without working a deal with the unit that was moving to allow for the delivery.  This is our home and we have allowed it to become an apartment building. 

Each new unit occupancy in the building requires a huge amount of manpower to process paperwork and to facilitate access control activation/deactivation.  I believe that our management team should not have to spend all their time on the processing of expiring and new leases.  Their time should be spent servicing the current residents - unit owners and renters alike. 

Time spent processing move in and move out of renters is time that management does not have to process unit alteration requests, to help with resident issues, or to provide a better living experience for all unit owners and renters. 

Then there is the pride in ownership argument.  Many of our summertime pool complaints were about renters.  I'm not making this up, these are the facts.  I am sure that I am not unlike most other unit owners when I say that when I am in the common areas I try and take care of those areas because ultimately the unit owners will share in the cost to replace or fix any common item.  Renters often (and the numbers back me up) do not feel the same way. 

Skypoint,  unlike Element was never built to be an apartment high rise.  I purchased in Skypoint to live with my wife and daughter.  I wanted to be surrounded by other unit owners that had a vested interest in keeping the building like the day it opened. 

Please do not get me wrong we have many fine renters in the building, some of whom aspire to be unit owners some day, those are not who I am talking about.  My argument simply rests on the sheer volume of renters and not any one renter in particular.  I believe that by reducing this volume will lead to a better quality of life for those that want to call Skypoint home.  

Skypoint Fire Systems & Safety : A detailed overview of what keeps us safe from fire and other emergencies.

Recently numerous questions were asked about Skypoint and fire/emergency safety. That prompted me to do some research and write this blog article. Where I did not have knowledge of the system I asked Bruce Furtado, our Building Engineer to help clarify.  I think these are great questions. Bruce gave me a great tour of some of our critical systems in the building which I really enjoyed.  I have expanded upon the wealth of information that Bruce provided me and here is the result: 

• Fire Detection System



Common Smoke/Heat Sensor in Residential Unit

• Smoke Detectors
• All smoke/heat detectors are hard wired.
• All smoke detectors are equipped with battery back up.
• The batteries in smoke detectors will commonly last 7 months depending on brand/manufacturer. Most fire districts recommend changing batteries when clocks are changed for day light savings time.
• Interior maintenance (or battery changing) at present is the responsibility of the unit owner and fire inspectors would not even entertain the thought of using their time to change out batteries.  
• This is NOT meant in any way other than a positive way but in a building this size there could be an opportunity for someone to provide this service, perhaps along with changing a unit’s filter or other things that some unit owners just don’t want to do and don’t require licensure or extensive training.  People who typically buy in a condo usually don’t want to have any involvement with their condo other than enjoying it.  It’s expected to just “WORK” but our condo docs specifically spell out mandatory things a unit owner must do on a certain timeline.  Anyone reading this may want to investigate providing these things (where possible) including changing smoke/heat detector batteries! What do you think?
• The hard wire aspect of the smoke detectors does not function as a battery charger. The smoke detector will“chirp” when the batteries are dying. When the batteries are completely drained a constant beep will be heard.
• Smoke/heat detectors do not activate the sprinkler system.  The activation of the sprinkler system is detailed below
• The smoke/heat operations room is located across from the lobby public bathroom.  
• Area(s) affected by smoke or heat (fire) can be indicated in this area.
• Fireman phone inventory is located in this room.  The phones that hook into the building intercom so that firemen throughout the building can speak to the chief in this control room.
• A small auxiliary  panel is located at the concierge desk for general alerts, that would then cause investigation of the indications in the fire control room.
• The Public Address system is also located in this fire control room.
• The fire department is automatically alerted depending on the type of warning without any initiation of human staff or residents.
• Heat Detectors
• Located generally in public areas and in control rooms
• Manual Red Fire/Emergency Pull stations



Manual Fire Pull 

• In the common hallways there are red manual emergency/fire pull stations.  By pulling down on one of these manual warning switches it will activate the fire/emergency warning system
• The Fire Alarm will sound (TONE)
• The adjacent red FIRE with high capacitor strobe light will flash at a constant interval until there the system is manually reset.
• Fire Suppression System



Typical Omni-directional sprinkler head

• Sprinklers
• The fire suppression system is a wet system designed with heat sensitive sprinkler heads. The entire building is equipped with the wet suppression system.  The system is constantly pressurized.  The water for the system is taken from our 8 inch main that the city provides the building.  The main water pipe after entering the building (which is located to the right of the up ramp on Zack St, inside the 30 minute lot next to the police car space) is split, one way goes to the water system and the other to the sprinkler system.  That water supply is then kept at a constant pressure that is sufficient to provide a more than adequate pressure at the highest points of our building (The pressure falls as the height climbs) There is an auxiliary pump that is used for small decreases in pressure sensed, to restore the ground floor pressure to the minimum pressure to supply the entire building, so there is one main pump and a secondary pump.  This means that at every sprinkler head there is positive pressure at all times.  The heads are designed to activate when the heat of a fire reaches a prescribed temperature by melting a plastic fuse. Each sprinkler head in EVERY space is specifically designed for that space taking into consideration walls, distance to the next head, etc.  The sprinkler head can also be activated inadvertently by force of say a hanger (yes people have hung their clothes on sprinkler heads) or by an accidental blow to the head of the sprinkler.  The sprinkler will continue to operate if either activated by a melted fuse plug (in the case of a real fire) or if inadvertently damaged until they are manually turned off. Panels in the master sprinkler room will alert what zone has been activated.
• DO NOT hang anything from a sprinkler head
• DO NOT paint or allow spray paint to contaminate a sprinkler head
• Positive Pressure Stairwells
• The concrete block construction with metal stairs in each stairwell is pressurized.  The pressurization of this stairwell column is to create a positive pressure as opposed to the pressure on the other side of each door at each floor.  The idea behind this type of arrangement is keep any smoke that is caused by a fire out of the stairwells.  This is also the reason why the doors are locked and should NOT be propped open for any reason.  Within the stairwells at certain floors there are intercoms that are directly connected to the concierge desk in the lobby.  Concierge remote access to open any adjacent door is not allowed by code above floor 7.
• 2 Hour Rated Walls
• Almost all walls exterior to the walls inside of your unit are rated to withstand a fire for up to 2 hours before burning through.
• 1 Hour Rated Walls
• I believe all interior walls are rated at a burn through time of at least 1 hour
• Automatically Closing Isolation Doors



Automatic Fire Doors Isolating elevators from residential  units

• Under certain conditions as determined by the fire detection system the field to the magnets that hold open the doors separating the elevator shafts from units will de-power and the doors will close by normal hydraulic closing units at the top. These are also fail safe in that if power is lost,such as in a possible fire, these doors will close when the electricity fails.  These doors will also keep any fire that could travel up the elevator shafts one more layer of protection for unit owners.
• Stairwells are located as far as possible from the elevator shafts as possible in case there is any smoke that could travel up the elevator shafts
• Dry Chemical Fire Extinguishers in hallways




Check your individual extinguisher pressure

• Generally there are two dry chemical fire extinguishers located on each residential floor, located near each stairwell.
• These are inspected and replaced if necessary by management yearly
• Dry Chemical Fire Extinguishers provided by the developer for each unit sold
• Each unit was provided a fire extinguisher by the developer
• These should be checked by the unit owner and if expired OR not in the green band it needs to be IMMEDIATELY replaced.  
• Emergency Public Alert Systems



Fire/Emergency Strobe

• RED FIRE with high capacitor strobe will flash at a constant interval
• These are either co-located with the manual fire pull switch, just above the switch or at other locations in the hallway about ⅔ up the wall
• Emergency Public Address System
• Also located in the fire control room mentioned above is the emergency public address system.  Anyone who has been in the building for more than a year can recall sometime around March the fire testing that takes place.  Bruce Furtado, accompanied by fire department inspection personnel start their test in the fire control room.  Before any test is started or any alarm sounded Bruce has become somewhat infamous for his “THIS IS A TEST” announcements! This system could theoretically be used not just in a fire, but for any catastrophe to provide a building wide announcement as to safe routes, procedures, or that help is on the way.  
• Unit Speakers



Typical Emergency address speaker in each unit

• These are the speakers that are hardwired and located in each bedroom that you hear the above messages on.
• Green Exit Signs with emergency lights powered by battery backup



Exit Signs with lights & Battery backup

• Throughout the building there are green exit signs indicating the way to the nearest exit.  These signs, other than the ones in the parking lot, have installed in the bottom two lights powered by batteries within the exit sign that are constantly kept charged when normal electrical power is provided to these signs.  In the event of a power failure these lights would automatically come on, and the batteries in the signs will also keep the exit signs lighted for a limited amount of time.
• Intercoms in stairwells

• There are intercoms that link points in each stairwell with the concierge desk.  Should the emergency be cancelled and you are stuck in the stairwell these can be used to call the concierge for assistance.
• Emergency Evacuation
• Although I could be wrong I do not believe that there is a written policy for emergency evacuation in the condo documents.
• That being said, there IS a policy manual that our management company will use should there be a need for an emergency evacuation.
• When in doubt GET OUT
• As a point of general advice:
• In the event of a fire alarm all occupants should enter into the stairwells to exit the building. The stairwells are pressurized therefore exit into a residential floor other than the ground/street level is blocked via a keyed lock.
• In the event of a fire alarm and you are in the parking garage, proceed to the nearest stairwell, walk down to street level, exit the building, and move away from the building until a fire official gives the all clear.
• Make sure that you indicate you pets in Building link or have them on file with Management so if possible your pets can be saved should there be a fire/emergency, keeping in mind that human life and the safety of the fire fighters will of course always take priority over pets.

I hope this helps you to understand all of the systems that are in place to keep you safe during a fire emergency. Your suggestions are always welcome.

Week In Review April 27, 2012

Week of April 20-27, 2012

Hello neighbors, friends, newly formed enemies! This is the week in review for Friday, April 27, 2012.  If you like suspense novels, this was your week.  There were so many twists and turns it started to feel more normal the crazier things got! Hang on, here we go! (Because of the complexity of the Management company situation some of this information may have already been mentioned, but something this complex needs context for full comprehension.

• The management company (Nuclear Option)
• The vote by Israel, Joel, and Todd created a very awkward environment
• Joel publicly complained about Homeowners Advantage (current management co)
• While Israel was the one who asked Homeowners Advantage to consider acquiring AMG 
• Net result if things happened as it all seemed it was going to happen would be Homeowners Advantage purchasing AMG, and other than a quick blink no one would hardly have noticed
• Our budget would have noticed though
• I call this the nuclear option because no one really wins, oh except for Jay/Jason Fink, the owner of AMG.
• Current Status
• Homeowners Advantage must be given a 30 day written notice of any deficiencies
• This is a result of an amendment to the current HOADV contract that the last board got passed last November\
• Joel seems to think that is suspicious, as he has mentioned it more than once.  
• I have not had deep discussions with Lew,Mike,Diana about it but it is my understanding that it was on advice of council to bring that contract up to standards, since it was originally written in 2007.
• Attorney's have legal opinions that are just that opinions.  Court, the assn attorney must have felt that it was necessary in his opinion.
• Let's even for argument's sake give Joel what he is hinting at, that it was done as a pre-emptive measure to protect the association from exactly what is happening now.
• The amendment was done in an open member meeting and was not kept from anyone. 
• It was not illegal
• It did not put the association at risk.
• It mearly gave a cure period, which is a good thing for both parties. 
• NO WRITTEN NOTICE as of today has been given to HOADV
• Board Meeting Agenda is properly posted with the agenda items on Monday
• Our new property manager Mike, started training with Greg Mark of HOADV.
• Mike's office is where Robert Neal's office was in the front of the building
• I learned that Mike is a small plane pilot, licensed but is not current.
• He has a lot to learn, in a short time.
• If you get a chance, stop by and say hi
• Promenade of the Arts update
• Work is progressing nicely on the opposite side of Zack
• Almost all of the poured concrete surface has been installed
• Light poles have gone up
• The shape of the crossing facilitator making more sense now.
• Walkway juts into the intersection at the ends where pedestrians will cross , narrowing the roadway.for the approaching cars
• Design is a vast safety improvement over 90 degree traditional cross walks
• Because the actual paved concrete pedestrian walki8ng bulges out at the crossing positions, it will allow for the traffic to see pedestrians much more clearly
• Tampa is one of the highest pedestrian kill cities
• CSX Tracks on Pulk St.
• About another week for some of the roads to open.
• As of yesterday tracks were in
• Plan your morning and afternoon commutes around heavier traffic on Ashley, as there is noticable increased congestion due to Tampa St being closed at Polk
• Horns are still as annoying as ever.  (Don't forget to look in the contents area of this blog for the link to complain about the excessive train horn blowing at 3am)
• Traffic detours posted in the elevator lobbies for each floor
• Zack Garage street resident ramp
• If coming from the WEST/NORTH accessible Via Polk and Ashley, right turn, limited resident only traffic on Tampa St to Zack OR
•   If coming from the South/East plan to wind up on Zack no sooner than Nebraska, often times you will have to extend past Marion to get onto Zack.
• President of the Association, Israel Diaz resigned his position
• He cited health reasons and retirement as his reasons for leaving
• Since he was the president, the executive authority that he had to have creates a slightly more difficult transition for the other board members.
• Checking accounts, lines of credit, anything that the President would possibly have to exercise his executive authority have to be changed to either a temporary acting President or a board member that could be voted in as the new president
• The board can fully operate as a board of 4 but their plan is to replace the board seat within two weeks
• The 4/25 board meeting was held in the 8th floor clubroom
•  Setup is a work in progress, but was very comfortable for everyone, with some minor adjustments for next month
• The remaining board members were there, Todd, Joel, Laurice and Karen. Along with Greg Mark, chaired the meeting assisted by Kathryn Pankow (HOADV).  Court Terrell, our association attorney was there as well .
• Approximately 11 residents showed up for the meeting and nearly everyone actively participated in one way or another. I think almost everyone spoke at least once.
• The meeting lasted almost two hours (to hear the audio from the meeting check the sidebar of this blog for the link
• Collections
• Collected nearly $59,000 since January
• The board contemplated making some rule changes for the Clubroom rental and removing some restrictions in place with coordinating use of the North Garden Terrace with adjacent clubroom rental. 
• Court Terrell suggested after listening to the board deliberate their ideas, that he write up a legal version of the changes and then go from there.  The issue will be addressed in the next meeting
• MASTER PROPERTY INSURANCE RENEWAL
• Current policy expires at the end of May
• THIS IS A CONSIDERABLE part of our operating budget
• To ensure competitive proposals there are already around 4 or 5 company that the board is courting, which includes our current provider.
• Need an apples to apples comparison
• Joel wanted to discuss increasing the residential board members from 3 to 5 total.  
• Bylaws do allow for this to be accomplished
• Require a 67% of the members in the affirmative to pass IF the Retail and Commercial parking specifically agree to this 
• SUMMARY: What an incredible waste of time including that on the agenda.  
• Joel also expressed concern over the voting share that she commands with her ownership of:
• The entire Retail area of Skypoint
• All the commercial parking spaces plus
• One residential unit.
• Laurice and her husband, hold the most combined and condensed amount of voting shares through virtue of their ownership interests
• They hold a grand total of around 206 shares of 506
• There is no one else on the board or in the building that holds such a high combined risk
• Often times the residential class board members would mention over and over again, using considerable time resources that residential issues have nothing to do with Laurice, Retail director and Karen, Commercial Parking Director.
• Their assertion is incorrect and although the interests that they represent are clearly different than the interests that the Residential class board members represent,  they still all have one equal vote and to never intentionally harm the association.  
• Reserve Study
• Every 5 years a reserve study is accomplished by the management company that adjusts for changes in use of an item or facility. 
• Currently there is around a $57,000 surplus that should more than offset the increased reserve requirements
• THE BIG IF
• Remember last week I talked about the exterior "slurry" that was evaluated during the past year or so?
• The specs of the exterior of our building, apparently were changed after initial deployment and more importantly will require that this slurry be applied in a special way to all exposed concrete parts of the exterior
• This is one of the last remaining items from the building turnover.  
• Cost of the entire building anywhere from 500,000 to well over a million
• HOADV is actively working with the former developer to try and obtain a commitment from them on the financial part of the deal
• IF they don't pay we will be stuck paying for it most likely in the form of a special assessment
• Elliptical Machines need replacing
• Two machines are nearly beyond repair and will need to be replaced.
• Agreed in principle to purchase the elliptical equipment after some evaluation
• RNC Event
• Republican National Committee will hold their convention in Tampa, steps from our building in August
• The Tampa Police Department recently submitted a 100 page report detailing the recommended changes to our building or procedure or both  to minimize the risk to the building and residents. 
• These changes are NOT funded at the moment and would have to be paid for by the association, hence through us , in the form of higher dues or assessment
• HOADV is exploring the availability of Federal and state grant monies that would offset the cost of these items
• There are rumored to be over 30 protest groups already registered with the city with the Curtis Hixon Park one of their designated areas of protest.
• Because of the complexity and demand of our resources the board voted into existence a committee to assist the board in getting ready for the convention.
• I am definitely interested and I encourage you to consider it. Here's why
• It is of a finite duration, there is an end to it!
• The implementation of whatever plan is adopted will be so critical I think the building needs us all right now,.  
• SUMMARY:
• The week of the convention has the potential to be THE most difficult week in the history of Skypint.  If you have the means and time and you don't plan on volunteering on the committee it may be best to just head out of town and let it be someone else's headache.  That will be one of the first things I will recommend to the board and get a tentative commitment by each resident as far in advance of the event as possible.  That could be one way to lessen the impact for everyone.  
• Remember short term rentals aren't allowed.
• Resist the temptation by remembering that we have to come back here and all live together when the RNC is long gone.  We need to protect our building and every resident against any possible hard.  Think Gasparilla on super mega steroids. Sounds like fun! YEA!
• Since the garage lasers and entry systems were a big part of the discussion two weeks ago I just wanted you to know that Bruce recently had the lasers re-calibrated.  Please post if problems with the gates are not improving
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• twitter.com/myskypoint is also linked automatically with facebook.com/myskypoint and this blog:  http://myskypoint.blogspot.com  For downloads, streams, or audio of any kind of the board meetings etc visit:  blogtalkradio.com/myskypoint 

 If you have a few monents would you please add your comments to this information good or bad they are both equally as important to me.  Also if you know something that I didn't mention either comment and add it or shoot me a quick email and I will add it if you would prefer.  


Have a great weekend,
Jeff 

I believe in the power of a good team!