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YCC340 General Information Meeting AGENDA. 7:00pm Welcome and Opening Remarks Mr Dragan Zuvela 7:15pm - 2010/2011 Major Projects Review Mr Oggie Sokolovic - Exterior Repairs - Rogers Cable - Cleaning Services - Security Services - Smart Meters
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YCC340 General Information Meeting AGENDA • 7:00pm Welcome and Opening RemarksMr Dragan Zuvela • 7:15pm - 2010/2011 Major Projects ReviewMr Oggie Sokolovic - Exterior Repairs - Rogers Cable - Cleaning Services - Security Services - Smart Meters • 8:00pm - 2011 Cost Cutting Initiatives and Office Restructuring • 8:30pm – Owners’ Forum – Q & ANovember 10th 2011
- External Repairs – Project started 2010 • 35 years old buildings/infrastructure - multiple water leaks due to rain/snow – through cracks in external walls - caulking isolation deteriorated – heat leaks in/out – cooling/heating compromised - external paint deteriorated - balcony guard rails require serious maintenance - structural integrity may be compromised if neglected • Reputable engineering company hired to oversee all works – they are the best experts in this business: Construction ControlCost: 4.5% (very low, compare up to 8% or more)Specification: created by Construction Control. The first revision included all necessary concrete and other repairs plus painting all balcony guardrails only. • 5 construction companies were asked and submitted their bids: - Eagle Restoration - Tritan Inc. - Unique Restoration Ltd - Atlantis Restoration Ltd - CanMar Contracting Ltd • Construction Control studied all bids and recommended that the best bid was submitted by Unique Restoration @ $4,336,260.60 total cost plus HST. This cost was conditional to 1 year completion of work. • Additional up to $505,000 would be charged if all work to be done over up to 3 years.
- External Repairs • Based on the cost of $4,336,260.60 (+HST) total cost – owners were sent the survey that listed 6 different options. 146 responses were received back.
- External Repairs • The Board considered all options including and not limited to: - loan (we are already burdened with one loan – interior renovations - with monthly payments of close to $70,000) - significantly increasing maintenance fees over 6 years - waiting another 2 years and saving money in the budget for this project - stretching the work over 4 years - survey resultsand decided to go with Special Assessment • More quotes requested from construction companies in order to secure a better deal for YCC340. This time replacing guardrails with modern aluminum/tempered glass rails, was an option • 3 more construction companies submitted their bids:- SIC Construction - Universal Restoration (USRL) - G.Square Restorationpricing was in the same ball park as previous bids. • In early April 2011 the Board received a suggestion from one of the construction companies that painting guardrails will not FIX the issue with balcony guardrails, but will have to be done every 5-6 years, at pretty high cost on the high rise. • At about the same time, the Board found out that the bidding process for this project was not completely open for all bidders but only for preferred contractors from the Construction Control list. Although common practice in the industry – the Board found this unacceptable • The Board decided to take more involved role in the bidding process.
- External Repairs • The Board decided to open the bidding process to other companies, members of the Ontario Concrete and Restoration Association as well as BONDED. • Bid Specification was amended to include an option to REPLACE balcony guardrails on building D (existing scaffolding would significantly reduce the cost) as well as a separate option to REPLACE balcony guardrails on buildings A, B and C, on top of all other required and already specified repair work. • 3 random construction companies, that met all requirements, were requested to submit their bids. 1 refused and the other 2 submitted their bids. At the same time, the Board offered this opportunity to include originally Construction Control recommended: Unique Restoration as well as USRL as the two top bidders from the previous 2 rounds of bidding. • Unique Restoration $5,100,000.00USRL $5,000,000.00J.McBride & Sons $2,900,000.00Brada Construction $2,800,000.00 • At this point, doing our due diligence, the Board learned that all previous bids were submitted based on “UNIT PRICE”. • “UNIT PRICE”means that if more materials or work is needed, the construction company may bill the Corporation up to 20% of the original quote – without any needed approval of the Board of Directors. • The Board deemed this a too high a risk, and decided to request the “FIXED PRICE”. • Upon request only two construction companies submitted the “FIXED PRICE”bid.
- External Repairs • Unique Restoration $5,000,000Brada Construction $2,800,000 • These prices do not include HST. • These prices include all mandated repair work plus balcony guard rail replacement on building D (scaffolding savings). • The price to replace all balcony guardrails on buildings A, B and C - $790,000 (Brada Construction) • The Board would like to seek input from the owners on the guardrail replacement on lowrise buildings • After the latest round of successful bids – the Board requested the engineering company – Construction Control to interview 4 most successful bidders and approve those that they would be confident with, to perform the highest quality work. • The requirement from the Board was that the performed work is of the highest quality and integrity, regardless of the FIXED or UNIT PRICE bid. • Construction Control engineer was very pleased with all 4 bidders and after thorough examination, approved them to do the work under their supervision, at the meeting held on October 17th 2011. • It was up to the Board of Directors to pick the best one out of the best four.
- External Repairs • Summary of costs – based on Brada Construction submitted price:All repairs PLUS replaced guard rails on building D, work performed over 2 years: $2,800,000.00 plus HSTCost per unit: $4700 lump sum (including HST)Cost per unit, monthly over 2 years: $196 (including HST)All repairs PLUS replaced guard rails on ALL buildings – work performed over 2 years: $3,590,000,000.00 plus HSTCost per unit: $6000 lump sum (including HST)Cost per unit monthly over 2 years: $250 (including HST) • “Fixed Price”will absolutely not affect the quality and quantity of work performed, as per Construction Control commitment and guarantee. • These prices INCLUDE HST and are the worst-case scenario. Prices may (and probably will) end up a bit lower after proper number crunching (we anticipate around 10% decrease)
- Rogers Cable • Contract expires April 30th 2012 • Fairly big item in the YCC340 Budget • Statistics requested from Rogers as to how many digital boxes were being currently used at YCC340 • Active subscribers: 701, Digital Boxes: 652, HD Boxes: 341, HDPVR: 40, Internet: 209, Home Phone: 153 • First proposal by Rogers included significant increase over 6 years of the duration of the new proposed contract: up to $131,937.17 (6th year) per year extra. This would put a significant strain on the Budget. We would keep 2 (instead of 3 digital boxes), 1 would be upgradeable to High Definition for free and NO TMN channel. The Board deemed the increase to high. • Requested re-quote with increase max 4% per annum • Second proposal cut the increase down significantly. We kept 2 digital boxes, 1 upgradeable for free to High Definition, NO TMN but for YCC340 residents they can purchase TMN at $9 for year 1, $12 for year 2 and $16.95 for years 3,4,5,6. Current street price for TMN is $16.95. Annual increase was kept at 4%. • The Board accepted the second offer at our June 2011 meeting.
- Cleaning Services • Due to multiple complaints from unit owners and not acceptable responsiveness by Clean Line Services – their contract was terminated by the end of 2010 • Total contractual hours that Clean Line Services were performing at YCC340 were 339 and the cost was: $22,345.00 per month • United Cleaning was awarded new contract at the beginning of 2011, contracted to perform 318 hours at the total cost: $22,237.98 per month • This was not the cost saving initiative but service improvement initiative. Our objective was that we keep the same cost and improve service.
- Security Services • The contract with A.S.P. was to expire in May 2011. The Board decided to request bids from other potential security contractors due to some concerns regarding A.S.P. quality of service. • A.S.P. were contracted to perform 280 hours per month, total at $274,110.00 (only 10 months HST). Following companies submitted bids at 280 hours per week (HST included):Security Management – $273,823.86 Primary Response – $283,731.07Metro Security - $277,279.40A.S.P. Security - $285,450,38Intelligarde - $284,113.59Concierge Security - $298,439.32 • The Board decided based on reputation/quality/price to offer the contract to Intelligarde conditional to matching the current price that YCC340 was paying A.S.P. • Intelligarde accepted and adjusted their price lower to match the 2011 contract cost. • This was not a cost saving initiative, but service improvement. However, keeping the same price as in 2011 should be considered a cost saving
- Sub-metering (Smart Meters) • Electricity cost is @ 1.1mil (out of 5mil budget) • The Board managed to reduce the common elements usage from 60% down to 40% by utilizing low consumption bulbs, motion sensors and other means • Unit consumption is now at 60% of the total consumption • Steep increases in price – 7.9% per year for the next few years • 35 rental units – there is no electricity saving culture/need • The Board needs help from owners in order to save • The Government will make Smart Meters mandatory – the service fee will go up inevitably • We secured extremely low (significantly lower than last year) service fee, frozen over 10 years • Bidding opened in April 2011, 5 companies submitted bids:Toronto Hydro - $18.93, 3 years, Setup Fee $30, Security Deposit requiredCarma - $14.95, 10 years, Setup Fee $30, Security Deposit NOT requiredStratacom - $13.99, 10 years, Setup Fee $20, Security Deposit requiredEnbridge - $12.80, 10 years, Setup Fee $30, Security Deposit requiredEnercan - $11.50, 10 years, Setup Fee $25, Security Deposit required.
- Sub-metering (Smart Meters) • Only Enercan and Carma had FIXED rates over 10 years. Other had OEB approved rates – which WILL GO UP. • Enercan awarded the contract • $25 setup fee will be covered by the Corporation – there is no cost to owners • There is no security deposit • There will be no service fee for as long as Smart Meters are not installed – up to 2 months • Owners will pick up the cost of ONLY their OWN USED ELECTRICITY. Everything remains the same – the ONLY surcharge is $11.50 monthly service fee • The Board considered purchasing and installing our own smart meters – but the scope of the work, cost, maintenance etc was completely prohibitive • The Board realized that this was not the most popular decision on first sight – but given the research, the fact that Smart Meters will become mandatory, the fact that we need to actively start saving our electricity in lieu of ever increasing prices – and we all must take responsibility to save and use hydro sensibly, and finally the fact that balancing the Budget was becoming increasingly challenging due to the fluctuation in price
- Petition Questions • The installation and administration of individual sub-metering of our electricity consumption. What company did you choose and what are the administration fees. - Enercan - $11.50/month, waived for 1 or 2 months depending if the meter has been installed do a specific household - $25 admin fee has been waived – Corporation will pay for it - The Board of Directors organized 2 information meetings: - October 12th – hosted by Mr Zuvela - October 13th – hosted by Mr Sokolovic - combined attendance was 250+ - each meeting lasted 3+ hours and ALL QUESTIONS answered - Peter Vercouteren from Enercan was present and presented the material on behalf of Enercan
- Petition Questions 2. To inform us about the difficulties of choosing a suitably large company to carry out the exterior wall renovations in all buildings within one year - one year completion was considered MOSTLY to save money on the price as all companies wanted to SURCHARGE up to $500,000 over 3-4 years completion term - the delay in decision making was caused by the effort by the Board of Directors to SAVE MONEY. We managed to save $2,000,000.00 by delaying the decision by 6 months – which will not affect the start of the project - during this process, few flaws in bidding process were discovered and fixed - the Board of Directors worked EXTRA HARD and held EXTRA MEETINGS on average twice per month in order to do the due diligence and spend OUR MONEY wisely
- Petition Questions 3. To explain to those who are new the function of the special assessment on condo living - GOOGLE: What is a special assessment?A special assessment is a charge beyond the monthly common expense fee that is established by the condominium corporation if the Reserve Fund does not contain enough money to pay for a major repair. A special assessment can be levied at any time.
- Petition Questions 4. Not comfortable with current (only 5) Board of Directors to making final decision of construction company (outside renovation), need to wait until after 2011 AGM • Under Condominium Act – as long as there is a QUORUM (4 out of 7 in our case) the Board of Directors is legally valid and is entitled to make legally binding decisions • All decisions made by the Board of Directors since 2 members quit – were made legally and will stand • Our corporation lawyer was consulted and made the ruling on this issue early in the year -
- Petition Letter (signed by a few concerned homeowners) • For the first time ever – you – THE OWNERS – can directly contact the Board of Directors via contact info that has been posted and circulated: • Oggie Sokolovic – 416-709-4408 • Oggie.Sokolovic@rogers.com • Many owners contacted me and were given all answers in deep detail, even when I was on vacation
- Petition Letter (signed by a few concerned homeowners) • This Board of Directors has nothing to hide • We will answer any and all questions – at any time – as we have in the past:Oggie Sokolovic – 416-709-4408oggie.sokolovic@rogers.com • We spent TWICE AS MUCH time working on projects – TWO MEETINGS per month on average, as opposed to 1 mandatory meeting • We recognized the lack of communication issue - we apologize. This has been addressed, effective immediately – the Board of Directors will be in charge of informing owners OFTEN and in FULL DETAIL. We are going the EXTRA STEP in ensuring that OUR MONEY IS SPENT WISELY and WE ALL KNOW WHERE OUR MONEY GOES • The Queenscourt WEB SITE will be up and running by JANUARY 31st – with CONSTANT AND DETAILED UPDATES on all projects and news.
- OWNERS’ EMAILS (Janice, Jen, Gurdyal, Lorrie, Frank, Harold, Lenore, Barbara and many more………….) • on 11-10-24 11:19 AM, H•••• S•••••@hotmail.com wrote: • Sir, • Good day,I am very please with the information the board of directors sent out to owners, it is very heart welcoming to have such an open line of communication now because over the past years some owners like myself felt as if the place was ran by a dictatorship, but quite frankly it seems that we can breathe a fresh air of a new beginning. • I am really sorry that my wife and I would not be around for the meeting because we are traveling. I want to take • this opportunity to point out that it would be helpful if owners are provided with info on where the works are precisely located, I know that providing specs are very costly but an overview would be nice. I went through all the figures provided and what struck me the most was where is the 20 percent of our budget that covers Hydro is going,I mean this is a huge sum and must be explained in any notice so WE ALL KNOW WHERE OUR MONEY GOES AND THAT IT IS SPENT FAIRLY AND EQUITABLY. • Thank you and the board for putting together such a detailed notice for the owners and wishing you all the best. • Best Regards • H••••• S•••••• • Sent from my BlackBerry device on the Rogers Wireless Network
- OWNERS’ EMAILS (Janice, Jen, Gurdyal, Lorrie, Frank, Harold, Lenore, Barbara and many more………….) • Fom: •••••• ••••••• <l•••••••••••@sympatico.ca> • Date: October 30, 2011 6:24:33 PM EDT • To: <Oggie.Sokolovic@rogers.com> • Cc:”’••••••••'" <•••••••@primus.ca> • Dear Oggie, • Just a quick note to say “thank you” for all your hard work on our Queenscourt Board. How generous of you to work so hard and for so little thanks. • God bless you, L••••••••••••• • #••• • Building ••• •••-••••