TO: THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
MS. M. SAKS, INTERIM GENERAL MANAGER
THE RESIDENTS ON TEN, TOWER III
FROM: LUANE SPINGOLA, T-III, 10-E
RE: RECAP OF ISSUES SPOKEN ABOUT AT 8/23 BOD MEETING
Dear Directors, Ms. Saks, and Tenth Floor Residents,
I am writing yet again for the answers to the questions I put before the BOD 78 days ago; and to set the record straight regarding two statements made at the last regular BOD meeting.
When my request for compensation for the residents on 10 came up, Ms. Haase dismissed it with, and I quote, "this comes under ADR."
WRONG.
My request for ADR has nothing to do with my request for compensation.
How can I make it any clearer?
I am invoking ADR to hold the BOD accountable for violating its own bylaws. Thirteen bylaws, which I annotated for you in my follow-up letter (as yet, UNANSWERED) of July 12, 2007. Bylaws which mandate, among other things, that the BOD:
• employ a manager to oversee, supervise and follow out the duties of the BOD.
You did not.
• do everything and anything to ensure sound management.
You did not.
• maintain common elements including painting, repair and replacement work.
You did not.
• supervise the personnel necessary, and provide the equipment and materials necessary, in order to properly maintain and operate the Common Elements.
You did not.
The BOD should step up - and come clean.
Responsibility should be shouldered, and measures should be taken to ensure that this BOD, or any future BOD, will abide by its own rules. How do we make sure the BOD supervises its personnel? It's obvious that someone dropped the ball on Ten. How do we shield ourselves against lies and abuse in the future?
But I ask Ms. Haase - what, in your mind, do the above reasons for invoking ADR (plus nine more, all of which were clearly outlined to you in my aforementioned UNANSWERED letter) have to do with my request for compensation for the long-suffering residents on Ten?
At that same meeting, my compensation issue turned into a discourse on not buying ovens for Tower II.
I have great empathy for the Tower Two residents who were without gas. But surely you cannot believe these two situations are the same? Even if the BOD considers both of these incidents to have been triggered by "acts of God", the actions taken by the BOD were vastly different.
The gas line broke in Tower II, the BOD "got on it".
The fire destroys the Common Elements on Ten, and the BOD does nothing for nine months. The former GM runs wild, forgets or refuses to deal with Ten (since the explanation I requested went UNANSWERED, I can only guess), then lies about it to you, the BOD, as well as the homeowners. On TV, no less.
Who's minding the store?
Nine months to paint a wall.
Nine months for new wallcoverings.
Nine months to replace a stinking carpet.
And you think you don't owe the residents on Ten a thing.
Please let me clarify what I mean by compensation:
I am not asking for big bucks, free maintenance, a free parking space.
And I certainly am not asking for a special assessment to be levied on the other apartments. This is not their problem; this is your problem.
You could have solved this months ago for three grand.
You chose not to.
Why should the BOD, and not the residents on Ten, profit from spending - or not spending - that $3,000?
Last week - nine months after the fire - the carpet arrived.
I could have given birth in that amount of time;
you guys managed to carpet a hallway.
(By the way, I understand, now that we finally have a fresh new carpet and clean new walls and the place reeks no more - now, we're going to tear it all down and replace it.
Typical Galaxy mis-management, IMHO. Did we win the Lottery? Look around: the Lobbies, the Garage, the Driveway - we are broke. Yet, we will spend more money we don't have - to replace what doesn't need to be replaced.)
We - the residents on Ten - have suffered needlessly through your incompetence.
Yet, you don't think we deserve anything...not a carpet party, not
fresh flowers in the halls for a month, not a donation to charity. Zip.
I respectfully ask, does any Director on this Board have any imagination? Compassion?
A conscience? (No? How about some PR smarts? Wouldn't this be an opportunity to perpetuate the remote possibility that the BOD might actually "care" for its constituents?)
Will anyone step up - and "do the right thing"?
Finally...
I take issue with one other statement made at that last BOD meeting. Towards the end, Ms. Haase said, "Well, we've addressed all her questions."
EXCUSE ME?????
This BOD may have discussed this among themselves, but no one's shared with me.
I have received no updates, no emails, no phone calls. No answers.
Shall we review?
I asked for an explanation. No answer.
I asked for invoices for all materials related to Ten. With the exception of three invoices for wallpaper, no answer.
I asked for compensation. No definitive answer, and seemingly, no comprehension of this issue by the BOD.
I asked for ADR. And at last, I got an answer: the BOD admitted it didn't have an answer. And I sincerely thank the BOD for their honesty.
Now, the question becomes...why doesn't the BOD have an answer, when Mr. Buckalew clearly outlined a possible position for the Galaxy to take on ADR back in 2005?
Please refer to the attached.
This resolution appears to have never been either adopted or discussed in Open Session. Since it involves 11 pages prepared by our Legal Counsel, the owners may have paid a tidy sum for this.
I respectfully ask:
• to be informed of the genesis of this resolution
• how much it cost us
• why it appears nothing ever came of it
• why the BOD as well as Mr. Buckalew appears to have conveniently
forgotten it ever existed
• why the BOD now claims it doesn't have enough information to render a decision on ADR - when the information was clearly submitted two years ago?
So - does ADR exist here at the Galaxy? Who knows?
Some of our Directors say there is no ADR.
Mr. Buckalew says there absolutely is ADR,
we just call it the Covenants' Committee.
(Although, in Mr. Buckalew's attached missive, he notes: "This provision tracks UCIOA and would be re-worked to utilize Covenants' Committee and current procedures" - which seems to intimate Mr. Buckalew knows, or knew in 2005, that the Covenants' Committee does not handle ADR. Isn't this a direct contradiction of what Mr. Buckalew now says?)
Either way, I had a conversation with the head of the Covenants' Committee, and it appears to be that this Committee has nothing whatsoever to do with complaints involving the BOD's violations of its own bylaws.
However, I would be happy to bring this before the Covenants' Committee.
Just tell me to do so!
Regardless of the BOD's promise to respond to owners' questions within thirty days, today marks Day 78, and as of this moment, I have received no direction, no communication, and no answers.
Ergo, the unfortunate statement that "all my issues have been addressed"
not only insults me - it astounds me.
As always, I look forward to any answer,
and I thank you for your attention to this matter.
Sincerely,
Luane Spingola
CLICK THE LINK BELOW TO GO TO MR. BUCKALEW'S 11-PAGE ADR COMMUNICATION
Posted: Fri Aug 24, 2007 1:49 pm Post subject: Re: The Lost ADR resolution
The "lost" resolution is not a resolution at all! It's a memo with Buckalew's suggestions for revising the current resolution.
There is an Admin Resolution from 1998? 1999? setting out the ADR process at the Galaxy. The Covenants committee hears the complaint but appeals go to the appeals committee instead of the board (which is the way it is in the bylaws).
The resolution needed to be updated but never was.
Mike wrote:
August 23, 2007
TO: THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
MS. M. SAKS, INTERIM GENERAL MANAGER
THE RESIDENTS ON TEN, TOWER III
FROM: LUANE SPINGOLA, T-III, 10-E
RE: RECAP OF ISSUES SPOKEN ABOUT AT 8/23 BOD MEETING
Dear Directors, Ms. Saks, and Tenth Floor Residents,
I am writing yet again for the answers to the questions I put before the BOD 78 days ago; and to set the record straight regarding two statements made at the last regular BOD meeting.
When my request for compensation for the residents on 10 came up, Ms. Haase dismissed it with, and I quote, "this comes under ADR."
WRONG.
My request for ADR has nothing to do with my request for compensation.
How can I make it any clearer?
I am invoking ADR to hold the BOD accountable for violating its own bylaws. Thirteen bylaws, which I annotated for you in my follow-up letter (as yet, UNANSWERED) of July 12, 2007. Bylaws which mandate, among other things, that the BOD:
• employ a manager to oversee, supervise and follow out the duties of the BOD.
You did not.
• do everything and anything to ensure sound management.
You did not.
• maintain common elements including painting, repair and replacement work.
You did not.
• supervise the personnel necessary, and provide the equipment and materials necessary, in order to properly maintain and operate the Common Elements.
You did not.
The BOD should step up - and come clean.
Responsibility should be shouldered, and measures should be taken to ensure that this BOD, or any future BOD, will abide by its own rules. How do we make sure the BOD supervises its personnel? It's obvious that someone dropped the ball on Ten. How do we shield ourselves against lies and abuse in the future?
But I ask Ms. Haase - what, in your mind, do the above reasons for invoking ADR (plus nine more, all of which were clearly outlined to you in my aforementioned UNANSWERED letter) have to do with my request for compensation for the long-suffering residents on Ten?
At that same meeting, my compensation issue turned into a discourse on not buying ovens for Tower II.
I have great empathy for the Tower Two residents who were without gas. But surely you cannot believe these two situations are the same? Even if the BOD considers both of these incidents to have been triggered by "acts of God", the actions taken by the BOD were vastly different.
The gas line broke in Tower II, the BOD "got on it".
The fire destroys the Common Elements on Ten, and the BOD does nothing for nine months. The former GM runs wild, forgets or refuses to deal with Ten (since the explanation I requested went UNANSWERED, I can only guess), then lies about it to you, the BOD, as well as the homeowners. On TV, no less.
Who's minding the store?
Nine months to paint a wall.
Nine months for new wallcoverings.
Nine months to replace a stinking carpet.
And you think you don't owe the residents on Ten a thing.
Please let me clarify what I mean by compensation:
I am not asking for big bucks, free maintenance, a free parking space.
And I certainly am not asking for a special assessment to be levied on the other apartments. This is not their problem; this is your problem.
You could have solved this months ago for three grand.
You chose not to.
Why should the BOD, and not the residents on Ten, profit from spending - or not spending - that $3,000?
Last week - nine months after the fire - the carpet arrived.
I could have given birth in that amount of time;
you guys managed to carpet a hallway.
(By the way, I understand, now that we finally have a fresh new carpet and clean new walls and the place reeks no more - now, we're going to tear it all down and replace it.
Typical Galaxy mis-management, IMHO. Did we win the Lottery? Look around: the Lobbies, the Garage, the Driveway - we are broke. Yet, we will spend more money we don't have - to replace what doesn't need to be replaced.)
We - the residents on Ten - have suffered needlessly through your incompetence.
Yet, you don't think we deserve anything...not a carpet party, not
fresh flowers in the halls for a month, not a donation to charity. Zip.
I respectfully ask, does any Director on this Board have any imagination? Compassion?
A conscience? (No? How about some PR smarts? Wouldn't this be an opportunity to perpetuate the remote possibility that the BOD might actually "care" for its constituents?)
Will anyone step up - and "do the right thing"?
Finally...
I take issue with one other statement made at that last BOD meeting. Towards the end, Ms. Haase said, "Well, we've addressed all her questions."
EXCUSE ME?????
This BOD may have discussed this among themselves, but no one's shared with me.
I have received no updates, no emails, no phone calls. No answers.
Shall we review?
I asked for an explanation. No answer.
I asked for invoices for all materials related to Ten. With the exception of three invoices for wallpaper, no answer.
I asked for compensation. No definitive answer, and seemingly, no comprehension of this issue by the BOD.
I asked for ADR. And at last, I got an answer: the BOD admitted it didn't have an answer. And I sincerely thank the BOD for their honesty.
Now, the question becomes...why doesn't the BOD have an answer, when Mr. Buckalew clearly outlined a possible position for the Galaxy to take on ADR back in 2005?
Please refer to the attached.
This resolution appears to have never been either adopted or discussed in Open Session. Since it involves 11 pages prepared by our Legal Counsel, the owners may have paid a tidy sum for this.
I respectfully ask:
• to be informed of the genesis of this resolution
• how much it cost us
• why it appears nothing ever came of it
• why the BOD as well as Mr. Buckalew appears to have conveniently
forgotten it ever existed
• why the BOD now claims it doesn't have enough information to render a decision on ADR - when the information was clearly submitted two years ago?
So - does ADR exist here at the Galaxy? Who knows?
Some of our Directors say there is no ADR.
Mr. Buckalew says there absolutely is ADR,
we just call it the Covenants' Committee.
(Although, in Mr. Buckalew's attached missive, he notes: "This provision tracks UCIOA and would be re-worked to utilize Covenants' Committee and current procedures" - which seems to intimate Mr. Buckalew knows, or knew in 2005, that the Covenants' Committee does not handle ADR. Isn't this a direct contradiction of what Mr. Buckalew now says?)
Either way, I had a conversation with the head of the Covenants' Committee, and it appears to be that this Committee has nothing whatsoever to do with complaints involving the BOD's violations of its own bylaws.
However, I would be happy to bring this before the Covenants' Committee.
Just tell me to do so!
Regardless of the BOD's promise to respond to owners' questions within thirty days, today marks Day 78, and as of this moment, I have received no direction, no communication, and no answers.
Ergo, the unfortunate statement that "all my issues have been addressed"
not only insults me - it astounds me.
As always, I look forward to any answer,
and I thank you for your attention to this matter.
Sincerely,
Luane Spingola
CLICK THE LINK BELOW TO GO TO MR. BUCKALEW'S 11-PAGE ADR COMMUNICATION
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