In this issue of the January 2006 Venetia Voice:

  • Manager Updates
  • Maintenance Payments and the 2006 Budget
  • Projects Update

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MESSAGE FROM THE MANAGER :

First, let me wish all of you a very happy and healthy new year and thank you for the love and support you gave me this past year. Last year was a year of getting organized and acclimated in the building. This year, hopefully, we will start to see some of the hard work and planning come to fruition.

CHRISTMAS BOX:

The Christmas gift box for the employees is still in my office. I have decided to wait another week before opening the box to distribute the money in case residents were away and wanted to contribute to the Employee Christmas Fund.

2006 MAINTENANCE PAYMENTS

The 2006 Budget was passed without reserves. The Maintenance fee is $496.11. The coupon booklets should arrive sometime in January. It is not necessary to wait for the coupons to send your payment. You may bring your check to the office and we will put the building information on the check. Please make sure that your apartment number is on the face of the check.

PROJECTS UPDATE:

Elevator Modernization - General Elevator Sales and Service (GESS) has completed Elevators #1 and #2. They will begin Elevator #3 on Monday January 9th. I hope you enjoyed having all four elevators working over the holidays.

Pool – THE POOL IS NOT LEAKING. The pool deck lights have been ordered and should be here sometime in January. Jerguson Electric has done all of the electrical work for the pool lights, deck lights, panel and pump. They have about three more hours of work to do on the pool and will finish when they install the deck lights. Aqualogic will be applying the diamondbrite, which is the inside finish of the pool, sometime in January. They will also be completing the small pool. The deck tile has been selected and ordered. We have a February delivery date for that. There is a sample of the tile in the Management Office, if you would like to see it.

Balcony Inspections – The balcony inspections have been completed and we have received the bids for the repair work. Brownie Taurinski is comparing them and will make a recommendation to the Board. Brownie feels that the problem this building has been having with water intrusion will be eliminated once this work is done.

Plants - Hank Cofield has personally made the beautification of this building his priority. He planted the plants in the planters around the trees at the marina and the planter on the ramp by Barclays. He and Joe Moniz helped design the flower bed by the sculpture and the area across the sidewalk with Paradise Landscaping.

Sculpture Area – Hank Cofield and Joe Moniz sanded the rust off and painted the sculpture. We have had sprinklers installed and changed the lighting for a more beautiful effect.

Neon Signs – We hired USA Signs to repair the orange neon in the ceiling in the lobby and the Blue neon in the “V� in front of the building.

Lighting – Jerguson Electric will be installing new lights in front of the Lower Parking Entrance and on the wall of the ramp leading to the Upper Parking Garage. They also installed more lights on the ramp.

CLEANING UP:
The Maintenance staff has worked on several big projects in the past four months. They have thoroughly cleaned and painted all of the Laundry Rooms throughout the building and installed hooks in them. The the a/c in the 5th Floor Laundry Room was repaired. Please note: If there is a problem with any of the machines, please notify the Management Office and we will call to have them repaired.

The staff thoroughly cleaned and did repairs in the following residential hallways: Floors 10 and 14 through 31. The next floors scheduled to be cleaned are the 11th and 12th. The following floors have been painted: 4 through 7 and 32 through 35. The next floor that is
scheduled to be painted is the 31st.

Sale of 2nd Floor Commercial Units:
Zurwelle-Whittaker, the original surveyors of the building, has given us two incomplete surveys of the square footage of the commercial units on the 2nd Floor. These units were reconfigured by Crescent Heights and needed to be surveyed again for the exact measurements. It has been impossible to get them to come back to the property to get the correct delineation of these units. I finally reached them on Wednesday and made an appointment with them for Friday. Once we finally get a proper survey, Dean Campbell, Southeastern Land & Appraisal Corp, will be able to appraise the 2nd Floor commercial units and then we will put them out for bid.

PARKING GARAGE:
Within the next two months, we plan to pressure wash and paint the parking garage. We will do this by section and your cars will have to be moved out of the area. We will give ample notice of this project and the dates we will need your space to be vacated. This may take several days for each section. We will also be removing bicycles, furniture, and all unsafe items such as paint, gasoline cans, automotive fluids, etc. that are in the parking spaces or left in the garage against the walls.

Please be aware that all automobiles that are not properly registered, have expired tags, and need repair work will be towed as mandated by the City of Miami Municipal code.

ANNUAL MEETING AND ELECTION:

The Annual Meeting and election of officers will be held on January 25th at 7PM in the Meeting Room on the Mezzanine.

DELINQUENCIES:
The Association depends on the maintenance fees each month to run the building properly. The operating account of the Association is running at a huge deficit and we have been unable to pay many of our bills or have been paying them late, thus incurring large late fees, because many owners are not paying their maintenance.

As the property manager, one of my most important duties is to collect the maintenance fees. Please be aware that your maintenance is due on the FIRST of the month and considered late after the 10th. If you want to give your payment to the Management Office, we must receive it by the 5th. Payments not posted to your account by the 10th will be considered delinquent and result in a late fee assessment. Beginning in February, we will not be accepting payments after the 5th of the month. Also, remember that the Board voted to turn off the cable TV in the units that are 45 days late and this procedure will be implemented in February. We have tried not to send unit owners to the attorney for collection by making courtesy calls to alert them that they are behind in their payments, but now we have no choice. It is imperative that we collect these fees that are owed to the Association. For the good of the whole Association, please try to get and stay current with your maintenance payments.

TRASH CHUTES :
Please remember to close the trash chute doors after you dispose of your garbage. As I walk the floors, I notice that some of the chutes are left wide open, which causes a foul odor to permeate your hallways.

REALTOR LOCK BOXES :
For security purposes, lock boxes are not permitted at Venetia. We cannot have strangers wandering around our halls going from lock box to lock box in the building. When showing a unit, the owner or realtor of record must be present to admit potential buyers or renters.

Please advise your realtor that all lockboxes must be removed by January 13, 2006 to avoid having them cut off by maintenance.

Venetia Condominium Association

John Ritter, President
Hank Cofield, Vice President
Francisco Martinez, Secretary/Treasurer
Susan Gale, Property Manager