Sorry for the delay with this report. The board has been very busy with a variety of projects and issues.
Permits continue to be the major roadblock we face in restoring our property. George Kessler and Mike Englebert are on property this week working on that issue. George hand delivered our permit application for pool, deck, security wall, and tennis courts today. We hope to hear from them in two to three weeks. The primary obstacle is the City/County has changed some permitting procedures. Permits will no longer be issued for just a trade but must be submitted as a whole project. Our plan has always been to make the clubhouse one of our lower priorities. The bathrooms and electricity required for the pool is in the clubhouse and thus a complete clubhouse rehabilitation plan is needed for the clubhouse to get permits for the pool.
Staffing changes got a little messy recently as many of you have probably notices. Currently we only have enough maintenance work for a single individual. The board decided to save some costs and asked FSR to reassign Jim to another property. Manny, Sarah, and Brenna will continue at their current positions. Andrea has been promoted at FSR and the board has accepted FSR’s recommendation to have Michael LaVerde as our new property manager for a 90-day trial. The Board will be working closely with Michael to set the expectations for Ocean Harbor. The details of when exactly Michael will be starting at OH have not been completely worked out, but we are hoping to have him full time on the property within two or three weeks. In the meantime, Andrea will be managing our affairs.
The board will be putting a vote to the owners soon regarding the security gates/entrance drive, refurbishing of the lobbies, and changes to the roof color on the clubhouse and maintenance building. More details will be coming shortly. Once we have a bid for security gates/entrance drive we will have all the information we need to present to owners.
At the last board meeting, it was decided to hold off on the north security wall as it was felt that the bids received were excessively high. We have since received a lower bid and a contract has been awarded for its construction.
Met with the Altieri rep that handles our flood claim on Wednesday. Altieri is resubmitting our flood claim and reworking the documentation. ARS submitted excessive bills and their documentation was not up to the federal flood insurance standard. Flood claims must be completely submitted by September 28.
The insurance company has agreed to represent us in the lawsuit ARS has filed against us. Our Attorney will still be involved but most of the legal costs will be handled by the insurance company.
Please note that I do not read social media. If you have any questions, submit them through the office or this blog. This will be the last posting of the blog on the “open” Ocean Harbor portal. All future blogs will be published in the owner’s portal and will require you to sign on with your password. If you have difficulty signing onto the portal, contact Brenna in the OH office for help.
Here is a list of projects the board is working on:
PROJECT STATUS as of 7/26/23
PAINT/CAULK/VENTS
Service Contracting (painting company) ready to restart when we are ready, adding the lanai enclosure repairs. Altieri needs to review before starting.
WINDOW AND DOOR REPLACEMENT
Mario Apruzzese heading this up. Altieri doing a comprehensive study of damage, which will certainly uncover more damaged windows and doors. CGI completed a comprehensive test per advice from Altieri @ $ 115,000
SEAWALL REPAIR/NEW FRONT FACE, CAP, BOARDWALK
Permits have been issued, Ron Morgan heading this up. Contract with Florida Structural Group is signed. Project scheduled to start on 8/15/23
LANAI & SCREEN REPAIRS
Adding to the painting project with Karins Engineering. Altieri reviewing damage.
PERIMETER WALL REPLACEMENT
Engineered by WJJ, project awarded to Commercial Concrete. Waiting for permit.
POOL & SPA REPAIRS, EQUIPMENT, FENCE, DECK AND BATHROOMS
Engineered by WJJ. Bid awarded to Celebrity pools and J&L Geothermal. Bathrooms are separate bid. The clubhouse may also need to be approved for permitting to be accepted.
PUMPHOUSE & CLUBHOUSE ROOF REPLACEMENT
Crowther quoted $181,400. An additional received but the bid looks to be incomplete.
A & B BUILDING ROOF REPAIRS
Crowther quoted $12,000 to repair hurricane damage. Altieri hired an independent test to assess damage at a cost to us of $5K, with the expectation that damage will be much more than first thought, and insurance should cover the entire project.
SITE LIGHTING
Engineering is done. Poles and lights are ordered for August delivery. Paid $65K down for materials. $157,684 bid accepted for install from Action Electric Project slated to start in August ,2023
FRONT ENTRANCE RESTORATION
Oversight committee to send a proposal to the board for discussion.
SPORTS COURTS
Bidding process has started. 3 proposals due.
GENERATOR REPAIR
New generator is installed. Project is finished.
IRRIGATION AND LANDSCAPING
Start the process with WJJ design aid, and only doing what will not be destroyed later by the other projects. Committee to advise what can be done first.
ELECTRICAL RECONNECT TO CLUBHOUSE
Awarded to Action Electric. Waiting for permitting but hoping to start very soon.
A/C REPAIRS
About 35 units are not attached properly. Crawther will reattach and inspect at a cost of $150 per unit.
STORAGE DOORS AT GROUND LEVEL & TRASH CHUTE DOORS
Many are rusted out and need replacing. Quote from Property Medic received 5/15/23 for 39 new doors at a cost of $215,423 16 weeks to get the doors. Hoping for partial insurance coverage. Contract has been signed.
LIGHTING UNDER BUILDINGS, TRASH AND STORAGE ROOMS
To be done in-house in August and September.
A/C UNITS IN STORAGE ROOMS
5 units in storage rooms need replacing at $1600 each. The mini-split unit in the pump room needs replacing at a cost of $6200. Contract has been signed.
FISHING PIER REPLACEMENT
Part of marina rebuild.
NEW TRASH ROOM DOORS
Project is finished.
NEW HALL LIGHTS IN A BUILDING
Lights are in house and waiting for installation as Manny has time.
FIRE SYSTEM UPDATE "B" BUILDING
Wiring is done and speakers are installed, most of the cost has been paid. Testing of the entire system needs to be completed.
Scott, The board decided to do one voting date with multiple votes. We are ready for the lobby and clubhouse house vote but we ae still waiting for the bids on the entrance drive. We did not want to have a vote on that issue until we knew the dollar amounts that would be required for the entrance drive. It is taking a lot longer than anticipated to get those bids. Not sure how long that will be. We are interviewing a general contractor tomorrow that we hope can help us with these open items.
When are we going to vote on the things we need to vote on. (club house roofs, lobbies, entrance...) We don't need permits or signed contracts to vote. In fact, we probably need to vote first so we know what to get permits and contracts for. I think owners would appreciate getting votes behind us and feel they have contributed to choices being made to their property.
Timor has it a lot of good points. Apparently he’s had a lot of exposure to situations like this. I personally carry around an attorney in my pocket because I need professionals to guide me because I’m not real educated on lots of things. I hope the fear of getting sued doesn’t slow a lot of things down. In my opinion, the decisions that are being made should be kept to basic decisions that run consistent with the original property plan. Even changing colors (to one building) could give cause to spending more money on the rest of the property (painting other buildings) that doesn’t need to be spent. By losing continuity and aesthetics owners run the risk of devaluatio…
(First) lawsuit against OH!
In the middle of yesterday's infodump there was this major news without further information, as if nothing happened:
"The insurance company has agreed to represent us in the LAWSUIT ARS has filed against us. Our Attorney will still be involved but most of the legal costs will be handled by the insurance company."
Did I miss something: When did ARS file a lawsuit? Is the court filing against OH by ARS publicly available? Why was it not shared with owners right away?
How many million dollars is the claim of ARS, how much interest since ARS filed the lien in Feb, how much costs are not covered by insurance?
What about their negotiations with ARS and…