Willamette Towers Annual Owners’ Meeting

Meeting THURSDAY, February 27th, 2020, 7:00pm

Board Members: Lauren Dame, Jean Kern, Clyde Horn, Hal Dillon, Jesse Fittipaldi

BMC Personnel: Diane Sollinger, Tom Weaverling

Owners:

Roll and proxy count completed

Initial count of 48 proxies and16 attending = 64 = quorum.

Call to order 7:04 PM

Proof of Meeting Notice –

Packets sent to absentee owners, email version of packet sent to all owners, multiple phone call/email solicitations of proxy completion and submission.

2019 Minutes Approval:

Last year the Association voted to have the Board approve the annual meeting minutes on the behalf of the owners so that an approved copy of the minutes could be sent to owners in a more timely manner.

Moved to allow the Board to do the same this year -

Passed unanimously.

President’s Report:

Our main efforts this past year have been focused on maintaining and improving the physical assets of Willamette Towers.

The key projects have included:

• The resurfacing of the upper deck of the parking structure, as well as
• painting the upper deck, walls, and
• resurfacing the ramps to the upper deck.
• Improvements to the lighting of the parking area to increase security
• The installation of roof anchors and safety equipment, which allowed our windows to be washed at long last.
• Painting of the back wall and the north wall of the parking structure in our continuing battle against graffiti. We are testing a new strategy where the wall is painted with bands of different colors so that small sections can be re-painted when necessary with whatever color we have. (The idea is that this helps us respond quickly as well as save money on paint.)

 
In general maintenance, there has been

• fire safety testing and needed repairs;
• repair of the handrail on the steps down from the upper parking structure;
• carpet cleaning, and
• drain cleaning.

 
In-progress is upgrading the building doors.

We recently started participating in curbside compost recycling, and plan to conduct some outreach and education to get more participation from residents.

We are starting up a Green Committee, and Linda Seymour has volunteered to chair it.

Finally, we spent a lot of time this past year exploring the issues related to replacing the building’s aging pipes.

We have been calling this the “big plumbing project”, and we are investigating the best approach among alternatives, getting input from plumbing and engineering experts, and thinking through the stages of a large project.

Financial Report:

The main difference from previous reports is that there is now a separate entry specifically for monies allocated to the Plumbing Project in the Reserves totals.

The report also states the budgetary activity of 2019.

It is available on the WT website.

2019 Budget Summary (Spreadsheet #1)

Please review the Budget spreadsheet for 2019 and projected for 2020 on the WT website for details of spending of the past year and the projected current year.

Committee Reports:

MMRC –

Proposed projects:

• EV charging station capability added to the garage.
• Additional, more secure bike storage.
• Plumbing project overview explaining the update options to the piping in the building along with guesstimates of the amount of disruption each stack can expect as work commences on their respective stack.

 
THESE ARE ONLY LOOSE APPROXIMATIONS AT THIS TIME!

Depending on the plumbing configuration in each stack, the disruptions could run from 3-10+ days depending on how much restoration must be done on interior walls in kitchens and baths.

We will be asking owners/residents to take photos of bathroom walls and kitchen walls in order to get a better understanding of what kinds of demolition and reconstruction may be called for.

Details will be sent to all owners in the next few weeks.

Presently, we’re still gathering bids and materials costs for running new piping in parallel to existing galvanized pipes and once all is in place, change the final connections over.

Expected to have reliable project budget numbers by Q2 this year and buy-off of plan by our engineering firm by Q3 which will allow the first riser to be done by EOY. [Again, these dates and times of disruptions are only estimates at this time.]

Security& Technology -

Things we had listed last year:

• Add new security door closures [Canceled because we found a fix without the expense]
• Perimeter security system for the garage structure [still in research phase for what technology/system to use]
• Re-evaluate the security camera system and reposition and add/change cameras or lighting as needed to optimize coverage.
• Research ways to discourage tagging of the exterior garage walls. [No meaningful mitigation available. Will just have to do periodic repaints with staff+owners/volunteers].

 
Things completed or pending:

• Committee formed and met to discuss concerns
• Eugene PD Security advice walk around.
• East entry lighting upgraded – and more upgrades on the way.
• Cameras to be upgraded and number increased if price is right. [current test of a POC camera replacement using existing cabling was successful so others will be done by lowest bidder]
• Trim shrubs to increase sight lines near doors/gates as per EPD recommendation.

 
Things still to do:

• Cameras to completely cover upper deck of garage & ditto for lower deck.
• Update building area lighting. [in process].
• Crash bar hands-free exit for North Door [East door will have that when it is replaced].
• Smoke detectors and audible alarms to be replaced with upgraded hardware by contractor. [Still needs to be done. Board will meet about this week after next.]
• Stairwell lighting update to LED brighter and cheaper. 11th floor inside stairwell [1600 lumens 4k spectrum] if you want to see a new one. Tom will be replacing the old, dimmer lights as time permits. The LEDs will save us $$$ on electricity costs and maintenance too.

 
North walkway – what to do with it to discourage transient activity?

• Fence with “No Trespassing” signs plus additional signs along the wall in alley.
• Also mentioned: remove current planting and replace with barberry bushes which have thorns,
• Make raised bed garden space there to show it is in use and not an alley.
• Decision still to be made which of these, if any, will be used.

Election of new Board Members [3 – 2 year terms]

Only 3 volunteered, all elected.

• LaurenDame
• Clyde Horn
• Mya Johns

Old Business:

none

New Business:

Tom thanked for his work on the projects to maintain the building.

Jean thanked for her work on the Board.

Committees thanked for their work as well,

Adjourned at 7:49 PM