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Willamette Towers Board Meeting

June 12, 2025 @ 11:30 AM

Abbreviations: IP=In Person VZ= Via Zoom MM= Made Motion UN= Unanimous vote 2nd=Seconded motion

ATTENDEES:

Board members (IP): Clyde, Jesse, Hal, Alex, and David

BMC Personnel (IP): Dave Saraceno
BMC Personnel (VZ): none

Owners (IP): Ken G.
Owners (VZ): none

Others: none

Call to order: 11:31 AM

Motion to approve today’s agenda: Clyde MM Hal 2nd UN

Minutes and Treasurer’s report:

There was no quorum for the May meeting, so there are no May minutes to approve.

The May and June Treasurer’s reports will be on the agenda for approval at the July meeting.

Owner’s Forum:

Ken G. reported that we still need to remove the two diseased Sycamore trees at the NW corner of the building. This is the corner that we recently removed the two diseased Elm trees.

Ken also reported that his team of “Paper Pushers “are making progress as they search and sift through many boxes of paper that contain and reveal the history of Willamette Towers.

Committee Reports:

MMRC:

We approved Jesse’s suggestion that the HOA Board meeting-time details be sent out via Google Calendar. This will ensure that we all get the same time/date information inserted into our calendars.

Safety Committee:

ADA stripes at the north exit of the building have been painted. Thanks Dave

We voted to adopt Amazon’s new package delivery system. Amazon will install their new equipment at no cost to us.

Decisions made:

Landscaping: Jesse and Ken will meet to discuss our landscape improvement plan. The goal is to be ready to complete all landscape work by this time next year. We also voted not to use river rock in landscaping because of possible vandalism.
We voted (up to $350) to spray the Arbor Vitae this fall. Alex MM Jesse 2nd UN
Sidewalk repair at NW corner of WT: WE voted (up to $2,500) to remove the existing sidewalk that was damaged by the two Elm trees that we recently removed, remove roots as necessary, and pour new sidewalk. Hal MM Alex 2nd UN
Decorative planter box installed in front of Flowers by Abby: Alex MM Clyde 2nd UN
Change trash-hauling company from Sanipac to Apex. Alex MM Clyde 2nd U
Install irrigation system (up to $300) at the planter bed at the south side of the entry to garage structure. MM Alex 2nd Hal UN

Unfinished:

Insurance:

We discussed this for almost an hour. The main question is:

Do we need to change our roof insurance to make it so that mortgage companies will finance the purchase of WT units. We called Tracy Baier (AM/FAM Insurance) and included her in the conversation
As the association’s current insurance broker, Tracy advised the board that there was no way for us to supplement nor alter the roof coverage in the way apparently desired by certain lenders—neither during the life of policy nor when renewing—without replacing the roof.
The 2023 reserves study contemplated replacing the roof in 2026, and the cost of doing so was estimated at approximately $180,000, which the board discussed was probably even higher now. The board calculated that a one-time assessment to replace the roof at the presumably inaccurately low $180,000 figure would equate to a 46% increase in dues (one time). Additionally, the Association would need to cut the replacement cycle of the roof at least in half, all the way down to 10 years, which would incur additional dues increases that are ongoing.

The meeting adjourned at 12:57 PM.

Willamette Towers Emergency Board Meeting

Friday, June 27, 2023, 3 PM

Board members: Clyde, Horn, Jesse Fittipaldi, David Igl, Alex Howe.

BMC personnel: Diane Sollinger, Dave Saraceno

OWNERS: Linda Seymour

CALL TO ORDER: 3:05

AGENDA APPROVAL: UNANIMOUS

PREVIOUS MEETING MINUTES APPROVAL: WAIVED

SINGLE SUBJECT MEETING ABOUT THE WATER EVENT IN THE O2 STACK.

WHAT WE BELIEVE HAPPENED:

On the afternoon of Tuesday, June 24, 2025 a valve left in place by the plumbing contractor, Anderson Plumbing for the kitchen hot water for the “02 stack” which was unmarked and still connected, was turned on in error by Dave Saraceno, Bennett Management Corporation building manager, during an effort to purge the hot water recirculating lines of an air bubble that had restricted flow into a condo unit on the “02 stack” kitchen riser.

The other usual steps in the process (that took approximately 10 minutes) were followed and all seemed well until the ground floor retail space tenant notified Dave that water was dripping into her unit.

At that point, Dave went back to the 12th floor valve and turned it off and began to track damage.

During the time the water was on (in the supposedly disconnected old riser), water had been flowing into units 202, then also 302, & then also 402 as the old pipe refilled from the bottom up, leaking from the uncapped stub left open in the supposedly disconnected hot water riser.

In addition to failing to remove the old connection as contracted, Anderson Plumbing neglected to cap each floor’s abandoned connection, which would have ameliorated the harm had it been done.

An emergency call and remediation contract signed with the Belfor Company by the Association President allowed remediation efforts to commence. They supplied fans and dehumidifiers along with humidity testing. Dave and the owner of 202 also used a shop vac to suction up water that got into her unit leaving everything damp.

Each higher floor experienced less water intrusion and no unit above the 4th floor reported any issues.

The owners of all three units were away at the start of the event. The 202 owner returned within an hour of the event, the roommate of the owner of 302 was at home, the owners of 402 were away and had to be contacted to provide permission to enter so remediation could begin.

Investigation after the event revealed that two of the four valves on the top of the risers decommissioned by Anderson Plumbing were actually fully disconnected, both top and bottom, from the hot water recirculating system.

The first two risers were correctly & fully disconnected but the two later risers were not, the top connection remains in place and the valves are unmarked, which is a failure of Anderson Plumbing to complete the scope of work for which they were contracted.

Dave has since removed the two valve handles of the offending valves to discourage future accidents.

THE BOARD WILL GATHER FACTS, DOCUMENTS, AND PHOTOS, OF DAMAGES, AND THE PLUMBING (IN SITU) TO FACILITATE OUR RESPONSES TO ALL ADJUSTERS’ QUESTIONS.

OUR OWN INSURANCE AGENT ADVISED THIS ACTION AS WELL AS COMMUNICATION WITH THE OWNERS.

BMC SENT A CLARIFICATION OF THE CONTRACT WITH BELFOR, STATING THAT THEY ARE NOT TO DO ANYTHING
OTHER THAN DEHUMIDIFICATION EFFORTS, AND SPECIFICALLY NO DEMOLITION OF WALLS, FLOORING, CABINETS, RUGS, ETC.(Only the common area will be billed to the Association.)

There were no votes taken at the meeting.