Pilot Property Management

Serving Coastal North San Diego County (Vista & San Marcos), too

PPMHandbook

Selecting sums insured for replacement

By

A thorny question for your insurance broker. How do you determine the sums insured we need to guarantee full replacement? Every good broker has received that question time after time. And his good answer is “you pick the sum to be insured”. How helpful is that? They, of course, don’t want to be on the hook when a property is underinsured and the loss exceeds the sums insured nor do they want to over-insure as a competitor will beat them in terms of premiums with lesser sums insured. Most carriers use a service such as Marshall and Swift that tracks the cost of building materials by region and plots the cost of rebuilding in the event of a major loss such as fire. The broker if he’s good will Google the property if he cannot walk it, will calculate the square footage at risk add for certain additional features such as a clubhouse, use a Marshall and Swift valuation and derive a suggested sum insured. Board of directors should be careful to not select a quote in which the premium is lower while the data shows that the sum insured is also lower. Being fully insured is most important when a high rise is involved as the one building may indeed become a total loss as a result of an insured peril while an association with say 15 buildings, spread out, may reasonably expect not to loose all buildings even in a conflagration.  If several quotes all are using approximately the same sums insured you can feel fairly comfortable about the insured value. If they are far apart get each to explain how they arrived at the sums insured. One useful comment. Insurance companies will no linger guarantee full replacement value by many will offer some increase in the sums insured over the so called insurance limit as a buffer against underinsurance. Pay careful attention to that clause and its workings.

1811

The Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act

By

The new Federal law was created and signed by the President on December 19, 2007 in order to reduce the number of fatalities and injuries to children caused by suction entrapment in pools and spas.  This act requires anti-entrapment drain systems to be installed in all public pools and spas.  Because Homeowner Association’s pools and spas are open to its member and their guests they are included and must follow the requirements of the Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act.

 

“The State of California amended Section 18942 and added Sections 116064.1 and 116064.2 to the Health and Safety Code requiring all swimming pools built before January 1, 2010, must retrofit with anti-entrapment devices no later than July 1, 2010.” 

 

Public pools and spas must be equipped with Drain Covers that comply with ASME/ANSI performance standard.   In addition, to having a drain cover or other anti-entrapment device that complies with this standard (ASME/ANSI), each pool and spa in the United States with a single main drain other than an unblockable drain shall be equipped, at a minimum, with 1 or more of the following devices or systems designed to prevent entrapment.

 

  1. Safety Vacuum Release System (SVRS):  a vacuum release system capable of providing vacuum release at a suction outlet caused by a high vacuum occurrence due to a suction outlet flow blockage.
  2. Suction-Limiting Vent System:  a suction-limiting vent system with a tamper resistant atmospheric opening.
  3. Gravity Drainage System:  a gravity drainage system that utilizes a collector tank.
  4. Automatic Pump Shut – Off System:  an automatic pump shut off system.
  5. Drain Disablement: a device or system that disables the drain.

 

In addition, those Association’s that have completed a retrofit for their swimming pool and spa in accordance with the standards of the Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Act between December 19, 2007 and January 1, 2010 and have filed the required compliance statement with the California’s Department of Public Health prior to September 30, 2010 would not need additional retrofitting.

2084

How does a board stay on topic?

By

Attending a CAI class in Palm Springs a few years ago the rest of the class audibly gasped when one account manager told us her board meetings lasted 12 and sometimes 15 hours. Granted it was a large community a master community as I recall, but how can anyone stay focused that long. They had meal breaks, she said and they lasted into the late evening.  The law in California now makes life easier for boards by requiring that items to be discussed at a meeting must first be noticed 4 days before the meeting.  I saw one management company’s answer to that, where they listed in general everything one might possibly talk about as their agenda. I am not sure they do that anymore but that’s hardly in the spirit of the law. I think there are two ways to stay on task and have briefer meetings.

First is to strictly adopt Robert’s rules of order and secondly stick closely to the agenda. One could even adopt a timing limit to each agenda item which when reached causes a motion to table until a later date if not concluded. This could backfire and every motion gets discussed several times before resolution.  But, setting the time for adjournment is a valuable tool to end the meeting. Robert’s rules has a bundle of ways to shorten discussion, such as allowing a speaker to only speak once until everyone has spoken and to have the Floor for only say 5 minutes at a time. If one cannot express oneself succinctly in 5 minutes join toastmasters group where 1 minute can seem like an eternity when asked to answer a table topics question.

1540

Water usage

By

One of the rising costs perhaps one of the most steeply rising costs to many associations in the future is water. What’s a board to do?  Fortunately there is no one single way to save money. Some associations provide both landscaping and household water. If we start with landscaping there are several ways to cut water. Several are obvious; Perform a water audit. Turn off all water in the community and see if the meter runs. Turn off by sections to determine where there may be a leak. Inspect externally valve by valve. In the summer cut watering of lawns to 2 to 3 times a week and plants to 1-2 days a week. In winter use water only as needed to keep some moisture in the soil. When the soil is dry 1-2 inches deep, it may be time to water. Water only before 6 am and after 8 pm. All too often we have seen water blown by the wind against buildings. During these hours the air is often still and the temperature has dropped significantly so evaporation is minimal. Water agencies give rebates for weather based irrigation clocks from time to time (from $25 – $80 per controller) and for smart sprinkler heads (up to $3 per nozzle, often with a minimum order of 25). If grass is required and it still seems to be the ground cover of choice in many associations build a plan to reduce the grass and convert to native plantings over a fixed time period. There is a beautiful Water Conservation Garden at Cuyamaca College in San Diego. It has a magnificent array of colorful plants to select from. Many people believe there can be no color when switching to drought resistant plants. Visiting the desert in February or March proves that assumption wrong. Adding 2-3 inches of mulch to bare areas will retain the moisture and curt down on weeds. There were and may still be rebates for turf removal and the installation of rebates for the use of synthetic turf.

1862

Landscaping: the overuse of water

By

All too often we see irrigations water streaming down the gutters in the streets. All to often it is one of our neighbors. The state is in a multi year drought and the Colorado River, one of southern California’s main sources of water is in a nine year drought. Major reservoirs are at historic lows despite the recent rainfall earlier in 2010. The fact is most of our summers are dry, unlike say Hawaii where it rain in the afternoons. It is estimated that southern Californians use 56% of their water on landscaping. Overwatering is the number 1 problem for associations. Green lawns make everyone happy until those responsible for paying for the water compare their costs to a neighbor’s.

How do Officers and Directors get elected?

By

There exists in the mind some confusion about who is an officer and who is a director.

Directors are elected usually by a majority of the members. To hold a valid election for directors, usually but not always, a majority of the membership must vote. After a majority has been reached the election is valid and the person or people with the most votes get elected. In some associations a majority may not be needed. Some organizations require only a certain percentage of people vote, maybe as few as a third, to hold a valid election. The governing documents usually the bylaws and/or articles spell out the required percentage.

When the association has voted its directors, the directors then appoint from among themselves who shall serve as officers. There is always a president and a secretary and usually but not always a treasurer, often a vice president and sometimes one or more members at large. These positions can change at any time in the year by a simple vote of the directors. For example, the president may become very busy in their other work and offer to step down as President. The directors decide among themselves who will succeed him and replace him by a simple majority vote.

However changing a director is much more complicated. If a director removes themselves as a result of moving away, sickness or worse the remaining directors may choose a replacement without a vote of the membership, unless the articles or bylaws state otherwise. They appoint by simple majority vote their retiring member’s successor. This is the procedure if a vacancy occurs, unless the number of directors remaining is less than a quorum in which case the remaining directors must unanimously agree in writing.

Directors may be removed from office by the membership or by a court order.

1778