President's Message - April 2005

Norman Salisbury
President

Dear Fellow Owners:

Starting within the first week of May, demolition and construction work will begin to waterproof and resurface the plaza surrounding American Towers. We understand that there will be some disruptions, noise and inconvenience but we have taken steps to minimize that. The demolition will involve saw cutting the existing concrete surface instead of using the noisy jack hammers that send sound vibrations throughout our entire building. We anticipate that the project will be nearly completed by November.

As you know, this project will nearly deplete our Residential Reserve Fund and your Board of Trustees raised the capital assessment to replenish the fund. Some have expressed concern that this increase may be, or likely will be, permanent. It is not. However, we also did not set an expiration date on the increase. The primary objective of the Board is to restore our financial Reserves to a sound and stable position with the capability of paying for future improvements without increases or special assessments. We have recently been surprised by the success of our cost cutting efforts in the operating fund and anticipate that by the end of next year our operating fund will be in a surplus position (barring further surprises in energy costs) and our Reserve funds will be replenished. This will allow us to reapportion the charges on your monthly statements and hopefully result in a reduction in your overall monthly total. This is our goal.

We are also making extensive changes in our policy and procedures. We are in the process of revising and enhancing our preventative maintenance plan. We are asking our staff, Billy in particular, to spend more of his time inspecting, testing, servicing and documenting all of our mechanical equipment to minimize breakdowns, failures and repair costs. What this means to Residents is that Billy will no longer be available at any time to perform work orders or to perform services in your condo. Also please remember that the staff is only available for work orders on a limited basis after they have completed their duties in the Common facilities. They are not ever available “on demand”. Billy will continue to coordinate the activities of his staff and to supervise their work. Additionally, our staff has been instructed to forward all Resident requests for service or work through the management office. Please respect their efforts to follow these instructions. As usual, any emergency requests will be dealt with by all of our staff as necessary.

Our air conditioning is finally and fully inspected, tested and certified. Last month we made final payment to the contractor and expect to receive the incentive payment for our energy efficient equipment from Utah Power shortly. The repairs from the fire damage are nearly complete. Installation a brand new fire alarm system (also covered by our insurance policy) will be completed within a few weeks. Please expect extensive alarm and device testing in all of our common areas as will as those devices within your own unit. Our staff will also be conducting extensive training, testing and drills on the new system. New intercom phones in the parking garage, elevators and amenity areas are presently being installed.

Included in this newsletter is an emergency assistance or evacuation form for those residents who are disabled or who may need assistance in an emergency. If you are such a person or such a person lives in your unit, please fill out this form and return it to the management office.

As you can see from the above, there is a lot of work in progress and we are deeply involved in revising or overhauling many areas of our staffing, finances, procedures, and facilities. It will be a very busy year but we as Trustees are delighted with the results we’ve seen thus far in our air conditioning system and with the improvements that are presently underway. American Towers is still the finest community in the state and we aim to stay that way.

We thank you for your patience and sincerely appreciate your support.

Sincerely,