President's Message - May 2007

Norman Salisbury
President

Dear Fellow Owners and Residents:

As a result of two recent incidents, your Board of Trustees wishes to remind all owners and residents of the vital importance of obtaining your own condo insurance policies. The Association's insurance policies may or may not cover damage to personal property inside of your condo and certainly will not cover your personal liability if someone or something in your condo causes damage to another condo. Please also be reminded that personal property includes not only furniture and clothing, but also carpets, wall coverings and even paint on the walls. Also, please be informed that the insurance policy of the Association has a relatively high deductible, ($10,000) and even if damage in your condo were covered by our policies, you may still have to pay a proportionate share of costs not paid because of the deductible.

It appears that recently there may have been some misunderstanding and perhaps some misinformation circulating among owners regarding their liability under various circumstances. Most owners recognize that when damage is caused by another persons negligence or failure to properly maintain fixtures or fittings that leak and cause damage, then that person is responsible. However, if that person does not have his own insurance in place, payment and restoration may not be readily forthcoming, if at all.

In addition, many owners assume that when there is water damage from common pipes and drains that the Association is automatically responsible. The assumption may not be accurate. Your Board of Trustees has instructed management to follow the provisions of our Declaration in these cases and our Declaration has provisions that strictly limits the liability of the Association. Please read this provision reprinted at the end of this letter.

As many of you may have heard, we recently had a sewer backup and overflow that resulted in tens of thousands of dollars of damage to six condos. The Association's insurer eventually agreed to cover the damages, but even then, with our large deductible in the amount of $10,000, the affected owners were required to pay their share of the damage that was not paid by the deductible. Many of the owners thankfully had their own insurance policies that covered and paid the remaining amounts, but those that did not have insurance in place were required to pay significant sums out-of-pocket.

We believe that most owners have these policies in place and recognize that the annual premiums are very reasonable. Any owners that have questions are welcome to call the management office. There we have examples of the types of policies and carriers that provide this condo coverage we are suggesting.

On a final note, if perchance you happen to cause a smoke detector alarm either by burning food or some other means, please  call Security and inform them. This single phone call can greatly assist them in determining the necessary emergency response to dispatch and in minimizing disturbances to others if it is not an emergency. Otherwise, please do NOT call Security and tie up the phone lines so that these other critically important phone calls can get through.

Our air conditioning systems are performing wonderfully as summer approaches. Our owner committees are presently evaluating the future replacement needs and costs of our aging heating systems so that we will be prepared when the time comes for replacement or upgrade.

Your Board wishes to thank you again for your support.

Sincerely,

Norman J. Salisbury
President