Siding project riles Millponds

When residents of the Millponds at Marlboro development first heard about a pending project to re-side their homes, some people thought nothing of it, while others questioned the need for the new siding, particularly during a difficult economic climate.

When it was eventually discovered that a $2 million loan had been obtained by the Millponds Condominium Association to put toward the siding project, a group of people formed the Committee for Concerned Residents to protest the manner in which the siding project had been handled.

Millponds at Marlboro includes about 400 condominium and townhouse units off Texas Road in Marlboro.

The Millponds Condominium Association board members awarded a contract to Fox Chase Maintenance as the siding contractor for the project, which according to information distributed to Millponds residents will cost $1.6 million.

To ensure project integrity, an independent engineering firm, FWH Associates, was hired by the board. Information distributed to homeowners states that the engineering group will be on-site to inspect all of the new siding work, and to inspect residing, which has already taken place on 12 of the community's condominium buildings.

Since 12 condominium buildings were re-sided within the past few years, they are not included in the scope of the new project. Information sent to residents states that those 12 buildings will be looked at and any specific needs will be addressed.

A phone call placed to Millponds Condominium Association President Richard Radin was not returned.

The condominium association's attorney, John Kwasnik, would not answer a reporter's questions over the phone.

Kwasnik's office responded to a message left by the News Transcript and said all questions about this issue must be submitted to the Millponds property manager, Access Property Management, which would then submit the newspapers' questions to Kwasnik's office for consideration.

Questions were then sent by the News Transcript via email to Millponds community manager Julia Antonides.

Antonides informed the News Transcript on June 5 that she had forwarded the questions to the association's attorney.

No answer was received prior to press time.

In the November-December edition of the Millponds community newsletter, Radin informed residents of the board's decision to hire Fox Chase as the siding contractor.

"This is the largest project ever undertaken here at Millponds. The new siding will not only beautify the community, but we also expect our property values to increase and our units to be warmer," Radin wrote in the newsletter.

Residents were invited to a December meeting of the association to hear a presentation about the project.

Barbara Butensky was one of the residents who had concerns. Butensky, who has lived in Millponds for 12 years, said she was concerned after discovering that the condominium association's board never held a public vote on the matter of the siding.

"(The board) did not have a vote of a two-thirds majority; they had no vote at all; there was no open meeting," Butensky said.

Butensky said the board signed the contract for the siding project sometime around September or October from what the Committee for Concerned Residents could uncover.

A search of the association's minutes shows the siding topic was mentioned under new business at the board's September 2008 meeting. Mention of the siding project appears again in the minutes from the board's November 2008 meeting, but does not indicate if a vote ever took place to award a contract.

With a $2 million loan taken out to get the work done, residents of Millponds can expect their monthly maintenance fee to increase by a minimum of $42 on top of their current fee of $276, Butensky said. She said it is her understanding that the entire community, including buildings that are not being re-sided, will be required to pay the higher maintenance fee.

The Millponds budget for 2009 has already been completed and states that the association receives an income of $1.5 million from the maintenance fees.

Butensky said it is expected that the increase in the maintenance fee will be seen next year.

"There are older people who live on Social Security and they really can't afford to now have extra money tacked on. There are younger people who are losing their jobs. A lot of people for obvious reasons are just barely making ends meet now, and many people if given a vote would probably not want this (the cost of the siding project) now. What we wanted to do was take care of properties here as needed, not just go through and give everyone siding," she said.

In the packet sent to homeowners, information on the loan was provided. The bank loan was secured from Capital One in the amount of $2 million to be repaid over 10 years. From December 2008 through July 2010 the loan is a non-revolving line of credit with interest-only payments due until the end of the first 18 months. The remaining eight-and-a-half years on the loan is a term loan with a fixed rate of 4.95 percent. The letter states that the money that was borrowed is currently earning interest at a rate of 2.1 percent, which is offsetting the cost of the loan.

Butensky said the terms of the loan contain a penalty for pre-payment.

The Committee for Concerned Residents has 10 members who consistently participate in meetings and others who call afterward to find out what is occurring, Butensky said.

"This committee we formed, which continues to grow, we decided that what we want is to get a sentiment of what the community wants. If the community really does want this $2 million siding project, then we would have to go ahead with it, but if they didn't want it then we really needed to look into this and see what options we had," she said.

Butensky said the association's directors have employed scare tactics against the Committee for Concerned Residents and have involved Marlboro police. After passing out a flier for the committee, Butensky's fiancé, Paul Wechsler, answered a knock at their door and opened it to find a police officer.

Butensky said the police officer informed the couple that they could not hand out fliers in the community.

"Now that's really B.S., because if I tell you how many times I get advertisements on my door for pizza parlors, Chinese food, and cleaning services, and those people are never arrested," Butensky said.

She acknowledged that the flier was inflammatory and was meant to "wake people up."

No representative of the development would immediately respond to her allegations that scare tactics are being used to silence residents.

One of the committee's concerns is that the siding project was awarded to Fox Chase Maintenance, which is the on-site property manager of Millponds.

"There's a little bit of an odor here," Butensky said.

Fox Chase Maintenance is a subsidiary of Access Property Management, the development's property manager.

Members of the residents' committee were curious to see how many bids had been made by different companies in regard to the siding project. Trying to obtain that information proved to be a hassle, Butensky said.

What was eventually provided to the residents was a spreadsheet that listed the bidders as "A," "B" and "C" with a number placed next to them with the bid projection.

Butensky said it was impossible to identify which bid went with which company, since company names were not provided.

There were no specifications listed with the bid prices. Butensky noted that such details would be imperative to see the reasoning behind the bids, as some might be lower because the contractor planned to remove the existing siding and sell it.

Another area that sparked the committee's concern was the wording in a letter sent to homeowners from the engineering firm that was hired to oversee the project. Butensky cited a portion of the letter which states that homeowners will be responsible for removing all of their unit's screens from the windows, since the contractor is not to be held responsible for any damage done to the screens while replacing the siding on the home.

Also contained in the letter was an offer from Fox Chase Maintenance to replace windows and sliding glass doors at the same time the siding was being replaced at a cost to the homeowner. The letter states, "If during the siding project windows are deemed to be beyond their useful life, we as the 'engineer' will require replacement of the window at that time. The cost will be passed on to the homeowner."

"They wanted us to sign a waiver that said if we chose not to get these windows, he (the contractor) was not responsible for any damage done to our unit," Butensky said.

She said it was the manner in which the letter was written that alarmed residents since it appeared the homeowners had to purchase the windows through Fox Chase.

"You should have the option of choosing whoever you want," Butensky said.

She said that according to the replacement booklet sent to her home, replacing the windows in her unit would cost $10,000.

The letter did stipulate that if windows are replaced after the conclusion of the siding project an engineer or architect would have to be hired by the individual homeowner at their own expense, to ensure the warranty remains in effect.

The Millponds Condominium Association and the Committee for Concerned Residents have met at four alternative dispute resolution (ADR) meetings, Butensky said.

An ADR is a mediation process where mediators act as neutral parties to reconcile the involved entities' differences before proceeding to arbitration or litigation. These meetings produce nonbinding results, but members of the Committee for Concerned Residents were hopeful the process would open the eyes of board members to the fact that some changes must be made.

Butensky said the group has had some successes as a result of the ADR process.

At the most recent ADR meeting on June 1, the parties were able to agree that certain terminology within the contract for the siding replacement should be clarified and corrected, she reported.

During the ADR meeting, board members said their intention was not to force the Millponds residents to have their windows replaced by the contractor, Butensky said. After hearing the way the letter to residents was worded, the mediator agreed that the board's intentions may not be clear, and suggested that the intention be made clear during a public meeting, she said.

"We really were able by virtue of being diligent, checking and looking at the (association's) bylaws, and checking with the New Jersey statute for condominium law, we really were able to achieve a lot of changes in the contract, which will hopefully now protect the homeowner and not the contractor. He doesn't need protection from us, we need protection from him," Butensky said.

Also counted among the group's successes is that the contractor will now work in sections, starting with three buildings on Culford Place. Those units were determined to be a good starting area due to structural damage, the information to residents stated. Butensky said work commenced on those three buildings on June 2.

Another presentation by FWH Associates was to be made during the board's June 4 meeting as to the conditions found on the units that had been worked on. Following the presentation, Fox Chase will complete another 150 to 180 units within Millponds. The condominium association will then mail out an informational survey to unit owners about the project. The board will then have the option to complete the rest of the community as originally planned.

The information to residents said, "If we are not satisfied with the work we will then opt for a different contractor. We are not anticipating this to be a problem and in fact believe we will have great success! … Our goal is to obtain community feedback before final completion of the project."

"Logic tells me that if you see that your neighbor has brand new siding and you don't, and you're going to pay just as much as he is, all hell is going to break loose," Butensky said of the late timing of when the survey will be sent to residents.

Butensky said she has been accused by the condominium association's board with raising these issues to gain power and a position on the board. She did announce her plan to seek a seat on the board in the election that was held June 4.

"This has nothing to do with power. I decided to run because of all this (siding situation), but it has nothing to do with power. It has to do with honesty, integrity and transparency," Butensky said.

Contact Rebecca Morton at marlboro@gmnews.com.