The Marquis

Tasks to finish:

Please indicate a "yes" or "no" with each task. Please answer whether you would allow/like me to finish these tasks I had intended for the building. Further details about each of these tasks follow below.

No answer will be taken as a "YES".
Majority rules with these answers. All answers are anonymous.

Items that I had planned but will abandon.

Plan and research bike rack area
Gather and put together quotes from other potential building management companies
Begin getting quotes, opinions and options about renovations for the building including sidewalk, siding, hallway carpets, windows & doors.

Review items for consideration or concern.

Need to switch management companies or strategies to be more effective overall
Lots of project management work coming down the "tubes" - therefore greater costs to organizing all of this
In need of increasing condo fees to meet inflation however, condo fees were already high, so need to also keep them as low as possible to make them sustainable for owners and tenant contracts
In-house management can deliver the most immediate day-to-day care for the property, the building and its patrons. The current environment downtown requires regular and extensive "CLEAN-UP". Therefore, management from Wetaskiwin or other off-site management options makes this daily maintenance expensive or absent at times ( meaning not immediate which is sometimes needed).
Alignment of all management details of the building needs to be done well in order to move to another company and have the new management company take over easily, as well as to have the building managed well moving forward.
Examples of items needed to be aligned and organized: Insurance, Accounting, Cheque Signing Process, Day to Day Facility Management and Duties Required, a HandBook Created for Future Building Management, Condo Study Contract, Condo Board Rules and Regulars, Contractors List (of those who have worked on the building in the past), Compiling of all other details needed to end the contract with current management company and work with a new management company). More than anything we want to analyze how efficiently and effectively things are being done so we can improve where possible.
BONUS: Do a case study on how the boiler system improvements have been helping with our utilities costs.
Another Bonus: Designing and comparing whether self-management is a viable option and if there are cost savings to all of it.

Jobs required within Management Duties

Daily Clean-up Maintenance

Seasonal Building Duties

24 Hour Building Contact for Emergencies

Onsite tenant support/supervision

Organizing Services and Trades when required.

Meeting of Trades Quotes or Services

Organizing Building Patrons for Services

Administrative Duties - Scheduling all other accounting and administrative contracts, plus scheduling Board Meetings, and planning or preparing Meeting Minutes.

Organization and orchestration of Board Meetings and all details/paperwork required for these meetings.

Examples of Daily Maintenance

Due to the nature of downtown now, and especially since COVID, the constant "MESS" downtown has become regular (daily) and extensive.

These pictures are from some of the more extreme "clean-ups" I have done, multiple times.

Everyday... I would do my best to take a spin around the building and check on things, plus tidy any debris, and rubbish.

Doing these daily checks has also helped me monitor the parking lot and take note of any attempts to break-in to the cars on site. This includes the pictures down below, which happened to the tenants in Unit 1. These pictures also helped these tenants be able to claim this damage from insurance. There have been multiple attempts to break in and steal from the vehicles in the parking lot. Ganesh and I have been able to deter a few of these also over the years.

These photos outline just a few of the benefits of having management on site for all patrons. We can and have been saving money on our management fees by not needing to call on external management sources frequently.

Daily "miscellaneous items" pick up around the building

Frequent garbage bin chaos due to the homeless going through our garbages on the regular.
( I have been looking into a locking option but haven't found a quick or easy solution as the lids to the bin do not have a way to fasten a lock currently).

Daily mess around the garbage bins is at least this much (on the left) but so often there is so much more including large items like mattresses and furniture that we then have to call for someone to come and take these items to the dump (I have many pictures if needed).

Homeless people making use of the back stair well.

This particular mess I cleaned up several times. And as you can see here... the person even tried to start a fire.

Because it was a female's stuff, I packed the stuff up so they could come and retrieve it, if they needed it for warmth, etc.

Other homeless people of course ended up going through it, so I cleaned it up and threw it out after second mess.

There were needles involved in this mess also and I created a safe needle disposal container that now resides in the Storage room and is labelled.

Pictures taken for evidence of attempted break-in within our parking lot. This happened to the vehicle belonging to the gals in Unit #1.

Pictures were submitted for insurance purposes and to get damages paid for.

Hallway Decorative

Designed to replace the giant painting that was broken by some of the trades men on site (main floor).

Also designed to create more safety in the hallways by increasing the number of mirrors on the basement level and main floor.

Example of idea:

Our version:

Made from vintage frames salvaged for free from a basement and freshly painted in a gold colour.

Includes old mirrors used in our bathroom renovations (10 years ago). Again...used to create greater safety by being able to see behind oneself throughout hallways.

Creates greater appeal and decorative nature in our hallways.

PLEASE VOTE IF YOU WOULD LIKE ME TO COMPLETE THIS PROJECT IN THE VOTING SECTION BELOW.

Gold Frames

Improvements to the Building

Welcoming pets and creating better care for the building by all.

Screen Shot 2023-11-05 at 11.20.51 AM.png

A basket has been created and managed at the front door for a while now.

It contains towels that allow pet owners to clean their pet's feet and therefore, helps maintain our carpets.

There are also poop bags included in this basket to also make sure all patrons of the building always have the supplies to clean up after their pets.

The basket is lastly used as a welcoming agent. The more patrons of the building feel welcome with their pets and supported, the community morale of the building is better and this fosters greater care and a more positive experience while living at the building.

Screen Shot 2023-11-05 at 11.26.05 AM.png

Screen Shot 2023-11-05 at 11.25.23 AM.png

Storage Room Update - New Shelving Set-Up:

This project was the gift I asked for help with for my 40th birthday from my boyfriend. It was a big project and I have not submitted the receipts for the shelving as of yet, because I wanted to make sure I started my condo fee payment plan first and presented all of this information to you.

I really wanted to complete this project before presenting any ideas in regard to management of the building also. I wanted to make sure we were following through with current tasks from our board meetings first and bettering the building for all owners.

There are 4 shelving units currently, so that every owner has access to a shelving unit. We have discussed before that it isn't the best idea to have short-term rental tenants make use of the storage room, due to their short-term nature... however, I personally have assisted some of the really wonderful rental tenants to use this area for storage for larger 'garage' type items that do not fit in their suits well. Examples would be offering it to Unit #3 this past summer for the roof rack on their car. And also offering it to Vivian from Unit #2 for her bike or anything else she may ever need. Again, this becomes another benefit of having management on site. We can better monitor this area and be helpful to rental tenants if needed.

Still to do:
Removal of the rest of the Clutter and items left by previous tenants.
Figure out where the Mattress, Desk and Dishwasher need to go.
Remove shelving on the south wall to allow for more walking room.
Create a hook system for all building and garden maintenance tools

My Plan of Action:

1)I have begun my payment plan (November and December Condo Fees are Paid in full as of November 8th, plus October, September, August and July will follow within this month. See rest of payment schedule below)

2) I will remove all bikes and the majority of my stuff from the basement. (Nov 13th to 18th)

3) Finish up any tasks/actions for the building (voted on by you- see above again)
(Nov 13th to 18th and in December 2023)

My Payment Plan

A. Nov 8th 2 Payments:
The following cheques were deposited and posted immediately to the Marquis Condo account.
1) November 2023 Condo Fees
2) December 2023 Condo Fees

B. The following cheques will be posted and deposited to the Marquis Condo account by Dec 1st, 2023:

1) October 2023 Condo Fees
2) September 2023 Condo Fees
3) August 2023 Condo Fees
4) July 2023 Condo Fees

C. The remainder of the condo fees will be paid in the suggested payment schedule.

I will do everything I can to pay it back even faster than this. Especially if I do sell my condo in the spring... you will get all remaining condo fees plus interest upon the sale of my condo instantly.

The following payment schedule is just to create some "safety" in still being able to survive.

Again... my want to pay this all back at a much faster rate is fully my biggest priority. I am not sure if there will be an increase in condo fees between now and January 1st, 2024 (or for the following year to come, so please let me know). Also my health is not very good right now so a little bit more breathing room in the payment schedule is needed to allow for health issues.

January 1st 2024 Payment Schedule

1. Jan 1, 2024 - January 2024 Condo Fees + June 2023 Condo Fees
2. Feb 1, 2024 - February 2024 Condo Fees + May 2023 Condo Fees
3. March 1, 2024 - March 2024 Condo Fees + April 2023 Condo Fees
4. April 1, 2024 - April 2024 Condo Fees + March 2023 Condo Fees
5. May 1, 2024 - May 2024 Condo Fees + February 2023 Condo Fees

Remainder of Condo Fees paid with interest come June 1st 2023.

Includes:
May 2022 Condo Fees
June 2022 Condo Fees
July 2022 Condo Fees
August 2022 Condo Fees
September 2022 Condo Fees
October 2022 Condo Fees
November 2022 Condo Fees
December 2022 Condo Fees
January 2023 Condo Fees

Additional amount to cover the interest missed by these condo fees being absent.

I believe I may have paid one of the above condo fees in 2022 already so I will just need to confirm this and make sure the full amount required of me is accounted for and paid in full.

In Closing...

I again apologize for any chaos or distrust I created.

I was only trying my best to keep working as hard as possible to create potential solutions in multiple areas (especially in regards to my condo fees) and fully present them to the board before beginning my payment plan.

The Marquis

Tasks to finish:

Items that I had planned but will abandon.

Plan and research bike rack area

Gather and put together quotes from other potential building management companies

Begin getting quotes, opinions and options about renovations for the building including sidewalk, siding, hallway carpets, windows & doors.

Review items for consideration or concern.

Need to switch management companies or strategies to be more effective overall

Lots of project management work coming down the "tubes" - therefore greater costs to organizing all of this

In need of increasing condo fees to meet inflation however, condo fees were already high, so need to also keep them as low as possible to make them sustainable for owners and tenant contracts

Alignment of all management details of the building needs to be done well in order to move to another company and have the new management company take over easily, as well as to have the building managed well moving forward.

BONUS: Do a case study on how the boiler system improvements have been helping with our utilities costs.

Another Bonus: Designing and comparing whether self-management is a viable option and if there are cost savings to all of it.

Jobs required within Management Duties

Daily Clean-up Maintenance

Seasonal Building Duties

24 Hour Building Contact for Emergencies

Onsite tenant support/supervision

Organizing Services and Trades when required.

Meeting of Trades Quotes or Services

Organizing Building Patrons for Services

Administrative Duties - Scheduling all other accounting and administrative contracts, plus scheduling Board Meetings, and planning or preparing Meeting Minutes.

Organization and orchestration of Board Meetings and all details/paperwork required for these meetings.

Examples of Daily Maintenance

Daily "miscellaneous items" pick up around the building

Frequent garbage bin chaos due to the homeless going through our garbages on the regular. ( I have been looking into a locking option but haven't found a quick or easy solution as the lids to the bin do not have a way to fasten a lock currently).

Daily mess around the garbage bins is at least this much (on the left) but so often there is so much more including large items like mattresses and furniture that we then have to call for someone to come and take these items to the dump (I have many pictures if needed).

Homeless people making use of the back stair well.

This particular mess I cleaned up several times. And as you can see here... the person even tried to start a fire.

Because it was a female's stuff, I packed the stuff up so they could come and retrieve it, if they needed it for warmth, etc.

Other homeless people of course ended up going through it, so I cleaned it up and threw it out after second mess. There were needles involved in this mess also and I created a safe needle disposal container that now resides in the Storage room and is labelled.

Pictures taken for evidence of attempted break-in within our parking lot. This happened to the vehicle belonging to the gals in Unit #1. Pictures were submitted for insurance purposes and to get damages paid for.

Hallway Decorative

Designed to replace the giant painting that was broken by some of the trades men on site (main floor).

Also designed to create more safety in the hallways by increasing the number of mirrors on the basement level and main floor.

Example of idea:

Gold Frames

Improvements to the Building

Welcoming pets and creating better care for the building by all.

Storage Room Update - New Shelving Set-Up:

Still to do: Removal of the rest of the Clutter and items left by previous tenants. Figure out where the Mattress, Desk and Dishwasher need to go. Remove shelving on the south wall to allow for more walking room. Create a hook system for all building and garden maintenance tools

My Plan of Action:

My Payment Plan

January 1st 2024 Payment Schedule

In Closing...

I again apologize for any chaos or distrust I created. I was only trying my best to keep working as hard as possible to create potential solutions in multiple areas (especially in regards to my condo fees) and fully present them to the board before beginning my payment plan.

Frequent garbage bin chaos due to the homeless going through our garbages on the regular.
( I have been looking into a locking option but haven't found a quick or easy solution as the lids to the bin do not have a way to fasten a lock currently).

Other homeless people of course ended up going through it, so I cleaned it up and threw it out after second mess.

There were needles involved in this mess also and I created a safe needle disposal container that now resides in the Storage room and is labelled.

Pictures taken for evidence of attempted break-in within our parking lot. This happened to the vehicle belonging to the gals in Unit #1.

Pictures were submitted for insurance purposes and to get damages paid for.

Still to do:
Removal of the rest of the Clutter and items left by previous tenants.
Figure out where the Mattress, Desk and Dishwasher need to go.
Remove shelving on the south wall to allow for more walking room.
Create a hook system for all building and garden maintenance tools

I again apologize for any chaos or distrust I created.

I was only trying my best to keep working as hard as possible to create potential solutions in multiple areas (especially in regards to my condo fees) and fully present them to the board before beginning my payment plan.