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Gulf Winds East Condominiums

In Beautiful Naples, Florida

Gulf Winds East Condominiums

In Beautiful Naples, Florida

Rob Polo Recap of Board Meeting

December 6, 2024

This recap is a continuation of my efforts to communicate with the owners of GWE. I feel that it's important for every owner to have the right to know what's going on in their community and how it may affect their investment. The following is my recap of our Friday, December 6th Budget Meeting.

For cost saving, time and convenience , I/we converted the A building lobby into a meeting hall. I believe that it resulted in more attendance and owner participation.

To start the meeting , a quorum was established with six board members in attendance. Brian Orey, Darlene Tsakos, Doug Saturnino, Roseann Marinelli, Mitchell Stern and myself, Robert Polo.

Per the posted agenda, the only " New Business" was the discussion and vote for the upcoming 2025 GWE budget. The first inquiry went out to all the board members. Since the board was in agreement, the owners were encouraged to ask any questions exclusively about the budget. Some owners chose to bring up non budget related issues that had to be rejected. These questions/issues were later discussed after the meeting was adjourned. When the owners concluded their Q&A session about the 2025 budget, a board vote was then initiated. All board members voted in favor of passing our 2025 GWE budget.

You will be happy to learn that our 2025 budget only showed a modest increase to our quarterly condo fees which currently includes our bulk rate cable charge per unit. The meeting was then adjourned.

One question that was later discussed ; There seemed to be a misconception that GWE was in arrears and possibly in a collection status with our Xfinity account in the amount of $8000 dollars. According to our management company, Seacrest Southwest, Xfinity is on automatic payment. To be sure that this invoice did not fall through the cracks, I asked them to send me a copy of this paid bill which reads that $8247.39 was paid back in early November. To verify, I am holding this paid invoice in my hand as we speak.

Another question that was brought up; This budget meeting should not have been held because the non SIRS portion of our Rimkus report did not list the specific items that were scheduled in our reserves. Since the board was aware of this oversight, we contacted our management company and asked this specific question. We were told that since our original budget numbers will not be changed in any way, we can go forward with our meeting.

So, at the behest of our management company we conducted our meeting accordingly.

And, since the Non-SIRS portion of our budget was removed from the report, Seacrest, our management company, also inadvertently omitted the worksheet from the documentation that was mailed to owners along with our 2025 budget. Therefore, an amended set of documents to include the pooled reserves will be sent out to the owners next week.”

The final concern was later sent to the board via email; They complained that the board could not remove the non SIRS portion of the Rimkus

report ( which totals about $924K ) and that our SIRS reserves had to be in place for December 31, 2024. And, they intend to pursue this point with their attorneys. Amazing, I'm glad that these people are no longer on the board. If this was the case, these owners would want us all to pay a special assessment of $7000 to $10,000 per 162 units on or before by the end of this year. The reality is that NON SIRS reserves have NOT been eliminated from GWE's reserves.

During our negotiations with our engineering company, Rimkus, allowedGWE to extend our reserve budgeting to 2026.They told us that it was within their authority and accordingly their final report stating such which would subsequently be filed and recorded in the state of Florida. The following is our documentation regarding this matter.

Iqbal Ahmed, P.E.
Practice Leader | Construction Science

941-248-8139 | iqbal.ahmed@rimkus.com | rimkus.com

10405 Technology Ter, Lakewood Ranch, FL, 34211

Ahmed, Iqbal

Nov 7, 2024, 4:45 PM

to me, Katelyn, Darlene, Douglas, Brian, Roseann, Justin, Mitchell

I have substantially completed the revision. I appreciate you sending an organized invoice list. I was able to change a few line items (plumbing, exterior doors and fire alarm systems) among other changes previously discussed. At the moment I am waiting on final numbers for the Estimated Starting Balance (2026) and Current Annual Contribution. Please keep in mind I have removed the Non-SIRS portion of the report when providing the starting balance. Upon receipt, I will make the change and issue a report accordingly.

Thank you,

Robert Polo

GWE President

Board Recap from Robert Polo

Recap 11/15/24

On Friday, November 15th at 10:30 the BOD held their monthly meeting in the lobby of the A building.

The turnout was approximately 12 owners and there were another 12 that called in via zoom. All GWE board meetings are posted on our website and on the outside of our Cam's office. As a reminder, our website is gwecondo.com.

We are looking to hold our year end budget meeting as soon as our management company, Seacrest Southwest, returns with

the final numbers to the board for our sixth review. All owners will receive a copy and proper posting will take place.

We are hoping for a December 6th BOD meeting which will also be held in the lobby of our A building.

This year, our timing was subject to the finalizing of the Rimkus report. ( the engineering company we hired to satisfy the Florida

law SB 4-D ) .

For the past three months, I have been informing the owners of GWE that this Florida Sirs mandate will require Gulf Winds East to increase its budgeting reserves in the up coming years.

My recap messages have been sent out via email to all owners and its then posted on our website, gwecondo.co.

Recently, I have heard that one or two owners claim that the board has not communicated this message well enough.

So, if I may, a brief history behind the new SIRS mandate.

After the collapse of a 12 story condominium in Florida, the Florida legislators established and passed the SB 4-D law which

mandated all older Florida condominiums ( 3 floors and up ) to adhere to a "Structural Integrity Reserve Study" SIRS. Rimkus

Engineering conducted our review in which GWE paid approximately $23k for a Sirs and non-sirs report . Fortunately for us, Rimkus gave

us a deadline of November 7th to finalize our negotiations with them. Within that time frame, we met with the head of their

engineering team , Iqbal Ahmed, via zoom, to discuss and possibly reduce our mandated overall reserve increase which they established

in their final report.

For a better understanding of what this all means, please feel free to google, " Making sense of the new SIRS requirements".

I am very pleased to announce that this board successfully removed the, " non-sirs" section of the Rimkus final report. Ultimately, this has saved GWE $924K in reserve funding. In addition, we had the initial start date changed from 2025 to 2026.

Along the way, we challenged their estimated calculations resulting in more financial concessions .

And finally, after reviewing 19 boxes of old GWE files, invoices and cancelled checks, an additional $223k plus an approx. $200k in

structural costs were estimated down from their initial starting point.

a. At the meeting, our agenda indicated a Sirs/Budgeting Update from the president, please see the above paragraph.

b. Grounds ( landscaping ) update, due to our last hurricane, soffit repairs were needed for a number of buildings.

Therefore, this unpredicted added expense will be offset by the additional spending incurred by our yearly mulching.

We felt that it would be fiscally irresponsible for us to beautify rather than repair .

c. Airbnb Violations;As you may already know, Airbnb rentals are not allowed at GWE for a number of reasons. We found one

in G building and our Cam sent out an appropriate letter to that owner warning them of the consequences if this should happen again.

Proposal Approval,

Since the management company did not send out the proper timely notification to the owners for transparency reasons we

were not allowed to discuss and vote on a. Pest Control and b. Soffit repair proposals.

Introducing our new cam.

Please meet our new cam Barbara Canto LCAM. She is our 4th cam since January 2024. This is her personal statement to the owners.

I’m a dedicated mom to two young daughters—a 2-year-old and a 7-month-old—and I've been passionate about customer service since graduating high school in 2015. I began my career as an insurance agent with an auto insurance brokerage and later worked as a client coordinator for a land surveyor company. Since joining Seacrest Southwest, formerly known as Southwest Property Management, I've developed a strong interest in property management. I worked hard for my CAM certification, and it’s been a rewarding journey serving communities ever since.

The challenges and rewards of property management make this role incredibly fulfilling, and I’m passionate about making a positive impact on the communities I manage. I look forward to working with the Gulf Winds East Board and serving all of you in our community.
Please note that my onsite hours will be from 9:30 AM to 3:30 PM. I’m here to help and support you, so feel free to reach out anytime! You can contact me by email at bcanto@swpropmgt.com or by phone at 239-261-3440 ext. 152.
Barbara, GWE CAM

GWE' Maintenance man and unauthorized work ;

Our new maintenance man, Anthony, is not permitted to perform tasks for any individual unit owner, unless otherwise

permitted by our cam and/or the board. He works for the whole of GWE and we feel that the liability risk of entering and working for an individual owner is unwarranted.

Recently, one exception did occur, Anthony assisted a unit owner because of the extreme condition that were caused by the unit above. The following notice was sent to the owner of that unit .

GWE DOC'S CLEARLY STATE :

“Alterations, modifications, installations, and additions to the unit and common elements must
be approved by the Board of Directors. Unit Owners are responsible for submitting an ARC
request and obtaining approval prior to commencing any work.”
Next Steps:
1. Cease all work immediately until further notice.
2. Submit an ARC request via AppFolio with details of the work being performed, including
vendor information and proof of licensing and insurance, for Board approval.
3. Remit a $100 offset charge payable to the association , ( Gulf Winds East ) no later than 11/22/2024 to cover
the expense incurred by the Association. This fee is necessary as the association’s onsite maintenance personnel,
is only employed to perform daily chores for GWE.

Tenant Evaluation and Get Quorum were briefly discussed.

T.E. is a software program that would allegedly streamline our leasing process.

G.Q. is also a software program that would essentially allow for electronic voting by the owners.

Both programs have merit and will be researched and discussed further at a later date.

The following are ideas that GWE should consider for future consideration:

1. We have discussed this option in the past and would require an owners vote. I would like to reduce the number of board members from our current number of SEVEN to FIVE. Even though GWE has 162 owners we have found it challenging to generate enough interested

participants to take on the responsibility of governing our association.

You would think that everyone would be interested to participate and learn as to how and why things are being implemented

and the effects it will have on your investment.

Here is a brief outline as how things are managed at GWE. Our annual HOA contributions total is approx. one million dollars.

Our Management company assists and at times guides us accordingly. Our on site CAM handles the day to day administrative

duties and our maintenance man administers and addresses the communities physical needs. Ideally, the board offers guidance

and votes on the different proposals presented for repairs and to beautify our grounds.

During our year end meeting, there will be a request to new candidates to run for the board and hold an office for it's full term.

Please consider this election as an opportunity for everyone to get involved in there community.

2. As you all know, our cable fee is $150 per quarter or $600 a year. Currently, this charge is included in everyone's HOA payments .

I would like that change removed from our condo fee and allow everyone to have or not have their own internet / Wi-Fi coverage.

I will be reviewing our contract with Xfinity to determine our options.

If you have any questions, concerns and/or opinions please feel free to email them to me for further clarification.

Robert Polo

GWE President

A New Message From Robert Polo

This Impacts All of Us at GWE

We have all heard about the tragedy that happened when a 12 story condominium tower collapsed in Florida and 98 people died. And, we all can understand and appreciate that the Florida lawmakers are taking steps to prevent "the next one ", so, the SB 4-D law was born.

With that being said, does anyone in the Florida Legislature realize that they created a devastating " Man Made Financial Disaster " for the whole state of Florida with their overreach in their attempt to protect people who live in condos that are 3 stories and higher ?

1. Is there anyone,in the Florida legislature, who realizes that all actions cause an equal and sometimes consequential reaction ?

2. Did any lawmaker foresee that their short sightedness created a domino effect which will have a long term negative impact on the Florida real estate market for the next 5 to 10 years ?

3. Did they understand that property values will be dramatically reduced and liens, foreclosures and bankruptcies will become more common with condominium property.

4.Did they also account for the elderly on fixed incomes along with the lower middle class who reside in condominiums ?

5. Did they account for the people who may lose their life savings and many will be forced to either leave the state and/or not move to Florida as a retirement destination.

6. Did the Governor, who signed SB 4-D into law, take into consideration the doubling and tripling of property insurance in Florida ?

7. Could the Governor have tried to keep property insurance companies from leaving the state ?

8. Did the Governor forget about the devastating financial impact of each and every major Florida Hurricane ?

9. Why do Florida Lawmakers want to commit political suicide ?

10.Do they realize that there will be about 5 to 10 million Floridian voters that will be negatively impacted by this new law, SB 4-D ?

11.Why wasn't there a gradual roll out ?

12. Why are all other Floridian condominium owners forced to pay for the mismanagement of the 12 story Champlain Towers ? .

A few weeks ago, I wrote to Governor DeSantis and asked why didn't these Florida lawmakers take into consideration the full reach

of their short sighted SB 4-D law ?

I am still asking for all condominium owners to call/write/email their representatives and to let them know that this new law needs to be

dramatically adjusted and it should be re-written by someone who understands the rule of action vs reaction.

To all condo owners and concerned Floridian Voters

Go to FLGOV.COM then click on " Contact ", They say that every single " letter" ( contact ) is considered 1000 people feeling the same way so please add to my voice . Your voice and your vote will matter !

Robert Polo

Concerned Floridian Voter

Gulf Winds East Condo Association

Gulf Winds East Condominiums

Gulf Winds East Condominiums

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