President's Blog
State of the Union 2018
Hamzeh Roumani, Board of Directors President
February 1, 2018

A few thoughts to share for 2018 ...

Community Outlook

As you know, Northtown at Grandview comprises three condominium corporations:
  • MTCC1113: Our townhomes (aka the Casitas).
  • MTCC1132: The south tower (aka 88 Grandview).
  • TSCC1446: The north tower (aka 880 Grandview).
Each corporation has its own Board and finances but a significant portion of its budget (about 30%) goes toward expenses that are shared with the other two corporations (e.g. landscaping, snow removal, security, waste removal, and the garage). This can be a potential source of tension because different corporations may not always see eye to eye when it gets to budgeting or prioritizing these expenses. I am happy to report that we have established very good rapport with our sister corporations and that the three neighbours are moving forward as one community. And to help foster relationships amongst neighbours, we will strive to plan a number of social events and activities that involve all residents of Northtown at Grandview. The first such 3-way event (the Gingerbread House Contest) was held at the start of 2018 and was well received by all. These events will be in addition to our Casita-only events, such as the Christmas, Garden, and Halloween contests.

Property Management

Our current management company is FirstService Residential (FSR) and our contract with them will be up for renewal at the end of February. The Shared Committee has been working hard since mid October to prepare a tendering process that involves several management companies. The work involves reviewing performance, gathering quotations, conducting interviews, and doing reference checks. In the end, Del Property Management has been selected to manage our site starting March 1st. It should be noted that Del managed our site since its inception back in 1995 up to 2015 when it was replaced with FSR.

I look forward to seeing Del at our site again. Del is currently in the process of selecting a manager and an assistant manager, and we will notify you once they have been assigned.

Money Matters

As I did in previous AGMs, I will provide detailed breakdowns and charts in the upcoming AGM, but all in all, everything looks good. We continue to see increases in the Shared portion of our expenses (mainly the Shared Reserve Fund contribution) but nevertheless, we managed to keep the condo fee increase the same as last year (i.e. around 6.85%). More details will be sent to each unit later this month.

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Note: Views expressed in this blog do not necessarily reflect the official position of MTCC 1113. They were written by Hamzeh Roumani, the President of the Board, and reflect his personal take on things.