No new faces in April condo board election

Proxy voting still vexes

5-Apr-11 – All seven candidates running for two-year terms on the condo board at Marina City are incumbents.

Up for re-election and running unopposed are Harold Bellamy, Ellen Chessick, Peter Desch, Phyllis Hartford, Gautier Laude, Donna Leonard, and Dr. Michel Louvain.

Ballots will be collected at the 34th annual meeting of Marina Towers Condominium Association scheduled for April 25.

In statements sent to unit owners recently, the candidates pointed to accomplishments that include restoring the exterior concrete of the upper residential floors of the towers, constructing a new fitness center and meeting room, renovating both laundry rooms, bank balances of more than $2 million, reserves of $1.5 million, and assessment increases in only two of the past five years.

(Left) Half of a laundry room was turned into a fitness facility on the 20th floor of the west tower in 2009.

Board president Donna Leonard took credit for a controversial hand scan entry system installed this year at the plaza level entrances of both towers. While the changes have undoubtedly increased awareness of the plaza level entrances by residents and security personnel, a plan to make the doors interlocking – one not opening until the other closed – has not been perfected.

Although Leonard claims “the scanner will not operate unless the outer doors are closed, thus reducing ‘tailgating’,” residents who use the system report this is not the case.

Meanwhile, MTCA secretary Ellen Chessick may have helped further define the word “ironic,” claiming to have helped the owner of Marina City’s commercial property find a new tenant for the association’s former meeting room. She describes the new occupant, Cesar Russ photographic stories, as “a photo production facility that displays artistic photographic renderings of Marina Towers.”

Donna Leonard	Ellen Chessick

In 2007, MTCA claimed ownership of the “building image” and planned to police how Marina City was portrayed in mass media – including requiring photographers to pay a fee and have liability insurance with the association listed as an additional insured. Facing widespread ridicule and no legal basis for the claim, the plans were eventually dropped.

 MTCA Board of Directors Candidate Information Forms

New law aims to increase regulation of property managers

There have been no new candidates for the MTCA board of directors since 2009 when real estate broker Michael Michalak ran and lost. Many owners at Marina City believe the use of proxy votes, in which a unit owner gives up his or her vote to someone else, allows a small number of owners to control elections and keep the same people on the board year after year.

In 2009, a committee organized by state lawmakers recommended that proxy voting be abolished. While that has yet to be voted on, lawmakers did pass a bill that requires licensing of all property managers who oversee associations of more than ten units.

The Illinois Community Association Manager Licensing and Disciplinary Act, that took effect last July, requires professional community association managers to obtain a license to work in the state. Applicants must be at least 21 years old, complete 20 hours of classroom instruction, pass an examination, be legally competent, free of felony convictions, and “of good moral character.”

Every four years, the manager would have to complete 16 hours of additional classroom instruction. However, the exam requirements would not apply to anyone who has worked as a community association manager for at least five years or holds a designation awarded by a recognized community association management organization.

Because of the new law, according to the Community Associations Institute, management companies now have to carry insurance against loss or theft of association funds.