Superintendent of TSCC 1446

On August 19, 2010, the Directors of the Board of the 880 building (TSCC 1446, aka Parkside) received an email from Michael Doherty, the property manager, informing the Board that George, the superintendent of TSCC 1446 had resigned, effective September 7, 2010, and that he had taken up another superintendent job at another condo corporation.

At the Board of Director's meeting on August 25, 2010, the Board was made aware then of a letter of reprimand sent by Michael Doherty to George that George was allegedly interfering with contractors. This letter of reprimand was dated July 12, 2010.

Some members of the Board were not happy in being informed of this incident at such a late stage that it would be indifferent to verify the allegations in the letter (because George had already taken up another job), and that there is virtually no leeway to maneuver and take any proactive steps to let the employee to improve himself if any of the allegations were true.

The property manager was then given a clear directive from the Board that the property manager should in the future notify the Board all such written warnings to the employee(s) of the corporation within a week. This hopefully will give the Board more time in the future in similar situations to understand, investigate and take the appropriate course of action.

[Note: The superintendent is an employee of the condo corporation, but the property manager is not. The property manager Michael Doherty, and the assistant Maggie Yim are just contractors providing their services through their employer, Del Property Management.]

The property manager also mentioned that to get a good superintendent, it may take weeks, or even months. He proposed a candidate, Byron, who had previously worked with/under Michael Doherty for over 5 years. And Michael Doherty suggested a higher compensation for Byron in order to lure Byron from his current job.

In view of the possible degradation (if without a superintendent) of the up-keeping of the building in the next many weeks (if not many months), the Board felt that their hands are being tied and had but to agree to hire Byron as TSCC 1446's next superintendent at a significantly higher cost.

So, please welcome Byron, the new superintendent, to TSCC 1446, the 880 building!

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Frozen to Death, Almost

The 880 Grandview Way building finally changed over from cooling to heating on last Friday, October 23, 2009. (In 2008, the changeover date was October 24.)

Conservations were heard among some residents of the 880 building:

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Resident A:	Finally, the heating system of our building was turned on last Friday, October 23, 2009. I was almost frozen to death.
Resident B:	But it was turned on at about the same time last year. In fact, it was turned on last year on October 24, 2008.
Resident A:	I don’t remember what happened last year, but I only know that this year the Thanksgiving week (i.e. the week of October 12) was unusually cold with day time temperature in the single digit range, and night time temperature hovering above and below the freezing mark. I wish they could turn on the heat earlier.
Resident B:	But the week after that was kind of like “Indian summer” weather with day time temperature back to the high teens. If they had turned on the heat earlier, people would complain that it’s too hot.
Resident A:	If it’s too hot, I can just turn off the thermostat. At least I have a choice. Without heat, I have no choice but to endure frigid cold.
Resident B:	I think you are right. At least we have a choice.

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Resident C:	I think it’s against the law to turn on heat at such a late date. I check that there is a bylaw of the City of Toronto mandating that heat is to be turned on on September 15 of every year. [1]
Resident D:	I know about this bylaw, but I think this bylaw is for rental buildings only. So it is not applicable to our condo building, I think.
Resident C:	I don’t know about the legal coverage of this bylaw, but there are renters in this building, too. If they complain to the City of Toronto, or the Human Rights Commission, and end up with legal action against our condo corporation, we, the unit owners, will suffer financially.
Resident D:	You have a point there.
Resident C:	On the other hand, don’t you think that we, as unit owners, should deserve at least equal (if not better) treatment as renters?
Resident D:	I absolutely agree with you on this!

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Resident E:	During the freezing Thanksgiving week, I made a complaint to the management office, asking why the changeover date was so late. The management office told me that the Board made the decision. Why did the Board make such a decision to have heat on at such a late date?
Resident F:	I happened to run into a member of the Board of Director and asked the same question. The Board member told me that they made the decision on the advice of the property manager, who knows the best because he deals with the day-to-day operations.
Resident E:	What does that mean?
Resident F:	I dunno.

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The above conservations will not be heard among the residents of the 88 building or the casitas because each of their unit has in-unit control of their heating and cooling system.

Note:
[1] Read the Toronto Municipal Code about heating here at http://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/municode/1184_497.pdf.

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