2023 Riverbay Board Election Rules – pages 24-27
Vol. 58 No. 13
Saturday, April 1, 2023
$1.25
Riverbay Board Approves FY &HUWL¿FDWLRQ RI 5LYHUED\ %RDUG (OHFWLRQ &DQGLGDWHV LQ 3URJUHVV 2023/24 & 2024/25 Budgets BY ROZAAN BOONE
The Riverbay Board of Directors approved Management’s proposed 2-year budget for Fiscal Year 2023/2024 and 2024/2025 at the Wednesday, March 29, 2023 business meeting to maintain the current level of services to shareholders while also providing funding for the community’s mandatory Five-Year Capital Plan for necessary infrastructure repairs to the development. According to Resolution 23-19, the “proposed budget requires a 2.1% increase in carrying charges effective April 1, 2024 in order to maintain a balanced budget through March 31, 2025, all subject to review, analysis and discussion with the NYS HCR.” In addition to the proposed 2.1% carrying charge increase, transient parking and parking pass rates will also be increased 30%, effective April 1, 2023, should HCR grant approval. The last time these rates were increased was July 2021. ³%RDUG PHPEHUV DQG 0DQDJHPHQW KDYH D ¿GXFLDU\ UHVSRQVLELOLW\ WR ZRUN together while having a clear understanding of the roles and responsibilities we carry,” said Board President Sonia Feliciano. “In reviewing the proposed 2-year budget, our goal was to minimize the impact of increasing the carrying charges RQ VKDUHKROGHUV ZLWKRXW VDFUL¿FLQJ VHUYLFHV ZKLOH VWLOO EHLQJ ¿VFDOO\ UHVSRQVLEOH 7KHVH DUH GLI¿FXOW WLPHV IRU HYHU\RQH 3URYLGLQJ D UHVSRQVLEOH DQG UHDOLVtic budget, and working together as a team late into the night for weeks, showed RXU FRPPLWPHQW WR SXWWLQJ RXU FRPPXQLW\ ¿UVW ´ (Continued on page 12)
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Brown Water in Some Co-op City Buildings At the March 22nd Open Board meeting KHOG LQ WKH (LQVWHLQ &HQWHU VRPH VKDUHKROGHUV reported brown water coming from the taps in their apartments. Riverbay’s Maintenance department followed-up (Continued on page 27)
BY ROZAAN BOONE
Shareholders who returned their qualifying election packages in the 2023 Riverbay Board of Directors election by the Friday, March 24th deadline were EHLQJ FHUWL¿HG E\ WKH (OHFWLRQ &RPPLWWHH DV RI SUHVV WLPH \HVWHUGD\ 7KH FHUWL¿HG FDQGLGDWHV ZLOO EH DQQRXQFHG LQ WKH 6DWXUGD\ $SULO issue of the Co-op City Times. 7KH FDQGLGDWHV¶ SDSHUZRUN LV EHLQJ UHYLHZHG E\ WKH (OHFWLRQ &RPPLWWHH and the Legal department. This review includes a criminal background check DV ZHOO DV FRQ¿UPDWLRQ IURP WKH 5LYHUED\ )LQDQFH GHSDUWPHQW WKDW WKH\ DUH LQ JRRG ¿QDQFLDO VWDQGLQJ ZLWK 5LYHUED\ &RUSRUDWLRQ $ FDQGLGDWHV¶ RULHQWDWLRQ PHHWLQJ ZLOO EH KHOG E\ WKH (OHFWLRQ &RPPLWWHH ZLWK WKH FHUWL¿HG FDQGLGDWHV RQ 0RQGD\ $SULO $W WKDW PHHWLQJ WKH TXDOL¿HG candidates will receive instructions for running their campaigns from the chair RI WKH (OHFWLRQ &RPPLWWHH %RDUG 'LUHFWRU /\QHWWH :ULJKW DQG 5LYHUbay General Counsel Jeff Buss. The candidates will also receive the Co-op City Times editorial guidelines for the three election supplements to be published in three consecutive issues of the newspaper starting on Saturday, April 15; followed by Saturday, April 22; and Saturday, April 29, 2023. The candidates will also be able to get any questions they may have about the process answered by WKH (OHFWLRQ &RPPLWWHH *HQHUDO &RXQVHO DQG WKH Co-op City Times.
1HZ FRRSFLW\ FRP &KDW Feature Launches April 3 BY BRANDON ORTIZ
&R RS &LW\¶V RI¿FLDO ZHEVLWH ZLOO ODXQFK D QHZ live chat feature this week that can connect shareholders directly to a Riverbay representative. Starting Monday, April 3, shareholders can go online to coopcity.com and scroll down to the botWRP RI WKH PDLQ SDJH WR ¿QG WKH QHZ OLYH FKDW IHDWXUH Associate Director of the Riverbay Call Center Lutitia Matthias explained what the new feature is to the Co-op City Times and how the live chat feature will be a helpful resource for shareholders. (Continued on page 12)
Amazon Lockers Pilot Program Begins With Triple-Core Buildings BY BRANDON ORTIZ
Shareholders in Triple-Core buildings can now have their packages delivered safely to a designated Amazon Hub locker. The lockers are part of a pilot program organized by Amazon and designed to address package thefts and further improve service reliability for Amazon customers in Co-op City. 6KDUHKROGHUV LQ 7ULSOH &RUH EXLOGLQJV FDQ ¿QG the bright blue Amazon lockers located in the rear of their building. The pilot program starts with the Triple-Cores and the goal is to expand the services to all buildings, Riverbay’s director of Janitorial Services Joshua Blake explained. Mr. Blake also addressed service improvements shareholders in the Triple-Cores can expect as a result of the new Amazon lockers. “I do believe this is a game changer for Co-op City shareholders,” Mr. Blake said. “The service reliabil-
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ity of knowing your packages will be secure in the Amazon hub box will greatly improve service delivery as there will now be accountability and the shareholder will receive their package,” Mr. Blake pointed out. “This is a pilot program that Amazon brought to us, and we here at Co-op City were very interested in participating. The program is starting with Amazon Hub lockers located behind the building under the portico in all Triple-Core buildings. I encourage shareholders to utilize these Amazon Hub boxes as frequently as possible, as we want to expand the program to the Chevron and Tower buildings,” added Mr. Blake. “The more shareholders who use the lockers, the more we will be able to demonstrate (Continued on page 3)
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Reduced Spending and Additional Sources of Income Must be the Rule President’s Report
Sonia Feliciano 'HDU IHOORZ VKDUHKROGHUV Hope everyone is doing well. As I have been communicating to you, we are mandated to have a 2-year Operating budget within our 5-year capital budget plan. The Board has been working with Management for weeks to reduce expenses, taking away some of the burdens from our shareholders. The proposed budget SURMHFWHG D GH¿FLW LQ HDFK RI WKH QH[W WZR \HDUV RI IRU WKH ¿UVW \HDU DQG LQ WKH QG \HDU (DFK LQFUHDVH SURduces about $2M. During this budget year, we reduced 39 positions, eliminating garage attendants and the anticipated reduction in natural gas expenses due to the implementation of a hedging strategy. With the annual LQÀDWLRQ UDWH DW WKH FRVW RI JRRGV DQG VHUYLFHV FRQWLQXH WR ULVH 1HHGHG LWHPV VXFK DV ÀRRULQJ asbestos abatement, and insurance increased substantially. Our current property insurance rose from 0 WR 0 RYHU :H KDYH WR EXGJHW RXU ZDWHU ELOO HVWLPDWHG DW 0 D \HDU &DSLWDO SURMects will be funded with reserves from our mortgage. Some of the things it will include over the 5-year period are garage elevators, repair of garages, town(Continued on page 9)