Ambassador II Condominiums

As a followup to the annual meeting of owners (August 2014), the Board has engaged a local security/access control company to advise us on various ways to improve our building safety infrastructure. The original discussions at the annual meeting surrounded a rash of thefts in our building, primarily in the garage, lobbymailbox area and exercise room. Subsequent to our annual meeting there have been additional (reported) incidences as detailed below:

● Continued infiltration of nonresidents onto the property.
● Disappearance of many packages from the lobby and hallways.
● A number of bicycles being stolen off the bike racks this past summer.
● Continued storage locker breakins in garages as well as vehicle breakins.
● Transients found multiple times throughout the building, especially at top of the east building’s N and S stairwells and sleeping in garages.

Below is a budgetary estimate, by distinct project, for installation services (prices do not include sales tax or incidental costs). The vendor is one that we have previously used and has demonstrated to the Board and building management a clear expertise to secure the property.

A. BUILDING VIDEO RECORDING
This includes installation of up to 16 vandal resistant dome color day & night cameras with digital video recording, UPS battery backup, monitor, locking security enclosure, and Wifi router for wireless connection. Estimated capital improvement cost is $15,000. Camera surveillance primarily in lobby, courtyard, garages, and possible partial exterior coverage. Garage cameras would be partially paid for by Ambassador I as these are shared areas.

B. BUILDING ACCESS CONTROL
Installation of card readers on building entry doors including power supplies with battery backup, door locking hardware with electronic proximity card or fob readers. Ability to delete lost security cards. Auditing access to compare to video monitoring. Estimated capital cost is $36,000. Card or key fob access devices range from $5ea to $35ea ($1500$ 10,500 for 300. Ambassador I would pay for their share). The most expensive device would operate remote garage gates as well as person doors. Note that this proposal does not include the east building hallway stairwell doors, only the doors accessible from the outside or from the garage. Unit doors are not included and will always remain under the control of unit owners. GARAGE GATE OPENERS: Network type receivers including door controllers, integration with card access system. Estimated cost is $5,000 for both garage gates/doors. Access control would be partially paid for by Ambassador I for shared access doors and gates. In line with current key policy, each unit would be assigned two access devices and unit owners could purchase additional devices as needed.

C. VISITOR/DELIVERY ENTRY GATE ACCESS CONTROL:
New visitor access panel (call box) integrated with card readers and capable of auditing all access. Estimated cost is $4,400.

D. IMPROVED PHYSICAL LOCKING HARDWARE:
Medeco Generation 3 high security key cylinders, includes installation, and Medeco Generation 3 keys. Estimated cost is $7,300. This would rekey all existing common area doors. Ambassador I would pay their share of common door costs.

E. EXTERIOR TRASH GATE:
Installation includes an electronic gate lock, power supply, and heavy duty keypad. Estimated cost is $2,200. Currently this gate is opened all day twice weekly for garbage bin emptying and is occasionally accessed by outsiders. This is a safety issue for residents.

F. DENTIST OFFICE PATIENT ACCESS SYSTEM (Summit garage):
Integrates with proposed new access control proposals. Includes door intercom stations, auto dialer, relay activation units. Estimated cost is $2,500.

The Board is providing this information to all owners for comment and suggestions. It is very important for you to provide your feedback as the Board needs to have a strong understanding of what security capital improvements are preferred by the general ownership. We hope to have all comments back to us by mid April 2015. Once we have received the general ownership response, the Board will prepare a formal recommendation and funding plan. There are various ways that these capital improvements could be funded and the ongoing upkeep expense be addressed, but it is important that we first establish a final budget so we can make sure the expenditure meets the HOA ByLaws and state guidelines. We hope that you will review this information carefully as the Board considers this a very important capital project, not only from a community safety point of view, but also from an insurance premium and property resale perspective. Please send all responses to “AMBASSADOR2 AT OUTLOOK DOT COM”

We look forward to your feed back!