Attorney Errol Brett explained the new, fiveyear lease with Towers Restaurant. Annual Shareholders’ Meeting highlights good standings of NST BY TERENCE M. CULLEN It’s been a successful year for the Board at North Shore Towers. The members’ highlights this year, discussed at the annual shareholders’ meeting on June 20, include a significant revenue, advancements and acts of community that showed the character of the three buildings. “I believe every shareholder has an idea or desire that they would like the Board to happen upon,” said Board President Robert Ricken. “The Board has enormous responsibilities to take the actions they feel are most necessary to secure our finances, the ambience of our facility and the safety of our residents.” Over the last year, the 2012-2013 Board of Directors increased reserve funds to $20,000,000, signed a contract for three new generators and ensured no increases to maintenance or country club dues for the next four years, among a list of other accomplishments. Treasurer and Chief Financial Officer Mort Gitter gave an overview of 2012’s finances and where the current year was taking the towers. Gitter said 2012 had been a productive year, and expenses were less than budgeted. As a result, he said, The Towers had netted an $800,000 revenue – just ahead of 2011’s revenue. Reserve funds were also about $4 million ahead of the year before, Gitter said. He credited all the 2012 financial success to a small increase in real estate tax and The Towers’ reliance on natural gas, among other things. The capital improvement budget for this year is more than $5 million, Gitter said, which is a bit more than the past few years. Gitter estimated expenditures could be greater than budgeted this year as The Towers secures three new generators, expected to cost about $13 million. Regardless, Gitter said the Board had been successful in managing funds in the past and would do so again. “As I have assured you in the past,” he said, “And I again assure shareholders, we have the wherewithal to pay for these improvements and are exploring a number of options to maximize the effective use of our resources and to minimize the financial pain to shareholders.” Errol Brett, the attorney for The Towers, gave an overview of legal cases and fees the corporation had undergone over the last year. The Towers secured a new, increased lease with the managers of Tower Restaurant, who Brett said had a relatively favorable lease over the last 17 years. With that agreement set to expire on July 1, Brett said a new agreement was taken to arbitration on a new, fiveyear lease. Restaurant managers wanted an agreement that would set the rent at about $110,000 a year, and pay half of what the electricity meter read, coming out to about $153,000 a year, Brett said. An arbitrator sided with The Towers and set the rent and electricity fees for Towers Restaurant to roughly $245,000 a year, according to Brett. But after nearly two decades, Brett said the board and shareholders can agree the restaurant needs some renovations and upgrades to align with the rest of the Towers. “After 17 or 20 years the place needs a little bit, or a lot, of facelifting and cleaning up,” he said. “There will be ongoing discussions with them, and anyone else if they don’t want to do it, to bring this food facility into what we believe is the proper standard for a complex like this. The Board of Directors has recommended to Gus and Harry that they do a complete… facelift inside the restaurant and the catering hall.” Aside from the business side of the year, there was an act the entire community could be proud of. Ninety trees, as well as fences and light poles fell around the property during Sandy, which Ricken said were all cleaned up within two to three days after the storm. One thousand people took shelter in the Towers in the days and weeks after the storm. “Every single one of our employees came to serve us and many of the slept here in the building because they realized they could not get home and back to work the next day,” he said. “Every store keeper was open to provide food and medicines to our guests, and they too, many of them, slept in their own stores.” Ricken commended the entire community for its efforts during Sandy, and said it showed the character of the community. “The feeling of warmth and mutual respect permeated the entire cooperative,” he said. “To me this was our finest hour. And was a complement not only to the Board, not only to management, but to everyone who works and lives at North Shore Towers.” Board President Robert Ricken complemented the entire Towers community for its efforts to help those displaced by Sandy, and the co-op’s resilience during the storm. North Shore Towers Courier n July 2013 3
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