ED HAYES

I usually don’t rant about things like this on my Blog, but after my most recent Condominium Board meeting, I feel the need to warn other buildings of the advice they may receive from their Building Managers.  I own a condo in a building managed by Kass Management.  Our Property Manager, Bridget Butler, is one of the most ignorant people I have ever met.  I have caught her falsifying information multiple times. Here are a few examples:

• There are fire doors in our hallway that are not able to close automatically due to the high carpet.  I notified Bridget of the issue and got no response.  I finally convinced the condo board to press the matter.  Bridget Butler came to the next board meeting and reported that she had talked to an Inspector, and that the inspector said “due to the building’s design, fire doors were not necessarily.” This was is in the board meeting minutes, approved by our board.  Since no inspector visited the building, I filed a 311 complaint. According to the city website, we now have building violations against our building for the exact problem I asked Bridget to get fixed.  Minutes prior to the next board meeting I checked and the doors were not fixed.  At the meeting, Bridget Butler said that our violations were closed.  How can they be closed when the problem mentioned in the violations are not fixed?? This is fully documented and I may seek legal action.
• I was trying to get our board to approve a cost reduction project to insulate our hot water tanks.  Bridget Butler claimed our tanks were “not designed to be insulated” and “they are only warm to the touch.”  The manufacturer sells prefabricated insulation cabinets.  I measured the surface area of the tanks at 126, and 127 degrees with an infrared thermometer; that is hot enough to cause 3rd degree burns.
• Bridget Butler states that Certificates of Operation for elevators , or copies of, do not have to be placed within the elevator.  State laws say otherwise.  After one year of asking for the certificate of operation to be placed in the elevator, nothing was being done. I finally called the city of Chicago and found out our elevator had not been inspected since 2007.  Isn’t it the management companies responsibility to get that done?  I also blame my condo board for not pressing the matter, but it is not ultimately their responsibility.

The biggest problem with this situation is that our Condominium Board tends to trust Bridget Butler because she is in a position of authority.  In that manner, Bridget’s ignorance is transferred to our Condo Board; safety issues tend to get dismissed until fines by the city of Chicago are threatened.  It should not have to get that far.

I admit I am not the most politically skilled individual.  That is my biggest weakness by far.  But that doesn’t mean I don’t do the research to find the facts and get things done the right way, every time.

With that said, in conjunction with Bridget’s authoritative position, my week political skills are likely why my Condo Board sides on Bridget’s advice rather than my own.  However, when it comes to safety, there is no room for politics, and I astonished that Bridget Butler has gotten this far with her career given her extreme ignorance.  I decided to post this to warn other condominium associations to be wary of Bridget’s advice.

</End Rant>