Present: Penina Arbit, Randi Garber, Kobi Abelman, Warren Burstein, Esther Edell, Sharon Greenblat-Deitch, Gary Heller, Daniel Rohrlich, Neil Pearlman, Miriam Fine (Vaadat Bikoret), Debbie Weissman (observer), Philip Yakar (administrator)
Apologies: Donna Goldberg, Michael Stahl
Guests: Haim Watzman - item 3, Dov Cooper - item 9, Yisrael Cooperberg - item 9
The Vaad decided to co-opt Miriam Fine and Noomi Stahl to the committee and to appoint them as co-chairs, Miriam with immediate effect and Noomi from March 1,2008. In the interim Debbie Weissman and Neil Pearlman will act as support people for Miriam. Thanks were offered to Debbie and Neil for their work in recruiting the new chairpersons.
Miriam's appointment leaves a vacancy on the Vaadat Bikoret, and Randi indicated that she is trying to find a replacement.
Haim Watzman reported that some building flaws have never been resolved and the question of taking the Kablan to court had arisen. Our legal adviser, Mark Sherman, originally felt that it was not worth suing him, but now is not so sure since the Kablan had not done what he promised to do. Somehow we have to impress on the Kablan the need to do the work. If we go ahead with a claim how much is the estimated cost - legal fees, etc. If the Kablan did not work according to the glass manufacturer's specification we would hope that the court would compel him to take action.
The two main problems are leaks (through glass and roof) and the glass structure.
Gary asked how many times the Kablan has been sued and how often successfully. Daniel Rohrlich asked if we know how much the glass wall work would cost. If possible we should pursue the path of informal advice that is open to us. Clearly any court case would take years, be expensive and the outcome unclear.
We have received a demand for payment, from Shmuel ben Moshe, the building project manager for a short period, for 25,000 NIS + linkage, interest and VAT.
An offer to settle in the amount of 7000NIS was made, but Mr ben Moshe refused to accept it, apparently against his attorney's advice. On 22.01.08 a non-binding arbitration hearing will take place.
Marc Render and/or Tzvi Ariel will represent Yedidya. The Vaad authorized payment of up to 7,000 NIS. If the demand is unreasonable then we will be prepared to go to court, although this will entail further and unknown costs, and a compromise may be demanded.
The Vaad thanked Haim for his efforts on behalf of the kehilla.
It was decided to appoint the following members to be signatories for all documents. Any two of the six will be authorized to sign.
Miriam Fine, Noomi Stahl, Esther Edell, Debbie Weissman, Randi Garber, Neil Pearlman.
The accountant has agreed to a fee of 6,000 NIS + VAT for the 2006 audit. They are insisting, however, on a substantial increase for 2007. It seems that the total fee required will be 10,000 NIS + VAT but Philip will ask for clarification. As far as the book-keeper is concerned he has requested an extra 100 NIS per month. Esther will talk to him about this.
Randi and Rafi are offering to sponsor this event which will take place on January 31st, Rafi's mother's first yahrzeit. Sponsorship details in general will be discussed at a later date. Miriam suggested that Randi write about the idea of sponsorship for Deot. During the fair there will be lectures / shiurim. Since MDA advertises such events in the English-language newspapers we will ask them to do so for our event. Kobi agreed to approach Hatzolah to request their participation.
The Vaad approved 500 NIS for travel expenses for Rav Bigman's Shiur, from the events budget line. It was suggested we try to get sponsorship for the Shiurim.
Esther will present an amended draft budget to the Finance Committee at their next meeting. The final draft will be available for discussion at the next VM meeting.
Esther will be instituting a number of procedural changes - preparation of checks and reports - in the near future.
A number of questions had arisen recently and they were submitted to our agent, Yisrael Cooperberg. He agreed to attend our meeting and gave the following information.
a. There is no written definition of who is a member.
b. All those who come to the building for t'filot or like activities (britot, bar/bat mitzvah, shiurim etc.) connected to the Shul are covered for 3rd party claims.
c. The 3rd party cover is a total of 2 million NIS per year, no matter how many claims.
d. The extra insurance we have taken covers an average of five non-member events per month where an event is defined as any activity not directly related to prayer, life cycle event connected to prayer, or education.
e. The insurance company is obligated by the terms of the policy, regardless of any exceptions not expressly stated.
It was decided:
- we would ask for coverage of outsider and private member events on the basis of an average of 5 events per month;
- we will not take earthquake and natural causes damage insurance because of the very high deductible;
- we will add insurance for חבות מעבידים (loss of potential earnings of an employee) at an annual cost of 450 NIS;
- we will add to our fire insurance our library, refrigerator and new chairs, a total value of 200,000 NIS.
- the agent is requested to check our insurance status if a key-holder enters and does damage or perpetrates a theft.
09.01.2008 at 20:15.