Much has been made of the alleged inaction, neglect, and financial irresponsibility of the Centennial HOA over its 29 year existence. There is supposedly damning evidence from developer Brown, asst. City manager Crook and others that not only did the Centennial owners ignore their buildings issues and under fund the budget needed to address these problems, but they may have actually caused these issues to occur to otherwise perfectly built structures. As previously discussed, every consultant and contractor studying or repairing the buildings from 1985 onward has consistently stated that the buildings suffer from design flaws and construction defects. Short of a complete tear down and reconstruction, any action taken is only trying to allay inherent issues.
Interestingly, the actual records of Centennial’s history, mostly through meeting minutes (the same ones used to build the myths denigrating the HOA), point to the exact opposite. Centennial has a long history of identifying problems, hiring expert consultants, enacting repairs and funding those repairs through dues assessments. As soon as window vapor seals started breaking as early as 1987 and improperly caulked windows and doors allowed for water leaks into units, Centennial was attacking those problems. [The project was completed at the end of 1984.] 1992 repairs for the siding, caulking and adding missing dryer vents totaled $68,000. Window replacements were common. As problems increased, Wilson Consultants and Code Analysis were hired in 1991 to study the buildings and suggest a course of action. James Wilson and Robert Weien, the principles in these companies, were well suited to produce these reports. Wilson was the Aspen/Pitkin Building Dept .Chief Building official during the mid-80’s when Centennial was built and he signed its C.O. and Weien was the Deputy Building official during the same time. Both were also Plans Examiners in the Building Dept. Likely, they were very familiar with Centennial since they would have had to approve the project when it was built. Their report delivered in 1992 cited design flaws and construction defects as the chief cause of the water intrusion mostly related to poor roof design and inadequate flashing. A full re-design and reconstruction not being feasible, Centennial decided to address the issue of no roof overhangs to draw water and snow away from the buildings and the lack of venting in the attics and crawl spaces. HOA dues were INCREASED by 15% to PAY FOR REPAIRS and expenses were reduced. In all, $80,000 was spent on a system of overhangs for the South and North sides in 1993 and 1994. Venting was added among other alterations. Costs came in under budget. Dues were returned to their appropriate levels after this SPECIAL ASSESSMENT had paid for the repairs and consultants were satisfied with the results. APCHA disallowed any increase in resale value for these essential repairs.
