Date: Fri, 26 Feb 2021 17:59:56 -0600 (CST) Permalink
Subject: No Smoking Reminder
From: The Burlington Apartments no-reply@rentcafe.com
To: ********

Good afternoon Burlington neighbors!

We need your help in identifying the units where the smoking is coming from so we can address those individuals, give out lease violations and fine them. Please let the office know if you know of specific units that are smoking.

Again, as a reminder, Burlington Apartments is a smoke-free community! The smoke free policy covers all individual units, balconies/decks and all common areas/grounds. You must be at least 25 feet away from the building to smoke. All residents and guests are required to follow this policy.

Please refer to the following section in the No-Smoking Addendum:

  1. Smoking anywhere inside buildings of the apartment community is strictly prohibited.

  2. Smoking must be at least 25 feet from the buildings in the apartment community, including administrative office building.

Although we have sent out reminders regarding the policy, we continue to smell cigarette, cigar and marijuana odors within all hallways and stairwells and receive numerous complaints from your fellow residents.

This email is to inform you that residents found in violation of this policy will receive a lease infraction and $250 fine per occurrence. The written notice will be kept in your file. Subsequent infractions and warnings can lead to further action, up to and including termination of your residency. As a reminder, you are responsible for your guests to follow this policy.

Effective immediately, all ash trays located on the property have been removed and additional No-Smoking signage will be installed.

Also, if you notice units smoking after hours you can contact the security officers to go to those units. They will pass on any information to the office of units caught smoking so we can issue the lease violations and fines to those individuals.

Please considerate of your fellow residents; do not smoke within your apartment, on your balconies/decks, and all common areas including stairwells and hallways.

Thank-you for your help in keeping this community smoke free.

Burlington Management

Date: Mon, 1 Mar 2021 16:31:54 -0600 Permalink
Subject: Fwd: No Smoking Reminder
From: ********
To: Deanne Logan Deanne.Logan@excelsiorllc.com, Marco Torres marco.torres@excelsiorllc.com
Cc: Heather Fleetham heather.fleetham@excelsiorllc.com, Jennifer Gordon jennifer.gordon@excelsiorllc.com, burlingtonresidentassociation@gmail.com

Hi all,

I wasn't sure who to direct this to, but a couple of residents have asked me about this and I've encountered it as well. We are wondering the best way to contact and who to contact at what times when we smell smoke in the hallways or our apartments. I personally feel that the smell can dissipate rapidly, so always want to reach staff or security quickly.

  • Fri Feb 26th I smelled smoke near apts 3** & 3**, so called the office right away at 4:21pm and got no answer. When I called again at 4:27pm I did get an answer, and Jena said someone would come check it out.
  • Sat Feb 27th I went to refill a laundry card, and when I stepped out the back door of 1180 it reeked quite strongly of weed. I didn't have my phone on me, but when I got back to my apartment I had a message from a tenant on the third floor of 1180 saying that they couldn't even open their windows, as it reeked like weed. I called the leasing office at 11:43am and again at 11:54am and got no answer either time. I understand it is harder on Saturday or other times when only one leasing agent is on-site, as they cannot always be by the phone.

The questions some other residents & I have at this time are:

  • What is the preferred method to report instances when smoke is smelled
    • During office hours, call the office?
      • What should we do when no one answers?
    • What are we to do during the day on Sunday when no one is in the leasing office?
      • Is security onsite all day Sunday, given no other staff is onsite?
    • Should we be leaving a general voicemail if no one answers during normal business hours?
      • How frequently are the voicemails checked?
    • Should we be emailing the leasing email with incidents?
      • How often is that email checked?
  • What would you like us to do when we can smell smoke in our apartments, but cannot smell it in the hallways?
    • This has occurred to me twice, but I don't know that it does me any good to report it to security as it was after hours, when it didn't smell in the hallway at all.

Please let me know as soon as you can, and I will relay on to the other residents who have reached out to me to ask. Thanks!

Date: Tue, 2 Mar 2021 16:47:50 -0600 Permalink
Subject: RE: [EXTERNAL] Fwd: No Smoking Reminder
From: Marco Torres marco.torres@excelsiorllc.com
To: ********, Deanne Logan deanne.logan@excelsiorllc.com
Cc: Heather Fleetham heather.fleetham@excelsiorllc.com, Jennifer Gordon Jennifer.Gordon@excelsiorllc.com, "burlingtonresidentassociation@gmail.com" burlingtonresidentassociation@gmail.com

Hi ********,

Jena took the call on Friday and I actually walked the space to investigate. Not sure if you saw that on camera.

My best advice is to call the office and then call security when they are on site. Obviously there is going to be gaps from Saturday and Sunday but that is the best options at this point. The voicemails are checked frequently when someone is in the office. You can also email the leasing email, as that is checked as much as the voicemails are, when we are in the office. We are doing everything we can to try and contain people smoking within our units, we have added a number of signs in each building and have sent out a number of notices. We have also fined a number of residents that have been caught smoking. That being said, it is difficult to try and combat this during an eviction moratorium. Typically, if one is found smoking we would go from fines to possible eviction. However, with the eviction moratorium in place it makes that process much more difficult. I realize that isn’t the answer you wanted to hear but I wanted to be as transparent as possible with that. I appreciate you taking the time to write the email and even more so taking the time to call when you do smell smoke.

Thank you for the continued vigilance.

Warm Regards,

Marco Alonso Torres

Sr. Business Manager

Marco.Torres@ExcelsiorLLC.com

The Burlington

1180 Cushing Cir, St Paul, MN 55108

https://www.burlingtonstpaul.com

P: 651.644.1089

Professionally Managed by The Excelsior Group

Date: Tue, 2 Mar 2021 17:13:06 -0600 Permalink
Subject: Re: [EXTERNAL] Fwd: No Smoking Reminder From: Burlington Residents burlingtonresidentassociation@gmail.com To: Marco Torres marco.torres@excelsiorllc.com Cc: ********, Deanne Logan deanne.logan@excelsiorllc.com, Heather Fleetham heather.fleetham@excelsiorllc.com, Jennifer Gordon Jennifer.Gordon@excelsiorllc.com

Marco:

The eviction moratorium from MN Executive Order 20-14[1] was modified via MN Executive Order 20-79 on March 23, 2020[2]. It allows eviction for limited circumstances, including seriously endangering the safety of other residents. Smoking, due to health problems that some residents have expressed, should fall under this.

However, you should not take my word for it, and I suggest that TEG engage an attorney so that you would have this knowledge going forward.

Regards,
Donny Johnson & the Burlington Resident Association Leadership

[1] - https://www.leg.mn.gov/archive/execorders/20-14.pdf [2] - https://www.leg.mn.gov/archive/execorders/20-79.pdf

Date: Wed, 3 Mar 2021 10:54:08 -0600 Permalink
Subject: RE: [EXTERNAL] Fwd: No Smoking Reminder
From: Marco Torres marco.torres@excelsiorllc.com
To: Burlington Residents burlingtonresidentassociation@gmail.com
Cc:******** , Deanne Logan deanne.logan@excelsiorllc.com, Heather Fleetham heather.fleetham@excelsiorllc.com, Jennifer Gordon Jennifer.Gordon@excelsiorllc.com

Dear Donald and Association,

We are familiar with EO 20-79 and its restrictions on lease terminations and evictions. We have already discussed this with our legal counsel. We understand that residents may be unhappy when other residents who violate the no-smoking policy. However, even though smoking may constitute a lease violation, it must rise to the level of seriously endangering others in order for us to consider evicting a violating resident. For example, if a resident were on oxygen, being around a smoker could seriously endanger that resident.

If any Burlington resident believes that he or she is being seriously endangered by someone’s smoking, the resident should privately contact management to discuss their personal circumstances.

Again, we appreciate you bringing this to our attention and are working diligently to combat the issue.

Thank you.

Marco Alonso Torres

Sr. Business Manager

Marco.Torres@ExcelsiorLLC.com

The Burlington

1180 Cushing Cir, St Paul, MN 55108

https://www.burlingtonstpaul.com

P: 651.644.1089

Professionally Managed by The Excelsior Group

Date: Wed, 3 Mar 2021 11:10:25 -0600 Permalink
Subject: Re: [EXTERNAL] Fwd: No Smoking Reminder
From: Burlington Residents burlingtonresidentassociation@gmail.com
To: Marco Torres marco.torres@excelsiorllc.com
Cc: ********, Deanne Logan deanne.logan@excelsiorllc.com, Heather Fleetham heather.fleetham@excelsiorllc.com, Jennifer Gordon Jennifer.Gordon@excelsiorllc.com

Marco:

How do people being sent to urgent care because of smoking issues not constitute as seriously endangering others? Please explain this to us in detail. I am certain you have heard about this prior. If not, you need to re-read the Attorney General complaint letters you have been sent because at least one of them explains this issue.

~Donny Johnson & the Burlington Resident Association Leadership

Date: Thu, 4 Mar 2021 16:52:10 -0600 Permalink
Subject: RE: [EXTERNAL] Fwd: No Smoking Reminder
From: Marco Torres marco.torres@excelsiorllc.com
To: Burlington Residents burlingtonresidentassociation@gmail.com
CC: ********, Deanne Logan deanne.logan@excelsiorllc.com, Heather Fleetham heather.fleetham@excelsiorllc.com, Jennifer Gordon Jennifer.Gordon@excelsiorllc.com

Donald,

Thank you, I am aware of the letters that have been sent over to the Attorney Generals office. And as stated, If any Burlington resident believes that he or she is being seriously endangered by someone’s smoking, the resident should privately contact management to discuss their personal circumstances. I am more then happy to have a direct discussion with that resident to weight what our best options. Our goal as always to have as many happy and safe residents as possible and we will continue to work on that.

Warm Regards,

Marco Alonso Torres

Sr. Business Manager

Marco.Torres@ExcelsiorLLC.com

The Burlington

1180 Cushing Cir, St Paul, MN 55108

https://www.burlingtonstpaul.com

P: 651.644.1089

Professionally Managed by The Excelsior Group

Date: Thu, 4 Mar 2021 20:58:42 -0600 Permalink
Subject: Re: [EXTERNAL] Fwd: No Smoking Reminder
From: Burlington Residents burlingtonresidentassociation@gmail.com
To: Marco Torres marco.torres@excelsiorllc.com
Cc: ********, Deanne Logan deanne.logan@excelsiorllc.com, Heather Fleetham heather.fleetham@excelsiorllc.com, Jennifer Gordon Jennifer.Gordon@excelsiorllc.com

Marco:

Per my previous email, "How do people being sent to urgent care because of smoking issues not constitute as seriously endangering others? Please explain this to us in detail".

Regards,
Donny Johnson & the Burlington Resident Association Leadership

Date: Fri, 5 Mar 2021 13:02:31 -0600 Permalink
Subject: RE: [EXTERNAL] Fwd: No Smoking Reminder
From: Marco Torres marco.torres@excelsiorllc.com
To: Burlington Residents burlingtonresidentassociation@gmail.com
Cc: ********, Deanne Logan deanne.logan@excelsiorllc.com, Heather Fleetham heather.fleetham@excelsiorllc.com, Jennifer Gordon Jennifer.Gordon@excelsiorllc.com

Dear Donald/Association,

Again, and I am sorry if it isn’t clear, if a resident if feeling endangered they will need to contact us directly and work on a resolution. This is not a black and white case, as until we can find and remove the residents that are found smoking it is a difficult situation. I realize that isn’t the answer you want to hear but that is the best answer in this current climate.

Thank you.

Marco Alonso Torres

Sr. Business Manager

Marco.Torres@ExcelsiorLLC.com

The Burlington

1180 Cushing Cir, St Paul, MN 55108

https://www.burlingtonstpaul.com

P: 651.644.1089

Professionally Managed by The Excelsior Group