285 AYCRIGG AVENUE

Three months after Sue Tel moved into the Carlton Tower condominium in Passaic, N.J, the first assessment hit — and hit hard. The 228-unit building had to replace its two mammoth boilers and fix a nest of problems originating during the tenures of two long-serving presidents and various entrenched boards. But the real source of the building's woes, in Tel's opinion, was that it had had several different property managers who were under-qualified and under-motivated.

Tel figured that if she was going to get hit with assessments, she deserved to know why. Six months after moving in, she ran for a seat on the five-member condo board and got elected.

The building systems at Carlton Tower in Passaic, N.J., were on life support. Longtime superintendent Felix Rivera carefully maintained everything, including the condominium’s two boilers, for as long as possible, but it was clear the end was near.

So the Carlton board of managers took a side step. They hired an engineering firm to help them rethink simply replacing or repairing. They were after rewards, and they wanted to invest in building systems that offered these.