Board of Directors Meeting

ZAPATA HOMEOWNERS ASSOCIATION

Board of Directors Meeting

May 20, 2010

 

Call to Order:  The Board of Directors for the Zapata Homeowners Association held their regular meeting Thursday, May 20, 2010 at the Mosca Community Building at 5:30 PM.

 

Board Members Present:  Jack Zeman, John Stump, Joe Funk, Marty Russum and Jim Jones.  Board member Jerry Grandey was absent but prior to the meeting gave his proxy to Jack Zeman for voting purposes for this meeting.  The meeting was brought to order by Co-Chair Jack Zeman.  Administrator Cindy Chapman was also present.  There were no property owners present.

 

Approval of the Agenda:  The agenda item Letter from John Cooper will be added under the Administrator’s Report.  A vote was taken to approve the agenda as amended.  The vote was unanimous.

 

Chairman John White entered the meeting at this time.

 

Approval of the Minutes of the April 16, 2010 Board Meeting:    A vote was taken to approve the minutes from the April 16, 2010 board meeting.  The vote was unanimous.

 

Approval of the Bills to be Paid:  Administrator Cindy Chapman stated that check number 2052 will need to be included in the bills to be paid but the amount will need to be stated after discussing the letter from John Cooper as this will affect how many liens will be filed.  Jim Jones asked if the check to Erich Schwiesow was a retainer fee and Cindy explained that the charges this month were for Erich researching the basis for W-3345 and 80 CW 132 to draft a letter to Craig Cotton concerning the re-zoning of Unit III application now with Alamosa County and for a telephone conference Erich held with Jim Jones concerning the recent TNC and Rio Grande Water change application filing.

 

     Jack Zeman moved to approve the bills as presented with the amount of check number 2052 to be stated later.  Marty Russum seconded and the motion carried unanimously.

 

Administrator’s Report:  Administrator Cindy Chapman presented a list of her activities for the last month:

 

1.    Notified by Carlton Company of the Chapter 13 bankruptcy filing of Brian and Rachel Wood.  Provided him a schedule of monies owed to the ZHA.

2.    New address information provided by O & V Printing updated in ZHA database.  Statements sent to those who had new address information.

3.    Re-formatted 2010 fishing permits and lot sales postcard.  Sent to O & V Printing to have copies made and mailed.  Provided O & V with addresses of members in good standing only.

4.    Sent letter to Mark Brown and Tom Blunt informing them that beginning in 2011 they will be responsible for association dues assessed on the lot they acquired on 5/3/2010 by Treasurer’s Deed.

5.    Credit memo of $1329.40 given to write off all dues associated with lot issued to Mark Brown and Tom Blunt through Treasurer’s Deed from Quasi Corporation.

6.    Contacted Charles Gray concerning the write off of the dues owed by Quasi Corporation as to how they will handle the collection fees assessed to this account.  Carlton waived the collection fees associated with this account.

7.    Spoke with Reid at Alamosa County Treasurer’s Office to get listing of all Zapata lots currently having tax certificates held by whom and redemption dates.  He will print off a listing which I can then put into a database for tracking purposes.  Had not heard back from Reid before May meeting.

8.    April month end reports sent to John Stump.

9.    27 liens and invoices totaling $11,270.00 prepared for filing on 2010 delinquent property owners.  While preparing liens, tried to contact local property owners to see if payments could be made before filing lien.

10.                     6 liens re-filed because of 6 year limit (Low, Webber, Staeger, Manasca, A & J Solar, Larsen).  4 lien releases prepared for property owners who have made their accounts current (Prothro, Edwards, Settles, D & L Land & Cattle).

11.                     Correspondence sent to Charles Albrecht in response to his question on collection fees owed on his account.

12.                     Set up account in QuickBooks to handle payments made through PayPal.

13.                     Reconciled April month end report with The Carlton Company.

14.                     Communication received from John Cooper asking for 3-4 weeks extension on 2010 dues payments before liens/late fees are filed.

 

Cindy highlighted the fact that the lot sales notice had been sent out and to date there have been no bids received on these lots.  Carlton Collections had agreed to waive their collection fees on the lot owned by The Quasi Corporation that recently went to Treasurer’s Deed.  She will also be working with the Alamosa County Treasurer’s office when they have time available to obtain a listing of the current properties on the subdivision that have certificates held on them and when these lots can go to Treasurer’s Deeds.

 

     ▪John Cooper Letter:  A letter was sent out earlier by email to all of the board from John Cooper asking them to hold off on filing late/lien fees on properties owned by him personally and Zapata Equities.  He is asking for this additional time in order to close a sale that is currently in process.  Between these two entities there are 33 lots involved with a total of $3795.00 in late/lien fees.  If the board waived these fees, it would reduce the amount of late/lien fees from $11,270.00 to $7,475.00.  Cindy also informed the board that she had told Mr. Cooper that there is a policy in place that concerns this issue which he was surprised to learn about.  John W. asked Cindy when she had informed Mr. Cooper of this policy, to which Cindy replied just prior to Mr. Cooper sending this letter.  Discussion followed with the following motion:

 

     Jack Zeman moved to deny the request made by John Cooper for additional time to pay his 2010 dues.  Jim Jones seconded and the motion carried unanimously.  Check number 2052 will be written in the amount of $222.00 to cover the liens and lien releases mentioned in the Administrator’s report earlier.  John W. will draft a reply letter to Mr. Cooper.

 

John W. suggested that perhaps including a notice with the January billings informing property owners of Policy 09.02.  It was decided to wait on taking any action on this suggestion.

 

Committee Reports

 

Architecture: 

     ▪Roach Update:  Chairman Jack Zeman stated that he had not been able to follow up with Erich on getting the letter sent to Mr. Roach so nothing further has been done on this issue.

 

Jack also informed the board of information that Cindy had sent to him concerning an addition that Tom and Carrie Scrima would like to put on their residence.  Cindy was contacted by the Scrima’s contractor on what was needed.  Cindy informed this contractor that the Scrima’s would need to fill out an application submitting a site drawing of the proposed addition and submit the paperwork to the ZHA Architecture Committee for approval.  This committee then has up to 30 days to approve or disapprove this application and that this approval would have to be given to Alamosa County Land Use before a building permit would be issued.  Cindy then sent the Architectural Guidelines to the Scrimas’ to fill out but has received no reply from them.

 

Communications:  Chairman Jack Zeman stated that he is still having problems contacting Shane.  Jack would like to change the front page of the website and learn how to make postings.  Jack said that he knows several people who could help with this if something is not done by Shane soon.  Jack also asked for board members to write articles and submit to him for the next Newsletter.

 

Fees and Budget:

     ▪2^nd Reading – Treasurer’s Deeds/Lien Policy:  Chairman John Stump presented the second reading of this policy.  John S. pointed out that the only change from the first reading was to change the review to annually.  This will go to the third reading in June.

 

     ▪Insurance Update:  John S. stated that he had contacted the Keith Insurance Agency in Monte Vista who has since contacted Cindy so that she can provide Mr. Keith with the necessary information to look into new D & O coverage.  John W. had also contacted Mr. Keith to provide information on the lawsuit that is now in process.  Mr. Keith feels that it may be difficult to obtain new coverage as long as this claim is open.  Mr. Keith did tell John that there are basically three levels of insurers; first being a state licensed provider; second being unlicensed; and, third being an agency like Lloyd’s of London.  John W. also contacted Connie Medina of C Street Insurance but nothing has been done with her yet.  Also John W. had Jennifer of the Cline Agency fill out a new application and received a quote of $1500/year but this application had not mentioned that the ZHA has a current lawsuit pending.  She was to submit the application again but nothing has been heard back from her either.  Ric Cline told John W. that an insurance company does not want to insure anyone especially when there is a lawsuit in process.  More work needs to be done on this issue and John W. and John S. will work together on this issue.

 

John S. asked if the percentage of dues that have been collected are on track to which Cindy replied yes.  Cindy also reminded the board that the lot sale proceeds had been included in this year’s income.  John S. also stated that the Physical Improvements budget has 88% of its budget expended for the year.  He was reminded that when the grant reimbursement is received this will go back into this budget to decrease the amount expended.

 

Fire:  Chairman Jerry Grandey was absent.  It was stated that there had been two small fires on or around the subdivision recently.  One was a lightning strike on Mill Run below John White’s residence and one above the Oasis.

 

Governance:

     ▪Covenants Update:  Chairman John White would like to hold a final meeting on July 10, 2010 from 9:00-Noon for a last effort to clean up and get a draft prepared for review at the Annual Meeting in August.

 

     ▪2^nd Reading – Change to the Voting Section of the Bylaws:  John W. stated that suggested changes made at the last meeting had been made from the first reading to define “assembly.”  Jerry Grandey had emailed his comments for the committee’s review.  Any more suggestions should be sent to John W. soon so that the changes can be made and have Erich review before the third reading at the June board meeting.

 

Physical Improvements:  Chairman Joe Funk stated that he had Cooley and Sons clean ditches and grade some of the roads.  He has also started working on the Colima Court road by the Mercier property.  He has moved the 10” culvert from Twin Peaks to install at Colima Court.  He wants to hold off on surveying Colima Court until a house actually goes in there to avoid the expense for now.  The lower pipeline outlet is in and a shunt has been installed like the one at the Upper Lake and the valves will be installed by the June meeting.  All of this work will make it easier to drain this system.

 

Water:  Chairman Jim Jones stated that the letter discussed at last month’s meeting has been sent to Fidel at TNC outlining expectations in the coming months.  The water is starting to flow slowly and water is going into the Upper Lake now that the shunt is opened.

 

Welcome:  Chairman Marty Russum had no update.

 

Old Business:

 

     ▪Unit III – Application Filing Update:  Nothing new to report but Jack feels that action should be taken to force a decision from Water Court.  Another action might be to have the zoning change made in 1999 by Alamosa County rescinded by suing Alamosa County.  Jim Jones suggested that property owners who are applying for well permits should ask for a “domestic” well permit.  Jack stated that he had made this suggestion to Jocelyn Russell.  John W. stated that the application has been held up long enough and Alamosa County should force Water Division III to make a decision so that the Unit III application can move forward.  John W. suggested setting up a meeting with Darius Allen and the ZHA board to discuss this.  Jack will try to get something set up in the near future.

 

     ▪Schwalm Lawsuit:  There is no update other than to state a court date has been set for December 5, 2010.  John W. feels that something will be settled prior to this date.  Depositions will be taken sometime before the court date.  This issue is still moving forward slowly.

 

New Business:

 

     ▪Fishing Around Upper Lake:  Jim Jones had asked for this agenda item as the Ryan lot is being used by property owners and their guests for fishing the Upper Lake.  This has not been a problem in the past but the board now feels permission should be obtained and put in writing for the protection of all.  Discussion was also held on posting a sign at the Lower Lake to inform the public that this is a private lake for ZHA property owners and their guests only.  Joe will look into getting this sign made.

 

     ▪Clifton Curtis Road:  Clifton Curtis bought two lots obtained by the ZHA through the ZHA foreclosure and is asking for a road to be constructed to these lots as platted on the subdivision map.  This road would be very steep and would require working with TNC as it would require that a culvert be placed in a TNC ditch.  John W. suggested setting up a hearing with all parties to get something worked out.  The stance might be taken that Mr. Curtis bought these lots “as is” and if a road is constructed, it must require the cooperation of all parties involved.  Joe stated that a disclosure should be made when properties are sold that the property is bought “as is” as all property owners are taxed on all roads that are platted on the subdivision.  He feels that the biggest expense would be the culvert installation.  Jack would like to have assurances that a home will actually be built on these lots before going to the expense of putting in this road.  John W. will contact Paul Robertson and Joe will contact Clifton Curtis to set up a work session on this issue.

 

     ▪PayPal:  Jack stated that there have been some glitches found when members pay their dues by PayPal in the actual collection of these monies.  $500 only can be transferred from the PayPal account into the ZHA bank account monthly unless the ZHA wants to obtain a credit or debit card to have the transfer of all dues collected at once.  Discussion followed as only two property owners have used this service over the last year.

 

     Jack Zeman moved to drop the option of paying dues through PayPal through the website.  Joe Funk seconded and the motion carried unanimously.

 

 

ACTION ITEMS

 

DATE	ACTION ITEM	ASSIGNED TO	DUE DATE
11/17/08	Formal Firehouse Proposal	Firehouse Committee	TBD
03/20/09	Board Member Bios for Website	Each Board Member	Done But Not Posted To Website
02/09	Sponsor and Promote Events/Work Days	Communications	In Progress
02/09	Policy/Guidelines for Website/Newsletter	Communications	TBD
02/09	Training on How ZHA Functions	Communications	TBD
02/09	Research Fire Mitigation Grants	Fire	In Progress
02/09	Plan and Recommendation for Fire House	Fire	In Progress
12/18/09	Agreement from Water Division III, etc. for Unit III Rezone Application	Jack	In Progress
2/19/10	Policy addressing liens held for 5 years – 3rd Reading	Fees & Budget Committee	6/18/10
4/16/10	New D & O Insurance Carrier	Fees & Budget	6/18/10
4/16/10	Voting Section Change to Bylaws – 3rd Reading	Governance	6/18/10
5/20/10	Response to John Cooper	John W./John S.	ASAP
5/20/10	Voting Section Changes Review by Erich	John W.	6/18/10
5/20/10	Permission Obtained in Writing from Ryan Descendents to Fish Around Upper Lake	Board	6/18/10
5/20/10	Private Lake Sign Posted at Lower Lake	Joe	6/18/10
5/20/10	Meeting with Darius Allen Unit III Application	Jack	6/18/10
5/20/10	Work Session – ZHA, TNC, Clifton Curtis Road Construction	John W. – Paul Robertson Joe – Clifton Curtis	6/18/10

 

20 Minute Open Forum:

 

Joe Funk:  Absmeier has sold out and is now Z Rock Stone & Supply.  This is where road base is purchased and Joe would like to fill out a credit application for future purchases.  Cindy will fill out and send in to Z Rock.

 

Cindy thanked the board for the lunch and flowers for Administrative Assistants day.

 

Adjournment:  The next regular board meeting of the Zapata Homeowners Association will be held on Friday, June 18, 2010 at 5:30 PM at the Mosca Community Building.

 

Executive Session:

 

     ▪Administrator’s Job Evaluation/Anniversary:  A motion was made to increase the Administrator’s salary by 3% to $1620.09/month which is a $47.19/month increase and will become effective May 1, 2010.  The motion was seconded and carried unanimously.  The Board will also begin putting these yearly evaluations in writing.

 

 

 

____________________________

Joe Funk, Secretary