Board of Directors Meeting

ZAPATA HOMEOWNERS ASSOCIATION

Board of Directors Meeting

November 19, 2010 

Call to Order:  The Board of Directors for the Zapata Homeowners Association held its regular meeting Friday, November 19, 2010, at the Mosca Community Building at 5:30 PM. 

Board Members Present:  Jack Zeman, Erin Smith, John Clark, and Jim Jones; Jerry Grandey arrived late and will be noted later in the minutes.  Board member Joe Funk was absent but gave his proxy to Jack Zeman for voting purposes for this meeting.  Administrator Cindy Chapman was also present along with the following property owners:  Lynn Clark, John White, Michael and Kim Bennett. 

Approval of Agenda:  John Clark moved to approve the agenda as presented.  Jim Jones seconded and the vote was unanimous. 

Approval of Minutes from October 15, 2010:   Jim Jones moved to approve the minutes from the October 15, 2010 board meeting.  John Clark seconded and the vote was unanimous. 

Approval of Bills to be Paid:   Erin Smith questioned whether check #2108 to Crabtree Group in the amount of $3,077.29 would be the only payment for dam engineering.  Jim Jones told her there would probably be more but he was not sure how many more or what the amounts would be.  Erin also asked what the check to SLVREC was for in which she was informed that is for the meter that is on the subdivision and is the minimum amount that can be billed for having this meter.  Erin also asked what the legal fees had been for under Corporate, Governance and Water.  Cindy will create a report on each of these and email to all board members for their information.  John Clark questioned when the wood recovery lot was burned and when the bill was paid for this.  He was informed that the wood recovery lot was burned once a year usually in late winter or early spring when there is snow cover. 

     Erin Smith moved to approve the bills as presented.  Jim Jones seconded and the vote was unanimous. 

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

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  1. Newsletter information including 2011 budget matrix sent to O & V Printing for distribution to the membership.
  2. RSVP sent in for ASC Donor Recognition Banquet to be held on November 4, 2010.
  3. 2010 Water Augmentation Report delivered to Water Division III Alamosa office.
  4. Credit memo issued to H.C. Land Company because of the ZHA purchase of their property Unit 2-Block 36-Lot 5 to perhaps consolidate with the two lots Unit 2-Block 36-Lots 4 and 6 that were acquired from the Rockwood foreclosure in order to sell.  Notarized statement showing that the 2010 dues and 2010 late/lien fees were waived because of this sale.  Lien Release prepared and filed with Alamosa County Clerk on this lot.
  5. Notarized and returned District Court document on response to plaintiffs’ discovery request to Wood, Ris & Hames, P.C., attorneys representing the Association in the Schwalm lawsuit.
  6. Recorded purchase of Unit 2-Block 36-Lot 5 with Alamosa County Clerk.  Check in the amount of $1500.00 paid to Patricia Criss for this purchase prepared to signatures.
  7. Compiled report for Joe Funk on number of lot consolidations granted since 2006: 12 consolidations involving 33 lots; 2007:  1 consolidation involving 2 lots; 2008:  0 consolidations; 2009:  1 consolidation involving 2 lots; 2010:  3 consolidations involving 10 lots.
  8. End of month reports sent to John Clark and questions answered.
  9. Reconciled end of month A/R listing with Carlton Collections.
  10. Prepared notification letter to send to ZHA vendors requesting a W-9 form be filled out and returned before a check can be issued to them.  New requirement by the IRS in 2011, any vendor receiving $600 or more for services rendered will be required to receive a 1099 at year-end.
  11. 2010 budget worksheets sent to John White after his request.
  12. Board may need to review Policy #9.02 as recording fees for file or release liens has now increased to $11.00/item recorded.
  13. Out of Alamosa November 22-26 but will be available by email.

Cindy also noted that she has one lien release to be signed for Robert Pratt as he has paid his account in full.  A note was read from Margaret Chain thanking the board for working with her to get her 2010 dues paid.  Cindy also asked that the Governance Committee review Policy #9.02 as recording fees have increased from $6.00 per filing to $11.00 per filing. 

Committee Reports 

Architecture:  Chairman Jack Zeman had no report for this month. 

Communication:  Chairman Jack Zeman reported that the latest Newsletter had gone out the end of September.  In this issue, the membership had been given information on the proposed 2011 budget.  Erin asked about the overage on the Newsletter budget.  Cindy informed her that this is because each Newsletter mailing this year had included several pages but the postage on these Newsletters had gone down because they are be mailed out under O & V Printing’s bulk permit. 
 
 

Fees & Budget: 

▪Rockwood Lots/eBay:  Chairmam Erin Smith reported that none of the three lots acquired through the Rockwood foreclosure had sold on eBay.  Actually one had sold but the purchaser was not a registered eBay participant so eBay had denied the sale.  Erin questioned eBay on this issue and they will look into this and let Erin know their findings.  There had been 1407 hits on  the upper lot of 1.56 acres;  727 hits on the other upper Lake of the Falls lot, and; 1051 hits on the lower Lake of the Falls lot.  Options would be that these lots can always be re-listed on eBay but maybe wait until spring.  Erin informed the board that she cannot negotiate with any buyers outside of eBay as she is an active eBay participant.  Members present were informed that Unit 2-Block 36-Lot 5 had recently been purchased from H.C. Land Company.  This lot is in between the two Rockwood lots 4 and 6 to try and make this a more attractive purchase for interested buyers.  It was noted that these lots will be advertised on the ZHA website for 90 days to members per policy who might be interested and then after this period, these lots will be advertised in different publications or put back on eBay.  Jack stated that he has shown these properties to two different parties but neither has gotten back with him.  Price discussion for these lots will be addressed during the December board meeting. 

     ▪2011 Budget – Membership Comments/Approval:  Jack explained that each committee had developed their budgets for 2011 and submitted them to the Fees & Budget Committee where this committee made their recommendations and then at the October board meeting, the budget categories had been agreed on and then were published in the Newsletter for member comment at this meeting.  Members present will be allowed to speak and then the board will break the discussion down into a question and answer session. 

John White:  John’s first request was asked to be walked through the budget categories as he does not see how each budget category adds up to a total expense of $152,914 (this total also includes the $22,684 that is shown in the Offset Firehouse Account that may be expended in 2011).  He does not understand the dues increase because each budget sub-category has either decreased or increased only slightly if the Firehouse expenditures are not calculated in. 

Jerry Grandey entered the meeting at this time. 

Michael Bennett:  Michael felt that the increase was due to the fact that 2010 income had not come in as projected thus creating a cash shortage.  John White pointed out that according to the Balance Sheet through November 19, 2010; there is still $5,427.58 in the operating bank account.  Cindy pointed out that through 11/19/210 the Net Income is ($34,484.71).  Cash Reserves from previous years have been used this year to cover expenditures. 

Erin explained that there have been budget overruns this year:  Fire mitigation on Lake of the Falls caused the budget overruns in the Physical Improvements.  Projected income for 2010 did not happen – mainly the sale of the Rockwood lots that had been included in the 2010 budget.  Michael felt that the lot sale amount of $16,000 should not have been included in income for 2010.  Jerry Grandey responded by saying that yes they should have been included as the price set for each lot had been favorable.  Michael felt that emergency road repairs in the amount of $12,000+ and income projected not coming in have contributed to the cash shortage.  Also $18,000 in fire mitigation had to be done in order for the reimbursement of $9500.00 to be received from matching grants.  This $9,500.00 was recorded as income and then a journal entry was done to offset expenses of $8,000.00 in fire mitigation and $1,500.00 in wood recovery lot budget items.  It was also noted the 2400 hours in volunteer hours were submitted when receiving these grant monies.  For the record, there will be no fire grant monies coming in for 2011.  It will be necessary to use volunteer hours to do any fire mitigation on the subdivision in the coming year.  When asked about what percentage of the 2011 dues would be projected to come in during 2011, Cindy stated she felt 85% of the total billed out would be a very conservative projection. 

Erin stated that based on the economy to raise dues to the amount approved in October, the ZHA will see even fewer people able to pay and then the ZHA may see that they own many more lots in the end by forced foreclosures.  Jerry stated that over the last two years, the board has been very sensitive to the economy and the board this year felt it was not possible to go on that way again.  Operation of the subdivision has become more expensive just to maintain required amenities.  Kim Bennett stated that individuals have to live within their own personal budgets and feels that the ZHA should do the same.  Erin stated that with this proposed dues increase, it would result in a 55% increase over the last four years.  John White stated that before 2010, there had been a few years that budget monies were not expended thus resulting in excess monies left over.  John stated that per policy budgets need to be projected out over a two-three year period (some committees have done this but not all) so that everyone knows what will be expected because if there is money, it will be spent.  Jerry stated that he took exception to this statement. 

Email comments were received from John White, Nancy Starling Ross, Wayne Ross and Felicia Stonedale concerning the proposed 2011 dues increase, which will be submitted as an addendum to these minutes.  Jack stated that Mark Smith had called him and stated he hoped the dues would not be increased but would support any decision made by the current board.  On the income side, Mark agreed to the idea of investigating a dues tiered billing for the future.  Jack stated that some members have voiced that the ZHA dues have been too low for too long a period of time, which has resulted in this increase for 2011.  Board members will diligently work with the Fees & Budget Committee over the next months to come up with a better dues structure to present to the membership at the Annual Meeting for their input. 

Jack stated that there is no budget category that can be reduced significantly enough to balance the 2011 budget.  Michael expressed that he would like to see the entire fire budget eliminated for 2011 to balance the budget.  Jack stated that the Firehouse Committee has made a decision to go after grant money to construct a firehouse that will house an apparatus, community meeting area, fire-training facility, fire incident command center and specific criteria needs to be developed.  $20,000 will be well spent to come up with a firehouse design that would give a leg up in acquiring these grant monies.  John White expressed as did Nancy Starling Ross by email that a Special Project Reserve Fund needs to be developed to start firehouse construction.  A policy on Special Reserves needs to be developed as well.  John White asked the Firehouse Committee to fill in the few spaces in the Special Reserve Fund spreadsheet to get the process started.  Kim read a portion of Nancy’s email voicing concern with not having a proposed operating budget to have a firehouse on the subdivision.  The issue of a special assessment was brought up with John White questioning whether members would be able to pay a special assessment as opposed to increasing the dues.  Jerry stated that construction cannot begin without money in place to begin the process.  If a firehouse is constructed, it needs to be done in such a way so that the ISO rating on the subdivision is decreased to lower insurance premiums.  If Alamosa County Fire Protection District (ACFPD) were to build the firehouse, then the ZHA would not be able to use the facility.  If the ZHA builds the firehouse, then ACFPD will partner with us in order to obtain grant money from the different governmental agencies to build the structure.  A special assessment may still need to happen if grant monies are not obtainable. 

John Clark stated that it is necessary that subdivision roads are maintained and the Upper Lake is maintained; some members would agree with this statement and others would not.  Budgeted money needs to be put in the Fire Plan/Tanks budget so that updated maps of home locations can be done for fire protection at the request of Mosca/Hooper Fire Department.  This map has not been updated since 2002. Money in Escape Routes/Mitigation also needs to be budgeted to continue the fire escape routes/mitigation to be in compliance with the Alamosa County Wildfire Protection Plan (ACWPP).  The evacuation route needs to meet certain specifications to obtain grant monies to maintain.  Money allocated in the fire hydrants budget is to clean out the hydrant on Indian Hill at the request of Mosca/Hooper Fire Department.  Erin still believes that the chosen site for the firehouse  would result in a cluttered entrance, leaving a potential for congestion and accidents.  She was informed that this is the site that would work best according to the needs of Mosca/Hooper. 

Also part of the dues increase will be used to build up the required 10% cash reserves.  Cash reserves may also be required to repair the Upper Lake dam.  Jim Jones reminded members present the importance of water to everyone and the lakes need to be maintained on the subdivision or they may be lost. 

Michael stated that those members he spoke with would rather see a special assessment for capital expenditures and not use operating money, which would require that dues continue to be increased.  Jack stated that cash reserves are very important as the subdivision moves forward.  He also stated that a huge amount was cut out of what the beginning budget figures were.  What was sent to the membership has no line item that is out of alignment with the needs of the subdivision.  Neither Kim nor Michael are opposed to a modest increase in the dues for operating expenditures and then do special assessments as necessary for capital outlays. 

Jerry also stated that because of the recent information obtained concerning no grant monies available for fire mitigation in 2011, budget items will be reduced administratively and the $5,000.00 budget in Other Income will not come in either. 

Jerry suggested inserting an explanation of the 2011 budget in with the 2011 dues invoices to better outline what the money will be used for. 

     John Clark moved to accept the 2011 budget as presented and mailed to the membership and to bring it up for approval by the board at the December meeting and to put a letter of explanation in with the 2011 dues invoices.  Jim Jones seconded.  Jim Jones, Jerry Grandey, John Clark, Jack Zeman and Joe Funk by proxy voted in favor; Erin Smith opposed.  The motion carried. 

Fire: 

     ▪Fire Station #3 Planning:

          -Station Visits to Montrose and Newcastle:  Chairman Jerry Grandey stated that he has visited both of these sites over the past month.  He toured the Montrose station with their fire chief.  They have a combination department (part professional firefighters/part volunteer firefighters).  The Newcastle department is currently all volunteers but they are moving towards a combination department as well.  Jerry was able to have a long discussion with Baylor Bland of CR Architect+Design as well as the construction company erecting the Newcastle station.  They also discussed the geothermal capabilities being built into the Newcastle firehouse. 

          -Review of Needs Assessment:  Jerry also stating that a meeting had been held last week with Mosca/Hooper chiefs and both architects from CR were also in attendance for a review of the needs assessment questionnaire results.  One thought that came up was to incorporate a training facility that Mosca/Hooper can use as well as other area fire departments.  This feature’s functionality might be a training attraction to outside departments and would be cost effective to the ZHA either by charging fees or for obtaining grant monies.  All options will be reviewed and unnecessary options will be eliminated.  Membership input will be vital in the final structure that is built. 

          -Site Walk and Preliminary Charette (Design Discussion): The building site walkthrough was also done for input from all present at last week’s meeting.   All felt that this is an appropriate location and a highly buildable site for the firehouse location.  Preliminary drawings submitted have been reviewed and the architects were asked to reduce the square footage by at least 1/3.  The architects are now re-designing the building plans as well as the site plan.  When Erin asked if Alamosa County Land Use Administrator Ken VanIwaarden would allow the firehouse to be built on greenbelt, Jack stated that Ken has agreed to issue a building permit for site prep to build the firehouse.   

Volunteers have already started coming forward to begin working with Mosca/Hooper for necessary fire training and hopefully more may come forward in the future. 

Governance:  Chairmam Erin Smith stated that there has not been a committee meeting since September.  She is working towards holding a joint Fees & Budget and Governance committee meeting in December.   

Physical Improvements:  Chairman Joe Funk was absent due to illness.  Jack reported that a little grading had been done on Mill Run, Indian Hill and Lake of the Falls. 

Water:  Chairman Jim Jones stated that he takes his job as Water Committee Chairman very seriously and does not want the subdivision to lose any water on his watch.  Joe DeLuca from Crabtree Group, an engineering firm out of Salida, has come up with a plan so that water will not saturate the ground around the toe of the dam.  The cost to accomplish this has not yet been discussed.   Crabtree Group will be drawing up a letter to the dam safety engineer for approval of the above-mentioned remedy.  Jim will be holding a Water Committee meeting on December 11, 2010 to discuss all options.   

Welcome:  Chairman John Clark had nothing to report. 

Old Business 

     ▪Unit III – Application Filing Update:  Jack reported that Erich Schwiesow is trying to arrange a meeting with Alamosa County Commissioners and the Alamosa County Administrator on this issue to try and get a resolution to this issue.  Nothing has been set up as of today. 

     ▪Schwalm Lawsuit:  Jack reported that the summary judgment that had been filed earlier by the ZHA attorney has been reviewed and granted by the court thus dismissing all of the ZHA board members names in the initial claim.  Two subsequent issues raised by Schwalm’s attorney with the court were also addressed in the statement made by the presiding judge but not included in the summary judgment.  The ZHA attorneys will file another motion to have them dismissed as well. 

     ▪ZHA Logo:  The drawings of proposed ZHA logos were mailed out to the membership for their review and input in the last newsletter.  To date, two members have voiced the logo they like.  Jack will address this issue in his Communications report at the December board meeting.  He will also put another article in the next newsletter stating that the board will be taking votes from the membership and then will make a decision on the logo. 

     ▪Mercier No Trespassing Signs Follow Up:  Jack stated that Erich has not heard anything more from Mercier’s attorney concerning the removal of their non-compliant no trespassing signs.  Per policy #26, it was decided to issue them an invoice for fines in the amount of $100 and penalties for non-removal from October 8-November 8, 2010 at a rate of $50 per day.  The total invoice amount will be $1600.00. 

New Business 

There was no new business to come before the board at this meeting. 

ACTION ITEMS 

20 Minute Open Forum: 

John Clark:  Asked for policy on posting items on the subdivision bulletin board.  He would also like an official letter be sent out to the members who attended tonight’s meeting concerning the 2011 budget to thank them for attending.  John also stated for the record, from his standpoint, all board members should be allowed to express their opinions and that all current board members only want the best for the subdivision. 

Adjournment:  The next regular board meeting of the Zapata Homeowners Association will be held on Friday, December 17, 2010, at 5:30 PM at the Mosca Community Building. 
 
 

_________________________

Joe Funk, Secretary