Bent Tree Property Owners’ Association
Board of Directors’ Meeting Minutes
December 18th, 2006
Monument Sanitation District Office, 130 2nd St., Monument
Attendees: Board Members: Duane Fitch, John Heiser, Tom Hilfers and Debbi Maser
Others: John Anderson, Bruce Bates, Gail Bates, Steve Fuhrmann, Jim Maser, Howard Schmitz, John Stahl, Jack Thomas
Meeting was called to order at 7:00pm with Duane Fitch presiding.
1) Affirmation of Tom Hilfers to the BOD
a) Motion was made by Debbi Maser for Tom to fill the BOD position vacated by Gail Bates. Motion was seconded by John Heiser, and unanimously approved.
2) Review and approval of minutes of the November 13th, 2006 Board of Directors Meeting Draft Minutes
a) Motion was made by Debbi Maser to approve the modified minutes provide by John Heiser. Motion was seconded by Duane Fitch and unanimously approved.
3) Committee Reports
a) BEAUTIFICATION AND TRAILS: John Stahl provided additional information regarding quotes he had received from contractors about the trail. He had received quotes from $4000 - $5000 that included widening the existing trails to 4-5’ wide, modifying the cut of the trail to prevent erosion, top with soil or crushed rock and to trim trees that overhang on the trail.
i. John Heiser stated that trail improvement was an unbudgeted expense and that the bids John Stahl had received were inconsistent and therefore hard to compare. The quotes John Stahl had received would spend 20-25% of the annual BTPOA budget.
ii. John Heiser stated that he had talked to our insurance carrier to ascertain that the BTPOA insurance would cover incidents that might occur on the trail, even though it’s on county property.
iii. Discussion with other Board members and attendees asking questions:
iv. Are the trails legally described as being a part of Bent Tree? John Stahl answered no, but the trail has been there for years and many owners use it.
v. What would Bent Tree retain if the county widens the roads, since the trail is on county property? John Stahl answered that this may not happen for years, and for an investment now, we can improve the existing trail. And if Higby is widened, Bent Tree would re-address the needs at that time.
vi. There are only two problem areas of the trail so why spend funds to redo the entire trail? John Stahl answered that the bulk of the contracted work would be on the problem areas and that the areas that are relatively clear and flat can be done within a few hours.
vii. Do the contractors that John Stahl contacted have experience with mesh and how it performs on steep grades? John Stahl answered that he didn’t know.
viii. Had John Stahl contacted other HOA’s and trail coalitions for additional information and input? John Stahl answered he hadn’t. John Heiser asked John Stahl to do this.
ix. Motion was made by Duane Fitch to authorize John Stahl to spend up to $4600 on trail improvement. Motion was seconded by Tom Hilfers and unanimously approved. John Stahl has action to provide report to the BOD at the next meeting.
4) ACC Report
a) Tom Hilfers is the new ACC Chairman; Bruce will remain on the committee.
5) Hearing(s), if any are scheduled
a) Hearing was held for bonfire that had been held on Lot 2 October 2nd, 2006. In accordance with the Bent Tree Rules and Regulations, the owners were cited and notified that a hearing would be held on this. The owners answered questions from the BOD and then after discussion, the BOD determined that the owners would have a $1500 fine levied again them. $150 of this fine is due within 30 days, and specific terms were defined for the remaining balance of this fine that the owners need to abide by or possibly receive additional penalties or fines.
6) Treasurer’s Report:
a) Status of mailings for the annual dues. Completed by Debbi Maser and Steve Fuhrmann.
b) Appointment of Treasurer due to Bill’s resignation. Motion was made by John Heiser and seconded by Duane Fitch that Debbi Maser would temporarily assume BTPOA Treasurer duties once she had access to the BTPOA accounts. Duane Fitch, John Heiser and Tom Hilfers voted to approve the motion; Debbi Maser abstained.
7) Review action items from minutes of previous board meetings:
a) August 13th, 2006 Action Items.
i. Action for John Heiser to contact other management companies to solicit information regarding their ability and costs associated with supporting BTPOA covenant enforcement. Completed.
b) September 14th, and 17th, 2006, Action Items:
i. BOD liaisons (listed below) to contact committee volunteers, select a committee chairperson for each committee, and define and document the process that would be implemented by the committee. Specific action for the CCC to review pending CCC violation letters and send out notices to violators. December 18th meeting comments: There is not a CCC BOD liaison at this time and no committee meetings and or letters for current violations have been sent out.
c) October 9th, 2006 Action Items:
i. Debbi Maser to replace Kathy Decker as the Bent Tree “registered agent.” December 18th meeting comments: Pending.
ii. Board members to develop a list of changes needed to the Rules and Regulations and circulate proposed changes to board members at least a week before the next meeting. December 18th meeting comments: Deferred to February meeting.
8) November 13th, 2006 Action Items:
a) Bill McDonnell to schedule audit of the BTPOA financial books. Postponed.
b) Steve Fuhrmann to modify BTPOA website access to allow Debbi Maser, Secretary of the BTPOA, to have moderator privileges. Completed.
c) Bill McDonnell to transfer funds into a shorter period CD account to take advantage of higher rates vs. renewing the CD that is reaching maturity for a year at a lower rate. Completion to be verified.
d) John Stahl to contact the BPTOA lawyer for a NTE time of one hour and to provide a summary to the BOD for further discussion, action and/or approval to proceed. Completed.
e) Debbi Maser to put together a draft Bent Tree Log for BOD review and solicit input from others in Bent Tree. In process.
f) Duane Fitch to work with BOD to determine that specific measurements of each lot be obtained to ensure that no more than 2000 sq ft turf or garden at 1.5 sq-ft per acre are irrigated. In process.
g) Duane Fitch to work with BOD to clarify and document that the intended definition of “pool” is any body of water that is replenished in some way, and to monitor this. In process.
h) Duane Fitch to work with BOD to ensure that water meters are externally accessible, and the owners who do not currently have these will be notified that they need to correct this at their expense. In process.
i) Duane Fitch to work with BOD to send notification to the 15 lots who are over their allotted water usage and require a corrective action plan to be defined, documented and approved. Duane Fitch to work with BOD to establish process to monitor water usage improvement, and to implement more frequent meter readings than the annual schedule currently in place is required. In process.
j) Due to Gail’s resignation from the BOD, action previously assigned to Gail Bates to send hearing notification to the owners who held a bonfire in October was assigned to Debbi Maser. Completed.
9) R&R recommended changes. December 18th meeting comments: Deferred to February meeting.
10) Future Board Meeting Schedule. Next BOD meeting is scheduled for January 8th, 2007, at 7:00pm at the Monument Sanitation District Office, 130 2nd St., Monument.
11) Any other business
12) Resident remarks, if any, on topics not on the agenda
a) John Anderson commented that the HOA dues in Bent Tree are not sufficient to address the ongoing concerns within Bent Tree, e.g., trails, covenants, lighting, entrances, etc. He stated that perhaps it would be in the BTPOA’s best interest to increase the dues so that funds would be available for things that would contribute to Bent Tree’s prestige.
b) Other attendees adamantly agreed that this warrants further discussion and would be a discussion item at the Budget Meeting in February. In addition to maintaining sufficient funds for our two largest risks (legal and water), we need to evaluate what it is worth to maintain Bent Tree to help preserve its reputation and prestige.
c) Duane commented that one item he’d like to investigate for Bent Tree is getting bids for trash pickup so that all trash could be picked on each Monday and if one of the local disposal companies could provide a discounted volume rate for Bent Tree than what owners are paying individually. Increased dues could go towards these costs at the HOA level vs. the individual level. John Stahl mentioned that other communities have recycle dumpsters available as part of the discounted group rate.
d) Duane reiterated his goal of trying to get more involvement from the BTPOA owners at the BOD meetings and other activities to improve the community.
13) Summary of action items:
a) Debbi Maser to send written notification of hearing decision to Lot 2 owners.
b) Debbi Maser to coordinate with John and/or Duane to get added to the BTPOA bank accounts.
c) John Heiser to contact Jeanne to establish contract for covenant compliance.
d) John Heiser or Duane Fitch to verify that BTPOA funds were transferred into a shorter period CD account to take advantage of higher rates vs. renewing the CD that is reaching maturity for a year at a lower rate.
e) John Stahl to provide status report of the Beautification and Trails project at next BOD Meeting.
Meeting adjourned at 10:00 pm.
Minutes prepared by Debbi Maser, BTPOA Secretary, 1/1/07
Approved at BTPOA BOD Meeting 1/15/07