DATE: June 7, 2007
TO: John Beebe
Paul Romere
Larry Phelps
Debbie Guanci
Jon Robison
FROM: Sue Ann Gaherty, Secretary
CC: Bill Swapp, Architectural Review Committee Chairperson
Terry Beebe, Welcome Committee Chairperson
Owners: All with e-mail addresses
RE: Minutes of the Deer Valley Board of Directors’ Meetingheld on May 23, 2007
The Board of Directors’ meeting was brought to order at 6:35 PM on Wednesday, May 23, 2007 at the home of Jon and Sandy Robison. Directors present were John Beebe, Paul Romere, Larry Phelps, Debbie Guanci, and Jon Robison. Also present were Sue Ann Gaherty (Secretary),Terry Beebe (Welcome Committee), Bill Swapp (Architectural Review Committee), Les Kole (Firewise Council Representative and Conflict Resolution Committee), Tom Ondrako and Sandy Robison.
OPENING REMARKS
-President John Beebe opened by stating that the yearly road work was recently completed in DeerValley and the roads are in great shape. Two very productive Volunteer work days have been held since the last Directors’ meeting. Thanks to the many volunteers who turned out to help clear brush along the roads. One of the Owners mowed the area at the front gate and offered to do it throughout the summer.
MINUTES
-The minutes from the April meeting were submitted.Larry Phelps made a motion to accept the minutes. It was seconded by Jon Robison. The minutes were approved.
TREASURER’S REPORT (Debbie Guanci)
-A thank you letter was received from Alpine Construction who had the snowplowing contract for DeerValley the last two years. It included a list of other services provided by Alpine.
-At the last meeting Debbiehad suggested a form for reimbursement of mileage expenses for Volunteers working on behalf of DeerValley. Paul Romere constructed it as an Excel spreadsheet. Suggestions were made to make the spaces for information larger and to add a column forapproval of expenses. The form was approved by the Board with these changes.
-A total of $30,977 was spent on the recent roadwork. This was about $2800 more than anticipated. $10,420 was paid for the road grading and prep and $13,377 was paid for the mag chloride with binder. This left $7180 for additional gravel- 16 bellydumps and 4 tandems.
-There is $691 in the checking account, $15,103 in the reserve account and $141 in donations for the gate area.
-John Beebe asked if those amounts would carry the Association through the next four months. Debbie answered that 17 Owners pay dues monthly so she anticipates income of $2720 in dues and about $400 in trash payments before the end of the fiscal year. This should cover Annual Meeting expenses, administrative costs, and bridge inspection. This year’s budget is much tighter but that was how it was planned with the change of the fiscal year.
-Debbie has sent out notices that it is time to buy mosquito pelletsfor ponds and lagoons. They are available from her for $11.40. She has not heard from eight of the Owners. A member of the Board will speak to each of these Owners.
ARCHITECTURAL REVIEW COMMITTEE REPORT(Bill Swapp)
-Bill Swapp reported the following new activity this month:
1. A shedhas been approved for the Gorey property (Lot 41).
2. An extension for the garagehas been approved on the Pope property (Lot 3). It was suggested that the setback from the property line should be checked since it is very close at that point.
3. A two car garage facing Beaver Creek Drive has been approved for the Davidson property (Lot 14). It will be sided to match the house.
4. A deck has been approved for the Herrick property (Lot43).
5. A railing had been approved for the deck on the Maxton property (Lot 67) but has not yet been done.
6. A roof extension over the porch and driveway parking area has been approved for the Ware property (Lot 50). The roof lines will be changed so that they match. The Wares are also looking into a sewer infiltration system.
WELCOME COMMITTEE
-Terry Beebe reported that no new families have moved in recently. Wendy Jorgenson will soon move into the Johnson house on Lot 54. Ralph and Barbara Pistor will move into the Batt home (Lot 24) on June 11. Teresa Arney and Andrew Aragon sold their house and will be out by May 31. The Jurgens house (Lot 80) is for sale.
-Refreshments were provided by the Welcome Committee for the Volunteers on both Saturday workdays.
-The Welcome Committee will provide drinks, paper goods and ice for the pot luck lunch at the Annual Meeting. The budget allows up to $150 as needed.
OLD BUSINESS
PERIMETER FENCING
-As per the Fusco’s request a resurvey was done on May 17 and 18 along the fence line separating their property from DeerValley. The boundary line is exactly along the same pins from the re-plat of DeerValleyin 2001. The Board had hoped to start the fence replacement on this week’s Volunteer Day but has not had the final OK from the Fuscos. They were concerned about the survey and about insurance. Debbie Guanci requested a Certificate of Insurance made out to the Fuscos from the Association’s insurance company.
-Only one tree must be cut along the fence line and the brush can be taken out easily. John Beebe spoke to Scott Davidson of Lot 14 to explain the fence replacement along his property line. The project is ready to start as soon as the Fuscos get back to us.
-Because of an easement along the property line, BP will be called to mark the pipeline before starting to dig the post holes.
ROAD WORK
-Larry Phelps reported that the roadwork has been completed for this year. Bruce Neil did the grading himself. The Board will monitor the hardness of the road surface to see if the mag chloride with a binder holds up any better than the plain mag chloride. The road surface was very hard to start with, so perhaps less mag chloride could have been used. Recent rains have caused some of the binder to wash off the roads and pool along the sides. The Association still has 5 gallons of mag chloride. As soon as the rains stop, volunteers will fill the new potholes with gravel mixed with the mag chloride.
COVENANT AMENDMENTS
-Jon Robison passed out copies of proposed covenant changes in a “from” “to” format. He asked the Board members to review them before the next meeting and send him their comments. Some discussion of the items followed.
-John Beebe stated that, if a person owns two adjoining lots (one with a house and one not), the Countywill treat the empty lot as part of the home lot for tax purposes only. This is referred to as “conjunctive use” and means that the empty lot would be taxed at a rate of 9% instead of 27%. In order to qualify as part of the home lot, the adjoining empty lot must a) contain a building or shed, b) have a driveway to the home lot or c) be fenced in with the home lot. John questioned whether section 5.16 of the Covenants should be changed so that the Association recognizes this policy. Dues would still be paid on both lots. Discussion followed as to whether this should be changed. John will draft a proposal and present it to the Board at the next meeting.
SUCCESSION PLANNING
-Resumes will be due next month for the three open positions on the Board of Directors. John Van Schaik has expressed an interest. Sandy Robison is still considering the Secretary’s position.
ENTRANCE GATE PLANNING
-Larry Phelps presented a rough sketch of his ideas for the entrance gate. Because of the need for new mail and parcel boxes coupled with increased traffic at the gate, he tried to centralize everything on the east side of the entrance near the keypad and light. He suggested moving the mailboxes to an area around the keypad with newspaper tubes on the top and bottom. This could be covered by a simple structure with the back and front open so Owners could still drive up and get their mail. The welcome sign would be moved closer to the gate to make room and a new concrete drive around would be poured. The area on the west side where the mailboxes now sit could be used for parking while Owners are out of their vehicle. With the help of volunteers, the project could be done in three phases. 1) Moving the sign and trees and pouring new concrete would cost about $2000. 2) Constructing the building with a stone façade, (walls on the north and south side, open on the east and west) and moving the mailboxes would cost $4000-5000. This includes the cost of new parcel boxes as already approved by the Board. 3) Landscaping could run about $1000. Larry suggested a special assessment, perhaps $100 total or $8 per month, to fund the project. Debbie suggested deducting the price of the new mailboxes and lowering the cost since the Board already had approved them. A step in the concrete was suggested to even out the height since the new boxes are not the same.
-The Board agreed with this proposal and Larry will formalize it to put before the membership at the Annual Meeting where it can be voted upon as a special assessment or a 3-year plan. The Board advised including Pam Roach in discussions since she chaired the Gate Committee for so many years. Any Owner with ideas or comments is welcome to contact Larry Phelps before the next meeting.
MAILBOXES & PARCEL BOXES
-Should the Board go ahead with their plan to install two new parcel boxes or wait to see the results of the voting on the entrance gate plan? It was decided that, if the Postal Service requires the boxes to be set in concrete, it would be better to wait. Debbie Guanci will call and find out.
BRIDGE INSPECTION
-Debbie Guanci set up a meeting last Tuesday with Larrry Phelps and structural engineer Rodney Ems to inspect the bridge. The engineer will evaluate the report submitted last year by Bud Short and report to Debbie soon.
CALL FOR RESUMES
-John Beebe handed out the preliminary call for resumes and agenda for the Annual Meeting for input from the Board. Bill Swapp suggested using the word “ratify” for the Bylaws amendments since they are conforming to State Law and there is no choice in the matter.
-Larry Phelps suggested writing an Annual Report to be distributed to the Owners prior to the Annual Meeting. This could be reviewed ahead of time and shorten the meeting considerably.
-Discussion was held about the timing of the speaker and order of events. It was decided that lunch and set up would be 11:45 until 1:00. The meeting will start at 1PM. At the conclusion of business, the presentation by the Forest Service will take place while ballots are being counted. The meeting will end with the announcement of ballot results.
NEW BUSINESS
BUDGET FOR 2008
-Debbie Guanci presented the budget for 2008 and is working on a 3-year plan for the future. She will need a $5 per month dues increase to provide for fences, mailboxes and such that are needed. She also recommended increasing the discount for those paying yearly from $25 to $30.
Larry Phelps moved that the Board accept the budget and the motion was seconded by Paul Romere. The budget was approved and will be distributed with the information about the Annual Meeting.
APPRAISALS IN DEERVALLEY
-John Beebe prepared a spreadsheet listing all the properties sold in DeerValley during 2005 and 2006. He included size of the lot and/or house as well as selling price. This information is available from the County website. Recent appraisals of DeerValley houses seemed to be higher than the average calculated from this spreadsheet. The lot appraisals were more in line with the average. The question arose as to what to do with this information. Bill Swapp felt that the Board should not represent all the Owners but should provide the information so that each Owner could individually decide what to do. The Board agreed and will share this information with Owners via email prior to the deadline for filing grievances. Two years ago the County rechecked their assessments in DeerValley because so many of the residents protested.
CALENDAR
-Walking the perimeter fences to look for breaks is on the calendar for May. Anne Vervaet has ridden her horse along some of the fence line and repaired a top wire break near the Gaherty/Cuthbert fence. She will ride along more of the fences when she returns from a trip.
-A workday will be held on June 16. There are potholes to fill and areas along the side of the road to smooth out. Two trees need to be cut and the front entrance mowed. Brush needs to be cut along Sawmill and upper Beaver Creek and along the new fence line near the Roach property. Volunteers will meet at Paul Romere’s house.
-The next Board meeting will be held at theGuanci residence on Tuesday, June 19 at 6:30 PM.
ADJOURNMENT
-Larry Phelpsmoved that the meeting be adjourned.
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