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Dakota Ridge Board of Directors Meeting
January 13, 2020, 9am
Present: Jim Lob, Sarah Jones, Holly Van Deursen (phone)
Others Present: Medora Fralick & Andrea Wilhelm (Commercial Property Group)

Water – Jim
Jim followed up on some issues from last meeting including; i) water meter recertification within the community continues with 10 houses per year, all records are on all file, ii) close out of the chlorine contact basin project (Medora verified the project is complete and all invoices have been paid), iii) total water consumption for the Dakota Ridge community is “on track” with historical consumption.

Financial Update - Holly
A new reporting format was presented for consideration. The balance sheet shows $327,771.67 in assets - $176K at Mt. Valley Bank and $151K at Yampa Valley Bank. This is a good place to be with the board’s $300K recommended minimum balance and all assets are currently insured. The big variances YTD are water usage fees and water operations. Water usage is down over the previous year but water operations are running above budget due to an increase in Tim Gibbons’ fees as well as some other 2019 expenses. Management fees, legal, wildfire mitigation and road maintenance are all running under budget due to lower services/needs and overall, the YTD P&L reflects a positive set of variances.

ARC and Roads
There were no updates on roads or ARC. Snow removal has been satisfactory with no complaints yet this season. There are multiple lots for sale in the neighborhood.

Ongoing Projects
There were no updates on the neighborhood app. Bart Brown from State Forest Service did a drive by of the neighborhood and prepared a report with some specific recommendations which will be discussed at the March meeting. He has identified lots that need mitigation as well as common areas and this report will also be an opportunity for further education on this topic at the April Annual Meeting. It was discussed that the board can only make recommendations to lot owners but cannot require them to take action.

2020 Budget
Next year’s budget proposes no change in dues from the previous fiscal year. The small changes in expenses are mostly a product of previous years’ actuals. This budget does show a slight negative of about $1300 but CPG believes the budget contains enough of a cushion, it will not be a problem to overcome the deficit. There was some discussion about whether to budget for capital items which the board thought would be helpful. CPG will follow up with estimated numbers from the capital improvement plan in order to add them to the budget for final approval at the next meeting. No other changes were made during this meeting to the proposed operating budget.

Board of Directors:
There are two vacant seats on the board due to Tom and Nancy’s resignations. Since ballots are required to be mailed 45 days prior to election, the board needs to decide whether to solicit additional members as the documents only require a minimum of three board members. CPG will follow up with a list of whose terms are up for re-election.

Other Business:
Cluster Mailbox: CPG will look into the feasibility and costs with new postmaster for presentation at the next meeting.

Michael Anderson wants the board to explore luminate broadband service with YVEA in Dakota Ridge. Having spoken with Century Link, Medora reported that Dakota Ridge is currently considered a “zone working towards service” which means they need 82 more customers in order to provide service. Since the Board cannot mandate this among homeowners and the neighborhood has only 74 lots, Medora will follow up with Michael to explain the above.

Trash – The Board’s position on encouraging owners to migrate to a single trash provider was reviewed. It was decided that the next neighborhood update (& Annual Meeting) should include a reminder about pricing with Waste Management vs. Twin Enviro in order to encourage the migration to Waste Mgmt.

The next board meeting is scheduled for March 17th with the Annual Meeting scheduled for April 15th.

At the end of the meeting, there was a brief Executive Session regarding CPG’s proposal to renew the management contract on a flat rate basis vs. hourly. Afterwards, the Board agreed they would like to move forward with this switch on either a one-year basis or with an opportunity to re-evaluate pricing upon Medora’s departure.

With no further business, the meeting adjourned at 9:15am.

Submitted by,
Andrea Wilhelm