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Dakota Ridge Board of Directors Meeting
Thursday, June 4, 2020 at 9:30am
Present: Sarah Jones, Jim Lob, Carrie Rawlins, Ron Lemieux, Holly Van Deursen
Others Present: Medora Fralick and Andrea Wilhelm (Commercial Property Group)

Cluster Mailboxes:
The meeting started with a review of the cluster mailbox surveys. After all board members shared their opinions, the vote was unanimous that the installation would be a benefit/service to the community. Also, as Steamboat continues to grow, the post office capacity may become more limited.

The next discussion was whether those interested should be charged a fee to help offset the cost and appease those owners who were strongly opposed or would not use the service. Andrea explained that the challenge of charging homeowners is that the post office manages the key distribution so beyond the survey of those who said they wanted a box, CPG has no way to manage owners going straight to the PO for a key and bypassing payment. The Board decided to proceed with a secondary survey to those who said “yes” to see if they would be willing to pay $200-$300 for the initial installation. Jim pointed out that his PO Box costs roughly $200/year so hopefully this would be acceptable as a one-time cost. CPG was asked to look into ensuring that our liability exposure is no different based on a pedestrian or car potentially getting hit at the mailboxes versus anywhere else in the neighborhood. CPG will also pursue a sketch of the dimensions and marking of the proposed location.

Wildfire Bids:
Four bids were received/reviewed for the common area mitigation work; CPG and Board members were asked for input on which one to select. The last time All Weather Services did work in the neighborhood, it was not completed to satisfaction and CPG had to bring in another contractor to complete/finish the job. The Board agreed they would not like to engage All Weather again. CPG has had experience with Western Tree and National Resource Solutions, but less experience with Marshall Forestry. After some discussion, the Board decided to award the work to Western Tree as long as the work could be done expeditiously which CPG will confirm
The Board decided that the 2nd cluster mailbox survey and Wildfire mitigation bid could happen in the same email. Medora will confirm what date Western Tree could participate in a Zoom conference for homeowners and Holly will draft communication on both.

Water System Update/Summary:
In the call with CDC last week, leak detection was definitely recommended but will be difficult due to so many variables. Nothing indicates we have leaks in the main lines so CDC believes the leaks are in the service lines. The probe idea only covers the main line and is very expensive. Leak detection on the service lines is more costly; it has been done before and did not yield helpful results. CDC is questioning whether the loss real or implied. For instance, it’s possible meters are not functioning properly or irrigation water is not running through meters, etc. The installation of smart meters would help zero in on this allow us to know if there are spikes in usage immediately. The scheduled replacement of ductile iron pipe this year could also potentially help. Smart meter installation was obviously not a project that was budgeted this year and would cost roughly $1000 per home for the meter, installation, and software. Of 105K budgeted in the CIP plan this year, 72K will go toward the ductile iron piping replacement. This year’s CIP budget also includes adding two pressure gauges with the ARV vaults which will record monthly or quarterly; however this will not tell us if there’s a leak unless it’s in the mainline. The Board agreed that before making any further decisions, they would like one more call scheduled with CDC to prioritize and understand their recommendations. Medora will follow up with a date and time. With no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 10:40am
Recorded by,
Andrea Wilhelm
Commercial Property Group