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Dakota Ridge Board Meeting Minutes

October 19, 2021 @ 8:30 am

Present: Holly Van Deursen, Jim Lob, Ron Lemieux, Sarah Jones

Others Present: Andrea Wilhelm (Commercial Property Group) Steven & Jacqueline Hofman (Lot 17 owners)

The first item on the meeting agenda was the ARC hearing request for lot 17. The recommendation from ARC after reviewing the July greenhouse re-resubmittal was that the proposed plans were not structurally or aesthetically different than the existing structure, therefore a violation notice was provided. Per the Dakota Ridge Responsible Governance Policies, the owner requested a hearing to discuss the matter with the Board. The owners of lot 17 presented their position and then left the Zoom meeting. The Board discussed the matter and reached a decision that the covenants must be upheld as they are currently written. However, they did ask Andrea to produce a homeowner survey to seek feedback about potentially amending the covenants to allow for things like fences, detached greenhouse structures, recreational vehicles, etc.

The next order of business was a status update on the water meter installation project. Andrea reported that as of yesterday, Mt. High Mechanical had successfully installed 28 of the 61 meters and all but two were transmitting usage data. She provided the Board with a demonstration of the Beacon software she is using as the administrator along with the Eye On Water owner software to be rolled out this week to owners. The system currently indicates there are at least two leaks where over a gallon a minute is being detected at least every 15 minutes so Andrea will reach out to those owners. In terms of budget, roughly $45K has been spent on the project YTD and another $25-$30K will be paid to Mt. High Mechanical so the project is expected to be on budget at $75k. Next, Andrea provided an update on the $75K contract with Native Excavating to replace three ARVs, three PRVs, add a 4” flow meter to ARV 3, and rebuild one fire hydrant. All work is expected to be completed by the end of this week and DIPRA (Ductile Iron Pipe Research Association) is also scheduled to complete the soils testing on Friday, 10/22; the report of their findings will be forthcoming. Last, Andrea mentioned that the pump house meter had gone down for about two weeks in September which caused a delay in getting September water loss numbers out to the Board but luckily Tim Gibbons was able to provide manual readings instead. She shared those numbers at the meeting which reflected a 25.5% loss rate, up from 24.9% in August.

On the topic of roads, Andrea informed the Board that she was still waiting on RMA’s sealcoating estimate for 2022 but in the meantime, Ben Schreiner offered to sealcoat a half mile section at the south entrance this weekend free of charge because he had extra product. Holly inquired about Upper Trail Ridge Road and whether the Board could get an updated evaluation from NWCC on the drainage and erosion concerns in case the Board decides on a scope of work to be completed next summer. Andrea said she would follow up with Brian to see if he could squeeze it in before winter.
Holly provided a brief update on the HOA financials. Revenue is $11,000 over budget, due primarily to water usage fees. Expenses are about $6,000 under budget, due primarily to road maintenance. The capital spending report will be available at the next meeting.

Regarding wildfire mitigation, Sarah said she would follow up with Chuck Cerasoli again in regards to scheduling an educational meeting and Q&A session with homeowners. She also said she would follow up with Andy Rossi and cc Andrea Wilhelm in regards to the contract renewal with the Upper Yampa Water Conservancy District.

After Sarah and Jim had to leave the meeting, the next Board meeting date was tentatively scheduled for Tuesday, January 18th at 8:30am. Ron, Holly, and Andrea discussed Holly’s email list of action items from the previous meeting and Holly asked Andrea to send her updates to the Board. Andrea’s notice of a management fee increase in 2022 was also discussed and she was asked to provide data to the board on comparable fees and scope of work from other associations. Sarah and Jim’s board seats and terms were also discussed and Andrea said she would get back to the Board in a follow up email as to whether they had reached their term limits.

With no further business, the meeting adjourned at 10:15am.
Recorded by,
Andrea Wilhelm
Commercial Property Group