Thursday September 21st, 2023

 
Association Administrator
Commercial Property Group
1856 Lincoln Ave
Steamboat Springs, 80487

Phone: 1.970.879.1402
Fax: 1.970.879.7777
E-Mail: info@drhoa.org
 

 

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Dakota Ridge Board of Directors Meeting
February 1, 2023 at 8:30am via Zoom

Members Present: Ron Lemieux, Holly Van Deursen, Carrie Hayden, Scott Prochazka, Bill Noyes

Andrea called the meeting to order at 8:35am with all members present.

YTD Financial Review
Holly provided the following highlights on the financial statements Andrea had provided through December 2022:

Operating Budget YTD
• Revenue is approximately $26,000 under budget, primarily due to lower third quarter water billing. The new smart meters appear to be recording ~1.5 M gallons less usage in Q2 versus last year and ~1 M less in Q3 versus last year. ARC fees also are a bit below budgeted figures. Annual fees have been collected from all owners.

• Operating expenses overall are ~$15,000 over budget. Items more than $1000 off budget levels are:
o Landscaping, ~$1000 over YTD budget, for weed/seed work on two HOA parcels.
o Snow removal, ~$6300 over YTD budget, due to late snowfall in the spring and heavy winter snowfall.
o Sign repair, ~$2200 under annual budget, as requirements have been light.
o Weed spraying/mowing, ~$1100 over budget, due to substantial work on the meadow and Aspen Ridge HoA parcels, as well as higher rates for general spraying/mowing.
o Water system operations, ~$6100 over YTD budget, due primarily to CDC invoices related to leaks, YVEA excel energy adjustment on pumphouse electric bill, and an $1800 chemical order for the WTP.
o Water system repair/maintenance ~$2800 over YTD budget due to water leaks.

Balance Sheet
• Our capital/reserve is ~$353,000 versus guideline of at least $300,000. This is a reduction of $50,000 from the last report due primarily to water leaks and legal expenses.
• We were ~$4000 over the FDIC limit of $250,000 at Yampa Valley Bank at the end of the quarter. Since that time, Andrea has transferred money to Mountain Valley Bank to keep the former under the FDIC limit.

Capex/Reserve Use
• Our capex/reserve spend to date is ~$206,000 versus a plan of ~$180,500. This is $37,000 higher than last quarter. By category:
o Roads: ~$157,000 vs plan of $150,000 due to mastic use which should extend crack repair life, and road engineer reports.
o Water: ~$48,100 vs plan-to-date of $25,000 ($13,600 improvements plus $34,500 repair and search for leaks)
o Fire Mitigation/Miscellaneous : ~1000 for tree removal vs plan-to-date of $5500.
o Legal Fees: ~$2200 for covenant review effort.

Water & Roads
Andrea reported that the January water loss numbers were similar to December with roughly 50% and 200K gallons lost. Both service line leaks were repaired and Bill provided a quick recap of Native’s findings on his own service line leak. At some point, a new water main was installed in front of his house under the road, but the vendor tapped the new main without taking the old valve out of service. The failure occurred at the old valve and the same could be true of other lots in Dakota Ridge.

Next, Andrea asked the Board for clarification on what was decided at the January water meeting with CDC. Holly and Scott said their notes indicated the following actions steps:

1. Set guidelines in terms of both percentage loss and gallons per minute loss that should trigger actionable leak detection efforts and/or immediate pressure testing.
2. Perform an annual audit when quarterly or annual loss numbers exceed certain thresholds. This audit would consist of shutting down water main segments and the pumphouse for a period of hours to analyze noticeable changes/reductions in water tank drainage rates. If data changes are noticeable, proceed with systematic curb valve shutoffs.
3. Consider using HOA funds to phase a series of meter pit installations over a number of years starting with the longest service lines first.

Andrea was asked to schedule a follow up meeting with CDC to revise and review the current water CIP so that the “Sources and Uses of Capital” reserve projection document could be updated prior to the annual meeting. She was asked to set up a similar meeting with Brian Len from NWCC to discuss and revise the asphalt replacement projections for potential phasing over multiple years and substitution of chip seal over FDR. The Board members proposed dates of Feb 13th-15th for these meetings then penciled in a capital budget meeting for 3/23 at 8:30am and the next Board meeting for April 12th at 8:30am. The Annual Meeting was also scheduled for May 24th at 4pm and both Scott and Ron said they were willing to run for another term on the Board. Overall, the Board members agreed that with roughly $250k of water and road work scheduled for next year (waterline replacement and Trail Ridge Road work) plus an extra $50K of unanticipated reserve spend this year, it would be prudent to consider increasing the capital reserve dues next fiscal year. The Board also agreed that the updated Capital Improvement Plan and “Sources/Uses of Capital” forecast should be provided to the ownership prior to the Annual Meeting along with a letter/communication explaining the rationale. The proposed increase will be finalized in one of the next two budget meetings once the engineers/vendors can hopefully provide CPG with updated estimates on future projects.

Covenant Review Committee
Andrea reported that both amendments to the Dakota Ridge Articles of Incorporation have been filed with the Secretary of State. She said the Covenant Review Committee would be holding their first meeting with Paul Sachs the following day to review the current working Covenant revision document which includes all nine amendments and non-substantive changes. Ron and Carrie shared some of their observations about the committee’s progress. Ron pointed out that if the committee is ultimately going to propose changes to fencing and detached structures, the goal will be to clarify when they can/should be allowed so that is it not simply at the ARC’s discretion and the approval is objective rather than subjective. Carrie explained that there are detailed architectural requirements currently included in the Covenants that will likely be removed/moved to the ARC Guidelines, therefore those will need to be subsequently re-written with the help a local architect.

Responsible Governance Policy Updates
Prior to the meeting, Andrea circulated a second copy of suggested revisions to the Collections and Enforcement policies as required by House Bill 22-1137. There was a side conversation about whether the Board should consider asking Paul to draft a letter to the state representative on behalf of Dakota Ridge. Andrea suggested there were some Denver-based legal firms such as Altitude Law and Orton Kavanagh doing this on a much larger scale, said she would ask Paul whether he felt this would be worthwhile. Ron also offered to contact Denver firms that might be working on this issue with other similarly situated HOAs and report back to the rest of the Board. Continuing on to review of the draft policy revisions, the Board did not feel a scaled approach for 1st, 2nd and 3rd violations was worthwhile and suggested setting $500 for standard violations and $1000 every other day for life safety violations. Andrea said she would work on those changes with Paul and recirculate a final copy.

Other Business
Andrea highlighted/introduced the new owners of Lots 10 and 54 who purchased in Dakota Ridge over the past few months. The Board revisited the idea of personally reaching out to new owners. Andrea said she would pass along their contact information and both Scott and Carrie volunteered to reach out to them.

Recorded by,
Andrea Wilhelm, Commercial Property Group
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