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Dakota Ridge Board of Directors Meeting
July 10th, 2024 at 8:30am via Zoom

Present: Ron Lemieux, Holly Van Deursen, Scott Prochazka, Bill Noyes, Andrea Wilhelm (CPG)

Andrea called the meeting to order shortly after 8:30 and a quorum was established. The prior meeting minutes from July 1st were approved by all those who were present at that meeting.

Year to Date Financial Review
Treasurer Holly Van Deursen provided the following updates on the 1st quarter financials (Apr-Jun) shared with the Board the day prior:

Net Operating Income:
• ~$10K favorable through 6/30

Operating Income/Revenue (items with >$1000 variance):
• Overall, revenue is on budget due to accrual accounting but there remains a few outstanding accounts that have not paid their annual HOA operating dues or their Capital Reserve Dues. All outstanding accounts have a history of timely payment, however, so CPG will send a follow up notice to those Homeowners that haven’t paid by 7/15.

Operating Expenses(items with >$1000 variance):
• Legal fees -- ~$1400 favorable variance due to lower-than-usual legal fees, but we still have work to complete the covenant review effort.
• ARC fees -- ~$1200 favorable variance on fees to architects.
• Road maintenance -- ~$3,000 unfavorable variance due to the unbudgeted guardrail repair.
• Weed spraying/mowing -- ~$1700 favorable variance but invoice will hit in July.

Other Income:
• Capital reserve dues are on target except for a few homeowner accounts still to be paid (see above).
• Interest income -- ~$1.500 favorable variance due to higher interest rate than included in the budget.

Capital:
• $0K on water system projects vs. budget of $0K – the year may show a positive variance without meter pits unless other projects are expedited.
• $0K on road improvements vs. budget of $0K.
• $11.5K on cluster mailboxes versus budget of $10K.
• $0K on wildfire mitigation versus budget of $0K
• Total capital spend -- $11.5K versus budget of $10K – or a negative variance or ~($1.5K)

Balance Sheet:
• $745K in assets on 12/31 versus $384K last quarter.
• Savings/Reserve account is currently $100K above FDIC limit for that account, but total assets are expected to return to within FDIC limits by year end.
• $39K in AR balances less than 90 days but CPG expects to collect these without challenge.

Water System
Andrea said there were minimal updates since the Board met with Civil Design Consultants on 7/1 to discuss water loss and meter pits. Andrea is still waiting for CDC and Tim Gibbons to finalize the water testing schedule which was tentatively supposed to start today but is likely to be pushed back a week or two. CPG is also still working on the cost per gallon financial analysis requested in the prior meeting for the Board’s consideration. Per Holly’s request and with the decision not to proceed with meter pits this year, Andrea has reached out to CDC to see if other capital water projects should be expedited such as the hydrant lifts and gate valves and will report back to the Board.

Roads
Ron, Bill, Scott and Andrea met NWCC Road Engineer, Brian Len, on Upper Trail Ridge Road on June 20th. After a walk from top to bottom and back, Brian felt the project was completed according to specifications and the road had aged/weathered as expected over the course of the winter with some of the chip seal scraped away in the center due to the curvature of the road and snowplow equipment. He further commented that the new drainage ditch was performing its function and observed little sign of erosion from the hillside. The two new culverts were also inspected as well as the width of the road after one homeowner had expressed concern at the annual meeting. The primary issue discussed was the appearance of the road and loose gravel as a fog seal was not applied at the time of installation. Since fog seal has to be applied at the same time the chip seal is installed, as a alternative Brian Len recommended an estimate from Rocky Mountain Asphalt to sweep and sealcoat the road so that it would better match other roads in Dakota Ridge. Prior to the meeting, Andrea provided the Board with a series of estimates from RMA for sweeping ($5760), sealcoating ($18,900) and cutting/patching three areas exhibiting some structural instability with 4 inch replacement ($7952). After some discussion, the Board unanimously agreed to sign and proceed with all three projects.

Covenant Review Committee
Included in the Board packet was the latest rough draft of the Covenant Amendments which the Committee believes is close to final. Andrea will be circulating it one more time to all CRC members and Paul Sachs following some final document clean up by Ron. An explanatory letter/memo will accompany the proposed changes when emailed to owners and an informational Zoom meeting will be scheduled with Paul Sachs present for all interested owners prior to a ballot vote. Holly asked a question about whether drones were to be restricted in the new Covenants and Ron and Andrea said the committee discussed it but felt the topic would fall under the “Nuisance” article if drones are being used for any purpose other than real estate photos.

Other Business
The Board discussed the issue of an unapproved fire pit located on Lot 35 but built by the owner of Lots 56-58 prior the current owner’s purchase. Andrea explained that the Lot 35 owner did not wish to create conflict or controversy by addressing it but would comply with the Board’s wishes if they had a safety or liability concern due to the lack of water in the area. After some discussion, the Board decided that since the fire pit was never originally submitted to the ARC for review/approval and is currently permitted under the wrong address with the fire department, it would allow the owner of Lot 35 to submit an application to the ARC with a proper wildfire mitigation/extinguishment plan given the lack of water available at the site of the fire pit. Should the current owner of Lot 35 desire to pursue this option, the Board would also require the owner of Lot 35 to apply for and obtain any permits for such structures required by Routt County and the appropriate Fire Department. CPG will follow up with the Lot 35 owner to present this option.

Next, the Board discussed a fall gathering and Holly said she would propose dates via email to the Board members following the meeting and try to secure a host/location. She later asked CPG to survey the ownership in regards to August 27th or 28th.

Andrea was asked to follow up with the owners of Lot 27 near the intersection of Aspen Ridge Road and Agate Creek Drive as they are again using the right of way for staging landscaping materials and the drainage ditch has yet to be restored to satisfactory condition.

The last order of business was a review of the various questions raised by owners at the Annual Meeting which included topics such as investment strategies, chip seal appearance, meter pit functionality and ROI, Trail Ridge Road width and plowing equipment, and fire hydrant height. All topics were properly reviewed/discussed with vendors as appropriate and further discussion ensued regarding whether the Governance Policy on the Investment of Reserves should be amended to allow for US Treasury Bonds, which are not currently FDIC insured, but backed by the US Government. After Andrea quoted Yampa Valley Bank’s current 6-month CD rates at 4.9%, Bill did not feel Treasury Bonds are 5.3% were worth pursuing an amendment to the Governance Policy to allow the Association to purchase them. Andrea said she would check with her local bankers as well as Paul Sachs and report back to the Board on some suggested options.

With no further business, the next Board meeting was tentatively scheduled for October 15th at 8:30am and this meeting adjourned at 10:10am.

Recorded by,

Andrea Wilhelm
Commercial Property Group