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Dakota Ridge Homeowners Association
Meeting Minutes
March 17, 2010

A special call meeting of the Dakota Ridge Homeowners Association was held on March 17, 2010 at 1:30 p.m. in the Board Room of The Commercial Property Group, LLC at 3001 S. Lincoln, Steamboat Springs, Colorado, to hear issues from the owner of Lot 41, Ron Lazof.

Board Members: David Zedeck
Mindy Williams
H.C. Pace
Michael Williams

Guests: Stephanie McDonald
Medora Fralick
Ron Lazof

The special call meeting of the Board of the Dakota Ridge Homeowners Association was called to order at 1:35 p.m.

There was no formal agenda for this meeting. The main item of business was meeting with owner Ron Lazof of Lot 41 concerning his water billing. H.C. Pace, association Vice President called the meeting to order and gave the floor to Mr. Lazof.

Ron reviewed his water usage for the Board. He noted that the 2009 3rd quarter water billing amount prompted him to have his irrigation system checked for a leak and has hired a new landscaper to monitor the system. He is not willing to pay the $2,500 fee on his 3rd quarter bill and feels that the Board has no legal authority to access this “penalty” which Ron asserted violates Colorado law.

H.C. asked why the Board cannot establish a rate. Ron replied that they do not have the right to impose a penalty. Ron noted that the penalty was not always imposed and that he was not provided with information that he requested from the association.

H.C. asked that all financial record s for the last three years were submitted for copying, including names of owners, owner’s addresses, lot numbers, but excluding emails.

Mindy stated that the fee was a tier on the water rate schedule, not a penalty.

Ron noted that the scheduled meeting he previously was on the agenda for was cancelled without notice.

H.C. expressed that water usage has grown as the neighborhood has developed and conservation is being encouraged.

Ron stated that water distribution needs to be addressed. He suggested installing an additional tank using a capital call to finance it. He said that the Board needs to enforce the rules consistently and on all owners.

Medora noted that other owners incurring the excessive fee did not have historical excessive water usage. She stated that nine homes incurred the fourth tier rate during the 3rd quarter with seven paid and one waived.

Mindy asked if Ron would agree to go by the water rate in place and that going forward would pay the amount used but understood he did not want to pay the current $2,500 on the 3rd quarter bill. He said he would need to have that as a proposal before agreeing to it first.

Ron said that the quarterly rate benefits the full time owner and not the part time owner. He suggested using an annual basis for billing. He proposed using an annual rate paid quarterly with any catch up paid for in the fourth quarter.

Ron made the request to abate the water “penalty”. H.C. stated that the Board would take the request under advisement of legal counsel and wait for a vote of all Board members. Ron replied that he owed the owner’s of the proxies he holds a response and would send out a letter to the membership advising them of this meeting and that the board will respond in a timely matter with their decision. H. C. said the Board would ask the attorney for a speedy response and get back to Ron within four to six weeks.

Ron also asked to address the general governance of the association. Ron interprets Colorado law to say that the board does not have better access by controlling a certain portal of communication. If the Board uses email to solicit proxies, then he should have access to the same email addresses. Medora stated that she talked to legal counsel about providing email addresses.

Ron requested that all email addresses be provided to him as they exist and are used by the board. H. C. was concerned with privacy protection with regard to providing email addresses.

Ron said that the ownership listing was not made available as requested. H. C. said the covenants provide the availability of the list of owners for review or copy.

Medora asked if the property management staff needed to gather further information on his list at the cost of the association. Ron stated that he would take the raw data and put the information together for his use.

H. C. stated that the board would get in touch with Ron as soon as possible.


H.C. suggested to the board that they seek the advice of counsel on a variety of matters raised in the meeting.







There being no further business the meeting was adjourned.

Respectfully submitted,

Stephanie McDonald
Secretary for the meeting