Minutes - DVLA Board Meeting 02/26/08

Minutes of the Regular Monthly DVLA Board Meeting February 26, 2008

Board Members attending: Cyndy Johnson, Jerry Yurek, Mike Barker, Crystal Phillips, Alan Strebeck
               
Eight landowners were in attendance.

President Cyndy Johnson called the meeting to order at 7:00pm. 

1.  Approval of Agenda
Cyndy said that Brooks Pace had called and ask that recycling bins be discussed.  This would be 7b: recycling options. 
 
MOTION was made by Jerry Yurek to accept the amended agenda, Alan Strebeck seconded the motion.  The motion was passed.

2.  Review & approve minutes of the January Board meeting.
Alan Strebeck requested that the detailed information about the Boy Scout fundraising activity be deleted from the draft minutes.  He asked where the Board would draw the line for the minutes to be advertising other groups' activities.  The minutes should be kept to the Board's business.  Cyndy Johnson said that the boy scouts are also a part of the community and came to discuss a community event. Alan said that the minutes should reflect that they came and talked to the Board about the project and then put in contact information. 

MOTION was made by Crystal Phillips to approve the minutes as amended per above discussion.  Mike Barker seconded the motion.  The motion was passed

3.  Review & approve financial reports - Stella Callagee
Alan Strebeck discussed a Homeowners Association presentation he had attended.  He said the firm making the presentation would take over collection services for the DVLA at a set-up cost of $250.  The company would collect delinquent dues with attorney fees billed to the homeowners.  Alan felt that having a service do the collections would ensure consistency.  Cyndy Johnson expressed concern that this would take the personal nature out of the process.  She preferred to go another year to see how collections went.  The Board had had great success over the past three years.  Crystal Phillips added that she found calling landowners concerning delinquent dues very difficult.  Mike Barker agreed with Crystal. 

Alan Strebeck said he would do more research to determine what the charges would be to the homeowners.  He was not ready to make a motion on the issue.

Alan said that he was also discussing have the firm do a study of the assets of the DVLA and the replacement costs.  He was getting an estimate of the cost to do this study.

MOTION was made by Crystal Phillips to accept the financial reports, Jerry Yurek seconded the motion.  The motion was passed.

4. Reports
a. Fire Department
Chief Talbot reported for the Fire Department.  There had been no fires over the past month.  The department had responded to six medical calls.  There are currently 10 qualified members on the medical team. 

The Chief introduced Captain Maciej Szcerbiak who was taking Bud Balagna's place following Bud's resignation.  Bud would continue to serve on the medical and fire fighting teams.  As Captain, Maciej is third in command.  Among his duties are managing the cadet program, coordinating training and overseeing the annual hydrant testing.  Maciej told the Board that "I am here to serve and help".  He has been on the fire department for the past two years and has been involved with fire fighting since 1994.

The Chief said that the radio in Brush 13-1 is not operable and Brush 13-3 will not start.  They are working on these problems.

Last month Shawn Jaca, the County fire warden, had talked about upcoming training.  The dates have been changed to April 4th and 5th. 

The burn pile is open the first and third Saturday of each month.

The Chief said he had concerns about the potential for flooding this spring.  He has ordered four sandbag fillers.  He urged landowners in areas prone to flooding to get prepared now.  If landowners wanted to have sandbags filled they could contact him.  Alan Strebeck asked where landowners could get the bags.  The Chief said landowners should look online. 

Crystal Phillips asked the Chief if the Talbots wanted the Board to look for someone else to maintain the park.  Chief Talbot said yes.  Crystal will send out a message to the Valley concerning the park contract.

b. ARC
The Chair of the ARC, Lance Cornwall, reported that a final approval had been done on Canyon Trails Lot 2.  Project approvals were given for Farms Lot 42 and Old Farms Lot 11.  Lance also asked that Adam Oliver be approved by the Board to serve on the ARC.  Adam would replace David Klose who had served his term.  Adam's appointment was approved by the Board.

c. Trustee Reports
Crystal Phillips reported that progress was being made on the Community Center.  Painting would be done soon and then the electrical work would be completed.  There was an issue of leaking under the overhead door.   It is time to put together a committee that will oversee use of the facility.  Crystal will ask for volunteers to serve on the committee.

Cyndy Johnson said that the Board was looking for someone to take over coordination of Highway Clean-up.

Cyndy said that there would need to be two replacements on the Board this year as the terms of Jerry Yurek and Crystal Phillips would be over.

Alan Strebeck reported on the feasibility study.  When the required numbers of signatures are received the next step would be to give the petition to the County Commissioners.  The County would then do the study.  Once the study was completed there would be meetings concerning the findings.  A landowner asked if Diamond Valley had pulled back their border from the Rice property line?  Yes, this had been done. 

Mike Barker said that he would be following up with the County and State concerning the water issue letter and CD that had been sent.  He had talked with Commissioner Eardley who said that there were water problems all over the County and that it was not the County's problem.  Mike would follow-up with the State and representative David Clark.

5. New Business
a. Email Protocol
There are two email lists - the "minutes/agenda list" and Karen Sharkey's email "alert list".  A landowner suggested that a blog be established for Valley residents to express their views.  Communications from the Board would be sent out on DVLA letterhead.  The website committee would be meeting to discuss ways to improve communication using the website.

b. Recycling
Options for recycling bins were discussed.  Crystal Phillips said she would take on the issue.

c. Homeowner problem
Alan Strebeck discussed a landowner's problem in Pinion Hills.  One landowner had a large antenna that was reflecting sunlight into another landowner's home.  This is a violation of the CC&Rs for that Pinion Hills subdivision.  Alan said that there needed to be a process for such complaints.  It was discussed to write a letter in this situation.

6. The meeting was adjourned at 9:30pm.

Stella Callagee
Recording Secretary

Minutes - DVLA Board Meeting 02/19/08

Minutes of the Special DVLA Board Meeting February 19, 2008

Board Members attending: Cyndy Johnson, Mike Barker, Crystal Phillips, Alan Strebeck              Absent: Jerry Yurek
               
Four landowners were in attendance.

President Cyndy Johnson called the meeting to order at 7:00pm. 

The purpose of the meeting was to continue the discussion of the 2008_2009 budget.

Chief Talbot presented the budget for the fire department.  The total requested is: $24,800. 

The Chief was asked about the repeater problem that he had discussed previously.  The Chief said that there has been no resolution with the County as to how to fund the repairs.  The Chief said that with the equipment upgrades the Dammeron Fire Dept. has made, the department is able to work around the repeater problem and ensure the safety of Valley residents.  There has been no further discussion about communities having to help fund equipment repairs and he did not include these costs in his budget request. 

The Board discussed the need to build budget reserves.  Prior budgets have used carryover funds to reduce the dues amounts by providing an offset.  Stella Callagee reviewed the expected carryover amount and with a conservative review of expected expenditures through the end of the fiscal year (ends 6/30/08) there should be $25,000 unencumbered funds.  Last year's emergency expenditure for the fire engine repair pointed out the need for addressing the reserve issue.

Additional points discussed and decided:
1.    There will not be an allocation for unpaid dues.  Original estimate of $3,000 was reallocated to offset contingency for fire truck sales tax/registration issue.
2.    The sales tax/registration issue with the large fire truck needs to be resolved and $6,000 will be allocated from unencumbered funds to cover the expense if needed. 
3.    Remaining reserve funds will not be used to offset the dues to a lower amount.

With the above decisions this will set the 2008_2009 budget at $306/year.  This equates to a $3.00/month increase.  The Board members decided to bring this budget forward to the landowners at the Annual Meeting.

MOTION was made by Crystal Phillips to adjourn the meeting at 8:30pm.  Mike Barker seconded the motion.  It was passed.

Stella Callagee
Recording Secretary