Management Committee
Topics: Topics: Crown, maintenance, creating separate official-business email list
declaration
Topics: Topics: Calculation of adjusted square footage, including decks and carports. Vacancy & move-in fees.
Management Committee
Topics: Topics: 2013 Budget
Management Committee
Topics: Topics: Crown manager, Crown maintenance reserve, financials, budget, child infrastructure
declaration
Topics: Topics: rentals, security, voting & quorum, reserve, parking, antennas, water (furniture, fountains, fish)
Management Committee
Topics: Topics: budget, reserve, trees, workshop furnace & leaky roof, policy on keeping minutes
Management Committee
Topics: Topics: electric car charging, sale of used trex to Unitarian Church, reimbursement for crown repairs, new office manager
Management Committee
Topics: Topics: donation to cohousing USA, internet, tree removal, approving minutes, signs, crown reserve, procedure for depositing checks, online bookkeeping
Management Committee
Topics: Topics: Duties of bookkeeper & office manager. Clutter' (private property in common areas or stored in LCAs). Dead trees. Repairs (washer, electrical, old decking). Financial.
Management Committee
Topics: adjusting square footage formula, decking, deposit procedure
Management Committee
Topics: Items: inoperable car, reserve & special assessment, bookkeeper, crown management & repairs, payment plan for overdue assessments
declaration
Management Committee
Topics: street signs, parking lot painting, Declaration, electric car, Crown inspections, deck roofs
Management Committee
Topics: Crown inspections, deck roof repairs, stand-on mower, drainage around units, pay-or-play billing
Management Committee
Topics: roof deck bids
Management Committee
Management Committee
Topics: maintenance - trees, sprinklers; roof deck bids, pay-or-play, incident reporting
Management Committee
Topics: Emergency Vehicle signs, wood chips, accounts for paying companies, pay-or-play reporting, collecting community docs
Management Committee
Decisions:
Topics: disposing of branches, roof decks, setting up autopayments , email for community business, Crown reserve
Discussion:
Proposal:
Proposal File: ../ proposals/
Management Committee
Management Committee
Topics: Crown rents, Crown book keeping, deck repairs
Management Committee
Topics: work reporting, insurance, ending Crown, deck roof bids
Management Committee
Management Committee
Topics: Crown reserve, bookkeeping, maintenance, tree work
Management Committee
Management Committee
Management Committee
Management Committee
Management Committee
Management Committee
Melisa & Mary met today and will meet again Saturday to go over Larry's spreadsheet and our bills to see what can be matched up.
Correction on previous notes: Linda will working with UHA to get the reserve money released, not doing the Crown management.
Matt is willing to be hired for community maintenance at $20/hr.
Mike P has drawn up a letter that should be sent to all Crown residents on the first business day of 2013 giving notice that they will be able to purchase the units starting Jan 1, 2014, to be sent certified mail with return receipt, copies of crown regulations attached, with copies to UHA.
Mike A will email the budget, detail, and schedule of fees to the community tonight. He'll see if he can make it into a pdf so people will be able to open it even if they don't have Excel. Keep things simple and just use the current formula for now, although tell people that there will be a proposal sometime soon for a new formula.
The condo fee for #8 has not matched the formula for several years. Adjust it so it fits the formula, starting in January. The budget in previous years was approved with the error, so going back and trying to collect is highly questionable.
Fee increases have been applied to each unit's fee just as a percentage and then rounded off, instead of dividing the budget each year by the percentage that that unit should be paying of the whole. This has caused some fees to drift off by a few dollars from what they should be.
Autopay
Rocky Mtn Power $263, Salt Lake Corp., Allied Waste
Check from Crown for condo fee (reducing amount to 3 months behind)
:: Hans may deposit the two checks he has been holding onto plus the two new ones.
Hans has the credit union enter a line item explaining each check, so it appears on the statement who the payment is from.
QuickBooks is now ready to go on preparing invoices for pay-or-play. Give community notice a month before issuing first invoices? Maybe plan on starting at the beginning of the second quarter.
:: Melisa will go visit each Crown resident to introduce herself and clarify the outstanding balance (if any) of their rental account. Hopefully get everybody squared up. Will start charging late fees for Crown in January.
To improve state of crown checking, at least renewal, raise Crown rents max amount. Is this 5%?
:: Melisa will check with Carla regarding exact policy on raising Crown rents.
Carla wants to meet with crown residents to explain options. Between 22nd & 25th of January. Hans will be teaching Tuesday evenings.
:: Find a date that all crown residents can attend that week.
Condo fee checks are turned in scattered in different places the small metal box, the office desk, under the office door.
:: Encourage people to put condo fee checks in the folder in the file drawer
Melisa is expanding the instructions that Marla Dee left her.
Issue: Unsubscribing email
People unsubscribe to WaCoHo list because they don't want all the email. Then they don't learn about important things. Is it feasible to set up a separate list that people could subscribe to that would only receive official business like minutes? Make it announce-only. Subscribe WaCoHo to it. When people on WaCoHo respond to something coming from the announce list, it will go only to WaCoHo. Subscribe people on announce list to WaCoHo as no-mail, send-only. That way they can respond to something on the announce list, although they wouldn't see any responses to their message unless sent to their individual email.
:: Hans will research possibilities.
On Friday, December 21, 2012 3:40 PM WaCoHo on behalf of Lydia Olchoff wrote:
Hi Kay, others from Management and other WaCoHos,
Thanks for sending out these minutes. :)
Regarding the an Email List for Official Business Only, I'd like to make a suggestion. I'd like it to be a separate listserv, like WaCoHo and WaCoMa, in which people could respond if they wanted to. If I understood the issue correctly, I think that the people who are not on the list are not objecting to the dialogue on the official WaCoHo business topics. It is the dialogue on day-to-day subjects such as letting the chickens out, will you watch my cat, my child, etc., locking up the common house, etc.
In my opinion, the other list should be for WaCoHo business topics only, and should allow for a dialogue. For people subscribing to this list (I suggest we all do), I would like to recommend that we set up a separate folder in our Inbox for the WaCoHo General emails and another for the WaCoHo Business emails. That can easily done using every email applications, sort filters. (You can sort all incoming messages into folders.)
What do people think of that idea?
Also, would it be helpful if I contacted the other non-resident owners, paticularly those not on this list, and ask them? Or, Hans would you prefer to do that directly, since you are spearheading this project?
Thanks. Lydia
Next two Mondays are Christmas Eve and New Years. Meet on Saturday evenings, Dec 22 and Dec 29, 7:00 p.m.
Building materials change in cost differently. Don't know that in twenty years the roof under the deck will cost three times a shingle roof. Rather than codifying how much extra gets charged for a deck's square footage, does it make sense to say, "to be determined periodically based on reserve studies" or something, to adjust the extra to the actual costs.
Decision: Put formula in CC&R based on estimation of costs currently.
South-facing decks have a longer overhang, so the square footage is different.
:: Kevin will measure the south-facing decks.
Single-storey units have slightly higher exterior maintenance costs per square foot than two-storey. Units with shared walls have lower exterior maintenance costs. Kevin suggests adding adjustment factors.
Setting the carport square footage at 400 sq ft, to cost an amount comparable to commercial monthly parking fees, overlooks the fact the land and structure belong to residents. The cost of rented parking also includes a profit for the owner. We're just trying to cover maintenance & replacement costs for the pavement, carport, & storage. [Discouraging cars because they aren't good for the environment isn't an appropriate reason for charging higher fees; Kay objects to using our fees for political statements.] Using 168 sq ft (closer to actual footage) puts the cost closer to $9/mo.
The pay-or-play fee applies to vacant units, so it already acts somewhat as a vacancy fee. Decision: Drop the idea of a vacancy surcharge in the condo fee.
Three times the monthly fee is a big hit for a renter. Don't want to shut out renters.
Decision: Set at one times the monthly fee for rentals and three times for transfers of ownership. If a renter buys, the occupancy fee already paid is applied to the purchasing occupancy fee.
On Friday, December 21, 2012 3:57 PM WaCoHo on behalf of Lydia Olchoff wrote:
Hi Kay and others at WaCoHo,
Would someone kindly explain these comments in the section entitled "Vacancy and Move-in Fees"? The comments are a bit cryptic. They read as follows:
The pay-or-play fee applies to vacant units, so it already acts somewhat as a vacancy fee. Decision: Drop the idea of a vacancy surcharge in the condo fee.
Three times the monthly fee is a big hit for a renter. Don't want to shut out renters.
Decision: Set at one times the monthly fee for rentals and three times for transfers of ownership. If a renter buys, the occupancy fee already paid is applied to the purchasing occupancy fee.
Regarding the yellow highlighted section, I am wondering exactly what was decided. Here are my questions:
Please clarify.
Thank you! Lydia
From: WaCoHo on behalf of Isabella des Etoiles, Sent: Friday, December 21, 2012 6:08 PMRe: [WaCoHo] FW: minutes, Declaration ad hoc, 2012 Dec 17 -- Vacancy and Move-in Fees "decision"???
Hi Lydia. Becky and I did attend the ACM last Wed. We learned that these ideas are in the "kicking around ideas" phase. They are not a formal proposal at this point in time. There is an adhoc committee that meets Mondays at 7 I believe. Kay has started attending those meetings so that the community can be fully informed. Kevin is the main driving force. The committee formed initially to address the question of fairly sharing the expenses for the new decks, since as the bylaws stand, the cost would be spread evenly among the units, but it was thought that the deck owners should pay more. So the committee formed, to look at adjusting the bylaws for this reason. But then, as I understand, the committee began also to look at other changes to the bylaws, since changing them is a lengthy and costly process, and it was thought we might as well do it all at once. Hence came the discussions on HOA fees for vacant units and for transfer of renter/owner situations. Hans stated that the committee hopes to present their recommendations to the community in March. Nothing will be passed without the community's agreement. Again, they are just kicking around ideas. If you want to give input, it sounds like you should give it to Kevin.
Isabella
On Fri, Dec 21, 2012 at 3:58 PM, Lydia Olchoff wrote:
Apparently, they have not totally dropped the ideas of these fees. Ugh!! I think this is so unfair and unjustifiable. It does not cost the community money when a new member moves in. Why penalize us???
On Saturday, December 22, 2012 9:36 AM, Lydia Olchoff wrote:
Kay, this is a huge help. Thank you!! My misunderstanding!! I'm sorry to have caused you the extra trouble!! I had misunderstood the subject line. I hadn't realized what the new committee name was.
I will read over your email in detail after my accupunctue appointment this morning.
Hugs and Love, Lydia
On Sat, 22 Dec 2012 05:02:57 +0000 Kay Argyle wrote:
Subject: Re: [WaCoHo] minutes, Declaration ad hoc, 2012 Dec 17 -- Vacancy and Move-in Fees "decision"???
Note that what you were reading are committee minutes, not community meeting minutes. Ideas are being batted around. No proposal yet. No consensus. It will probably be at least another six weeks before there is a proposal.
The Declaration committee is tasked to come up with recommendations on amendments, which will form a proposal. The "decision" mentioned is to include an idea in the proposal that the committee will present. None of the committee's decisions are in any way binding until the community consenses on the amendments. Or not. The proposal could change considerably during community discussion.
Some background: In anticipation of the upcoming special assessment for the deck/roof/wall repairs, Management reread what the CC&R (the community's legal documents, the bylaws or condo declaration) say about assessments. We discovered that the CC&R say we are supposed to be charging assessments (either monthly or special) based on undivided ownership -- that is, the fact that every unit owns 1/26 of the land and of the common buildings. In other words, fees are supposed to be exactly the same amount for every unit, from one bedroom to four bedroom. This was how monthly assessments were set up in the very beginning, but the community decided years ago that this was neither equitable nor fair.
Unfortunately, although the community consensed a change in policy, and we have been paying monthly assessments based on a formula split between a flat fee and a charge per square foot of the unit, the formal legal documents were never amended. That needs to be done, prior to the special assessment, so our legal documents match our consensed policy on assessments. Therefore, the ad hoc Declaration Committee was started, to work on amending the CC&R.
Management was aware of a couple of state laws or legal decisions that had invalidated provisions in the CC&R. As long as we will be paying a lawyer to look at the new language and to file the amended version, it was decided to update those spots too, and look for anything else we might wish to change. The ad hoc declaration committee therefore is discussing possible amendments beyond just the assessments.
I joined the committee a couple of weeks ago. As a result, minutes are now being taken and sent out to the community. The community gets to see the committee's thinking, for a better understanding of the rationale behind particular amendments, and the committee gets on-going feedback and additional input and opinions. Hopefully the result will be smooth passage of at least the more necessary amendments, and worthwhile discussion about any issues the community decides not to act on.
Kay
QuickBooks doesn't break categories as discretionary v. nondiscretionary, which makes matching to the budget more complicated.
Categories in QuickBooks have never been reconciled with categories in budget. Things get assigned wrong; for instance, the lock repairs for the c.h. were booked as
common house repairs, rather than as maintenance. There is about $4K last year under "Misc." which needs to be reassigned into appropriate budget categories; will probably need to pull invoices to see what the expenditures were.
Last winter was warm, which held down both the gas and the snow-plowing expenses.
:: Kay will call utility companies to ask if rate increases are expected for the coming year.
Hans's HOA fee for three units got booked wrong. It appears in the statement as a wire transfer from New Jersey, doesn't say what it is for.
Amounts for bookkeeping are several thousand higher than last year because of hiring Marci, about $3,600 annually. Used to get these services at extremely low cost or even free.
The 2012 actual for Accounting & Legal were ~$2K, budgeted 500 last year. Need to budget legal fees for refiling CC&R. Linda said she would not charge for Crown management.
"Contingency" was $500 last year; increase to $1K. Expenditures are always assigned to their appropriate categories, so there is never an actual for the contingency category.
Will need to purchase the full program for the reserve study, about $200. The $60 version doesn't have the reporting capabilities we need.
Maintenance actual was extremely low in 2012 because we were concentrating on the decks instead of other repairs. Can expect deferred maintenance to catch up with us this year.
Law that requires doing a reserve study may also require members to explicitly vote on reserve funding.
Should show new (proposed) fees in a table with current formula and with C&R formula (1/26). Hans has cleaned up the numbers, since they have drifted off because of rounding errors.
The payments into the reserve should be increased at least as much every year as the percentage increase in the operating budget.
Idea: Create a separate maintenance/reserve account with regular deposits. Pay for maintenance from that account instead of the operating account. At the end of the year any balance rolls over into the next year instead of back into the general budget.
With a 3% increase, we have a $7K shortfall ($9K if we include a special project category for root cellar or whatever). Would need a 20% increase to zero out (same expenditures as HOA income).
A 20% increase would be $30-40 a month additional for monthly fees.
Maybe show budget with 20% increase and ask what people are willing to commit to do to hold down our expenses in the coming year.
From: WaCoHo on behalf of Linda Reed, Sent: Tuesday, December 18, 2012 10:55 AM
Here are a couple of comments offered in a positive spirit, that I hope you will find helpful. Take it for what is is worth. I do appreciate immensely all that the committee does and believe we should trust the committee. (And we know what free advice is usually worth.) :-)
1. QuickBooks reporting and structuring is very flexible and can be configured to categorize by discretionary or non-discretionary in at least two different ways: A. Structure the chart of accounts using sub-accounts that fall under the appropriate category. B. Use "classes" (less ideal, because it requires more info on each transaction.)
2. If the budget is to be useful, you must categorize expenses according to the budget. This was done in the past and is how we were able to make the budget, by comparing actual expenses to budgeted expenses for several years in a row. (refer to the old budget spreadsheets)
3. QuickBooks is not a good tool to create the budget. This is done much better in Excel (or another spreadsheet) and the final budget numbers entered into QB after they are approved. Excel allows you play "what if" and work through different scenarios while trying to create the budget. I suspect the problem in #1 is a result of trying to create the budget in QB.
4. There should be no expenses in "Misc" unless they are small and unusual. "Misc" should not be used when an expense is simply unknown or misunderstood. When you pay $3,600 for bookkeeping, you would expect that the bookkeeper would pick up phone or send an email when you find an unknown deposit, or questions on an expense.
5. A separate account for reserve is required, but a separate account for regular maintenance is questionable, and can cause problems (example: the $1,800 Crown account that was unrecognized for a period). This info should be easily reflected in the bookkeeping. It's when an organization does not trust the bookkeeping that they start to feel the need to physically separate the funds.
6. Finally, I think we have an understanding, but just to be clear, I have agreed to help Melissa work on the problem of getting the Crown reserve released, but I've not agreed to "manage" Crown. There are others who are being paid to do that. Of course, I have a huge interest in making sure things work out, and I'm happy to advise if asked.
Thanks, Linda
From: WaCoHo on behalf of Linda Reed, Sent: Tuesday, December 18, 2012 11:42 AM
Sounds great! I just wanted to make sure that there was no confusion that I was taking on more than we had discussed.
Thank you, Linda
On Tue, Dec 18, 2012 at 11:37 AM, Melisa Nielsen wrote:
Linda, I think these are great suggestions! I am just getting up to speed with the online QB (after only having used the other in the past) and I was just talking to Mike this morning about how we can use QB in a better way. I appreciate your input on this.
Also, I appreciate your willingness to help me with the CROWN pieces. I think that having me as a single point of contact will make things smoother as we transition into this last bit of time with the program. I am already working well with Susan Schow and I am committed to helping everyone be in compliance so we can have as few snags as possible.
Blessings.
Linda R is willing to take on the Crown paperwork in conjunction with Melisa & Hans.
Melisa asked Carla (UHA) for a quarterly checklist so we know exactly what needs to be done for the Crown paperwork.
Paul Wason did the winter shutdown for four of the Crown units' swamp coolers and for the common house. Linda P's son did hers. According to UHA's rules, ordinary maintenance expenses, under $100, really ought to be paid by the tenants.
On the other hand, $10 of each month's rent for each unit goes into a fund for maintenance (allocated per unit), held by Wasatch Crown. Originally this was just being held in the operating account. UHA said it should be in a separate account. Linda set up a savings account with an automatic deposit $50/mo. She didn't transfer the money that was held in the operating account. There's ~$1800 in that account.
:: Pay Paul's bill from those funds.
$25/month/unit goes into the account that UHA holds. Hans has a spreadsheet that Larry at UHA prepared showing all the work that should be done on the units before they are sold. Those repairs are close to the $30K in the UHA Crown reserve.
:: Melisa will call Carla to ask what she needs us to do. Can explain that the person who was supposed to be looking into reimbursements from the reserve has moved out.
If a Crown resident hasn't been in the unit for fifteen years, there continue to be reporting requirements until they've been in the unit for fifteen years. If they sell they get only the percentage of the equity in proportion to the time they've been there.
Marci 8:00 p.m.
:: Melisa will put out a notice regarding the annual meeting Jan 9. Mail to nonresident owners and tape to all doors.
Need to order checks for WCCA. Out of deposit slips; can just copy those?
:: Melisa will get checks ordered.
Bleach dispenser on washer isn't working.
Continue to hold two checks from WCCA to reserve. Hans paid $4K advance to Ron Case himself and was reimbursed from the operating account instead of the reserve.
:: Hans will straighten out.
Total to Ron Case was ~$95K. Lot sealing was slightly under $10K of that.
:: Marina will hold it for them. Hans will email Diamond her phone # to call before they come.
$1K for trees
$1K contingency
Mike put $2K in rough draft for a root cellar. Could call the item "sustainability project" and decide what it should be root cellar, hoop house, garden shed, other. We've never had a project budget. Should fund a major project each year.
There are about a four mowers in the garage. Two mowers don't work and need to be disposed of. Free up space for the riding mower.
$700 for ride-on mower.
Welcoming $900: Ad in Westside supports a local business, local news. Add donation to Cohousing.
Marina found the community through Bug Farms' FaceBook page.
:: Marina will make a FaceBook page for Wasatch Commons
$4K for bookkeeper. $480 for QuickBooks.
$1,500 for CC&R update.
Reserve study program cost $60. Mike would like $20/hr to work on reserve study.
:: Melisa will get with Mary tomorrow to look at the workshop furnace.
Special management meeting next Thursday to continue budget discussion.
Parents committee's request, $600, includes funds for outings. Melisa registered an objection to the community paying for children's outings. If spending money on children's activities, have them held here, like parties with a play castle.
Original rationale for paying for outings from budget was that some families couldn't afford the outings, so the committee paid for everyone. We no longer have any children in Crown, which seriously weakens this argument. We don't pay for outings for seniors or other subgroups.
The last several years the Parents committee has been choosing to spend its budget mostly on outings and not fixing play areas no sand in sandbox, no chips under swings, fort unrepaired.
Children's funds should be spent on infrastructure. Names are important: Instead of calling it the parents committee budget, allocate funds for "child infrastructure". That would clearly indicate what the money is expected to be for. Allocate the babysitting money to Process, since it is associated with ACMs.
Need funds for childproofing c.h. The cleaners, laundry detergent etc. are down where a small child can get them. Change outlets in kids room to childproof, rather than just plugs.
:: Give $150 to parents for "babysitting etc." $450 for children's infrastructure.
Melisa will be writing a proposal for Harry's eagle project. Could get other scouts to work on play structure as a project. Mary gave Dusty some commercial rings for the swings. He hasn't put them on; maybe get them back for the scouts to install.
Subject: Re: [WaCoMa] [WaCoHo] minutes, Mgt 2012 Dec 6
On Sunday, January 06, 2013 2:45 PM WaCoMa on behalf of Mike Angelastro wrote:
>>Give $150 to parents for "babysitting etc." $450 for children's infrastructure.
The above is in the minutes below. It is not noted that it was a decision the committee made. From now on our minutes must add the word "Decision:" to the minutes whenever the committee makes a decision; this will make it clear what has been decided and what has merely been mentioned.
My budget schedule had the same amount above ($150) for the non-child infrastrtucture piece of the parent committee request and it showed their detail. The Mgt committee does not have carte blanch to micro-manage committee decisions/activity. So the parents committee will end up spending this $150 as they see fit and could therefore fund outings. If any member of the parents committee disagrees with spending any budgeted funds on outings, he/she should voice that during the committee meeting containing the decision. So complaining about my wording was a mere expression of opinion and not relevant to the discussion. Even if we officially decided to change the wording, they are still empowered to ignore it. In either case, discussing the wording was a waste of time.
Also the statement no CROWN unit having child residents is also a statement fact that only the parents committee - not the mgt committee - can use for their decisions on spending their budget.
Mike
Went over some of Kevin's suggested amendments.
Rentals: If a management company is handling a rental, Management needs contact info for the management company.
Security: It is common in condos to require residents to provide a key and (if applicable) the code for their security alarm.
Voting & Quorum: Change to be in compliance with state law, which says voting can't require more than 66%. Currently says 75%. Voting is according to undivided interest, not adjusted square footage.
Currently our quorum standard is two-thirds, which is eighteen units. Only get that many a couple of times a year. Lowering it to 51% would require 14 units. Except for the annual meeting, we don't make a lot of decisions that have legal repercussions. For important decisions we need higher buy-in than a normal condo. Leave it at 2/3.
Reserve: FHA accepts 10% of operating budget set aside as a reserve to be adequate. Our reserve is currently close to 20%. Even if we aren't trying to get FHA qualified, other organizations adopt their standards.
Portion of Condo Fee Associated with Parking: Seal coating cost $9K. Divided by five years, 26 units, 12 months/yr, works out to $5.75/mo. Repaving will be an even bigger expense. If one household rents its parking to another, the renting household could pick up the portion of condo fees associated with the parking space.
Antennas: Courts have ruled that antennas cannot be banned. On the other hand, owners don't have an absolute right. Adding language about the rules will act as a reminder to Mgt how to handle requests for antennas appropriately.
Water: Large water furniture or features can cause a problem for adjoining units in a flood. Allow small fountains or fishtanks without permission.
From: WaCoHo on behalf of Mike Angelastro
Sent: Monday, December 10, 2012 10:53 PM
To: Kay Argyle
Subject: Re: [WaCoHo] minutes, Declaration ad hoc 2012 Dec 3
the statement about the antennas needs clarification.
None of the committees has submitted a budget request. Sequester an amount equal to each committee's last year's budget. Until the committee provides a budget request, it isn't their money.
:: Kay will send an email saying that budget requests are required.
:: Mike will get the spreadsheet of last year's budget and start working out a rough budget for next year.
We haven't handled the community's economic diversity well. Letting the crown residents set their own rents very low turns out not to have been a kindness. We can only raise crown rents 5% per year, and there is only one more year of the program. On the other hand, an additional 5% is better than nothing. The community may end up having to eat losses.
We don't want to do the special assessment until we've changed the ownership percentages through the declaration, and that will take time. However, the reserve fund is exhausted. We need to bring its balance back up starting a.s.a.p.
The reserve has always been underfunded. We need to increase monthly assessments. Until the special assessment is approved, increase each household's fee by $100/mo? Increase assessment by 50%? Keep track of the additional and credit it against the eventual special assessment? Once the special assessment is levied, households could either keep paying it off at $100/mo, or pay a lump sum and drop the extra payment.
We already know we will have upcoming reserve expenses soon. The shingles aren't holding up as well as they were supposed to. A few gutters still drain onto a roof and need to be extended to drain to the ground.
Letter from the bank, regarding Wasatch Commons Cohousing's checking account. Since it is totally inactive, the bank requires a response once a year or it will consider the funds abandoned. (About $150 balance.)
:: Hans signed. Marci will mail.
Letter from Utah State Division of Finance, saying one of the Crown loans is due. Mike P has been working on getting it extended.
:: Hans will talk to Mike P.
Crown being behind on its HOA fees is leaving the WCCA operating funds inadequate. There isn't currently enough money to cover the reserve check to the credit union.
:: Hans should wait to deposit reserve checks until Marci says its okay.
:: Hans will renew registration for the Wasatch Commons Crown LLC.
Reimbursement to Kay, multiple reimbursements to Mary (workshop table, hose mounts, dryer vent cleaner, crown's smoke detectors).
Marci has been looking through invoices on the crown repairs for items that we can ask Utah Housing about reimbursing.
Melisa entered deposits in QuickBooks, prepared deposit lsips, and gave slips and checks to Mike, who deposited the checks. So far new process is looking good.
Hans gave Marci a common house key. Rather than one folder, it makes sense to have two folders in internal mail cabinet for Marci, one for her to pick up from and one for her to drop off for us. Folders should have sides, since they will have some small pieces of paper (checks, receipts).
:: Marci will set up folders.
QuickBooks has an option to accept payments as bank transfers, for $.50 per payment. Fee is higher for credit card payments than for EFT (payment drawn from checking), not just 50c. Does it make an entry in QuickBooks, identifying the payment? Is the 50c/payment an introductory rate which will go up?
:: As research, Mike will sign up.
Hans has set up an automatic wire transfer from his account at the credit union. Kay & Richard also bank there, but the statement from the bank doesn't identify the wire transfer, so it will get really confusing if multiple households are making their payments that way.
The repair Ron Case made on the workshop roof has failed, and it is leaking again. Hans let them know.
:: Mike will contact Joe Numbers. Richard can let them in when they come to do the repair.
Workshop furnace isn't producing any heat, and fan runs constantly. Does it have a pilot light or electronic ignition?
:: Kay will send an email asking for (a) information from anyone who knows about the workshop furnace, and (b) a volunteer to coordinate getting someone to look at it and possibly repair.
Mike is getting some software that is designed for condo reserves.
:: Mike will see if the reserve software has the ability to track repairs.
Diamond will come the Tuesday & Wednesday after Thanksgiving. Ask them to work on the trees that had storm damage. After snowstorm, tree in front of Susan's & Richard's had branches touching Hans's roof and Matt's roof. Won't cost a lot more to have the tree removed than just the branch.
Sib. elm on c.h. lawn has a broken branch.
:: Kay will ask Mary for whereabout of polesaw. Mike will see about cutting the branch free.
Minutes from Nov 1st approved. Utah Housing may want to see the minutes regarding crown management at some point. May not be simple to totally separate crown business out from community business in the minutes, and would require extra effort and remembering to do it. Is it worth trying? Decided it isn't.
:: End meetings by reviewing everybody's assignments.
Read and approved minutes of Oct 18.
Carol stopped in briefly at 8:00. Her mother is back in the hospital, and she only came home long enough to feed the animals.
In the winter electrical rates are not tiered. In the summer they are. Both are nine point something cents per kilowatt-hour. It has been suggested we round off to 10c/kWh what Kathy reimburses for her electric car charging.
Defer discussion of Memorandum of Understanding (Marci's contract) until Melisa is present.
During Larry's inspection he made two lists: (1) fix immediately; and (2) fix before sale, if present tenant is not the buyer. $17,000 worth of repairs. For repairs we have already done, we identify what the item is on Larry's list when submitting the request for repayment. We have permission to do any of the things on the fix immediately' list. As new things come up, we should let UHC know before we proceed. Larry has to come inspect the repair before we get reimbursed.
Hans talked to Carla Valentine how we get access to the capital replacement account. As of 9/10, UHC's crown reserve is $21,526.36.
Was there a previous list? The repairs to the cabinets (Linda P's & Myste's) are not on this list. Two other big ticket items that would help cash flow if we could get reimbursed are Linda's swamp cooler and the fences.
Kathy has people coming to the Unitarian Church on Saturday to build garden beds. New trex runs $2.50/ft.. Kathy estimates the trex off Maxine's unit is about 210 feet. Kevin suggested at the ACM that used materials typically go for half off. Steve told Mary (as he told Kathy) that the community can do
If the new trex is included in the general assessment, the community owns the used trex. If it is charged to the individual deck owners, it belongs to the deck owner. If Kathy is allowed to buy some at $1/ft, we can hold the money until such time as the assessment is determined. The current owner of the used trex from Maxine's deck is Crown.
Management approved sale of one deck's worth of used trex to Kathy. Will ask Marci to do a receipt.
Diamond Trees has scheduled us for November 15. They sent an estimate. Mary thinks someone from the community could do the small trees with a chain saw.
Financial (8:00) & New Office Manager
Payments from Crown: Western Compliance, Lake Hill & Meyer, online QuickBooks
Payments from WCCA: SLC Corp, Lake Hill & Meyer, online QuickBooks
Marla Dee provided Melisa a copy of the page on the office manager's duties.
Upgrade in QuickBooks for budget package includes increase from three to five user IDs. Additional $15 per month.
Marla Dee provided a report on what she has accomplished as office manager.
Crown's hoa fees haven't been paid for six months because they don't have enough in the crown checking. Crown residents have been setting their own rents at the lowest amount. Rents can be raised with 30 days notice, not just at lease renewal. If not enough in crown accounts to cover what is needed (repairs, special assessment), amount would be added to the cost of the unit.
:: Kay will draft a form letter to UHC describing each repair and requesting reimbursement.
:: Melisa will contact Lake Hill & Meyer to ask which invoice is for which corporation, WCCA, crown, or cohousing. Ask them to be clear in future billing which invoice is for which corporation's taxes.
:: Marla Dee will give all the forms to Hans to post online, as well as giving them to Melisa.
:: Melisa will get with Marci for training on QuickBooks.
:: Marla Dee will get the budget spreadsheet to Mike (mgt treasurer). Categories in budget and in QuickBooks need to be reconciled; things are coded differently.
:: Get Marci the WaCoMa email address and give her send privileges for the list.
Another amendment of agreement between Utah Housing Corp. & Wasatch Commons Crown LLC, Hans has copies to be signed. Describes procedure for selling homes. We want to stay on good terms with them so they will work with us if a current tenant doesn't qualify, since they pick who to sell the unit to in that case.
Suggested donation to Cohousing USA for a community is $250/yr. Would be from welcoming budget. Any money? Put in budget for January. Add to budget as a standing item every year.
Marla Dee says internet was included last year's budget. Michele has supplied it for years without charging. Do we regard it as settled, or do we re-open that decision, since we brought it up at the last ACM? Some people wanted to do more research; last year's budget is relevant as research at least. Hans & Kay will look for a copy of last year's budget for the next ACM.
A big tree & several smaller ones are dead on west berm. The trees we decided to remove last year got put off because the tree companies cancelled winter rates as a result of lots of storm damage. Mary hasn't been able to locate the contact info for the smaller company she had talked to last year. The larger company, Diamond, will be sending someone on Monday to meet with Hans. He will get a bid. Mary says winter rates usually start after Thanksgiving.
Make it a custom to approve the minutes. Take the time to read them during the meeting? Expect members to read them when emailed & respond if they are okay? Print a copy or copies for members to read at the next meeting? Carol is concerned because people in the past have edited the minutes. When Kay is informed of a correction, she adds an addendum or amendment at the end of the minutes.
One reason people don't see the large sign when looking for the community is that it is set well back from the road. Is it installed in cement? What would it take to move it forward?
When Hans checked in QuickBooks it showed that he owed an HOA fee. He pays every month by automated clearing house (ACH). Marla Dee has reported that #9 (Rebecca) is behind on HOA fees. Natalia has been paying them by ACH. The payments aren't being credited correctly.
If we grant Kevin's request to cancel his late fees since June, since the community owed him for legal work, we need to find out how many late fees.
8:00 p.m. Marla Dee didn't respond to email about meeting. We don't know if Marci is coming. Hans & Mike A. went over to Mike's for Hans to show Mike how to log into QuickBooks.
Marla Dee & Marci 8:15 (and Tiella, 11-mo-old)
One crown rent paid up, one short a small amount. Three of the crown rents are late, two of them over a month. Marla Dee will give three-day notices.
Marci has deposits to Chase for crown & commons. Mike A will take them over. Put the deposit receipt in the Mgt folder.
Check for reserve for November for Hans to deposit.
Crown went negative $6 Tuesday. Rents aren't (over)due until the 10th; mortgage payments come out automatically on the 15th. If the bookkeeper holds the checks to give them to a member of management for deposit, instead of depositing them herself immediately, they don't get deposited until the second mgt meeting after the mortgages come out. The buffer has been being spent on major repairs, $8K in the past two years.
Check Depositing. Until we get the buffer built back up, should Marci deposit the Crown rent checks? Decided that Mike will scan/copy the checks, give/email the copy/scan to Marci, and deposit the checks. Copier in office works. Marla Dee will get him deposit slips for the crown checking and the endorsement stamp (stamp gives acct #).
Crown Reserve. Marla Dee has talked to four people (Susan Schow, Larry at UHC, others) now who don't know what needs to be done to access the reserve that UHC holds. Everyone refers her to someone else. The amount in QuickBooks is based on how much we have deposited with UHC, but we don't receive a statement to compare. The statements show the principal and escrow but not the reserve.
We are supposed to apply to UHC before doing work, which would then be paid out of the reserve. We haven't been able to get the form from them. Larry knows about swamp cooler, so hopefully won't be a problem getting reimbursed instead. Maybe Mike & Hans need to go to their office, since they were successful in getting copies of the taxes finally.
Scanning/emailing invoices to Marci would save her two trips here a month (usually the Friday before the Management meeting). Something to think about.
Online Record-Keeping. Hans's sign-in to QuickBooks doesn't appear to be read-only. It allows him to make a check. Currently Marla Dee is the administrator for QuickBooks. In future, have the management treasurer be the administrator currently Mike. Marla Dee & Mike will get the administrator changed.
There aren't any unaccounted-for deposits. Natalia asked Marla Dee last week how much is owed. Marla Dee will get together with Natalia.
Marla Dee & Marci don't have computer access for WCCA's chase account. Mike has access to it; only one allowed? If yes, take Mike off. If more okay, get them added.
Marci will do a printout of HOA fees for posting.
Marla Dee brought two pages of the bookkeeper's duties and the office manager's duties (an outline, not detailed instructions). She has been using her own internet, scanner, and fax machine; whoever takes over either needs to have their own or have them in the c.h. office. She estimates she sends or receives a fax on community business once a week. She would like to spend time with whoever takes over to show them how things are set up.
Since March, Marla Dee has not been contacting the people who are behind on rent and fees. She doesn't have any contact information for Rebecca Fattah, who is behind. The others who were behind have either paid or made arrangements to pay.
Need someone to do the physical side of Crown management arranging repairs, shutdown of swamp coolers, etc.
Marla Dee has repeatedly contacted the accountant to get digital copies of tax returns for all years. Utah Housing has asked for them repeatedly. We are missing even paper copies of many years. Mike A will call the accountant.
Currently Marci does the journal entry entering the deposits in QuickBooks and QuickBooks prints deposit slips. If someone else is depositing checks, this procedure will need to be worked out. ("Internal controls" in Marci's phrasing.)
The bookkeeper needs a deposit record of checks/cash deposited to compare to the bank statement, not just the notation on the bank statement of where the money came from.
Lydia would like Management to take the lead on reducing clutter around the community. Susan has drafted a letter she wants given to people who are "out of compliance", attaching an excerpt from the CC&R. Only operable vehicles in carports. CC&R says patios, balconies, and porches shall be kept clean. Tank outside sitting room. Motorcycles stored on porches or patios. Shopping cart in front of Mary's storage unit, furniture in front of Hob & Sandra's, items in Vivian's, Kevin's.
Mary is withdrawing from community work. Put in twenty hours last month, already five hours this month. No more. Electrician will be here 1:00 tomorrow, working on timer in c.h. and light in east parking lot, someone will need to work with him. Dishwasher is out of soap. Washer needs repair. Crown repairs needed. She'll put community stuff she's been storing it in the garage. She's tired of being bitched at because her areas don't look good, which people can see only because she got the community's lamp repaired.
People need to understand this place is self-managed. There's a dynamic effort of things being in process, like things being torn up while the decks are being repaired. We have wonderful people in the community; they come as a package, good parts and bad parts. We aren't a standard condo where you can't hang laundry or keep chickens; value that.
Instead of a letter ordering people to clean up their carports, ask them to discuss options with management. Maxine will redraft. Doesn't need to be management who focuses on cleaning up, could be an ad hoc.
Dead trees on north end and on west berm. Need to find out when tree companies will charge winter rates and get removal scheduled.
Dad's Tree Service is good enough for removing dead trees, but they are the ones who dumped the piles in the north field without okaying it first.
Mike has met with Ben Campbell, well recommended but more expensive. Could hire him or someone to evaluate trees for hazards. Send Hans his contacts. Need contacts for other companies we've worked with.
Richard will meet with electrician re lamp & c.h.
Repairperson quoted $700 for washer repair. Hans will call for repair.
[Find agreement from when quit charging for washers.]
Figure out how much old Trex there is before we try to decide if we can repurpose it. Where can we gather it together and store it until a decision about repurposing? West side of garden? Maxine will email listserv asking if there are objections and if it needs to be discussed at ACM or if she can move her Trex off her porch.
Renew corporation
Vial Fortheringham, August
Marla Dee for Crown, October
Marci wasn't sure which level of membership for Fellowship for Intentional Communities. Was $75 last year. Do $75 again.
Deposits to reserve account of assessment prepayments
Notice of insurance coverage change regarding earthquake coverage, adding aggregate limit.
Crown bank account doesn't have money to cover condo fees because of repairs past several months. Marci prepared checks but will hold off on depositing checks.
Marci can prepare deposit slips and give them and checks to Management to deposit.
Mgt will be proposing to add the square footage of the decks to the formula for monthly assessments. It had been suggested that it should be double the square footage, since the roofing is about twice as expensive
Two of the three decks with reusable Trex have already been redone with new Trex. Could only change to old Trex for one unit. Not fair to those two units if they have to pay for new Trex and one unit doesn't. Suggestion that the deck owners pay for the cost of installation and the community pays for the Trex for all seven decks. Mgt could recommend to community; would need to be approved by community as part of special assessment.
Penalty for early withdrawal at Credit Union was small, so Hans went ahead and moved the money into the usable account. We should have enough to make the last payments to Case without additional early assessment payments.
For security, the person making deposits should be different than the person making entries. Going forward, it might make sense to have a member of Mgt do the assessment deposits, rather than the bookkeeper. Not too onerous to do once a week.
Hans will ask Joe Numbers what the Trex costs and email Kay with the info to add to the minutes.
Myste would like an exclusion to the operating vehicle requirement. She quit driving last summer when she started having trouble with her vision; she is legally blind and doesn't have a driver's license now. She is waiting for pre-approval for surgery, which she is hoping for within the next couple of months.
The car will start but not stay running, possibly a carburetor problem. The DMV told her that a car being stored doesn't have to be registered. (Kevin says there is a city ordinance against inoperable vehicles.) One concern residents have expressed is that it looks bad when it has spider webs and leaves on it, would like it kept clean. CC&R currently requires only that cars be operable, not that they be registered.
If management requires the car to be gone, Mary will get the car hauled to her field (where it will be more unsightly than in the parking space.)
Get confirmation about DMV/city rules regarding registration of stored vehicles.
Suggestion that Myste might consider selling the car at this point, rent the parking space to someone in the community, and put the sales and rental funds towards a replacement vehicle following her surgery.
Decision: Give a variance for two months (until Nov. 20th), at which time the car needs to be either operable or gone. Consensed.
Marci has checks for August/Sept reserve and Oct reserve.
Hans has been paying Case's bills directly from the credit union reserve. He guesses maybe $60 thousand in bills already paid, and about $40 thousand left in reserve. $10K in credit union is unavailable until December. Some money in Oppenheimer can be withdrawn without sales fees. Will be out of available money after payment this Monday.
Anyone who has a credit on their HOA fees and would like that to be applied toward their special assessment should send an email to Marci requesting that.
Marci at basicsofbookkeeping.com
Anyone wanting to make a prepayment on their special assessment should give the check directly to Hans. This gets it into the credit union faster than routing it through Marci. Hans will make a photo copy of the check and give the photocopy to Marci to enter it into the books.
Is it possible to deposit reserve payments in advance, or no-interest loans? Marci says you shouldn't spend advance money until it has been earned; however, can be done.
Marla Dee wants to step down by the end of the year from all of the bookwork, both Crown and community. Because of time constraints, she needs someone else to take over the physical side of Crown management now. She can still do that paperwork until December. Only one year left of Crown program.
Mary will take on doing/supervising repairs. (She has already been doing a lot of that.) Kay will do documentation on repairs.
When repairperson comes for Vivian's stove, Mary will have them also look at c.h. washer on left. Needs doorlock and bearings fixed.
Kevin will replace panel behind knobs on dryer.
Kevin is requesting that payment for his work on decks be credited (retroactively) to his late monthly assessments, and be charged no late fees until June. They will pay $100 extra per month towards the balance. Find out total owed and discuss plan at next mgt meeting.
Hans asked if community would pay for internet in the common house. Decided issue should go to the ACM rather than being mgt's purview.
Had Olene Walker Fund inspection on Monday, Linda R's unit, one year of files. Went well.
Marla Dee met last week with Susan from Western Compliance. Organized certifications in binder by year. Some issues in binders. Forms completed more than 120 days apart. Initial move-in files are most important yet are incomplete, early ones done incorrectly. Susan will make suggestions to Mgt about what can be done about that.
Didn't have money in Crown checking to pay Swamp Tech for Linda P's swamp cooler ($2700). Late paying; large late fee.
Work on Vivian's unit has been approved. Need to set up an account with any company doing work. Mary will arrange for repair of Vivian's stove and have electrician work on upstairs unit.
Currently paying $26/month for QuickBooks online. Upgrade to next level to be able to do budget online, about another $10/month.
Hans has the user name and password. Do a training during a meeting for the rest of the committee (and anyone else who wants to show up). He will post an FAQ on accessing QuickBooks with a link in the email calendar.
Expenses for deck are in the books as a fixed asset.
Autopay for Rocky Mtn Power, Questar, SLC Corp. Checks for Lake Hill & Meyer, Tax Commission.
Issue will go to ACM.
Dear all,
Due to a number of requests, and in particular for any of you interested in attending and participating in the Wasatch Commons CCR review meeting on this coming Monday night, September 17th, at 7 pm in the Common House, I am forwarding copies, in Word format, of the various CCR documentation that, to the best of my recollection and belief, was originally filed and recorded for the Wasatch Cohousing project back in 1998.
The formatting may be a bit different from the original documents as recorded due to the updating of the Word format over the years, but I believe that the content should be the same, although you should double check with the pdf/hard copy versions of these documents which you should all have in your possession already. I also believe that there was one recorded amendment to these documents that amended the Right of First Refusal section (see Article XIII) and Hob and/or Hans should have the exact language of that amendment since they were the ones who had the amendment document recorded with the SL County Recorder's Office and it would be helpful if they could likewise forward a copy of the same out to all of us.
As mentioned before, if you are planning on attending and participating in the CCR review and amendment process starting this coming Monday and continuing on through the fall, please be sure to review the attached documents in detail and note your suggested changes/amendments so that we can have a substantive and timely discussion since there is a lot of material which we have to cover and there is some time pressure involved.
Best regards,
Michael Polacek
Mike and Hans added the striping to the contract.
Declaration article VI.b.6 says only operable vehicles may be stored in the assigned parking spaces, or what management gives permission for. Carol's van started after charging the battery. Myste's car won't start and had to be pushed out of the way for the asphalt sealing. Mgt could give permission for it to be stored there, but would like at least some justification before doing so.
This article also applies to other items besides cars stored in parking spots. Some are untidy.
Vehicles leaking oil also a problem.
Should Mgt enforce this? Consensus. Kay stands aside.
Lettering WASATCH COMMONS on driveways, cost would be $300. Discussed possibility of street-corner type WASATCH COMMONS signs on each side plus 1411 S Utah St and 1408 S Cheyenne St. Signs would be permanent, whereas painting on driveway needs to be redone every few years. Decided not to do driveway painting now.
Went over checks.
Hans is calculating tiered electricity rate for meter that Kathy's car is on, so she will know how much to reimburse.
Amount that can be withdrawn without penalty from Oppenheimer money market will be transferred to U Credit Union. Will be ~2014 before can close account without fees.
Email from Lake Hill and Meyer that we haven't signed and returned tax returns for Wasatch Commons HOA and for Crown. We haven't received copies. Mike will contact them to get copies, and also user name and password.
Donation request for $250 from Cohousing Association. Will ask for consensus at next ACM.
Have all recertification for Vivian and Linda P, will sign Sep 14, due Oct 1. Susan fr Western Compliance inspecting files Sep 14. Inspection Sep 17. Olene Walker Loan.
One rent check bounced. Lease requires fee and payment by m.o. or certified check after bounce. Marla Dee will send letter to this effect.
Crown gave written request for repairs.
#8? Vivian. Items from inspection list, closet doors need new tracks, oven doesn't light, water pipes make noise (maybe new pressure regulator valve), carpeting is worn.
#10 Myste. Loud plumbing noises, roof leaks, other items from inspection list not completed.
Mike A has cured similar noises. Turn off water valve, open all faucets, wait half house, turn on water, close faucets.
Hans will talk to Joe Numbers about fixing roof leak.
#22, first unit to be worked on, Ron Case did decking sloped and in nine sections. Unstable. For others, last two boards by door will be screwed (bolted?) into metal fittings so they can be unfastened repeatedly. Need something at foot of deck, easily taken off to wash out debris, easily put back to keep out nesting starlings.
#1 Isabella's (Rachel's) and #5 Steve S's (Dusty's) decks leak at the threshold. Water damage to carpet in Isabella's; roofer thinks water came through gap between French doors. #15 also has French doors no problem there?
Declaration ad hoc committee Hans, Mike A, Mike P, Hob; Richard also interested.
Article VII.b. Each unit has undivided ownership interest. Voting and assessments based on ownership.
Contradiction? Article V.c.3. " deemed part of unit: door, deck " V.e. "limited common areas: assigned parking. balconies appertinent to units."
Hans will put password on wifi Carol'.
Utah Housing did its last physical inspection, of Linda Reed's unit today. Need to get Vivian's recertification done. Another inspection Sept 17 by the State of Utah for the Olene Walker Housing Fund; they only require inspection of one unit, our pick (Linda R's). They will look at the files. May get Susan Schow to look at them first, make sure they are complete. Next year we would be able to just update
Crown will get a $700 rebate from Rocky Mountain for Linda P's swamp cooler.
Received a notice of coverage change from Travellers Insurance. Mike will read.
The workers are taking pictures of each step. If south-facing decks require work in a few years, we would be able to show whoever is hired what is underneath.
* Mary will talk to Mr. Numbers about us getting copies.
All Crown rents were paid. Kevin & Amy will have a plan before the next Mgt meeting for paying off what they owe.
Need to look into who will need to pay the special assessment for the Crown units. The Crown reserve? Maybe the Crown would be assessed simply for the cost of the repair on the Crown unit being repaired?
Ron Case is billing us weekly. Hans has been getting cashier's checks from the credit union to pay them.
Patti is asking $800 for the stand-on mower. It's easy to use. Mary would be willing to mow with it. Dusty might also.
* Mary will drive over to Patti's to look at it, get brand and model.
Angel owns two snow-plowing blades that can be put on the front of a truck. Don't know how much Patti will ask for one. Kay's Chevy would be big enough for it. Matt is too busy with farmwork during the summer to do community work; he might be willing to take on snowplowing in the winter. Landscape budget is used up. Could get donations to buy mower & blade.
The Nielsen's boy, Jacob, is interested in motors and might be recruited for maintaining some of the community equipment.
Patti won't be sending Angel's workers out any more.
* Mary will call at least three professional companies to get bids on doing landscape maintenance.
Water is somehow getting in at the foundation in Mary & Kay's downstairs bathroom. Mgt agreed that workers should look at it when they get to #11, to figure out how to keep water out.
Hans has offered to pay for bobcat rental to continue work lowering soil level behind his rental & residential units and Carol's. Lydia was concerned about the pavers in her yard; Mary can lift those and reset them. She cut through the walls of the dry irrigation ditch between the yards and wild area so yards will drain into the wild area. [Took field trip to look at the yards.] Case will let Mary rent one of theirs.
* Get bids to get door fixed on washer so it doesn't pop unlocked and shut off washer midcycle.
Can pay-or-play reporting system be ready to prepare invoices as of January 1? Hans had trouble finding time to do it during the last school year. Now school is starting again. Pay-or-play has been in place for a year and we still can't bill them.
From: WaCoHo on behalf of Laraine Miner, Sent: Wednesday, September 12, 2012 7:42 PM
When Is and Richard pulled up the carpet in her unit, in order to install the flooring, they found black mould next to the threshold going out to the deck. They put tile in that area, since they thought the rain would seep in under the threshold in that area and ruin the bamboo flooring, right, Rachel?
On Wed, Sep 12, 2012 at 6:11 PM,
Thanks for the minutes Kay. It is a great way to know what is going on!
This is a very small item, but I was curious about the "rug" damage to Isabella's unit, as to my knowledge she has flooring, and not rugs in her place.......
Michelle
Evaluate bids from
Ron Case gave us a more detailed bid. Ron Case will give us a discount on the roofs if we hire them for resurfacing the parking lots also. Ron Case says he can have someone starting in about a week.
Wilson's bid is considerably higher than the other two.
If membrane fails it is at seams. 80-mil membrane doesn't come in as wide of rolls as 45-mil, would require a seam.
Ron Case's bid includes extending gutters. Worker who originally installed gutters said the gutters should have gone all the way around the edge instead of just at the end.
Home inspection companies have scanners that can look at integrity of a wall without opening it up. Provide a cross-check with the physical symptoms of crumbs at the base of the wall, etc.
Previous repair to walls cut out damaged R-control and put in studs in those spots.
Decision: Use Ron Case.
CC&R needs to be amended. It says assessments are based on undifferentiated ownership of commons, 1/26th, independent of size of unit. Requires a three-quarter majority to change. Special membership meeting will require a thirty-day notice by mail. Pay Vial Fotheringham to write the language amending the CC&R.
Hans got the change removing right-of-first-refusal recorded.
From: WaCoHo on behalf of Michelle Frandsen
Sent: Saturday, July 21, 2012 10:39 PM
To: Kay Argyle
Subject: [WaCoHo] ACM Agenda Tomorrow!
Hi All, I sat with Hans, Sharon, Kathy, Susan and our soon to be new neighbor Kate, discussing tomorrow's ACM. To my knowledge, no one has yet stepped up to facilitate, so the group of us propose the following agenda. Sharon will facilitate with help and support from Kathy and others.
With all that is going on, we thought it would be good to come together and share our feelings and spend time getting to know one another better.
Facilitator: Sharon Time keeper: We need volunteer
Focused extended check in: 45 Minutes
Please answer the two questions:
1) How are all the changes happening here at Wasatch Commons landing on you?
(The loss of Joanne, and Nancy, and others who have/are moving out and those moving in etc.)
2) What hopes and dreams do you have for the future here?
Committee Reports: 10-15 Minutes
Management update on their decision/current process regarding the decks. 10-15 minutes
This will be a report out, and opportunity for questions for clarity.
Other committees?
Getting to know you Exercise: 1 Hour
Since we have so many new people in the community we thought we would do a fun exercise to get to know folks.
We have used this process in the past.
Four Facts:
1)Come up with four facts about yourself. 5 Mins
Three of the facts are true, one is false.
2) Share your four facts with the person next to you, and they try to guess which one is false 10 minutes (5min each)
3) You introduce your partner in the exercise, and tell their four facts and ask the group to guess which is the false one.
4) Your partner does the same for you, until everyone has gone.S
Step 3 & 4 will take about 45 minutes for everyone to hear and learn about one another.
One word Check out: 5 Min
Choose one word that expresses how you feel- go around the room, or do popcorn.
Hi All,
I sat with Hans, Sharon, Kathy, Susan and our soon to be new neighbor Kate, discussing tomorrow's ACM. To my knowledge, no one has yet stepped up to facilitate, so the group of us propose the following agenda. Sharon will facilitate with help and support from Kathy and others.
With all that is going on, we thought it would be good to come together and share our feelings and spend time getting to know one another better.
Focused extended check in: 45 Minutes
Please answer the two questions:
Committee Reports: 10-15 Minutes
Management update on their decision/current process regarding the decks. 10-15 minutes
This will be a report out, and opportunity for questions for clarity.
Other committees?
Since we have so many new people in the community we thought we would do a fun exercise to get to know folks. We have used this process in the past.
Four Facts:
Step 3 & 4 will take about 45 minutes for everyone to hear and learn about one another.
One word Check out: 5 Min. Choose one word that expresses how you feel- go around the room, or do popcorn.
Dad's Tree Service has been dumping wood "chip" piles. They say "the skinny guy" told them to. Kevin says he hasn't talked to them since spring. Kay will write a letter asking them to desist.
Draft of agreement with Kier. Approved.
We now have three bids for the EMPD (nonwalkable) membrane, as of day-before-yesterday.
Need to give thirty days notice for meeting on special assessment. Won't know amount needed until work is done because won't know extent of damage inside walls.
Hans has uploaded the bids and sent links to the mgt committee. Committee members need to read the bids and have a special meeting, soon. Mike is unavailable Saturday; remote possibility unavailable Sunday.
Special Management meeting 1:00 p.m. Sunday to discuss bids. Look over bids tonight if at all possible, give questions to Hans, so he can contact contractor Friday. Still no detail in Ron Case bid. Point out to them other bids are very detailed, which puts theirs at a disadvantage. Definitely need price for decking installation broken out, since will be charged to home owner.
Might allow option of home owner hiring their own contractor' (handyman) if they sign a waiver accepting full responsibility for any damage to the membrane done by their contractor, and notify any new owner of this liability.
Trex is about $40/board currently. Trex from #11 and #15 should be able to be put back on. Thus we will be asking the contractor to work with materials we supply. Perhaps allow option of other home owners providing their own materials.
Crown new swamp cooler #14 $2,744 (!!!). Rocky Mtn needs a W-9 for Crown, to process the rebate(?), about $700.
Insurance appears not to be on autopay yet.
Marcy will email report to Marla Dee on status of monthly assessments and rents.
Marcy explained to Mike A how invoices and payments for pay-or-work are booked, zeroing-out invoices if people have worked.
Hans wants a report showing who has paid how much to verify entries in his system.
Mike disassembled his hose bib because it was leaking through the stem. It was missing a part. All four faucets on his duplex leak. Some faucets nonetheless don't leak. Item has to be special ordered ($1.95). Putting a cap on the faucet and turning it on will show whether that faucet has the issue. Test faucets to find out how many need fixing. Kay can supply a cap. Maybe write to manufacturer, say faucets have defect, and ask if they will supply part free. Mike will ask.
Some residents have drip systems on their outside faucet without a backflow preventer.
Large tree at northwest corner on Utah St is dead. Mary estimates $600-800 to remove. Hans suggests waiting for winter to get a better rate on the work.
Mary will call Mendenhall to deal with lefthand washer door that won't stay locked.
The c.h. dishwasher needs more detergent.
It's been a year since the city notified us we need to plant the Cheyenne St parking strip. Mary will call B&L Waterworks to get a price for a water line installed under the sidewalk, probably several hundred. The community will need to discuss what to plant xeriscaping which will require more care, or grass that will require more water. Maybe get B&L to fix the system on the north side of the driveway.
(Who has the letter from the city? Official correspondence should be kept in the office.)
Sprinklers on east berm needs to be re-aimed so they aren't watering the asphalt.
Finally getting Hobart paid for work they did in January. When someone does work, see if can get an invoice immediately and put it in the Management folder.
Myste has until midnight tonight to pay. Hans will be available to take check to the attorney if necessary. Once the attorney is involved, management must not take money from Myste.
Will finally get reports out for HOA fees and committee budgets.
Check for reserves wasn't done last month. Memorized transactions were wiped out when QuickBooks went to the cloud. Will do two checks.
Hans is set up to access QuickBooks. Everything is grayed-out. Marla Dee will work with him to get it functional before she gives everyone else access.
Check the current bill for the amount per kWh for the meter that Kathy's car pulls from so she can times that by her meter to repay for her car's power.
Hans has two bids for the membrane and will get a third one Tuesday. Ron Case's bid doesn't have any details, so Hans will get more information.
Hopefully we can call a meeting of all deck owners next weekend to discuss (some still don't seem to grasp that the decking itself is the owner's responsibility, not the community's). Get an RSVP to get as many as possible to attend.
Hopefully have work done in August.
Repairs will need to be paid from reserve initially. We don't have the check from Kier yet; Kevin is still talking to Utah Housing about something in the release letter draft. Once we know the final total, then we can calculate the assessment. Need to call an "extraordinary meeting" to okay (vote) the assessment.
Hans will be adding a report function to the pop website so people can see easily if they owe money.
In order to correct anything currently, people need to see Hans. Hans will bring a printout of the entire report to the next ACM; people can mark corrections.
Have incident reports of break-ins etc. piggyback on this system?
Richard and Susan say that since a majority of the community wasn't present when pop was approved, it doesn't count. (Take care of this during special meeting for assessment.)
Some people have been keeping track of their hours but not reporting them. Currently it is possible to enter hours from months ago. Impossible to verify, however. Will need a limit on how long can wait before entering work and get credit.
Plenty of people need more coaching on what needs to be done. There are plenty of jobs that only a few people are aware of. Hans's website is a start. Report isn't clear what entries are DONE and what are TO DO. Will need a way for people to tag a job that they will take on.
Federal government puts out a list of life expectancy for durable goods. Find for Mike A.
$44K to reasphalt drives and lots.
$4800 to relay bricks.
Sidewalks, curbs, and gutters. Holding up well, but needs concrete sawing where individual slabs have shifted and become uneven.
Roofing $3/sq ft., good for 20 years.
$5K/deck roof.
Use cost of Linda P's new swamp cooler for the c.h. swamp cooler.
Total is about $300K. Not broken down yet with timing of when things need to be done.
From: WaCoHo on behalf of Michelle Frandsen, Sent: Friday, July 06, 2012 6:01 PM
Kay, thank you so much for taking and providing minutes.
I have a question and some comments on the content of the discussion as recorded in the minutes.
My question, is the meeting of the deck owners for all deck owners or just those whose decks need repair?
My comment is also, since the deck owners will need to pay to have the "decking" replaced, and the community at large pay for the repair work under the decking fixed, then I believe they should be able to decided on their own how to replace the decking. The decking material currently on our decks is not the same on all the units, so I don't see a need for it to be consistent on any future replacements. I realize that having one contractor replace the decks in need might result in a cheaper bid than having each unit owner get bids individually, but if a unit owner wants to replace the decking themselves, then that would be even cheaper still. My two cents.
My comment about the pay or play proposal. Process was very careful to follow all of our guidelines when discussing and then voting on that proposal. Adequate and repeated notice was given to all community members of what was being discussed and decided upon and when and where the ACM's would be held to vote. Susan and Richards assertion that since a majority was at the meeting is not valid. The pay or play was discussed and voted on piece by piece over the course of 4 or 5 ACM's. Often times we had very good attendance with more than a majority. The required 7 day notice was always given to every household. In most instances, the entire contents of the proposal was taped on people's doors, emailed and posted in the common house. The decisions that were made stand as valid since all of our procedures were followed explicitly. The pay or play proposal as decided upon in multiple ACM's is valid and stands as approved until such time as anyone presents a new proposal to modify or adjust it.
If anyone has any other understanding, please feel free to contact me and discuss further. I hope I don't come across as defensive because I don't feel that way, I just think that it is very important to clarify the actual events surrounding the deciding of the pay or play proposal from the perspective of a member of the process committee that oversaw that entire process.
That proposal was approved with the understanding that the kinks and pitfalls would be reviewed and tweaked after we had time to implement it. I know that Linda R. has put that on the agenda on several occasions and that discussions have occurred. If folks have difficulties with certain aspects of the proposal, then they should put together a proposal to modify or change the particular aspect(s) they they don't like. If the concerns they raise are recognized by others, and the proposal developed and presented according to our procedures I am confident that changes can be made that will benefit the entire community.
Michelle
Authorized purchase of two signs, "Emergency and Authorized Vehicles Only" to be put in planters at each end of the central path.
The equipment that Dad's Tree Service was using leaked hydraulic fluid in the garden. The wood chip piles are full of debris that needs to be sorted out and dumpstered. Mary strongly recommends we not use Dad's again, not for work and not for free wood chips.
Hans tipped the two workers $50 each. Mgt will reimburse half. Hans will submit a written request.
Online QuickBooks is different than the regular, and Marla Dee and Marci are still figuring it out.
Hobart faxed a new invoice to replace the lost one. We are trying to set up accounts with companies we do business with regularly, like the fire extinguisher store, so they can be paid directly from the WCCA rather than paid by an individual who is then reimbursed.
There were a lot of checks in the folder, none in the fee box. It was open and empty on desk in office.
Myste hasn't paid this month. What day do we post a notice?
Marcy will charge her hourly rate $32/hr for the catch-up work. Once things are up to date we need to determine a monthly amount to pay her, probably $225 which we were paying Marla Dee.
Marla Dee has gotten the accountant set up to be able to access our QuickBooks online. Next she will work on getting Mgt access. Once that is successful she will get the rest of the community set up. Mike A and Marla Dee will work together on this.
Hans revamped the website for pay or play. Options for pop credit, informational only, roll forward. Dollar field for payments or for parts purchased (donated) for work. If we gave pop credit for these purchases we would need to be collecting receipts. He hasn't made fields validate yet.
Would be nice to have a single link that then gave choices to (1) enter work, (2) view work done, (3) enter work needing doing, and (4) view work needing doing.
Mike is putting together a draft of what numbers he has so far on the reserve. He passed out a rough list. Send him suggestions for items or costs.
Currently community documents are scattered over many people's computers and tend to disappear as computers die or people move. Hans is collecting them. Everyone who has any community documents (proposals, welcoming, how tos), please send them to Hans.
From: WaCoHo on behalf of Richard Keene, Sent: Thursday, June 28, 2012 9:02 PM
"Private property" signs. I and others agree that PP signs are a good idea. I would like this brought to a vote in the next ACM meeting. Just because some don't like the idea and think it implies a gated community (horrors) I look at the potential law suits if someone is hurt here and several bicycle riders (adults) have been seen smoking and riding through here. We are also in a high FIRE DANGER here and state wide. There is the possiblity that one of the kids ridding through on the sidewalk could hit Carol's Mom or Kathy's grandchildren. It's not likely but it seems that we should reduce the flow of non-members using our sidewalk as a thorough fair. Also I hear from Mary that she is getting the flower garden that was really quite pretty this year so far sprayed tomorrow. I thought there was a 24 hour notice required before herbisides were applied. Susan
The piles of branches in the garden have gotten bigger since Dad's Tree Service gave their bid. Management okayed to pay higher than the bid if they want it; Mary will bargain with them.
The bid showed roofing for $2,100 and $3,000 for the deck. Hans checked with the contractor to clarify; each deck would be more than $5K. The contractor would be willing to hinge a board for cleaning. Hans and Kevin are looking for additional bids.
Mary priced Trex recently. It has gotten considerably more expensive than when we redid the decks before.
Kevin still feels the walkable membrane is preferable. Hans is concerned about its durability, with tree branches dropping, etc.
The first contractor had no detail in his bid. Ask him to reissue the bid with more detail.
Marla Dee 7:30. QuickBooks online is working. Marla Dee can set up management members with access (possibly all residents, view-only?). $21.56 per business account, one for WCCA and one for Crown. QuickBooks requires payment by debit card (there is no charge to have a debit card).
The utilities are set for auto-payments from checking, once Mgt signs the forms. There will be one more round of checks before the autopay is effective. Marla Dee will also get viewing access for Mgt of bank accounts at Chase.
Mgt okayed Marla Dee to hire a helper at $10/hr to do scanning, research separating out Crown payments etc.
Nancy had paid her condo fee and pay-or-play a year ahead. Will need to be refunded when the unit is sold.
Per current pay-or-play agreement is per adult. Thus empty units have no charge. May wish to amend.
When providing an email for business purposes for the community, use
wasatchcommons at gmail.com . That way when someone moves, the community's messages don't leave with them.
Hans requested Kier to add to agreement that Kier releases us, in addition to us releasing Kier.
Nancy's family will bring her books to the common house. Residents may take what they want, then the remainder will be donated to the prison.
Larry from UTH [UHC?] did inspections for 8, 10, 14, & 15. He will work with Marla Dee to get access to the reserve. UTH wants a clearer idea of what work will be done before the units are sold. Get all work done that the reserve will pay for? Yes.
Mike P. wants to meet with Steve Graham, with Hans and anyone who wants from Crown, to discuss getting extension on loans coming due this year. Mike probably can't meet until August, because Lynne's father is ill. Hans is talking to UTH about loans.
Shouldn't single out one yard when others are also a mess. Kathy is working on Hans's yard. Mike isn't willing to mow the weeds in front of Myste's unless someone pulls the big ones. Angel's crew can mow (without Angel).
Angel will probably be deported as soon as his hearing is done.
Kathy wants to install a charger in her carport space (#22, east carport) for the electric car she is purchasing. It would be a 240-V 20-amp circuit. She would prefer to pay an estimated amount and donate the cost of a usage meter towards eventual solar panels rather than purchasing a meter.
Is power charge tiered, with a higher rate for higher usage? Does the power company charge extra just for the presence of a 240-V line? Kathy will check. If Kathy moves, the charger is hers but she will leave the wiring. Proposal approved.
New bid for deck roofing. Check with contractor: Does the higher number given for reinstalling the deck include doing the roofing, or is it extra? Investigate having board closest to door hinged so it can be lifted for maintenance.
Ask contractor who gave us bid for walkable membrane if he wants to submit a bid for nonwalkable membrane and decking.
Have meeting with all deck owners before final decision.
Kier's lawyer still hasn't written release.
In 2007 an entry appears "Refund expected from UHC." What for? Ever paid? Marcy will do some research; if she doesn't turn up an answer, check with Linda R.
UHC sent Hans an email regarding the balance of the capital reserve. He will forward it to Marla Dee to compare to the amount QuickBooks shows should be there.
Subaccounts for crown units don't match parent account. Will need to do research and correct entries, allocating expenses to particular units.
QuickBooks doesn't show interest accruing on mortgage loan that doesn't have payments made on it. We don't get statements. Mike P and Hans will look into getting a history of account.
UHC sent checks for overage on escrow payable to Wasatch Cohousing.
Need to update officers for Wasatch Cohousing Scott Cowley is still listed as president.
All rents for May are paid.
Marla Dee will ask UHC how urgently they want the tax return, since if we do it before researching certain issues we will need to do a revised return later.
If an error is made in a pay-or-play submission, email Hans to fix it manually. Report any anomalies or bugs to Hans. The semester has ended, so he will have time to work on improving reporting form.
Angel & Jose did the east berm, behind the carports, part of the east field, west berm, weed-eated around #1. North field, alley access, and south field are not done.
Four Crown residents have signed new leases, the standard one provided by Utah Housing which does not contain any provision for pay-or-play. Apparently someone indicated to Mary they don't intend to observe the p-o-p since they aren't legally obliged to. Marla Dee says Linda Reed has been paying. Can raise rent mid-lease; we would need to give 30 days notice; issue of how to handle refunding for work.
Marcy (hired bookkeeper) is getting the Crown books accurate. For instance, Crown mortgage payment has always(?) been entered as an estimate, not an actual payment. Last year's Crown records were sent to the accountant during April. All Crown reports must be done online now; needs to be done by an accountant. Getting repairs done that have been outstanding since August.
Marla Dee will talk to UHA about how to submit a request to UHA for payments from the Crown reserve (which they hold) for repairs on Myste's sink, Linda P's swamp cooler, etc. We have always paid for Crown repairs from the Crown checking account, which is currently too low to cover needs, never out of the reserve. Need to go back through the records and separate the repair and upgrade expenses for each unit. We don't receive any account statement from UHA about the reserve they hold, or accruals of interest on mortgage, etc.
QuickBooks is currently backed up on a couple of memory sticks.
Mike A wants a letter written to Myste about her front yard, giving her a deadline to make it look better or it will be replaced with sod. If there isn't money in the Crown accounts to pay for the sod, he said he might pay for sod himself. He feels the appearance impacts property values. Marla Dee urges that we should focus on repairs at this time.
When the monthly fees were changed to reflect square footage, the amount was based on a formula of a flat base amount plus an amount per square foot. Fee increases the last several years have been a simple percentage, rather than an adjustment of the formula. To derive a new formula, graph the square footage vs. the current monthly assessment for each unit; the y intercept gives the flat portion that is the same per unit.
Going forward, as of January 1, monthly assessment will include either square footage of decks or a deck surcharge, still to be determined.
If we have a deck surcharge rather than square footage, then when we increase monthly assessments there are three elements that need to be recalculated: flat fee, square footage amount, deck surcharge. Simpler to just recalculate flat fee plus square footage amount.
Legally, at the end of each year the reserve needs to be adequate. Mike's work on reserve study indicates reserve isn't currently adequate for what it is responsible for. This will be made worse if we use the reserve for the deck repairs (possible if community votes to). Thus Mike feels we will need a special assessment, to pay for the repairs. Depending on results of reserve study, a special assessment might also be needed to top off the reserve.
Does the reserve study amount for roofs currently include deck roofing? Or just shingle roofs?
Should a special assessment include a differential for units with decks? It would make it more complicated. We want calculation to be equitable but simple.
Might calculate a special assessment as a multiple of the HOA fee (possibly a multiplier of ten, depending on the actual cost of repairs):
(Am / Tm) x (Tr K)
where Am = Monthly assessment Tm = monthly total of monthly assessments Tr = total of repairs K = payment from Kier
Add a $20 deck surcharge to the monthly assessment before multiplying? That would effectively be a 10% increase. Is the difference in cost due to the membrane really that high?
Kay would like any differential (for either a special assessment or monthly fees) to be based on an actual calculation, such as the difference in cost between a shingle roof and a membrane roof, rather than a number pulled out of the air.
The reserve study should have the numbers for total square footage of shingling and an estimate for its replacement. That would give us a per square foot estimate. Multiply that by the square footage of a shed roof. Divide an estimate of membrane replacement, as given in the estimates Kevin got, by seven (seven decks being repaired), and subtract the estimated cost of reshingling a shed roof. That gives us the difference between the cost of a shed roof and the cost of a membrane roof. (If the warrantee's are of comparable length, we can neglect frequency of replacement.)
Crown residents are renters; crown llc would be responsible for special assessment.
Disagreement on whether Mgt has legal power to make decide on a special assessment or whether the community must make the decision. Law says special assessment requires two-thirds vote of membership.
When the decks were dismantled previously, the deck owners were responsible for the cost of replacing the decking. Thus, expecting deck owners to pay for decking overtop membrane if they want it would be no change in policy from how we have done things.
If decking is laid over membrane, the membrane should be cleaned off periodically, for instance by removing board closest to door and flushing once a year. If the community takes responsibility for this cleaning, that means one person doing it instead of fourteen(?) [edit 5/5/12 there are thirteen decks], and the community can be sure it actually happens.
Perhaps we should have a single contractor lay decking for everyone who wants it, and specify that the board closest to the door should be easily removable and replaceable for easier maintenance. Have the cost of laying the decking broken out separately from any other work that contractor does and charge it to deck owners.
From: WaCoHo on behalf of Mike Angelastro, Sent: Saturday, May 05, 2012 5:07 PM
Kevin Dwyer believes the deck are 150 square feet.
Only one reporting sheet is being kept on the clipboard. If there isn't room on the sheet to write all jobs, just supply your sheet with the same information. The input program should validate fields to make it easier to export to the accounting program. Validate = make sure dates are put in date field, numbers in number field. Currently some of the entries have incompatible data in fields. Hans is thinking of adding options (radiobuttons) regular hours / carry forward / information only.
New state law makes the resident of a condo, rather than the association, responsible to pay the deductible of the association's insurance, effective the next time the association's insurance is renewed. Therefore all owners need to get their condo insurance adjusted so it covers whatever the deductible is.
Information that everyone will need:
The name of WCCA's insurance agent is Craig Crockett.
The deductible is --?
The renewal date is --?
Regarding hazard trees, owners should be aware that they will be responsible for the deductible if a branch damages the roof. They should take this into account when deciding to ask for a branch or tree not to be removed.
Hans met with Utah Housing Agency. The resident will have sixty days to give their decision on whether they will be purchasing the unit and then one hundred eighty to buy. Somebody at UHA will work with each resident on paperwork. People who are uncertain if they will qualify should contact her a.s.a.p., so she can help them to work on things like improving their credit.
A crown resident has to be in the program for fifteen years before they can keep the entire gain when selling the unit. For instance, Vivian and Myste could sell immediately. A resident who has been in a shorter time must return a prorated amount to UHA until they have been in fifteen years.
UHA found out our CC&R used to have a right of first refusal. They use the right of first refusal themselves the resident gets first refusal. They will check to make sure our CC&R did get amended.
Our units are among the very first crown units that will be closing and will probably get in the news.
Carol will be bringing her mother to live here. She will enclose her porch and deck with temporary fencing to keep her mother and her mother's Yorkshire terrier from wandering. She has gotten insurance to cover liability for the dog's behavior.
Vial Fotheringham sent us a copy of the letter they (Peter Harrison) sent Kier Feb 15 (after Kevin had made multiple requests for it). Kevin got a copy of the letter the same day he received Kier's response, rather than being able to make the two-pronged attack planned with Kevin representing Crown.
Kier is offering $10,000 for a complete release from all parties, decision by April 27. The next ACM is the 22nd.
Would the HOA's insurance cover the balance of the repairs? Would the insurance company be interested in bringing pressure to bear on Kier?
Utah law requires that two-thirds of members approve an expenditure if using reserve funds on items that have not previously been identified as to be paid from the reserves.
Three contractors gave bids for walkable roofing. $1,500 for 10-year warrantee, $2,100 for 15-year. Got referrals for the contractors. Mary will call the state & BBB to check if there are complaints or problems with the contractors we are considering, particularly American.
All the short decks have construction flaw. Long decks don't.
Without decking, surface will slope. Will putting decking over skin void warrantee? Mike has the product sample for the surface. Mary will get the name of the company from him; she will contact the company for the warrantee so we can read it.
Architect & Kier both said walkable membrane isn't a good idea, but never said why.
Marla Dee gave a presentation about the web version of quicken. We had some questions but there seem many advantages, so we will probably switch over to it. We will also seek to incorporate the budget and the pay or play bookkeeping with it.
Management decided (or reaffirmed the decision) that Dean should do the CROWN repairs. Mike A and / or Mary will supervise the work.
Mike A and Kevin agreed to do the reserve study which the community is required by law to do by July 1st or so.
The letter to Kier has been sent and the lawyer has also sent a copy to Kevin.
Regarding the deck repairs, the details still have to be worked out what exactly to do. We hope that Kevin will be able to attend in our next management meeting. Then it is hoped that the repairs can start very soon after this.
Hans
Utah Housing Corp. has said that tenants should contact them directly with questions about future mortgage.
Myste asked about accessing reserve funds. UHC held a meeting and got back to her. Major things like plumbing or electrical can come from the reserve they hold. Lesser problems (something a handyman could be hired for) need to be paid from tenant reserve in Wasatch Crown.
They will send a construction (not compliance) inspector. He will set up appointments with tenants. They will get back to us, and will let us know what they will pay for and what on the list needs to come from the tenant reserve in Wasatch Crown.
Reserve is supposed to be tracked for individual units. Not their direct account; they can request disbursements. Repairs for each unit should be booked for its account. Need clarification on what happens to money of tenants who leave before purchase.
Myste's countertop has a similar problem to Linda P's.
10:00 a.m. Friday Mary will help Myste install new smoke detectors.
Furnaces haven't been serviced in a couple of years. Mike W duct-taped Myste's ducting in attic back together. Myste's furnace is producing burning smell -- maybe contaminant in ducting, maybe not.
Myste: UHC has said people who cannot buy their unit can continue to rent through UHC, not through Wasatch Crown. Grants and funding may be available to help purchase if needed. If someone chooses to leave, UHC will continue to work with us about tenancy, but ultimately they have control over who gets unit.
Community laptop is not working. Marla Dee will take it in for cleaning.
Marla Dee hasn't had time for several months to put in necessary twenty hours a month on bookkeeping. Accounts receivable/payable and statement reconciliations are taking all of what time she has. Time--consuming but necessary. Bulk twice a month, about two hours each time. Other things are not being taken care of. Minimum of an hour a week of other things, incoming mail and office stuff.
Most companies split up accounts receivable and accounts payable, not done by same person.
Marla Dee knows someone who could do receivable/payable, about ten hours a month; Marcy does accounting at prison. Charges $30/hour usually, but would be willing to work for set amount; $250/month?
Potentially find someone in community who could do the work. Maybe someone who isn't up to much physical labor. Would be helpful if they were familiar with QuickBooks. There are things that Marla Dee doesn't know how to do in QuickBooks.
Marla Dee has about an hour or hour and a half per week available; will do that as pay-or-play instead of being paid. Marla Dee will collect mail, attend mgt mtgs, collect in-house reimbursement requests.
If we put records online, someone could do it from home instead of having to come over to office. Could set up read-only access for members of mgt to view records.
Door frame and door on Carol's west door is rotten.
Key person didn't break down bid into different jobs. Mary will ask him for breakdown.
Diamond tree co.'s person never showed up for appointment. Mary called them; they have no info on daily rate they offered us. Now they say $1500/day for 3-man chipper crew. Mike A got Ben Campbell's number, person recommended by Chris Colvin of ArborCare.
Mary wants to be sure nobody diverts tree company. Mike could supervise if he has information on what is needed. Maybe pictures with circles indicating work.
She and Hob trimmed in orchard. Almost done on trees behind east parking.
One year since fire extinguishers have been tested. Yearly testing not required for condo association; required for Crown. Not another compliance inspection until next year. Gauges show they are okay. Could probably wait six or nine months until next recharging. Once every six years hydrostatic testing.
Nancy is having a procedure Monday. Mary has been doing checking on her, but will be gone for several weeks as of Monday. If Senior Services starts giving her transport, they will want to drive van to her door, three times a week. Otherwise someone would need to meet them with a wheel chair and transport her to/from the parking lot.
Things going forward with Vial Fotheringham. We will see the letter before it goes to Kier.
Hire Marcy until taxes are filed. Marla Dee will set up utility auto payments and look into Carbonite (cloud).
Approve Dean to do work on Carol's door.
Desirable to have someone in community check on Nancy daily.
Mike W will keep track of pay or play, will coordinate with Marla Dee. Thank you Mike!
Regarding the Kier and deck repair issue, Kevin was hired in his capacity as an attorney to meet with the Vial Fotheringham (VF) lawyer to write responses to Kier's letter. These responses will probably come from Wasatch Cohousing inc and Wasatch Commons Crown inc. They will tell Kier in friendly terms that their legal arguments are invalid, they have some obligation, and that we would like to settle on a fair basis. Then we will see what Kier says and go from there. Before any decision is made for more extensive legal procedures, the community will be consulted.
We will also ask the VF lawyer whether he is informed about condo fee and tax issues. We need to set up the pay or play issue in a legally correct way to encourage everyone in the community to participate.
Mary reported about the visit from a locksmith from Glen Keys regarding our lock issues. We will have to fix the lock at the CH entrance with the mailboxes: it has a deadbolt which, if locked, cannot be opened from the inside without a key. This is against fire code. We will also do some changes to the entrance lock at the workshop and to the door between garage and workshop. The workshop key and the office key should no longer be the same. Details after we have a bid from the locksmith.
Did I forget anything?
Hans
Mike, Mngmt.-
Below and attached are documents forwarded to VF Law for our meeting on Tues.
KD
Mr. Harrison,
In anticipation of our meeting Tues at 1pm, I am forwarding you some documents that detail the damage/defects and subsequent attempts to repair them. In addition to the documents, much of the correspondence was via email. There are dozens of these records which could be made available should you need them. I have also attached responses from MJSA (Architects) and Kier Construction legal counsel. An additional email will follow with picture attachments.
We look forward to meeting with you.
-- Kevin Dwyer
Good minutes. I think each of us should send an email when we read the minutes, whether we approve or what should be changed, and after all of has have approved the minutes they should be sent to the WaCoHo list.
Please add that on Jan 30 the homeowners association was registered at htpps://secure.utah.gov/ Our registration number with the Utah Department of Commerce is COA193843114155 This registration will have to be updated every year with new management members.
Hans
Lesson to be learned: ALL documentation to do with community business, even when conducted by an individual, must be stored in the community office, to be available later to others. Individuals should not hold onto it personally.
Kevin said last meeting two weeks ago that he'd to put together a narrative of interactions with Kier. Apparently has not yet. Mike A will contact Kevin. No point in meeting with an attorney unless we have that, because s/he would have nothing to form an opinion on.
If Kevin fails to prepare the narrative, could we pull a narrative together from the email archives from his updates?
At meeting when Kier offered $12K, they asked how much we wanted, but we had insufficient information to make a counter-offer. Ask Kier if they will still offer $12K if we sign release?
Kier didn't make the error in construction themselves, subcontractor did. Roofer didn't bill Kier for work done six years ago.
$12K might cover approximately one quarter of cost. Roof membrane had ten-year warrantee, which has expired (half of length of warrantee on other roofing). Kier spent about $38K repairing damaged walls.
Kier waited until fall to tell us they were not going to do anything, too late for us to get the repairs done by someone else.
Is deck included in square footage for condo fee? Maybe rework formula to include deck in monthly assessments.
Letter from Kier's attorneys asked who Kevin represented. Still have the out of saying his letter was sent without the board's approval.
Steps: Get review by attorney. (1) Do we have any case? (2) Would a lawyer possibly take the case on contingency? Then community can make a decision how it wants to proceed.
Mike A.'s brother fixes up houses. He suggests that the roof problem may be due to poor-quality shingles rather than the gutter design. Investigate warrantee on shingles.
Hans will ask credit union if we could get loan for repairs. Loan would be repaid from increase in fees, rather than doing a special assessment.
Marla Dee may have found place in Portland for her father and not have to move there.
Marla Dee will write up procedures for depositing checks, etc., new fee schedule, bookkeeper job description, and will distribute. Putting together year-end stuff and will show mgt before giving to accountant. Still planning on setting up Carbonite (cloud) account.
Down to about fifty checks for condo assn. Marla Dee will order.
Marla Dee has never been directed as to a particular date by which to make fee deposits. Has been depositing fees before second monthly mgt meeting.
Susan and Marla Dee will have sitdown when Susan comes for Maxine's inspection. Dean has indicated he is available to do critical repairs.
Kay will go over list of potential repairs with Marla Dee and help prioritize which should be done. Crown checking is down to about $3K.
Smoke detectors should be totally replaced every ten years. Add that to list.
In order to apply for an extension on balloon payment on crown loan, need details on how program wraps up. Try to get someone from Utah Housing to meet with management or ACM (and take good minutes!).
Need to find paperwork on second loan also.
Bill that got lost because of incomplete address appears to be for crown's liability policy. Have received letter saying that address has been corrected.
Automatic timer switch for pole lights has not been working for several months, and they must be turned on/off manually.
Wireless network called 'Prospero' has very strong signal in common house. Who does it belong to? Marla Dee would like to get the same service as Prospero has.
When someone wishes to make a purchase instead of pay-or-play payment, purchases must be okayed by management ahead of time.
Possible to expand work reporting system to collect maintenance issues?
Receive a lot of mail without a number, which ends up in #29 mailbox. Marla Dee has been putting stray mail on the table in the coat alcove.
Get tree service for full day to work on trees sequentially, by priority of hazard. Have quotes tree-by-tree.
Angel is charging more for tree work to defray replacement of chainsaw chains.
Vaughn would like to swap purchase of permaculture plants for pay-or-play obligation for next several months. Okayed.
Look at timer for pole lights: Kay
Order checks: Marla Dee
Ask Credit Union about getting loan for repairs: Hans
Arrange meeting with Utah Housing re Crown wrap-up. Prioritize Crown repairs. Find paperwork on second Crown loan.
Remind all residents please make sure their utilities, accounts, etc. have unit numbers in address.
Schedule tree work.
Addenda [Feb 5]: On Jan 30 the homeowners association was registered at htpps://secure.utah.gov/. Our registration number with the Utah Department of Commerce is COA193843114155. This registration will have to be updated every year with new management members.
[Feb 26] Winter work rate applicable November-December; now we would be charged summer rates.
Officers: Hans, President. Mike A, Treasurer. Kay, Secretary.
Carpet has been laid in mailroom.
Financial Report. Checks. Payment to reserve has been made at increased amount.
When giving address for community bills to a vendor, always include #29.
No response from Myste. She has until midnight tonight. If we proceed, will need to take check for $300 deposit to attorney. Once an action has been started, landlord (any one on management) should not accept any payment at all or have any direct contact with the tenant. Tenant should be referred to attorney. If any money is accepted, process must be halted immediately.
Advance payments of HOA as credit, cash debit in balance sheet. Try never to have less money in checking than that.
Do we prefer to make payments for reserve items out of operating budget if we can afford to? Doesn't appropriately document in accounting what is being spent on what. If we are concerned about reserve and have funds in operating budget at year-end we could make a payment.
Bill for insurance often arrives and is due between meetings. Okay to write check ahead of bill coming? Okay.
Do we need to actually keep paper records, or can we shred paper once we have it scanned and backed-up in cloud'? Purchase of Carbonite software $59 automatically updates to cloud approved.
Pay-or-play payments haven't been booked yet. Get clarification from accountant that payments aren't taxable. Difference in tax laws between owner and customer. Kay will look for her research on what other communities have pay-or-play.
Goal in Crown program is for residents to become responsible for things home owners are normally responsible for. Marla Dee recommends doing things that must be done for Utah Housing. Repair list was drawn up by Susan Schow and contains much more than Utah Housing will require. Need better guidance on when funds should come from reserve we hold or reserve that Utah Housing holds. Countertop in Linda P's unit needs to be done. Make note in file that residents have stated they don't have funds to do some of the repairs.
Furnace in workshop has been out for a couple of weeks. The fan blows but there is no heat. Shut down so it doesn't keep running. Mike A will call for repairs.
Crown repairs. Bob Paul is not following up with Marla Dee on repairs. Marla Dee recommends we find someone else. Dean was going to work inside #11 this weekend but could be asked to work on crown instead. Need to prioritize repairs; may not be adequate funds for all needed work. Crown has never pulled money from reserve for repairs, always from checking. Maybe start w Maxine's unit because she has an inspection coming up. Try to get someone from Utah Housing to come talk to us? Need more info on how project will be wound up.
Report from Kevin. Several unresolved legal issues to be discussed in upcoming year.
Waivers (a) for workers on property hired by a home owner, (b) from people who come here such as dancers, spring break students, or (c) home owners acknowledging they are responsible for maintaining adequate liability insurance for anyone hired or for guests. Cheaper for community to carry liability than each home owner, but want owners to act responsibly in hiring workers.
Easements for adjoining land owned by residents regarding access, utilities etc.
Reserve study requirements passed by legislature, must be accomplished by July 1 if not done since 2008. In addition to registering WCCA with state, required now to register with HOA database. If not compliant cannot enforce liens. Reserve study must be redone every five years, reviewed every two. Kevin will forward the link.
Kevin got letter of response from Peterson Reed Warlaumont & Stout, representing Kier Construction. They are arguing that six-year statute of limitations has expired, dating from 1998. The last work they did was in 2006. Kier doesn't want to spend more time on this and may just refer us to their attorney if we try to talk to them. Might get legal opinion if we want to pursue legal options. Even if community doesn't have money for fees, if lawyer thinks we might have a case might take it on contingency fee basis? Kevin can do timeline/narrative of events as we have attempted to resolve issue. He would like a point person on management to work with him. Consultation with attorney may be management's fiduciary responsibility to community. Should have more understanding of possibilities before take this to community. Even if some of management think it is a hopeless case, we should get more info for community. Mike A, Kay, & Richard will work with Kevin regarding second opinion. May want to get Hob's input on the effect of a lawsuit on unit sales, from a realtor's point of view.
Deck repairs. Kevin is hoping to get somebody to start next week on temporary work. He will come out and look at it.
In today's management committee meeting we discussed the following items:
Mike Polacek and I have been working on the scary situation with the CROWN loan, and it looks this will be resolved. Big relief, and big thanks to Mike.
Regarding tree trimming and landscaping, we would like this to be a discussion at the ACM. The permaculture group will make some concrete proposals how to build up and enrich our landscaping. We would like to have a multi-year vision for our landscaping so that we spend the tree money wisely.
Regarding the management of the pay or play we decided we need a meeting with our accountant Ted Hill so that we know the tax consequences of the different options how it will be handled. After the new management committee is in place, we will make an appointment with Ted Hill where everyone in the community is welcome to attend. He will charge us for it but this will be worth the money.
We still don't have a response from Kier, and Kevin is handling the deck repair issue but he was unable to come today.
Linda R will facilitate the ACM on Wednesday Jan 11. I said in an earlier email that this will only be discussion and the actual votes will be done on Jan 22, but this was wrong. We will try to get everything done on Wednesday and adjourn for Jan 22 only if we run out of time.
Linda just sent you an email in preparation for the ACM. Management proposes a 3% increase in the budget, which goes into our higher insurance expenses and higher contributions to the reserve fund because of upcoming expenses. Regarding the management committee elections, Mike A and Carol will stay on because they were elected last year for two years. The other new member elected last year was Mary, we will have to replace her because she resigned. For Richard and me, this is the end of our tenure but both of us agreed to continue to serve if we get re-elected. Therefore we have 3 slots and 2 accepted nominations right now. We need at least one more nomination, but the more the better. If you ever wondered what is going on in this community, joining the management committee is the best way to find out. We also need a CROWN rep and a renters rep.
As Linda said, this is an important meeting, please come.
Hans
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