Starlight Mesa HOA

Board Meeting

Minutes

Andraos’ House

11-17-14, 7:30

Present – John Andraos (JA), Derrick Pan (DP), Karen Levin (KL), Alex Benderskii (AB), Greg Goeckner (GG)

Also – Kirk Gerbracht (KG), Hanjoo Kim (HK)

Renovation Requests

Gerbracht/Kim/Zhao Fence Move Proposal:  KG noted that Mr. Zhao had sent an e-mail confirming his joinder in the KG and HK request to move backyard fences.  He advised that he had been thinking about the Board’s concerns from the prior meeting at which their request was discussed.  He had sent the Board a letter from his lawyer as a draft.  He wanted to know what the Board was going to do in response to that letter.  He noted that Kelly Richardson was hired to revise the Association’s CCRs and that there was no indication that Mr. Richardson would handle other legal issues on behalf of the Association.  He was surprised that the Board had sent his lawyer’s letter to Mr. Richardson and Mr. Richardson had then sent a note to KG’s lawyer.  KG’s lawyer is not going to respond.  In KG’s view, “the Board shouldn’t get into bed with Richardson.”  The Board is supposed to act under the current CC&Rs.

In KG’s view, “common maintenance” does not mean common ownership.  He did not believe that the Board had ever “maintained” the common maintenance line.  Common ownership is only in Lot 90.  He is happy to send another lawyer letter to the Board.  No one ever said the HOA would build a walkway on his property.  Joe Bergen built his fence and now everyone is all wound up about this issue.

JA said that Joe Bergen’s fence was inconsistent with how the Mesa is governed.  The same issue applies to the homes abutting the putting green park.  KG responded that the putting green park is only the size of the lot set aside for that park.  KL said that common maintenance areas are still the owner’s land.  However, each owner was given the CC&Rs when they bought property in the Mesa.  In her understanding, “common maintenance” means maintained for common use.  She does believe that the Board can approve the fence request unless the proposal is brought to the community. 

KG said that this is going to “go to something legal” then.  He asserted that the Board had a fiduciary duty to tell him they didn’t maintain his yard.  KL responded that common maintenance areas are identified in the CC&Rs. 

JA said that the only reason KG thought he could move his fence is that Joe Bergen moved his.  KG agreed.  He asked whether the Board was going to “do something” based on his lawyer’s letter.

KL responded that the Board couldn’t change the existing CC&Rs. GG said that KG shouldn’t have been surprised that Kelly Richardson was representing the Board.  KG said that he was represented by counsel at the community meeting and Kelly Richardson said KG’s lawyer should get in touch with him.  GG noted that the Board had discussed the fence proposal repeatedly and had spent hours on it at multiple meetings.  AB agreed that the Board had discussed all of this at prior meetings.  The Board may not ultimately object to the proposed fence move but needed to deal with it after the CC&Rs are finished.  In his view, the proposals by the Kims, the Zhaos and the Gerbrachts are different. 

KL said that the Board could not approve the proposed fence move.  AB noted that KG had agreed to send the Board a detailed plan and the Board would circulate it to the neighborhood.  GG noted that KG had declined the opportunity to present his proposal to the community at the Board’s last meeting discussing this proposal.  In his view, KG was just trying to reargue the situation.  He noted that the Board members had varying views of the situation but all of the Board members clearly were not prepared to approve it now.  KG stated that he believed it was up to the Board to go to the community on this if they wanted to.  In his view, the Board was trying to avoid the legal issue raised in his lawyer’s letter.  KL said that the Board would address this with the community during the meeting to discuss the revised CC&Rs.

HK asked whether he needed approvals from all 90 members of the community to move his fence?  AB responded that he did not, but that individual homeowners might have claims against him for infringing on the common areas if he moved his fence without proper approval.

KG said that when members bought in to the neighborhood, they only bought 1/90 of the common lots.  GG responded that community members also have interests in the common maintenance areas.  In his view, community members did not pay to maintain that land for almost 50 years and then have no interest in that common maintenance area land.  The Board is enforcing the existing CC&Rs.  At the earlier meeting when this fence proposal was first discussed, several long-time residents made clear how these areas had been handled for years.  It is clear that the Board has to approve all fence moves and has done that for years.  The proposal was fully discussed at several earlier Board meetings.  The Board wants to get the CC&Rs updated so that there are clear written standards for the Board to approve these fence move proposals. 

HK said he was concerned about his liability for accidents in these common maintenance areas.  He is afraid about liability for these areas if he gets sued.  AB noted that the Association had substantial liability insurance.  GG noted that any such claims would raise heavily factual issues.

KG asked what would happen if the revised CC&Rs don’t pass.  GG suggested that the focus should be on getting the CC&Rs updated. 

KG closed by stating that he really had wanted to resolve this proposal without spending a lot of money on legal fees.  KG and HK departed.

Maintenance Report:

AB reported that he had installed “no smoking “signs in the children’s park and near the gazebo.  The old “no smoking” sign had been destroyed.  AB also had put up signs on lower Stardust, along the trail and further into the area, near where we had found the burned books

KL reported that she was trading messages with the architect about a design for a new gazebo.

AB noted that there now are only 5 umbrellas; he doesn’t know what happened to the rest of them.  Some are wearing out.  We will need to buy more next year.  DP advised that there is $1000 for pool equipment in the 2015 budget.  AB suggested that the Board should buy 6 or 7 umbrellas next year.

KL reported that Jose Toribio had called Joe Bergen.  The solar collector in the children’s park was not working well enough to irrigate the whole area.  The irrigation in the pool area was failing too.  The shallow LED light was replaced in the pool but the new light was not working; she had called the company to come back to fix it.  Finally, the fertilization of the neighborhood lawns was completed as scheduled.

GG reported that he had heard about new outdoor cameras that would have wireless capability that could save data on a nearby local computer, which might be suitable for monitoring of the community entrances and parks.  AB asked whether there were legal issues raised by video monitoring?  JA advised that we would need to post signs. 

Treasurer’s Report:

DP reported that he had not received the October 30 financial report yet.  He projected the community account would have $22k at the end of November and $30k at the end of December. He expects the Association will have a surplus at the end of the year.  There is no news on the dues delinquencies.

DP also addressed KG’s claims that the Association had spent $8k on CC&R legal fees this year.  It actually was about ~$5k.  Holding the community meeting at the library added to the cost of the CC&R project.  The Board also spent about $4k responding to Joe Bergen’s demands.

Annual Meeting Preparations:

The Board approved the draft 2015 budget.  DP will send the final budget to Cardinal to circulate to the community.  GG will follow up with Cardinal about circulation of the annual meeting materials.  KL will order chairs.  GG will prepare a draft agenda and talking points for the meeting.

CC&R Update

GG sent the Board’s comments on the draft CC&Rs and Bylaws to Kelly Richardson.  We are waiting for new drafts of these documents.  We should be able to have a community meeting to review the drafts in January.

Foreclosure Action Update

GG advised that there had been no developments in this action.

Next meeting

The next Board meeting will be December 18, 2014, at 7:30 p.m., at JA’s house.