Mapleton Home Association
Special Executive Board Meeting
June 1, 2008
Meeting begins at 6:10 pm.
Location: Robert Power’s Home, 34A
- Present:
MHA: Paul Keaton-President, Lilly Wallace–Vice President, Robert Power –Management Chair, Nick Tamm--Treasurer, Krista Morien—Secretary, and Erin Rice---Site Committee Chair
Agenda Items, Discussion and Motions
Update on Trailer Wrap (Lot 81)
- The VIN number is not visible so we need a surety bond in order to get a title. Length of time for this process is uncertain. There is a new ID number that will be affixed to the unit, which serves as a VIN.
Steve Money will not sign a contract until we have a title. He is requesting a $3500 fee for selling the trailer wrap, and he wants a separate contract for vacant lots.
Issue of Steve Money potentially hiring an MHA person to sit at open houses (to be paid out of his commission): We’ve signed an agreement saying that MHA will market and sell the home so it would not be appropriate for an MHA member to make money. It’s Steve Money’s job to do it.
Board Motion: That Hast & Co signs the TrailerWrap contract on the MHA’s behalf with Steve Money of 5-Star Realty to sell the TrailerWrap, with 180 day terms and their standard fee. Also, that the list of interested parties previous to Steve’s participation be included at a reduced fee. Nick moves, Erin seconds.
Lilly will draw up the agenda for board meetings. We may email any additional agenda items to her one week before the meeting. She will then email the agenda to Chip at Hast with a cc: to board members.
Homeowner Communications will be put later in the agenda, under the Management Committee Report.
We need to more clearly define Hast’s responsibilities as our agent.
We need to acknowledge some breakdowns from the past without making anyone wrong. From there, we can decide where we want to go, look at how we want to get there, and ask for Hast’s feedback on moving forward.
As we get clearer in how we want to communicate with each other on the board, it will also be easier to communicate with Hast what we want from them.
Tom Hast will be at the next board meeting. Chip is the new property manager, taking over for Sandy Denny. He will be overseeing 1/3 the number of properties that Sandy had to oversee.
Action Items: Paul will email Tom Hast (and cc: board members) to ask him to define “agent.” We want this by June 16 (one week before meeting). As a board, we will work individually on getting clear on what we want Hast to do---including reviewing the Property Management Agreement. The board will meet on Sunday, June 22 (at 6 pm at Robert’s home) to get aligned for our talk with Hast.
Issues, Projects, and Items To Accomplish Over the Next Year (With Possible Timeframes)
Management Plan: What are the steps to getting this done? We need to get the skeleton draft from Thistle. Mary Roosevelt said they could devote time to it in June.
History on Previous Drafts: Thistle’s Winter of 2005 and Fall of 2006 drafts were never completed.
The management plan would be a concise document to hand to new board members so they know what their role is.
The Management Plan would also make it clear that Hast is the agent for the MHA, not for Thistle.
Action Items: Robert will follow up with Mary Roosevelt to get a timeframe on when she will have a skeleton draft. Paul will provide the board with a simple bullet point list of what needs to be in the management plan. One possible timeframe for completing the management plan: We could review the draft in July; return it to Thistle in August, clarify and refine the document in Sept., have it reviewed in late Sept. by our attorney; and approve it by Oct.
Outlining the Budget Process and How That Affects Us
Budget Process: Hast gives MHA the format and we fine-tune it. Hast is working on it now and we need to fine-tune it by Sept. We could consider hiring Deb Feustel to go over it. How do we interact with Thistle to develop the budget?
How do we know how much money there is for different committees and projects? Committees should start working on their plans now; however, we won’t know for sure how much money there is until the budget is done.
As board members and committee heads, do we have to ask for permission for everything we spend?
There is $100,000 in the savings account. How can we use that money? We probably want at least 1 month’s budget in reserve and $50,000 in CDs. We can start to document what we’re going to do with this money.
Some funds for the next infrastructure project (on the north end of the park) will come from lot rents from the 5 vacant lots.
One potential project that will need funding is dealing with trees that need to be taken down for safety reasons. This could cost up to $200,000.
Is there anything anyone needs in the next month? Erin wants to do more capital improvements. She is itching to do some projects and is wondering what she is allowed to do. We decided that where we have irrigation, it’s okay for her to go ahead with her projects as long as there is no cost. A resident is going to plant flowers on the south side of the bridge that connects the north and south sides of the park.
We talked about the issue of whether people who are in 30/40 AMI can afford to bring in a new home when they need it. One idea----MHA could buy a home and bring it up here. Erin will look into this; she has also been talking to Habitat for Humanity.
Action Item: Nick will find out when Chip can give us the preliminary budget. Erin and Robert will get together and figure out what they want to do/where they have overlap/what money they want for the management and site committees.
Shortening Board Meetings and Making Meetings and Email/Verbal Communications More Effective
If we find ways to make things run more smoothly, it will be easier to encourage board participation by others in the park.
We need to look more at how to communicate effectively so that our meetings are shorter.
We could have a time limit for each agenda item.
Letters from residents go to the Management Committee. If they can handle it, then there’s no need for it to come to the board. The Management Chair will bring issues to the board that the committee can’t resolve on its own.
Action Item: Erin will investigate methods for running a counsel in order to stay on track.
To Discuss Our Accountability As Board Members
Lilly is doing some research on the parliamentary system. She will take on the agenda for meetings and will also take on other projects as she desires. She is responsible for checking the mail. She has keys to the bulletin boards and wash house office.
Adjournment: Meeting adjourned at 9:10 pm.
- Submitted By: Krista Morien, Secretary