Road Committee Report – June 2002
By Michael Hughes

            The last meeting of the Road Committee was held on April 23, 2002 and the minutes of this meeting have been published. Since that meeting, the agreed upon 0.3 miles of Trail Ridge Rd. was surfaced to complete the road surfacing project for this year. The total road surfacing expenditures for 8.2 miles of roadway in 2002 are $98,614.56. The total expenditures for road maintenance and repair to date are $9,746.50. An additional $830.00 has been expended for repairs to the bridge. Thus, the total expenditures to date in the “Road/Bridge/Culvert” budget category are $109,191.06 of the budgeted $130,317.00. The remaining $21,125.94 has been reserved for road grading. Due to the extremely dry conditions this year, both the committee and our road contractor recommend that road grading be postponed until enough moisture is available to make road grading efficient and productive. Additionally, $2,137.50 of the budgeted $10,000 for “Snow Removal” in 2002 has also been expended.

            The proposal to remove the excess silt within the silt pond, at no cost to the POA, has also begun. To date about half of the pond has been excavated, the remaining excavation being postponed until the deeper soggy soil can be worked. Five property owners took advantage of the opportunity to have a total of 66 yards of silt pond dirt delivered to their property. Another 18 yards of this dirt has been delivered to another customer. Since no additional paying customers for this dirt are known, I suggest that the POA finance the completion of the excavation and stockpile the dirt for future filling and erosion repairs on the ranch.

            I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Vaughn Roundy and Dale Swett for their service on this committee for the past several years. Both of these gentlemen have expressed a desire to retire from this service to the POA and deserve the gratitude of all property owners for their extensive service. My term as a member of the Board of Directors will expire in October of this year and I too intend to retire from the chairmanship of this committee. I will continue to perform this service until October for the purpose of road grading (should the opportunity arise) and continuing to oversee the completion of the silt pond excavation project should the Board like me to do so. However, it is time for a new set of POA members to prepare for and assume the important responsibility of the maintenance of the ranch road system in order to affect a graceful and efficient transfer of these responsibilities.

            I would like to make the following recommendations to the future road committee:

            1. The POA should continue the current arrangement with Ciarlo Excavation based upon the quality workmanship and reasonable prices provided by this company.

            2. The silt pond excavation project should be completed and the contents stockpiled to be used as fill for the many road erosion repairs yet to be addressed.

            3. The published road surfacing agenda should be continued.

            4. The snowplowing map should be updated to include the roads occupied by new residents.

            5. The 60-foot road easements should be cleared of all flammable material.

            6. The trench sinkage sites on Owen Baldwin Parkway and other smaller sites should be surfaced over and 10% of the cost billed to the Metro District.

            7. The mailboxes should be relocated to the edge of the public parking area near the bridge to provide additional maneuvering space for large vehicles.

            Additionally, in my opinion, any contractor hired by the POA should be supervised at all times. Many projects entail unforeseen problems and the need for immediate, on-site decisions by a POA representative. This also insures that the project is executed according to the plan and someone is accountable for the contractor’s activities and invoices. Unfortunately, this person, in the course of protecting the interests of the POA, spends a vast amount of personal time and resources. People who provide this measure of extraordinary service should be compensated.

            Finally, I would like to thank the many other people who have in some way participated in the activities of this committee. Although there is much yet to be done, I believe that much has been accomplished and I personally appreciate all the support and participation of these generous and hard working people.