Santa Fe Trail Ranch POA
Regular Board Meeting
June 12, 2010   9:00 AM
Lazaro Martinez Station (Fire station on SFTR)

Directors:		Present	Absent
	Bob Scott, President
	Jim Davis, Vice President
	Al Tucker, Vice President
	Nancy Allred, Treasurer
	Doris Noard, Secretary
	John Albert
	J Alan Aufderheide
	Linda Brown
	Fred Streiff

Guests: Mary & RC Ghormley, Frances Purswell-Montoya, Carol Rawle, Rick Kinder, Val Allred, John Noard, John Parker, Joe & Carmen Richards, Kris Spinning, Cary Brooker.

Agenda

1. Bob Scott called the meeting to order at 9:00 am.
    
2. Proof of notice:  Bob Scott gave proof that proper notice of the meeting had been given.
    
3. Roll call:  Seven Directors were present which made a quorum and all business official.
    
4. Jim Davis moved to approve the minutes of the 3 April, 2010 regular meeting. Motion carried.
    
5. Committee reports:
    
   1. Common Area
       
      1. Wildfire mitigation – RC Ghormley applied and received a grant for $244,000 which is good for four years. The grant was written broadly to include the following work (1) Infrastructure Protection for ingress and egress, (2) Fuel Reduction Corridors including the Conservancy (the areas are noted in the CWPP), and (3) Individual property owners fire mitigation. The grant specifies a limit of $470/acre reimbursement and does not require matching in kind. RC and Committee will be working out the details of administering the grant.
          
         1. J Alan presented the Tall Oaks Wildfire Mitigation Project (TOWMP) which has been approved by the Forest Health and Wildfire Mitigation Committee. The problem is that Tall Oaks Drive is choked with combustibles of all kinds and ladder fuels. The goal is to have a substantial reduction in the fuel load within the Tall Oaks right-of-way with volunteers doing the work. No work will be performed within the road right-of-way without the Board’s permission or beyond the road right-of-way without the landowner’s permission. All landowners with property fronting Tall Oaks will be contacted by US Mail and/or email with a copy of the project. The question arose about the location of the actual center of the road for purposes of locating the limits of the right of way. A motion was made that for the general purposes of required maintenance and fire mitigation the center of the roads as constructed will be considered correct. Bob moved to approve the TOWMP as a phase of the Fire Mitigation Plan, with the Forest Health & Wildfire Mitigation Committee to determine how future projects will be approved. Motion carried.
             
      2. Bridge upgrade – the latest engineer to evaluate the ranch bridge also will not certify the actual calculated load limit of the bridge, even if it is reinforced, due to unknowns such as condition of the flatcars, type of steel used in their construction, integrity of welds, etc. This means the bridge will have to be replaced. The plan is to get an engineering proposal, get a design, and have it go out for bid.

         Once a total cost is known, financing options would be explored, then there would be a membership vote on capital repairs to the bridge.

      3. Alternate access for the ranch – Bob is looking at the possibility of access to the North of the ranch through Trinidad Lakes Ranch, as well as arranging a meeting with the BNSF and the Colorado PUC to possibly re-establish the railroad crossing on the South end.
          
      4. Community Center – Though this has less priority than the bridge, all were encouraged to think about what would be wanted in a Community Center.
          
      5. Guard Shack Repair – Volunteers are needed to assist in the repair. Jim moved to approve repair materials and labor for the guard shack. Motion carried.
          
      6. Pond Maintenance – Linda reported that the Common Area Committee approved use of the weed razor to cut cattails. Linda will order the weed razor.
          
   2. Roads - John Albert made a draft on excel of data on road conditions and past maintenance. Once finalized, the plan is to have it posted on the ranch web site. The chart could incorporate road needs, cycles of road maintenance and project money needed for maintenance.
       
   3. Covenants – Ranch attorney is drafting a resolution for POA Board to adopt to bring SFTR Covenants in compliance with Colorado Common Interest Ownership Act mandates. It mainly deals with enforcement of Covenants and should be done soon.
       
   4. Finance – Nancy reviewed the Year-To-Date P & L Comparison to Budget on an accrual basis. Cash in bank in $339,434. Bills are coming in for payment, such as for doing road base. Delinquent accounts were reviewed which constitute 19 people owning 20 lots or 4.4% delinquent. Total lots which have paid dues or are making payments is 95.6%. The Annual Assessment Collection Procedure was discussed. Bob asked for a vote as to the necessity of modifying the procedure presented by Nancy as requested by J. Aufderheide. The Board voted against modification. Bob S. moved to approve the Annual Assessment Collection Procedure as written. Motion carried.

      Santa Fe Trail Ranch POA

      Annual Assessment Collection Procedure

      Policy:  Per Article 4.3 of the Covenants, annual assessments are billed on January 1st of each year. Per Article 4.8 property owners can make arrangements to pay their dues on a quarterly basis. If, however, the property owner neither pays the dues within 30 days nor makes payment arrangements with the POA Treasurer, the following shall take place:

      Procedure:  Per Article 4.9 of the Covenants, the delinquent property owners shall be charged an eighteen percent (18%) interest charge from the original due date of January 31st. As of April 1st, liens will be placed on the property. The property owners will be notified in writing that the lien has been placed and that if not remedied within a reasonable timeframe, will be turned over to the POA attorney for collection with the understanding that any attorney fees and/or expenses incurred are payable by the property owner. If the delinquent dues continue to go unpaid, the POA attorney shall be instructed to begin foreclosure proceedings.

   5. Communications – J Allan presented the SFTR Website Advertising Guidelines. After discussion, J moved to approve the guidelines as amended (below). Motion carried. The long range plan is to have fiber optic high speed internet available to ranch residents. Further clarification is needed on delinquent Metro dues and effect on voting rights prior to the October Annual POA Meeting.

      SFTR WEBSITE ADVERTISING GUIDELINES

      The SFTR Website does not accept paid advertising. However, the Board of Directors has approved the acceptance of unpaid advertising from POA members. The following guidelines have been developed to prescribe the nature of such advertising. It shall be the responsibility of the Communications Committee to oversee the implementation of these guidelines.

      1. Advertising will be accepted only from SFTR POA members who are not delinquent in payment of their POA or Metro dues.

      2. Persons wishing to advertise must be owners and/or operators of a business, not simply an employee of a business.

      3. It shall be the responsibility of the advertisers to generate the image they wish to be displayed in the designated space on the SFTR home page. However, there are members of the Communications Committee who have volunteered to assist in such preparation. The ad may include a “click on” button that would link to an external website OR a separate page at the SFTR website.

      4. Advertisers must submit the image of their ad to the Chair of the Communications Committee for approval. Should the Chair not approve the ad, the advertiser would be able to appeal to the full committee. Should the full committee not approve the ad, the advertiser would be able to appeal to the POA Board.

      5. All ads will be scheduled to “rotate” in their appearance on the home page so that a different ad appears each time the home page is visited and each of the ads appear an equal number of times.

   6. Community Preparedness – Fred reported with assistance from John Sanders, we got a bid for cameras for the guard shack. They will be infra-red, color, and get license plate number. One camera has been received and will be tested next week. Three more cameras will be received next week. Cameras will be positioned in three directions plus a wide range camera will cover the bridge. The gate on the bridge needs to be kept closed. Trespassing on land was discussed and property owners are to give a verbal warning to trespassers. Then call the Sheriff. Anyone wanting to go on someone else’s property should ask for permission from the landowner. Visitor/contractor information flyers will be printed and available at the guard shack. Fire north of Trinidad Lake Ranch was contained. Get a message to Fred so contacts can be updated, as with the Vermejo fire, if you know information about a fire.
       
   7. Weed Control – John Noard reported that next Saturday, June 19, will be weed spraying of the ranch common areas. Meet at the mailboxes at 8:00 am as volunteers are needed. If you don’t have an ATV, you still can help with a sprayer. Protective eyewear, facemask, gloves, and long pants are recommended. The POA has a number of sprayers for ATV’s or hand held sprayers. One gallon of cat tail chemical has been ordered. Linda will accompany John when it is tested in the pond.
       
   8. . Secretary’s report – The Annual Property Owners Meeting has been moved up one week to October 9, 2010 due to availability of the Pioneer Room. Board terms end for John Albert, Jim Davis and Doris Noard. There will be three slots open for Directors, and either one or three Directors must be seated to keep the number uneven. The deadline for posting nominations for Directors that will be included on the printed ballot is August 16, 2010. The Call for Nominations will be posted on the web site.
       
6. New Business – Rick Kinder reported that the information sent out about ranch water should have had the Consumer Confidence Report shown first; basically the pages were out of order and the wrong form was used, mentioning a boil order, which was never required.
    
7. Next regular meeting 7 August 2010, 9:00 am, Lazaro Martinez Station, SFTR
    
8. Adjourn – Jim moved to adjourn at 11:00 am. Motion carried.

Submitted in draft form by Doris Noard, Secretary