2017 Annual Meeting

Eagle Ranch Property Owners Assoc. Board Meeting – June 17, 2017 - DRAFT

Location: Rawlings Library – Bret Kelly Room B, 100 E Abriendo Ave., Pueblo, CO

Called to order at: 11:30am

Members Present: Bob Robler, President; Chris Robinson, Vice President; Debby Graham, Treasurer;

Becky Robler, Secretary; Jim Sandusky, Member At Large. 21 Lot owners and spouses and guests were present. (sign in sheet on file)

1. Introductions – Board members, members and guests present introduced themselves. The president took a moment to remember two community members that had recently passed away; Ed Scriven and Amy Newland. They will be missed.

2. Secretary – Verified members present and proxies submitted. There were a total of 19 persons representing 21 lots present with 10 proxies sent in, providing a quorum. Two notices were returned, and 17 Lots were not eligible to vote due to fees in arrears.

3. Approval of Agenda: A motion was made by the Vice President, Seconded by the Member at large to accept the Agenda as proposed. Approval was made unanimously by voice vote of the membership present.

4. Approval of 2016 Annual Meeting Minutes: A motion was made by the Vice President to bypass reading of the minutes since they had been posted on the web-site for the past year, and Approve them as is. This was seconded by the member at large. The president asked if anyone present would like to hear the minutes read, no one spoke up. The motion was passed by voice vote of the membership present, unanimously.

5. Treasurer Report – The Interim Income and Expense report was read by the treasurer and can be seen as an attachment to this report on our website. There is $21,352.18 on the Delinquency list from 17 lot owners. Default notices were sent and will be sent again. Four of the accounts were referred to our attorney for default foreclosure proceedings, to recover unpaid fees and collection expenses. We are pursuing these aggressively. A question from the membership: “Do we charge interest?” Answer - “Yes, we charge interest on the principle and we charge late fees, mailing and collection fees.” Some of the fees were outlined, including lien fees and attorney fees. The president then followed up on the foreclosure process: 1. A demand letter is set by the attorney. 2. If that is not cleared by the lot owner the attorney asks for permission from the Board to follow up with foreclosure. The attorney fees are a flat rate and are paid by the lot owner at the time of foreclosure. Question: “What happens if the Lot owner is out of state?”. Answer: “It doesn't matter, the court will proceed. We make every effort to contact them. So far the owners have not responded to us.” Question: “Are we allowed to know the lot numbers in case we want to buy them?” Answer: “Yes, the two that have been referred are lots 31 and 70 and the other ones are 30 and 32. If they go to foreclosure they will be advertised in the chieftain, and in the Colorado City paper.”

6. Road and Bridge Report – All Seasons Excavating is the contractor that grades the roads. All primary roads are graded 2x/year and secondary roads are graded 1x/year. Primary roads are roads with houses. Secondary roads are roads beyond the last house, or the short cul-de-sacs that don't have any houses. We have gotten feedback that people would like one or two more gradings per year. The grading price is going up slightly ($20/mile) because of the contractor using a new roller to smooth out the roads, in a final pass and an increase in gravel costs. Using a water truck when necessary would double the price of the grading, due to the cost of renting the water truck. The contractor tries to grade after a rain event to save us money. Question: “If he uses the roller when the road is dry, is it a waste of time?” Answer: “No there is still enough of the small free material to compact the larger stones.” ERPOA tries to spend about $8,000 on new gravel and road improvements each year in addition to grading. The road the contractor and the board feels needs the most attention is still Siegle. 60-70% of the gravel is used there. There is a spot on Kaitlyn that needs attention, so 2 loads will be going there and two loads on Eagle Ranch Road, with 15-17 loads on Seigle. Concerns from the membership that where the houses are there is no gravel. This was answered with “the gravel has been put primarily starting at the entrance, working back each year toward the houses to benefit the most drivers as soon as possible. This work will happen in the late summer or early fall.

We would like to have volunteers to help mow the weeds on the various roads. One pass on each side twice a year. The Association will reimburse a volunteer with a per mile fee. Talk to Bob Robler (president) if you are willing to do this. One member volunteered to do Siegle. The Association would rather pay members instead of outside contractors.

Snow removal – the last snow storm could have used a plow, but the contractor couldn't get to us until he finished Hatchet Ranch, which would have been after it melted. On further thought, the ground was so warm that it was mushy under the snow, and the heavy equipment would have torn up the roads. So the Board opted not to plow. Another option is if anyone knows of someone that will plow without a retainer, let us know.

The board did start a road/bridge improvement fund in the savings account because we have some serious problems with the Kaitlyn bridge. EVRAZ requires a box culvert design stamped by an engineer. The board has talked to numerous Engineers, but can't get a company that will design and build to respond at this time. That fund will also provide for major road improvements in other areas. At this time we are leaving the regular assessment at $200 and Special assessment in the fall of $100. Question: “I understand the contractor is hesitant to cross Kaitlyn bridge?” Answer: “Yes, with our 25ton limit, it is pushing his comfort level. He only crosses the bridge once and the belly dumps cannot go across. He will use a tandem.”

The contractor is using a serrated blade to recover some of the gravel that has been pushed to the side of the road as well.

7. Budget Approval – Everyone got a copy of the budget. The board would like to ask for a little flexibility if it becomes necessary to transfer some of the funds from the road and bridge savings account to road maintenance if we need to. There were no questions or comments on the budget. A motion was made by Becky Robler to accept the budget, seconded by Tom Ossner. A voice vote was taken. All members present voted in favor. All proxies were in favor. Passed unanimously.

8. Declaration of Covenants and Bylaws Amendments – The president thanked Claudine, Cathy and Dan for spending many hours on the Covenants, Bylaws and Articles research and writing. One reason the Board wanted to revise the covenants was to get rid of any reference to Red Creek Ranch, which is no longer involved with the ERPOA. This opens the door to negotiating the grazing lease. This could help our bottom line. Joe O’Brien (current grazing lease owner) indicated that he would help with roads to the tune of $200 per year, although the grazing lease is worth thousands of dollars. Other reasons for amending the documents were: to delete confusing wording in the Covenants and Bylaws, put in variance wording and fees for activities that cost the board money, put in a clause to specifically prohibit commercial marijuana grows (it does not prohibit legal plants for personal or medical use), and continue to strengthen our classification as a Limited Expense Community. With the old and new covenants great pains have been taken to remain a Limited Expense Community. This means we are not subject to the Colorado Common Ownership Interest Act laws that effect other HOA's and POA's. This also means we can only assess up to $400 per year plus a cost of living index. By keeping our assessments at $300, we are well within that. It saves us from being registered with DORA (dept of regulatory agencies), it means that what is in the Covenants and Bylaws are our laws. We are not bound to any State or Local laws that specifically regulate POA's and HOA's. We are not exempt from discrimination laws, political signage, or other state and local laws. As property owners we have to comply with State and County laws. Covenants & Bylaws can be more restrictive, but not less restrictive.

9. Questions/Comments Section – Comments submitted via mail-in vote: Lot 1&2 “I feel I should be able to grow any crop on my property”; Lot 20 “Beware of illegal dumping of big tree stumps. If anyone knows who did this on lot 20 please let me know. Action will be taken.”; Lot 18 “Thank you for your work for the ERPOA”. Other comments during discussion were: Lot 46 “Question of the Articles of incorporation? I couldn't find them and that item was not included on the ballot. An item in the newsletter equated it to the bylaws?” Answer: “The Articles are not on the website and they are a board decision. They are a statement of incorporation and modified when addresses change or name of the POA changes.” Question: “If we only object to a part of the new covenants, then we have to vote no? We can't just take it out?” Answer: “That is correct. But we'd appreciate any discussion to let us know the objections.” Comment: “If there is any part of the covenants that you don't like if it is put in place, you can always lobby in the future to revise them to have that part taken out. It can be a fluid document, but you do need to do the work and call for a vote at a general meeting.” Question: “You still need how many votes to get it through though?” Answer: “75% of the eligible voters who vote. Just like in a regular election you cannot force a person to vote.

10. The vote was called for. Having 19 yes and 2 no votes in hand from mail and emails, the secretary collected proxies/votes from those in the meeting. While the vote was being counted, the President took the time to thank the volunteers that helped with the improvements of the Associations entrances and street signs. Tom Ossner, Chris Robinson, Connie Robinson, Alan Lucas, Bob Robler, Becky Robler, Jim Sandusky, Mike McDonnell and Floyd Aker. To hire this work out would have cost thousands of dollars. The three entrances that were done were the worst off and the other three will be done over the next year or two.

The vote was then announced: 22 for the Covenants and 6 against with three lots represented at the meeting not voting. The secretary incorrectly did the math and said this was only 70%. It was announced that it did not pass. (see note at Adjournment section)

11. Questions/Comments - ”When people come up to your door selling something, what should you tell them?” Answer: “This is private property. It is posted at all the entrances.” “Call the sheriff's department.” Question: “You said you put 600 tons of gravel down this year? That was all on Siegle?” Answer: “No, two loads went on Eagle Ranch Road between the cattle guard and Burnt Mill Rd, half a load went on Shadow lane by the mailbox, half a load went on Nolan by the mailbox.” Question: “Who is in charge of the part of the road that is between the cattle guard and the main road?” Answer: “We are.” Question: “It’s so eroded there, are they ever going to do anything about that?” Answer: “With the storms it has gotten bad, but we will have to grade and we will bring gravel in.” Question: “Now that I know I can do a commercial grow...” Answer: “No you cannot do anything commercial in the POA. It is in the current covenants as well as the proposed ones.” Question: “Then what can I grow?” Answer:”You must check the County and State Laws.” Question: “If it’s already prohibited (commercial enterprises) why did you put marijuana in the covenants?” Answer: “Buyers are more aware of the regulation that way, and if you have to go to court it has more teeth.” “We already have a grow operation in the POA, as it stands we have to go to court. With the revisions, we can fine them and make them pay for road wear and tear, lawyer and court fees through a lien and foreclosure.” Various other personal opinions and discussions were exchanged along these lines of being part of a community and personal rights. Clarification of well usage was discussed. A commercial grow would use more water than allocated to a domestic (in house and an acre of land) or residential (in house only). Our wells are typically classified as domestic.

12. Adjournment at 12:45 pm However, Ryan McCafferty and Tom Ossner quickly came up and said that the actual percent was 78.5%, so the Covenants and Bylaws passed. Notice of this fact was sent out to all the persons who voted and/or came to the meeting via email and/or the USPS and will be posted on the website.