Fieldcreek Estates

BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING

REVISED MINUTES

Wolf Run Golf Club

Founders Room

1400 Wolf Run Road

Reno, Nevada  89511

Wednesday, February 4, 2004, 5:30p.m.

Board Members Present:                  Steve Cohen, Bob Canter, George Toto,

                                                            Gary Valerie, Mary Ellen Wilkinson

EBMC:                                               BJ Brown, Property Manager

I.          Call to Order

            President Cohen called the meeting to order at 5:30p.m.

A.                 Roll call

A quorum was present.

II.        Membership Forum

Steve Cohen, speaking as a resident of Fieldcreek, announced the City Planning Commission will be meeting at 6:30p.m. tonight at the Reno City Council Chambers to receive input on the building by Ryder Homes of 252 tract homes on 102 acres of land.  Ryder Homes is seeking to develop this project on both sides of Arrowcreek Parkway, near Wedge.  The request includes a cluster development and high density.  Because of the importance of this meeting, Mr. Cohen asked that as many association members as possible attend this meeting to object to the development since it will have a large impact on water, traffic and other issues of concern to Fieldcreek Estates.

Mr. Cohen asked members to attend a joint meeting between Washoe County and STMGID – the utility from which Fieldcreek gets its water (witch is well water).  Mr. Cohen expressed concern that Washoe County will attempt to mix water from STMGID with TMWA, reducing the quality of water Fieldcreek currently receives from STMGID.  This meeting is scheduled for February 17, 2004.

Kathy Woodward submitted a memo to the Board on behalf of her and her neighbor whose home is located outside the Fieldcreek Association but is next door to a Fieldcreek house.  The Fieldcreek resident at 90 Chinchilla is allegedly routinely in violation of three (3) areas outlined in the CC&R’s.  Loud parties with many people coming and going is one problem.  The yard is not kept up and car alarms and other noises are disturbing the peace.  Ms. Brown suggested the police or sheriff be called.  A memo outlining the problems was given to the Board for consideration during executive session. 

III.       Minutes

A.                 Review and approve October 15, 2003 meeting minutes

The Board reviewed the minutes from the October 15, 2003 Board of Directors meetings.  The names of two (2) of the board members are misspelled throughout the document.  Several other items, including the report of the traffic committee, require some revision to make them understandable.  The minutes will be reviewed for spelling and grammatical errors.  The Board tabled approval of the minutes until its next meeting and corrections have been made.

IV.       Financial Report

A.                 Board to review September, October and November 2003 financials

Bob Canter reviewed the financial reports with the Board.  He addressed several issues that concern him regarding the accounting practices and association records.

·        Cash reconciliation – A $100.00 error in transaction fees to reserves must be corrected.

·        Internal control of late fees, fines, etc.: collection of these amounts cannot be determined within the accounts receivables.

·        Delinquent fees or late fees cannot be removed from the books or waived without the approval of the Board.  Ms. Brown believes that this has not been done except for corrections of errors.

·        Reserve account and Heritage Bank – If more than three (3) transactions are made in the account during one month, the account reverts from an interest-bearing to a regular commercial account.  These transactions include those involving checks that clear the account, not checks that are written.  The Board opened the account to obtain interest on the deposits but have decided to leave the account as it presently is which is in a non-interest earning (bearing) commercial account with no limitation on the number of checks  which can clear each month.

·        Mr. Canter has no ledger outlining who has paid construction deposits.  He asked that the issue of developing a ledger identifying members and construction deposits be discussed during the next meeting.  Ms. Brown replied that this is a special report and would require an additional charge.

Motion by Ms. Wilkinson, second by Mr. Toto to accept the financial reports as presented.  Motion carried.

V.        Committee Reports

            1.         Property Manager’s report

BJ Brown gave her property manager’s report.  Reports of violations of governing documents are down, as are architectural requests.  This is most likely seasonal.  There is nothing of significance to report to the Board at this time.

Mr. Canter asked about the reconciliation of plan/architecture review fees with the amounts recorded in the accounts.  Mr. Cohen and Ms. Brown said that these have been checked out.  Mr. Canter requested a copy of this analysis.

Mr. Canter asked Ms. Brown to please give the Board a written report in the future.

2.            Architectural Committee

Mr. Cohen reported the committee has completed two (2) reviews.  The new checklist is working well.

3.            Welcome Committee

Barbara Leusing reports not receiving any information from EBMC on new owners since August 2003.  Ms. Brown believes she has forwarded all information to the Welcome Committee but will review her records.  Sometimes delays in obtaining the necessary information from title and mortgage companies make timely notification to the Welcome Committee difficult.

4.            Traffic Committee

Mr. Toto reported the sheriff’s office has plans to make its presence known within Fieldcreek.  During February 2004, the sheriff’s office plans to have motorcycle patrols out in force to try to reduce speeding.

It may be necessary to install “Stop” signs, speed bumps or dips as alternate methods of traffic speed control in the future.

5.             Community Development

Steve Cohen attended a Community Advisory meeting last night.  He will continue to attend these planning meetings on behalf of Fieldcreek.

VI.       Old Business

            1.         Review copy of reserve study

Larry Richardson, a representative of John Beatty, did a walkthrough of the property prior to completing the updated reserve study.  He used the expected life of elements of the property and projected the estimated future cost of replacement within that study. 

There is concern over the corner of Zolezzi and Fieldcreek.  The drainage culvert is filled about half way with silt.  $10,000.00 has been identified in the study to repair the drainage.  Drainage areas are one of the County’s priorities, and it is likely that if this area was inspected by the County, Fieldcreek would be required to repair it.  The drainage easement is entirely on Fieldcreek project open space property.

Funds for landscape rejuvenation (replacing rock mulch) is estimated to cost $972.00 this year. 

Based on the old reserve study, $657.70 was set aside to reserves last year.  The new reserve study estimates that a reserve contribution in the amount of $3608 for 2004 growing over time is necessary to properly fund the reserve account.  Because of excess of excess retained operating funds from prior year no immediate dues increase will be necessary to meet the reserve funds goals.

The 2004 contribution represents$8 per unit for the entire 451 units of the original P.U.D.

Motion by Mr. Valiere, second by Mr. Toto to approve and accept the reserve study with one correction – that the study shows the reserve contribution for 2003 as $657.70.  Motion carried.

2.            Review and adopt the new fine schedules consistent with SB136 and          SB100

3.            Adopt policy on late fees for overdue fines

4.            Discuss collection costs for overdue fines as limited by SB 100

5.            Review and approve procedure for violation letters

6.            Review and approve procedures for violation hearings

Much discussion was generated over the new fine schedules, policies and procedures mandated by amendments to NRS passed during the 2003 legislative session.  EBMC has developed policies and procedures that meet legal requirements regarding violations of governing documents, the holding of hearings for violations before a fine can be levied, fine collections, etc. and has provided all associations they manage with these for consideration and adoption.

Ms. Brown acknowledged the new requirements governing common-interest properties are not board friendly.  They were designed to afford individual members procedural protections to stop abuses taken by boards and have necessitated the development of much more complex measures to assure the fair and equal treatment of all homeowners.  The new requirements encompass a variety of scenarios, some of which may or may not apply to a given association.

The Board discussed the proposed policies and procedures in depth and identified areas of concern as these new requirements impact Fieldcreek Estates:

·        The procedures seem cumbersome and not easily understandable.

·        The wording seems overly legalistic and complex.

·        Fieldcreek’s stated objectives for imposing fines and issuing violations are not addressed.

·        The language seems laced with innuendo of criminality.

·        The fee schedule identified is different from the fines previously adopted by the board.

·        Completion of the process from submittal of complaint to hearing seems overly long.

Other comments included:

·        The use of policies and procedures standardized by the management company assures each case will be handled appropriately.

·        The use of policies and procedures standardized by the management company may prove to be less expensive to administer.

·        The fee schedule already adopted for use by Fieldcreek can easily be included in the policy.

·        The policies and procedures have already been reviewed by an attorney.

·        All contingencies are anticipated as outlined in statute.

Mr. Canter outlined three (3) objectives previously adopted by Fieldcreek that reflect the Association’s reasons for fining Members for violations of governing documents.  The objectives are:

A.                 To achieve compliance with governing documents, not for the purpose of creating revenues.

B.                 To be lenient with the occasional violator.

C.                 To penalize repeat offenders.

Motion by Mr. Valiere to go back to using the policies and procedures previously used by Fieldcreek.  Without a second, the motion was not discussed.

Motion by Mr. Canter, second by Mr. Valiere to adopt the policies identified in Old Business  - items  2,5 and 6 on the agenda, subject to review by the Board’s attorney.  Motion carried.  Ms. Wilkinson opposed, Mr. Toto abstained.

Motion by Mr. Canter, second by Mr. Valiere to adopt the policy for collection of late charges to be applied to overdue fines as follows:

A late charge of 30% of the overdue amount be added to fines remaining unpaid ten (10) days after the date of the violation

hearing which imposed such fine amounts.  This charge would be in addition to interest and collection charges.

            Motion carried.

            A copy of the policy for late charges on fines is attached.

7.            Community to consider self-management of association

Mr. Cohen stated he has talked with someone who is responsible for the self-management of his homeowner’s association and is of the opinion it is not difficult.  A list of duties for a subcontracted property manager must be obtained/developed.  Montreaux was mentioned as an example of a self-managed community.  However, EBMC keeps the books for Montreaux.

Mr. Valiere was selected to head a committee to explore the options for self-managing Fieldcreek.  He will be assisted by Mr. Cohen and Ms. Wilkinson.         

The committee will solicit volunteers from the membership to work with the committee.

VII.     New Business

            1.         Appoint chairman of nomination committee

            Motion by Ms. Wilkinson, second by Mr. Toto to appoint Mr. Canter as the

nominating committee chairman.  Motion carried.

2.         Establish criteria for director’s term of office

Six (6) positions are to be filled on the board.  Terms are to be staggered.

Motion by Ms. Wilkinson, second by Mr. Valiere to apportion the six (6) positions in the following manner:

·        The four (4) people getting the most votes will serve two (2) year terms.

·        The two (2) people receiving the next highest number of votes will  serve one (1) year terms.

Motion carried.

If members currently serving on the board wish to run again, they must complete and return the application.

3.         Appoint new Architectural Committee member

Three (3) applications for the vacant position on the Architectural Committee were considered by the board. 

            Patty Howell

            Pablo Gomez

            William Jastrow

Bill Jastrow was in attendance and introduced himself to the Board.  He has extensive experience working with homeowners associations and construction contracts. 

Motion by Mr. Canter, second by Ms. Wilkinson to appoint Bill Jastrow to the Architectural Committee.  Motion carried.

The architectural committee meets the first Tuesday of each month at noon at EBMC.

VIII.    Discussion Items

            1.         Review Board calendar, including hearing dates

            Motion by Mr. Toto, second by Mr. Canter to accept the new calendar,

canceling the February 11 meeting.  Motion carried.

IX.       Correspondence

            1.         Gary Bria landscaping memos

            The Board reviewed the memoranda sent by Gary Bria regarding his activities on

Fieldcreek’s landscaping.  The Board expressed their satisfaction with his work.

X.        Schedule Next Board Meeting

The next meeting will be held according to the schedule established by the approved calendar.

IX.       Adjournment

Motion by Mr. Canter, second by Mr. Valiere to adjourn the meeting.  Motion carried.

The meeting was adjourned at 7:00p.m.

Respectfully Submitted,