MINUTES
Deer Creek Landowners, Inc. Board meeting
Bird/Raquelle residence
P.O. Box 1336
Boulder Creek, CA 95006
January 16, 2008
Meeting called to order 7:15 p.m. Quorum present.
Present: Road Manager Tom Bird, Treasurer Ron Chandik, John Miller, President Jose Radzinsky, , Secretary Emmanuela Raquelle, Archivist Arden Pierce, Tys Sniffen, Mac Marshall. Ron motion, John 2nd, approved agenda.
Motion by October and November minutes motion by Joseph, Ron 2nd, approved.
Jose gave an update on meeting he and Tom had with Bill Vaughn and Victor Smith. Smith and Vaughn spoke about everything that they have done on the road – all the improvements. They feel they shouldn’t be responsible to pay anything because they put all the improvements on the road, e.g., culvert, Vaughn’s supervision of projects, his improvements, etc. We said there is more work to be done. Jose explained that he and Tom were there simply to listen and not argue or come to conclusions. Tom and Jose explained that the work that Vaughn needed to do was already proscribed in the THP. Vaughn and Smith were shown the invoices that Ron prepared. Joseph asked where the logging was done – Jose gave him the details. Jose spoke about his personal reaction being extreme, based on bad past experiences, and how he wanted a logging policy that was punitive. He has seen the light now, and DCLI has now a Heavy Vehicle Policy. Joseph asked if in fact Vaughn et al. improved the road. Jose and John and Ron gave the information about how the THP was involved, and explained that some of the work was done on parts of the road that DCLI does not maintain. Ron explained how projects are decided upon. Discussion was had about how DCLI’s billing takes place – how many trips, trucks, heavy equipment, firewood logging.
Ron asked Tom how we will know how many trucks and trips; he said he will get the figures. Tom said that we should put rock on Little Buck. Question about how we should pursue payment from Vaughn. Tom said send them an invoice. Tom says first Vaughn should be called and asked how many trucks were used to haul firewood and the loaded weight of the trucks.. Tom will email Vaughn and ask him. Then when we get the info we will send them invoice for both logging and firewood hauling. Jose made a motion that we first request by email the information from Vaughn, and then bill them based on that information and give them 30 days to pay or respond. Ron 2nd, approved.
Discussion about Green gate meeting: Arden wanted to make sure that the $400 charged in 1994 is not part of what Gordy owes. It was determined that that is so. Jose said he wants to set a precedent, that we can collect from Palm people Ron explained to Joseph about how the Amnesty Plan works and there was discussion about 3 years of statute of limitation on what we can collect.
Ron asked Tom why he was uncomfortable not suing Palm cutoff people. Tom said he wasn’t uncomfortable, that the reason we didn’t yet serve them was because we didn’t want to during the construction of the bridge. Manuela said that the Palm people need to have the same number of letters sent to them as was sent to other landowners before we serve them. Ron’s made a motion that Manuela send follow up letters of arrears to Palm people and Sheryl York, and authorized Manuela to proceed with the small claims suits for the other landowners who are in arrears. Motion 2nd by Joseph, approved
John said that one of Sheryl York’s parcels may be selling. Tom said that deal is off the table – that Helga won’t be buying it. Arden said that she thought it would be cleaner to have all the DCLI members on one day and all the 845s on another. Questions about why would York be treated differently than all the other members because she is not an 845, but is in arrears. Manuela explained that the reason York wasn’t filed on previously was because at the time of filing all the landowners in arrears, we rec’d notice from escrow company that one of York’s parcels would be selling and we knew that her total arrears would be taken care of when escrow closed. Motion by Ron to send the same amount of letters to the people in arrears who have not been filed against as we sent to all the people before they were filed against; the letters will be sent to York and the 845s. 2nd by Joseph, passed. Manuela will take care of that. Joseph asked if all the people – 845s and members – will be in the hearing at the same time; and he felt that that wasn’t a good idea. Tom said that we have done it before and it worked well. Joseph said that wasn’t his experience, but he would defer. [Tom and Jose told Joseph that they believed that Gordy and Morgan would shoot themselves in the foot if they were to plead their case in front of a Judge. I will leave this part out lest it be read by non-board members].
Jose urged the placing of liens on all members in arrears, even if payments are being made, because if a landowner loses their property, there will be no way to collect the outstanding debt; in this way we secure the debt. Jose said that we will table lien discussion until February meeting.
J: I will bring this up at the Feb mtg. M: remember to bring up that if property changes hands and we don’t know about it, the lien may not be honored – so remedy will be to keep our eyes and ears open to see if there is activity like that].
Road Manger’s Report:
Tom wanted to report on the aftermath of the storm. We cleared trees quickly – certainly faster than Bear Creek Rd. and Hiway 9 trees were cleared. Ron asked who the ‘we’ is Tom said Jose and he and Tys. Ron said he rec’d no email so he assumed it was being taken care of.– Jose said that the reason Ron wasn’t contacted was because the trees needed to be cleared immediately – they were blocking the road. Tom said that it wouldn’t have been feasible for Ron to drive here because Bear Creek Road was closed anyway. Tom and Jose and Tys cut up trees and cleared culvert and the road is open now. Took out 6 trees, and one on the wire on V smith’s property. Ron asked if any expenses were incurred – Tom said gas for chain saws. Tom said that we need an extension chainsaw – Joseph said he has one and will coordinate with Tom to get the tree that’s on the wire – Tom said we have to relieve the weight on the wire and then whittle away at the tree. The only mishap was on Jack’s Rd. – The culvert that we placed in the summer was undermined and water was going under the culvert instead of through it. Ron asked how it happened. Tom explained that there is a basin at entry of culvert and some of the landowners there asked Jim Walters to make hole bigger so they could do some type of landscaping. So the water from Dowell’s went under the culvert rather than through. Jim Walters was notified and fixed it the next day. They used a palette of cement. Tom reported that there is culvert near Byron’s that got plugged up with debris and water was sent down the road instead of thru the culvert and overwhelmed the new culvert. Byron’s people didn’t clean it but continued to drive over it. Tom reported that the road on the approach to new bridge is not sloped right so water is pooling. Reber was notified and so was RCD –Reber contacted the engineer to redo slope, and then Reber will fix it; says it’s in the process.
Ron said he didn’t know what kinds of funds are involved in various works. Tom said he had previously emailed the information to Ron and would resend the cost estimate for current project.. Motion by Manuela to accept Road Manager’s report, 2nd by Tys, approved.
Secretary’s Report: Manuela went through each arrears (with entire Board) to double check action to take on each (attached). Motion to accept Secretary’s report by Ron, 2nd by Tys, approved.
Treasurer’s Report: discussion held about what to do with check for $1K issued to Mike Morgan. Tom explained that Palm people work with contractors. Jim Walters did work and DCLI is willing to have the 1K owed by Morgan used to pay Jim Walters for previous work done. Gordy previously has said that Morgan was concerned about tax implications and didn’t want to cash a check that was made out to Morgan. Tom has called Morgan a number of times and left messages so that they could discuss the matter, but Tom hasn’t gotten any response from Morgan. Ron said that any check that is over 90 days will not be honored by the bank. Ron will take care of not giving 1K to Morgan.
Ron has summary of who paid and who didn’t pay and provided a list of all checks and deposits. He wanted to talk about billing algorithm – how we determine how we bill each person. There was discussion about determining who is resident and who is not, and proposal that we might make a new category: people who use the road regularly but who are not residents. We will discuss this at February meeting. John wanted to know how much we spent on filing of Small Claims suits – Ron looked at handout and explained that the check made out to Manuela for reimbursement included more than just Court costs. Manuela said she would get exact amount if John wanted it – Ron figured somewhere around $600.
Ron wants to put 5K in 3 and 6 month Treasury bills. So that means that the money will be available in January, February, and March, and available again in April; and then again in July. Tys thought it was a great idea – 9K will always be available. Jan Feb Mar in April available in available in July. Tys thinks it’s a great idea. 9K to be always available. Ron moved that he be given authorization to buy the Tbills, Tys 2nd, approved
Joseph moved to accept Treasurer’s Report, Tom 2nd, approved
Tys said that the JMA did not elucidate what constituted residency - that he had been contacted by landowners who were confused and felt that they had been billed unfairly; it needs to be defined. Jose says ask the landowner who is confused – Mike Johnson’s daughter and son-in-law to participate in clarifying category. John suggested we have a category for ½ time people. We need a meeting to talk about various categories. We will set up a meeting to discuss JMA changes.
Discussion about necessity to establish a nominating committee. Tys suggested that the Board members find other people to prepare them to become Board members; to develop the next layer of the Board. Joseph suggested that we invite guests – people we think might be good on the Board. Joseph will invite either Christine and/or Mike Krause to the February meeting.
Discussion about the progress of the investment of the hidden camera. Tom handed around sample pictures of how the camera works and showed that the camera records the time the picture in taken. The quality is good. On the computer you can zoom in and get license plate. Jose and Tom did a pass on road to see best place to put this. At night it glows briefly red and if someone sees that, they can steal the camera. Spot they thought was good:[this will not be in final minutes] cross the 2nd bridge and put it on the right on the road on the hill. So Jose and Tom will decide where to keep the camera.
Ron and Hiram still working on the proposal to erect a gate at the head of Deer Creek Rd. Costs discussed: 5K for a lite pole and electric gate for 10K, put gate, pave the front of the road, key it or card it. Discussion about cost and how long it would take – 6 months to 1 ½ year – and lots of money spent. Discussion about the possibility that the gate itself can be destroyed and codes/cards given out; Jose said that we would need to get a meter there from PG&E. Discussion about where the gate should be.
Ron said that he doesn’t want large road projects taking place.
John said a letter to Dennis Smith has not yet been written. Tys and John will work together to draft a letter admonishing him to slow down while driving.
The next meeting will take place on February 23, 2008 at Jose’s at 11:00 p.m.– it will be a 4 hour meeting so that we can work on drafting amendments to JMA in addition to the regular monthly board meeting.
Motion by Manuela to adjourn, 2nd by Ron, adjourned 9:40 p.m.
