RHRC Meeting Minutes - 10/18/2014
Minutes of Rancho Heights Road and Management Committee Meeting
Date: October 18, 2014
Time: 9:10-11:30 AM
Location: Held at the Mary Phillips Senior Center in Temecula
In attendance were all committee members: James Szepkouski, Jim Thomas, Mary Anne Schetter, Doug Eaton, Bradley Lee. In addition the following people signed the attendance sheet: Estela Chavez, Maricela Chavez, Salvador Chavez, John Kilker, Plillip Burke, Leslie Palmer, Bob Palmer, Norma Martin, Ray Martin, Jon Driscoll, Sherry Simmons, Chuck Lingafelt, Shannon Lingafelt, Gerald Barker, LaVonne Barker, Martin Stockton, Wendy Plyler, Steve Plyler, Gene Tellier, Johnathan Geller, Jan Geller, Ron Steffey, Glenn Barfknecht, Cori Szepkouski, Phil Bulfinch, one illegible signature.
Meeting was called to order by Chairman James Szepkouski at 9:10 AM.
Introductions were made around the room. Thank yous were extended to all volunteers contributing to projects to make our community better/safer.
Doug Eaton explained voting procedure and asked for nominations for
the two open seats on the committee. He added that Jim Thomas and Mary Anne Schetter were seeking re‐election for their positions for another 2 year term. John Kilker nominated Jim Thomas, Norma Martin nominated Mary Anne Schetter. The nominations were seconded. No other candidates were nominated. Voting ballots were handed out to attendees by Cori Szepkouski to be collected and counted at the end of the meeting. Wendy Plyer and Sherry Simmons volunteered to count the votes. Jim Thomas and Mary Anne Schetter won re-election.
Gene Tellier asked if being current on assessments was required to run for a seat or to vote. It was explained that any person owning land under the road agreement was eligible to vote, but any person not current in payment of assessments is ineligible to run for a seat on the Committee. Phil Burke explained that all parcel owners will receive a ballot to vote. Use of our roads requires the owner to pay annual assessments.
Committeeman Brad Lee has begun a project of mapping and identifying, by number, all community culverts starting at the gate. His record will include culvert composition, size, location. Condition of culvert will be noted and cleaning or repair will be noted where needed. Owners were warned that
during inspection of their culverts that wild animals may be living or nesting in the culvert. Mention was made to inquire if Jesse Wyatt could assist in cleaning the culverts and the surrounding area at the Arizona Crossing.
James Szepkouski next presented the annual road report and referred to the area map Brad Lee had prepared. Areas needing repair had been color coded to indicate conditions of the road. Green: best condition but need some repair... Blue; not extreme but need some overlay to extend life. Yellow: remove, replace, grind up old material and use to stabilize the base. Pink: need to make passible during emergency in a car. Orange: proposed repair, long repair time due to planning and money. Red Dot: pot holes. Blue line: some significant erosion and needs repair. Repair estimate is $3.50/sq. ft. Overlay with1 ½” cap is $1.50/ sq. ft. We have over 600,000 sq./ft. so repairs would be more than the sum total of assessments.
It was noted that it is the property owner's responsibility to maintain the area where a private drive meets a community road. Owners were advised to check with the Committee and if possible schedule needed repairs in conjunction with repair work scheduled by the Committee and performed by its contractor to reduce cost.
Reflector work is nearly complete. Reflectors have been placed on the road edge for foggy conditions. This is a plus for roadway safety. Necessary signs will go up on dangerous curves when holes for sign posts have been prepared. This is especially helpful for contractors or other occasional users of the roads.
Gate code has been changed as too many owners had distributed current codes to non-residents. It was noted that the first 3 digits are the property owner ID. Users entering these numbers will cause the phone to ring and the property owner can then press 9 to permit entrance. Owners were cautioned about giving out the all six digits as it permits entry without permission and could be used at any time for dubious reasons.
Real estate signs are discouraged and owners should be made aware that
these could be a liability if a view is obstructed. Also voluntary pick up and removal of road debris like rocks or trash is encouraged as debris can cause undue road wear and tear and litter is unsightly.
Mary Anne Shetter presented the financial report, available as a separate hand out at the meeting. She explained the hand out in detail. She also explained numbers from the white board, representing 10 years of accounting, showing where monies have been spent. She analyzed expenses incurred over the past 10 years. Cori Szepkouski explained that the community has never lost a court case involving collection of road maintenance assessments.
Phil Bulfinch, attending as a proxy voter, asked about maintenance of mail boxes and comingling of funds. Cori explained there was no comingling of funds, that there was a separate accounting item for the mail boxes, apart from money from property assessments. Separate mail box monies have a surplus of over $3,500 and are held jointly with road assessments in an interest bearing account.
Doug Eaton next addressed our voting process. He read portions of the Road Agreement and explained that if the Agreement is properly understood only those who vote either at the annual meeting or by mail on proposals presented for consideration to the property owners constitute the "voting power" as defined in the Road Agreement. The original intent of the Road Agreement was that property owners would not be included in the "voting power as defined herein" if they did not vote either in person or by proxy. Therefore, 65% of all apportioned votes are not required to pass an increase in assessments as was previously believed; rather 65% approval of those who exercise their franchise and vote on proposals by mail, in person or by proxy is required to pass an increase in assessments. Other proposals unrelated to assessments would require only majority approval of those who actually vote. The Committee is discussing the possibility of a quorum or acceptable number of votes to be cast before approval of any measure is recorded. Title 3 of the California Corporations Code on unincorporated associations states in Section 18330 that "(d) One-third the voting power of the association constitutes a quorum."
Open discussion: Jon Driscoll addressed the group and spoke of road conditions and safety. He believes that any new construction should carry a special assessment due to excessive traffic of heavy equipment during construction.
Amount of assessment, if any, to be determined by committee. Jon also said there was a need to re-write the road agreement to be more workable with long term vision for the community.
Doug Eaton commented that the bylaws needed to be adopted to clarify the road agreement. The question of whether or not our roadways could be considered private or public was raised. This issue is currently pending in court and Ron Barbanell is one of the litigants, the road committee is not a part of that lawsuit.
Questions were raised about emergency vehicles gaining access due to recent gate problems with 911 responders. James Szepkouski advised that all emergency agencies now have working access.
Jim Thomas discussed evacuation when reverse 911 calls are received or announcements are made. Jim moved to adjourn at 11:30m second by Doug Eaton.
Meeting adjourned.
Date Minutes Meeting Held: Saturday, October 18, 2014