Annual Meeting Minutes - 2006
Rancho Heights Road Maintenance Committee
Annual Meeting Minutes
P.O. Box 553, Temecula, CA 92593
Meeting Date: October 21, 2006
Location: Temecula Community Center / Old Town Temecula / Pujol St.
Committee Members Present:Stephen Bochinski, James Szepkouski, Kirk Ebmeier,
Jonathan Geller, Phil Burke
Property Owners Present:Ayala, Bochinski, Bolster, Burke, Box, Cates, DiSandro, Eaton, Ebmeier, Jones, Geller, Gill, Hill, Martin, Mickelson, Murray, Plyler, Prince, Ratkowski, Romans, Sanchez-Davis, Thomas, Shaw, Szepkouski, Wilbur, M. Williams, S. Williams, A. Williams
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Call to Order:
Chairman Bochinski called the meeting to order at 8:45. The Agenda and the Rules of Order for the meeting were reviewed.
Changes or Additions to the Agenda:
There were no Agenda Items submitted by property-owners prior to or after the deadline of 10/14/06 as published in the newsletter or website.
Recognition of Community Volunteers:
The following property-owners were recognized by the Committee for outstanding volunteer contributions during the past year. Beverly Romans; for volunteer service going far and beyond the call of duty while serving as Bookeeper and Treasurer while on the Road Committee. Pete Corirossi; for donating heavy machinery and his time to demolish a large rock outcropping which created a blind curve just west of the Arizona crossing on Rancho Heights Road,
Jackie Hill for her “multi-year, on-going” effort creating, publishing and managing our community newsletter and website. Tom Taufer and Tim Prince for planting palm trees by the gate. Doug Eaton for researching and writing a detailed history of our community to serve as a permanent reference tool. Cory Szepkouski for volunteering for a thousand miscellaneous tasks in addition to serving as our Bookkeeper. And a special thank you to any volunteers we specifically forgot to mention.
Jonathan Geller made a special presentation to both Stephen Bochinski and Phillip Burke for their tremendous contribution in bringing “pavement and power” to the community. Note: The Road Committee presented Jackie Hill with a gift to recognize her outstanding contributions in support of the Road Committee. This gift was paid for from the personal funds of the Road Committee members.
Election of committee members:
The Election of Committee members was introduced by Chairman Bochinski with the following statement;
“As I stated at last year’s annual meeting, I will not be seeking re-election this year. I have been honored to serve on this Committee who has been with me every step of the way. I cannot thank enough the Committee members I have served with, past and present, and all the volunteers that have made possible the accomplishments the community has achieved in that time on a very limited budget. I would also like to thank the community as a whole for without your support, none of this would be possible.
While the growth of the community has been substantial, the mission of the Road Committee remains basically the same. I am sure that everyone in this community, lead busy lives and the care and maintenance of our roads is but one small portion. Looking forward, I would encourage more community involvement to further our common goal. Come to the Committee meetings, propose solutions, engage in the process and be a positive force, even if we do not always agree. Complaints, demands and personal attacks are the corrosive actions of the few. Seek to build trust, work together for the common good. Remember the core decency of your neighbors who volunteer to serve on the Committee.”
Stephen Bochinski explained the voting process. Proxy Requests had been included in the mailing sent to property-owners with annual meeting notification. Ballots were passed out which listed APN number with numbers of votes held by each property owner. No incumbents were running for re-election. Two seats on the Committee were open and available for this election. The seat vacated earlier this year by Beverly Romans which had been temporarily filled/serviced by Phil Burke and the seat made available by outgoing Chairman Bochinski. Only two property-owners volunteered to serve in these positions; Craig Hill and Doug Eaton. Both had their nominations seconded from the floor and were given the opportunity to address the meeting. The vote was then taken. Two volunteers, Scott Williams and Dave Wilbur were utilized to count votes. Our sincere thanks to these gentleman. Ballots were cast and tabulations were later announced as follows: Craig Hill: 100 votes, Doug Eaton; 98 votes, with 16 absentions or no votes cast in any form.
Mr. Hill and Mr. Eaton thereby began new two year terms on the Road Maintenance Committee.
Financial Report:
The Financial Report was presented by Treasurer, Kirk Ebmeier. Property-owners took advantage of the opportunity to ask questions and discuss certain details of the report. A motion was made by Jonathan Geller to approve the Financial Report. James Szepkouski seconded the motion. Passed by all. Copies of the Financial Report were made available to all in attendance.
Special Committee Reports:
Independent Financial Review Committee:
As per discussion in last year’s Annual Meeting, a special sub-committee was formulated to provide an annual, third-party review of the Committee’s financial transactions for the year.
The Road Committee wants to thank Jim Thomas and Scott Murray for devoting their time to this task. The Community also thanks our Treasurer, Kirk Ebmeier and our Bookkeeper, Cori Szepkouski for making themselves availabe to support the review conducted by Mr. Murray and Mr. Thomas.
The Report, co-presented by Scott Murray and Jim Thomas, emphasized the following points;
* Reviewed were the checking account bank statements and check register.
* Primarily looked at this one year; 2006, while all records of past years were made available.
* Many overdue funds were successfully collected from past years and that these monies will not be available in future years, thus the committee will have to look at income moving forward.
* Lawsuit could adversely affect committee and ability to take care of roads.
* Records were logical and presentable, everything looked in balance.
Chairman Bochinski stressed that this function will continue in future and that the Treasurer and Bookeeper were only there to answer questions and not participate in writing report. Scott Murray emphasized “we were the only two volunteers and please anyone please come forward for next years review”.
Jackie Hill clarified that fee for hosting the website is $199 per year. The higher amount listed in the financial report is due to carry-over costs from the previous web hosting contract which will not recur.
Road Report:
James Szepkouski reported that this year’s repairs were mostly complete and would be completed by approximately October 26th. The repairs were being performed further out on the more distant sections of road this year. The sum total of repairs was estimated to be 18,000 square feet in 40 patches. Five bids were sought for this year’s repairs and three were obtained. The low bidder Peter’s Paving was contracted for the work which included; grinding the existing road surface and re-paving three inches deep. Total costs for all work performed averaged $3 per square foot.
The intersection of Rancho Heights Road and Pala/Temecula road was a topic of special interest.
All in attendance agreed that this area is a priority and needs to be addressed, especially the Road Committee. Proper re-construction of this area included concrete-lined gutters and run-offs which is estimated to cost $15,000 to $20,000. As these funds do not exist at this time, the alternative of using large-size aggregate to manage the fill and maintain the side of the roads will be utilized and is expected to be completed within 30-60 days.
Chairman Bochinski spoke of working to have a dozer make passable the connector road between Rancho Heights and Magee Roads to provide an alternative route for fire escape.
And stated we do have some funds for these projects.
Gate Report:
Report by Gatemaster; James Szepkouski
James reviewed the function of the gate including the Dialer:
* Your guests can dial your name just by scrolling the A-Z buttons and you don’t have to give out your code.
Stressed that this is a good approach for security.
* Realtors can be fined $1000 for giving out codes to the public.
* New codes will be coming to re-secure gate
* All emergency agencies have access through gate via “Yelp” siren.
Report on Status of Resolution for Increasing Annual Asessment …Report by Phil Burke…
Ballot is for special assessment to raise Benefit Unit to $400 from $200 plus create separate emergency fund.
Currently have collected only 20% of ballots. It was requested of property-owners that that if they had their ballots with them, please turn them in today. For anyone who wanted to submit their ballots, ballots were made available to them and were registered by APN number. Ballots have been mailed out over two months ago and we are having our traditinal challenge of getting people to reply regardless of whether voting yes or no.
Lawsuit Report
Information as provided by public documents;
* Lawsuit was filed by property-owners; Everett and Olivia Dunnick, Timothy Prince , Barbara Gill
* Lawsuit filed against not just Committee members but against Road Committee members personally
* Additionally lists 50 more un-named “Does”, threatening all property-owners
* Official Road Committee answer to the complaint filed by lawyer, available on website
The following remarks were made by Chairman Bochinski both to further introduce this topic and to open the public forum for property-owner remarks on this matter:
“ As defendants, all committee members have been instructed by our attorney to not discuss the case. We can only tell you we are looking forward to having the case dismissed, thanks to a vigorous defense and examination of the true issues, all allowing us to move forward and focus once again on the normal duties of the road committee.
While we are restricted from speaking we want to devotee the remaining “45” minutes of the meeting as a public forum for YOU to share your thoughts on this lawsuit. We want to provide you the opportunity to share your opinions and perspective with the community. Since we have the Plaintiffs in the suit here with us today, you also have the opportunity to ask them questions in this public forum.
We also have a petition here today, where you can sign your name in support of the Road Committee and state that you do not support this pending lawsuit. This petition was created as a convenient vehicle for to indicate in a court of law, your disapproval of the lawsuit. If you support the Road Committee position, we’d appreciate our signing the petition as it circulates the room.”
Public Comment Summary:
Plaintiff Barbara Gill expressed her dissatisfaction with the Road Committee’s performance earlier in the meeting. Ten property-owners vehemently expressed their objections to the lawsuit. Plaintiff Tim Prince left the meeting without making comment, after the first property-owner expressed her criticism of the suit. Plaintiff Everett Dunnick was not in attendance during any portion of the meeting. Committee members and Defendants Stephen Bochinski, Kirk Ebmeier, Jonathan Geller, James Szepkouski, Beverly Romans and Phil Burke remained silent on the subject.
Petition Signatures Against the Lawsuit:
Petition to be submitted to the courts to demonstrate property-owners’s support of the Road Committee and their objection to this complaint. Number of signatures collected is currently thirty-six. Gathering of signatures for this petition started before this meeting and will be on-going.
Adjournment:Meeting adjourned at 11:45
Date Minutes Meeting Held:
Saturday, October 21, 2006