Minutes of the Regular Board Meeting of the

Arabian Acres Metropolitan District

        

The meeting was held at the offices of AquaTest, Inc. located at 400 W. Midland Ave., Suite 250, in Woodland Park, Colorado at 7:00 PM on Friday, May 14th, 2004.

CALL TO ORDER/DECLARATION OF QUORUM

A quorum was declared present and the meeting was called to order at 7:20pm

Directors in Attendance

Gene Billings

Al Jordan

Denny Yoder

David Biondo

Also in Attendance

Dave Stanford, David Stanford, Debbie Stanford and Beth Elzas, of AquaTest, Inc.

District Counsel Joan Fritsche of Seter and Vander Wall, P.C

Public in attendance was Radford Walker and Ken Rupp.

ELECTION OF NEW BOARD MEMBER / PRESIDENT AND SWEARING IN

Following Director Yoder taking the oath of office as a returning Board member, the next item of importance was electing a new Board President.  Director Jordan nominated Director Yoder who declined.  Director Yoder then made a motion and nominated Director Billings who had expressed his interest.  The nomination was seconded by Director Biondo and carried. 

Radford Walker expressed his interest in serving on the board.  His qualifications were presented.  Director Jordan made a motion to appoint Mr. Walker to fill the Board member vacancy, based upon his resume, seconded by Director Biondo. The motion carried unanimously.  Director Walker read and signed the oath of office and was sworn in.

DISCLOSURE OF CONFLICT

Joan Fritsche asked the board to confirm that no changes have occurred to any of the director’s interests that warrant amending the written disclosures on file with the Secretary of State’s Office with regard to any potential conflicts of interest.  Pursuant to Colorado law, certain disclosures may be required prior to taking official action at the meeting.  The Board reviewed the agenda for the meeting, following which each board member disclosed their conflicts of interest, stating the fact and summary nature of any matters, as required under Colorado law, to permit official action to be taken at the meeting. 

PUBLIC COMMENT

Ex-Director Rupp requested that he be included in the e-mails concerning the Arabian Acres Metropolitan District and the Board voiced their assurance that this would continue.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES FROM APRIL 9, 2004

As the Board had the minutes from April included in their pre-meeting packets and had reviewed those, no changes were noted as necessary.  A motion was made by Director Jordan, was seconded by Director Biondo and was carried.  Director Walker elected to abstain from voting on the approval of the April 9, 2004 minutes.   Director Billings requested that Beth Elzas e-mail him a copy of the approved minutes so that he could include them on the District’s website and she indicated that she would do so.

FINANCIAL MATTERS

Regarding the financials, Director Yoder requested we add a footnote on the financials referring to substantial legal fees being carried over from 2003.  Directors Jordan and Billings voiced their agreement and Beth Elzas said she would do so.   Discussion then followed about what Seter and Vander Wall, P.C. has billed in 2004.  Beth informed the Board that the breakdown of legal fees for 2003 and 2004 has been sent to Paul Goedecke and she will consult with him regarding the accounting procedure of the legal fees for 2003 and 2004.  The Board directed AquaTest to get specific instructions from the District Accountant as to how to properly account for legal fees of 2003 and 2004.

Director Jordan questioned the accounting of the county tax abatements referred to in last months minutes during his absence.  After Beth Elzas explained her method for accounting of this item, Director Jordan expressed his concern that it be tracked so it will correctly be identified as non-operating income.  Beth will make this correction.

Each of Paul Goedecke’s notes was briefly discussed and recommendations were made to achieve what Paul would like to see reflected.  Beth has been and will continue to converse with Paul regarding this.  Dave Stanford also mentioned that the auditor would make many of these questions and concerns clear when the yearly audit is processed.   It was then decided to table this issue until the next meeting.  Beth stated that she would continue to work to incorporate Paul’s suggestions for 2004 until we hear from the auditor.

Director Yoder questioned how the postage, office supplies and electric costs might run over the yearly budget.  Beth explained that much of the postage reflected in the financials was extra due to the mailing of the quarterly newsletter.  After discussion, it was decided that Director Billings would continue to send a quarterly newsletter but would do it in black and white for added savings.  The pros and cons of bulk mailing were discussed and it was decided that it would not provide savings for a District the size of Arabian Acres Metro.

The Directors questioned the costs for water testing as per the Cash Disbursements Journal.  Dave Stanford explained the tests required, the testing schedule set up by the EPA and the State of Colorado and the cost associated with such testing.

Director Jordan motioned to accept the cash disbursements as presented and this was seconded by Director Yoder.  The motion carried.

Joan Fritsche reported statutorily, that the audit is to be completed by June 30 and she suggested that we invite the auditor to the June Board meeting.  The Directors directed AquaTest to request the District Auditor to attend the June Board meeting.  Beth will send a letter making this request.

Minimal discussion took place regarding the PK Enterprises tap fee payment for the District acquisition of the Trout Haven Resort main.  Director Billings asked the amount of the tap fee payment to be made by the District to PK Enterprises and Beth Elzas reported that it was to be $3000.00 of the total tap fee of $8000.00 paid by the new water customer on this main, as per the Acquisition Agreement for the Trout Haven Resort main.

AQUATEST CONTRACT

Copies of the Agreement for Management and Operations Services between the District and AquaTest were given to the Board members for them to read.  However, Director Jordan stated that if Joan Fritsche, Ken Rupp and Dave Stanford are in agreement on the contract, he asked that it just be voted on by the Board and each Board member not be required to read the entire document.   Joan gave a brief synopsis of each section and answered questions.  Some discussion took place.  Discussion ensued regarding AquaTest, Inc. giving 30 days notice of any changes to their insurance referred to on page 5 in paragraph 10 of the contract.  Some discussion ensued and, it was agreed by the Board that, as Seter and Vander Wall, P.C. would be notified in the event of any changes in AquaTest’s insurance, that the contract could be approved as written.  Director Yoder requested time to review the Agreement before voting.  The motion was made by Director Jordan to accept the contract.  This was seconded by Director Yoder and carried.  The contract was initiated and signed by the appropriate Board members.

MANAGERS REPORT

Dave Stanford reported the system was working well. 

The MPA testing has been completed on Well # 3 and the test results show the well is within EPA guidelines.  Well # 5 is not producing enough water to do the required MPA test on it.

The Trout Haven Resort main size and cost was to be verified by AquaTest and Dave verified that it is a 4” line and not a 6’’ line as reported by Mr. Kuyper.  PK Enterprises’ CPA, Covalt and Associates, PC, also verified the initial costs of this main, which shows the costs to be $42,048.00.  

Dave reported that he had made a $2000.00 error in his addition in his last report regarding the ‘Tioga Trail’ main extension costs.  The costs for this main extension did come in at the actual contract amount, not the total amount presented by AquaTest and approved by the Board, as of this error in addition.  The $2000.00 error occurred in the materials costs for the project.  All sub contractors’ costs were accurate.

Mr. Rupp recommended that the District put on hold the re-drilling of Well # 3 and apply for a permit to re-drill Well # 5.  Dave concurred.  After discussion it was decided to hold on any action on any well until later in the year and re-visit the subject of the District’s finances.

Dave was directed by the Board to proceed on the paperwork for re-drilling Well # 5.

The Workers Compensation Insurance policy has been obtained for the Directors from the Colorado Special Districts Property and Liability Pool for $108.54.

AquaTest updated the Board on the situation at 40 Lady Lane.  The customer failed to pay their water service bill and their water service was turned off.  The customer tampered with their shut off valve and turned their water back on several times.  The District imposed the $1000.00 fine as per the District’s rules and regulations.  The water customer has issued a check in the full amount.  A discussion ensued as to whether the check was going to clear and other alternative means to shut off this properties water permanently.  The Directors chose to table the issue until it was known if the check would clear.

ATTORNEY’S REPORT

As the petition to amend the water court decree was protested and denied by the Water Court Judge, Mr. Rupp recommended that he’d like to see the Board have Mr. Lindholm change the wording of the application and have Mr. Lindholm, the District’s attorney in this matter, continue to pursue it.  The Board authorized Mr. Rupp to continue working with Mr. Lindholm on behalf of the District.  A motion directing Mr. Lindholm to move forward with obtaining water court approval of outside water sales up to $5000.00 in total expenses or an additional $2000.00 over the estimated costs so far was made. Also included in the motion that was made by Director Jordan, was to have Dave Lindholm submit a report in approximately one month to the Board. This was seconded by Director Biondo and was carried.

Some discussion took place regarding the Camp Iana easement.  Mr. Rupp stated that he would continue to research this and the subject was tabled.

There was also some discussion about the amendments to the Rules and Regulations.  It was decided that this should be tabled until next year.

OTHER BUSINESS 

Continuing education classes offered by the Special District Association (SDA), Division of Local Affairs and the SDA Annual Conference were discussed.  As flyers for some of these events have not yet been received it was suggested that their websites be checked and the information be presented at the June meeting. 

A motion was made by Director Walker and was seconded by Director Jordan that the District pay for any Board member wishing to attend the Special District Association regional conference or any of the other workshops.  The motion carried.

The Arabian Acres Property Owners annual meeting is scheduled to be held on May 22nd at the Lost Dutchman Mine beginning at 10:00.  Discussion also took place regarding case law requiring posting of the Property Owner’s Association meeting as notice of a quorum of a meeting of the Arabian Acres Metropolitan District Board members.  This has been overturned by the state supreme court and is no longer necessary.

It was brought up that a Director’s packet needs to be prepared for Radford Walker for the meetings.

Joan asked that, as she will not be in attendance, that she be sent the meeting packets for June and July.

A draft letter to the Runyons was approved to be sent in response to their letter of May 14, 2004 regarding financial reimbursement to Sharon Tegtmeire for water tap expenses.

ADJOURNMENT

A motion to adjourn was made at 10:20 by Director Biondo and was seconded by Director Walker.  This was unanimously carried.

 

THE NEXT MEETING OF THE ARABIAN ACRES METROPOLITAN DISTRICT WILL BE HELD JUNE 11TH, 2004 AT 7:00 P.M.

 

 

______________________________

Secretary for the Meeting