Note: My apologies for this delayed report on the Oct. 25 Board Meeting. When you live and breathe Red Sox baseball, and your team is in the World Series, the rest of the world stops spinning.
Prior to the Member Comment Period, resident Jack Herlihy addressed the Board and the audience -I counted only 98 people in attendance- on the subject of the application of Calvary Church for a variety of facilities on property owned by the Bureau of Land Management. The land is immediately west of, and abuts, SCA's Westridge Village, and Herlihy is serving as a communications spokesman for a task force that is spearheading the community-wide effort to mount opposition to the church application. He thanked the Board for allowing the task force to be created and he presented information about plans to organize the community. In addition, a petition was circulated at this meeting and was signed by most who attended.
Meeting highlights follow.
Member Comment Period
Donna Dickey asked about the new boiler installed in the Trumpets kitchen, as well as the cleaning of the kitchen that is taking place. She stated that approving these expenditures was an illegal act, and she asked why it was done. For her second topic, she accused Board President Mike Dixon of lying about when he knew about the Calvary Church BLM application.
Tim Stebbins took exception to Mike Dixon saying that a homeowner can't bring anyone with him/her to review requested documents in the Association offices.
Rivka Wolf asked why money is being spent on a consultant pursuant to the redecoration of Anthem Center. "We don't need to redecorate," she said. "Why are we spending $37,000 on CLEO (the design consultant)." Wolf also expressed concern, on behalf of Mah-Jongg players who use the Anthem Center gallery, that the temperature is too cold in that area of the building when they are playing.
Norman McCullough claimed that there is an inconsistency in documents related to the Villa neighborhoods which are posted on the community website. He said that the documents claim that the signers of the "Villas Agreement" had legal advice, but that a letter from Association attorney John Leach stated he did not participate in the process. McCullough said that because the Villas Agreement is a contractual document, it requires a formal legal opinion, and he requested that his Board-meeting comments be included in the minutes of the meeting.
Kathy Matson, a member of the Trumpets Working Group, asked why Mike Dixon made a change in the wording of the cover letter accompanying the Trumpets survey to be received by residents with the September issue of the Spirit. Dixon had directed that the letter be changed to state that one survey per household would be accepted rather than one vote per resident. Matson said that her group vigorously disagreed with Dixon's change (applause).
Michael Hurwitz thanked all the volunteers who worked on preparing the 2008 budget. He said he thinks that the 2008 dues increase is modest, and expressed his approval of the process (applause).
Nelson Orth referred to a letter he said he sent to Board member Kay Dwyer, asking for her response to questions regarding the Villas Agreement. He stated that Dwyer is "guilty until proven innocent." He said that he wants hearings to be held on alleged Code of Conduct violations, and he said he'd like to have a "Let's Resolve Code of Conduct Violations Day."
Joe Barbato claimed that the Board had once said that dues would not go up until 2010 or 2011. He said our dues should not go up until we know what is owed to us by the developer (applause).
Apparently referring to cogen money promised to SCA by the developer if a cogen plant was not built, David Green asked why we haven't seen any of the promised money. "The money is not coming in," he said (applause).
Richard Miller, identifying himself as Chair of the SCA Democrats Special Interest Group, asked why he hadn't received any action on a letter he sent to Lifestyle Committee Chair Phyllis Washburn asking why his group isn't allowed to serve cookies and coffee at its meetings.
Ed Sturm (sp?) said he thinks the Board is doing a good job and that many appreciate it. He criticized segments of the community for what he called "sarcastic and cynical comments."
Camille Brunetta said, "We live in a democracy. Cynicism and sarcasm often reflect people's passion. I hope people can still have freedom of speech."
Board President's Report
Mike Dixon stated that inspection of the Trumpets premises showed that Trumpets is "not in perfect condition." He said that a cleaning contract had been awarded and a cleaning crew is now at work. He added that most of the equipment in less-than-perfect condition can be fixed and will not have to be replaced. "We have to rehabilitate the kitchen quickly for sanitary reasons and for our New Year's Eve party," he said. He also noted that the New Year's Eve party has been priced at $90 per person, or $100 per person for seating in the restaurant area. This price is lower than last year, Dixon said, adding that two bottles of champagne per table are included in the price this year.
Dixon said the Trumpets Working Group is "off and running," with a report to be offered later in the meeting. He said that an "early case conference" in the Trumpets litigation was held on Oct. 16, with the parties agreeing to a six-month discovery period.
Commenting on the document-management project that has been taking place in the Greene Room at Anthem Center, Dixon said he has asked Pulte to reimburse the Association for the project's cost because the documents were all formerly in the possession of the developer and had been mismanaged.
Regarding the new, longer account numbers on the RMI billing statement, Dixon said the numbers are coded so as to identify the villages in which each billed property is located, which will allow for analysis of delinquency information and patterns.
On the subject of the much-criticized Oversight Committee, Dixon said the Association, which did not create the Committee, has no power to dissolve it. He said he told Henderson Mayor Jim Gibson and our City Councilor, Andy Hafen, that the Oversight Committee should not be recognized.
Finally, Dixon introduced Association attorney John Leach, who was in the audience.
Approval of Agenda
Prior to the vote to approve the meeting agenda, Board member Bob Frank raised an objection to the overall agenda process. The agenda was approved by a vote of 6-1, with Frank opposed.
Document Management Report
Board Secretary Elaine Berg stated the documents that were sorted in the Greene Room all pre-dated the arrival of RMI as the Association's management company in March, 2006. All SCA documents created since RMI came on are properly sorted, she said. She then presented a detailed history of SCA's management, going through the extensive list of community-manager changes and management personnel. She explained that the many boxes of documents that were later discovered had been shipped over to us by the developer when it relocated its local headquarters to a new building. Berg also reiterated that no documents brought into the Greene Room have been shredded.
Berg made a motion that an independent document management auditor be retained to deal with the newly sorted documents in the Greene Room. During discussion on the motion, Bob Frank asked if the subject documents were financial documents only, and Berg replied that some were, but not all. Frank also asked if any of the documents had been kept at Del Webb's offices in Arizona, and Board member Bob Berman answered that all the documents had been kept in Nevada.
The motion to retain an independent document management auditor passed on a vote of 6-1. Bob Frank voted against the motion, explaining that he thought Del Webb should contribute to the cost of the project.
Manager's Report
Community Manager Terry DaSilva reported on a number of items of interest to the community, including news that her Assistant CAM, Caren Carrero, had just passed an important exam leading toward Certified Community Manager status. DaSilva also noted that the outdoor swimming pool will close for the season on November 1, and that the indoor pool will also be closed for a week to do required maintenance.
Treasurer's Report
Board Treasurer Roz Berman noted that about 20 public budget meetings had been held over recent weeks, and she thanked the Finance Committee and the RMI management and accounting support staff for their hard work on the 2008 budget. Berman introduced RMI's new controller, Richard Timpson, who was in the audience. A motion to approve the restated 12/31/06 and 6/30/07 financial reports was unanimously approved, and Berman stated that subsequent required reports had recently been received and are now under review.
Landscaping Report For Bank-Owned Properties
Board member Kay Dwyer delivered this report, stating that the Compliance Department has been aggressively working cases involving landscaping issues for properties that had been taken over by banks. She said that four of the properties had recently been sold, two have been properly landscaped by their bank owners, and the remaining small number are being worked by Compliance.
Building 3 Recreation Center
Board member Bob Berman gave this report. He said that the permitting process for the facility has been completed, final site grading is complete, and groundbreaking will take place in November. The current anticipated opening date for the building is late July or early August 2008. Berman added that he expect to be advised about the developer's "greening analysis" within a week or so, also saying that availability of the site for a possible cell tower is being investigated, which would address the dual purpose of alleviating cell phone reception problems in that area while producing some revenue for the Association.
Interior Design Sub-Committee
Properties & Grounds Committee member Linda Krivec, a member of the Interior Design Sub-Committee submitted this report, which reads as follows: The designer has presented a preliminary budget for refurbishment of Hanneman Hall, Anthem Center lobby and various meeting spaces. However, the sub-committee had not as yet been able to meet to review them. We hope to present a full report at the November meeting. It was also noted that the contract with CLEO Designs specifically limits the scope of work, and any potential design consultation proposals regarding Trumpets would most likely trigger additional fees above the current $37,000 amount. P&G approved the three landscaping contracts submitted by Facilities Manager Bruno Panek, using three contractors over a single contractor, which will produce a savings of $61,000 over our current contract, and have passed it on to the Finance Committee for review.
Trumpets Working Group (TWG)
Mike Dixon reported that TWG Chair Patti Shock had resigned due to a potential conflict of interest, and he asked Assistant CAM Caren Carerro to read the report that Shock had prepared for the meeting.(Reporter's note: Shock's report will be posted to the SCA website. In addition, she later withdrew her resignation upon near-unanimous request of the TWG).
Bob Frank, who had submitted a lengthy commentary on the proposed Trumpets survey after it had been routed to Board members for comment, said he had been coached not to interfere with this part of the process. He said the Board told him it was too late to comment on the survey to the great extent that he did. But he said that Board members' ideas are needed and that Board members, in his opinion, should be asked for their ideas.
Lifestyle Committee
The Lifestyle Committee asked the Board to approve a recommendation to extend the hours of the Anthem Center coffee bar until 3 p.m. on a temporary basis until a decision is made on Trumpets. Bob Frank suggested that the vote should be to allow the Lifestyle Committee to set whatever hours it wishes, and he asked why they would stop at 3 p.m. Board member Barry Friedman replied that these are peak hours for Anthem Center usage, and that business would slow dramatically after 3 p.m. when people leave the building in large numbers. The request of the Lifestyle Committee passed unanimously or near-unanimously (I did not note Bob Frank's vote and can correct this information later).
Finance Committee
An action item on the Finance Committee portion of the agenda was to approve a Reserve Fund appropriation in the amount of $51,590 to replace the HVAC (Heating/Air Conditioning/Ventilation) system serving the Trumpets area. Bob Frank asked what the likelihood was for recovering this expense as part of the lawsuit, and Mike Dixon replied that lawyers in such cases would not be expected to predict the likelihood of a recovery. The motion to approve the expenditure passed on a vote of 6-0 with Bob Frank abstaining.
Reserve Analysis
Three motions were presented to approve a total expenditure of $7,820 to hire Diversified Facility Services to conduct a study of financial projections for the Association, the neighborhoods (Villas) and Pinnacle Village to determine the required Reserve funding amount dues as of May 31, 2005 when transition occurred. The results of these studies could factor into whether the Association would consider seeking additional funds from Pulte.
Bob Frank questioned why the 2006 Reserve Study was done, and asked who paid for it. Mike Dixon and Roz Berman said the developer paid for it because the 2005 study had been rejected as inadequate. Bob Frank then said that Pulte should also be required to pay for the latest revision. Mike Dixon asked John Leach if he would comment on who should pay for the revision study. Leach explained that doing this revision is strictly an Association decision and the developer should not be required to pay for it. Bob Frank also said that the neighborhoods (Villas and Pinnacle) should not be expected to pay for the revision study out of their budgets.
The votes to approve the Diversified Facility Services quote were all passed 6-1, with Bob Frank opposed.
SCA Coupon Books
The Board voted to approve a proposal to send beginning-of-year coupon books to homeowners, containing coupons for quarterly payments of dues. This process will take the place of quarterly billings and is expected to save SCA more than $12,500 per year. Bob Frank said the Board should go to the community to ask if homeowners would be willing to pay a full year's dues in a single payment rather than quarterly, but several Board members said they believed this would be unfair to many of our residents who live on fixed incomes or very tight budgets.
The Budget Presentation
Finance Committee member Jack Troia delivered a PowerPoint presentation outlining the proposed 2008 Association and Neighborhoods budgets in great detail. As expected, the bottom line was a recommendation for a $160 Association dues increase, with the additional dues for most of the Villa neighborhoods dropping substantially.
During a resident question-and-answer period prior to the Board's vote on the Association budget, Lowell Benjamin asked why a "risk chart" could not be created to evaluate and assign probabilities to various contingencies, such as recovering excess cogen funds from the developer or predicting a revenue stream from a reopened Trumpets. Troia responded that while doing a risk chart would be an interesting exercise, the Finance Committee's charge is to deal with the here and now, and to develop a budget based upon information that is not speculative in nature.
After the motion to adopt the recommended Association budget was made, Bob Frank expressed his objection to raising dues before we know about some of the financial uncertainties. Mike Dixon replied that we must base our budget on what we know today, so as not to pass possible financial burdens onto those who come later.
The motion to adopt the proposed 2008 Association budget passed on a vote of 6-1, with Bob Frank opposed.
The motions to approve the proposed additional neighborhood (Villas) assessments for High Mesa, High Mountain, Canyon Crest and Pinnacle Village, all passed unanimously.
Before the vote on the Clubhouse Village recommended budget, Bob Frank asked why the assessment for that village was not being lowered as was the case for the other neighborhoods. Kay Dwyer said this was because Clubhouse Village did not become an SCA neighborhood until 2004, which increased their funding requirements. Bob Berman added that this circumstance had been fully explained during various Finance Committee open budget meetings. This recommendation passed on a vote of 6-1 with Bob Frank opposed.
Villas Painting Schedule
The Finance Committee recommended a Neighborhoods (Villas ) painting schedule that would accelerate the painting so that High Mountain and Clubhouse Village duplexes would be painted in 2008, and Canyon Crest and High Mesa duplexes would be painted in 2009. Bob Frank said he wants the neighborhoods to participate in these decisions, and he added that trim painting should be done as needed, not on a two-year schedule. (Reporter's note: This issue seems to have been a cause of disagreement among Villa owners, as some had advocated this short-term painting schedule).
The Villas painting recommendation passed on a 6-1 vote, with Bob Frank opposed.
Election Committee
The Board voted unanimously to accept a recommendation from the Election Committee reading as follows: "Board members will not use any of the SCA communications media or Election Committee-sponsored events to promote their personal support of specific candidates for election to the Board." Prior to the vote, the Board amended the motion to add a requirement that the above statement be added to the back of the official Election Manual.
WASP System Inventory Process
The official Board Book contains a project plan for conducting an Association inventory using proprietary software called WASP. A recommendation before the Board was to approve expenditure of about $2,000 for 3,000 bar-coding labels to cover inventory in our (soon-to-be) three recreation buildings. Bob Frank expressed concern that this proposal might have ramifications that would affect work the Properties & Grounds Committee has been doing relative to inventory processes. A motion by Bob Frank to table the proposal and schedule a workshop with P&G was unanimously approved.
Insurance Proposal
A motion was made to approve an insurance proposal from the Association's broker for a comprehensive package of insurance coverages at a total cost of $200,144 for the coming year, a net reduction of about 2 percent from the 2007 cost. Bob Frank said he disagreed with the need to buy a terrorism rider as part of the package, at a cost of about $2,800, stating that he didn't think loss from terrorism was a risk to us up here in Sun City Anthem. Bob Berman replied that there are so many variables in possible terrorism attacks ("dirty" bombs, dangerous chemicals, etc.) that it is possible we could be affected. The motion to approve the expenditure for insurance coverage passed on a 6-0 vote with Bob Frank abstaining.
Credit Card Payments
The Board voted to stop accepting credit card payments for dues. Only checks or money orders would be accepted. This is expected to save the Association over $35,000 per year. According to comments on the agenda, the Board is exploring the installation of some sort of kiosk that would allow members to make payments via credit card at their own expense.
Scientific and Engineering Standing Committee
This is the somewhat embattled proposal to create a dedicated group to provide information on homeowner problems involving Kitec, Rehau, construction defects, etc.Moved by Bob Frank, seconded by Barry Friedman and accompanied by a drafted formal resolution, the proposal engendered a great deal of discussion. Bob Berman suggested that a workshop be conducted. Kay Dwyer said that our insurance broker had asked for an amended coverage application form, which has not been submitted. "Shouldn't we be concerned mainly with Association property?" Dwyer asked. Roz Berman said she did not think the resolution as submitted by Bob Frank met the criteria for a properly drafted resolution, adding that she would support the idea of a workshop. The question was called and the proposal to create the new committee failed on 4-1 vote, with Bob Frank voting in favor and Barry Friedman abstaining.
No-Soliciting Signs
The City of Henderson had apparently advised SCA that its officials cannot enforce a no-soliciting policy in our community unless no-soliciting signs are clearly posted at our entrances. The Board voted unanimously to instruct RMI to obtain bids or estimates to install such signs for all SCA entrances bordering on Anthem Parkway, Sun City Anthem Drive, Volunteer, Eastern and Summersworth.
This concludes my report on the October 2008 Board meeting.