President's Report given at the August Board Meeting, 8/25/2011
President's Report
August 25, 2011 Board Meeting
Community social gatherings. Our Association held a community social gathering on
August 17th. Several residents expressed appreciation for the opportunity to discuss
Association issues with our directors in an informal setting. Our Association will sponsor
a similar event on October 19th.
Anthem View Restaurant. Our restaurant tenant has notified us that it will open for
business at 11 a.m. seven days a week starting September 1. Our independent auditor
is in the process of determining Fred Slark's financial capacity to operate the restaurant.
There have not yet been any negotiations on possible amendments to the restaurant
lease.
Sloan Hills open pit mine. BLM released its Draft Environmental Impact Study on the
Sloan Hills open pit mine on August 5th. BLM will conduct public hearings on this
environmental study in October. Two copies of the Draft Environmental Impact Study
are available to SCA residents to read in the Anthem Center Administrative Office. Our
Congressional delegation has been trying to kill this proposed mine for more than 18
months, and they have promised a renewed effort this year. In light of the recent
difficulty in getting Congressional action on anything, our Association's Sloan Hills Task
Force is continuing its efforts to convince BLM to reject this project.
Strategic planning. We are using a bottom-up approach to strategic planning for our
Association this year. Our committees have been meeting to develop outcome
statements, the actions to accomplish these outcomes, and the performance indicators
they will use to measure accomplishment. Our Board will hold a workshop at 1:30 on
October 17th to discuss our Association's strategic plan.
Future Board meetings. The regular Board meeting next month will be held in the
Delaware Room in Anthem Center. Members attending these meetings will be asked
whether they prefer Delaware or Freedom Hall as a venue for future Board meetings.
The Board will use this feedback to help determine the location of future meetings.
Independent auditor to change. Our Finance Committee sent requests for auditing
service proposals to eight accounting firms and received four proposals. The Committee
conducted preliminary interviews with these four firms and narrowed the finalists down
to K&A, Inc. and Kafoury Armstrong. The Committee will hold more extensive interviews
with these two firms and recommend a new independent auditor to our Board.
Dismissal of CC&R case. The Nevada Commission for Common-Interest Communities
dismissed a complaint against four of our Association's former directors at a hearing on
Tuesday. The facts in this case are not in dispute. On the advice of legal counsel, our
Board amended our CC&Rs to comply with changes in the Nevada Statutes. They did
this so that our residents wouldn't be misled by reading provisions made obsolete by
statutory changes. One of our residents complained that our Board lacked the authority
to do this and as a result the Real Estate Division brought the case that was dismissed.
Defending this case cost our Association the $15,000 deductible under its insurance
policy, and will likely result in higher insurance premiums in the future.
IRS audit. The IRS has not yet scheduled the administrative review of its proposed
adjustments to the Association's 2007 income tax return.
Nevada sales and use tax audit. The Nevada Department of Revenue has completed
its audit of our Association's sales and use tax returns, and has assessed additional
taxes of $10,408 plus interest and penalties of $4,122. Our Association intends to pay
this tax and request a waiver of the interest and penalties.
Executive session meetings. The Board held an executive session earlier today. At
this meeting, our Board approved a settlement offer on our Association's construction
defect lawsuit on Independence Center. Our Association will receive a net recovery of
$57,800 after payment of legal fees. The Fenton Grant law firm has received three bids
to perform this work, and two of these are less than our net recovery. We will bid this
project ourselves.
Our Board also considered four appeals and five account requests, and obtained legal
advice on construction defect litigation, the pending IRS audit, a claim against a vendor,
and the use of internet bids.
Jim Long