The meeting was called to order at 7:03 by president Richard Juve. Present were Gary Smith, Craig Cowles, Lynn McDonald, Phyllis Upright, Robert English, Richard Juve, John McCoy, Dennis Widby, John Horn. Guests present: Larry Kruljac, Andy Andersen, Betty Koch, Kathy Widby, Norm & Rita Farb, Dave Martin, Herb Jolliff, Robert Severence, Fred & Carole Krieg, Bobbi Keeler, Don & Linda Woodley, Jake Thiessen, Ted & Gwen Boer, and Jerry Likata. Alan Wright arrived later.
Secretary’s report: Dave Martin’s name was mis-quoted as Bill, and Lynn McDonald said that there was a statement attributed to him (about quoting by-laws) that he didn’t make. With these corrections, all approved the minutes of the October 27 and December 3 meetings by voice vote.
Treasurer’s report: John passed a letter around from Ron Carrol which detailed the audit of the IAHA treasury. To summarize: the letter said that all records are in agreement, all funds were accounted for, and that Gail did a great job keeping track of the funds. Further, 21 lots have not paid their dues. John will be calling these lot owners, and if they are not forthcoming a list will be published. A full audit list was passed around, along with a note to explain that the treasury amount published in the January edition of “Loud and Clear” was not accurate. The figures for May of 2004 were published by mistake. The number that should have been published, correct as of January 31, was $75,253.00. John made a motion to have a correction published, but Alan pointed out that a motion was not necessary for publication of anything in the newsletter. The correction will be published.
There was one question raised at this point about some chairs that were left at the Gabel’s hangar, and were they to be included in the IAHA assets list. The Farbs said that those chairs belonged to them.
Architecture report: nothing to report.
Maintenance report: In the directory, Lynn was tagged as the chairman of maintenance, but Craig actually is. He further stated that he was told that he couldn’t vote at the meetings. Richard said that he didn’t know how that policy got started, and would look into it. Craig went into some detail about the work that he and Lynn do, particularly the asphalt work. He further stated what happens when neighbors become unhappy with one another, in this particular case a contractor had driven (with supervision) across a taxiway with no damage involved, but some neighbors got so mad about it that they flattened the tires on the contractor’s truck. The police have been contacted, and the neighbor has been quiet since then.
Lynn further stated that the tractor’s been a “lightning rod” of controversy and all they want to do is to keep the common property maintained without being hassled by homeowners. Dennis Widby had a disagreement about that as he (as a payer of homeowner’s dues) was part-owner of that tractor and wanted to make sure that the tractor wasn’t used for personal purposes. Alan had a further point to make about the practice of mowing the lots, as this is a volunteer crew and keeping the lots mowed has been proven a good practice. Phyllis asked if each lot owner didn’t have the responsibility to maintain their own lot. Alan further pointed out that the city used to do that and the city has asked them not to rely on the city so much for this purpose. Richard said that this item was not on this evening’s agenda, and that there were other items which needed to be discussed.
Phyllis had a comment on the feasibility study – she stated that a study was all this was, and that the rumors that were circulated that huge amounts of money were spent were all false.
John Horn had a comment to make about how lucky we were to have a volunteer crew to maintain the airpark, and that we needed to tread carefully or else have to find replacements. Richard added a supporting comment about John’s history as a maintenance head for highways and airports.
Richard went to the next item on the agenda which had to do with notifying owners of vacant lots, and he made a motion that notices of meetings will be mailed to these off-site owners. Alan seconded that motion. That got approved.
The next item had to do with equipment storage. Craig said the largest machine that needed storage is a gravel-spreader, and that it is currently in one of Harry Malette’s out-buildings. There are also two tractors (the new one, and the dismantled old one). Currently Burt Barrett’s hangar has been offered to Craig, so this matter of where to keep the equipment has now been taken care of.
The next item was the lot which centered around the proposed out-building, chiefly the understanding that Dewey had about how available the lot actually was. Richard publicly thanked Dave Martin for his involvement in heading the committee to study the feasibility.
The next item on the agenda was a proposal for the maintenance of the airpark walkways. There was some doubt as to whether the CC&Rs needed to be changed for this, but that the maintenance of these walkways (which are actually on private property) may need to be systemized in order to be perfectly legal. Some comments were made from the floor and from the Board, pro and con, and the discussion turned gradually toward the Martin’s walkway (which was the most recent addition). Alan said, in hindsight, he would have delayed that move and put out a request to anyone else on the street who wanted to have a walkway put on their property.
The Memorial Day Fly-By on May 31 was the next item discussed. Andy stood up from the floor and enumerated the various items that need to be planned for and taken care of in order to make this perpetual event a success. He further said that there would be an ISAS meeting on the issue in two weeks.
The ORS (Oregon Revised Statutes) and their applicability to IAHA was the next item on the agenda. Richard said that, normally, ORS applied before the Declaration and By-Laws, and enumerated the points that he was concerned about in a handout which was passed around. He put a motion forward to contact the IAHA attorney George Jennings to find out a legal position about where the Board stands on these points, putting a ceiling of $1,000.00. John McCoy seconded. Alan asked whether he would be asking the attorney about the walkway question at the same time, and Richard said he wanted to keep his discussion with the attorney focused on one issue. There was one opposition voiced in the vote, from Dennis Widby, and all other Board members approved the expenditure.
John had the floor for the next point of discussion – the checking account and where to put it. He had three separate points to bring up which were enumerated on a sheet he passed around. The first one had to do with the number of people who can sign checks, that any two of the main Board (the president, vice-president, the secretary, and treasurer) can sign any check. All approved by voice vote. The second point had to do with expenditures which would require Board approval (new non-routine items or large amounts) and which would not (for instance, regular on-going expenditures). There was a further “emergency clause” which allowed an emergency expenditure without a Board meeting. Phyllis asked if this was in compliance with the By-laws, and Richard said it was – that the existing procedures don’t go to this level of detail. Dennis asked if there was a level of expenditure which required general membership, and John said that this would be one of the questions that needed to be brought before the attorney. Alan seconded the motion, and further suggested that this particular motion be tabled until the information from the attorney was in. The consensus was that even if this policy needs to be changed at the next meeting, it was good to have this policy in place. All approved by voice vote. The third had to do with the establishment of a petty cash fund for regular maintenance funds, with the proviso that receipts be provided for everything. Gregg Smith seconded. Craig said that the $200.00 amount suggested would last several months. All approved by voice vote.
Updating the corporate documents was the next item. Richard said he was ready to send the paperwork and wanted to make sure that there wasn’t any more discussion on the issue. There was no discussion on this point, so Richard said he would send it off the next day.
Mailbox access was next on the agenda. This was mainly to clarify the uses and access to this box, and Alan said that the Treasurer normally picks up the mail as most of it is homeowner’s dues checks and bank statements.
The stormwater master plan was the next item to be discussed. Craig said that he and Lynn had spent lots of time and energy cutting the growth in those ditches, to prevent silting and blockage. Richard said that one of two entities needed to maintain that ditch – either the private property owners or the Association – and frequently the Association needs to “get drastic” (to quote a member from the floor) to keep these ditches free of debris.
Vehicle use of taxiways was next, which revisited an item that Craig had brought up earlier in the meeting about the truck which needed to use the taxiway to get out. The discussion centered around what needed to be done in the future so that one Board member did not have to bear the load of responsibility all by themselves. There may be some situations where permission and supervision could be obtained in advance when a construction crew is working around the taxiway. Phyllis asked if this was something that the architectural committee would know about in advance, and the consensus was that this was an unusual event. A point was raised from the floor that 20 years ago there was an ordinance that there needed to be 20 feet between each house to get a firetruck through, and that there was one heavy truck once that tore up a taxiway trying to get out. Since most vehicles which occasionally use these taxiways are much lighter than that, maybe the restriction of no driving on the taxiways needed to be loosened up a bit. No motions were made on this issue.
The budget for 2005 was next. John passed around a sheet which averaged the expenditures on various budget items for the last five years. Richard further stated that a big item with the ORS regulations had to do with budgeting and auditing, and that much of the discussion about budgeting can be tabled until after meeting with the attorney and finding out how the regulations apply.
The last item on the agenda had to do with other points that may need to be brought before the Board this year. One item that was agreed would re-appear was the issue of mowing vacant lots with the Association tractor. John said that he would welcome the maintenance crew to work with him on a plan for what to do with the vacant lots, since it would be wise to have a workable proposal on this point rather than it coming back as general discussion. John also said that the old tractor (without an engine) needed to be sold, and that the current offer price is $1,050.00, and that he would be passing that bit of news to a classified ad to see if anyone else wanted it. John Horn suggested sealed bids on it. The motion to advertise the old tractor for sale was approved by voice vote. John Horn brought up the City’s meeting that would propose increasing the indebtedness of the City by $13,000,000.00, which would effect the tax rates on our lots. Andy said that there would be a seminar on April 16 at 2 PM in the Gabel’s hangar for those who wanted proficiency training on VFR. Richard said that it would be a good idea for the Board to meet once a month for a while to clear up the lingering issues, but that the next one wouldn’t happen until he had met with the attorney.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:56 PM.
Respectfully submitted by Robert English, secretary.