The
meeting was called to order by new President Alan Wright at 7:00 PM. Present were Craig Cowles, Dewey Erlwein,
Lynn McDonald, Carole Gabel, Dick Paridee, Gail Hill, John Sedey, Wilma Hein,
Jim Kirkendahl, Aero Larson, Patsy Billiar, and Phyllis Upright. Robert English read the minutes of the
previous meeting, Carole Made the motion to approve, and Dick Paridee
seconded. All approved by voice vote.
Treasurer:
Gail Hill started by saying that the number of non-payers was down to 8, thanks
to Carole’s “phone campaign”. The checking account is $20,966.24 with another
800.00 to come from the folks who haven’t paid yet. Total bottom line is $73,152.20, so seal-coating the taxiways is definitely
within our means. Gail asked for
further input. Dewey piped up that he
had looked at meeting minutes from 10 years ago, and the amounts were $2000 and
$3000, so this was a nice improvement. Gail said that the rates on CDs had
bounced up slightly to 4 percent, and asked if the Board wanted her to wait for
another good rate like that to invest the remaining amounts already agreed
upon. John said that the decision to
invest the remaining money could be well within Gail’s responsibility as
treasurer, that we trusted her judgement in this matter.
Maintenance:
Craig went into some detail about the tractor that is normally used for mowing,
and that this unit , though old, is still very serviceable. Alan asked about a maintenance timetable for the taxiways, and discussion ensued
about what kind of projection was necessary for taxiway maintenance. Dewey gave us some history from when he was
President of the IAHA, and Jim Kirkendahl went into greater detail about what
was done to the taxiways (two-inch lift, new pavement, slurry coating, gravel,
etc.). Craig said that the newer
taxiways in the south end looked grainy like the parking lot at Annie’s, which
is worrisome for future maintenance. It
was generally agreed that we’d have to wait and see about the taxiways in the
new south end, but the others were in very good shape and wouldn’t need
anything serious done to them for a couple of years anyway.
Carole
brought up the possible project of widening and/or improving the walkway next
to the McLeans on Stearman. Craig said
that tearing it out would be a major project, and simply widening it would be
much more manageable. Jim suggested
paving right over the top of the older walkway, which would raise it higher and
not be nearly as involved as reconstruction.
Gail suggested extending an invitation to the Homeowners Association for
Skyraider to help pay for the concrete and/or manpower to help build it. (Phyllis Upright suggested a
toll-gate.) Jim stated that the forms
for the last sidewalk job were still in storage, and could be used for this
project if need be.
Architectural:
Don Woodley said that there were two projects approved at the last meeting, and
they were both under construction. Gail
asked about the Ross’ rejection of their plans by the City of Independence, and
that was because the 40% lot-coverage limitation (which has been in place for
many years) was exceeded in their case.
The Juve project was discussed in relation to that, and though the house
and hangar coverage was large for each the Ross plan was just over the limit.
Alan
asked whether the minutes could or should be posted publically on a web site or
sent via e-mail, and Carole gave a brief history and concluded that only a few
would care and they come to all meetings anyway. Most others wouldn’t care very much. Seven years worth of storage for the minutes, privately held, was
deemed perfectly acceptable.
Social
chair: Patsy was asked what had happened since she had “been volunteered” for
the job, and she said all had proceeded very well. Betty Plude stated how great
the last newsletter turned out since people had sent in stories to read. The cost of printing these was $110.00. We gave the newsletter to some members of
the other Homeowners Assoc. (North end), which cost a total of $9.00, but got
some positive comments and some volunteered to pay to make up the amount. She said that this was a good thing to make
this airpark feel like one rather than two sets of Homeowners. John asked whether it was possible to
include their newsletter as part of ours, and Betty said that she had asked but
hadn’t heard anything yet. Leaving it
as-is would be OK for now. Dewey said
that there were pros and cons to joining the two Homeowners Associations, the
main con being the extra maintenance cost of maintaining their set of taxiways
in addition. John said that there could
be two sets of CCNRs but one Homeowners Association, which would allow for
separate maintenance accounts. Alan
publically thanked Betty for putting the newsletter together. Next newsletter will be in Spring, and she
volunteered to include some safety tips for visitors (such as to not allow
children to play on the taxiways, etc.)
Alan
asked about old and new business, and Carole started the discussion about the
proposed liability insurance for the
taxiways. She said that she had
contacted another airpark (Workman) which have a $2Million policy on their
taxiways for $950.00 per year. Aero
Larson was invited to speak about this, as he has had some legal
experience. He started by saying that
this was not “legal advice”, since he was not yet a practicing lawyer, but IAHA
does have some risk exposure as the technical owner of the taxiways. There aren’t many issues that would be
raised with the current setup, since we maintain our taxiways as well as we do,
but breech of contract (in the event of rejection of a purchaser who claims
bias) is a possibility. That case might
or might not have any merit, but in that event the H.A. would have to hire an
attorney which costs money. This is
what insurance would be for – to cover
the cost of defending ourselves, exclusive of any merit the suit itself may or
may not have. Carole said we’ve been incorporated since 1973, and that the
Association technically owns the sidewalks as well as the taxiways. A city sidewalk is a good analogy, with all
the potential liability inherant in that applying to us. John Sedey said at this point that visitors
to the airpark all love to walk and/or ride the taxiways, and if some child
were to wander in front of an airplane on that taxiway, we could be faced with
a huge liability. Hypetheticals were
tossed around; we’ve got about 2 miles of taxiway and 162 lots, and a million
dollar lawsuit would cost around $6,000 per lot. An insurance policy costing $5,000 per year distills down to $30
per lot per year approximately. Aero
stated that the main concern was that we (as individuals) were protected by the
fact that we incorporated the H.A., but agreed that such a suit would bankrupt
the treasury. An insurance policy represents
a deeper pocket, possibly making such a suit more likely since there would be a
larger amount which could be obtained.
Alan said that the common areas (such as taxiways) aren’t worth much to
anyone else but us who use them.
Furthermore, he didn’t know of any law firm that would take such a case
since we didn’t have that much cash on hand.
Carole stated that she had got a price from one firm for coverage, but
not from a second which she wanted. Don
stated that the big concern was some suit in which our cost is to hire the
lawyer and defend ourselves, rather than paying any settlement that might
arise. Gail stated that there were
people who would sue just to be nasty, rather than having any legitimate case,
and it made her feel better personally to have insurance on herself. John posed a hypethetical fer-instance about
a lein on taxiways, whether that would mean the residents in the airpark
couldn’t use it. Dewey restated what
Alan had said, that we needed a definition of our liability exposure before we
delve into this discussion much further.
Aero said he would look into it some more. The decision was made to table this discussion until we had a
working definition of what our actual liability is. Carole said she’d call the second insurance company about rates,
and Craig said he’d get her some figures on how much actual taxiway surface
area we’re talking about.
Talk
then centered around some pilots (no names) which have been spotted speeding
their planes down the taxiways, much faster than the “brisk walk” speed that
has been agreed on. Betty said that she
could print something in her newsletter about it, and Alan said he’d include it
in his “President’s message”.
Dogs
on the taxiways are the greatest actual problem; Don said he had to stop twice
because of dogs on the taxiway.
In
social news: Charlie Kinyon has no more chemo until April. All were happy to hear that, and wished him
a speedy recovery.
It
was brought up that the VanGrunsven and Krummel lots, since they were three
lots re-divided into two (technically one-and-a-half lots wide), had been
assessed for $150.00 each for Homeowners’ dues rather than they typical
$100.00. Jerry VanGrunsven said his lot
was not that different from the square footage of the other Stearman lots, and
since he didn’t get one-and-a-half votes he should only pay $100 rather than
$150. John said the original concern
was how much frontage each lot had on the taxiway, but since that varies from
lot to lot this is a negotiable point.
Carole said that she had told Jerry VanGrunsven to simply pay $100 since
he has one lot. Dick Paridee reminded
us about Plymate’s concern last year, and this rescinding of our original
position might cause a problem with them.
It was agreed, however, that this was a different situation since the
Plymates didn’t want to make their property into one tax lot. VanGrunsven’s lot and a half has been made
into one tax lot, so he should pay just one lot fee. Don Woodley said we should be careful about how we use the term
“tax lot”. Gail made the motion that
the VanGrunsvens and the Krummels pay
$100 for their respective lots, Carole seconded, Dick Paridee was the lone
“nay”. All else approved by voice vote.
Some
discussion arose about when the next meeting would be held, and it was agreed
to hold it on the 6th of May
at 7PM, at Gabel’s hangar. Carole made
the motion to adjourn, Jim seconded, and the meeting was adjourned at 8:22 PM.
Respectfully
submitted by Robert English, secretary.
Meeting020402.doc