CALL TO ORDER: President Ron called the work session to order at 7:00PM. Present were Board members Bob Spencer, Alan Wright, Paul Cole, Ron Singh, Dave Ullman, Robert English, Lee Nielson, Tom Turnbull and Mike Rhodes. Community members who signed the sign-in sheet this evening: Michelle Singh, Sherrie Nielson, Barb Turnbull, Patty Brown, Anne and Steve Schenck, John Horn, Herb Jolliff, Dennis & Kathy Widby, Vince Homer, Ernie Moreno, Frank Brown, Richard Webb, Victoria Kruljac and Miles Nelson.
Ron went over the basics of what the meeting will cover, including IAHA's agreement with the ODA that makes the interface with the Independence State Airport possible and its history. One stipulation of the agreement is that any failure to comply with the existing agreement will result in its termination, and Ron listed the major triggers that would terminate the agreement. It is important that the Board Members deal with any violations as promptly as possible to keep the ODA agreement intact. The current agreement between IAHA and the ODA expires in June of 2034 and this has been confirmed with the ODA.
One additional point was made by Ron while on the subject of the agreement with the ODA: the request has been made to voluntarily list the airplanes kept in the private hangars in the airpark, and Ron reminded those attending that this is a sign of a healthy airpark community if many pilots are active with planes kept in their hangars. The healthier the Airpark is, the less likely the agreement will be terminated due to pilot attrition.
There were two questions that were asked at the previous meeting and Ron had the answers at this meeting: fly-in visitors are allowed and are subject to the same ingress/egress agreement as the residents. The second question had to do with whether a homeowner could bring in an aviation service provider to their home to work on their private plane. Ron mentioned that in a letter (dated 16 April, 2015) from a previous ODA Airport Manager (Matt Maass), he implied that this would not be allowed in alignment with the restrictions of on-airport tenants. Ron described that the ODA “Minimum Standards for Commercial Aeronautical Activities” for Category 4 airports, has a provision that allows the ODA Director to grant a waiver that allows a Mobile Service Provider (MSP) to provide this work as long as it does meet the minimum standards and does not compete with on-airport businesses. Ron mentioned that ODA was open to this procedure and he developed a sample letter for discussion. The procedure would be as follows: The person interested in having an aviation service provider come to their home, would fill out a form (sample letter) and get a no-objection signature from the airport business(es) and submit it to ODA. If the business(es) do not object, then ODA will grant the homeowner a waiver for that specific request. Because homeowners are not allowed to conduct any aviation related business on the airpark, they would not be allowed to be an MSP for airpark residents. Ron will send out a final procedure once finalized.
REVIEWING OPERATING PRACTICES: Ron asked the Board members to live up to the highest standards of transparency, be familiar with the CC&Rs and By-Laws of the Association, and comply with all regulations themselves in order that the Community can be best instructed regarding the following of those same rules. Since there has not been a catalog of policies in areas where the CC&Rs and By-Laws are silent, Ron asked if anyone on the current Board would volunteer to assemble a catalog of policies as well as roster database maintenance. Rob Spencer volunteered to keep the roster database up to date and report to Mike Rhodes so that all billing addresses are fully current. Lee Nielson volunteered to assemble a policy catalog to have them all in one place.
Alan Wright outlined a plan to assemble a new website through WordPress and include a secure section accessible through password login to view the financial documents as well as the neighborhood roster. Ron suggested that we budget for it, but discuss the website details at a later meeting. Dave Ullman reviewed the North Park's existing plans for a similar website and proposed the two Airparks work together on that. This possibility will also be evaluated.
FINANCIAL BUDGET: The main object of tonight's work session was to line out possible budget items and a future meeting will approve it. One of the points that Ron brought up is that no Board member be paid for their time but reimbursement for expenses is OK when they are fulfilling requests made by the Board. Second, if there's been any deviation from that in the past then it should be corrected going forward; and third, codifying all of this as policy for future reference.
Generally it will be the Treasurer and Maintenance chair who will be spending most of the IAHA funds for the benefit of the Airpark. Mike had previously proposed a limit of $100 on any one expenditure without Board approval. Discussion ensued surrounding expenditures which are planned in advance, purchasing herbicides for example, most of them being less than $100 at a time. Ron suggested $200 as an upper limit before Board approval is sought, and there was general approval of that idea (this being a work session, a formal vote will come later). The expenditure must be for a budgeted item, within the spending limit or pre-approved by the board, accompanied by a receipt signed (and purpose described) by the purchasing board member.
Ron stated that payments to the ODA will be made on time, and by law an independent CPA will be hired to review the expenditures for the year (different from the tax accountant). Ron then asked Lee to discuss the 501c3 or 501c4 question; he explained that the Association cannot be either since we're not philanthropic (a C3 stipulation) or necessarily open to the greater public (a condition of C4 status). Currently the Association is listed as a "Domestic Non-Profit Corporation" with the State, not as a 501c3 or 501c4. There is a non-profit type on the Federal level, known as a 528, which is a good fit for our Homeowners Association. There will be more work on this point in future meetings.
Tom Turnbull stated he was doing research regarding the insurance dues for the two policies we must carry (one for the Board officers, and the other for damages or injuries on the common areas that are maintained by the Association), and there is still ongoing discussion regarding what the Association can be expected to pay for both policies.
Mike Rhodes went over the Association's budgetary requirements for the maintenance plan as well as financial statements and the deadlines for each. Wilma Eckler CPA will be doing our taxes starting this year. Using the large screen in the EAA meeting room, Mike showed the line items for the year's expenditures and dues income from the Quicken program he has been using. He then showed a draft budget for 2024 which also included an average of the actual expenditures for each category. There were other tabs that Mike displayed including a "reserve study" regarding long-term maintenance items including building a reserve fund for the next round of taxiway work that will be needed many years from now.
Ron mentioned that a budget line item will be new signage for our taxiways and then called up Vince Homer who had made some posterboard prototypes for the kind of signs he had envisioned (in the shape of different airplanes) and displayed them for the Board. He passed around some documentation detailing bids he had received from businesses that could produce the kind of signage he had planned. Ron asked the Board for their thoughts. Discussion centered around what amount to consider as a budget line item, and Dave Ullman suggested $1500 based on the figures that Vince had put forward in his documents.
Since the meeting was going
over the allotted time, Ron asked the Board if they wanted to stay and come up
with a budget that would then be approved at the next Board meeting, and all
were in agreement to stay. Mike asked for approval to send out the 2023 end
of year financial statement as submitted.
Ron felt that even though it meets all the requirements of the law,
without the starting balances, the reader would wonder how we were able to
spend ~$470k with a total income of $50k.
There was a discussion and Mike agreed to add a cover letter explaining
the report. He would send it to Ron for
approval before sending it to the homeowners.
(President’s Note: Mike made
edits and Bob and Ron approved the financial statement for distribution the
next day).
Summit Computers in Monmouth
put together a quote for a laptop computer system including a printer that can
be the repository of HOA financial data and Quicken software for the use of
whoever is IAHA treasurer. After discussion re budgetary consideration for the
Quicken yearly dues, Dave Ullman proposed the purchase of this computer for
the Association and Paul Cole seconded. All approved by show of hands.
There was also discussion regarding putting some of the long-term capital into CDs or other type of account that would yield a relatively high interest rate. Lots of options exist for this which will be discussed after reviewing the current options. A pair of invoices submitted by former treasurer Margaret Cleveland for reimbursement were also discussed, and it was generally agreed to get those reimbursed. (President’s Note: Resulting from this discussion, it was decided that we would develop a new policy that required all reimbursements to be submitted with 30 days and all year-end reimbursement to be submitted before December 15th of any year.
ADJOURNMENT: Since it was getting late, it was agreed to recess and reconvene whenever the EAA room will be available, with a target of early next week. Ron will be in touch with the other Board members by email with date proposals. Lee made the motion that we recess, and Mike seconded. All approved by show of hands. The meeting was adjourned at 9:47PM. Respectfully submitted by Robert English, IAHA Secretary.