The meeting was called to order at 7:00 PM by Director Richard Juve. Present were: Greg Smith, Alan Wright, Lynn McDonald, John Horn, Craig Cowles, Richard Juve, John McCoy, Phyllis Upright, Robert English, and Dennis Widby. Neighbors present included Jon & Marilyn Husser, Dave Martin, Larry Kruljac, Dick & Jeanne Wildman, Andy Andersen, Norm & Rita Farb, Jake Thiessen, Niel Warrick, Carole Gabel, Betty Koch, Betty Anglin, Kathy Widby, Debbie Juve, Don & Linda Woodley, Miles Towner, David Altman, Darin & Rhonda Harper, and Sam & Sandi Archer.
Secretary: There had been three corrections to the minutes of the previous meeting, made before the meeting by the respective parties by phone calls or email: one correction by John Horn, another by John McCoy, and two from Richard Juve. All were noted verbally by the secretary.
Treasurer: John McCoy had the most recent balance sheet to pass around. All of the dues and ingress/egress fees have been collected, which is reflected in the new balance figure of $98,759.00 – this amount includes the amount to be tendered to the ODA in June. John asked for a motion to be made to tender the ingress/egress fees (in the amount of $18,084.60) to the ODA. Craig Cowles seconded. There was no discussion, and all approved by voice vote.
Architectural: Gregg proposed that Carole Gabel, Jon Husser, Jim Kirkendahl, Larry Kruljac, and Linda Woodley be nominated to serve on the committee. All approved this by voice vote. There have been two meetings since last time: the first on Feb. 28 reviewed & approved the house & hangar at 732 Aeronca St (for Charles Landres), and the second meeting on March 21 reviewed and approved two projects: the hangar and renovation at 784 Cessna (for Louis Smith) and the house & hangar at 751 Aeronca St. (for Shane & Gail Hedrick). There are no projects outstanding at this time.
Maintenance: Craig said they’d put about 35 hours on the new tractor cutting grass and spraying weed killer. Grass is growing very fast this time of year. The new tractor is working out very well – the power washer is being used to keep the unit clean, and there has been one change of oil since the last meeting. Lynn has been mowing some lots with his own equipment, and so far there have been no “private property” incidents.
Craig passed around copies of a letter that had been drafted on March 24 to send to the City of Independence, specifically Greg Ellis the City Manager, concerning the yard debris that has been dumped into the drainage ditch behind Miles Towner’s house. This debris is now partially blocking the 18” pipes that feed under the street to the drainage ditch on the other side. Possible flooding along this ditch is the obvious concern. The letter requires two signatures, one for Craig and the other for Richard. Craig made a motion that this letter be signed and sent along to the City. Greg Smith seconded. Alan said the responsibility of the City is to remove the blockage and, while it’s good to notify them of this need, any mention of specific person’s actions and possible blame be removed from the letter as it was (at this point) heresay. If the City asks us, we can then list the possible responsible parties, but the letter should be limited to the actual issue of the pipe blockage. Richard read from the CC&Rs that it was the responsibility of IAHA to maintain the drainage, regardless of whose ditch it may be.
Miles Towner then stood up and announced that the ditch would be filled with dirt in 30 days and that any issues be taken up with his attorney, at which point he left the meeting. Discussion continued from this point. Alan suggested that this issue is now bigger than it was before, and needs to be taken to ODA (as they originally put the ditch in) and/or the County. John Horn said that the basic law is that drainage cannot be blocked, and that the letter needs to be modified as suggested and also CC’d to the acting director of the ODA. Alan now suggested that Miles Towner’s name be specifically stated in the letter, since the information we have now is from a statement he made at the meeting rather than heresay. Jon Husser stated that whoever has responsibility for that ditch be prepared to file an injunction. Carole Gable said that Miles wants to build where the ditch is, so this is the reason why he wishes to fill the ditch in. Richard brought us back to the motion that was on the floor to send the letter with modifications. All approved by voice vote. Richard asked that they hand-deliver the letter to the City tomorrow. Alan suggested that the ODA as well as Polk County be included as CCs (Greg Ellis may know the best people to send this to). Richard had another question about whether to send something to send something to Miles on the IAHA letterhead. There was discussion after this. Don Woodley said that this would probably wind up being a civil litigation with the injured parties lining up against the defendant. Marilyn Husser spoke up in favor of the letter saying that IAHA’s position on this issue needs to be documented. Dennis Widby asked if there was a liklihood that this blockage would cause damage to the City street, and that the City might move a little faster if they thought it would cause damage to Stryker Road.
Phyllis Upright spoke up in favor of a locally available insurance that would cover an ambulance trip should they require it.
Richard announced that the filing with the Secretary of State had been done, and that he had spent some time with Jim Kirkendahl discussing some new development plans that have been instituted in the vacant lots to the east of Stryker Road. This is the last industrial-zoned land in Independence, and the City will be well advised to not let residential development occur. Dave Martin spoke up at this point about the proposed development, which was within the “noise protection zone” for runway 16. Since it’s not an official development yet, we have time to speak up about this. He also talked about the attitude that some neighbors and lot owners have taken toward the maintenance crew, reminding all concerned that the work they have done is for the benefit of the entire airpark. He asked that any motion that might arise to limit the use of the equipment be made with this in mind.
Richard said that the ISAS board requires a representative from IAHA, and this used to be Gary Van Horn but he is now no longer a member of the IAHA board. Alan said that this was traditionally the job of the Vice President of IAHA, and John Horn said that he could attend the meeting (next one is on April 11). Andy said that it would be a good occasion to bring up the issue of the ditch to the ODA.
John McCoy said that there was only one bid for the old tractor, that from Craig Cowles, and he made a motion to accept this amount from Craig and sell him the old tractor. Dennis Widby seconded. All approved by voice vote.
Richard then turned to the ODA statutes, going over the points that he had highlighted on handouts that he passed around. Richard said that he would be proposing a special meeting to discuss these points specifically, and that he would be going over the concepts in summary tonight. He referred to a “PowerPoint” presentation that he had made, and some of the key points are summarized below:
· He stated that he had reviewed about 50 similar charters of organizations like IAHA. The notable thing is that most of these organizations and consultants were in agreement on the key points.
· We were organized prior to 1980, so IAHA is “grandfathered” and many of the laws contained in Chapter 94 do not strictly apply. Attorneys that Richard consulted said that we would be advised to keep this status, as it gives us lots of freedom to determine our own needs.
· The major components in Chapter 94 can be reflected in any changes we may make without changing that status – Richard said that this would be the best option for us, adding language and clarity to our existing documents without adopting Chapter 94 wholesale.
· It would help us if we made our ByLaws more clear on specific points, making proposed changes one section at a time and then compiling these sections into a new document as a final step.
· Impacts of these proposed changes include a majority vote for walkways, the tractor expenditure, the ingress/egress agreement, and any new building being studied.
· Items which Richard gleaned from web searches of similar organizations to ours: annual budget approved by membership, reserve study which allows for maintaining funds for off-year work (such as our taxiway work). Reserve funds mention is not made in the ByLaws and needs to be corrected.
· Robert’s Rules of Order can be written into the ByLaws, as well as definition & clarification of “benefit and enjoyment of membership”.
· Voting procedures can be done by written ballot with secrecy envelope, rather than show of hands.
· Financial statements can be more detailed with an income/expense statement and balance sheet.
· One item of concern is that this organization has no insurance, and is required by all new organizations.
· He had two examples of the kinds of changes that he was suggesting, one dealing with financial statements and the other with Robert’s Rules of Order.
Further detail is on the sheets that were passed out at the meeting – contact Richard Juve if you would like to read these documents. The idea is to have a new version of the ByLaws to vote on by the December general meeting, and that some special meetings should be convened before then to go over these changes.
Lynn asked about what kind of expenditure estimates would be written in to this proposed budget and who decides when the work needs to be done. Richard answered by saying that the amount allotted would be based on previous history. There was lots of discussion after this, going back to thirty years ago when a contractor mistakenly put round river rock under the taxiways. Norm Farb also brought up specific architectural specifications for the cul-de-sac lots as well as the street intersection lots. Alan summarized by saying that the new documents should not tie the board’s hands that could interfere with the way it needs to do business. The language needs to be crafted and passed to the membership for specific approval. John Horn agreed, saying that the Board’s primary responsibility to maintain the airpark infrastructure should not be limited. There was a suggestion that the attorney’s fees necessary to rewrite these changes be made known.
New Business: Craig Cowles passed around a proposal about the pressure washer being made available to airpark residents, after signing a legal waiver which was attached to the handout.
Dennis Widby asked about how the Board could limit the use of the tractor to only mow non-State property, since insurance does not cover any damage that might occur. There was some discussion about the history in this airpark regarding regular mowing of State property (formerly with a State-owned tractor). Alan proposed a resolution that Craig and Lynn have the right to mow Association and/or State property as they see fit. John Horn said that if it came to a vote he would agree with that – he later seconded the motion. In response to concern about possible damage resulting from a rock “thrown” from the mower during regular operation, Craig stated that both he and Lynn are mindful of which way the grass is being shot from the mower. Dennis further stated that non-IAHA property should not be mowed with IAHA funds, and that if even one person objects to his funds being used for non-IAHA purposes then that portion of maintenance should not be done. The discussion erupting from this point turned to insurance, since the suggestion came up to simply get some insurance and then mow wherever we need to. Alan said that it would add significantly to the dues to cover ourselves this way, though it would still be worth looking into. There was a suggestion from the floor about making arrangements with the ODA so that the State property could be mowed without any worries. Richard capped the discussion by stating that there was agreement that the lots should be mowed. Lots more discussion ensued from here, with the agreement of those attending that Craig & Lynn were doing a great job and they should keep doing it. Both Richard and John stated that they would vote “no” on the motion which was on the floor (i.e. that Craig & Lynn had the right to mow Association and/or State property as they saw fit), since the Association could not be considered to be encouraging the illegal mowing of private lots with IAHA equipment – what they do on their own time with their own equipment is their concern. This brought forth more discussion. The motion was still before the Board, however, so a vote was taken. The vote was 5 in favor and 4 against, passing narrowly by voice vote. Voting for the motion: Alan Wright, John Horn, Craig Cowles, Robert English, and Greg Smith. Voting against the motion: Richard Juve, John McCoy, Dennis Widby, and Phyllis Upright.
Richard made a motion to adjourn the meeting, and John McCoy seconded. The meeting was adjourned at 9:55 PM.
Respectfully submitted by Robert English, secretary.