The meeting was called to order at 7:11 PM by president Alan Wright. Present were Craig Cowles, Lynn McDonald, Carole Gabel, Gail Hill, Alan Wright, Gary Van Horn, Dave and Lois Martin, Phyllis Upright, Greg Smith, and Robert English. Guests this evening: John Sedey, Harry Malette, Buzz Thede, Mike Pongracz, Emile and Betty Plude, Ron and Jan Carroll, Harry and Suzanne Bladow, Miles Towner, Shane Stanley, Bill Ayres, Bill Esther, Dennis and Eileen Krummel, Marlene Moreno, Bobbi Keeler, Don and Linda Woodley, Richard Juve, Sherman and Celia Wallis, Dave Metcalf, Amos Rawck, Ken and Regina Pabo, Karen Brown, Jerry and Linda Van Homminssen, Jim and Betty Anglin, Scott and Hariett Savage, Scott and Irina Green, and Marcia Noell.
The minutes of the previous meeting were passed around and read by the officers present. Phyllis made the motion that the minutes be approved as presented, and all approved by voice vote.
Treasurer’s Report: Gail handed out the most recent net worth report as of today. Bottom-line figure is $64,478.73. The new billing going out to people starting this year will have special fee consideration for the Stearman Street folks, since they pay the ODA ingress/egress fee themselves and not through the Homeowners Association – all billings have the same due date regardless. This was made a motion, since this stipulation is not the CC&Rs, and Gary seconded the motion in order to clear the way for discussion. Alan explained that this situation has since been taken care of, and suggested that this particular motion be tabled until the next meeting.
Maintenance: Craig Cowles made a presentation to explain and justify the expenditure of the monies for the new tractor. There were two basic points: one, the old tractor was 25 years old and was blowing lots of smoke; and two, there were lots of jobs that used to be farmed out that this tractor can now do. The discussion that came up had to do with making this expenditure without notifying the general membership that this expenditure was forthcoming. A further point was brought up about Oregon law, and that the meeting notice needed to be posted publicly to be in accordance with this law. The “Loud and Clear” newsletter, which is published regularly, has not carried the meeting date and time as perhaps it should. Alan said the key is to be in compliance with Oregon law. The tractor’s use, strictly for common ground maintenance and not for private use, was also discussed. There was a point raised at this time that if it were to be used for private lots and the lot-owner charged for this service then the general fund could be built back up. Harry Malette made the point that he was present when the decision was made, and that the maintenance crew deserved a good piece of equipment to do their work with and he was proud of that decision. That got some applause. Betty Plude chimed in at this point that a bill should be sent to private lot-owners who have their lot mowed by this new tractor. Gary said that the City did this for weed abatement for fire protection purposes, but Carole also said that we had an agreement with the City that we would take care of this ourselves so that they City would not get involved. There was a point raised that other homeowners associations ratify a yearly budget at their general meetings in December, and this organization could do that too. Alan said it was a good idea, but many of the expenditures (such as the legal expenses necessary before we signed the ODA agreement) were impossible to budget for or to anticipate. Gary read a passage from the homeowners association CC&Rs which clarified the Board’s right and obligation to make these decisions as they see fit for the benefit of the association. A copy of the Oregon statute was passed to Alan for review, and he promised to look into that and that the Board would be in compliance with Oregon law in the future. A suggestion was made to contact the block heralds and these block heralds would notify their block.
Architectural: The committee met three times, and approvals were given for the Larson property on Luscombe, the Turnbull property on Luscombe, the Corcoran property on Cessna, and the Peck property on Luscombe. When the talk turned to the drainage ditch, Greg gave a general outline and said that the committee has made a general decision that the pipes that people installed would be looked at on a per-lot basis.
The talk turned to the drainage ditch, starting with the Nutsch property. The consensus is that we are done with his issue, as he has removed the brush that has been a consistent problem for many months. There was much more discussion regarding the ditch, as this is a State ditch and the Homeowner’s responsibility is not clear as far as prevention of flooding and obstruction. Many of the conduits that are being put in may cause more problems, and since a portion of it is on the person’s own property the Homeowners Association has very little authority to interfere. Gary said he would do some follow-up with the ODA to clarify where that agency stands as far as the drainage ditch is concerned. Alan said that there was no need to do anything about either the Nutsch or the Towner matters.
Talk then turned to the proposed IAHA hangar. The motion was made to appoint Dave Martin as the overseer of this particular project. Once the motion to nominate him was made and seconded, the discussion got lively immediately. A statement was made from the floor that Dave Martin had a conflict of interest in that he was head of the OPA which would benefit from this proposed building. Another point was raised that no money should ever be used to build this structure. Gail spoke up at this time, saying that this was not a final proposal at all, that the only purpose of this was to gain input from the various groups. Some clarification came at this time that the OPA was not going to be the primary beneficiary of this new building, that there were over 35 meetings held in the Gabel’s hangar this year and that the OPA held 12 of them. After some more discussion, a vote was taken as to whether to accept Dave Martin’s nomination as the project overseer. All approved by voice vote. At this point, Gary made a brief explanation that the Homeowners Association had lots for such a building several decades ago but the lots were sold due to the fact that no one wanted to pay for maintenance on the lots.
Much more discussion about the hangar arose after this, with deep divisions in opinion evidenced. Carole’s position, well taken and respected by all present, was that this hangar was becoming too small for the regular meetings and gatherings. One proposal floated around that the various hangars in the area could be used in turn to host meetings, and this was met with some positive feedback but it was not pursued. Alan read his proposal, asking beforehand that he be allowed to read it without interruption and that the discussion be limited to the Board. The vote to finalize this document would not occur tonight, but he solicited corrections and language changes. Alan said that the meeting to whether to approve this proposal on the part of the membership would exceed the capacity of this hangar and that the Ash Creek school multi-purpose room would have to be rented out. One guest said that his hangar could be used instead of renting the school room, and this was accepted gratefully by the Board. Carole asked whether a building fund could be started for this, and Alan responded that the fund should not be started under the IAHA auspices since he was concerned that it would create two classes of IAHA groups. He had some concern that the financial load should not be shared unequally. There were further questions and discussion after this, mostly having to do with other people using this facility who are not members of IAHA. On the point of the money, Alan said that there was no way that the money raised for taxiway maintenance in the past could be used for the construction. It would have to be money that was raised for the purpose from that moment forward. After some further discussion, the matter of the hangar was tabled until the board could meet again to further discuss the proposal.
The next point on the agenda was the IAHA position and tactics regarding the ODA divestiture policy. There is some concern, potentially justified, that the ODA decided at one point that it needed to get out of the airport ownership business. Harry Bladow, from the floor, gave a consensus about what happened at the Town meeting on the 12th. The main point is that the City is not interested in acquiring the airport, and if there is no local agency which wants to take over an airport then the ODA has to hang on to it. He also said that he had lobbied for a ˝ cent tax on av-gas to fund the ODA, and it was not in the best interest to get rid of airports which give them the funds to operate. Gail Hill related a memo that she had received from one of the members of the ODA subcommittee in which Independence Airport was one of four airports which were listed for constant review for divestiture. There was a point made from the floor that the ODA has had this as a non-written policy for 25 years or so.
The next point had to do with the rates and fees policy, seeking a possibility to receive the same 3 percent cap as the existing land lease contracts. Those on the floor thought this was an excellent idea. Future action on this point will involve lobbying, which is outside the current charter though is within the vested interest of the membership.
As there was no new business, God was thanked and the meeting was adjourned at 9:12 PM. Next meeting was set to be Wednesday, October 27, at 7 PM at Gabel’s Hangar.
Respectfully submitted by Robert English, secretary.