Board Meeting — Homeowner Records-Request Discussion

Speaker 1 0:00 The waiting room. Thank you, Angel, Nina, and Juan. Thank you for braving that storm and getting on with us. It is 619, Angel, and can you note for the minutes that there was a massive dust storm weather anomaly, and we are starting the meeting 1619 minutes late, but that's okay because it was supposed to start at 6o'clock. Speaker 2 0:29 The weather. Speaker 1 0:31 Dan is still stuck in the storm. He'll join us once he is able. We do have a call to order, but according to the bylaws, you have made quorum as the board of three. There are two of you present. Nina is board president, Angel, and Juan is board treasurer. So, Nina, will you please call the meeting to order? Speaker 2 0:59 Yes, I call the meeting to order. I second it. So then Speaker 1 1:08 we do have a homeowner that was invited tonight, mr. Scott. He is the third party representative for Lot 90, Wendy Scott, in the McClellan Meadows Association. He has been dealing with records requests for the association and asked to come tonight represent for Wendy Scott concerning their concerns and the records requests that they're requesting for clarification. So, Angel, could you unmute mr. Scott, please, and let him present. Robert Scott 2:01 Can you hear me? Speaker 1 2:03 There we go. We can hear you now. Thank you for attending tonight. Hopefully, you didn't get caught in that dust storm as well. Robert Scott 2:09 I mentioned for Phoenix. Speaker 1 2:11 Oh well, they're apparently having quite a dust storm out in Coolidge. So, yes, mr. Scott, thank you for attending tonight. The board is here, so we will let you go ahead and begin your presentation. Robert Scott 2:24 So, are we are we talking about the records request or the the issue where you know? I guess records questions. We have a number of records requests that have not been fulfilled by the board, and I was really hoping that the secretary would be here to explain why. Speaker 1 2:48 Okay. Well, this is your forum, so the board is open to hearing whatever you have to say. Robert Scott 2:55 Okay. So. I guess let's just start with the board. Not AM is accountable to the homeowners of this community. AM is a vendor retained by the board under a written management company contract to carry out the board's decisions and handle associations' day-to-day business. AAM acts on the board's behalf, not the other way around. And when AAM acts or fails to act, those actions or inactions are the board's responsibility, not something the board can set aside simply because AAM AAM is not the one who carried this out. We have a number of records requests, including a request for specific emails. I have requested from AAM proof that the emails have been sent. Those have not been done. Those have been done through records requests on top of it. This I have requested the difference between what was quoted to me by mr. Gordon for $318.50 compared to the $91? Why is there two? I'm still waiting for the records that demonstrate the approval of basically the approval of these costs prior to being done, and the approval for them to being paid, mr. Gordon framed it as it's like replacing a sprinkler. It is not a sprinkler; is something that is under a standard maintenance contract when you're engaging an attorney to specifically refute the rights of a homeowner, that is a very different perspective. So we've had decisions and actions that have been taken by AAM personality without a board vote, without the board's knowledge. And were later described to me as routine functions. Okay, if the management acted outside of its authority, that is a matter for the board to correct. If the board did not know the management was doing this on behalf, it is also a matter for the board to correct. Going forward, I raise these concerns that the board tonight, that the board, not AAM, that the homeowners in this community are are ultimately entitled to hold accountable. I want to explain briefly where this dispute actually gained. I don't believe that it's been clearly stated to this board. It's stated with the simple and formal request that I asked community manager at the time for a copy of emails that she said that she had sent to each individual board member, in which she told me that they had personally declined to share contact information with me. I was not asking for anything new. I was asked for proof of what had already been told, her response in writing was, "No, sir, I will not. No statute was cited. No explanation was given. The refusal was produced was to produce simple proof. Is what led to my formal written request to the board, and the formal request is what the July 7, 2023, CHDB letter was actually responding to. I want the board to understand that this is the entire three year dispute traces back to this request for basic proof of something that I had already been told, and not broader or more complicated than that request. I want to be clear that about the scope of what I've actually asked, both then and every request since, that I have never asked the association for all board emails or for general open-ended searches of the management inbox. Every request I have made from the original 2023 request, through everything that I've asked for this year, has been limited to specific identified topics directly related to this dispute. These records are are of a specific communication, a specific legal expense, a discussion. or anything that the board reviews afterwards, to proceed with the assumption that I am asking the association to produce everything it has ever written. I am not. I'm asking for specific identifiable records tied to specific specific identifiable events. So we have the outstanding records request. As of tonight, we have multiple records requests outstanding past or statutory 10 business day deadlines under ARS 33 1805, including requests for executive session records, unanimous consent documents, and still unreconciled discrepancies between the two different dollar figures for the same legal expense. I have some items on the new business, but Speaker 1 8:12 on the agenda. Robert Scott 8:14 Yes. Speaker 1 8:15 Okay. Perfect. As a third-party representative, you certainly are the account. for Wendy Scott to respond to any of the items the board is taking tonight. Robert Scott 8:30 When would you like that done? Speaker 1 8:32 Well, when we go through each agenda item, Robert Scott 8:34 yes, ma'am. Speaker 1 8:35 You will be given an opportunity to speak before the board takes a Robert Scott 8:39 vote. Okay. So. Speaker 3 8:40 Okay. The Robert Scott 8:41 one thing that I am asking for is the same thing that I asked for before, which is that I want the letter from July 7, 2023, from Carpenter Hazelwood to Goddell and Bolin, asserting the board members' emails are not financial or other records associated under ARS 331805 to be formally removed from the record. It shouldn't be followed. It's the advice is bad. As the association's own records now confirm, the letter was never authorized by a vote, mr. Gordon and A.M. continued confirmed in writing that this determination was made only by the association board president and management, nor not the board acting as a body. And this, um, Evan Evan, Evan Scott, I don't know if I'll say your name then. That's okay. Speaker 1 9:41 You can call me Diana. Robert Scott 9:42 Diane, separately confirmed after reviewing executive sessions minutes spanning in physical years 2023 through 2026, that no board motions or actions authorizing this letter can be located anywhere in the association records under the bylaws five. Three and 5.4. An act of the board requires either a vote of a duly held meeting by or by unanimous consent of every director. Neither occurred here. I want to underscore why this matters. AAM is the management company retained under written contract to act on the board's behalf. AAM's personnel are not elected by the homeowners of this community, they are not officers of the association. Whatever authority AAM has, it has only because the board has delegated it to it, and only to the extent that the board's own governing documents permits that delegation. When AAM personnel, on their own, direct legal correspondence and take legal positions in AAM in the association's name without the board vote. They are acting with no authority of their own, and the board cannot ratify that action after the fact simply because it was carried out by the management company rather than by the individual homeowners or a stranger to the association. I also want to address the substance of the position taken in that letter directly. The letter itself is delivered to me by email. The association's own governing documents, CCNRs 11.11 and bylaws 12.6 and 5.1, expressly authorize electronic mail as a valid method of conducting official association business, including notices to individual directors tonight's own meeting and notice themselves were delivered by email. I do not believe anyone would suggest that this notice or tonight's agenda is not genuine official association records simply because the medium used to send it, the association cannot consistently treat email as an official method of conducting business for some purposes-meeting notices, agendas, financial updates-while asserting only in this one instance that the email is not a business record. The distinction is not based on the format of the communication; it's based on the content and specifically the on the fact that the content at issue may be uncomfortable or embarrassing to management or the board. Arizona law does not permit the association to selectively define what counts as a record based on what is disclosed or would be convenient. I would also like to note that this is not a new or an occasional practice. In March of 2021, while the community was still under declarant control, AM itself produced substantial volumes of board, vendor, and management emails to me in response to records requests transmitted electronically through the association standard file sharing system, this that production shows AAM's longstanding practice going back years before this dispute began of three emails correspondence as a producible association record. That position taken in in the July 2023 letter is inconsistent with AAM's own documented conduct, both before that letter was sent and in the year sent, I believe this directly is relevant to the new bids notes item three, the proposed resolution to thus the board president withstanding authority on all legal matters, if the president and management can direct legal correspondence, take a legal position, and later decline to produce underlying records, as occurred with the CHDB letter, formalizing that same authority in the president alone, without a mechanism for board review, would make it easier, not harder, for this pattern to occur. I would like to ask the board to consider these two items together rather than separately before voting on either one. I would also like to raise that under House Bill 4011, effective September 12, which requires the association to exercise its discretionary powers neutrally, fairly, and without favoritism, not in a non-arbitrary fashion. This codifies a standard Arizona standard. The Arizona Court of Appeals is already recognized in Tierra Rancho Homeowners Association versus Kitsku 216 Arizona 195 160 5p dot 3d 173 APP 202,007, which held that association was acting unreasonable in its exercise of discretionary powers, adopting restatement of property servitude 6.13 standard for that review. As president, this resolution would be concentrating standing authority over all legal matters of the board president, specifically in the context of an ongoing dispute involving one homeowner, I do not believe the board can show that this resolution meets the reasonableness standard, and unless it can demonstrate this authority is being adopted for a general genuine. UI general purpose extending beyond this one matter. Robert Scott 15:05 For example, by identifying other unrelated legal matters that this authority is intended to address. Absent of that, adopting this authority now in this context would appear to be directed at a single dispute rather than reflecting a neutral general governance decision, and this would be raised as a selective enforcement concern since Arizona courts, and now HB 4004011 both require association to exercise of discretionary authority to be applied consistently and not directed at a single member, Speaker 2 15:48 is that all you have, mr. Scott, to share? I Robert Scott 15:52 thought this. I mean, is this just me? I could have sent this in an email. Is there any discussion? Speaker 2 16:01 No, at this time, mr. Scott, what we can do is just take all of this information under advisement for now. Being that this isn't an actual agenda item, we need we cannot have any discussion over. Robert Scott 16:16 Then why was I brought to this meeting and it was Stated that it needed to be known if it wasn't going to be put on the agenda. Speaker 1 16:28 mr. Scott, you requested to have a period of time to speak to the board of directors. No, I Robert Scott 16:34 requested for this to be rescinded. Would you like me to get you the date that it was requested, was it forwarded to all the board members? Speaker 1 16:45 I don't understand. Rescinded. Are you talking about your homeowner comment? The Robert Scott 16:50 letter from Speaker 1 16:52 the Robert Scott 16:52 CHDB. It needs to be rescinded. You are following that policy. You have not provided me the emails. Speaker 1 17:00 Okay, mr. Scott. Thank you very much. I really appreciate you coming tonight, and I've taken multiple notes for the board concerning what your concerns are. And I know that the board members appear to be taking notes themselves. And as the board president just stated, that they they will be taking this under advisement, and then they will advise me what to do. Where will this be taken Robert Scott 17:23 under advisement? Speaker 1 17:26 The board president just said she was taking all the information under. Where Robert Scott 17:30 will this be taken under advisement? Speaker 1 17:32 Well, everything that this board does under our management, they do an open session. So, so when will Robert Scott 17:40 the open session be? The Speaker 1 17:42 open session is tonight, and you. So you told me that it's going to be taken Robert Scott 17:47 on under advisement tonight. Speaker 1 17:50 It's being taken your homeowner comments, but you are not anywhere else on this agenda. There is no action from the board on this agenda. So thank you very much. The board president has stated she'll take it under advisement, and I will be in touch once I have a secondary agenda to provide to you. With that, I don't have any other homeowners present, Angel, to do a homeowner comment it tonight. I'm assuming none. So, can we move Nina to the approval of the minutes for the April meeting? Speaker 2 18:30 Yes. Is there any discussion on the minutes, or would someone like to make a motion to approve the minutes? I guess that's you, Juan. Robert Scott 18:42 Yeah, I, I, I second that Speaker 2 18:45 one. Okay, so all in favor? Aye. Aye. Aye. Speaker 1 18:50 Great. Thank you. So we have two ratifications that took place due to emergency situations: the August 3, 2026 authorization to release redacted collection information for records requests. I know that Tom had been dealing with that, and the august 7 authorization to place the association insurance company on notice for records request information and possibility of a possible legal action. I am simply putting this on the agenda tonight to ratify what were both unanimous consent votes, but tonight we do offer the homeowners present the ability to speak before the board takes a motion to ratify those two motions. Are there any homeowners that wish to speak related to this? Robert Scott 19:46 I can't unmute. Speaker 1 19:48 Seeing none, then I'll bring the board. Can you please take a motion to approve? Yes, Speaker 2 19:54 yes. I will make a motion to approve ratification A in. As stipulated, is there a second? Speaker 1 20:09 I believe Juan just seconded. He's having trouble unmuting himself. Speaker 2 20:18 Juan, did you second? Robert Scott 20:19 There it goes. Yes, I second it. I'm sorry. All Speaker 2 20:22 right. So all in favor? Aye. Aye. Motion passes. Speaker 1 20:30 So under financial review, Juan, did you have any questions on the most recent financials? We are going to be covering a lot of it on the agenda tonight, but underneath the budget, if you'd like to hold those comments until that time, that's fine. Robert Scott 20:48 Well, I don't have much to say on that one, actually. Speaker 1 20:54 Great. That it's a pretty, pretty. I mean, we've had a pretty quiet start to the year, that's for sure. But we've got the update on the painting of the block walls under my management report. So, if you like, I can move to the management report. If you'll give me just a moment, I will go ahead and close out this, and let me go ahead and open the next window. Sorry, I don't know why it's taking so long. There we go, Speaker 4 21:40 Aunt Diana, Speaker 1 21:41 yes, Speaker 4 21:42 I'm sorry to interrupt. I know I normally don't as a minute secretary. I have some messages from mr. Scott asking for me to add some stuff into the minutes as well as to allow him to unmute to make comments. Speaker 1 22:00 Well, he's welcome to make comments before we do any actions on the meeting tonight, and we can't add anything into the minutes that the board has not taken action on. The minutes reflect, mr. Scott, the actions taken by the board only. So perhaps as we go through, I'll answer a couple of your questions that you might have concerning tonight. So with that, let me just move this because for some reason this bookmark is not showing. Okay, so we have here's the balance sheet for the balance as of the end of June 90,008 13 in the operating account. That's just about three months worth of operating expenses being retained in the operating account with 254 in the reserve fund savings account. If you'd like, I can go down to the management report and just show you the differences that have been taking place between 531 2026 and June 30th of 2026, so we're pretty much staying right on track. I a couple of items I do want to point out to the board is we are running a little bit higher in the monthly assessments that are overdue to the association, as well as the CCNR violations. These are long-term violations that are noted on the account. They are reflected in the management report for the edification of the members present. And then we have your current contracts on for the association, liens, demands, and completed trustee sales for the association, based on what we were just seeing with regards to the assessments owed, you'll see that we have demands of eight month to date, 36 year to date, and we are having pending possibility of trustee sales of five on the property. We are watching those, and as always, the board does for the homeowners present. The board does approve anything moving to the attorney with regards to any collection reports. Speaker 2 24:11 Correct. Speaker 1 24:12 This is the website usage. As you can see, our largest is actually the front page. That's where most homeowners are going to make sure if they owe anything, or if they need to contact Angel regarding their personal accounts, so that is showing that we don't have a very high usage in the month of June, but a lot of homeowners are probably out of town for the holidays. Our violations chart is also included in here, just for the homeowner's edification. The board does receive the violation report when it is completed. I'm sorry, it looks a little bit like maybe the PDF didn't come through very well. You can guess that the largest is the weeds on the association property. Any of the homeowners that have that spurge weed on their property, I know I heard another name for it this week. That thing creates those little stickers that gets in your puppy dog spur, but they also spread, especially tonight's dust storm. Not only will it spread the bugs and the spiders and the crickets, it spread those seeds. So we are trying to stay on top and working with homeowners to resolve the weed violations. Trash cans are always something that it's matter just of education. Trimming landscapes is mostly trimming it off sidewalks and off of areas where homeowners are trying to cross or have difficulty getting into areas. We are once again putting out there installed requires approval. Homeowners, please do not make any changes to your front yard without going through Angel. Angel is the architectural liaison to the board. It is a fairly fast process. This board responds fairly quickly to architectural requests, so please go ahead and contact Angel. She can put her contact information in the chat that will allow you to be able to move and be able to get your installed items, and this includes anything over the back wall that's that's visible from the street or neighboring property, which includes any common areas. Holiday decorations. These we're not talking about the permanent lights on the property. We're talking about individuals who's left up there. Christmas decorations. It's almost that season again, where we're headed into the holiday decorations. But we kind of need them taken down when all possible. If you have holiday decorations up at this point in time, contact me and let me have an opportunity to speak with the board about the possibility of granting you an extension. I mean, we're at august 13, and most holiday decorations for Halloween and the seasonal holiday decorations go up October one st. So we might be able to work something out. No promises, but I definitely will talk to the board about it. The next items on our agenda is the architectural status report. As you can see, the board is busy. They have approved everything. We have one pending that is a trampoline installation, and that probably has already been approved by now. It required a setback for the rules and regulations for the association. So, if you need a copy of those rules and regulations, they're on the association website. Please contact Angel, or contact Jack or myself. We'll be happy to get them to you and help you fill out those architectural requests to get you processed even faster. I'll skip the historical information on the homeowners that are delinquent, and I will go into the next agenda item, which is old business, which is the updating the painting of the block walls. This was approved by the board. You did approve that homeowner. I don't have the timeline yet. We were waiting for the summer heat to kind of dissipate a little bit, and I will be notifying all of the owners when these common area block walls will be painted. This is a reserve study item, so we are doing it based on the reserve study, and actually, it came in under budget for those individuals who were not participating in that particular board meeting. The board did go out to bid. Three individual, actually four companies produced proposals for it. The board chose Premier Painting, and they will be starting once the weather has somewhat dissipated. Speaker 1 28:39 Obviously, with the dust storms you're having right now, we don't want to start this process, but we might be working with the landscaper to start pulling the rock back. And then the next item is the draft budget. So we have the budget in here. Let me go to the draft budget. And one, would you like me to go through the draft budget, or would you like to go through the draft budget? Speaker 5 29:07 Yeah, go right ahead. Robert Scott 29:09 Yes, go right ahead. Speaker 1 29:10 All right. Well, the assessment amount is not changing. The board has built the budget in 2027, and I'm sorry, this is Reading 2026, I didn't get it PDFed for you, so we would be able to change numbers if you want to adjust any of the numbers. So the assessment amount is remaining at $55. I make no guarantees that we're going to be able to do this in 2028, but the board took some proactive steps in 2027 to allow the budget to take on without having to increase that reserve account. So, if you look at the reserve account here, trending based on the reserve study should be at 45 percent. Sorry, what's wrong, Angel? Speaker 4 30:04 I apologize for interrupting. mr. Scott is continuing to message me as the minute taker. He wants to be able to unmute freely, as per Section 33 1804 F. Speaker 1 30:20 Well, thank you, mr. Scott, for bringing that up. And you definitely will be unmuted as soon as the board makes any motions and seconds. You are definitely available. Glad you're staying on with us to be able to make your comments at that time. At this time, the board's made no motion to do any actions. But once they do, we'll definitely unmute you. Speaker 4 30:41 He said that he wasn't able to unmute during the first two motions of the night, as well as the minutes. Speaker 1 30:48 Oh well, we apologize. We did ask for homeowners, so if if you need to to flag us down, or great that you're using the chat. So with this, we'll just go back to the budget here really fast, so we have reduced the monthly reserve contribution. We've done that, and to keep it in line with what the reserve study is stating for the association, two items I want to point out to you. This next year, we're going to go back to the operating budget in just a second. Two reserve items are listed in your reserve study for 2027. One being the replacement of mailboxes. That's a $75,000 expense that is noted in the reserve study. We have had a third party, Mailbox Express, come out and do an evaluation of the mailboxes. They found a few items that needed to be repaired, but none that required the replacement. So I placed this in this budget in order to meet what the reserve study requested. But watch what happens if we take that to a zero. Whoops! How come it's not working? Watch what happens if this goes to a zero. Well, come on. How how fancy can I get? It's not letting me take it to a zero. Well, doesn't that figure? Come on, Excel is Excel. Well, if I take it to a zero, this percent funding will go up to almost 70% funded. So this is a significant amount in the reserve study that will actually influence the percent funded. So based on where your percent funded, you're already at 55 percent at the end of the year. 45 percent is where the reserve study states you should be. If we move this even down to $1,000, which I wish I could do, and that is really frustrating to me that I can't, it changes this percent funded to 70% which is anything between 70% and 100% is considered to be a very strong position for the association. So one of the items I would leave it in here because it is called for in the reserve study, but know that that will influence this percent funded as we go forward. Now let's go back to the actual budget. That's why we did not have to increase the assessments because we had the additional funds built in there to actually be funded higher than the actual reserve study calls for. Again, even with that $75,000 in there, you have a funding level that is higher than the 45% at 55% Working capital resales, I built only four in there for the entire year. This is obviously based on the closing and sale of the homes. I always like to lower this amount because this is unknown. It may or may not happen, based on the number of homes on the property, which is at 324. I went with pretty much a very minimal amount for for resales in the entire year of 2027. Late fees are at 1800. We collect more than that. If you look at our budget comparison, the late fees at right now for the year are at $2,500. So again, this is a conservative amount based on our current status, and that's 2500 only through the month of June, so this is a conservative amount because we don't want to count on this money. But it would not be a good budget for you if I put zeros in there because we know we are going to collect some legal fee reimbursement. I offset that from the legal fees general, which is. Down here at the bottom, if you can see our legal fee collection is at 18,000. Again, if we go back up to this budget comparison, we have for the year legal fee collections at budgeted 96, and we're actuals at 5000. But we annual budgets at $19,000 for the year, so we're actually doing really well working with homeowners, getting them onto payment plans, and working with them to reduce those collection costs. But I need to offset that because that is an expense for the association that we need to offset. Speaker 1 35:36 So when when we're talking about the budget, we're offsetting it right here in income, with just a slight amount of money, only $3,000. Again, not money we want to count on, but we do need to reflect it in the budget because we will know we will collect some of that, even if they're only the the small demand fees. I hate to figure CCNR violations in here because I think we all agree we want that to be at Speaker 4 36:05 zero, right? Speaker 1 36:06 But again, if I go back over here to the budget comparison, and I know Juan looks at this, the CCNR violations through the month of June is almost $5,000. So I really felt like I needed to put some in here just to give it a placeholder. We're going to hope that's a zero, and if we can make it a zero, that is what we're striving for-to not have any homeowners receive a CCNR violation. But just in case, I built in half of what you are, or a quarter of what you'll receive for the entire year. The landscaping contract is based on a negotiation that Nina had with Stillwater Landscapes. So, Nina, thank you for taking the time to negotiate that contract. It has a fair, fairly small, very small increase for the association for the 2027 year. I can tell you that most of us are seeing between a five and 8% increase. So, Nina, thank you for your efforts for negotiating that contract and keeping it where you felt it was reasonable for the work they're doing on the property, and we get to have a great landscape company. Speaker 2 37:16 Absolutely, my pleasure. Speaker 1 37:18 Management contract is under a increase this year, and it is also based on the contract that you currently have with the management company. Exterminating contract is also based on the contract you currently have for the association. Just for the homeowners that are present on the call tonight, I believe we've got a couple. The board does put all of this information out and check it every single year. Juan goes through and looks at each contract to make sure that that what you're paying is what I want to call fair market value for what the association is. So you have 324 homes on this association. That number is right up here. So he does check this and make sure that you are getting and doing his due diligence for the association every year to make sure that those contract pricing are checked each year. Postage and copies. Oh my gosh! I heard that postage may go up to $1 a letter. So this is my time when I can just plug once again. Please sign up for e-statements. The more homeowners we get on e-statements that are able to do electronic information, the lower this cost will be. But postage in the month of January is increased because you will have your annual meeting and election of officers in January. Insurance, we are expecting an increase because of the fact that we have fires in California and hurricanes and tornadoes everywhere else. And Hawaii flooded twice or three times this year. Why does that matter Speaker 3 38:54 to us? Speaker 1 38:55 Because we all pay a proportionate share of what's happening in the world. So if you go back to our this year's insurance, you will see that we are budgeted for $8,064. We actually have just paid this insurance, which is on a three-year renewal, and this is the last year for it, so it will go out to bid next year, and it was just under $7,000. So we are we are actually tracking right along. I can tell you that based on the ratification that you just did, that you are notice the insurance company for a records request. The notice we will notice that there is a possible claim that may not hold for 8300 for 2027, so just bear that in mind. But we've built a little cushion in there, so I think we're okay. Meeting and community. That is your recording secretary. Angel is on tonight. That is the time for her time. Legal fees, general. I am. Slightly this year to $2,000. That's to being able to answer any legal questions the board may have. We do have a couple homes headed to collections, more so than just the bad debt collection, more so to a foreclosure, and we've built money into the collections policy as well, based on what's going on within the association, the rest of them are kind of the tax licenses and fees. That is your standard required by the state of Arizona. There is an additional $100 this year that AAM is charging to bundle all of your tax licenses and fees, statutory agent change, all of that to take care of all of that, so there's an additional $100 fee for that this year. Income taxes are what this Arizona state requires. That's the minimum that you will be paying. Water district taxes. That is the minimal amount that you're going to be paying for your additional amount. If you don't know what your water tax is, it's actually handled at your home too. It is a way to repay. Every association has to have 100-year supply of water. So in Coolidge and in many communities, we pay a water district tax in order to guarantee that 100-year supply of water. That's forever, and you have it at your own homes. Website expenses listed in here as well as CPA services. Now I set this at 500. Now he held it for you last year, Nina, at 450. Speaker 2 41:31 Okay, yeah. Speaker 1 41:32 He did the both the compilation and the taxes for 450. I haven't talked to him, and I don't know if you have. So I just set it at 500. Just give us a little cushion. Budgets are flexible. Remember that. Speaker 2 41:46 Right. Speaker 1 41:47 Common area expense is basically exactly what it states. If we have to do any type of repair to a playground equipment or something like that, that would that doesn't fall under the reserve account that will cover those costs. Pest control. I built. Oops, I made an error here. Do you see that 1515, and 15? I'll get that out of there. I'm so sorry, Juan. You even mentioned that to me, and I didn't get it out of here. I I apologize. So I don't think I can get that out of there right now. So I will get that out of there. Two pest controls. That's for bee removal. So, or gopher treatment if we had to. I will fix that 1515, and 15. So we will take that out of there once we do the final budget. Irrigation repairs we have set based on the conversations with the landscape company. Let me once again reiterate: this is all kind of guessing at what it might be. If you look at your budget comparison with regards to your irrigation, your irrigation repair is only at $317 right now. This Speaker 3 42:57 is an Speaker 1 42:58 aging community. So, and the contract they have with the landscape company is for downstream of the sprinkler head. So, if the sprinkler head is repaired at cost of the actual sprinkler head, anything downstream from that is both time and the tech time and the Materials. Great negotiation on that contract. What do we have? Tree pruning. the The board hasn't had to do any tree pruning, so I put that at 2500 just to give us a little bit in there. And the backflow inspections are required yearly by the city of Coolidge, and then electricity and water. Water is always our question because it goes up, it goes down. We had a great beginning to this year, did we not? Cooler weather that we all forgot. As soon as it hit 117 in August or July, all of a sudden we were complaining about the weather, but we really had a great start to this year. As you can see, we seasonally marked the water down, so we're anticipating it's 51,000. If you go back up to our budget comparison for the year so far with water, it has been under budget, so we're at 11,006 59 right now, with an annual budget of 47. We are in the hottest seasons, but this is only through June, July, August, September are our really largest amounts, and the water was able to be shut off until I'm going to say it was May 15th this year, Nina, when you authorized to turn them back on. Yes, yeah, Speaker 2 44:50 right. I think it was right on there. Yeah. Speaker 1 44:53 So because of the weather, we were able to retain it much longer than we had been ever that I knew of. So with that, we have the water for the year, and gas is just because I couldn't get gas out of there. But that comes down to your budget for this year. There is no increase noted for this year in the budget. The budget narrative has been provided to the board for your purview, should you want to look at it. This is just showing the homeowners again. This is right out of your reserve study, where we're anticipated to be at at the end of 2027, and that is the difference in the percentage is largely due to this major expense of $79,249, which we have previously discussed, is the mailboxes at the association which were inspected and do not have to be replaced at this time. But it's always a good practice to continue to mark that because we want to make sure that we recognize that in case we have to replace some in 2029. So with that, we are aligning the reserve study with the opinion that mailbox expressed. The mailbox do not require replacement. We recognize that this is substantially lower expense in the the actual reserve study. I'll go back to it. This amount is lower than the 35,000 recommended, and that is because we are tracking this right along with the recommended amount. And if we remove that $75,000, this actually will be at 70 70.6% funded. So we'll go back to the agenda. And I would need a motion to approve the budget with no assessment increase proposed, so it will remain at the $55. We're recognizing the reduction in the reserve monthly funding amount to be considered to be keep it in line with the percentage funded noted by the reserve study. That is the first motion that I'm actually asking the board to make. Speaker 2 47:05 Okay, one, would you like to make a motion? Robert Scott 47:12 Nina, can you go ahead? Speaker 2 47:14 Okay, I move to make a motion with the budget of 2027 with no assessment increase proposed, reduction in reserve monthly funding amount to be considered to keep in line with the percentage funding noted by the reserve study. Do we have a second? Robert Scott 47:33 Can I second that? Speaker 2 47:35 Any discussion? I guess we have no further discussion Speaker 1 47:39 from the board members and discussion from homeowners, mr. I do not. Speaker 1 47:49 Thank you. Speaker 2 47:50 Thank you. We'll move to the next item. Speaker 1 47:53 Well, we have. You need to call for Speaker 2 47:55 the vote. Oh, I'm sorry. So, all in favor? Robert Scott 47:58 Aye. Speaker 2 48:00 Oh, I, I say I as well. Speaker 1 48:03 Okay, Speaker 2 48:04 motion carries. Speaker 1 48:08 So the next motion is on here. So we've discussed at our previous board meeting all of the new laws that were being considered by the Arizona state legislator. The one that really scared everybody was the fact that the Arizona state legislation was talking about the fact that all future budgets would have to go through an approval process by the homeowners, and as we discussed at the meeting, who's going to approve an increase in a budget? So that did not pass. That did not even get out of this. I believe it was the Senate, but one thing that came out of that was a recommendation by the Association Attorneys for HOAs that we motion that the board president and treasurer be able to approve any expenditures on the remaining 2026 and fiscal year 2027 budget that fall within the approved budgeted line item. Any expenses outside that, and it should be operating account. I apologize. Any expenses outside the budgeted 2027 amount to be approved by the entire board. So what this is saying, and the board can or cannot approve this. This is just a recommendation. Is that if we go to your budget right here, that if let's go down to something that we might need. If we have a common area maintenance expense in the month of February for $97, that will not have to come back to the board. That Juan and Nina will be able to approve that expenditure by the landscaper in order to move it forward, where it doesn't have to come back to the board. Now, what that doesn't mean is if you have. The an expense that's $5,000 under common area maintenance, that will have to come back to the board. This is only on the operating account, not on the reserve funds. This is only on the operating account. It will allow the board to be able to prove these small little onesies twosies. We need to put $250 on the plants to fertilize it without having to have a board meeting each time. It would take the board treasurer and the board president to approve it, and it would have to fall within the line items of this budget on the operating account. That's a very important word on that agenda item that I should have put. Anything on the reserve account does require full board approval. So, what do you guys think of that? I mean, is this something you want to lean into? It's meant as a convenience and to start setting a policy going forward with regards to this, I I put it on here because it was a recommendation. But tell me what you're thinking. First, we need to make a motion. Speaker 2 51:13 Do we want to make a motion or of this? Okay. Speaker 1 51:17 In in order to discuss it, we need to have a motion. Yes. Speaker 2 51:20 Yes. Okay. So, Juan, would you like to make this motion, or shall I? Robert Scott 51:25 No. Go ahead. Speaker 2 51:26 Okay. I'd like to make a motion that the board president and treasurer to be able to approve any expenditures on the remaining 2026 and fiscal year 2027 budget that falls. I'm sorry. The operating. That's where the Speaker 1 51:44 word. Thank you. Speaker 2 51:46 Operating budget that falls within the approved budget line item. Any expenses outside the operating budget 20 or or budgeted 2027 amount to be approved by the board. Do I have a second? Robert Scott 52:02 I second that. Okay, Speaker 1 52:05 now you're open for discussion. For discussion. Speaker 2 52:08 Okay, now now we can have a discussion here. Juan, you have any anything you'd like to comment on or any questions? Speaker 1 52:23 Where it's it's it's mainly meant to try and keep things flowing more smoothly, and you you really can't do as as this board doesn't do a lot of unanimous consent items. Speaker 2 52:36 Correct. Speaker 1 52:37 We just hold quick emergency meetings, but it will actually allow the homeowners to know you're going to remain within those budget lines. Budget line Speaker 2 52:47 items. Okay, so my my question is, you had mentioned 5000. We'd have to go back to the board. So are you saying that anything below the 5000 that we can make those decisions, or is there a threshold even lower than that, that we no, Speaker 1 53:02 the threshold would be the expenditures on the budget. So, if the expenditure, if there's a budgeted amount in common area maintenance of $1,200, and it comes in at 1300, we have to hold a board meeting. Speaker 2 53:18 Okay, okay, gotcha. The Speaker 1 53:20 homeowners will absolutely know that it any decisions you make, and that is it's a great question actually, Nina. So if I'm going to just use common area maintenance, if it if you have an expenditure that is $1,195, and your budget line item is 1200. The board president and treasurer can approve that, but that only gives us $1 remaining in that line item. So if we get another expenditure that say $1,300, it must come back to the board. Speaker 2 53:55 Yes. Yes. Okay. I just wanted to make sure that was clear for having a great Speaker 1 54:00 question. Speaker 2 54:00 Yep. Okay. So, is there any further discussion? Robert Scott 54:04 I've got one. So currently, we have three board members. Correct. Speaker 1 54:11 Correct. Robert Scott 54:12 So, if we have two or more board members, that is a quorum. Would that not require a meeting? Speaker 1 54:21 That is why this motion is before the board tonight. Robert Scott 54:24 I'm just bringing that up. So, Speaker 1 54:27 yes, I appreciate that. It's a great question. Speaker 2 54:32 Any further discussion? Okay. Since there's no further discussion? All in favor, say aye. Aye. Robert Scott 54:46 Aye. Okay. Speaker 2 54:49 Motion passes. Speaker 1 54:50 Motion carries. Now the next one I put on here, and I don't know. I mean, this was just something else that was brought up that. I don't even know if you want to address it tonight, and if you don't, don't make a motion for it. This is to add a transfer fee to the resale of the home, and I know in discussions with Dan, I understand this actually places the burden on what it places the burden on is it places the burden on the seller, which can be passed on to the buyer, but it does add $100 upon the resale of a home. That money would go to the association. If we're only looking at potentially four homes being sold in 2027, that would mean $400. That the home that could be recouped and placed in the reserve account for the association. I wanted to put this in here because you haven't ever discussed this idea. So if this is not something you want to vote on tonight, or you even want to discuss tonight? No harm, no foul for me. I just want to bring it up to you that you don't have this, and it is available to you. You can actually set that transfer fee at any reasonable amount based on the demographics of Coolidge in general, and looking at other homeowners associations within Coolidge, it's anywhere between 50 to $100 upon the resale of the home, which you may feel is not worth the angst in order to do this. And it's more important that homeowners are able to sell their homes, and that's where Dan was coming from when we talked about this. That it just adds another layer to the sale of the home that might, hopefully, won't prevent a sale, but it could. And again, it could be something that the broker for the associate for the sale of the home the broker picks up, but it is on the responsibility of the homeowner who is selling the home. So just give me an idea if you want to talk about this, Nina, tonight, or if you'd like to hold off and let's look at this in like a year. I can put it on. We can table it for a year if you'd like. Speaker 2 57:13 I personally would like to table it. Speaker 1 57:16 Okay. So Angel, there's a motion to table this. Wanda. you have a second to that motion? Robert Scott 57:25 Yes, I second. Speaker 1 57:27 Great, and mr. Scott, do you have anything about the tabling of this motion? Robert Scott 57:37 No, ma'am. Speaker 1 57:39 Thank you. Well, then call for the vote, Nina, and we'll table it. Speaker 2 57:43 Okay. All in favor? Aye. Motion carries. Speaker 1 57:48 Great. Okay. The last one is based on the fact that we had to do unanimous consent, which this board does not normally do with me on issues. I am putting on here a resolution to have the board president, and your governing documents do give you this authority, Nina, to act on behalf of the association and the board. So both as authority and liaison to the association attorney in legal matters. This means that you can communicate directly with the attorney, and then if you need to bring something back to the association board, you would do that at an at a meeting. So just if I want to frame this, this has nothing to do with anyone except for we have several foreclosures and the possibility of a sheriff sale on this property. We will need to have one person being able to act as the authority and liaison to the association attorney, who is handling these collection matters. And while I'm not designating exactly who it is, but especially with sheriff sale at the speed that sometimes you have to make decisions. The homeowner wants to make a settlement agreement. The IRS is coming in on a tax lien. Having one person be able to act on behalf of the association and the board as the authority and liaison to the association attorney concerning these legal matters will actually streamline this. This does not mean Nina. You are even acting as an attorney. You would always act in that safe harbor in discussions with the association law firm. So all this is doing is saying you don't have to come back to the board if we want to place a home in foreclosure. You would be able to communicate directly with the association attorney. We have at this time five potential. We have five in a foreclosure situation right now, and we have the potential of one sheriff sale, and we have the potential of another seven going to foreclosure. Closure. So I know this isn't something you've ever done in the past, but it's kind of been automatically assumed based on the board's own governing documents and the bylaws. But based on what's occurring, and you know, I don't like to hold executive meetings, and everything you do in executive has to be voted in open meeting. I just thought this was a great way to streamline this. You have the ability at any point in time to to say, Diana, call an emergency meeting or call a 48 hour meeting. The board needs to know that we're about to own a home. Speaker 2 1:00:39 That this is Speaker 1 1:00:40 going to sheriff sale, and we're about to own a home, and what we're going to do past that. I also think this lends more towards that openness and transparency for the association members, because this is all handling behind the scenes, and as you know, I don't like to hold executive sessions because I just think that makes people go like, what are they talking about? An executive session, Speaker 2 1:01:03 right? Obviously, Speaker 1 1:01:04 if mr. Scott had wanted this held in executive session tonight, we could have done that under the ARS 33 1804. He chose to be able to come and discuss things at open meetings, so thank you for that, mr. Scott. But any decision you made would have to be in the open meeting anyway, and I think that that just allows you to be able to act and move things along. And at any point in time, you can call a meeting and say, "Hey, the attorney wants to do this. I need the board's decision on this. You're not acting as an attorney, and you would always use that safe harbor of talking with the association attorney. Okay. So, do I have a motion to pass this resolution? Speaker 2 1:01:52 Okay. I make a motion to pass the resolution as presented. Is there a second? Robert Scott 1:02:03 I second. Speaker 2 1:02:05 Do you have any discussion on this topic? Please be open and free to speak your mind. Robert Scott 1:02:13 No, I don't have much to say on that one either. Speaker 2 1:02:18 Okay. All in favor? Or I'm sorry, mr. Scott. Do you have any comments? Robert Scott 1:02:24 Yes, I do. My reviews bylaw section 7.6, which defines the president's duties, that the section authorizes the president to preside at meetings, carry out resolutions that the board has already adopted, sign documents, and co-sign checks. In each of these cases, executing decisions that the board members have already made, it does not grant the president independent, ongoing decision-making authority over legal matters in general. Separately, bylaw section 5.4 states that an act of the board requires a vote of the majority of the directors at a duly held meeting, and section 5.3 provides that only alternative unanimous written consent of all directors, thus the one officer with the standing authority over all legal matters on an ongoing basis, does not fit within either of these two mechanisms, and would functionally reassign the board powers to a single individual. Because of this, I do not believe this resolution can be validly adopted through ordinary board vote alone. It appears to require a minimum an amendment to the bylaws themselves, following whatever amendment procedure the board governing document specifies, which typically involves a member's vote, not solely a board vote. I believe that, Speaker 1 1:03:44 mr. Scott, are you an attorney? Robert Scott 1:03:47 No, ma'am. Speaker 1 1:03:49 Okay, thank you. Robert Scott 1:03:55 I believe this resolution is being proposed now in its specific forms because it has already happened once, and no board vote approval can be produced for the july 7, 2023 CHDB letter, which was sent without a board vote or unanimous written consent, and is neither AAM or board has been able to produce any record showing that it was authorized. I believe this resolution appears designed to grant after the fact and ongoing forward, going going forward basis, that the very authority that was exercised without approval in 2023, rather than correct the absence of an approval that has already been documented. Speaker 1 1:04:36 Thank you, mr. Scott. So, just for the board's edification, anytime you pass a resolution, it is actually from the moment you pass the resolution. It can't go backwards in time. Correct. So this would be only things going forward. Correct. Robert Scott 1:04:54 Which means that the if there's legal action. Much like what happened before, then it would be able to be approved without any meeting or vote of the homeowners. This lowers the amount of transparency, not increases it. Speaker 1 1:05:16 Thank you, mr. Scott. Speaker 5 1:05:21 Any other comments from the board members? I have no present comment. Why? Robert Scott 1:05:30 Neither do I. Speaker 5 1:05:33 Then Lena, I'll bring it back to you. You have a motion and a second on the table. Okay. Juan, would you like to make a all in favor? There you go. Robert Scott 1:05:45 Okay, Speaker 5 1:05:47 aye. Aye. Thank you very much. Motion carries. Speaker 1 1:05:56 I appreciate that mr. Scott wanted to add items to the agenda. I'm sorry that for Arizona state statute, once the agenda is published, we cannot add anything to the agenda. But if you would like to email me, I'm happy to present it to the board as to what you would want on a future agenda item. This board does meet on a quarterly basis, but that does not mean that we can't call a board meeting in the future should anything occur, with that we don't have a next meeting date, and I would say you've got no other topics to discuss. So, would you like a motion to adjourn? Speaker 2 1:06:35 Yes, I make a motion to adjourn. Robert Scott 1:06:39 I second it. Thank you Speaker 1 1:06:42 very much. So, the meetings are joining at 720 6p.m. Thank you, mr. Scott, for your attendance at this meeting and for board members for battling that dust storm, which never reached where I live. So I missed out on it, but I will be out today's Thursday. I probably won't be out until next week. So if you see something that occurred, oh, I'm sorry, Angel meeting adjourned. Speaker 2 1:07:10 Yes, meeting adjourned Speaker 1 1:07:11 at 726. If you see any downed trees or anything, if you'll just contact me, I would appreciate it. And one, I will have a corrected removing those $15 budget to you with the full budget packet for your approval. Within, I'm going to guess by tomorrow afternoon if that's okay. Robert Scott 1:07:32 Yes. Speaker 1 1:07:33 Okay, great. Once Juan approves everything, I will get the full budget packet to the board, and mr. Scott. Once the board approves it, which they have tonight, but approves the packet, then I will be placing it on the association website for all homeowners to be able to view it. Great news! No increase this year, one more year down, and I will look forward to seeing you all at the next board meeting. Wonderful! Thank you. Thank you Speaker 2 1:08:01 for being here. Thank you. Bye. Bye bye. Bye. Yes, mr. Scott has his hand up. Hang on a second. Speaker 1 1:08:19 I don't know. Can he not unmute? There we go. No, I cannot. The issue that I have with Robert Scott 1:08:26 placing it on the website is that can you? Speaker 1 1:08:30 I'm happy to stay honest. Robert Scott 1:08:33 Unmute. Can you hear me? There we go. So the issue with having this on the website is that, and you did receive an email. My access has been removed from the website, Speaker 1 1:08:46 mr. Scott. The homeowner is the one who actually has access to the website. You just need to speak to the homeowner and have them give you access to the website. Robert Scott 1:08:55 So what I would I'm going to request is that you send me the documents. You do not. I'm not. Speaker 1 1:09:00 I'm not sure what documents you're talking about. Robert Scott 1:09:03 All of them that are put on the website as they are received. Speaker 3 1:09:09 So if I have no Robert Scott 1:09:11 access to it and it was removed, then it should be said. Do I need Speaker 1 1:09:16 to? Okay, mr. Scott, we are unable to remove your access. That comes from the homeowner. Robert Scott 1:09:23 No, the homeowner didn't remove it. Speaker 1 1:09:25 I can reach out to the homeowner tomorrow and see if we can get this resolved because I can't give you access to the website. I don't have that ability. Robert Scott 1:09:32 I don't have the ability to sign up again. Speaker 1 1:09:37 You would not have the ability because you're not the owner, but I will reach out to the homeowner tomorrow. I Robert Scott 1:09:41 am the designated person for this. Speaker 1 1:09:44 I understand. So there is Robert Scott 1:09:45 only one account. I had access to it previously. Speaker 1 1:09:49 I did not. You received an email. Okay, mr. Scott. I did not receive a Robert Scott 1:09:54 response. Speaker 1 1:09:56 I'm trying to explain you how the website works. Is the owner. Accessibility. They are more than welcome to change it to your accessibility management. Nor the board has the ability to do that. We do pay Robert Scott 1:10:12 the management company or Speaker 1 1:10:15 the website group. You do, but I don't have the ability. No one does on the management team to grant you access that has to go through the owner. Then who removed the access? I I have no idea. I I think the the website access is just per household, isn't that correct? It is, but if he was removed from it, then that had to come from the owner. She had access. Robert Scott 1:10:40 I had access. I now do not. Speaker 1 1:10:43 Okay. I. I. All I can do is do the offer as a courtesy to you, to reach out to the owner tomorrow and see if they can go in and give you access to the website. Robert Scott 1:10:54 Okay. Speaker 1 1:10:54 So I appreciate your patience. Please send me the documents. I'll send Robert Scott 1:11:01 you a records request. Speaker 1 1:11:03 Well, if I can get access to you tomorrow, you can have all the documents. I will Robert Scott 1:11:07 get you a records request. Speaker 1 1:11:10 Okay. Thank you. Robert Scott 1:11:11 Thank you. Speaker 1 1:11:13 I'll reach out to Wendy tomorrow, Nina, and see if I just can't get access. If she'll just change her, the the third party agent. Okay. Okay. Is there anything else? No, that's it. All right. Well, everyone, have a great evening. All right. Have a wonderful weekend. You too. Bye. Bye. Transcribed by https://otter.ai