Charterwood

January 3, 2007 Meeting Minutes and Newsletter Items

Feb 25, 2007

THE CHARTERWOOD ASSOCIATION, INC.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING MINUTES

January 3, 2007


PENDING BOARD APPROVAL (at the Next Meeting)

CALL TO ORDER

The meeting was called to order at 6:04 p.m. at St. Andrew Presbyterian Church. Present from the Board of Directors were Mark Stiles, Rick Forester and Bill Oliver. Harry Stackhouse attended for the Architectural Control Committee. Present from Western States Property Services, Inc. was Earl Johnson, Project Manager. Homeowner Mike Griffin was also in attendance.

APPROVAL OF AGENDA

The agenda was approved as written with the addition of the subject of snow removal under New Business.

APPROVAL OF PRIOR MEETING MINUTES

A motion was made to approve the Minutes from the November 1, 2006 Board of Directors Meeting with one editorial correction of an entry regarding reference to Senate Bill 05-100/06-089 policies. The reference should be ?“Meeting Policy?” not ?“Meeting Police.?” The motion was seconded and passed.

OPEN FORUM

No items.

MANAGER?’S UPDATE

Financials - Earl Johnson reviewed the as of 11/30/06 Financial Status of the Association. The Operating and Reserve accounts are holding steady from the prior review. The year to date budget status was also reviewed as of the aforementioned date in conjunction with expenditures made in December.

Rick Forester provided an update of the laddered Certificates of Deposit plan for the reserves and talked about the additional funds that have been transferred from the cash account to a readily-accessible money market account. As we are already seeing an increase in projected costs this year, it is hoped the higher returns help offset them some.

An update was provided addressing the as of 11/29/06 assessment payment status and current delinquencies. Some older delinquencies are now being resolved. One needs reconciliation by the Management Company.

Audit ?– No update regarding conducting one this year.

CY2007 Budget ?– Due to some additional information regarding anticipated 2007 expenses, the Board and Management Company did an update review of the budget. Based on the resulting adjustments, the Board moved, seconded and approved the updated budget. The updates do not impact the 2007 monthly assessment plan.

Documents Online ?– There was a discussion on the feasibility of eventually having the Association governing documents online for reference by Realtors/Buyers. Since Charterwood already has a web site (see site reference at the end of the minutes), it might be a place to possibly accommodate them at minimal cost.

Covenant Violations - Current covenant violations are discussed in a separate Addendum to the Minutes for distribution to the Project Manager, Board and ACC Members.

ARCHITECTURAL CONTROL COMMITTEE

Harry Stackhouse discussed one Design Review Request awaiting a homeowner?’s response.

OLD BUSINESS

?’06 Home Paint Review ?– Most identified have now responded or been closed. A few that were noted subsequent to the review will be carried over to the 2007 review.

Common Area Landscape Maintenance ?– The open actions with Platinum Landscaping have now been delayed by the recent winter storms. Also concerns remain about some decline in performance by Platinum seen during the year. Accordingly, other landscape contract bids are being obtained; two received to date. Other bids are still needed. Those received so far seem mainly focused on grass cutting more so than area cleanup/maintenance, sprinkler operations/repairing and shrub & tree trimming. The bids also only addressed active span times from April through October. The current contract is year round and ends in early November. A possible alternative would be to obtain bids through at least November. Recent experience has shown that an October cutoff for landscape cleanup and maintenance is too early with the continuing fall shedding of leaves into November.

Homeowner Handbook ?– The draft of the Handbook has been in the review process by the Association?’s Attorney and the Management Company since the Mid-September.

Board Insurance ?– The Board had questions about recommended updates to the current liability coverage policy for the Association. Answers to these questions and other clarifications are first needed prior to proceeding with any changes. Earl will work to obtain more information from the insurance agent.

Entryway Light Maintenance ?– The electrical contractor, Huston Enterprises, replaced three of the center island entryway bulbs last month, however, two of the replaced bulbs are already cycling intermittently. Earl requested to have the bulbs replaced. In addition, the contractor recently completed some requested updates to the side entry lights.

2007 Annual Meeting ?– The Board further discussed plans for the forthcoming Meeting. At present, looking towards a date of March 5th (first Monday of the month) at St. Andrew Presbyterian Church, starting at 7:00 p.m. Formal notification packages should be sent out around February 2nd. Meeting subjects will be election of three officers, review of financials, officers?’ reports, and Homeowners?’ forum. Other possible subjects include landscape maintenance, snow removal, trash collection, audit plans and SB 100/089 updates. Any members interested in volunteering for the Board who have any questions, please contact any current Board member or Earl Johnson

NEW BUSINESS

Trash Collection ?– These past weeks have been frustrating to everyone in view of Allied Waste?’s sporadic collection of trash. In December, this was primarily due to the collection day snow storms and resulting difficult access by them to the side streets. Surprisingly, Allied did make a holiday collection in Charterwood on Sunday, December 31st; their first pickup here since December 13th.

After December, collection problems in Charterwood continued; possibly caused by confusion at Allied?’s dispatch center or our area being assigned a new collection crew who may have gotten lost. As briefly mentioned in the November Minutes, the local trash collection industry is struggling and therefore appears to be going through some restructuring. For us, it initially started in mid-2005 when Allied bought out our original contractor, Browning Ferris Industries. When the restructuring is done, we?’ll probably see fewer companies and higher rates for trash collection. A few HOA?’s in Aurora already encountered this fallout last summer when one or more small companies convinced them to pay ahead in advance for a lower rate?…..then went out of business with the collected money.

In recent months, Allied has been adding a fuel/environmental recovery fee to our bill. In spite of this, their charges are still lower than other companies we?’ve looked at. We have one year remaining on our current contract with Allied. Some of their recent poor performance seems the same whether their contract is in the $7-$9 per home per month price range for us or $20+ per home per month as in some other areas. For the time being, Earl Johnson is to continue working with Allied to resolve trash collection disconnects. In conjunction with this, the Board will continue calling and e-mailing Allied whenever missed service occurs.

Common Area Snow Removal ?– The recent snow removal efforts of Platinum Landscaping has also been disappointing, though, they eventually did the work. Snow removal contracting is another subject to be relooked at this year.

The snow situation is a different matter on Charterwood?’s perimeter sidewalks around So. Fenton. It looks like the City of Lakewood with the help of one or more Lakewood Estates Filing No. 2 residents on Fenton, who have their own snow plow vehicles, plowed all of the street and sidewalk snow onto Charterwood?’s perimeter property and adjoining sidewalks. Based on the high expense to clear the perimeter of these banks of snow, we (along with Platinum) are monitoring the as-is situation for now.

NEXT MEETING DATE AND LOCATION

The next Board Meeting will be held at 6:00 p.m. on Wednesday, May 2, 2007, at St. Andrew Presbyterian Church, 3096 S. Sheridan Boulevard. All Association members are welcome to attend. Due to the time span between this and the next meeting (Annual Meeting in March; no Board Meeting then), the Board, Management Company and ACC may look at some interim time before May to review the status of open actions and any new issues.

ADJOURNMENT

With no further business to discuss, the Meeting was adjourned at 8:00 p.m.


NEWSLETTER ITEMS January 2007

Private Residence Snow Removal:

In addition to Platinum Landscaping?’s availability for private residence snow removal, one of the Board Members mentioned that a Robert Hoffschneider at (303)210-5692 is also available to clear private residence driveways for about $15.

Fire Hydrants:

Passing on from an article seen in a recent publication addressing access to fire hydrants, it requested residents who have fire hydrants at the front of their lots to endeavor to unbury them after heavy snows in case they are needed. Thanks go out to the many residents in Charterwood who have already been doing that. Should help be needed with removing snow from any hydrants, let a Board Member know.

Trash Collection Services:

For this Newsletter, we initially were going to look at obtaining an update of the trash removal services provided by Allied Waste. In view of the recent problems with them, the timing turned out to be bad for one. In general, though, since Allied bought out BFI, their collection of large or unique items (like furniture, appliances, bulk items) has probably gotten more expensive. Every other week (with our Jan. 10th collection day being the first this year) recycling services seem the same with some continuing latitude in paper, aluminum/steel cans, glass and plastic bottles that can be included. Should there be any questions about any of their services?…..collection of large or unique items, recycling, recycling bins, etc?…?…..contact at their Residential Service Number, (303)287-8043. Else, continue as you have been doing.

After holidays that fall on a weekday (Martin Luther King day excluded), trash removal may be a day later than normal. Weekend holidays normally do not impact the next week collection. Any questions about holiday collection timing, contact Allied at the above service number.

As a general rule for Charterwood regarding trash, it should not to be placed out near the curb earlier than 7:00 p.m. the night before removal (covered where possible). Emptied trash containers should then be moved from the curb and placed out of sight before 10:00 p.m. on the day of trash removal. Your help with the latter will mitigate empty containers being scattered by the wind. On windy days, it sometimes helps to place the trash out in plastic bags for collection. In times of adverse winter weather causing collection delays, as recently encountered, or with other general collection delays by Allied, the foregoing timelines are then overcome by events.
Charterwood Web Site:
http://www.neighborhoodlink.com/jeffco/cwood