Highland Ranches Property Owners Association

P.O. Box 1039 Virginia City, Nevada 89440 

BOARD OF TRUSTEES MEETING MINUTES

                                                                      

June 9, 2001 Annual Property Owners Meeting & Elections

Please note : approved at June 26, 2001 meeting.

1. Established Quorum of the members. (127 or 25 % needed per bylaws.)

Proxies (125) + lot owners (46) attending = 171

( Includes the 25 valid proxies - instead of ballots - found in the Ballot envelopes - when they were opened by the election committee: Sherry O’Mahony, Angie Morran & Darlene Darling, appointed by the board at the previous mtg.)

2. Meeting called to order by Lydia Hammack, President at 10:10 AM

Board members present: Lydia Hammack, Gary Brownwell, Lou Tassone & Jim Dakin. Jeff Wilkes was unable to attend & assigned his Proxies to Lydia.

Review & approve Agenda for June 9, 2001 Annual meeting & elections.

M -Jim S - Lou V_- Unanimous

3. Board of Directors welcome to all property owners made by President Lydia Hammack. Property owners were reminded that the Vehicle stickers are still available for $1.00 and located at the sign-in table.

Members were also reminded that reflective address signs are still available & to place their order at the Highlands Fire Station.

4. A brief explanation was given about the fact that the Association is operating under State N.R.S. 116 guidelines and how this will effect us in the future. One change noted is that this law supersedes our bylaws & only allows 2 year terms of office, therefore the 3 board members elected last year will be up for re-election next year (2002) instead of 2003. It was explained that a form will once again be sent to all property owners asking if they are interested in running for the board. Time will be allowed for return responses as this will be sent with the dues mailing the 1st of December. The election process was explained & with the quorum of members present by proxy & in person - the election committee was instructed to open & count the ballots received.

They will report to the board and results announced later in the meeting.

5. Olivia Fiamengo (VRWPA President) presented information about :

A.) White Top, including the efforts under the direction of Jeanne Gribbin (VRWPA- 1st VP) to eradicate this noxious weed in the Highlands.

The VRWPA equipment & proper herbicide is available to homeowners.

B.) We were informed that the VRWPA has received another 10 acre property as a donation ( lot # 331 next to the school site ) & this lot was used for an emergency winter feeding station for the "wild" horses. Fund-raisers are ongoing to replenish funds to continue this next winter -if needed.

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Donations are tax deductible as the VRWPA has 501 C/3 status & is an all volunteer organization so all donations go towards needed projects.

C.) The sheep trespass issue was again discussed & people were encouraged to get involved to prevent this trespass.

Olivia will contact the homeowners/lot owners in the effected area.

District Attorney Janet Hess told the VRWPA that letters to the trespassers needed to be sent from all lot owners not wanting the sheep to wreck their land. The VRWPA will contact the owners & the HRPOA will supply the addresses. It was also noted that the trespassers can be cited for building code violations as well as health & safety violations. Trailers are not allowed on undeveloped property in the Highlands unless a building permit w/trailer permit and well/septic is obtained first. Camping is not allowed in this area as well.

We will be kept informed of any developments about the sheep.

D.) Plans for 2 Horse crossing warning signs approved & funded by the VRWPA & NDOT were scrapped. Many hours of work by the VRWPA for the signs on the main Hwy fell through because the County refused to add the signs to their insurance policy & repair list should the need arise. Everyone was disappointed but new attempts to control the movement of the horses will be made with NDOT such as replacement of snow fencing along the MT Rose side of the Hwy.

E.) The VRWPA is starting a Mountain Blue Bird project with Jean Pici’s help that will include some birdhouses being placed at the 40 acre site, saved from development years ago, known as the BLM pond on Globe Rd.

Information will be placed on the VRWPA Website http://www.vrwpa.org by volunteer webmaster, Lydia Hammack.

The VRWPA meetings are held the last Monday of every month at 7 PM at the Highlands Fire-Station. All are welcome to attend & volunteer.

The HRPOA board encouraged the VRWPA to continue their good work to help maintain the wildlife that most of us moved here to enjoy.

6. Gary Hames, Storey County Fire Chief, presented maps that are for evacuation in case of fire or other natural disasters.

He encouraged all homeowners to have the Highlands sticker on their vehicles to allow us access to our homes easier during an emergency.

He explained a brochure was sent to all homeowners asking them to sign up for ambulance service at a greatly reduced cost.

The co-habitation of State & County firemen at all stations was explained & the county is committed to getting 24/7 staffing at the Highlands station by next year. Currently it is staffed from Monday through Friday 8 AM to 4 PM & on an as needed basis if there is high fire condition potential.

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We were informed that the County will be working with the BLM in the Highlands to prevent fire loss. All are encouraged to fill out forms to help the fire department determine individual needs like medical conditions. He also encouraged homeowners to join the volunteer fire department.

The slash pile will continue & asked that only trees & brush be placed in the area set aside next to the fire-station. The pile will be burned when conditions are safe. The number to reach the Storey Co. fire department is 847-0954 for regular business. 911 for fire & urgent medical calls.

Their Website is http://www.storeyfire.com and Lydia will add a link from the HRPOA site for everyone’s benefit.

The HRPOA board thanked him for his report and great work.

7. Next agenda item scheduled was our County Commissioner Chuck Haynes. He did not show, but had been invited & reminded with a phone call by Lydia 3 days before the meeting.

One question about roads was asked & Lydia answered that our research showed that the roads department is funded by State fair share money & not property taxes. A report about our efforts to obtain County help with Cartwright Rd. was given by Lydia. Kelly reported that over $100,000 would be needed to do the repairs on our own. Our informal meeting with the 1’s on May 2nd resulted in some ideas that were presented to the County Commissioners on May 15th. They did agree to give us some services to lay the blacktop but no other funding was offered for help with the 2 miles of private road between the County parts. We are still trying to set up a meeting to see what can be done with the limited money both Associations have & the labor the County seemed willing to provide.

Other County issues concerning taxes & services could not be discussed as planned without anyone from the Commissioners office present.

8. Sgt. Jerry Pedersen - Commander of Dispatch & Detention represented the Sheriff’s department in the absence of Sheriff Whitten who had a family emergency. Sgt. Pedersen urged homeowners to keep 911 calls for emergencies only & limit calls to dispatch asking what is happening during obvious emergencies such as fires as this ties up the limited lines for necessary communications. He also assured us that a resident deputy will continue to be based full time in the Highlands as well as volunteer reserve members to help with the speeding problem we seem to have on many roads. Iris Campbell is trained & will be patrolling.

He encouraged us to have the Highlands stickers & reflective address signs to assist law enforcement personal in an emergency. Kelly Morris thanked the Sheriff’s department for allowing our radio base station for our snow plow drivers to be placed at dispatch so 24 hr monitoring would be possible. This was done at no cost to the Association -the Sheriff’s department paid for the move of the equipment & they are not charging us to monitor the extra radio.

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9. Marlene Rebori, VCHPOA resident, from the UNR Cooperative Extension gave a great report on the new committee, Fire Safe Highlands, comprised of volunteers from all organizations in the Highlands. A monthly newsletter is sent to all homeowners now. Reflective markers to color match with the evac. areas have been purchased & will be placed on all reflective address markers. A trailer was purchased & is available for checkout to move brush to the slash pile at the fire-station. They would like to donate it to the fire department & legalities are being worked out. They plan to have a fuel reduction assistance program available soon & are working on ways to increase firebreaks on existing roads. They have also obtained extra tanks to place around the Highlands for increased water storage that can be accessed by the water trucks. All money raised is by Grants & they hope to increase the # of volunteers to help where needed.

Phone # to call is 784-4848.

10. Lou Tassone -Board Treasurer/Secretary - reviewed current financial reports & informed us that we are in pretty good shape for collections. He said copies of the audited report are available here after the meeting.

11. Gary Brownwell -Vice-President & Volunteer Road Manager -gave the road report. Maintenance on culverts is being completed & any new ones will be larger diameter so they don’t fill up as easy. He reported on the new method of road base that includes Type 2 base w/water & rolling instead of the black lava rock used the last few years.

The new method was tested on several trouble areas & has held up well with little wash-boarding that used to require extra grading.

The cost for doing the roads correctly will be more than other methods tried in the past but will result in less maintenance in the long term & better driving conditions in the winter.

It is approx. $6,700. for each mile averaged out for the roads completed this spring & property owners who haven’t had their roads done the new way yet will have some grading work done & gravel placed where needed.

Lydia asked all property owners to thank Gary for volunteering to supervise this work at no cost to the Association & getting us some nice corporate discounts for us with his contacts as owner of Starlite concrete. Also noted that he keeps accurate records of all calls placed for repairs & work completed.

12. Jim Dakin gave the architectural committee report on the new guidelines & explained that these try to better clarify some issues & allow for newer materials as long as they blend in with the surroundings. The unsigned guidelines were made available along with the color charts for review after the meeting.

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13. Jim Dakin gave a report on the Mailbox buildings. The C of O was obtained by the Highlands just this week & the OK was given to move the boxes to their new home. Jim asked that thanks be given to all who helped , including but not limited to the following: Ed Diederich, Gary Brownwell , Kelly Morris & crew, Jeff Wilkes, Jim Dakin, Wally Corey & many others .

A thank you plaque for placement on the shelter is planned- it will include all who helped with this year long project.

 

14. Election results : Votes for Kelly Morris- 124. Votes for Kay Dean -117. Votes for none -14. Total ballots received was -144.

NRS 116 required 102 (20%) so the election is valid.

Note: 34 ballot envelopes contained no ballots, only proxies which were NOT allowed for the election but the 25 valid proxies were added to the total for the meeting attendance & 9 were not valid as all names had been checked when only one may be checked for a proxy.

15. Owner’s Comments, questions and suggestions.

Several questions about NRS 116 & how it effects us were asked .

Lydia explained what she could but some answers need to be obtained from the new Association attorney Mark Gunderson.

One member suggested that we look into getting a bond to cover our reserve fund requirements which is our only major problem with the State law. Another member asked if we planned to lobby the legislature next session to try for an exemption & we said we would ask our new attorney, who is very informed about NRS 116, to check into this for us.

It was suggested that the proxies be sent out with the December dues notice so we don’t have the confusion we had this year with what was supposed to go in the ballot envelopes.

A show of hands vote was taken & all decided this was great idea.

16. The Meeting was adjourned at 12:10 PM.

Lydia, on behalf of the board, thanked all who attended.

All board members made themselves available for individual questions about items presented at the meeting so many property owners stayed & enjoyed the goodies the Delta supplied with the coffee set-up & also had a chance to socialize with neighbors. A letter of thanks to the Delta will be sent as well as a thank you to all speakers.

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