Minutes of the Special Meeting

Dec. 5, 2016

54 Santana Road, Vado, NM

President Wade Cornelius opened this special meeting at 6:15. Present were all board members, except Patrick Stafford. No one else attended and no guests were introduced. Secretary Beth Morgan asked that approval of the minutes for the October meeting be tabled, which met with no resistance.

He then addressed the new business coming before the board: review and approval of a budget adjustment requested by DFA. Treasurer Jana Melvin noted she had two forms; however, she wasn’t certain what DFA was expecting. One of the documents she referred to was the resolution, which Morgan noted she was handling.

Ms. Melvin wanted Morgan to explain the language in the document dealing with the type of entity using the template, the date of the resolution, what year the adjustment was for and so on. Morgan noted that mutual domestics are considered a “special district,” which is why forms for mutual domestic water associations are to be found on the DFA website under special districts. The resolution notes that the change was to be approved in a meeting “duly advertised” as required by the Open Meetings Act. VDRMDWCA has specified that we will give three days notice for special meetings, which was done for this meeting. The final statement of the resolution notes that the approval of the adjustment was made “in session” on a date to be specified by us, in this case, this meeting. Morgan has to “attest” the signatures and affix the seal of the water association. The next step is to have each member sign the resolution. While Morgan was explaining this to Mrs. Melvin, Stafford came into the meeting.

The treasurer questioned whether we had to have a meeting in order to approve the change and have members physically sign the resolution. Morgan noted that because the resolution template suggested that the meeting in which the change was made be “duly advertised,” the idea is that the change should be made “in the public eye.” Therefore, it should be done in a meeting. Campion noted that, because we are now using and seeking government funding, it is appropriate to get together to approve such matters. Mrs. Melvin expressed her concern that having to have a meeting each time—because we will have to go through this process after the fourth quarter as well—is inconvenient for those who work fulltime.

To Cornelius’ query whether we had anything yet to approve, she noted that as she understands it, the form for documenting the budget adjustment does not take into account cash on hand. It mirrors the profit and loss statement, which, to her did not make sense. And, she noted again, we will have to go through the process in January for the fourth quarter.

Because of when our most recent budget crisis occurred, we incurred additional expense in the third quarter. However, we did not receive the money to pay for it until the fourth quarter began. This confuses the issue. We did pay $4,000 out of what we had on hand for pulling the pump, the remainder of which was not requested of members nor received from them until the fourth quarter. Mrs. Melvin said, “we’re gonna be right back where we started.” She noted also that while the special assessment was paid, we still have not gotten Henry Torres’ invoice for the time he put in during the crisis.

Melvin noted we got a notice from DFA that in our third quarter, we had gone over what we had budgeted by 5 percent. “I just don’t understand what they’re wanting us to do.” Campion asked what the concern was: that we don’t “zero”? Mrs. Melvin indicated that DFA’s concerns don’t seem to take into account that we do have cash on hand. “We were able to meet our obligation because we had money in the bank, and they’re not taking that into consideration,” Mrs. Melvin said. She noted that they are comparing our projected budget with our actual budget without taking into account what we have in the bank.

Additionally, we have to number the resolution in sequence with any other resolutions the board has passed. Morgan noted that the only other resolution passed this year was to ensure that the board had supported submitting the grant proposal, so this one should be Resolution No. 2. (Actually, this is wrong, because the board also passed two open meetings resolutions, one for each year we have done so, and the grant application resolution. Therefore, it should be resolution No. 4.) Morgan agreed to double-check the resolution number. She suggested that Mrs. Melvin contact Anita Medina at DFA for an explanation, because it is her job to help us figure this out.

Mrs. Melvin had referred to a note that Morgan had received from DFA noting that we had been told we were 5 percent over budget and needed to prepare a budget adjustment. Campion asked whether Morgan had distributed the letter to the board. She had only forwarded the email to Mrs. Melvin, but said that as soon as she could call it up on her computer, she would forward it to everyone. She read:

In reviewing your 3rd quarter report, year to date activity the expenditures have exceeded the approved budget by 5%, a budget adjustment is required to increase the expenditures. Attached is the BAR form with Vista Del Rey Estates MDWCA approved budget along with a template of the BAR resolution.

Morgan noted that what this meant to her was that we were to fill out the BAR (Budget Adjustment Request form), and pass a resolution approving it. Stafford recognized the BAR term, and said while he had not done one, he had had input into them and that he would talk to the people in his office who handled them, as well as talking to Medina, if need be. Mrs. Melvin repeated her concern that we will have to do another adjustment and a resolution approving it in the fourth quarter.

Campion noted it sounded pretty clear-cut to him: we simply need to pass a resolution increasing the budget the 5 percent, and send it in. That’s typically what Stafford’s department does: they just have to reflect a transfer. She said it mirrors the profit and loss, not actual cash on hand. Stafford noted we could ask Medina how to reflect the cash on hand and restated that we will have to do the same thing again. Morgan noted that “it’s just jumping through hoops.” (Because we are a public entity, we have to be transparent and to account for the additional money taken in as well as the additional expenditures through a budget adjustment.)

Morgan also noted that she had been notified by Medina that our 2017 preliminary budget had not been submitted. Mrs. Melvin noted that, yes, it had been submitted, and Medina had subsequently indicated that we have to spell out the name of the association on every communication, in every instance, so she spelled out everything and sent it back.

The President asked whether we could take action during the meeting. Mrs. Melvin indicated that she understood better and we should be able to proceed and pass the resolution. She wanted to know if we could look at it her budget adjustment and approve it. As the numbers had yet to be plugged in for board members to approve, we decided to delay the signing of the resolution until it was ready. Morgan also indicated that in order to scan the document, the dates had to be entered on the computer, the seal affixed, and the signatures in place. A document cannot be changed, after it is scanned. The board moved on to the next item.

Under Open Forum, Morgan noted that following the previous meeting, she and the President had had a conversation with Stafford, who was upset that very few members do the association’s work. Additionally, Mrs. Melvin has indicated she does not want to serve another term as treasurer. Stafford had indicated that the board should tell members that we will have to raise rates if no one from the neighborhood agrees to serve as treasurer. In fact, it will be necessary, as we cannot at present afford to pay a bookkeeper. Thus, Morgan and Cornelius concluded we should put out a letter soliciting greater involvement from members as soon as possible. Morgan was to draft the letter. Upon doing so, she had shared it with the president, and he approved it, with the addition of some italicized wording. Morgan read the letter to board members (see attachment*).

Campion noted that the words “raise our rates” needs to be put in bold or underlined. Cornelius noted the need to put it out again nearer the January meeting, at which time we could emphasize that. The president asked whether Campion had good bookkeeping skills, to which he responded that he is a poor record-keeper. Some talk of asking his wife to serve as bookkeeper was bandied about. Morgan indicated that Henry Torres, the water operator, recommended the bookkeeper for High Valley Farms. However, Morgan was reluctant to share too much information with High Valley Farms, and she has seen its bookkeeper in action and had gotten the impression she is a primadonna. Additionally, she has heard many complaints that the woman runs the meetings, in the president’s place, and he does nothing about it. Also, in the meeting Morgan attended, the HVF bookkeeper had complained to Olga Morales of the Rural Communities Assistance Corporation, that she had been badly treated by someone and she felt she did not deserve that. As Morales has no authority to rectify the situation, it seemed out of place and unwarranted. Torres has indicated that she is good at what she does, but Morgan indicated little interest in working with difficult people.

Mrs. Melvin said she would work with whomever is willing to take the position and will train them on QuickBooks. That has to be put on their computer, which means we may have to buy it for the individual, and it may cost $200.

Campion said he would work on his wife, and Mary Lucero had told Morgan of someone who does bookkeeping. There are possibilities. It was decided that no motion was needed for the letter to the membership: we would put it out right away and again later.

Cornelius asked Campion about a road issue. He said we need to get our new road dragger, Randell Mellor, to slow down. He had dragged the road on Sunday, but people couldn’t tell. Stafford said he had told Mellor that he needed to go over the lower portion of Vista del Rey six times, and that he himself had done it at idle-speed.

Morgan noted Mellor had asked if we were happy with what he had done at the last meeting. She was under the impression he hadn’t done anything. Cornelius noted he had dragged the road once. Campion said he would talk to Mellor.

Mrs. Melvin asked Morgan about an email she had received indicating that DFA had yet to received our 2017 budget. Morgan indicated that she had gotten the email three days earlier, but she had just seen it. Mrs. Melvin said that she had emailed the 2017 budget November 30th. Morgan noted that, if Stafford was going to talk to Medina the following day that he could ask about whether she had received the 2017 budget as well.

The board also discussed notifying members that we have elections coming up. We agreed to do that in the letter. We then moved back to the budget issue: when Mrs. Melvin could make the adjustment, she can email it to us all, and they can come by the secretary’s house to sign it.

The president thanked everyone for their work, especially Mrs. Melvin, whom we vowed to send off with gifts. The meeting was adjourned after approximately an hour.

*Copies of the budget adjustment and the resolution accepting it are on file with the VDRMDWCA Secretary. Anyone who wishes to examine them can make an appointment to do so.