Minutes of the Annual Membership Meeting and Potluck

President Wade Cornelius opened the meeting when the majority of those attending had finished eating, at 6:41 p.m. He thanked everyone for coming and for bringing the delicious food they had prepared. In addition to Cornelius, Secretary Beth Morgan, Treasurer Jana Melvin, and Board Member Patrick Stafford were present. Also attending were: Mark Sechrist, Karen Cornelius, Kassie Hathorn, Geoffrey Hathorn, Andrea Cecur, Randell Mellor, Rebecca Flores, Mary Lucero, David Lucero, Deborah Stafford, Martha Trego, Skip Trego, and two children, Logan Hathorn and _______ Flores.

Cornelius noted that not all new area residents are aware that as a small association, member owners are expected to take part in keeping the water system operating. During the meeting we review what we’ve done in the past year, he said. We are currently working on a grant to get our system evaluated, and eventually, we hope, to get a new water system built, something of which most people are aware, he said.

Agendas were shared; self-introductions were made. The president noted that Rob Campion, another board member, and Henry Torres, our water operator, were unable to attend. Henry, recently retired from the City of Las Cruces, goes above and beyond the call of duty, the president noted. Stafford said we are required by law to have a certified water operator, and Torres is certified.

Next, the president inquired about minutes. The secretary is behind, she reported, on minute preparation, and did not have the minutes from Dec. 5, a meeting to approve a budget adjustment and to pass a resolution for same for the third quarter budget matters, with her. She generally posts them on Facebook and our website. The board members get them first via email, thus, had already seen them. If they give them a green light, they get posted. Stafford made a motion to approve the minutes, seconded by Mrs. Melvin. The minutes for the December meeting were approved unanimously.

The treasurer’s report came next. Balance forward in November was $1,967, the treasurer indicated. Income was $825; expenses, $372; balance on hand on 12-31-16 was $2,419.60. She noted that our cash on hand is rebounding since our problems in late September, and after collecting a special assessment, we were able to meet our costs for that crisis. She was pleased that we had enough in the bank that we were able to keep the special assessment fairly low.

As our water operator was not able to attend, Patrick Stafford noted that the problem we experienced back in September had to do with the type of system we have: it is a three-phase system, which saves on electricity costs, but which is fairly complex. A wire in the well house had corroded to the point it was not making contact, which caused the motor to single-phase, which burned out the motor, so we had to replace the motor and the pump. One of the good things that came out of it is that we made contact with the electrician who had helped to put in the original system, whom we will be using in the future. He noted that the system is old, but it is running as well as it can. He said it will be interesting to see what the engineers have to say when they do their study. Mrs. Melvin questioned whether inventory had been restocked since the September crisis. Stafford said we try to keep a replacement for everything on hand. We got credit toward getting a pressure pump rebuilt. He has listed a spare six-inch motor we can’t use on Craig’s List, but we haven’t gotten a serious response about it. Spare fuses need to be replaced and a warm-up contact. We don’t keep a spare pump and motor, because those things together cost about $6,000. He said we have a possibility of rebuilding a pump. They don’t rebuild motors. Once we build up reserves, we may want to have a spare pump and motor on hand.

David Lucero asked what we were doing about check valves. Stafford said we had had to replace a coupling that had a pinhole in it, when they replaced that, they replaced a check valve and pressure meter. There’s one section of pipe he wishes we had replaced at the same time. He said we have two spare check valves. Lucero asked about back-up. He said it costs $3,000 to pull the pump out of the well. He says it’s a pretty expensive deal to put a used pump back in there. How long will it last? he asked. Jana Melvin suggested we should build a platform so that we could pull the well ourselves. Stafford indicated that we need an A-frame with a winch motor. “It’s not rocket science.” The difficult part is the manpower, Lucero said.

Cornelius said we did talk about putting a sensor at the top of the well so we would have early warning that the well is not pumping. We could then let folks know to conserve water until we get the pump going again, rather than running the tank dry and taking so long to get the tank filled again. Cornelius noted that High Valley Farms has an extra sensor, and that they would just give it to us. If we get that done, that could help a great deal. Lucero said if the water drops below the probe, a light comes on to alert us to a problem. The president indicated we would try to install the sensor within the next couple of months. It’s a cheap fix, Lucero noted, and he would be willing to assist with its installation.

The next item was a report on our status with the Taxation and Revenue Department. We have had concerns that we may need to pay gross receipts taxes, but we have never paid any. We have attempted to call the Tax and Revenue Department, but got put on hold for long periods of time, only to finally have the chance to leave a voicemail, which did not get any results. Consequently, Cornelius said he would put in a personal appearance at the local Tax and Revenue office. The Treasurer said she is under the impression that we don’t have to pay it unless we charge our customers gross receipts tax. The President said he wants to get written documentation stating that we don’t have to pay it, because, with the county, it’s typical that an individual might get four different answers from various county employees. For that reason, written documentation is important. Asked whether he had gone to the Taxation and Revenue Department, the president indicated that he had, but the line was long and he had had to leave. He has someone who is willing to find this out for us and to get written documentation for us. He said he should have the information by the next meeting or sooner.

Cornelius noted that Patrick Stafford had smoothed the road for us for years, but has passed the torch to new neighbor Randell Mellor, who was actually out working on the road the evening before the meeting. He has been on the job, usually after a rain, as the soil is softer then. The president said that he knows someone with a grader who has charged us $400 a pop to grade in the past, but, because he has the grader parked closer, could do it for $300. Currently, Cornelius said, he feels the I-beam is doing the job. When the road seems to need something more, he touches base with other board members or folks knowledgeable about road maintenance to see if they think grading is warranted. Mellor noted that he probably won’t be available on the weekends, as he is taking on a new job. The president said it will help if we stick to the posted speed of 25 mph or even slower. David Lucero noted the point is to try to keep a crown on the road so that the water runs off to the sides.

Someone asked if there was a reason the road is maintained by the water association. Stafford noted that the road had been deeded to the water association as a conscious decision years back, as it is needed to access the well and the lines. The individual asked whether there were any chance the proposed home owners’ association would take over the road maintenance. Stafford said that the home owners’ association will have the same people as members who are members of the water association, so it seemed to make little difference.

In moving to the next topic, old business, the president stated that we need to be pursuing training. The NM Environment Department Drinking Water Bureau has a list of training events available to all water board members. Most are free. Some are webinars. Those that are nearby are cheaper, because we do not have to reimburse the members for mileage and hotels. The ones that are not free are generally associated with the Rural Water Association conferences. Morgan indicated that the trainings are available under the Drinking Water Bureau portion of the NMED website, and she had printed them out. Stafford noted he had gotten three hours through the AWWA, American Water Works Association. No action was taken, however, Morgan suggested that any new officers should be warned that training is required by law.

The next subject was approval of the final 2016 budget. Morgan noted she had resolutions for the budget and fourth quarter approval. Mrs. Melvin said she didn’t have the budget nor the fourth quarter report with her, but indicated she had shown them to Morgan earlier in the day. Morgan had brought resolutions for adoption of the fourth quarter report and the final 2016 budget. Mrs. Melvin said there were no changes in the budget. Morgan said the only changes that would have been made were to the fourth quarter report, due to the special assessment, which she said wasn’t received until the third quarter (although she misspoke: she meant the fourth quarter). David Lucero asked which year’s budget we were considering, to which Morgan indicated 2016. Mrs. Melvin said that the budget for 2017 is in the works. No action was taken.

Morgan noted that she and the treasurer had attempted to speak to someone in the State Auditor’s office that morning. Individually, they spoke to someone later in the day who indicated that we don’t have to have an audit, but that we do have to provide financial records for up to five years prior to 2010. Additionally, we will have to re-register as a Tier 2 company every year.

On bylaws review and name change, Morgan suggested that we need to officially change our name (as the 12-word version with “The” and “Estates” would not fit on a seal, which we have to have). Bylaws review needs to be resumed in earnest, once we have hired an engineer and things get back to normal.

Next up was elections. The president indicated that when we last held elections, he and Mrs. Melvin had had two-year terms, so their terms were ending, opening up the positions of president and treasurer. Mrs. Melvin had said she preferred not to serve again, so we had in December and January sent out a letter advising residents that as part owners of our water system, they are also responsible for helping to keep it running. We made it known that subdivision residents were being asked to step up and help with the running of the association, as Mrs. Melvin was bowing out. We also had warned residents that if no one stepped up and we had to hire someone, it would mean we have to raise the rates, as we cannot afford to pay a bookkeeper currently. It would cost $300-$400 per incident, probably at least quarterly, possibly monthly, to pay a bookkeeper, Morgan indicated. Morgan said we would probably have to raise rates $10 or $20/month. The president asked what needed to happen next, and Morgan indicated that nominations would be needed.

Morgan said someone else’s name had been mentioned as a possible replacement bookkeeper. She turned to Martha Trego, who was sitting next to her, and said that she had heard Mrs. Trego did books, who indicated that she works in accounting, and in addition to her job, she has two clients whose work she does at home. She felt that she couldn’t handle any additional responsibilities. Individuals then joked around about who else might serve. Various individuals’ names came up: Rob Campion had been asked, and we had also considered asking his wife, but not very seriously. Mrs. Melvin said that she had heard through the grapevine that someone on the board thought we needed a new treasurer. However, she volunteered to serve one more year, while we are processing our first grant funding for an engineering review, unless there was an objection to her serving. David Lucero said he would consider taking her place at the end of that time. Morgan nominated Mrs. Melvin to serve another year. Melvin also asked Mrs. Trego if she was at all interested in serving, and she indicated that she was busy before she added her second free-lance client. Stafford seconded the nomination. The vote to have her continue for a year was unanimous.

Cornelius indicated that the president’s position was also up for grabs. He said he didn’t mind continuing, but he was not opposed to someone else taking over. Patrick nominated Cornelius for a second term, which was seconded by Morgan. When the vote came, his wife, Karen, voted no, as she would have preferred he spend more time with his family. Patrick Stafford stated that terms are for two years, but when we had our last elections, individuals selected from a hat 2-, 3-, or 4-year terms. Morgan also noted that our bylaws state that members elect people to the board, but the board chooses who serves in what position. She also stated that we haven’t been doing it that way. As the “ayes” outnumbered the “nays,” Cornelius was re-elected president.

We then passed the Open Meetings Act for 2017. The notice times will remain the same: 10 days advance notice for regular meetings, 3 for special meetings, and 24 hours for emergency meetings. She said that we have to renew the Open Meetings resolution every year. Members are notified by Facebook, on the VDRMDWCA website, and notices are placed in member mailboxes. She noted that the Open Meetings Resolution needed to be signed, and passed it to other board members for that purpose.

An update on the Request for Proposals for our Preliminary Engineering Report was next. Morgan had brought with her two sealed proposals, the only two we had received, one from Wilson and Co. and one from Souder, Miller, and Associates. Souder, Miller is the engineer that High Valley Farms is using. We had received phone calls or emails from eight companies asking for the RFP. We received two actual proposals. Morgan stated that we had 10 days from the first date of publication during which we could receive proposals, with the last day being Jan. 16. Morgan noted that Steven Deal had also offered to send the RFP to his engineer listserve, which she had asked him to do. This could be why we got several companies wanting copies of the RFP. However, she said that many of them are in Albuquerque. David Lucero said Wilson is one of those. However, Morgan added that they have an office in Las Cruces. To the president’s query, Morgan said we should at least set a time to do the scoring. A template for the scoring is available in the RFP. Morgan said she did not know how long it would take. Board members could take copies and review them prior to the meeting to score the proposals. The board settled on Jan. 25 at 6 p.m. at her house.

Motions made but not enacted included ventilation at the well house, Morgan said. She also suggested that we may need to do a search of the meeting minutes to see if there are any others. Henry Torres had requested ventilation, as the chlorine we use in the well is noxious, and he should not be breathing that. Stafford noted that the windows are a mess. Someone else suggested that we could put a turbine on top of the well house. Also mentioned was the need for a sensor to give us a warning that our water tank is running low. Cornelius said we should deal with all the motions made but not acted upon at the same time. Morgan indicated that she could probably come up with a better list by doing a search of the minutes. David said the concern is in the winter time. We don’t want anything to freeze up. Torres has been turning on the heaters or heat lamps as needed, but whether he turned them on and left them, Morgan could not say. Stafford agreed to check into what windows might cost. As Mrs. Melvin had said that it is a health issue, Morgan said we should go ahead and take care of this. A member said he had a spare window. Whether it would be usable for our purposes remains to be seen. Stafford was to coordinate with him to get the dimensions of the window. We agreed to move forward with this matter and we can deal with any other motions not yet enacted at our next quarterly meeting.

We also discussed again the need for Torres to carry his own insurance. As he is a contractor, he is supposed to carry insurance. Torres did check into it once, but was not sure what type of insurance he needs. Morgan said it would be liability insurance and suggested that someone from the board accompany him to an agency to get the job done. The question was raised as to whether we have a contract with him and what it says regarding insurance. We have never executed a contract, however, the sample contract on the NM Environment Department website clearly states that the water operator is to carry insurance. Stafford said that there is an organization for water operators. He could check with them and see what it normally costs. We could conceivably pay it for him, Morgan said. That discussion led into an inquiry about whether we had received any invoices from Torres recently. He has not submitted any. The last time we paid him it was around a couple thousand dollars at once, Cornelius said, which is difficult for us.

Finally, we agreed to the remaining quarterly meeting dates of April 19, July 19, and October 18, 2017, all third Wednesdays. There was no opposition to any of these dates. Any budget documents for the fourth quarter of 2017 must be dealt with in January of 2018, the treasurer noted. That date would be January 17, 2018.

Cornelius noted that many of our official documents are online in Dropbox. They are then available to all board members. This enables everyone to know where documents reside. Much of this is required by the state. Because we’re now using state money (via the grant for the engineering study), we are required to do an annual budget, to get training, and we have a certified operator. Things like invoices and receipts are now available in Dropbox, which makes it less likely that documents will be lost. The president said eventually, we hope to have no dry days on our well. The grant, we hope, will eventually make that possible—as well as more water pressure, the president said.

He offered all present the board members’ phone numbers, especially to newer residents. Morgan added to that that we have learned we are a public entity, as such, the lowest level of local government. David Lucero noted that we thought it was “ours,” that we had sole ownership. Now, we have to do testing and so on. Lucero said he preferred the way things were in the past.

Stafford noted that we hope to be able to obtain additional funding for any necessary improvements in the future. Morgan noted that we were advised to write the RFP in such a way that we will not have to put out another RFP for additional phases.

President Cornelius closed the meeting at 8:05 p.m., after Stafford invited Mary Lucero to discuss the upcoming meeting to begin organizing a homeowners’ association, so that we have an entity to administer the covenants. The homeowners’ association meeting was planned for Feb. 1, 2017.