Monday, 17 November 2008 15:07
Board Members in Attendance: Frieda Wallison, Bob Throm, Tim McFlynn, Kathy DeWolfe,
I. Approval of Oct. 20 Minutes.
Tim mentioned he had a proxy from Michael Kinsley for the straw vote taken at the Oct. meeting re: whether the Caucus should comment officially on land use enforcement issues. Michael wished to vote no. Therefore, the straw vote results were: 12 against; 3 in favor.
Motion: Bob moved to approve the minutes. Holly seconded. All approved.
II. Election of Officers.
Treasurer. Tim nominated Amy. Holly seconded. All approved.
Secretary. Rick nominated Kathy. Amy seconded. All approved.
President. Bob nominated Tim. Holly seconded. All approved.
Vice President. Kathy nominated Freida. Bob seconded. All approved.
Land Use Committee – Volunteers were: Frieda, Kathy, Rick, Steve, Patsy and Amy.
Because Steve will be out of town a lot this winter, procedures were outlined to be able to handle land use reviews in a timely manner.
Action: Rick will ask the County to send a cover letter for each land use referral via e-mail to the committee. (done on 11/19/08). Steve can still be the Chair. For the full, printed packets, the County should remove Michael’s name and send it to the Caucus P.O. Box, attn: Steve Child. Amy has a key to the box and will e-mail the committee that she has received a packet and will get it to Steve. If he’s not around she will get it to Rick.
In the event there is an application with a tight deadline for comment and there is no upcoming meeting before the response deadline, Tim suggested Rick should call Lance Clark to try to get an extension.
If that doesn’t work, we will approach each circumstance on a case by case basis.
III. Little Elk Creek Code Amendment, Ordinance 11.
Tim passed around the memo re: decreasing the stream setback requirement for homes in LEC to 50ft. from 100ft. Steve was concerned that this discussion has been going on for an entire year, and the County never asked us for comments. Tim commented since the County gave us $50K to fund the Master Plan, it was odd that they would change what we had put in the Plan, and not ask for our comments.
Action: Tim would like Rick to ask Lance if the Caucus was notified about this issue. (Maybe the notification was misplaced). Caucus members present suggested a letter be written to the County expressing our concerns about the lack of notification on this issue. Frieda suggested we include a statement that we are not agreeing to future
100 ft. setbacks.
Steve will write a rough draft of the letter and send it to Kathy to review. Kathy will forward it to the County.
IV. Year-end Fundraising – Holly.
Tim thanked Holly for putting together the year-end letter/fundraising letter, getting it in the mail so quickly, and providing James an e-mail version. Holly suggested we get more help to James in further improving the website, so minutes, agendas, etc. are current. Holly said Jan had offered to assist. Kevin Ward’s name was also mentioned as someone very skilled with computers.
Action: Holly will call James with this suggestion and get Jan and Kevin involved.
V. Roads – Bob Throm
Bob voiced concern that because the recent ballot measure for increased funding for road maintenance/
improvements did not pass, someone at the County told him they will barely have money for snowplowing. The County also said they cannot put any additional gravel before winter on the unpaved portion of Snowmass Creek Rd. accessed by seven homeowners, including Bob. Bob asked if a letter could be sent from the Caucus to put a little pressure on the County to keep up their services. Several people present suggested Bob write the letter on his own behalf, and perhaps get his neighbors who are affected to sign as well.
VI. Board Procedures.
As new President, Tim reviewed several procedural issues:
1) No system to keep track of/or remember land use recommendations provided by the Caucus.
An example was the agreement requiring certain stipulations in conjunction with the original McCabe Ranch approvals. This was a very lengthy negotiation between Suzanne Caskey (x-Caucus Board member) and the developers. Tim couldn’t remember the specifics of what had been agreed to…and the topic came up recently with a McCabe Ranch representative. Because Tim couldn’t remember specifics of that particular approval, he had to take them at their word that they were adhering to the agreement. There needs to be follow up. Some of the applicants come back for minor changes over time, Board members are replaced and there’s no historical record. File drawers are crammed with paperwork, in no special order, making it hard to find anything. Letters with Caucus recommendations to the County have not been saved over the years.
Action: Kathy will come up with a system.
2) Non-profit year-end statements/Taxes.
Income tax returns have been done by Peter VanDomlen, gratis. The next deadline for filing documents is May 15.
Action: Bob offered to get the information necessary to Peter, as he has in the past.
3) Phone-in participation for Board meetings.
This seems to work, though it failed at this meeting. Tim said he will bring the system Jan purchased to the next meeting. There seemed to be a consensus that this is ok, however, it could be a disadvantage during land use reviews, where the person on the phone cannot see any displays. There was also agreement that it would be very difficult for a President or Vice President to conduct a meeting via phone. So, those positions should always be filled by people who could attend the majority of meetings in person. This can be brought up in the future if anyone thinks it should be revisited.
4) Refreshments at meetings.
Tim recalled some Board members use to bring food to the meetings. It made for a fun, festive atmosphere, especially when people brought liquor. Some people can’t eat before the meetings (like Tim). Tim encouraged people, if they want to, to bring along goodies.
4) Outreach to subdivisions within the Caucus area.
Holly would like to do a flyer in the spring. We should make a bigger attempt to invite others to our meetings, so more people will become involved with the Caucus. Everyone agreed.
5) Referral letters.
Tim reminded everyone that in each referral letter to the County, the By-Laws state we should mention any opposing or minority views.
6) Meeting schedule.
The third Monday seems to work for everyone. Tim will advise us if there is going to be a meeting in Dec.
If there are no pressing issues, we may skip that one.
6) Attendance at meetings.
The By-Laws state Board members shall be “deemed to have resigned” if they fail to attend three consecutive meetings (via phone or in person). This has been brought up by a few Caucus members who wonder if we are enforcing this provision, or letting it slide. Tim said in the past this was an issue, because the Caucus Board was much smaller. He did not, however, want to raise this for a vote, without proper notice on the agenda. There are pros and cons, which were briefly discussed. Several suggested this should perhaps be dealt with on a case-by-case basis.
VII. Adjournment.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:40 p.m.
