Management Minutes, 08-18-2026

Management Meeting, August 18, 2026

In attendance: Ben (BT), Cheryl (CK), Kerry (KT), Sarah (SW)
Notetaker: Sarah W
Invited to address specific issue: Chelsea (CE)

Ben’s drone

• BT bought a drone; discovered proximity to airport means restrictions on height (up to 100ft) and obligatory logging of plans to fly. 

  • Flying higher requires acquiring a commercial license and 2-hr in-person test

• 3-story buildings in community are about 50 feet; see what can be seen flying to the 100-ft limit and go from there as it’d be difficult/unlikely/costly to get someone else out here to do it

Wasatchcommons@gmail password

• BT suggested resetting password and delegating inbox

  • Delegation gives access to emails for sending/receiving/reading without functionally logging into gmail account, and without access to Google Drive

• BT suggested a management-only password aside from delegation,to fully access account; this can be extended to others as needed, and sharing access of docs contained in the Drive would then be by direct sharing instead of password-based access

• Possible return to the topic at end of meeting →

• Return to topic late in meeting: BT will update the gmail account password and share screenshots and instructions with management members to facilitate delegation process; in the future, anyone who asks to be a delegate will be added case by case

  • BT questioned how he should share new password; undecided for now, TBD

Miscellany

• KT has gathered information for a potential attorney and an insurance guy; suggested keeping a couple of names on hand just in case; all in agreement

• KT’s friend also shared CC&Rs from comparable-size community for future reference

Tree work

• CK shared information from Landscaping meeting re: tree work; recaps Christy’s two bids detailed in Landscaping Discord plus decision determining that Arbor Concepts was the preferred bid

• CK projected bid document tree-group map from Arbor Concepts on screen, summarized bid and suggestions from Arbor Concepts on timing and prioritization:

  • CK disclaimer re: pricing: if we have the right tools there’s a lot we can do ourselves up to about 20 feet, so work may not be as costly as estimated in bid

  • September 2026 priorities = structure clearance and fire mitigation in tree groups 4 and 5; main priorities are safety, fire prevention, making sure limbs don’t fall on homes or vehicles; everything else can wait until 2027.

• Question carried over form Landscaping is how much funding to allocate to tree  work this year; CK communicates committee’s proposal to undertake $7400 worth of work on the priority list, pending checking remaining funds in Landscaping and Maintenance budget

Treasurer tracker entries and financial reports

• CK shared that she made a review of monthly financials which revealed misallocations in budget lines and categories; stated necessity of a Bookkeeping party, and demonstrated issues projected on screen

  • CK showed that there are nearly 200 accounts available in QB, emphasized the difficulty of bookkeeping/tracking and correctly allocating a receipt given the number and granularity of accounts

  • Group discussed: Do we need or want this level of granularity? E.g. Donations, and then multiple sub-categories or different lists labeled “Donations for tree work,” “Donations for CH,” etc.

• KT noted re: donations that some kind of tracking would be preferable, for example, CH donations; BT agreed that a few subcategories would be useful

• Note: Chelsea E entered at this point (see below), and CK made the following final point before transitioning topics: CK has assumed that most of the logged expenditures in Capital Reserve Expenditure (similarly divvied up compared to Donations example above) are primarily operational; CK expressed concern for redirecting to main account code for the purpose of committee bookkeeping

  • KT suggested an additional meeting on top of regularly scheduled management to address bookkeeping cleanup, noting that it’s going to take more than doing it here when management committee has a full agenda.

  • CK clarified the concern that we’re 6 months in and a decent number of things are misallocated, and it seems wise to nip it in the bud and do a global reset rather than have to track down and request corrections in the future

• Return to topic after CE’s departure: BT suggests that the YTD financial statements should be posted on the wiki, even if there are current inaccuracies or issues as pointed out by CK; KT affirmed this suggested as demonstrating transparency

  • BT and CK discussed linking the statements on the wiki, in the Financial Reports section; January, February, and March 2026 are currently uploaded

  • CK raised question of whether reports will be reissued through DoubleHQ portal after we raise issues and request remapping; BT suggested that we ask them to perform corrections and then reissue statements with desired mapping after corrections are made

Chelsea Erhart and ongoing Discord issues

• Chelsea E attended the meeting on the invitation of Management committee to discuss multiple difficulties in communication over Discord settings and community communication. Her overarching concerns include:

  • Use of Discord and Discord settings, including accessing important information versus day-to-day posts and content;initial training on use of Discord and her lack of access to it; difficulty in navigating volume of information on Discord; communications between CE and management re: these continued access and usage issues; CE’s continued discomfort over strained community relations 

• On the question of meeting attendance and community decisions, CE expressed that she does not come to meetings because she does not feel safe due to prior adverse experiences

  • CE noted that the adoption of Discord took place after said negative experiences, creating difficulty in the adoption of Discord due to her discomfort with attending meetings

  • CE further stated that her issues with using the community Discord have been exacerbated by the absence of written instruction, and that she continued to find it difficult to use despite being well versed in these kinds of systems. 

• On the question of Discord onboarding, KT pointed out that there was 6 months’ time, including meetings and offered training and other resources, before consensus decision on adopting the platform

  • CE responded by questioning whether said meetings were all in person, and whether anything in terms of instructions or usage training was written down, referring again to her feeling unsafe attending meetings.

• Re: using Discord regularly for community information, CE objected to what she characterized as the idea that she should “dig” or “scroll” through Discord to locate useful and necessary information; CE compared Discord unfavorably to the former system of emails, which she characterized as comparatively straightforward and accessible.

• KT made suggestions to CE about settings, demonstrating controls on her own Discord app on her phone, and suggested CE setting her own controls similarly; CE maintained that using the settings as described or demonstrated will not work for her needs, and that a written instruction guide is preferable

• It became clear through conversation that CE had mistakenly believed that all resources from previous communications systems, including the calendar and Wiki, had been subsumed into Discord; this was clarified by BT and KT with respect to committee minutes, budget information, and other relevant documents and resources ongoingly updated in the WaCoHo Wiki

• CE articulated again the main paradox she sees in resolving the problem, namely:

  • IF she is reluctant to come to meetings for previously stated reasons of safety and personal boundaries;

  • AND the solution to the Discord issues she is experiencing requires her to come to a meeting;

  • THEN management has, CE feels, created a block to solving the problem

• CK asked CE directly what the form of communication she prefers is, if not Discord; CK also noted that she has reached out via text to connect personally and attempt to help with Pay-or-play issue, but did not receive a response to her text.

  • CE replied she would like a document that explains how Discord is set up, something that could be used for other people coming into the community 

  • CK suggested that CE could contribute to the solution of her problems with Discord if she recognized it as a community need, e.g. by helping create a user guide; CE rejected the suggestion

• CE repeated her request for a User Manual, a central document including a short description of the contents of each channel, and a use of tagging system to alert individuals re: important issues, events, e.g. budgeting, community decisions

  • KT, addressing seemingly unique situation of the issues with CE’s Discord and missed notifications, asked whether CE would be willing to sit down and attempt to work through settings with someone she’s more comfortable with than present members of management; 

  • CE reiterated that she would prefer that there was simply a document written down that she could refer to when needed; CE also advocated for creating similar documents for all other important things

• CK affirmed her understanding of what CE is requesting and stated that she is happy to put something like a User Guide together, but that it is not a management priority at present and would therefore not be forthcoming soon.

  • KT repeated the suggestion that in the meantime, working with an individual might be the best option

  • CE emphasized her experience of stress in the community; KT restated both her regret over those feelings and her willingness to accommodate CE’s need of a separate form of access from meetings, and repeated the suggestion to work with members of the community CE is more comfortable with as good potential compromise creating one-on-one assistance in navigating Discord issues. 

• New topic: CE referred to ongoing irrigation issue, past denial of help for irrigation leaking issue, in light of a recent grant involving 200 pollinator plants; asked whether the planting and maintenance will be on her shoulders.

  • [Note: I am not familiar with the history of the irrigation issue; please forgive any misunderstandings in the record] 

  • As CE described the issue in the meeting, she considers her Pay-or-play contribution to be taking care of the yard around her unit, and understood this to be the case from the time of her onboarding with the Welcome Committee; therefore the lack of help with leaking spigot prevents her from completing Pay-or-play [ if I understand the conversation correctly]. 

  • BT and KT pointed out that spigot, as attached to Chelsea’s unit, falls under her own responsibility, and note the CC&Rs concerning care of property around the unit using one’s own water

  • CE expressed surprise and frustration over the misunderstanding that the yard/garden maintenance constituted a Pay-or-play “assignment”; KT expressed sympathy over the miscommunication at the outset of CE’s time in the community concerning this issue.

• Re: new plants from CE’s grant, CK suggested possibility of working with landscape to put plants in locations that would open them to community care, rather CE’s exclusive care and CE’s exclusive water

• Concluding: CE stated she prefers to resolve the Discord issue before addressing the pollinator plants; CK noted agreement with CE’s major point re: communication and explicit instruction, but also repeated issue of management to-do list. 

  • Management agreed to pursue on documentation, supporting the possibility of having another community member work on producing a guide

  • BT suggests Michael, Emily, or Kellie to potentially produce the documentation, avoiding the issue of it languishing on the to-do list. 

Maintenance priorities

• Kathleen’s leak: CK noted that she and Coleman are going to look Kathleen’s situation this week, and investigate similar potential leak situations in KT’s and Brian and Christy’s units

  • SW mentions stains on beams in her unit indicative of potential past similar leaks; conjecture that membrane may have fixed a past problem; SW will continue to monitor

  • CK suggested that storm doors seem to be a good solution to helping with similar deck-related leaks

  • KT and CK negotiated passing of keys to CK to facilitate checking KT’s deck during the next few days

• CK communicated additional maintenance priorities coming out of recent meeting, relevant to recent storms and likelihood of further high-volume storms due to El Niño:

  • Getting the drainage system checked (all 14 drains)

  • Pooling around Chelsea’s unit

  • Walkway repair

Fence situation

• BT reported on recent developments in perimeter fencing: fence behind the duck pen on the north property boundary is collapsing, and the owner of adjoining property (Aubrie, 1561 Dokos View Ct.) wishes to replace it; there is uncertainty over ownership of the fence and precise location of property line, and a big tree in the thick of it.

  • Note that this is a different northern neighbor than the previous neighbor who raised fencing issues behind the farmette (Sheri, of the muffins); see below for relevance of both cases

• BT described the following options for next steps:

  • Based on photographs of fence that seem to clearly indicate fence is not ours, to communicate as follows: “This is clearly your fence, and you should figure it out,” with tree as a separate issue;

  • Suggest splitting the cost of a fence as it is a shared boundary and a fence would be desirable for us too;

  • Having a surveyor come out and ascertain boundaries, splitting cost; BT remembered that a previous survey may have cost in the range of ~$400;

  • Ascertaining property line and specific location of the tree in relation to said line; could be beneficial to know where the line is in order to deal with both neighbor/fence questions

• After discussion, management committee agrees that suggesting to split the cost of surveying with northern neighbor Sheri is a reasonable course of action

Welcoming letter to sellers/agent Unit 3

• Re: Amy and Chelsea’s pending move, Vicky inquired of KT whether she should share/send out standard letter outlining community principles and procedures to Chelsea, Amy, and realtor

• CK mentioned that she has asked Coleman to request stucco contractor to make an assessment of the unit re: existing cracks

  • Ben suggested that getting an assessment is one thing, but that having a plan in place (i.e. to present to potential buyers as planned future maintenance) seems more plausible than launching into immediate repairs

  • CK brings up other potential maintenance issues with the building/unit that could potentially affect buyer impressions

HOA registration

• BT is taking care of the registration; mentioned that reminders are welcome

• KT ascertains that registration is due by Sep. 30th