Management minutes July 18, 2023

Topics:  bookkeeping, west solar panels, return on reserve & checking, empty unit, updating pay or play.  Maintenance: sprinkler repairs north of common house, tree by #17, tree stump removal, paint trim warranty work, 

Decisions: Ask Gardiner to reimburse us for sprinkler repair rather than sending their own contractor.

Time: Tuesday, 6:45-8:30 p.m.

Present: Cheryl, Vinnie, Mary, Robin, Joe, Jorge, Scott, Kay (notes)

Action Items & Schedule

Jorge will call his CPA about bookkeeping.

Cheryl will talk to Gardiner about the sprinkler repair. 

Cheryl will write a draft for the pay or play amendment.

Scott will find and review the legal cases that Diamond Tree has had.

July 29.  Work party, apply acetic acid on tree stumps.

Sprinkler Repairs, North of C.H.

Gardiner was here fixing a hole in a storage unit roof where solar panels were attached.  Ben showed them the sprinkler problem where they trenched to connect the solar panel electrical.  They said they could arrange for someone to come fix it.  Jorge guesses that portion of the sprinkler work will be around $300.  We would rather use our own contractor and be reimbursed.  There is other work and we will ask the contractor to let us know the cost of that piece separately.

Tree Work by #17

Amy told Vinnie she would rather we didn't use Diamond Tree because of their labor practices -- not following safety guidelines and not paying their workers. Mary says they lost a case before the Utah Supreme Court.  This is new info for Scott; he will research the cases.  Other two companies are Atlas and Amen.

Tree Stump Removal

Will do acid applications on a couple of trees on July 29th.

Bookkeeping

Cheryl talked to the company that does her accounting.  Based on her description, they guess $150 to $200 a month as a starting rate.  Vinnie's CPA does not have availability; she will check with some of her former colleagues from before she started her own company.  Jorge will call his CPA also.

Linda says she would be willing to continue doing some of the work, with three requests: (1) she doesn't want the responsibility of contacting people who are in arrears, (2) she would like to meet with someone from Management about once a week, and (3) she would like online viewing access to the credit card and UFirst.  Jorge will be her contact for the weekly meetings.

Paint Trim, Warranty Work

Unforgettable Coatings came and worked all day.  Ben found the original contract.  Jorge was their contact.

They originally used a primer and topcoat in one.  Where the wood was good it turned out okay; where the wood wasn't, the paint wasn't okay.

Scott's recollection is that the bid request was to replace any wood that needed replacing.  Unforgettable's bid says replacement work on #3 and #4.  He says they created the scope of work -- they decided #3 and 4 needed replacing and the rest didn't.

Scott suggests we replace the rotten wood with vinyl plastic on the back of the south units. Could give it a trial on some units. Since it's the back, it isn't visible to most people; if it doesn't match it doesn't matter. 12 ft by 5.5" or 7.75" width, 3/4" thick, limited 25-year warranty, application door, window, and fascia. Primed finish, white, exterior use.  Vinnie will get estimates for installing it.

Unforgettable skipped the back of the workshop.  We will need to get an okay from the neighbor to put a ladder in their yard to paint it.

West Solar Panels

Got the contract, with the correct name finally, signed and returned.  It's posted on the wiki.  The solar panels are on (Jorge looked at the box).  Ben called RMP about the high bills and they weren't helpful.  Cheryl will call them.

Scott would like a report put together.  How much was donated, what Naomi and Hans expected, how much the community paid, what the outcomes were, and how much money we are getting in reimbursements for electric car charging.

Thomas's Unit

Ask Thomas about the unit status?  Not good to have it sitting empty; it cannot be rented without them having lived there for two years.

Financials, Returns

Reserve.  At UFirst we have a business account $4,800 (minimum $10), money market $124K paying about 2%, checking $127.  Offers a 12-month CD, one time bump CD, allows interest to be adjusted upward once during the period, pays about 4.9%.  Jorge suggests putting $50K in the CD. Ben suggests splitting it into smaller amounts so if we need to pull some out we don't take a penalty on the entire amount.  Could open CDs with smaller amounts once a month so they expire on a rolling basis, but

Checking.  Mountain America, primary savings $5000 (minimum $1), checking ~$51K; Jorge suggests we move $20K to a money market and/or CDs.  Best return for 12 months.

Question:  Do we need two separate institutions?  It lets us stay under the minimum for FDIC/F insurance (hopefully that will become an issue as we build the reserve).  Money won't get pulled from the reserve by accident if the account is at a different institution.

Updating Pay or Play

Pay or play could use some updates.  $20/hr is outdated. We need to increase the required hours. We need a more structured list of what is approved; for instance, require a certain number of hours each month be on "core" work, or from a maintenance list. Permission to do enforcement like late fees or liens.  Assign a standard time for regular chores; taking the bins out doesn't take an hour per week. Let units specify whether work is credited to the unit, like for couples, or to the individual, like for room-mates. 

Vinnie talked to ACM Planning.  They are reluctant to put pay or play on the agenda without a plan of action. 

If the amendment fails, the current agreement holds.