The POHOA Board quietly posted the Agenda to the Frontsteps Website, but you cannot find it in the Documents Folder. You have to go to the Calendar, which is hidden under “My Reservations and Requests”, and then click into the Event to see the link for the file. If you go to the Folder for Board Meetings and Agendas, there is no Folder for 2024, and no documents uploaded yet this year.
There’s likely a reason: Uploading documents creates a time-stamp. By only posting the Event, there is no homeowner-facing time stamp demonstrating that it was only posted today, and not earlier. That makes it easier to later try and claim that it wasn’t posted just a day before the meeting.
This brings up a second point: Access to the Fronsteps website. In 2019, while serving on the Board and being the Administrator of this site, I used the analytics provided by the host company to analyze how many homeowners actually visited the site – over different time ranges. We knew as far back as June of 2019 that only about a quarter of homeowners had visited the site in the prior 6 months, and most had not visited in the prior year!
We know that recently, some homeowners who do wish to use the site have not been able to access it at all. One homeowner reported their issue on November 8, 2023, and two months later, they have still not been helped by the POHOA Board.
So, it remains a legitimate good faith complaint that the POHOA Board does not disclose the time, date, and place of meetings at least 14 days in advance, and only releases the Agenda the day before on a platform that is neither used by most homeowners at POHOA, and some are unable to access the site at all – and cannot get assistance from the Board in solving the technical problem!
Does this sound “reasonable”?
Here is the Agenda in Text:
Agenda
Board of Director (BOD) Regular Meeting
Jan 10, 2024 at 6:30 – 7:30 pm
Location: Senior Center, 1200 Raintree Dr
I. Establish a quorum
II. Call meeting to order
III. Adopt Agenda
IV. Approval of minutes
a. Nov 14, 2023, BOD Meeting
V. New Business
a. Election of officers
b. Water easement
c. Landscape committee charter/members
d. ACC
i. Members/chair
ii. Notice of shingle recall
e. Larimer county legislative contacts
f. Conflict of interest policy
VI. Executive session pursuant to Conduct of Meetings Policy, IV (b) (matters privileged or
confidential between attorney and client)
VII. Adjournment
AGENDA REVIEW
This Agenda is once again cryptic. Many items are just 1-2 words, with no explanation or context. While some are straightforward, like “Elections of Officers”. Others, however, are puzzling for anyone who is not tuned into what has been going on for the past 1-2 years. I’ll do my best to decipher, but even as an attentive observer, I have questions myself.
NEW BUSINESS – (B) WATER EASEMENT
I believe this is responsive to the issues raised last July regarding the Stormwater Drainage Facilities (concrete drainage channel and culverts surrounding POHOA). I wrote to articles on the subject in 2023:
FINANCIAL TIME BOMB: POHOA Ignores Stormwater Drainage Infrastructure for Decades
HOT POTATO: PID Claims POHOA Responsible For Outlot Concrete Drainage
According to Larimer County Officials and the Public Improvement District #30 (PID#30), POHOA is responsible for all of the infrastructure, but POHOA has yet to acknowledge the responsibility or explain why there has never been a line-item for repairs (we have damage reported as far back as 2020), and there are no Reserves for repair/replacement – and no Reserve Study regarding the value and cost to replace. It’s clearly not going to last forever, and such infrastructure is a common financial time bomb that causes sudden increases in assessments after the assets age.
We are told that the Streets and Sidewalks, which are managed by PID, need constant repairs because concrete cracks. Shocker, I know. But, we also know that the County and PID has a detailed schedule and budget to address this, and calls for a complete replacement of the streets in 2045 – 40 years out.
So, what is the schedule for such things that POHOA is entirely responsible for?
After attempting to get an answer from the POHOA Board by email and at the 11/14/23 Regular Board Meeting, there has been not just no response, but there hasn’t even been an “email received” non-response. Complete crickets.
The fact that we have for 3 years seen a flood of water flowing down the drainage on the South side of the neighborhood (and under the streets, then heading out over the “dry pond” and exiting into the irrigation ditch on the North side of the neighborhood), I went out to see the source. It appears to be a broken PVC pipe and water is GUSHING from it continuously in the warmer months.
PID President Buck Hammond thought it was ELCO, which supplies water to a large region of Northern Colorado. I called ELCO and they said none of their pipes are PVC, and denied categorically that it was their pipes leaking.
It is true that ELCO has a water main that runs in the same Stormwater Drainage Channel, and therefore they have an easement. But, according to ELCO, the type of PVC pipe is likely a private owner of water rights distributing their water – across the concrete that we collectively own. That means it accelerates the aging of the infrastructure, which means we have less time to create reserves to pay for repairs and replacement. We already have at least one instance of sinking concrete creating pooling, and the extra water feeds weed growth which is then clogging some of the drainage areas (which have not been properly maintained).
It will be interesting to see if they found who is distributing this water onto our facilities, and whether we are being compensated for the use. If not, there’s clearly no plan whatsoever to address what happens when there is drainage, or when we may need to do bigger replacement projects.
NEW BUSINESS – (C) LANDSCAPE COMMITTEE CHARTER/MEMBERS
Here’s another oddity. In September, the POHOA Board created a 5-person Committee that was called a Special Architectural Committee, and seated 3 volunteers. But, then in November disbanded the Committee for “lack of interest”.
I had already pointed out that we supposedly have an ACC which is, according to the governing documents, supposed to deal with Landscaping topics. It is also the only Committee named in the CCRs that gives specific powers to author Rules and Guidelines.
We have, however, had a “Landscaping Committee” in the past. It was primarily functional for the project of replacing the irrigated area along Overland to turn it into a “Natural Area”. It was given a $25,000 budget, and was quite active. But, after 2019, Gloria Jones disbanded the Committee and basically just took it upon herself to control all aspects of our Landscaping. When I tried to volunteer, she told President Matt Clark that she would disband the committee entirely if I was allowed to participate.
Seems similar things are at play here.
So, why do we need a new Landscaping Committee now?
Well, we still have not complied with SB23-178, and instead created an anti-gardener policy that forbids “value added agriculture”. There’s actually legal liablity for non-compliance that was to protect and expand rights for homeowners who preferred xeriscaping and vegetable gardening to lawns.
The question, once again, will be about whether this Committee intends to be transparent, whether they will abide by the Colorado Open Meetings Act, whether they will announce meetings in advance, publish agendas and minutes, and whether homeowners will be allowed to attend and participate in meetings.
More importantly, however, is a question about why the existing ACC, if it does actually exist (we have NO IDEA who is on it, or when/where they meet), why they aren’t capable of whatever this charter is aimed to accomplish. Zero response from the POHOA Board on any of this.
NEW BUSINESS – (D) ACC
And, the next item on the agenda may answer some questions about the prior item. Apparently an ACC Committee is NEW BUSINESS, which cryptically indicates that we need to create one. The subtopics add to the mystery.
(i) MEMBERS/CHAIR
Well, this sub-topic can be read two ways. We either finally get to know who is on this Committee, or we are announcing that we need volunteers. The POHOA Board has previously gone quietly around the neighborhood recruiting, and on 1/2/24, Lora Ballweber claimed that no one will participate because of “one homeowner” (you know she means me), so it will be interesting to see whether this is the announcement of the results of their recruitment, or whether this is just “appointments” of those who are already involved (or their spouses).
I have submitted a formal request to join both Committees. I will report back on the response.
(ii) NOTICE OF SHINGLE RECALL
Oh, boy. Shingles, again. And, not the virus. Back in 2018, there was a hail storm, and 100% of the POHOA roofs had to be replaced. It lead to a huge controversy as the ACC (led by Irve Denenberg) botched the notice and told everyone in an email to just follow the rules which stated using a specific color “or similar”. Walker Flanary, who was chair of the cryptic and possibly redundant CCR Committee, then led an effort to FINE homeowners in one home that had dared to use a different shade of brown gray that by all objective reviews IS similar.
They wanted to punish them without a hearing $5000, and then force them to replace the roof for an out-of-pocket cost of $15,000. I was on the Board and questioned the basis and legality, and ultimately the Board voted 3-2 to NOT fine them or pursue a violation notice that had been sent by the ACC/CCR Committees (even though they didn’t actually have a vote or meeting).
Now, apparently, there is a recall?
Well, googling the topic reveals that the Manufacturer that we apparently force homeowners to use (under threat of fines) is the subject of class-action lawsuits. We can put 2+2 together and figure out that the POHOA Board is aware of something about this that warrants being an agenda item.
What will be interesting about this is the fact that Irve Denenberg and Walker Flanary claimed in 2018 to have changed the ACC Guideline from specifying one single Tamko Weatherwood color/product by eliminating the word “or similar”. There’s never been any evidence of a proper action by the ACC/CCR Committees or POHOA Board making such a change, and the existing language remains published. But, if the contention is that we do not allow any variance in manufacturer or color, and we are forcing homeowners to use defective products, there’s some potential legal exposure here.
NEW BUSINESS – (E) LARIMER COUNTY LEGISLATIVE CONTACTS
No clue here. We can only speculate, and given the fact that those who do not attend will not see meeting minutes for at least 2 months after the meeting, whatever this is appears purposefully cryptic to avoid public comment.
NEW BUSINESS – (F) CONFLICT OF INTEREST POLICY
It is necessary for the Directors to sign the policy annually, particularly when new Directors are added. So, this may be mundane.
However, it is not clear from this cryptic agenda item whether or not there is going to be an attempt to change the policy.
Why would they do that?
Well, for one thing, we have a Treasurer who is acting like an investment advisor, telling us at every meeting we should be buying gold coins from the coin shop where he works. It started over a year ago, and has persisted at every meeting since, including the Annual Meeting.
But, don’t hold your breath for self-regulation to address this. Treasurer Jones is above the law, and enforcement on his sales pitches at meetings is unlikely.
CONCLUSION
As POHOA enters its Apathy Phase, it is unlikely that many homeowners will attend the meeting, or consider the Agenda to be worthy of making comments. I hope that this review helps those on the fence to choose to participate. Because my goal has always been and continues to be to encourage participation.