At the 4/3/24 Special Board Meeting held at 3pm on a Wednesday at a local Coffee Shop in Laporte, the POHOA Board decided to exclude an item from the 2/21/24 Landscape Committee Meeting (which still have not seen Meeting Minutes posted) – the need to maintain the connector with the Stagecoach Subdivision.
Past Articles on the Subject:
NO MAN’S LAND: POHOA Ignores Maintenance At Mercer Canal. Oh, And We Own A Bridge?
HOT POTATO, AGAIN: Landscape Committee Bounces Stormwater Drainage Maintenance Back To POHOA Board
The Board Meeting was attended by only 4 Directors, with Director Jeff Ballweber still not attending a Board Meeting since 1/10/24. Only two issues were voted upon, including newly seated Director, Jennifer Hutchinson. At least we now know its true – as there is still no announcement on the website. These are how they appeared on the agenda:
In the first vote, Landscaping Committee Chair, Gloria Jones gave a presentation from the table adjacent to the “board table” – which I happened to sit on the other side of – because these meetings at a coffee shop are just plain awkward. The meeting was difficult to hear as other patrons of the shop were in the room creating a cacophony of background noise including music over the restaurant speakers.
The gist of it was that Gloria and the Landscaping Committee had reached out to 6 contractors listed by the Larimer County Weed District. No, not that weed. It is a part of Larimer County, but somehow separate.
They got responses from 4 of 6 of the contractors, and 2 of them did a site visit. For that reason, Gloria and the committee felt that only the quotes from the 2 that visited should be considered. One was for $800, the other was for $1250. But, once she explained the details, we learn that it is a time-and-materials quote, which may not come in exactly as estimated.
There was some good news – the Weed District could maybe reimburse us for 25% of the cost as some kind of grant. It makes sense, as the County has an interest in keeping down the growth of noxious weeds in general.
In the end, however, Gloria avoided making a recommendation between the two quotes. Ultimately, however, it was her spouse, Director Clay Jones (who, as Treasurer, is also the “sole” contact for contractors) made the motion to go with the lower bid of $800.
I did comment and said “sometimes you get what you pay for”, and asked for an assurance that the contractors were aware of the sensitivity of the Buffalo Grass (can be easily killed by these herbicides) – which Gloria insisted all of the contractors made a point about in their quotes.
In the end, the vote was 3-0 in favor of the $800 contactor.
The next topic was approving a budget for the “Community Work Day”. While the Landscaping Committee estimates that there will be an expense for flyers, the other work is vaguely described as “mulch” and “repair of water lines”. The main focus was on the cost of mulch.
The “island” is most in need of an upgrade, and kind of looks beat. I would agree it’s time to do some work here. Some mulch would probably take 30-60 minutes for 2 people to spread here, but I’m sure if we had more volunteers, there’s other work that could be done to improve it visually.
The Chair of the Committee, Gloria Jones, didn’t seem to have a good grasp of how much mulch was needed. President Ballweber then threw out an estimate of “Will $250 work?”. After some back and forth, they arrived at a higher guess of $500. Director Clay Jones said that there would be an intention to use a homeowner trailer vs. delivery, and I chimed in that this was a good idea. I also said that based upon a cost of $30-40 per cubic yard of mulch from places like Ewing, and perhaps no greater need than 4 cubic yards, that $500 should be more than sufficient – even if a trailer had to be rented.
The motion passed 3-0 in favor of a $500 budget.
President Ballweber attempted to quickly move, once again as she has had a multiple meetings, to go into Executive Session. I raised my hand, and she didn’t appear to be wanting to call on me. So, I spoke up and said “What about the project at the end of Bubbling Brook?”
All President Ballweber said was “it’s not on the agenda.” But, it was a major component of the 2/21/24 meeting without being itemized on the agenda. It was considered, by me at least, to be part of the “maintenance” items on that and the 3/20 agenda.
Nope.
So, with that, we can now presume that the POHOA Board is once again going to indefinitely defer this item – perhaps forever. There are two email threads on the subject that have received no response. Which, if you think about it, would mean that a homeowner should be able to attend the next Board Meeting and be able to bring up the subject during New Business.
Except the POHOA Board doesn’t allow New Business any longer. They just shut down all attempts by homeowners to bring up topics that they themselves haven’t put on the agenda.
So, I left the room and ordered a Mexican Coca-Cola and some of the delicious Lemon Bars that Me Oh My makes from the counter. I returned to a chair just outside the door of the back room where their Executive Session was ongoing. I sat 3 chairs down from the door so they didn’t accuse me of trying to listen – but this is an open restaurant, so it’s kinda weird no matter what.
I patiently waited for the ACC meeting to begin at 330pm. Even though they could see me, they apparently began the meeting and ended it without inviting me back in. Typical for this group.
Therefore, I have no report on the ACC meeting, other than it took probably less than 10 minutes. There really wasn’t anything on the agenda to give the rest of us a clue, so perhaps it was just that there were few or no requests for this meeting.
What is clear is that the POHOA Board is going to dodge responsibility and accountability for the state of the landscaping connecting our subdivision with Stagecoach. And, we still have no response at all about the bridge over the Mercer Ditch that we apparently own.