Hondius Water Users Project Committee – 8/28/14 Meeting Minutes
Present: Jim Redman, Tim Breiding, Tony & Vi Burroughs, Brandy Flanagan, Beth Coulson, Ernie Diedrich. Absent: Bill Rawsky, Thurmond Williamson.
Identified need to take Minutes. Will review minutes taken at next meeting for accuracy and then post onto website.
Recap of 8/16 Hondius Water Users meeting in Estes Park
It was identified we have 78 Homeowner addresses from Frank Huffman’s Water User List. 48 (some dual owners so represents approximately 43 homeowner addresses) of the 64 non-Wonderview homeowners replied to the 8/16 meeting invitation. Of those, 46 homeowners replied they were interested and 2 replied they were not. All 14 Wonderview owners have indicated their interest. The 8/16 meeting was attended by approximately 60-70 homeowners, representing approximately half the homeowner addresses, and they voted unanimously in favor of proceeding with the preliminary engineering study.
Regarding the non-responses to the 8/16 meeting invitation, it was identified it would be good to keep trying to reach out to them. Tony and Vi will hand deliver a letter to their Estes address. The letter will be written by Jim and communicates the project details and requests for funds (discussed later in meeting).
Organizational Discussion
Committee member raised the issue of “ownership” of the Hondius waterlines/system, and whether ownership may have been transferred when management of the system was transferred. Discussion found there were no indications to substantiate this. The current manager of the system has not said he owns the system in several conversations held with committee members and other Hondius water users. Jim has a document requested and obtained from the current manager of the system regarding his role with the Hondius Water Association, which makes it clear he is serving in the role of a manager of the Hondius system. It was recommended a committee member review the Larimer County Assessor’s records.
Committee members reviewed some historical knowledge regarding previous discussions on updating/changing the Hondius Water system. Previous to the meeting, Brandy emailed some early 1900’s Hondius meeting documents she found in her files. It was determined that it was approximately 5 years ago that the Hondius Water Users Association had any formal organization. Tim reported that during that time an attorney was hired to search out any documentation involving Hondius. Jim reported he has the Articles of Incorporation which are old and brief.
This led into a discussion of how “formal” the committee needs to be i.e. officers, etc. It was identified we were a committee for this project only and were NOT acting as a Hondius Water Users Board.
Funding for the Project – Grant
Committee reviewed Ed Schemm’s recommendation that the project seek a $12,000 grant and the Homeowners raise a match of $12,000. Jim presented the proposed grant request he’d prepared. Committee recommended the wording be clear that the water is going to be used for drinking. It was also identified that the committee needs to have involvement during the process so as to represent the concerns of individual Hondius Users. The request was approved as discussed, subject to Ed’s review for any changes that would improve our chance for success.
Funding for the Project – Users
Committee reviewed the “numbers” to raise the $12,000. If all 78 homeowners paid, the amount needed would be $153.85. Assuming a 25% no-pay, the amount needed would be $205.00. It was discussed and decided that the committee would rather not go back to the homeowners for an additional amount and so the requested amount would be $200.00 with the plan to equally redistribute any remaining amounts to the contributing homeowners upon completion of the project or disbanding of the committee. Jim agreed to receive the funds and open an account for the Hondius Water Users Fund. Ernie agreed to be the second party signor for any funds being distributed from the account (all disbursements from the account will require two signatures). Jim will draft a letter requesting the funds, with checks made payable to the Hondius Water Users Group, and either email or postal deliver it to the homeowners.
Closing
If any committee members receive questions/comments from homeowners, they will pass this on to Jim who will pass it on to Ed or whichever engineering firm is awarded the project bid.
Next Meeting: October 2nd, 6:00 PM MST