Wednesday, December 9th, 2020

ONLINE ZOOM MEETING

The December meeting was via the Zoom application, and called to order at 7:05 pm. In attendance were Trustees John Ott, Joe Carlson, Steve Whitelande and Tony Rizzo. Trustee Dave Mullaney was unable to attend. New owner Gayle Morgan attended, and Dan Harris joined the meeting midway through the agenda to address the metering project update. Also present was Manager Keith Edquist.

Meeting topics: ACA updates on Morgan and Mullaney projects, Pitco holiday lighting restrictions, updates on finances and trash and recycling contract, review of metering project and progress, Eye on Water software and administration of same, trail to open space discussed, road/roadcut conditions and plowing.

Approval of Minutes

the minutes of the November 11 and November 24 Zoom meeting were approved after correction of the number of completed meter installations in the November 24 meeting. The approved minutes will be posted to the website. The Board agreed future Zoom online meetings should begin at 6 pm.

Public Comment-Edquist read an email into the minutes from owner John Corcoran about how well his meter installation was done and how little disruption and stress (none) were involved. He noted also the Pitkin County holiday lighting restrictions run from November 15 to January 30th annually. He said he had had another inquiry regarding exterior lighting in the neighborhood, and said he would send reminders of these Pitco ordinances to the owners.

There was discussion also regarding the minutes of the Board meetings and how soon they might be produced after a meeting and when they should be available to the owners. Edquist advised the Board to approve their minutes prior to distribution, and agreed they could be reviewed via email by the Board, which—dependent on Board responses— could get them out prior to the next month’s meeting.

ACA updates

Keith said the roof replacement project for 103 Alexander, newly purchased by Carol Morgan had been approved. He said the Mullaney remodel project, submitted prior to the last Board meeting, had not received all of the requested acknowledgments from neighbors.

Financials

Edquist reviewed the 2020 financial statements to date, noting that November’s numbers were unavailable due to health issues in bookkeeper Clinco’s family.  These documents and checks to sign for vendors will be available next week, and Edquist will deliver them to President Ott on his site visit. A recent invoice should bring the total spent on the metering project through November to about $241,000.

Meter project update

Dan Harris said that 41 meters had been installed and billed for and that 47 would be completed by the 10th of December. He said that curb stops were being added on almost all the installations, as Pitkin County requires the stop be between the meter and the home. He said many of the exposed stops needed repairs though not wholesale valve replacements, instead requiring "exercise" and/or replacement of the extension rods that allow control with the valve key. Dan said he was keeping track of individual installations, and that the Board could review and determine which, if any, costs should be assessed to the owner. Dan felt the project was on course with the $2800 per meter install costs, and that these additional curb stop and repair costs should be addressed within the $40,000 ‘contingency’ allowance comfortably.

There was brief discussion regarding meters to be placed in homes (if any), but Dan said he wanted to get as many meters installed in normal fashion as will be possible this fall before consideration of these special situations. Legal advice will be sought as to these in house installs, so as to bind the homes to regulation and access by the HOA as the water system –including all meters and software-passes from owner to owner in future sales.

Dan said manhole covers and antennas for the street meters installed earlier this fall were to arrive this week. These antennas will also report to the Eye on Water system, and allow more complete monitoring of leaks on specific sections of the mains. There followed discussion about the exposed manhole covers and street valves at the road cuts. It was determined to flag and/or cover these installations to protect them this winter from snow plow damage. Edquist will work with Good Earth and Dan with Timberline Excavation to determine how this will be done.

While Dan was participating, there was brief discussion on the proposed walking path from the corner of Davidson and Driskell to the open space. Dan had gotten an informal cost or $10,000 from Timberline, but this was thought to be excessive for what has been envisioned. This turned out to be problematic, as there was not any clarity about how this was to be constructed. Dan was to do some more work on this and will report back.

Eye on Water

The software which receives and collates data from the water meters is being well received by Dan and Trustee Rizzo, who have been trained on its use. There is need for a more certain method of monitoring and using the information provided. Edquist was asked to have the webmaster make an email address for the system administrators, presently Dan Harris and Tony Rizzo. Administration will allow a set method of reporting use and leaks, notifying owners of leaks and limiting the number of emails going to the Board when a leak is ongoing and under repair.

President Ott wanted to get this together procedurally sooner rather than later. There is need for caution in regard to monitoring or limiting individuals water use, and what is normal will vary per household and seasonally, as well as when visitors are present. Trustee Rizzo says preliminary usage seems to indicate LEC may be well within its decreed usage, but also wants to have all the installations complete and meters reporting before trying to determine what is normal for overall usage neighborhood wide. Tony said his conversations with Roy Saba, who administers similar systems, seems to indicate the LEC system is not subject to many leaks in comparison to other systems. Again, however, all the data is not in.

Meter project letter-the second letter to owners regarding the metering project has been completed and if reviewed and approved by the Board, will be posted to the website. Trustee Rizzo has also written a letter regarding the Eye on Water software and distributed this to all owners whose meters have been installed.

Trash and Recycle Vendors

Trustee Tony Rizzo summarized his further discussions with Waste Management (LEC’s present vendor) and Mountain Waste. He negotiated pricing with both vendors towards having a set cost for all owners to have 64 gallon trash containers, and had provided an update to Trustees regarding those costs prior to this meeting, as follows:

Gentlemen,

This is the final update we will be discussing at the meeting concerning Trash. Keith suggested I share the final info with all before the meeting.

I received the final contract from Mountain Waste and the numbers changed slightly from before. Basically the trash number got cheaper and the recycling number went up once Doug spoke with his manager. As you know the real issue here with this ordinance is that the cost of Recycling has gone up and Pitkin County is forcing everyone to recycle so that increased cost is forced upon everyone. The net result is that the price is $1 more than before overall, but the trash price for people who want 96 gallon service is actually cheaper by $1. So the numbers for both are as follows:

Waste Management
1 – 32 gallon Trash weekly & 96 gallon Recycle bi-weekly: $32.22

1 – 64 gallon Trash weekly & 96 gallon Recycle bi-weekly: $46.54
1 – 96 gallon Trash weekly & 96 gallon Recycle bi-weekly: $60.86

(Owner pays $14.32 a month)

Mountain Waste
1 – 32 gallon Trash weekly & 96 gallon Recycle bi-weekly: $31.50
1 – 64 gallon Trash weekly & 96 gallon Recycle bi-weekly: $43.00 (was $42.00)
1 – 96 gallon Trash weekly & 96 gallon Recycle bi-weekly: $54.50

(Owner pays $11.50 a month)

The Pitkin County ordinance compels both vendors to provide 96 gallon recycling containers, which would be picked up bi-weekly. Costs for driveway pickup were considerably more from Mountain Waste than from Waste Management, and this became a sub topic under the larger considerations of how to let the LEC owners know such a change in services is coming. The other unknown being what size trash containers owners now have and actually will need.

Trustee Rizzo said the negotiations were complex and the prices above were ‘final’ based on all owners getting the mid-sized containers (64 gallon). He said the costs boil down to not how much trash is hauled, but the actual costs for each company to get their trucks here. President Ott made a motion to go with the Waste Management proposal for 32 gallon containers, with owners paying any upcharge for larger bins and/or driveway services, which died for lack of a second and was withdrawn after extended discussion.

Tony was leaving for some weeks, and forwarded the contracts as presently negotiated to the Board, along with the names and numbers of those persons he had been negotiating these proposals with. President Ott was to take this negotiation up again, as well as come up with a letter of notification to send to owners in advance of actual changes made to service containers by whichever vendor is chosen.

Nothing therefore was finalized on the trash and recycle contract, but the Board was to continue discussions on costs and information to owners by email and attempt to make a decision on both in the immediate future.

New Business

none

Unfinished business

There being no further business to come before the Board, the meeting was adjourned at 8:55 pm.

Respectfully submitted,

Keith M. Edquist, Association Manager

John Ott, LECVHOA President