Three Canyons Ranch Master Homeowners' Association
P. O. Box 970
Hereford, AZ 85615
Board Meeting Minutes
April 9, 2003
Members Signed In:
Tommy Stoner, Nancy Howard, J.C. Russell, Joy O'Clock, Sue and Bob Schneider,
Ron Slyter, P.J. and Jim Picard, Liz Woods, David and Dottie Brown,
Dave and Pat Angell, Beverly Pickering, Grant MacLean, Jim Muldowney, Dick
Pomroy
Board Members Present:
Tom Pickering, Evans Guidroz, Jim Arndt,
Rita Doyle, Gene Mundt, Darryl Crowley, David Paris, Gerald Chouinard, Gary
Brock
Board Members Absent:
Jim Dobis, Jack Dempsey
Call to Order
Acceptance of March 12, 2003 Minutes
The minutes were unanimously accepted.
Acceptance of Agenda
The agenda was accepted.
Call to Membership
T. Pickering asked the Board members to introduce themselves and in turn,
asked that the members present do the same.
R. Slyter gave kudos to J. Arndt for organizing the start of the west gate
operation. He said it had gone better than he ever anticipated.
He also suggested that the gate closure time be reduced because some vehicles
had been observed waiting in the loop area and then driving through the gate
after it had been opened remotely by a member. D. Brown agreed that
the time should be lessened.
J. Arndt explained that the lapsed time for the gate closure had been extended
to allow a person to scroll the key pad and have enough time to drive through
the gate. He said perhaps now that people were more familiar with the
scrolling process, the time could be reduced.
R. Slyter said in the case of a tractor trailer going through, the gate
would remain open because the sensor would prevent it from closing.
President's Report
T. Pickering thanked the gate committee and those individuals who volunteered
their time during the initial operation of the gate. He said they did
a great job. He also thanked the members who participated in and made
a success of the first 3 Canyons clean-up effort on March 22.
Treasurer's Report
G. Mundt reported the following account information, and said he
had written checks in the last 9 days totaling $9,000.00. He cautioned
the Board to be careful about approving further expeditures until the June
assessments are collected.
Regular Fund
$22,861.67
Capital Fund
$55,725.88
Principal owed
$282,500.01
Attorney's Report
Administrative -- Not available.
Counsel addressed the membership that there was the potential for future
litigation with Wildhorse regarding their desire to be out of the 3 Canyons
HOA. He mentioned the Board was informed of this at an executive session
held on April 2. He will keep the Board apprised as the potential becomes
more realistic. He also asked that members not ask him about any pending litigation
because he would be unable to give them any information as it would violate
attorney/client privilege.
A draft letter to members whose parcels fall below the minimum requirements
for a residence was passed out to the Board for review.
SSVEC sent a letter to Counsel regarding the North/South lines within the
3 Canyons Road area. Counsel will provide an update by next month's
meeting.
P. Angell who is a Compass Point resident asked about his lot being less
than 8 acres.
R. Stachel said often in these developments within 3 Canyons the common
area makes up for the less than 8 acre difference.
T. Pickering said this minimum acreage letter was to address situations
where people had 40 acres to begin with, split it 5 times, resulting in some
splits being less then 8 acres.
R. Pomroy said there were some parcels that were actually less than 40
before they were split.
R. Slyter said the acreage would also affect the voting privilege.
D. Crowley said that these individuals want to pay for 7 acres (as it is
the policy to round down), but want to be able to build as if it were 8 acres.
R. Stachel gave as examples Deer Ridge Estates, Vista del Oro and Wildhorse
as developments that included common areas when figuring density/acreage.
G. MacLean asked about the SSVEC utility issue and thought the Master Design
Committee had made a recommendation to the Board that all future overhead
powerlines be stopped.
R. Stachel said SSVEC does not recognize the MDC and says they can't make
rulings about utility line placement.
D. Crowley said he spoke with the SSVEC Sierra Vista Engineering Deparment
and the letter sent to Counsel had been drafted by the Willcox office.
R. Stachel said SSVEC is trying to put poles and cross poles along 3 Canyons.
Update to follow.
G. Chouinard asked counsel if the Quit Claim deeds were taking proper course?
R. Stachel said he thought so, but didn't know how many were back.
Counsel addressed a new gate issue. The Association has been threatened
with litigation regarding the gate. A group outside of 3 Canyons had
an attorney send a letter to Castle & Cooke demanding the gate be removed
for the following reasons:
1) No documented easement rights
2) Prescriptive easement rights
3) The 3 Canyons HOA had inappropriately
spend money on a gate that they did not own.
R. Stachel said the letter had no merit for many reasons, among them that
the complainant was not a member of 3 Canyons. He said it's a
third party asking Castle & Cooke to breach an agreement with the 3 Canyons
HOA. He said the complainants were violating the Associations right
to deal with Castle & Cooke.
R. Stachel gave an example about a former resident insisting she had a
right to use 3 Canyons Road to the West. Nothing on record supported
her claim. The recorded plat clearly shows this area as having access
to the East only.
R. Stachel also explained that prescriptive rights concern the use of a
property or thruway for 10 years. The developments to the east making
claim to 3 Canyons Road were built on or about 1997.
A response is not planned since the letter was not addressed to 3 Canyons.
Castle & Cooke was only concerned with Item No.3 and will deal directly
with the Association regarding this matter.
T. Pickering asked if C&C intended to take any action with the gate.
R. Stachel said C&C has no intention of opening or removing the gate.
T. Pickering stated the Association's budget took a hit every time we had
to fight this sort of thing.
R. Stachel said administrative costs were spread over 12 months.
Counsel's time to respond to threats of litigation were only the costs associated
with the executive session.
T. Pickering explained that Counsel was asked to attend this meeting because
of the letter received by C&C about the gate.
P.J. Picard asked about the monthly administrative fee. The contract
amount spread over 12 months is $775/month.
J. Arndt asked if there was any additional charge for the mailing of assessments?
R. Stachel said no. Assessments were included in the monthly fee.
He said the "perk" of the contract amount is that everything administrative
falls within this cost. He explained that every effort is made to collect
assessments so that litigation is not required.
The subject of the governing documents being made available by Counsel
was discussed. T. Pickering suggested 10 copies of all governing documents
be made up in advance so they could be available for pick-up when a member
requested them. Counsel retains a retyped "working" copy of the CC&R's,
but members who request copies are given the recorded version, as the other
cannot be used.
J. Picard mentioned he had mailed the first of two letters to members concerning
the changing of the wording in Master Declaration 20.1. He said he had
a 8% return of those mailed for both bad addresses and forwarding time had
expired.
J. Arndt said the 8% figure must be higher because he heard from several
members who had not received the letter at all.
D. Crowley said he received tax notices on land he no longer owned and
suggested the county records were loused up.
R. Stachel said over 90% of the transfers they receive are from Pioneer
Title Company. Fidelity Title Company is not giving them the information.
He thinks it's because they don't want to pay the $75 transfer fee.
P. J. Picard will forward a list of the bad addresses to Counsel by email;
a copy will be sent to T. Pickering.
G. Mundt asked if a letter could be sent to Fidelity from the Association.
R. Stachel said a letter from his firm was sent to Fidelity but he does
not know if there has been any improvement since then.
D. Crowley said the Master Design Committee is aware of assessments being
received by people who no longer own the land.
R. Stachel said the title companies are supposed to include copies of the
governing documents at closing, but rarely do.
T. Pickering asked if next month's administrative report could show a breakdown
of how M. DoPardre spends her time on Association work.
R. Stachel that could be done. He also asked that when the annual
ballots are mailed, a request is made that proxies be received 10 days before
the meeting date. He thought this would help with the bottle-neck that
existed at last year's meeting.
J. O'clock asked about a letter she received in the mail concerning voting.
J. Picard explained that was the letter explaining the attempt to change
the working in Master Declaration 20.1.
Committee Reports
Master Design Committee -- D. Crowley reported the MDC had met on
Monday and approved one new house and 4 misc. requests. One builder
was going to receive a stop work letter as the builder was not compliant.
D. Crowley said the committee had a substantial amount of files and asked
if they could be stored at the La Purisma Center and could the MDC hold their
monthly meeting there.
G. Chouinard said he would check with the owners and that there would probably
be an additional $40/month charge.
R. Doyle asked Darryl if there was any recourse when people build structures
that were not on the original plan submission. This matter is being
addressed by the MDC.
D. Angell asked when the MDC met.
D. Crowley said the MDC usually meets the Monday before the monthly Association
meetings. If approval is requested before that one month time, a fee
of $500 is charged to the requestor.
Gate Committee -- J. Arndt gave a special thank you to those who
assisted with the initial gate operation,
Nancy Howard, Dale & Sue O'Neil, Jim Picard, John Sauter, Ron Slyter,
Donna Willard, Stacy Perez, Tom Pickering, J.C. Russell. He also
thanked Liz Woods whose idea it was to organize the community clean-up.
J. Arndt asked that members notify the committee if there is any change
in status that would affect their gate information, (i.e. different vehicle
or land owner changing to homeowner).
J. Arndt made a motion that the American flag be flown on the street light
by the entry gate. R Doyle seconded. Motion passed unanimously.
Governing Documents Committee -- J. Picard reported that the first
mailing explaining the attempt to change the wording in Master Declaration
20.1 had gone out. The second letter which includes the ballot for voting
on the wording change is scheduled to be mailed by the end of next week.
It will include a self-addressed stamped envelope. He is thinking about
asking that the ballot be returned sometime in July.
R. Doyle asked if perhaps that long turn around time might result in people
misplacing the ballot.
J. Arndt asked if a date to return could be used, but not adhered to.
T. Pickering said if a date to return by is used, it must be complied with.
J. Russell asked that the flag be lowered to half mast when appropriate.
Fence Committee -- E. Guidroz reported work on the Bloomfield gate
is to begin soon, the contractor had trouble getting the posts. Expect
completion by month's end.
J. Picard said he has the chain and four locks from the previous gate and
will give it to the Fence Committee for inclusion in the new gate. The
locks belong to the Bloomfield residents, Fire Department, SSVEC and Border
Patrol.
J. Mundt asked for clarification on gate amount. It will be under
$2,000.00.
E. Guidroz said he was out to look at Section 20E with a property owner
to examine how to contain traffic that is coming through to 3 Canyons Road
from Coyote Song. There is a conservation easement in the area that
is owned by the Association. A survey will need to be completed before
any fencing can be done.
J. Arndt said the conservation easement is not owned by anyone. The
easement is a restriction on the use of property owned by individual property
owners. T. Pickering said the Association has the right to protect its
boundaries. It was suggested that those property owners along the easement
be notified before the fencing is done.
Old Business
Review of administrative duties -- J. Arndt reported that at the September
18, 2002 monthly meeting, the Board approved the contract amount of $775/month
for administrative services furnished by Cardinal & Stachel, with a 30
day cancellation clause in order to look into other alternatives. A
visit was made to Lewis Management Resources, Inc. last month by J. Arndt,
R. Doyle and N. Howard. LMR is a Association Management company located
in Sierra Vista AZ. They provide service to 85 homeowners' associations
in the state of Arizona. They do everything from architectural review
to accounting and are capable of taking as much or as little as the Association
wishes. They have software capable of handling Association specific
duties, such as reconciling the annual voting ballots. Association management
is all that they do.
G. Mundt suggested a requirements list be submitted to see about price.
G. Brock suggested references be obtained from other HOAs.
G. Chouinard said the requirements list should keep to the basics.
J. Arndt said he was thinking of a job description defining specific requirements.
T. Pickering suggested a basic comparison between Cardinal & Stachel
and LMR.
J. Russell asked if he was a member of the 3 Canyons HOA as well as a member
of the Vista del Oro HOA.
T. Pickering said yes, and that the smaller subdivisions within 3 Canyons
had more stringent CC&Rs. He gave as an example the minimum square
footage for a home in 3 Canyons is 1200 sq. ft. The smaller subdivisions
can make that minimum larger, but cannot go below what has been setforth by
the 3 Canyons HOA.
J. O'Clock asked about the mailing regarding the CC&R changes.
J. Picard explained the purpose of the vote was to change the wording of
Master Declaration 20.1.
D. Angell said the county could tell you who owns what land.
D. Pomroy said the county records are correct regarding land ownership,
but the addresses they had on file were not always up to date.
D. Angell said if Counsel's office is not checking with the county now
for correct information, perhaps the management company would be a good idea.
D. Brown reiterated the need to check references.
J. Arndt will get a request for bid together to present to the Board.
If anyone is interested in helping with this effort, please contact Jim.
New Business
Adoption of Election committee recommendations -- E. Guidroz made a motion
that the following recommendations be adopted as Assocation By Laws:
G. Brock seconded.
1) Voting right suspension -- In accordance
with Master Declaration Section 3.1.3. the Master Association hereby suspends
the voting right of an Owner during any time in which any assessment respecting
such Owner or such Owner's lot or parcel remains unpaid and delinquent.
As per ARS 33-1803, a payment by a member is deemed late if it is unpaid fifteen
or more days after its due date, unless the community documents provide for
a longer period. Other supporting authority: ARS 10-3721, Master Association
By Laws Section 2.11.
2) The official ballot and return envelope
that has been used in other past meetings be referred to as the official ballot
for the 3 Canyons Ranch Master Homeowners' Association's annual meeting scheduled
for July 26, 2003.
3) That use of a designee or "Proxy"
must be notarized giving voting authority to said designee as part of the
official ballot, and be returned 10 days prior to the date of the annual meeting.
4) That 100 feet from the place of
the annual meeting be established as an area where campaigning for said office
cannot be conducted; to include handouts, badges, banners, or other items
for the purpose of seeking election to the Board.
J. Arndt said that requiring that proxies be notarized might result in
a bad voting turn-out.
R. Doyle asked if the proxies being returned 10 days in advance of the
meeting might make the need for notarizing mute.
R. Slyter replied that the notarizing was requested to ensure the legitimacy
of signatures.
D. Paris agreed with the possibility that requiring notarizing may result
in ballots not being returned.
G. Mundt asked who would be questioning the proxies, would it be the Election
Committee?
G. Chouinard said it would be a can of worms to have the Election Committee
questioning proxies and said notarized proxies would get the Election Committee
off the hook.
R. Slyter agreed the notarizing of the proxies would remove that responsibility
from the Election Committee.
B. Schneider who pointed out he was a long distance member until they moved
last Fall, said that there had to be some way to verify signatures like is
done with County voting. The notarizing would authenticate the signature.
T. Stoner said requiring the proxies be notarized goes against state law.
G. Chouinard asked if the state law said that votes could not be notarized?
D. Brown asked if there had been questionable voting in the past.
J. Picard asked if illegal activity had taken place.
R. Pomroy asked if T. Stoner would reference the applicable Arizona Revised
Statute. T. Stoner could not recall the ARS that applied.
D. Paris said couldn't we just add to what may be a minimum requirement
by the state.
T. Stoner said the state only requires certain actions and that the Board
would have to accept this.
T. Pickering thanked the committee for doing a good job.
J. Picard asked if the committee had checked the CC&Rs to ensure the
additional requirement of notarizing did not require a vote of the membership.
The vote passed with J. Arndt and R. Doyle abstaining.
Quote of Stern Internet Service -- tabled.
Call To Membership
D. Paris read the following sentence from a letter apparently generated
by people outside the Association who want the west gate removed:
"The HOA has a reputation of questionable legal actions and generally goes
forward with their own self-interest."�
D. Paris said he was highly offended by the above and reminded those present
that nothing is carried out without a vote of the Board.
The minutes are no longer distributed through US mail. They will
be posted on the website at az3canyons.com. To receive via email, contact
J. Arndt at Arndt8620@aol.com.
To receive a mailed copy, send $15 to the Association to cover the cost of
the mailing for one year.
The meeting adjourned at 7:35p
The next Board meeting will be held on May 14, 2003 at the La Purisma Retreat
Center. Take Hwy 92 S to Stoneridge Road (approximately 2 miles south
of the 3 Canyons entrance) on the right. It's the first building on
the left and has a blue roof.
Rita C. Doyle
Secretary
Last updated: 14 April 2003 by REW.