Approval of Minutes from October 12, 2023, Board Meeting
the minutes were approved with the addition of a clarification stating that the request to the HOA to add a referral to RRCSD for encroachment permits to the HOA documents was declined.
Officer Report:
President John Howsden reported that two contracts have been signed. Steve Palmer was authorized to sign the striping contract. John signed the AMS contract for the software program for road assessment. Steve Palmer and Marty met with AMS.
All poles and signs damaged in the vandalism incident were replaced. A faded sign at Brave St. was also replaced. Handy man Brandon installed a yellow curve sign on a new pole on Sawmill. The street sign on Quiver was replaced with Quiver Street. The work was done under budget ($1500) for $1131.
Police reports were filed for the incidents – total value $1000
A check was returned to a homeowner that paid for an easement permit as the District is still working on the permit process and is not currently issuing permits.
Curt Simmons will be enrolled in the CSDA as a new Board Member.
John asks that Board Members team up on projects so that progress can continue if one member is absent for a while.
Interim Treasurer John Howsden reported the account balances as of 11/02/2023:
Checking - $30,207.95
Public Funds Money Market - $597,404.75
Savings - $187,022.16
Total - $814,634.89
Total interest - $799.57
Unfinished Business: none
New Business:
Swearing in new board member – John administered the Oath of Office to Curtis Simmons
Larry Bain doing last year’s audit for $4500
The previous audit cost $3200. The proposal for the next audit is higher because there has been more activity occurring in the District which results in more transactions to audit.
Larry Bain writing a letter of response to the State Controller
Adam made a motion to approve the proposal of $4500 (not to exceed) for the audit and the letter to the State Controller. Marty seconded. Approved unanimously.
Weed Abatement contract- John
John received bids from 3 companies ranging from $4000 to $15,000. Members discussed the merits of each. John offered that more research could be done if someone wanted to volunteer for that.
Marty made a motion to accept Anchor’s bid not to exceed $9600. Adam seconded. Approved unanimously
Discuss process on approving minutes Gretchen
Gretchen suggested that she write up the minutes within a few days of the board meeting and send the draft minutes to Adam to review for accuracy and completeness. Once the draft is considered satisfactory Adam can send the draft minutes to the Board Members so they can review before the next meeting. Additions and corrections from the Board can be addressed at the meeting and then Adam can post the approved minutes on the website. This process seemed agreeable to the Board.
Schedule/organize records - Gretchen
Gretchen recommends organizing the active files first so that the current Board can find what they need to keep their work progressing. Next will be to organize the old documents. She will use the retention schedule used by all government agencies to sort into categories to be archived, purged, or destroyed. She plans to work with a couple Rocky Road volunteers on this project. Once the documents are winnowed down electronic storage can be discussed. She will keep the board informed on the project status. She was given keys to the file cabinets for the project duration.
Who is doing
this year’s budget?
Curt offered to check into CPAs for future audits. Denise DeMartini offered to put together a budget for Rocky Road. The Board enthusiastically accepted the offer!
Announcing our website via NextDoor – John
John launched a discussion about whether Rocky Road should be active on social media. Adam recommended that unless we had a committed volunteer to update the accounts regularly and frequently it was better to focus on making our website as useful as possible. If there are Rocky Road accounts on Facebook and Nextdoor with no activity, that appears that there is no work being done in our District. The Board appeared satisfied with this recommendation.
County doing our Encroachment Permits -Marty
Marty contacted Calaveras County about handling Rocky Road Encroachment permits. They declined.
Mark Anderson is reviewing the previous procedure Rocky Road used for encroachment permits and will have some recommendations for a useful process going forward.
Progress report on road repair by contractor BJ Slaton. – Marty
Repairs are
complete on Quiver and Choctaw.
Property owner complaint about $800 tire damage – John
Resident ran off the road avoiding an animal and had $800 expense for tires. The complaint is that Rocky Road is responsible for an uneven road edge. After inspection by Board Members no action is recommended.
Credit Card for Rocky Road expenses – Adam
Adam recommends that a credit card will be useful for paying Rocky Road’s online account costs.
John will check with Umpqua about setting that up.
Road Base for mailboxes at Choctaw & Chief
The road repair on Choctaw did not include road base to the level of the road edge. A request to purchase road base for this area was discussed and agreed to. A neighbor with a tractor has offered to spread the material.
There is a provision in the Procedure Manual to allow the General Manager to spend up to $2000 for regular expenses without waiting for a Board Meeting and a motion to proceed.
The project will go forward in a couple weeks with John and Mark providing traffic control.
Petty cash availability for GM – Mark – covered in # 13
Reimbursement for office supplies – Marty- covered in # 13