SBHA Meeting Mintues March 6, 2013

SBHA Meeting Minutes March 6, 2013

Attendees: Maris Cukurs, Victor Jacobson, Loreta Kurkowski, Carrie Madden, Russ Thompson.

         Special Attendee Lisa Moss

  1. Review meeting minutes

    1. Loreta read through meeting minutes and each item was discussed as read.

    2. Meeting minutes were accepted.

  2. Financial Summary

    1. 107 letters were sent out heard from 37 people.

  3. Review Old Business

    1. Correction from last meeting minutes: 316 houses in Stonebrook, 107 owe dues, 71 owe dues for 1 or 2 years, 36 owe for 3 or more years.

      1. Letters were sent out to delinquent accounts holders. Only 1 letter was returned, renter promised to get the letter to the owner. Still quite a few who owe and several for 5 years or more. Action: Letters will be hand carried to the homes.

      2. Maris checked with Title One and they have the post office box address. They do have a phone number but no one knows whom the number belongs to.

    1. Website – Russ continued working on the website with the developer. He should be sending a link out soon to the prototype.

      1. Heather (developer) is going to find several domain names and then the board will pick one.

      2. Russ is locating .pdfs of the bylaws, covenants and other pertinent documents.

Lisa Moss attended the meeting to discuss her findings of the accounting review of the homeowners association. Her biggest concern is that the organization is being run like a non-profit/volunteer organization rather than a business; that all the members are employed for free. She discussed her viewpoint that the board members should be making decisions and then should hire/contract someone to do the actual work, i.e. hire someone to send out and collect homeowners association fees; treasurer should be doing forecasts for future needs, not bookkeeping.

 Discussed hiring an accounting firm to administer the collections and bookkeeping for the association.

  1. Person who deposits money into account should not have authority to write checks.

  2. Association dues should be sent out as a bill rather than included as an item in the newsletter.

Agreed that we should investigate the option of hiring a management service for our bookkeeping and then determine a budget. If it causes an increase in the association dues then should consider an incremental increase over the next several years.

Agreed that the biggest benefit of securing an outside firm to manage the bookkeeping is that it will establish continuity from year to year, board to board.

  1. New business

    1. Maris alerted the board that the registered agent for Stonebrook is Bob Utterbeck who is deceased.

      1. Registered agent needs to be updated with an actual person

      2. Street address, cannot be P.O. Box

      3. Discussed that possibly the registered agent should be the person/firm that provides bookkeeping for the association.

    2. The association needs access to a lawyer to run legal questions by.

    3. Carrie mentioned that we have a $120 bill from All American for snow removal. She will be paying the bill.

    4. Carrie talked to assessor’s office and they can provide a mailing list for Stonebrook Homes, they need a few hours to generate the list. 

Next meeting – April 10, 2013 @ 7:00pm @ Russ’ house 107 Cobblestone

Stonebrook Homeowners Association Treasury Report March 6, 2013 to April 9, 2013 

Checking Account

                  Beginning balance:         $12,137.50

                  Deposits (dues):  $1,290.00 

                  Disbursements:                           $25.88   City of Idaho Falls

                                                                              $120.00   All American Yards – Snow Removal

                  Ending balance:                   $13,281.62

 Savings Account                                    $23,160.57

The Stonebrook Homeowners Association (SBHA) of Idaho Falls

Duties to be performed by an accounting firm:

1.     Produce and send annual bills to SBHA members - SBHA fiscal year is July 1 of current year to June 30 of following year (Stonebrook has 316 homes).

2.     Deposit collected funds in the SBHA account. 

3.     Track payments and follow established collection procedures if no payment is received (including filing liens if necessary).

4.     Continuously update records (homeowner change information is usually received from Title Companies) with an annual homeowner and address verification with county records.   Transmit a copy of each change to a designated member of the SBHA Board. 

5.     Prepare checks for signature by association officers to pay bills received. (The average is one or two bills per month.)

6.     Send biannual newsletter.  If the service provider has a bulk mailing permit, they should be used for sending, however the SBHA Board will originate the newsletter.

7.     Send standard covenant violation letters as board deems necessary.  (The average has been between five and ten per year.)

8.     Prepare and transmit to the board for review a quarterly report and an annual report (for annual meeting).

9.      Receive mail for the SBHA.

10.  Answer requests from title companies, as needed, regarding homeowner assessment payments.

11.  Prepare and file an annual tax return, if required.

12.  Act as the Registered Agent for the SBHA