Finance & Legal minutes: 2012-08-27

Minutes:

F&L Committee Minutes

8-27-12



Present: Eric, Becky, Mary, Adi, Amy



1. Next steps following decision on Late Payment of Association Dues
policy changes



Adi will contact David Keast regarding next steps.



2. Reserve Fund: follow up on recent discussion items



a) Adi noticed that about $8,000 in loans from the Reserve Fund had been
made to several individuals for Laird Schaub’s facilitation training in
2005-07. He wondered if the payments, which were made over two years via
Association statements, had been deposited into GOCA’s account and not
repaid to the Reserve Fund. This might account for part of the shortfall
in the Reserve when we recalibrated in 2010, and might account for some of
the unexplained surplus in the GOCA account (in addition to the funds
repaid by Meals that originated from the project contingency funds, and the
required deposit with Republic Bank for the original CH Loan, which was
withdrawn when we paid off the loan). There were also some unanticipated
expenses from the Reserve that also accounted for the Reserve shortfall in
2010 such as radon mitigation and gutters.


We need Kathy’s help to figure out these details, and then we
need to ask the accountant for his advice on how best to proceed. Should
we repay these funds to the Reserve? Can we use the GOCA balance to pay
our back taxes? Or?



b) Should any TS income go to the Reserve to cover replacement of items
in the Reserve? This was supposed to happen in our plan; it has not been
happening; and Becky was told that it can’t happen. But then is this
considered to be income and is taxable? If we can show that TS makes use
of and pays for $400 worth of our CH operating expenses, this income would
be both taxable and deductible, and therefore revenue neutral.

c) Is the third laundry machine set in the Reserve? Yes. GO bought
it, and it is in the 2010 Reserve study. CH was already receiving
complaints about congestion in the laundry room before TS neighbors started
sharing the CH.



MONKEY: Becky will send Adi a list of some additional items that are not in
the Reserve. This list includes: the hot tub, hardwood floor in Game
Room, and blinds in most of the CH. We need to check the square footage
of CH carpet, which was greatly underestimated in the Reserve Study, and
include funds for padding. We could also consider replacing the
washer/driver sets with commercial grade as they reach the end of their
working lives. Adi will create a list and keep it on line.



3. Master Deed: reply from attorney David Keast



Aaron joined us to update us on communications regarding the Master Deed. He
received a message and draft text from Keast with the three changes we want
to make:

1) Membership - to require unit sellers to include a contingency that
buyers have to become informed about cohousing.

2) Garages: to clarify process for selling and recording ownership;
also to restrict ownership to GO unit owners

3) Clearing up issues around GCEs and LCEs

We reviewed Keast’s draft amendment and identified some follow up questions
for him.



MONKEY: Aaron will send the follow up questions to Keast. If people want
to submit additional question to Aaron, send them by Friday. After we hear
back from Keast, the draft will be circulated to committees and ultimately
approved by the community before it is finalized.





4. CH Loans to households: follow up with attorney David Keast about
documenting agreements.



Keast recommended characterizing the loans as an assessment with interest
and a payment plan. Next step is to go back to Keast and ask him what
documentation we need in order to make this binding. Maybe we only need to
put the monthly payment and balance on the association statement. Then the
balance would be visible to unit buyers.



We are wondering if different people can contact Keast about separate
issues or whether it’s necessary to have one person contact Keast about
everything.



MONKEY: Adi will contact Keast.



5. F&L's to-do list in anticipation of transition to our new convener,
Adi!



https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_dmnNJmHmrwwFIfnscnRbPK-_8_kmahfFsOTn_fEvTY/edit?authkey=CLL_lcgE&authkey=CLL_lcgE



6. Matters arising, loose ends, etc.



a) Two households in arrears: Becky talked with the household that had
crossed over the $1,000 threshold which requires us to place a lien. This
household gave her a check for a significant amount of the arrears. Another
household that has been falling behind said they will make a payment by the
end of the month.

b) Skills & Thrills Weekend update: Amy spoke with Kathryn Greiner at
UMCU. In theory she is available to do a session with us on Saturday
afternoon, November 10. Because we have several UMCU members at GO, Kathryn
thought it would be possible to present to us at no charge. She needs to
get her supervisor’s permission and will get back to Amy.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://gocoho.org/pipermail/finance-minutes_gocoho.org/attachments/20120908/5b7346fc/attachment.html>