Finance & Legal minutes: 2015-07-08

Agenda:

Liens
Preparations for Reserve Study proposals at 7?20 community meeting
CH Special Assessment Updates

Minutes:

Present: Keith, Debbi, Becky H., Becky G., Amy



1. Liens



Liens were recorded with the Washtenaw Registrar of Deeds in late June on
two households who are significantly in arrears. Our Bylaws specify that
the expenses should be charged to the households. F&L directed the
Bookkeeper to include these expenses on the households' next Association
statements.



2. Preparations for Reserve Study proposals at 7/20 Community meeting



Two proposals from F&L will come forward at the 7/20 Community Meeting.
The first proposal, which details the criteria by which we will determine
what is included in the Reserve Fund, will be coming back for a decision.
The second proposal will define what will be added or deleted from the
existing Reserve study and will be presented for the first time, for
info/discussion. If the first proposal does not pass, the second proposal
will be delayed, as it is contingent upon the first.

Mary King will update both the first proposal, and Keith's draft of the
second proposal, and meet with Keith before she goes out of town on 7/13.

Keith will present, with Debbi as back up. We'll ask for 20 minutes for
the first proposal and 30 minutes for the second.



Regarding the first proposal, we heard a wish to be able to "grandfather
in" certain items in the current Reserve that do not meet the new
criteria. Mary and Keith will address this in the revised proposal.



The meeting facilitators should keep in mind, and say repeatedly, that
adopting the new criteria will mean that in the future, some committees
will have bigger ticket items than we are accustomed to, and may need to
adjust the target amount of their savings accounts.





3. CH Special Assessment Updates



a. Bookkeeper Becky G. calculated all of the extra payments that
households still paying on the CH Assessment have made, plus the totals of
the 3 houses that have now paid it off in full. She will be depositing
$11,111.37 into the Reserve tomorrow. She advised Keith and Mary of this
so they can ask Paul Conahan to adjust the Reserve Study accordingly. We
are now down to 8 households with special assessment balances.



b. Status of CH Special Assessment liens



We discussed our several e-mail communications with attorney David Keast in
preparation for recording the CH Special Assessment liens, and agreed that
he has made contradictory statements. We decided to meet with him in
person, and record the meeting, rather than continue communicating on
e-mail or scheduling a conference phone call. Debbi and Amy will find a
date when they are both available to go to Bloomfield Hills to meet with
Keast.



4. 2014 Tax Return



Len has completed our 2014 tax return. We agreed that would be a good
practice to have F&L members review the returns each year before they are
filed. Becky noticed that the solar electric credits are recorded on a
different form in the 2014 than in the 2013 return. She also noticed that
Len included a new line item for a deduction for meals/entertainment, which
may reflect the new subsidies we are providing for meals during Skills &
Thrills events. Becky H. asked why the depreciation was so much lower this
year than last. Becky G. will ask Len these questions and any additional
questions that come up after everyone has had a chance to review the
returns. We agreed to do this by Sunday night.



Our current community agreement for repaying the Reserve for the Solar PV
system is twofold. First, we budget $3600 from the CH committee and pay
that every year. Second, we would use any tax savings that we enjoy from
the renewable energy credit, i.e. we would move any tax refunds into the
reserve as well.



Len is officially advising us to instead just budget for how much we want
in total to go to the Reserve to pay back the loan each year. We have this
large credit on our taxes, so we should not need to pay estimated taxes for
a few more years. But many things can affect our taxes, so he would much
rather us decide as a community the total we want to pay back the note and
budget for that. Having a second way we pay off the note that is dependent
on the taxes is adding complexity where he doesn't think it should be, and
runs the risk of being forgotten over time. Becky agrees with this idea,
but we would need to determine how much in total we want to pay each year.
She is willing to work with the budget process folks on this.





5. Recruiting a new Bookkeeper



Becky G. recognized that she will need to remain in the Bookkeeper job
through the audit this year. So she will stay on as Bookkeeper through the
fall work season. The question is when we can bring on an apprentice and
who it will be, or whether we'll reorganize the job, and if so, who will be
involved.



More conversation and brainstorming is needed than we can do tonight
regarding whether we could subdivide the Bookkeeper job. The goal would be
to make it more manageable and to increase the number of people who are
paying attention to our books and who know how to do the work.



One idea is to have three people cross-trained in doing the check writing,
check depositing, and reporting. Maybe the three people would rotate
regularly so all would be up to speed in every area. They could meet and
talk regularly.



The current internal Bookkeeper attends F&L meetings and participates in
policy discussions as well as doing the check writing and reporting. The
job is not just data entry, it's thinking through and checking things, and
also includes meeting with Len and Susan. In the three-person scenario
above, the reporting person would probably be the one to work with Len &
Susan. We weren't sure who would be the one to attend F&L. All three jobs
would require long-term commitments, and we might even want to have a
fourth person in training.



Maybe send out a message to Talk to see if there are new people to the
community, or longer-standing members, who would want to be part of the
conversation. We would convene a small group at first, just bring in a
couple more people, and then broaden the conversation as it proceeds.
We'll think more about if and when to do this.



Debbi told us about Lynda.com, an online training program. You can get
monthly or annual memberships, individual or organization level. For about
$25/mo, you can do as many courses as you want. Courses include basic
accounting. You can also try it free for 10 days. We may be able to get
Process to pay for this.



During the meeting we realized that we also need to add the Budget guru and
Spreadsheet wrangler jobs to the Fall survey. Mary and Dale did a great job
last year. Amy will ask Mary and Becky G. will ask Dale if they are
interested in the budgeting jobs again this fall.



6. Review edits to the now outdated written agreement with households
in arrears (Becky H.)



Becky H. brought draft revisions to the outdated written Payment Plan and
Waiver of Late Fees agreement document prepared years ago for households in
arrears. We talked this through at length, and Becky will bring a revised
version to the next meeting for further review.



7. Researching firms to do our Audit



We have the names of three firms, two from Len and one which does Sunward's
audits. Becky G. will call to get prices next week.



8. Next Meeting: July 22 @ 7 pm