Finance & Legal minutes: 2017-04-11

Minutes:

GO Finance & Legal Committee
Minutes of 4-11-17 Meeting

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


1. INSURANCE

a) An application for a new association policy was submitted to Goodman
Venegas on Friday, April 7. We are seeking a new policy that will cover
the items that Michigan Millers excluded (treehouse, fireworks,
molestation). We also want to have coverage for volunteer workers as we
have now. We are extending the Michigan Millers policy until we have a new
policy in place. They will continue to cover us for the general coverage
apart from the exclusions.

b) Treehouse liability. GOCA’s attorney Rick Delonis prepared a liability
waiver for GO members to sign indicating that they understand that they
will not be covered if they or their children are injured while using the
treehouse. Becky H. is keeping track of the signed waivers. A few
households have responded so far. Dale will make a new sign for the
treehouse this week.

c) Communications about treehouse. Amy will send a message to SW and TS
saying that they may not use the treehouse until further notice. One
member asked if we would communicate with LS. Any communication with LS
should be run by the attorney before being sent to LS. We have a
relationship and shared culture with SW and TS, but not with LS. Our
attorney suggested that GOCA might want to consider a sign that says
“private property.” When the medical complex opens, there will be people
looking to walk in nature on their breaks. We should probably mark the
path on our side of the pond as Sunward has done on their side.

d) Truck. To the surprise of both Goodman Venegas and F&L, Michigan
Millers notified us that they would no longer cover the truck effective
April 15. George Leslie at Goodman Venegas negotiated an extension for 30
days while he seeks a new policy.

e) Follow-up re: onsite inspection. We have completed everything they
asked us to do. Wendy at Michigan Millers will send us an official letter
stating that they are satisfied.



2. FINAL PREPARATIONS FOR PRESENTATIONS AT 4-17-17 COMTY MTG

For a decision: Proposal to Establish a Rotation for Official Audits of
Great Oak Cohousing Association’s Books. Becky H. will present.

At the request of the Process Committee, Becky G. will present F&L’s recent
accomplishments, things we are working on now, and our cooler list. There
may be a desire to discuss our situation with insurance in greater detail.

3. WORK ALLOCATION FOR SPRING/SUMMER WORK SEASON
a) Rod has been assigned to a Special Projects position to focus on
insurance. This position will not operate independently or make decisions;
it will honcho the insurance process and reach out to committees in the
various areas.
b) We discussed reaching out to potential new counted members.
c) Amy is training Gayle Turner as Truck Admin Asst.

4. CH ASSESSMENT LIENS
Becky H. has been in touch with our attorney, Rick Delonis about the CH
assessment liens. The cost: Wash Co charges $30 to file each lien, and
Rick will prepare all 8 for a flat fee of $325. This comes out to $71 per
lien. We will invite people to pay off their liens in full to avoid this
charge. We will give people a fair amount of notice before the fee is
charged. Becky G. will share the amortization spreadsheet with Becky H. It
shows what each household owes, starting in July 2012 when GO took over the
assessment (before that it was a bank loan), up to August 2022, unless
households have made extra payments. Becky H. will provide this
information to each household along with the letter about the lien.

Rick wanted to know if this was classified as an “additional assessment”
that was then levied? Yes. This was an assessment for the building of the
CH and the two community garages. Every unit was charged the same amount
originally. Some households paid it off, some chose to pay off over time.

We asked our CPA to break the assessment into individual amortizations
within Quickbooks so people could pay it down faster than they could
originally.

The next step is to tell the 8 people we’re going to be doing this and see
if any want to pay it off to avoid the $71/ea. We’ll give them 45 days.
Going forward, we should send a statement each year showing payments and
the remaining balance. Becky G. will send a pdf. of each person’s
amortization schedule that Becky H. can share with the households.

5. BOOKKEEPING UPDATES
a) 2016 Tax Return. We will be filing an extension before April 15.
Jessica will send Becky a list of the documents needed to submit the final
return.

b) Arrears. We are monitoring a couple of households who have not paid for
a couple of months but no household is over $1000.

5. MASTER DEED UPDATES – Debbi has more time to work on this now that
other projects are finished.

6. OTHER MATTERS carrying forward or arising – none.

7. NEXT MEETING: Wednesday, April 26
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