Finance & Legal minutes: 2020-08-12

Minutes:

Minutes of 8-12-20 Finance & Legal Com meeting


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


1. Monkey Review
* Becky G. will make reserve transfers and reactivate the Asphalt Crack
savings account - Pending
* Becky G. will turn the current garage ownership spreadsheet into a Google
sheet and post it on the WIKI when she has time - Pending
* Becky H. will let Willie know that the garage ownership spreadsheet is
coming - DONE
* Amy will share F&L’s thoughts about Willie & Katie’s proposed unit
expansion letter with Buildings - DONE
* Willie said they may not need a letter after all; F&L thinks the
points we identified are still worth thinking about; NEW MONKEY: Amy to
follow up with Mary
* Debbi will send an email to attorney Rick asking if it’s typical to
require a completion bond in a condo environment. - Pending
* Becky G. will talk with Mary about the idea of keeping the budget the
same as 2019, but with a 4% increase to Reserve payments, as planned.
[Subsequent to the meeting, Becky G. talked with Budget process
coordinators Mary and Dale, and determined that there are good reasons to
go forward with the usual process, though we may be able to slim it down.
Both Dale and Mary agreed that we should still do the process. Their
reasoning:
* Some people might want to lower the budget even more
* Mary & Dale can recommend that we ask committees to avoid
increases and if possible to make decreases
* F&L is not empowered to make the flat mandate of no increase.
Steering could, except that it’s not an urgent decision, so we’d have to go
to the community anyway, which would take about the same amount of time.
Will be quick for committees not to make many changes.
* 5% increase to reserve (not 4% as noted above)
* Debbi will write a letter to Polly & Drew’s insurance to say that it’s
not GO’s responsibility to pay for the mold in their cabinets. If they
won’t accept this, our insurance agent will take this on.
* Becky sent Polly & Drew’s insurance co. our MD again, saying it’s
clear that it’s the insurance’s responsibility to pay, and that there’s a
precedent, that they can consult with our attorney, but the insurance agent
just went ahead and paid for it. DONE
* Becky G. will let Grounds know that she can check with our insurance
agent about the incremental cost of coverage for a zip line.
* Becky G. and Syndallas emailed Emily 2-3 times, no response. Can’t
get insurance estimates w/o information. DONE for now


2. Bookkeeping updates
1. Arrears
1. Steering at 7/11 mtg decided to give the household seriously in
arrears one month to clear their debt. Has that happened?
1. YES! Paid in full through July 2020.
2. Another household is a month behind, and another is not caught up,
but is staying below $1000.
2. Taxes and Audit update
1. BG filled out the long audit questionnaire a month or two ago. A
week ago they sent more questions and requested a copy of the Reserve; BG
just sent these in. We sold two assets last year: Play structure and the
truck. We replaced the play structure and should start depreciating the
new one, and purchased the Kuboda, also needs to start depreciating.
2. We borrowed from the Reserve for the north path and north stairs, BG
has set up a payment line item for the Association to pay this back over
time. All households have paid their portions in full. Still need to
create an internal note in Quickbooks to record this, similar to the
Workshop note. This will help us know when we’re done paying it off.
3. Reserve transfers - pending
4. Asphalt payment - pending
5. This is the last month for collecting $4.25/mo from all households, for
shortfall assessment, bc we paid back Syndallas and Meg. Headache for
households not used to changing the of amount of their association fees
mid-year. A few new owners are not part of this because it had to be
settled with their unit sale.
6. There’s a weird glitch causing anyone in the community having statements
going to gocoho.org email address to go astray. May take until next month
to get it completely fixed.


2. Ongoing items
1. 6 months since Skills & Thrills - check-in on MD and Bylaws
* Debbi has made a dent, and is taking more time off soon, and is
hopeful about getting it done soon. Next step is to send the draft to
Patti and Elph for review, then to Rick, our attorney.
2. Location of updated garage info - pending


3. Matters arising
1. The State of Michigan annual registration form came to Amy, who will
give it to Becky to fill out and submit with a small fee.
2. Willie & Katie’s unit expansion project - request for a letter signed by
GOCA acknowledging their plans, to be given to their builder. Amy talked
to Mary, who will bring this up at the next Buildings meeting at the end of
the month. See Monkeys for more info.
3. Drew’s insurance co. See Monkeys for more info.
4. Zip line. See Monkeys for more info.
5. Documenting that Becky H. wrote up an addendum to the lease between Mary
Swain and Andrew Nixon, to emphasize cohousing-specific items.
* Update on recent leases from Becky H.: Mary Swain and Andrew Nixon
have signed it and sent it to Kathy.
* Melissa and Sarah’s lease: they used GO’s template, added some items
that looked fine to Becky. MONKEY: BH will send an email to the community
to remind them about the lease template. DONE
6. Refinance: lenders need to contact BG to fill out forms of various
lengths They frequently will call the CH line. BG may or may not ever get
the message. Don’t know how often voicemail gets checked. They sometimes
also go to the GOCHO website and fill out an inquiry form, but BG doesn’t
know where this info goes or if it’s monitored. Debbi contacted Rod during
the meeting and it looked like a solution was in the works. MONKEY: Check
to see if this issue has been resolved.


4. Next meeting - September 9
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