HOMESTEAD IN THE WILLOWS HOMEOWNERS ASSOCIATION
Regular Board Meeting February 6, 2023 – Unofficial Minutes
CALL TO ORDER: President, Chris Evans called the meeting to order at 6:35 p.m. Present were Vice President, Will Cryer; Business Manager, Katie Kidwell; Tennis Manager, Jill Ellsworth; ACC Manager, Emily Maxfield; Social Committee Co-Chair, Kelly Kan and Homeowner, Michael Garnsey. Treasurer, Kelly McCormick and Secretary, James Keating attended a portion of the meeting via Zoom.
MINUTES: The minutes of the January 9th regular meeting and Tennis/Pickleball presentation were approved as read.
SWIM TEAM: Parent Representative, Christie Gammill submitted a written report. The Hurricanes will host three home Saturday meets and Prelims on Wednesday, July 12th. Try-outs are scheduled for May 15th and 16th at the North Pool.
SOCIAL COMMITTEE: Kelly Kane reported that the Second Saturday coffee truck mornings would begin February 11th from 8:30 – 10:30 am. Many residents had been asking for a coffee truck on weekend mornings and it had been difficult to find one available. The Social Committee hopes the community support will be profitable enough for the truck to continue to come to Homestead on weekend mornings. The Social Committee is also working on bringing a craft fair/open market to the neighborhood to showcase crafts and giftware made by residents. The Easter Egg hunt has been scheduled for April 1st.
MANAGER REPORTS
- POOL: Front Range Recreation submitted a written report. Lifeguard staffing is ongoing and interested residents can apply at frontrangerecreation.com under the Employment tab. A new heater for the West Pool has been ordered and FRR has started making repairs authorized under the 2023 budget.
- LANDSCAPE: Manager Nancy Bauer submitted a written report. Crack seal and re-striping of the North Pool parking lot is scheduled for April & May prior to the season opening. Nancy is soliciting bids for tree spraying, pruning and mulch installation along Easter Avenue.
- TENNIS: Manager Jill Ellsworth reported that popular youth tennis instructor Bev Tillis will be joining the new Homestead tennis pro as part of his staff. Jill is purchasing supplies for the tennis courts and asked if the Board would like her to purchase the nets for pickleball. The Board thanked Jill for doing so. The team meeting for USTA captains would be held on Tuesday, Feb. 7th at 7:00 pm via Zoom. The Board and Jill discussed court access for the new teaching professional and his staff. Jill had a new court contractor look at various locations in the neighborhood to construct pickleball courts. Courts could be easily built at the North Pool using a portion of the parking lot. The advantage of this location is no
extensive grading or retaining wall would need to be built and the parking lot would lose only one third of its parking places. - ACC/TASK FORCE: Manager Emily Maxfield reported that the committee is down to only five members who are putting in a lot of time to process applications. The Board and Emily discussed having an annual review of elements during which homeowners could present various products, styles, and new materials for the ACC’s consideration. Perhaps a committee consisting of designers and architects could review the submitted materials and present their selections to the ACC & Board. The Board discussed whether the Covenant Review Taskforce should be annual or every other year. They
agreed to continue having this site-wide review of the neighborhood annually because it makes the process more consistent. The HOA will use the PayHOA platform to mail violation notices and remind homeowners of deadlines. Changes to Colorado HOA law will require that the HOA inspect violations for remedy every 30 days. This means taskforce volunteers will be needed to carry out inspections as well as perform the initial walk-through of the neighborhood. - BUSINESS: Manager Katie Kidwell reported that more and more homeowners are using the PayHOA platform or lockbox to make their payments which has made bookkeeping at the office much easier, The office has also received 352 of the 539 ballots needed for the special assessment vote.
FINANCIAL REPORT: Kelly had discovered some 2022 expenses incorrectly allocated to the wrong line items of the budget as well as some expenses paid from the operating account that should have been charged to the reserve account and corrected those errors. The January Financials were not completed and would be reviewed at the next meeting.
OLD BUSINESS: Many snow removal companies were unavailable for the 2022 season but the Board had obtained three quotes, two of which were less than $1,000 per occurrence. The Board agreed that the cost to clear the snow from Homestead Parkway, the greenbelt sidewalks and sections of Easter, Costilla and E. Geddes Ave. is small enough to be absorbed into operating expenses. Chris moved and Kelly seconded a motion to hire Snowology to clear snow from specified HOA sidewalks for the rest of the 2023. The motion passed unanimously.
NEW BUSINESS: The Board went over the agenda for the Annual Meeting which will be held on Monday, March 13th at 7:00 pm at the Homestead Elementary School gymnasium. Chris moved and Will seconded a motion to appoint Michael Garnsey to the Board seat vacated by Kristi Leavitt. The motion passed unanimously.
ADJOURNMENT AND CALENDARING: The meeting adjourned at 8:17 pm. The next regular Board Meeting will be on Monday, April 10th at 6:30 p.m. at the Business Office and via Zoom.
BOARD ACTIONS SUBSEQUENT TO MEETING: On February 8, 2023 the Board voted unanimously via email to renew the Association insurance package with Philadelphia Insurance.