RDR Board Meeting Minutes – September, 2012

SLO Running Deer Ranch Company, Inc.
5050 Aluffo Rd.
Paso Robles, Ca 93446
RDRboard @gmail.com
Board Meeting – Sept. 29, 2012
President; Don Bullard
Vice-Pres. Jerry Ford
Sec. Chuck Enterline
Tres. Louise Oganesian
Directors Jess Felganhauer, Bob Boals, Kelly Lobo
SNRA reps; Carl Steinkraus / Leo Kennedy
All board members present or on the phone. Carl Steinkraus was the only SNRA rep. present. Guests included; Jerry Ahrens, Ken and Renda McAlister, Karl and Thelma Bell, Henry Oganesian,
Meeting Called to Order by President Don Bullard; 9;05AM at Louise Oganesian’s house in Running Deer
Opening Statement from Don Bullard; This has been a successful season. No major incidents, only 1 trash bag collected over entire summer, families were b-b-cuing, the new gate works well with at least 90% compliance and even an increase in compliance with the point gate. The goal today is to understand the budget, funds we can work with, discuss our filing with the state and IRS and be in compliance.
Minutes of our Last Meeting on 6/16/2012 were approved by the board via e-mail as well as the RDR board approved funding to Fredrick’s to patch Aluffo Rd (up to $10,000) via e-mail.
Treasure’s Report; Louse Oganesian presented 2 documents showing the line item budget as presented and approved by the General Membership, and Compared it to Current budget, w/ anticipated Expenses and Reserves after transfers to a separate account. The RDR Reserves/Allocations must be in a separate account and not lumped into our “Operating Expenses” checking account in order to be compliant. We have changed banks to the Robo Bank, which does not charge any banking fees for either checking or savings account; thus saving $30.00/mo in fees charged by Bank of America. Currently, there is $24, 242 available in non-encumbered funds and $15, 100 in additional Reserves and Allocated Savings funds. Jerry asked about the SNRA funds. In the past, two separate checks were written to SNRA (one after collecting most of the RDR money and a final check in Aug. as some more money would come in). The consensus was our budget should show TOTAL collected and then the total sent to SNRA (which hasn’t been shown in the past). It HAS been called a “pass through account” and for financial integrity, Don suggested we need to be very clear with ALL monies coming in shown and then what was sent to SNRA.
MOTION; was made by Don Bullard and seconded to change our RDR budget reports to include this clear distinction including ALL monies coming in and SNRA’s portion sent to them. Motion passed unanimously.
We continue to have a safe deposit box at Bank of America of which, we need Connie Flowers to go and close it. There was some discussion of what is in the box, but no one was sure.
Louise continued that the rules of a non-profit allow for “Reserves” provided they are in Separate, Interest bearing accounts. However, there are 2 inconsistencies:
ISSUE 1; Articles of Incorporation state we are a “NON-PROFIT” mutual benefit corporation for the purpose of the Recreational Point. However, we file with the state as a non-profit – HOA and with the IRS as a HOA w/ exempt income and 0 tax liability this year. This makes us liable to pay taxes as some point. Various problems with our current dual status and changing either one were discussed. Issues included: As a Non-Profit, we must spend 90% of our Operating funds unless it is moved to a reserve account, contributions are taxable…only keys and dues are non-taxable vs. HOA would require higher reserve amounts, non-member donations could cause tax-liability, etc. Our CPA had no recommendations. No action was taken, except that we continue to keep accurate and complete records as a Non-Profit; look into what it would take to get Non-Profit designation from the IRS as a 501(c)(4); work towards obtaining from the IRS Non-profit designation, after we have filed taxes and our records reflect compliance for a few more years. Should this become an issue someday, we STILL would show 0 taxes owed.
ISSUE 2; Neither a non-profit, Nor an HOA can benefit 1 sole member (or Owner). At issue, was the paying of property taxes for Jess Felgenauer as part of our Point agreement? We can either pay our portion directly to the County Assessors, OR Pay Jess and categorize the funds as Point Maintenance – reimbursement, which it would fall under. Jess is ok with either method..
Don suggested we keep accurate and complete records to pass on in case this becomes an issue someday.
MOTION ; Don Bullard moved we continue filing the way we have in the past and make no changes at the present. It was seconded and passed unanimously.
MOTION; Don Bullard moved we accept the budget as stated with clarification of all funds that came in and out to SNRA. It was seconded and passed unanimously.
It was noted that both JoAnn and Leo have done great jobs as treasure, but for future accounting, we need follow these new guidelines for compliance purposes.
Road Mainenance/Point; Estimates are needed for upcoming expenses on Aluffo. Ken McAlister suggested that priority be given over the roads we are responsible for, before spending money on other proposed projects. Don assured everyone that our priority IS the roads.
Some discussion on how to proceed with road repairs and maintenance, but we would start with patching and see what needs to be done after that.
Don wants research on non-duplicable keys for the point…. with the costs, pros/cons of going to that next year. Such action would for sure forestall any electronic gate.
DOCKS; It was noted that a distance from the launch ramp needs to be determined of which, no docks would be permitted. Stakes left from dock owners changing mooring lines need to be removed, as this presents a safety issue.
Master Plan; Bob presented costs for a wake boom (from WAVE EATER) which came in at $43,645. It was decided we might look into how Oak Shores does theirs using poles as an alternative, although there might be issues using telephone poles with creosote. The value of doing something to prevent erosion was discussed. One thought was to combine the private dock project with the boom. Bob indicated there plenty of verbal commitment to the building of the private docks, but “crunch time” would be coming soon when their money would be due. Bob presented a variety of table ideas (cement, commercial types, etc) and since roads have the priority it was decided to put off purchasing any tables at this time until we had a better idea of what our road costs would be.
FIRE; Chuck indicated that the RDR fire wagon was operational. Don indicated that John Swift donated a very nice 500 gallon Fire Truck to Running Deer. Issues concerning accepting this gift, maintenance, liability insurance, ownership, problems with Cal Fire, training were all discussed with no decisions made.
Nick Fuscho (689-6757) was putting together an emergency response meeting at Cal Shasta on Nov. 10, 2012 noon.
Gates/Keys $117 was spent on mailings to let RDR members/owners know of our gate combo change. Only RDR will change as SNRA is working on it. Karl Steinkraus requested an updated and improved cameras for the main gate. At this time, Mark Drangonchuck indicated he would donate cameras.
SNRA Issues over the annual mussel permit and problems in obtaining were discussed. Cal Fire is currently working on GPS mapping and the location of all water tanks. Chuck indicated that Mary Woodworth was continuing to bring concern over speeding near her house. Chuck suggested SNRA look into options to help.
Newletter; Don indicated we would be e-mailing information to our membership at this time.
Open Discussion A concern over our RDR launch ramp erosion problem was discussed…we can slow, but can’t stop the process. Jerry is looking into what materials we might use to slow erosion, but it is clear, we need to do something
Next Meeting; Nov. 17, 2012 in the barn at Louise Oganesian 9;00am
Adjournment; The meeting was adjourned at 11;08 am.