Yosemite West Property & Homeowners, Inc.

YWPHI Board of Directors' Meeting - June 7, 2007

The date of this meeting was changed from Saturday, June 2, at 10 a.m. The meeting was held on Thursday, June 7, 2007 at Kay Pitts' home.

There was not a quorum of board members (four), hence no motions or votes were made.

I. Minutes

The minutes from the March 24, 2007 YWPHI Board of Directors meeting were distributed and approval will be voted on at the next meeting Sunday, September 2, 2007.

II. Treasurer's Report

1. Financial Reports

The 1st quarter 2007 (1/1/2007 to 3/31/2007) Treasurer's report follows. The Balance Sheet shows total assets of $11,591.21: $776.21 in the checking account; and $10,840.00 in the savings account. The Profit &Loss statement shows a net income of $405.06: total income from membership dues of $500.00; other income from interest of $8.79; and expenses of $103.73. The itemized expenses included: $15.02 for bank charges ($9 for monthly service fees and $6.02 for printed check register); $31.61 for postage; $19.06 for printing (2007-08 membership renewal forms); $20 for fees (to request a fire report on Camin's property); $1.84 sales tax; and $16.20 for office supplies (mailing labels). Included in the above expenses of $103.73 are expenses by topic: $28.56 for fire safety; and $33.95 for membership (reminders, new member welcome, receipts, etc.).

The 2nd quarter 2007 report (4/1/2007-6/30/2007) will be prepared at the end of this month.

2. Acting Treasurer

Carol Ruiz has agreed to fill in for Kim O'Neil only during her absence this summer and has been briefed. Carol (and Al) are not interested in permanently assuming the Treasurer's job. Kim has agreed to stay on as Treasurer.

Kim is currently the only signatory on the YWPHI bank accounts. Carol Ruiz did not want to add her name, so Kim will leave a couple blank signed checks with her this summer. The board needs to vote on who will be added as a second back-up signatory. The former YWPHI president Grace Bartel had been a signatory, but the Acting President Kay Pitts has not been added. Do we want the YWHPI president to always be a signatory?

3. Accounts Payable / Accounts Receivable

• YWPHI has not yet paid the Mariposa County Fire Safe Council for the chipping program (see Fire Safety below).
• YWPHI will be reimbursed by the fire safety grants for approximately $505.50 for grant expenses paid by YWPHI. This total includes $298.50 for the spring newsletter (promoting community wide defensible space was a grant line item) and the balance of $207 for miscellaneous costs related to contracting and start-up. The board previously authorized YWPHI advancing up to $500 for these purposes.

4. 2006-2007 Membership - status: 97 (last year 113)

The treasurer will prepare a hard copy for the 2007-08 membership renewals to mail to everyone in mid-August. Last year we tried sending e-notices to members who have signed up for e-newsletters. It worked well for some members, but not all. In the long run, it will cost less and take less time to mail hard copies (by not having to send multiple reminders) to everyone in the first place. Carol Ruiz will have the prepared mailing and physically mail them in mid-August.

III. Committee Reports

Fire Safety

A summary of activities is also on the website.

1. Fire Hose & Hydrant Training

YWPHI organized the May 15, 2007 Yosemite West Hose & Hydrant Training. The training was coordinated by Deron Mills, NPS Deputy FMO, and led by Mariposa County Fire Chief Jim Wilson and NPS Wawona Station Chief Jeff Panetta. Thirty-one community members participated: 14 homeowners, one long-term renter, and 16 rental agency employees.

Chief Wilson wants the training to continue once a month this summer led by the community. Moose Mutlow (hosehydrant@yosemitewest.org) has agreed to organize the training and has been briefed.

2. Memorial Day Weekend Clean-up

YWPHI organized the 2007 Memorial Day weekend clean-up of yard debris and sponsored a community picnic on May 27, 2007 attended by 55 people: 6 guests, and 49 residents from 18 households. Guest speakers were the fire safety grants project manager Charles Sikora and his wife Marilyn, Fire Prevention Technicians John Brinley (North Fork) and Brian Thurman (Midpines) from the U.S. Forest Service, and Fire Chief Kelly Martin from Yosemite National Park and her husband Paul Heffner.

Topics for next year's clean-up and picnic:

• (a) Labor for Sunday morning
  We were a little short-handed on volunteer labor and trucks. Many full-time residents burn their pine needles in the spring, and have little incentive to volunteer on Memorial Day weekend. Many of the same residents volunteer every year; we need to encourage other residents to join in the volunteer effort. YWPHI hired two teenage boys at the last minute (David Minjares and Nick Gawaldo). YWPHI paid each $30 for a total of $60. Since the chipping program is coming is significantly under budget, the treasurer made this decision. The boys did a great job. Perhaps YWPHI should consider hiring paid labor for future clean-ups.
• (b) Burn pile management
  Steve Yates did an incredible job this year. He stayed at the burn pile all morning and pushed the pile into place with his tractor. This enabled people to dump their loads faster and more easily. The result is a neat and manageable pile. Steve had a cooler with water/drinks available. We should do this every year.
• ( c) Residents' need to take responsibility for their own pine needles
  Some residents think that YWPHI is providing a "free" pine needle removal service, despite the newsletter stating "Please don't leave piles . . . expecting others to take them away - no one will touch them." There are still pine needle piles on a few other properties. YWPHI clearly states what the clean-up is about, but some people are not getting the message. What more can YWPHI do?
• (d) Fire road clearance
  YWPHI should organize a community wide roadside clean-up (raking pine needles, picking up debris, cutting branches, removing ladder fuels) the week before the Memorial Day clean-up. The clean-up should include a focus on the fire roads themselves. The fire roads need to be clear in the event of an emergency for everyone's benefit. The county does not clear them, so we need to.
• (e) Clean-up & Picnic Timing
  Clean-up start time has always been 8 a.m. Should we continue to start at 8 a.m. or push it back to 9 a.m.? The clean-up usually finishes about 11:45 or noon. We've had the picnic time at 11 a.m. for the past two years, but it has been taking longer to get the work done. Shall we push the picnic start time back to noon or 12:30 a.m., so folks have more time to shower?
• (f) Picnic Expense
  This year YWPHI paid for the picnic, reimbursing volunteers who purchased / prepared excellent food. The total cost was $185.98 (or $3.38 per person). In prior years, the picnic was a small event and YWPHI did not reimburse for food. Now that the picnic has increased in size the past three years, it is reasonable to reimburse expenses since funding the picnic fits with the YWPHI mission to promote community spirit and is a way to thank our volunteers (this is opposed to making it a potluck event like the annual meeting). If there is disagreement, the board should vote on this topic prior to next year's event.

3. Chipping Program

YWPHI sponsored the 3rd Annual YWPHI Spring Chipping Program in collaboration with the Mariposa County Fire Safe Council, May 29-31, 2007. The goal of the program was to promote creating community wide defensible space in compliance with PRC 4291. Participation was open to all property owners who are YWPHI members. Twenty-nine property owners of 33 parcels participated in the program, representing 30% of the YWPHI membership and equaling the percentage of 2006 participation.

The board approved a maximum of $3,000 for this year's program. The chipping crew is returning to Yosemite West June 11 or 12 to complete the project. We will not know the final cost until it is completed, but the Mariposa County FSC has estimated it will be closer to $1,200-$1,800.

Issues for future chipping programs:

(1) further clarify what goes into chipping piles (in addition to existing text)
• no dead/decaying wood because it turns to dust and clogs the air filter
• do not pile higher than waist height; anything higher is hard to pull apart and feed into a machine
• pile like items together - all manzanita in one pile, all pine branches in another, etc.

(2) confusion between participants and nonparticipants
The program was offered to all community members who are YWPHI members. YWPHI provided a list of participants with a color-coded map to the chipping crew. Nine properties who are NOT YWPHI members also had chipping piles at the curb. YWPHI had to give the chipping crew a list of properties NOT to chip (because they are not members, had not paid, had not asked to participate in the chipping program, and did not give YWPHI/MCFSC permission to do anything on their property. This distinction confused the chipping crew, and resulted in their missing three properties that are YWPHI members and participants. The chipping crew is coming back June 11 or 12 to complete these three piles. It is not fair for YWPHI members to pay for a program that directly benefits nonmembers. The result is that the nine nonmember piles are still at the curbs. Perhaps they have their own plan for removing / chipping the piles, but they created a problem. The goal is community wide defensible space, but the actions by these nonmembers confused things and added time and expense to the program YWPHI is paying for.

4. CDF Volunteer in Fire Prevention (VIP) program

The Chair of the YWPHI Fire Safety committee met with CDF (now CalFire) in Mariposa on May 29, 2007 along with the YWPHI Fire Safety project manager Charles Sikora and Kimberly Bullock of the Mariposa County Fire Safe Council. The primary purpose of the meeting was to discuss the status of the draft Yosemite West CWPP.

In that meeting, we learned about their Volunteer-In-Prevention (VIP) program. CDF mailed YWPHI an Orientation Guide and application form. The idea is that volunteers would go through a three-hour training course to be held in Yosemite West and then be able to conduct specific volunteer tasks. Three programs could immediately benefit Yosemite West:

(a) Wildland Occupant Fire Safe Program
Perform inspections for compliance with all applicable federal, state and local forest and fire laws, codes and ordinances, and issuing burning permits. (These are the inspections that USFS (Smiley Tierney) used to do, but were not conducted last year due to enforcement issues.)

(b) Ref flag, holiday and arson patrols
Patrol selected hazardous areas in marked vehicles or aircraft during severe fire weather, provide public fire prevention contacts, arson deterrents, and early detection of wildland fires.

( c) Supplemental communications networks
Supplement and assist CDF with amateur radio communication networks, providing additional frequencies and radio-telephone capabilities to CDF.

Volunteers would be able to work as many or as few hours a year as they want. They can also do only the tasks that they want to do.

5. Federally Funded Fire Safety Grants

Charles Sikora (grants@yosemitewest.org) has been contracted and briefed to take over all these responsibilities. The first step is to complete the compliance requirements, which is moving forward. Read updates on the Yosemite West Fire Safety Grants page.

Website

All spring activities and updates are posted on the website. Rand Lindsly will be managing the website in Kim's absence this summer and has been briefed. Website inquiries will still go to webmaster@yosemitewest.org in Kim's absence this summer.

Newsletter - Tom Lambert

Summer newsletter planned for publication early August (by August 15th) - goals of issue include:

(a) to summarize spring activities and thank volunteers and guests
Labor volunteers (may not be complete list; verify with others): Jeff Beranek, Harry Hagan, Tom Lambert, John Mock, Ken Owens, Bob Skrdla, Ed Reed, Al Ruiz, Ken Wall, Steve Yates.
Also thank the two young men we hired: Nick Gawaldo and David Minjares
Picnic volunteers (food): Helen Yates, Debby Hagan, Jody Brady and Carol Ruiz
Guest speakers (see names in Fire Safety section)

(b) to announce annual meeting Sunday, September 2, 2007 brunch plans

(c) to acknowledge new YWPHI members
• Jeff & Shelly Deperalta
• Larry Prussin

The treasurer will give Tom stamps, prepared mailing labels, and a list of email addresses to send the e-newsletters to. Payment for printing costs can be handled in one of two ways - Tom can take a pre-signed check to SierraTel Business Center, or pay for it himself and request a reimbursement check from YWPHI. Please advise.

Nominating - Tom Lambert

3 vacancies for 2007-2008 BoD:
• 1 current vacancy - Vice President
• 1 upcoming vacancy - Secretary (Debby Hagan resigning after nine years on Board)
• 1 current vacancy - Board (Jody Brady resigned May 2007)
• 1 additional term up for renewal: Kim O'Neil

Hospitality - Kay Pitts & Jim Andrews

(See picnic comments for Memorial Day Weekend in the Fire Safety report.)

IV. Old Business

None.

V. New Business

1. Emergency Telephone Tree

The telephone tree has been updated and is ready for distribution.

2. D&O Insurance

We got a quotation of $2,070 for an annual premium for Directors & Officers Insurance (D&O).

3. Information Station Upgrades

(1) At the March 22 reception for Supervisor Aborn, several rental property owners (who happened not to be YWPHI members) asked for a light at the Information Station. Discussion on who wants/doesn't want it, and who pays for it is needed.
(2) The bulletin board is damaged and could use replacing.
(3) YWPHI could use a rigid plastic holder (about $20) for the Guidelines for Yosemite West Residents & Guests information sheet.
(4) There are many cigarette butts around the Information sign. A NO SMOKING sign might help.

The next board meeting is the annual brunch and meeting Sunday, September 2, 2007 at 10:30 a.m.

The meeting ended at 9:30 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,
Kim O'Neil,
Acting for YWPHI Secretary

Site Map Copyright text © Yosemite West Property & Homeowners, Inc. 2003-2012, Copyright photographs © John Mock 2004-2012. All rights reserved. Unauthorized redistribution of this document is prohibited. Updated February 7, 2012.