Yosemite West Property & Homeowners, Inc.

YWPHI Board of Directors' Meeting - March 31, 2009

The meeting was called to order by President Tom Lambert at 7:07 p.m. and the agenda was distributed.

I. Minutes

A. April 5, 2008

The Board reconstructed the April 5, 2008 minutes based on an agenda and from memory of events. The draft minutes will be presented for Board approval at the next meeting.

B. November 9, 2008

The Board motioned and approved the November 9, 2008 minutes with minor corrections.

II. Treasurer's Report - Kim O'Neil

A. 4th Quarter 2008 (10/1/2008 to 12/31/2008) Treasurer's Report

The Balance Sheet shows total assets of $9,763.05, which included:

The Profit & Loss statement shows a net income of $134.68: $575.00 total income from membership dues
$1.81 other income from interest
$442.13 total net expenses

The itemized expenses included:

B. Calendar Year-End 2008 Treasurer's Report (Summarized)

Refer to the 4th Quarter 2008 Balance Sheet and the Year-End 2008 Profit & Loss Statement:

Total expenses ($3,191.52) by category are:

The calendar year-end report is for YWPHI purposes only. The data (by category) has been used to compare income and expense from one year to the next and has been reported in the newsletter.

C. Fiscal Year 2008 (3/1/2008 to 2/2/8/2009) Treasurer's Report

The fiscal year-end report is for reporting to the Internal Revenue Service only. The fiscal year is not the same as the calendar year. The Treasurer completed the fiscal year financial statements, which Tom Lambert reviewed when he conducted an audit for the fiscal year 2008. The Treasurer also completed and submitted Form 1120-H for 2008 (i.e., 3/1/2008 to 2/28/2009) to the Internal Revenue Service at the close of the fiscal year. The return showed exempt function income of $2,800.00, expenditures of $2,945.81, and taxable interest of $8.38. The taxable income and total tax were zero.

D. 1st Quarter 2009 (1/1/2009 to 3/31/2009) Treasurer's Report

The Balance Sheet shows total assets of $9,736.96, which included:

The Profit & Loss statement shows a net loss of $26.09:

The itemized expenses included:

2008-09 Membership Report: 108

(Compares with 96 in 2007/08, 98 in 2006/07, and 113 in 2005/06)

Kelly Rich made a motion to approve the Treasurer's report, which was approved without changes.

III. Committee Reports

A. Fire Safety - John Mock

1. Current grant 09USFS-X0126

YWPHI has been awarded a National Fire Plan grant from the U.S.D.A. Forest Service through the California Fire Safe Council (see http://www.yosemitewest.org/grants.htm ). The grant will be implemented in spring/summer 2009. The grant documents have been signed and were returned to the California Fire Safe Council for processing. We expect to hear soon when funding will be released and we can begin work.

Summary: The total grant is $75,655. The grant is titled "Yosemite West Improve Defensible Space Within Community." The purpose of the grant is "to create defensible space in accordance with PRC §4291 on 30% of the parcels in Yosemite West or 36 acres of the 109 acres in Yosemite West." The California Fire Safe Council grant documents are complete. (The project is described in Appendix H - Project Summary #1 of the Yosemite West CWPP.)

The measurable anticipated outcomes of the grant are:

• reduction of fuels on vacant lots and around structures in the community;
• improvement of Hazard Values determined in the Red Zone Fire Risk Assessment so that the percentage of structures in the desirable yellow zone will increase from 24% to 62%;
• increased cooperation and collaboration between agencies (Mariposa County Fire Department, Mariposa County Sheriff, Mariposa County Fire Safe Council, Yosemite National Park, U.S. Forest Service, and Cal Fire) and Yosemite West.

Next steps:

2. Pending grant application 10USFS0321

Summary: In February 2009, YWPHI applied to the California Fire Safe Council for a $361,413 grant titled "Yosemite West Defensible Space & Shaded Fuel Break." The purpose of the grant is to extend the existing 25 acre shaded fuel break to 230 additional acres on project areas YW-002 and YW-003 of Phase I of the Yosemite West CWPP, and to extend community wide defensible space from 30% to 90% of all parcels within Yosemite West. Technical assistance and compliance certification will be provided by Yosemite National Park and the Yosemite Institute. Property owners have been kept informed of the application process and support the application. (The project is described in Appendix H - Project Summary #1 & Project Summary #2 of the Yosemite West CWPP.)

Next steps:

The California Fire Safe Council will notify YWPHI if the application is accepted for funding by April 20, 2009. The funding would be for the 2010 cycle.

3. Annual Memorial Day Weekend Clean-up (see New Business below)

B. Newsletter (see New Business below)

IV. Old Business

The survey was not well populated, showing that there is not a large concern for YWPHI to construct a new set of boxes.

Thanks to all who participated. Participation was slim this year. Action Item: Put on agenda for September meeting to see if we can figure out a better time for the event (i.e., before or after Christmas).

V. New Business

Tom Lambert and Kelly Rich will organize volunteers and equipment (trucks and drivers). Start time 8 a.m. The burn pile filled up very fast last year. Tom Lambert will contact Mariposa County Public Works Department to ensure the burn pile is ready to be loaded up.

Last year's expenses for the picnic (drinks, food, paper plates, and so on) were approximately $185.00. The Board motioned and approved a $200 budget for the 2009 picnic. The Hospitality committee (Kay Pitts and Rea Jackman) will ask the Wall's for permission to use their yard/tables and purchase all food and supplies. We will forego guest speaker(s) this year to allow ample time to discuss implementation of the current fire safety grant.

This year's chipping program will be different for two reasons (i.e., it is essentially being replaced by the current defensible space grant):

(1) YWPHI was awarded the $75k grant, which will pay for a crew and chipper to do everything (except raking) on individual lots - e.g., limbing, cutting dead trees, chipping, etc.

(2) Before YWPHI knew about the $75k grant award, YWPHI was not intending to pay for the usual annual chipping program because the Mariposa County Fire Safe Council had already been awarded a grant to pay for county wide chipping (i.e.,YWPHI would get chipping for "free" this year). However, all of Mariposa County Fire Safe Council funds are Prop 40 funds from two large Sierra Nevada Conservancy grants, which have been frozen due to the state budget crisis. (A summary of this financial situation is on their recently updated website - www.mariposafiresafe.org.)

YWPHI updated the telephone tree this spring and added cell phone numbers. The zone lists could still be better ordered more logically. The activiation of zone heads has not been working consistently. Tom Lambert will rewrite the instructions for use of the telephone tree and send those to Kim before distributing the updated list to home owners this spring.

YWPHI needs to quickly publish its April newsletter. The current grant can pay for the printing and mailing, which will be sent to all property owners of record. The newsletter should include details of the current grant award and the pending grant application.

VI. Other Business

Action Item: Kelly Rich to send conference call instruction to Tom Lambert and John Mock.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:29 p.m.

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.