OFFICAL MEETING MINUTES

TRLA Board Meeting
March 5, 2005
(February 19,2005 Meeting cancelled)
Lower Ranch House, Timberlake Ranch
10:00 AM

Attending Board Members: Pat Wallace, President; Howard Williams, Secretary/Treasurer;
Richard Hawkins; Joseph Wuchte; Gerry Ackerman; Joseph DeLorenzo (New Member)

Reading and Approval of the Minutes: Joan Williams read the September Board Meeting Minutes. They were approved.

Reports:
Treasurer: Mr. Williams read the Income and Expense Report for TRLA as of January 31, 2005.
Income: $37,700
Expenses: $52,611
Excess Revenue Over Expenses: $28,876

Unpaid Dues: 197 landowners have not paid their dues this year amounting to approximately $39,000 for this fiscal year. Doubtful Accounts: $6,966 (prior year delinquent dues)

Roads: See below.

Unfinished Business:
Roads
Lawsuits
• Allen Case—Cassette has filed his last brief in this lawsuit. Cover letter stated most likely it will be six months to a year before we hear from the court. Most
likely will not ask for oral arguments. For now it is all over.
• Garcia Case—Waiting to hear on this case, too, for the last six months. Expecting a decision at any time now. No money being spent here.
• McGarry Case—A hearing is being held on Monday, March 7, 2005 to request a Summary Judgment.

Mr. Wallace reported, that based on best advise of Cassette, Cody Kelley and TRLA’s insurance lawyer (Peter Kierst), the Board is expecting quite a bit of change to be directed by the courts, and so the Board is getting ready for this to happen.

Mr. Williams reported that since May 1999, the association has paid $87,107.54 to lawyers in legal fees regarding these legal cases, not including the bill yet to be submitted by Cassette. The Board reported that, except for a very small amount of money, the rest of this expense has not gone to work improving the roads or the CC&Rs. Mr. Wallace stated, “the same problems existed ten years ago that exist right now” and that the roads “are no better now than they were ten years ago.” He also stated, “the CC&Rs have been in question totally since [their] inception” and asked if any of this money has gone to work on this issue. They Board reported only a small amount of $87,000 had been spent on this issue.

Mr. Hawkins explained that the McGarry, Allen and Garcia cases “were filed by previous boards for violations of CC&Rs and whatever was going on….” Mr. Hawkins stated that past boards have spent $30,000 in the Allen Case to recoup $300 in dues. Mr. Hawkins also stated, “there have been buckets of money spent with no results” and “there has been a lot of money spent that should not have been spent,” but that the Board is “bound” to look at this and will not “back off” from the lawsuits.

Mr. Williams displayed a binder and manila envelope he stated contains the CC&R work the previous Board did under Barbara Lambert’s direction, which he obtained from Mr. Chuck Troy. He stated Mr. Troy informed Mr. Williams, that “Barbara told him to burn them after a year and four months.” Mr. Williams also stated, “Barbara tried to change the CC&Rs to Timberlake South to put in modular homes…the same thing they [a previous Board] took the Garcia’s to court for.” He asked if this was fair and called it “selective violation prosecution.”

Board stated they have no plans to appeal any of the pending court decisions; that they do not want to extend these court cases out any longer. They plan to respond to the decisions to correct what the courts rule.

New Business:
Revision in terms and positions of board members
Board presented and approved the following changes in positions and terms of current members:
• Mr. Richard Hawkins appointed to fill Mr. Hoot Gibson’s 3 yr. term and became Vice-President of TRLA Board (term expires May 2007)
• Mr. Joseph Wuchte appointed to fill Mr. Harry Hutton’s 2 yr. term and became a member of the Executive Committee. (term expires May 2006)
• Mr. Joseph DeLorenzo was introduced a new Board member appointed to a 2 yr. term (term expires May 2006). Joe introduced himself to membership. His family has owned property in Timberlake since 1988 on Lobo Drive and Sagebrush. He loves this place, the lake and hiking around. Has a 22 year-old son. Tries to come once or twice a month depending upon weather and roads. Has never seen any gravel put on Lobo in all these years. Would like to see more gravel put on roads. Has had to hike into his place through the mud at times. Currently and Building Inspector for the city of Albuquerque and lives in Rio Rancho.

Cody Kelley’s Letter to the Landowners
In a letter from McKinley County, their estimate to bring all roads up to Class C standards as required by the New Mexico Subdivision Act would be $7,385,000. Neither the state nor the county can do this work. It all has to go out to contract. As of last week, the estimate has been reduced to a little less than $3 million to do the approximately 24 miles of roads in McKinley County. This does not include any work on the roads in Cibola County. This is only an estimate.

Mr. Wallace also reported the need to acquire in some way the one-mile of road from Hwy 53 to the first cattleguard that currently crosses the Davis property to insure clear access to Timberlake Ranch. The County has agreed to a 40-foot easement versus a 60-foot. There is a promise of $50,000 to help acquire it—TRLA purchasing it and giving it to the County. The Board also has a promise for 50% of the improvement costs from the state legislature. These costs have to be figured into the improvement of the roads.

According to Mr. Wallace, the counties and state never should have approved the Timberlake development because the roads did not comply with the requirements of the New Mexico Subdivision Act. The county is interested in correcting this mistake. Mr. Wallace reported the Board has strong political representation in McKinley County. He said they are not as strong in Cibola County.

Mr. Wallace then spoke about the Public Improvement District (PID) mentioned in the Cody Kelley letter sent to all landowners with the February newsletter. The PID will require a vote between the county and the landowners with 51% approving it. All people using Forest Road 157 would be taxed at the going property tax rate, not just Timberlake Ranch residents. The Board does not know the cost yet. The County does not want to make the tax cost so high people cannot pay their taxes. County does not want to get into the real estate business of taking people’s property.

Pending the results of the current lawsuits, TRLA may only be able to collect dues to take care of the common areas and not the roads. It is the opinion of three lawyers that the roads going by your house is not common area. We can maintain them, but improvements, such as adding gravel, are questionable.

Mr. Wallace reported that he thought the Board could run TRLA and care for the common areas for approximate $25 per year versus the current $130 per year with the implementation of a PID. Property would be taxed according to the acreage. You are taxed more for unimproved land than improved land. Property taxes for improvements make the difference.

Mr. Williams held up a binder of documents covering the issues they have spoken about here. The association will make a copy available to any member for $10.00.

Mr. Wallace stated the Board is preparing for negative court rulings because something will have to be done quickly. This may include forming separate associations similar to what Clo Chin Toh and Timberlake South have done. He has been advised to form one possibly combining Cibola 1 and Cibola 2 subdivisions. According all the documents the Board has reviewed, it believes this was the original intention from the beginning, but it did not happen.

A long time resident stated that Mr. Wallace’s earlier statement that the roads are as bad now as they were ten years ago was incorrect, that in fact they “are a lot better.”

The intention of the Board is to upgrade all Timberlake roads (including the side roads) to a Class C standard, which is similar to Timberlake Road from the Firehouse to the Box S. A letter from McKinley County was passed around showing a diagram of a Class C standard road: 22 feet with 4 feet of shoulder on each side and then bar ditches for drainage, for an approximate total to 34 feet in width. Road surface is gravel. The cost to maintain them by the county is estimated at $195/mile/year. Mr. Williams reports there is approximately 26.5 miles of roads in all of Timberlake, for annual maintenance budget of $5,167.

Validity of part-time Ranch Manager was questioned. Desire to see a full-time Ranch Manager working on the roads at all times.

Liability Insurance on Un-used Equipment
Board is questioning why it should continue to pay liability insurance on the dump truck. It is currently not being used. It is reported the brakes are bad, but no one really knows. Board is going to assess costs of fixing up truck and will report back at end of summer on whether to keep it or not. Mr. Wallace estimates insurance cost is $300-$400 per year, but does not know exact costs.

Mr. Wallace believes there is no way the grader can get on the side roads of McKinley 1-10 at this time.

Cibola County has given TRLA permission to remove snow from 157 if it snows 4 inches or more. When it has snowed more on Timberlake 1 and 2, snow has been removed.

Approval for 3rd notice to landowners for unpaid dues
Board approved sending out third notice to landowners regarding unpaid dues. Joe Garcia asked it revocation of membership privileges would follow in dues are not paid by end of fiscal year. Board declined to comment.

Annual Board Meeting
Mr. Wallace reported that there will definitely be an Annual Board Meeting on Memorial Day Weekend.

Election
There will be two board members elected in May. Board will establish a Nominating Committee and will take into consideration the people who just volunteered to be on it.

Meeting Adjourned

[These unofficial meeting minutes were taken from a tape recording of the meeting. If you would like a copy, please contact the trnews.info editor.]