PTRIA Annual Meeting and Picnic: Aug. 22nd. 2015, Station 3
President Bill Harper called the meeting to order at 11:07 am. All those attending introduced themselves and spoke briefly about how long they owned homes or property in Pike Trails, 46 people signed in, representing about 38 properties.
2014 minutes were read and approved with a second.
Gene Stanley, a 20-year resident of Pike Trails and Park County Director of Emergency Management spoke about the necessity of better phone service and getting our area permanent cell phone coverage. He said that Century Telephone was supposed to have changed out old phone lines for new ones coming in off of Route 9. As of this meeting, it had not been accomplished. Gene stated that the bottom line was money. None of the phone companies want to invest anything unless they have a business plan to show a profit could be made in this small community. Several people asked questions and Gene explained that Commissioner Mike Brazell, who planned to attend our meeting, had more information about the subject of phone service. The temporary tower on 31 Mile Mountain has given some of our residents’ cell coverage. A lively floor discussion followed on who had what phone company, what plan and how far the coverage would go. Bob Erickson said he had spoken with Mark Iverson from Century Telephone, who that said they would put up a permanent tower if at least 53 folks signed up. A show of hands was requested to see how many residents could get cell coverage from the current tower. Only 19 could and about 10 could not. Jason Norman spoke about getting 911 calls through; he said that number has a more powerful signal. Gene added that when you make a 911 call make sure you ask the dispatch operator what area it covers. Make sure you’ve reached the right party that will help you. Gene said he felt our Commissioner was doing his best to make sure all of Park County would have phone service. Jane Pate asked if there was any way to let the various companies know we would sign up for permanent service. Leslie Thomas said that had been posted on Guffey Shares. Carol Keyes asked if there was a phone list of Pike Trail residents. Someone responded in the Howard County Phone Book. (The idea to have a list of residents phone numbers has been brought up in past meetings to no avail.) Gene was thanked and received a nice round of applause.
Bill Harper asked Ric Turley to talk about Guffey Shares web site. Ric explained how to sign on, however the site is full. Ric said he would have more funds available. Ken Thomas asked when that would happen, Ric replied by mid-September. Ric received a round of applause for his efforts.
Aaron Mandel, Fire Chief, spoke about the current status of the fire department. He said there are 3 staff members on call at all times. Guffey Fire Dept. is now signed up with the State to do non-emergency transport. There are 3 ambulances that are available to the community. The service provided is Basic Life Support.
Aaron went on to explain his continued efforts on “Fire Wiseing” the general community residents. A County chipper has been acquired on a one-month loan for slash but he said the burns are a more permanent solution. Aaron answered a question about when can the burns be done. He replied that he could be contacted but the homeowners needed to gather the slash. He would inspect possible sites for the endeavors. Kelly Keyes asked when the burns took place, Aaron said the early spring and fall. He also stated that because of all the rain this year he had been able to do burns throughout the summer. Bill Pate asked how many people had their property signed up for the service. Aaron said there were currently four, but the weather would dictate when the burns would take place. Aaron received applause for his continued good work.
Ken Thomas, Fire Board Chairman, spoke about the importance of inclusion of the homeowners in this fire district. The tax code for this area is 20. If the homeowner is not covered, they will be billed directly by the Fire Station at the current rate of $250 per hour per vehicle. This can quickly add up to a couple thousand dollars. If the homeowner doesn’t know what code they have, call the county.
Larry LePage asked if the board was asking for a Mill Levy increase. Ken answered “not yet,” and was hoping the BLM would pick up the cost of calls from the Guffey Gorge ambulance runs. Ron Oliver stated that all Fire Protection Levies go into a general coffer. Ken was given a round of applause for his concise report.
Treasurer’s Report
Jon Klima stated now was ”the real riveting part” of the meeting. He went on to explain how much was in the accounts, how much had been budgeted for each line item and how much was left over. He said that for the 2014-2015 fiscal year, 88 residents had paid their dues, which is about 64.2% of homeowners. The lowest percent of paid dues was by the residents of Pike Trails. Dick Hilbert asked if he might be able to buy his old house back. Jon replied that a family from Georgia had purchased it and would be moving in September 15th . Jon had spoken to Kristy Taylor, the new owner, who asked him to relay the message that they are a friendly family and would like to meet all the Pike trail residents, so stop by. (The treasurer’s report is available on the Pike Trails web site.) The report was approved and seconded by Jane Pate.
Jon gave a report on the fishponds. He had a “hair brained” idea that a better system could be implemented for the health of the fish and ponds with an aeration pump system. He built it himself to save PTRIA money. With the help of Jane and Bill Pate, his kayak, and Bill and Robin Jones and John Norman they managed to get the thing up and running. Unfortunately one of the air diffusers began spouting up murky brown bubbles. Bill Pate, in his kayak, snared the airline for Robin Jones who stripped to his skivvies and jumped into very cold pond water to get the diffuser turned right side up. After some fine tuning Jon felt the ponds were now better suited to allow the fish to better winter over. Good job: Jon, Bill Pate, John Norman and Bill and Robin Jones. Bill Harper and Bernie Mann were in attendance to watch the events unfold.
Bernie got up to tell the tale of the roads and the gravel. He had ordered gravel in April but because of all the rain more gravel will be needed for a redo. He is still having a hard time grading because the phone company doesn’t know or doesn’t care how deep the lines are in the ditches.
Bernie also explained that the insurance company would not cover any road maintenance and repairs on private land. Bernie is looking into the possibility of an insurance waiver from the homeowners that would allow Bernie to do the grading.
Bill Harper spoke about reimbursement to some of our residents that have done snow plowing to keep the local roads open. All those who helped are appreciated.
Bernie and Bill asked if there were any questions from the homeowners. Someone asked if we could get a list together for the phone company. Bill said we could use the sign in sheet if that would be ok. Most people approved. No other questions.
Elections
Bill Harper stated he and Nancy were stepping down from the Board. He asked for volunteers to take the positions. Bernie Mann said he would step up from 1st VP to President. The ayes had it and Bernie is once again President; thank you Bernie. Manfred Kremkus nominated Flip for 1st VP, but she isn’t eligible because she isn’t a resident of Pike Trails. Bob Erickson is now 1st VP. Dianne Mann nominated Sally Peterson, who volunteered to be 2nd VP. Jon Klima is staying on as Treasurer and Laurie Bratten volunteered to be Secretary. Thank you to all of the board members.
Work Party was scheduled for September 12th at 9 am and will meet at Fire Station 3.
Move was made and seconded to adjourn meeting at 1:11 pm.
Thank you to:
Ric Turley for helping with set up,
Bernie and Dianne for getting the pulled pork for the picnic,
For all those who helped get all the tables and chairs put away,
Aaron Mandel jockeying the fire dept. equipment around.
Respectfully submitted,
Nancy Harper, Secretary