HART RANCH CAMPING RESORT BOARD OF DIRECTORS ANNUAL MEETING MINUTES
June 4, 2005
President Kent Larson called the meeting to order at NOON on Saturday, June 4, 2005. Present were Kent Larson, Dean Sankovich, Randy Baker, Dale Myren, Keith Wurtele, Tracy Heitsch, and approximately 220 Hart Ranch Resort members.
Larson introduced the Board members to the general membership.
Minutes of the February 5, 2005 Quarterly Meeting, May 17, 2005 Special Board Meeting for the purposes of Long Range Planning, and the June 3, 2005 working session of the Board, were reviewed for the membership. Dale Myren made a motion to approve the minutes, Keith Wurtele seconded. Motion carried unanimously.
Randy Baker presented the Treasurer’s Report to the membership, using a power point presentation (attached). He detailed the results of the 2004 independent audit. He also reported that the Resort Reserve Fund balance was $623,676.29 as of 5-31-05, with the Capital Reserve Account Balance at $156,626.73 also as of 5-31-05. Randy then moved his report be approved, Keith Wurtele seconded, motion carried unanimously.
Keith Wurtele presented the Membership Report. As of 5-31-05, the Resort has 4644 current members with 1177 P, 989 A, 2271 B, 11 T, 166 C, and 30 Miscellaneous memberships. Keith moved his report be approved, Dean Sankovich seconded. Motion carried unanimously.
Larson then presented the management staff with the Diamond W award that the Resort received for its outstanding accolades in 2004. Only 215 of 10,000 parks nationwide (2%) received the designation from Woodalls. Tracy Heitsch then presented the Management Report by introducing all the departmental supervisors and passing on the Diamond W Award to them. Kevin Root presented a Maintenance Report including an update on the Resort grounds and general maintenance issues and projects. Shirley Petro presented a report from the sales department, outlining RPI Preferred and the Golden Legacy program.
Under Old Business, Larson reviewed the verbal highlights of the 2004 independent accounting audit. He confirmed that the Board discussed the potential 2005 audit and agreed that a full audit is a valued tool and necessary business practice. Larson also reviewed Article V, Section 9. of our Bylaws, entitled Vehicle Standards. After revision by the Board, the Section reads:
Vehicles must be FULLY self-contained or originally designed as a camping vehicle at a factory. See Board Policy #6 for further guidelines.
Larson then updated the membership on the continuing discussions surrounding the newly implemented Wash Fee. The consensus of the Board was that the original intent of the Wash Fee was to simply conserve water. Following an extensive discussion, the wording on the Wash Fee was left as it is currently written:
A $5.00 per day permit is required to wash any units on site. Permit may be purchased from the Hart Mart for $10 with $5 refunded upon its return. The permit is good for one day. A shut off nozzle is still required.
Bug removal, window washing, dri-wash, and similar items are permitted without the purchase of a permit. Property taxes were another topic of discussion at the Board’s June 3rd working session. Larson updated the membership on the dramatic increase in our property tax valuations in the past couple of years, and thus the skyrocketing associated property taxes. As a result, the Board has made a decision to appeal our property taxes, which is the process we are currently in.
Under New Business, Larson updated the membership on the possibility of wireless internet service in the park. WiFi requires line-of-site towers, and because of our topography, we are working on solutions to that problem. We are currently testing equipment and depending on what the tests show, as well as the final costs, we hope to have Wifi in the near future.
Larson then asked Dean Sankovich to bring the membership current on the Long Range Plan that was recently established by the Board of Directors (attached). Sankovich detailed the LRP using the power point presentation and informed the membership of the establishment of the Strategic Planning Committee, comprised of all five Board members, two Hart Ranch members-at-large, and the Resort Manager, for the purposes of researching future strategic plans, in concert with the newly established Long Range Plan, and making recommendations to the Board of Directors.
Larson asked Resort Manager Tracy Heitsch to address the membership on the Fall 2005 Capital Projects that have been tentatively approved by the Board. Heitsch described the tentative projects as follows: $40,000 for continuing the expansion of campsites, $5000 for the concrete replacement at the snack bar, $35,000 for asphalting of the road and driveways at the new cabins (Cheyennes), $35,000 for new roofs on all the comfort stations, and $1000 for a lighted bulletin board in front of the Lodge, for a total of $116,000.
Dale Myren, Election Committee Chair, was asked by Larson to present the Election Committee Report. Myren announced that the Bylaws revision (Article V Section 4) passed on a vote of 906 to 331. As for the one open seat on the Board, Jim Walls received 673 votes and Kent Larson received 807 votes. Kent Larson will retain his seat on the Board for an additional 3 years. All total, 1507 ballots were cast in the 2005 election, with an additional 10 as invalid ballots. Thus, 2005 was a record breaking year for the number of ballots cast. Myren thanked his Election Committee members, Cam and Jan Zabel, Kasmer and Arlene Holzer, and Roger and Kay Schneider for their abundant hours of volunteer work on the committee.
Larson thanked Myren for his report and thanked the four Board members for their true dedication of time and service to the Resort and its difficult issues over the passed year. He thanked the membership for their vote of confidence and expressed his desire to continue to operate the Resort as a viable and successful business.
The next Quarterly Membership Meeting and Working Sessions will be held on August 26 & 27, 2005. The tentative Annual Meeting date for 2006 will be June 17, 2006.
Larson opened the meeting to comments from the membership.
Keith Wurtele made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 1:05 p.m. Dean Sankovich seconded the motion. Motion carried unanimously.
Respectfully Submitted,
Dale Myren, Secretary
