PRESENT

Rachel Dretzin, Susan Krim, Miri Navasky, Alfred Souza from the board. Also present: Debra Adamsons, Wendy Lidell, Anne and Bruno Navasky, Noah Reibel, Michael Rosenberg.

ROAD WORK

We have almost three estimates on road work. the board will  ultimately make the decision on who will do the road work, but called this meeting to update the committee and solicit feedback. 

Estimates:

1. Burfein’s: 45k (written)
2. Erik Schnackenberg: 60k (oral. Eva will ask for a written estimate, broken out into similar categories to Burfein’s). Erik’s estimate was for over a three to five year period and Erik can’t guarantee what will happen to his prices over time. Eva thinks he will be out of the running if we decide to do this in one to two years because he’s a one- man operation. 
3. Brothers: We’re still waiting on an estimate from Brothers. Susan met with someone from Brothers who says he could do the plowing as well as the road work. He is supposed to get us an estimate for both. 

We discuss whether only to take bids from people who can do both. We agree that it’s premature to make that decision since we need to crowdsource the wisdom we’re getting from multiple companies. Ultimately it probably would be best to go with someone who can do both, but no one wants to let go of Carmen until we have to. 

There aren’t many people that can take this on. We need them more than they need us. We agree that our priority is the road first, and getting someone to replace Carmen second. 

We also agree we need each of the estimates to break out exactly what the road work will involve. Burfein’s estimate included digging ditches so the water doesn’t run down the road but is directed into the ditches. The ditches will be filled with material that slows down the water. Hel was thinking of using the same ditches that are currently there but improving them. Susan says some of those ditches are shale so can’t be dug further down even if we crowned them.  

Timeline: After much discussion, we all agree that it doesn’t make sense to spread the project out over five years, but to try and do it as fast as we can, probably in one to two years. We’re already spending quite a lot of money on road maintenance (Susan will try to get a number.) If we spread it out, the costs may go up substantially. 

Deb: didn’t discuss spreading it out with Burfein. Giving an estimate for three years from now would have to be an open ended contract because of labor shortages, salaries etc. 

Board will also send out a letter to the whole community about doing this in 1-2 years and find out how people feel about an assessment. 

Availability:

Schnackenberg could start this spring. 

Deb will ask Burfein if they will be available this season

Susan didn’t ask Brothers if they will be available either. 

Will the plowing damage the roadwork?

Eva discussed this issue with Erik. She asked Erik about Carmen’s equipment. He says he hasn’t seen Carmen’s equipment, but presumably he uses a plow attached to a pickup. Says our worries are not unfounded.  He says it’s not the equipment that makes the difference, it’s the skill of the operator and how much they care about your crowning. You can’t just scrape off the top, you need to tip in one way and then the other. 

Erik also said its best to have the same person crown and plow it. It’s then in their interest to plow it better. 

We discuss whether it makes sense to get a flat combined estimate for both so it’s in their interest to take care of the road. Or some kind of guarantee built into the contract in case the work doesn’t hole up. 

Financing: 

Eva polls the non-board members in the group about what they’d be willing to pay. The consensus is that everyone sees the road as a necessary expense and would be willing to put up the money. 

We discuss the idea of having those who can afford it pay up front right away and those who can’t, to amortize it  Everyone is paying the same amount its just about how long it takes. 

We discuss the idea of Eva sending out a letter to all community members informing them and finding out if people can handle the assessment before sending out a hypothetical question about whether they’d be willing to front the money for others. 

Susan points out that since we do this in phases, there will probably also still be a six month break between payments- two six month assessments. 

We won’t pay it all up front. Usually 25-50% up top. 

Defraying these costs with the capital fund won’t be easy. There is only 4600 in the capital fund at the moment. We get not quite 7000 a year in capital funds which we put aside. We could put aside the whole thing for two years which is 14k, but we have capital expenses other than the road. 

A few more general  concerns are raised: 

Annie says she has historically  has never dealt with the road and has never had a problem getting up the road. 

Bruno’s observation with the last round when Carmen and Tom filled in the ditches was that in practice the ditches seemed to get very quickly filled with leaves and debris and stopped working. He’s inclined to trust more any proposal that involved some kind of a warranty or included a commitment to keep roads up,

Deb: says the leaves have to be blown out in November. It’s a system that needs to be maintained. 

Noah: Asks how much its costing the community to do what we’re doing now which is to have Barbados fill it in and have it not work. Also wonders about similar roads and who is doing such a good job with those roads. Suggests we see if they have any thoughts about our road. 

Wendy:  Wants to make sure that a big truck coming up the road with heavy equipment won’t ruin the work we’re doing. 

Eva: Eric explained that because of climate and heavy use, there is more wear and tear on the road and we will have to continue to maintain it. 

Deb: not having the log harvesting on the road will make a big difference too.  

Susan: one thing we could do is put some bumps on the road. Maintenance people, UPS and FedEx whiz up that road. If we can slow down the traffic it will make the damage a bit less of a problem. 

Deb: those will also help direct the water because they are put at an angle. 

Michael: Speed bumps are a very effective pain in the butt thing to deal with. Help preserve a road. Plows have to know where they are and lift the blade up. Usually put a post up to signal where they are. Or put them up for most of the year and take them up for the worst part of the winter. 

The meeting was held remotely by video. Minutes submitted by Rachel Dretzin.