The March 17, 2026 CEPOA board meeting was held virtually via Zoom at 6:30 p.m. Board members present at the start: President Russell Ziegler, Treasurer Susan Mitnick, and members Cathy Gunderson and Ryan Edwards. Secretary Nina McVicker was unable to attend the start of the meeting due to a personal emergency but joined partway through and participated in the later portions of the meeting. The board confirmed a quorum was present throughout. A caller who identified himself as Mike Greene joined by phone early in the meeting but did not otherwise participate in the recorded discussion.

Section 1 — Approval of Minutes

Topic: February 2026 meeting minutes. Led by: Russell Ziegler

Ziegler asked if any board member had corrections to the February minutes. None were offered. Ziegler entered a motion to approve; Gunderson seconded. The motion carried unanimously, and the minutes moved out of draft and were published.

Section 2 — Agenda Format and Conduct Reminder

Topic: Tightening the Q&A structure introduced in February. Led by: Russell Ziegler

Ziegler said that at the February meeting, side-chat messages had unintentionally reached the whole call rather than just the board. Going forward, community input is to come only during the Q&A period at the end of the meeting, consistent with the format change announced last month.

Section 3 — Knowledge Share

Topic: Deferred, plus a preview of a survey finding. Led by: Russell Ziegler

Ziegler tabled the planned knowledge share segment to the next meeting. He mentioned in passing that the community survey found 55 percent of respondents knew where to find HOA information online, meaning 45 percent did not, and said this would be the basis for a future knowledge share topic. He then walked through the CEPOA website live, covering the governing documents section, the meeting agendas and minutes archive, the ACC submission form, and the records request form for financial information.

Section 4 — Treasurer’s Report

Topic: Financial update through mid-March 2026. Led by: Susan Mitnick

Mitnick reported a beginning balance of $72,788.86. Income since the last meeting totaled $11,670.44, made up of 46 dues payments, one payment plan installment, a $95 refund from the HOA’s old P.O. Box (closed after Gunderson opened a new one), and a small amount of interest. Expenses totaled $4,941.26, covering combined legal and accounting fees. That put the ending balance at $79,518.04.

Mitnick said the HOA remains short 10 dues payments. She sent reminder emails on March 8, made phone calls to homeowners without valid email addresses on file, and mailed physical letters to the remaining delinquent accounts noting the late fees that apply after March 31.

Section 5 — Committee Report: Architectural Control Committee

Topic: Applications and volunteer recruitment. Led by: Russell Ziegler / Ryan Edwards

Ziegler reported no outstanding ACC applications. On volunteer recruitment, Edwards said he had reached out to every survey respondent who indicated interest in serving on the ACC and sent confirmation emails, with individual follow-up conversations expected in April. Edwards and Ziegler flagged an unresolved discrepancy between the survey’s reported count of 10 interested respondents and Edwards’ own tally of 8, possibly due to a husband and wife being counted as one household response, and agreed to reconcile the list before proceeding.

Section 6 — Unfinished Business

6a — Legal Update: Lot 25 and the 40-Acre Matter

Led by: Russell Ziegler

Ziegler gave a status-only update, consistent with prior meetings. The board continues to work with legal counsel evaluating options, no decisions have been finalized, and any proposed resolution would still require formal board action followed by a community vote on any related declaration amendment.

6b — Physical Dropbox for Payments

Led by: Russell Ziegler

This item first appeared in February as an open question. Ziegler proposed dropping it entirely, reasoning that the HOA’s existing P.O. Box already serves the same purpose without adding an additional location to check. Mitnick and Gunderson both agreed. Ziegler removed the item from the unfinished business list going forward.

6c — ACC Guidelines Version 2.0

Led by: Russell Ziegler

Ziegler presented a comprehensive redraft of the ACC guidelines, sharing an old-versus-new comparison document. The revision reorganizes the guidelines into clearer sections and adds a formal definitions section, distinct submission standards by project category (for example, a fence versus new construction), explicit drawing standard guidance, a rule that an incomplete submission does not start the ACC’s 30-day response clock, a tiered inspection process scaled to project size, a clarified statement that the 3,000-square-foot outbuilding cap includes the whole structure, and a streamlined final sign-off and enforcement section. Ziegler proposed posting the document for a month of community review before the board formally votes on adoption, tentatively at the April 21 meeting.

6d — Community Survey Results

Led by: Russell Ziegler / Susan Mitnick

Ziegler reported 50 submissions from 44 unique lots, a response rate he cited as 43 percent. Reported findings included 87 percent approval of the existing post-meeting email, 50 percent valuing the website, 43 percent finding board meetings themselves useful, and roughly a third to a half of respondents citing neighborhood appearance, community events, community improvements, and more website information access as top areas of interest. A quarter of respondents wanted more ACC guideline clarity. On tree spending, 76 percent rated it a moderate-or-low spending priority, with Mitnick clarifying that many of those responses were conditioned on whether funds were available rather than opposition outright. The survey also drew 18 cost-saving suggestions and 17 entrance improvement comments, which the board has not yet reviewed in detail. On the updated community contact map, Ziegler said roughly 95 percent of respondents agreed to have their phone number listed, and the board will publish that update while listing name-only entries for anyone who declined.

For a closer look at these figures, CEPOAWatch’s earlier analysis of the survey methodology and results is here: “The Board Conducted a Survey. Then Decided What It Meant.” (https://cepoawatch.com/the-board-conducted-a-survey-then-decided-what-it-meant/)

6e — Committee and Community Involvement

Led by: Russell Ziegler / Susan Mitnick / Cathy Gunderson / Ryan Edwards / Nina McVicker

Ziegler introduced a two-tier framework for community involvement. The first tier is official CEPOA committees, created by the board under a specific charter and covered by the association’s liability insurance, similar to the existing ACC. The second tier is member-created independent interest groups, such as a gardening or car club, which the HOA cannot fund, manage, or officially sponsor, but can help publicize on the website or in future communications once the group’s organizer confirms its purpose, an approach Ziegler said he confirmed with the HOA’s attorney beforehand.

The board discussed forming a landscaping committee as a first official committee under this framework, with tree watering identified as an acceptable charter item and horse trail maintenance floated as a possible additional item pending further scoping. Ziegler and McVicker were both explicit that any such charter would exclude tree removal, citing the liability of chainsaw work without a professional foreman and safety precautions in place. No committee has been formed; Ziegler said he would gauge community interest through his regular post-meeting email before bringing a formal charter and vote to a future meeting.

6f — Chatfield Estate Entrance Lighting

Led by: Cathy Gunderson

Continuing the effort first reported in February, Gunderson said Russell received an email from a lady in charge of the school buses and raised a safety concern about the darkened light at the north entrance, citing early morning pickups in the dark. Gunderson contacted Douglas County Public Works, which redirected her to Xcel Energy; Xcel told her the light could potentially qualify as a security light Xcel would cover, provided she supply the pole’s PSCO identification number. Gunderson obtained that number on site and submitted a formal request to restore the light, and is awaiting a response. The board discussed fallback options if the request is denied, including a community petition demonstrating the safety concern, contacting CDOT directly about applicable standards, and a solar-powered light as an independent option that would not depend on Xcel or CDOT, estimated at roughly $500 to $1,000 and potentially funded by resident contributions.

6g — Professional HOA Management Services

Led by: Russell Ziegler

Ziegler reaffirmed no action is being taken. The board continues to collect unsolicited outreach from management companies in a folder for future reference, with no evaluation planned until the board has a fuller handle on its own processes.

6h — Enhanced Communications

Led by: Russell Ziegler / Susan Mitnick / Nina McVicker

The board discussed a newsletter, a topic raised again by the survey results. Mitnick suggested a quarterly rather than monthly cadence to avoid an unsustainable commitment. McVicker questioned whether a separate newsletter was necessary if the same information could live on the website, prompting a shift in direction toward a standing “community corner” webpage rather than an emailed newsletter, intended for softer, non-official content such as fire mitigation notices, high wind warnings, snowplow updates, and links to member-created interest groups. Ziegler said this page could be referenced with a single link in his regular post-meeting email rather than sent as a separate communication, and distinguished it from the community’s own Facebook page, which the board does not manage or use for official business.

6i — Bark-Boring Insect and Tree Damage

Led by: Susan Mitnick / Russell Ziegler

This item continues the extended discussion from February. With the survey showing 76 percent of respondents rating tree spending a low or moderate priority, the board agreed to take no board-level action at this time, noting that drought remains the underlying driver and will likely continue to affect trees community-wide regardless of what CEPOA does. Individual homeowners were encouraged, though not required, to water and protect trees on their own property. At McVicker’s suggestion, the board agreed on a public-facing position: CEPOA will not spend HOA funds on tree treatment or removal at this time, but supports the community organizing its own effort, which would fall under the proposed landscaping committee described above rather than informal volunteer action, given the liability concerns around removal work. No vote was taken, as no funds are being committed.

Section 7 — New Business

McVicker, Gunderson, and Edwards each said they had nothing to bring forward.

Section 8 — Next Steps

Ziegler confirmed the next regular board meeting is Tuesday, April 21, 2026. He noted dues become delinquent after March 31.

Section 9 — Open Forum

Mark Hochstedler raised several items. On email deliverability, he suggested resending unopened emails to improve delivery rates, noted that email provider rules have tightened significantly in recent years, and offered to run the HOA’s email list through a verification service at no cost. He also suggested WordPress push notification plugins as a lower-friction alternative to email for one-way alerts such as snowplow notices.

On the entrance light, Mark said he had spoken with an engineer some time ago who told him there is no clear safety criteria for streetlights outside of roundabouts, and that he never heard back after being told a larger meeting on the subject was planned. He said one option suggested to him was a solar-powered light. as a fallback option.

On the trees, Mark reported personally deep-watering roughly 650 gallons around the trees near the community monument before the recent snowstorm. He noted that once bark stripping from porcupines girdles roughly half or more of a tree’s circumference, survival becomes unlikely, and relayed a tip from a former tree-care contact that fine-mesh trunk guards can prevent porcupines from climbing.

Mark also informed the board that CEPOA’s workman’s compensation insurance policy, in place since approximately 2016, covers volunteers provided they sign a waiver, which Ziegler confirmed.

No other community members raised hands or spoke during open forum.