Headwaters Landlord Association Board of Directors Meeting Minutes

June 14, 2012

Opening: The regular meeting of the Headwaters Landlord Association Board of Directors was called to order at 6:04 p.m. on June 14, 2012 in The Cabin Coffeehouse and Café, Bemidji, MN by President Duane Sea.

Present: Duane Sea, Terry Duy, Kathy Guess, Lorrie Richardson, Harry Aylesworth, Jeff Grabowski

Not present: Ben Hein, Jeff Janiksela, Andrew Erholtz

Approval of Minutes: The minutes of the previous meeting were unanimously approved as distributed. Motion carried.

Treasurer report: Kathy provided a copy of the Treasurer’s report and reported a previous balance of $1093.49 and a current balance of $945.59. She reviewed all deposits and withdrawals. Motion: Moved by Terry to approve Treasurer’s report. Seconded by Harry. Motion carried.

A. Open Issues

Slate of Candidates for office: Andrew declined nomination as President or Vice President but is willing to serve on the Board for next year. Andrew would be willing to serve as Vice President if the Board met quarterly rather than monthly, but the Board determined that it is in the Board’s best interest to continue to meet monthly. Slate of Candidates is as follows: Duane for President, Kathy for Vice President, Harry for Treasurer, and Terry for Secretary. Two year members will include Jeff G., Andrew, and Lorrie. One year members will include Jeff J. Lorrie will be contacting others about the second open directors’ position.
Meeting with Lorie Richardson: Regarding Dave Lalone’s situation, the Board determined that the matter should be decided by the city. In similar cases regarding legal questions from members of the Headwaters Landlord Association, formal complaints should be sent to the Board in the form of a letter.

Sec. 10-60. - Right of appeal. (from City of Bemidji Ord. No. 69, 3rd series, § 1, 10-3-2011)

(a) Any person aggrieved by a decision of the building official, by a compliance order, or a decision to deny, suspend, revoke or not renew a permit, may appeal to the housing appeals board by filing a written notice of appeal with the building inspectors office within ten business days after receipt of such order or notice. The appeal shall contain a statement setting forth the grounds for the appeal and be accompanied by the applicable fee. The timely filing of a written appeal shall stay all proceedings until the appeals process is completed, unless such stay would cause imminent peril to life, health or property.
(b) The housing appeals board shall meet as needed, or at the call of the chair, to hear appeals. A hearing shall be held within 30 days after filing of an appeal. The city clerk shall provide the appellant five business days written notice of the time and place of the hearing. If necessary to do so, the board may postpone a hearing to a later date, not to exceed 60 days after the filing of an appeal.
(c) The board shall hear all relevant evidence and argument. The board may admit evidence which possesses probative value commonly accepted by reasonably prudent persons in the conduct of their affairs. The housing appeals board will give due regard to the frequency and seriousness of violations, the ease with which such violations could have been cured or avoided and good faith efforts to comply and will issue a decision to deny, not renew, suspend or revoke a permit only upon written findings. The board shall tape record the hearing and keep a record of documentary evidence submitted.
(d) The board shall issue its decision in writing 15 days after the close of the hearing. The decision shall either deny or uphold the decision of the building official or may grant a registration permit upon such terms and conditions as the board deems necessary to accomplish the purposes of this article. A copy of the decision shall be mailed to the appellant. Notice of the final decision also shall be mailed to each occupant.
(e) The decision of the board may be appealed by filing an appeal or appropriate writ with the Beltrami County District Court within 15 days after the issuance of the board's written decision.

Mediation Board: The Board feels that there should be a mediation board within the City.
Pioneer Newspaper Article: Regarding the article in the Pioneer Newspaper from June 12 entitled Recall advances, the Board decided to ignore the comments made against the Headwaters Landlord Association.
Parking Permits: Duane has been attempting to contact John Chattin regarding parking permits in the University area but has not been successful. He had been in contact with Al Felix who suggested contacting John Chattin regarding the issue. As of today’s meeting, there is nothing new to report. Duane will make another attempt to contact John Chattin. If unsuccessful, he will fill out a formal appointment request.
Agenda for general meeting July 19: Harry suggested having a guest speaker come talk to the members. Kathy suggested having timely issues discussed at the general meeting, such as the parking permit issue along with selecting candidates for next year’s Board of Directors. Topics for the general meeting will include parking permits, the mediation board, and discussing the crime free/drug free addendum to leases.

B. New Business

Website committee: Lorrie met with Samantha Nienow from Red Zest Design regarding updating Headwaters Landlord Association’s website. Signing on with Red Zest Design would save money for the organization as well as professionalize the website’s appearance. Harry made a motion to sign on with Red Zest Design. Duane seconded. Motion carried.
Associate membership: The Board decided that there will be a list of associate members posted on the new website under the name of “Landlord Services.” Kathy will be following up with people interested in becoming associate members.
Small claims legal actions on the rental permit reimbursement: Duane spoke with Darrell Carter and determined that all claims will be filed June 15, 2012.

Adjournment

The meeting was adjourned at 7:45 p.m. by Duane Sea. The next general meeting will be at 7:00 p.m. on July 19, 2012 at Beltrami Electric.

Minutes submitted by: Katelyn Larsen