During the public comments portion of the July 26 meeting of the Woodmen Hills Metropolitan District, Connie Kalbach showed pictures to the board of what she said are obvious violations of WHMD covenants. ìI believe this board is becoming very complacent regarding the covenants,î she said. ìIt takes the property value down when we look like a trailer park. I shouldnít have to address it.îOne problem is enforcement responsibility. Board president Keith Moulton said the board intends to have a town hall meeting in October to discuss resubmitting a service plan covering enforcement and covenant issues. ìWe need your support to go down to the board of county commissioners to get things changed,î he said.The operations manager, Gene Cozzolino, discussed the one-million gallon Theriot water storage tank that sprung a leak May 1. The tank, which is currently out of commission, leaked about 750,000 gallons, Moulton said.Cozzolino said the district has received a bid of $299,000 to fix the tank. The bid includes a one-year warranty on the work, he said. Moulton said the district needs to complete the repairs by Nov. 23.The board unanimously approved the contract for the repairs.Evan Ela, board attorney, said the investigation as to the cause of the leak is ongoing.Board treasurer Jan Pizzi said during the treasurerís report that the districtís budget is on track for the first half of the year. Office manager Lisa Peterson said there is a snag, which is the trusteeís fees the district owes. ìWe are just now being invoiced for 2011,î she said. ìWe have to pay it now, although there was some concern about who pays it.îAl Kreps, board secretary, said, aside from the trusteeís fees, the district is in a good position because they are receiving excess income from the new homes being built within the district.Cheryl Wallace, a certified public accountant with RubinBrown ñ an accounting and consulting firm ñ presented information to the board on the district audit the company completed in May. She cited improvements the district has made on streamlining procedures.Wallace recommended desegregating duties; providing more overview of job duties to make sure things are being done correctly; an annual physical count of capital assets; a monthly detail of accounts payable and accounts receivable; a formal policy and procedures manual for accounting; and a formal written conflict of interest policy.Wallace said financially the district is building positive equity.After comments on the audit draft have been received and other items in the draft have been addressed, it can be finalized, Wallace said.The board approved a motion to change the general and administrative expense percentages to the following: 30 percent to the parks and recreation department; 35 percent to water operations; and 35 percent to wastewater operations.During the engineerís report, Cozzolino said construction for the Meridian Ranch lift station is under way, which is one reason Meridian Road has been torn up. He said construction should take about one year to complete.Eddie Avedikian, parks and recreation director, updated the board on several items, including Colorado Lottery Funds and El Paso County Urban Grant Funds the district received to build a new playground on Woodmen Hills Drive, east of Meridian Road.Avedikian also said the new BMX track being built on the east side of Eastonville is coming along; kids are already using it.During the district managerís report, Cozzolino said the district has completed 235 service calls. He also said a transponder upgrade for the meters is scheduled for August.Pizzi suggested the board consider hiring a public relations firm because of the negative press theyíve received. The board agreed to put the item on the agenda for a future meeting.
