BENT TREE PROPERTY OWNERS

BENT TREE PROPERTY OWNERS' ASSOCIATION, INC.

P.O. Box 2631

Monument, CO 80132

www.btpoa.org

As we celebrate the new year and get ready for what will hopefully be a happy, healthy and productive 2008 for all of us in Bent Tree, it is worthwhile to take the time to note that 2007 was a very busy and productive year for BTPOA, and we accomplished many things for our neighbors in Bent Tree. Some of the highlights of the past year are highlighted here, but we can’t begin to cover them all!

The Board is really pleased with the work that our committees have done. We have made great progress in many areas and are proud to provide you an update on some of these.

One of the biggest issues the BOD tackled this year was regarding water management. Although our Bent Tree covenants specific certain requirements and restrictions regarding water usage by lot, this was the first year that the BOD focused on this as their number one priority to ensure that we had accurate, current information to provide in our required report to the State of Colorado. Because of the statistics gathered and the trend that we’ve been monitoring regarding water usage, it was imperative that the BTPOA was prepared for potential issues.

Special thanks go to our resident Water Augmentation Chair, Jerry Lopez, for his relentless efforts not only this year, but in years past, to ensure we have collected and evaluated the data needed. Jerry has done an outstanding job gathering and presenting the water information to the BOD and to our neighbors, starting with an aggressive plan he spearheaded starting in the beginning of 2007. Without his knowledge and commitment, we could not have done what was needed. Jerry, with help from our resident Web Master, Steve Furhmann, and John Stahl put together great information we posted on the Bent Tree website with information to help educate our owners. Because of this team’s efforts in education, awareness and monitoring, the 36 lots in Bent Tree that are required to be reported to the State of Colorado, enabled us to use 500,000 gallons less than was used in 2006. We were also able to report that we had only 3 lots this year over the maximum usage allotment compared to 14 lots in 2006. This was a definite improvement and couldn’t have been done without the commitment and attention from our owners. We thank you for your efforts and the result!

To summarize some of the issues that were addressed as we strived to meet our requirements, the BOD communicated to all the owners via multiple methods that we are required to ensure our covenants and requirements of our court decree are adhered to. However, because many lots have more than 2000 sq ft of irrigated space as required by the covenants, the BOD tried to take a reasonable approach to managing this. It was decided that if you want to keep irrigated space greater than 2000 sq ft, that you must comply with the requirement to keep your total water usage under the allowable limits.

To ensure this is done, and to have again, statistical information for our State Report, if required, the BOD has required that any lot in Bent Tree wanting to maintain greater than 2000 sq ft of irrigated space was required to put in two meters (one for total consumption and one for outside irrigation) with an external repeater readout. Additionally, these lots would have to provide their total water consumption by the end of our reporting year, October 31^st. Although we started communications on this issue to all owners at the beginning of the year, we realized that the October 31^st suspense date was not reasonable and we continue to work with everyone to get the meters in ASAP. We have communicated to these owners that the meter for the external irrigation doesn’t need to be in until the spring (I SUGGEST YOU STATE A SPECIFC DATE).

Since irrigation of greater than 2000 sq ft is a violation of the Covenants, the BOD has determined there would be significant penalties if these meters were not installed, and is prepared to fine non-compliant lots $500 per month until these meters are installed.

A new committee has been formed to collect the meter readings for all lots over 2000 sq ft of irrigated area and the 36 specified lots. Heading up this effort are Bill McDonald, Debbie Radke, and Gerald Neufeld. They will be sending reminder post cards to each of these owners to gather the required information from the owners, and the first meter reading will be required in January 2008. Bill McDonald, the committee chair, will gather the information and present it to Jerry Lopez for the report we send to the State. The members of this group will also counsel and help anyone that has problems with reading the meters or if they need help with the meters themselves.

Our reporting year starts on November 1^st and we have started the meter readings for our 2008 report. We are hoping the readings will demonstrate the use of water to be under the maximum allowed for each lot. If the State requires us to enforce the 2000 sq ft, we want to have a full year’s worth of data to present to the State showing our consumption to be under the total usage allowed. From all indications this seems to be acceptable by the State, but we must have the statistics to back it up.

The election of officers was accomplished at the annual meeting, and the current officers were re-elected to the BOD. However, due to email glitches that caused negative communications with our neighbors, Debbi Maser resigned from the BOD; however she has volunteered to continue to help out with BTPOA activities as she can. We wish her well and hope that someday she will return to the Board.

We also lost Tom Hilfers from the Board of Directors; but he will continue chairing the ACC for at least the near future. Dr. Hatfield is a member of the ACC, and Patrice Stevens was elected to the ACC position vacated by Duane Fitch.

We have one person that has expressed interested and we hope will be joining the BOD in January. BUT WE NEED TO FIND NEW VOLUNTEERS FOR THE BOARD AND COMMITTEES. Please let anyone on the BOD know if you would like to volunteer. Even if you don’t want to be a BOD member, we encourage and invite ALL our neighbors to attend the BOD meetings. These are held the second Monday of each month at the Monument Sanitation District Office, 130 2nd St., Monument at 7:00pm. PLEASE ATTEND!

By now, you have all received your annual dues notice and hopefully noticed that our annual dues was increased to $120 per year. Payment of this was due the beginning of January, and if not paid on time, late fees will be assessed at $10 per month the payment is late, starting February 1^st.

There were multiple factors that contributed to the dues increase, but the primary reason was that our water bill has increased, which will cause a deficit in the budget. It is possible this will go up again next year, also, with the potential of another dues increase. The BOD is very cognizant of its fiscal responsibilities to the owners in Bent Tree and values your input as to what the priorities should be for budget planning purposes. We are preparing for the Annual Budget Meeting for March, and again encourage all owners to attend. And if you have suggestions or needs you think should be addressed in Bent Tree, please let us know.

Those of you that attended the Annual Meeting in September heard from our Covenant Compliance Committee that we have had great results in compliance in 2007. We have achieved success in almost all infractions identified by neighbors or by Red Oaks Associates, the Covenant Compliance company we have contracted with to outsource covenant compliance to eliminate potential neighbor-to-neighbor conflicts. We thank all of you who were notified of violations and corrected them immediately, and are pleased to announce that only about 5% of the violation notices resulted in hearings. This is a great statistic and we appreciate everyone’s attention and adherence to the covenants, which are attached to your property. A major issue continues to be parking violations. Remember, guest and temporary visitor parking is allowed outside, but it residents’ vehicles are not allowed to be regularly parked outside. The BOD is continuing to work on reasonable solutions to various parking situations.

We initiated some activities this past year for trails and beautification. We started work on the trails with an outside contractor and we got the grading done to take care of the ruts, but there needs to be more work done to finish this to what we’d like. The Bent Tree entrances are a focus for 2008, as we’d like to enhance not only what we see when we drive into Bent Tree, but we think the entrances are a key point for first impressions of our great community to prospective buyers. We would welcome any master gardener’s input and we’d like to develop a plan so we can get bids on getting this started in the spring. We’ve already approved budget in 2008 for this initiative.

Chris Patterson volunteered to take on Neighborhood Watch duties for the community, and was able to provide information at the BOD meetings of various activities that had been brought to his attention, as well as has had notifications and information posted on the Bent Tree website.

Our task of making Bent Tree safer and also reduce costs associated with trash pick-up is still underway. We are trying to have as many neighbors as possible sign up with Tri-Lakes Disposal. The more neighbors who use this service, the lower all our costs will be with them (even if you’re currently using them, your cost would be reduced if more neighbors sign up!), we believe it will make our Bent Tree look better, and most importantly, we think it will be safer in the neighborhood and on our streets with only one day of trash pickup a week. They will also initiate a tin/alum and glass pickup. If you are interested in switching to Tri-Lakes, it is important to know that the other trash companies will not give you a refund for unused time, so we’re encouraging you that the next time you get your trash disposal bill, call Tri-Lakes at 719-495-8652 and they will coordinate with you for their start date and delivery of a totter, as well as answer any questions you may have regarding their service.

· We absolutely MUST keep on top of the water issues and ensure all readings to be under the maximum usage allowed.

· We need to start an education campaign for forest management. We have been told that we do not have a healthy forest throughout Bent Tree, and would be really vulnerable if a fire were to rage through Bent Tree. More information on forest management and fire mitigation is published already on the Bent Tree web site, so please review the information we’ve posted.

· We need to get more volunteers to help on the committees to share the load. It’s YOUR neighborhood and the more people who volunteer, the more we can get done! Attend the BOD meetings and see what the other volunteers are doing. Please sign up with me, or any committee member, or Board member.

· We want to reduce mailing costs by having neighbors sign up for email distribution of BTPOA information. There are certain items that are required to be sent to owners in hard copy, but we could save a lot of printing and mailing costs if we had email addresses for more owners. The BTPOA mail group is confidential, and membership is not visible or shared with anyone not affiliated with the Bent Tree BOD or committees. Please contact Steve Furhmann to ensure he has your email address on file and, if you want, he will add your name to the BTPOA mail group so that you receive communications electronically vs. paper.

The Bent Tree BOD members are extremely proud of all the projects tackled and progress that was made in 2007, and we look forward to 2008 being even better. We couldn’t be doing what we’re doing without the help of all our neighbors and committee members. Bent Tree is, by far, one of the best places to live, and working together, we will keep it that way!