Deer Crest Master Association, Inc.
Annual Meeting of Members
6:00 PM December 28, 2011
St. Regis Hotel, Deer Crest
Here's the report from last year's meeting:
In Attendance
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Bob Sammons, President, Board of Trustees Tom Hodgson, Board of Trustees Vice President Greg Perry, Board of Trustees Secretary/Treasurer Diane Banks, Attorney for the HOA Michael Zaccaro, Trustee Don Taylor, General Manager Doug MacIsaac, Association Manager Mark Allen, Operations Manager Ron Lindley, Assistant Manager Suzanne Harris, Prudential Real Estate Ann MacQuoid, Prudential Real Estate Jill and Brad Kaufman, lot 133 Jim and Zibby Tozer, lot 6 and 7 Rick and Paula Prentiss, lot 146 Susan Hodgson, lot 22 Mark Freiman, lot 41 John and Micheal West, lot 49 Lisa Wilson, lot 25 |
Susan Morrow, lot 77 Jim Inskeep, lot 118 Mark and Nelly Weldon, lot 141 Letty Callinan, lot 6U Sabrina Rainey, lot 51 Martin and Laurie Pichinson, lot 121 and Town Home Association Don and Melanie Behrens, lot 143 Barry Porter, lot 73,76,77,78,3 and 4HH Ken Abdalla, lot 108 Phil Lippincott, lot 35 Rob Blau, lot 90 Pamela Stevenson, lot 61 Millie and Tom Hogan, lot 135 David and Noreen O'Brien, lot 1 HH Brian Shirken, lot 104 Martin Werner, lot 107 Steve Herzon, lot 81 |
President Sammons welcomed the attendees and called the meeting to order. A Quorum was established and announced.
Introductions
Don Taylor, General Manager
Michael Zaccaro, Trustee
Diane Banks, Attorney for the HOA
Bob Sammons, Trustee
Tom Hodgson, Trustee
Greg Perry, Trustee
Lynda Fetter, Trustee, (absent)
Deer Valley Resort Presentation
Mr. Bob Wheaton, President and General Manager of the Deer Valley Resort, spoke to the attendees. Mr. Wheaton thanked all the Deer Crest owners for their ongoing support of the resort and its operations. He discussed the efforts that were being taken as part of opening up the mountain for the season, and said that Mother Nature had been smiling upon them. It was extremely cold during the latter part of November and that led to very good snowmaking conditions. It did then get warm for two weeks, but stormy weather with a lot of snow followed and that led to a great opening. All the runs were open at this time except for two runs on which they are still making snow as they will be used for the Freestyle World Championships this coming February. Mr. Wheaton noted that Deer Valley will be the first resort ever to host the Freestyle World Championships twice. The Resort is getting very busy, and it is predicted to sell out on lift tickets for the next few days.
An attendee congratulated Mr. Wheaton on the fact that Deer Valley Resort was rated as the # 1 ski resort in North America by Ski Magazine for the fourth time.
Mr. Wheaton was asked about Deer Valley's plans for upgrading the Deer Crest lift to a high speed detachable. He reported that the immediate focus of their efforts and first priority is on the planned new ski trail from the base of the Deer Crest chairlift to the Jordanelle Gondola base, which would be one of the most expensive ski trails, per foot, ever built. Trail construction is tentatively scheduled for the summer after next. The upgrading of the Deer Crest Chairlift (to a high speed detachable) would then follow the next summer. A question was asked if the new ski trail would cause congestion at the gondola, but Mr. Wheaton explained that the gondola and the terminal was designed to have 50% more capacity than is currently being used. An attendee noted that they observed an increase of ski instructors on the private trails. The operations crew is aware of them accessing the trails and will ensure that the instructors are only going to the owner's residences to pick up clients for their lessons. There was a discussion of the long term plans to connect the bottom of the Deer Crest complex to Bald Mountain and the issues surrounding those plans.
Park City Presentation
Mr. Dana Williams, Mayor of Park City, spoke to the attendees. The Mayor gave a brief history of his family's history in Park City and his time in office, and then spoke of three major issues facing the City at this time. The first issue was about the Defense Department seeking to build a hotel and recreation facility for its members, along with associated commercial development, and all the related issues surrounding the project. Secondly, the EPA has designated the riverbed from the Prospector area all the way to interstate 80 as a super-fund site, and all the earth contained in the corridor will need to be excavated and removed at a cost of about $70 million dollars. Thirdly, the City is currently in negotiations with the developers of the Treasure Hill project, a Hotel that was approved in the early 1980's. The developers have agreed to reduce the density by 50% or the City could buy them out and convert the property into open space. He concluded his remarks with a discussion on how the City is concentrating on sustainability, including affordable living and housing for the local workforce.
Utah Symphony Presentation
Carrie Cusimano, Vice President of Development for the Deer Valley Music Festival, gave a short presentation about the performances by the Utah Symphony this coming summer and the Summer Festival, which is a five week concert series from mid-July to mid-August. There are also other various events that are organized with the symphony, including several "salon" fundraiser events and performances at other local venues such as St, Mary's church and several Deer Crest homes. Carrie encouraged anyone that had an interest in these activities to contact her for more information.
St. Regis Hotel Presentation
Mr. Michael Zaccaro introduced Mr. Stan Kaminski, who just recently became the new General Manager of the St. Regis Deer Valley. Mr. Kaminski discussed some of the changes he has made with the staff including training programs that have resulted in an increase in the level of their customer service ratings. Several new employees have been hired that have great experience in the hospitality industry.
An attendee commented that there has been a lot of construction traffic and congestion on the road in front of the Hotel and asked how long it would continue. Mr. Kaminski said that most of the units that had construction going on were finishing up and that the traffic and parking on the road should go away in the near future.
Mr. Kaminski introduced Mr. Mike McMahon who gave a brief presentation and distributed pamphlets describing the roll out of the "Deer Crest Club." Several attendees questioned how flexible the membership options might be in that they may only be in town for a few periods during the year and did not need a full time membership. Deer Crest residents will be invited to a meeting in the near future to give input on their ideas concerning this.
Sales Report
Suzanne Harris and Ann MacQuoid of Prudential Utah Real Estate were introduced and discussed the status of sales in the Park City area, and then had a question and answer period concerning their opinions of the state of the Deer Crest and local real estate markets.
Approval of the 2010 Annual Meeting Minutes
The 2010 minutes were available by email request or on the web site and copies were available at the meeting.
A motion was made to approve the 2010 Annual Meeting Minutes. The motion was seconded. All were in favor. None were opposed. The motion carried unanimously.
Review of the 2011 Budget
Mr. Sammons presented the 2011 budget that was available by email request or hard copies at the meeting. The assessments and budget are at the same level as 2010.
There were no comments or questions.
Election of Board Member Position
Mr. Sammons announced that Trustee Michael Zaccaro has been nominated to renew his term on the Board of Trustees. Ballots were distributed to the attendees. After the ballots were counted along with the proxies that had been returned, Mr. Zaccaro was re-elected to a three year term.
Litigation Report
Diane Banks reported on the status of the litigation filed by Jeri Rice against the Association and the Trustees. An agreement has been reached in principal that all parties will walk away, with a complete release of the Association and the Trustees. Documentation of the settlement should be completed shortly.
Operations Report
Don Taylor introduced Doug MacIsaac, Association Manager, Mark Allen, Operations Manager and Ron Lindley, Assistant Manager and gave an operations report.
$370,000 was spent on a 2 1/2" asphalt overlay on Deer Hollow Drive and a slurry seal of Summit Drive. The Hotel paid an additional $92,000 on the overlay to cover construction traffic usage and help bring Deer Hollow back into better condition than it was before the St. Regis project started.
The Infrastructure Reserves were reviewed by an independent source to assure that they are at correct levels for future needs and we are making adequate annual contributions via our budgeting process. The crew continues its annual inspection and maintenance programs of the entire infrastructure at Deer Crest from surveying monuments for settlement to sealing the bridges, tunnels, walls and buildings.
Next summer the plan is to continue to make landscaping and watering system improvements, plant more trees, grass and flowers and control noxious weeds. This past summer more time was spent on the forest management plan of removing dead trees to promote forest health and reduce fire danger. A question was asked about the reason for the dead trees and Don reported that it is a result of a root fungus and pine beetles that stresses the fir trees and causes them to die. There is not really any feasible way to prevent it and it may just be a natural way to prevent forest over growth.
The big project for next summer is the construction of a permanent snow removal operations parking lot so that it can be moved out of the Eastern entrance to Deer Crest and the St. Regis employee parking lot. It will be placed at the lower intersection of Deer Crest Estates Drive and Deer Hollow where it will not be in the view corridor of any lots. It has preliminary approval from Wasatch County and the developer and can be paid for without an increase in the budget.
Don reported that the snowmaking efforts this year went very well, with the assistance of some good snow storms, and that the private trails were opened in conjunction with the opening of the Deer Valley Resort runs. He reminded the attendees, however, that there are no guarantees for trail opening dates due to the fact that snowmaking is always weather dependant and a warmer than normal December could definitely threaten having all of the trails open for the Christmas Holidays. He also reminded attendees to always check with the Queen Esther Gate House in the early part of the season before assuming a trail is open.
Thanks were given to all who contributed to the employee holiday fund; enough money was donated that it amounted to just over a thousand dollars being distributed to each non-salaried, hourly employee.
New Business
Trustee Tom Hodgson announced that as of the beginning of 2011, he is resigning from the Board. Mr. Sammons thanked him for his years of service and the attendees applauded in thanks also. Mr. Sammons announced that the Board would like residents that are interested in a position on the Board to submit a letter for the Board to review, and a temporary Board member would be appointed in the near future.
The meeting was adjourned.