I’m not sure more insurance is needed or is even the best approach. ?Let’s identify potential problems and mitigate them. A speed bump may be one step in that direction.

I’ve been trying to think of scenarios where FRMID would be liable for bodily injury claims. To me, so long was we keep the roads well maintained, I can think of only one potential problem and that the creek crossing on Fairfield.? We should have signs for both directions that say something like “Do not enter if flowing water”. The signs should say the same thing the signs say on the county roads.

Has anyone heard of the country being sued when accidents happen on country roads just because the accident happened on a country road? That sounds doubtful to me, but we should get the opinion of a professional, that is a lawyer.

Our roads are private so perhaps there should be a sign at the entrance to the effect, “The roads in this community are private, and you can drive on them only if you accept all liability”. ?A lawyer could tell us it that would relieve us of liability so long as we keep the roads well maintained.

Ken

On 6/16/2022 7:19 AM, Barbara Fish wrote:

I agree with Jim, ?one million is not that much coverage if an accident were to happen.? All the more reason to add speed bumps to the agenda. ? We are not the police, true and from what we have noticed it is not so much the ones living in the neighborhood who are doing the speeding, but more likely visitors.? Some race up the street going well above the posted limit.? I would hate to see one of the kids out riding a bike or buggy at the intersection of Calle cola Blanca get hit by someone laying on the gas.

Cheers,

Barb Fish

On Jun 15, 2022, at 10:29 PM, Philip Apodaca <PSAAPO@...> wrote:

?

Jim, you're not the police and your neighbors are not criminals. As far as I know.?

On Wed, Jun 15, 2022, 10:50 PM Jim Ruby <jeruby@...> wrote:

Matt, I just paid this years insurance bill and noticed that we carry $1,000,000 in general liability $1,000,000 in personal injury all for FRMID to protect the Board and everyone that lives in the District from a law suit due to a potential accident if there is one, and they decide to blame the district.?

With this in mind, it’s a good reason to control all those that do not respect the speed limits we have posted.

In today’s world, one million is not that much for bodily injury claims. I personally do not want to be part of a law suit that has to come out of pocket if the damages are more than our coverage. It should be discussed if we seek more coverage ( cost ?increase) or police the community and speeders more.?

Jim

On Jun 15, 2022, at 7:07 PM, Matthew Paddock <av8rmatt72@...> wrote:

?

Neighbors,

We are planning on having a board meeting on 22 June 2022 @ 6 o’clock PM at Ricardo’s. We will get an agenda out no later than 20 June 2022. If there is a specific item you wish to add to the agenda for board discussion please let us know. I am attaching the County Resource Manual for governing boards to ensure we follow the rules, specifically with regards to agendas and elections. If you have any questions please let us know.?

Matthew Paddock

Matt, I just paid this years insurance bill and noticed that we carry $1,000,000 in general liability $1,000,000 in personal injury all for FRMID to protect the Board and everyone that lives in the District from a law suit due to a potential accident if there is one, and they decide to blame the district.?

With this in mind, it’s a good reason to control all those that do not respect the speed limits we have posted.

In today’s world, one million is not that much for bodily injury claims. I personally do not want to be part of a law suit that has to come out of pocket if the damages are more than our coverage. It should be discussed if we seek more coverage ( cost ?increase) or police the community and speeders more.?

Jim

On Jun 15, 2022, at 7:07 PM, Matthew Paddock <av8rmatt72@...> wrote:

?

Neighbors,

We are planning on having a board meeting on 22 June 2022 @ 6 o’clock PM at Ricardo’s. We will get an agenda out no later than 20 June 2022. If there is a specific item you wish to add to the agenda for board discussion please let us know. I am attaching the County Resource Manual for governing boards to ensure we follow the rules, specifically with regards to agendas and elections. If you have any questions please let us know.?

Matthew Paddock

Karen,

Contact for the gate:

Christina Truka

Gate Admin

3 Canyons Ranch HOA

303-726-9684?or

gateadmin@...?

Matt Paddock

On Fri, May 20, 2022 at 11:41 AM Karen McKnight <imecorp@...> wrote:

Hello neighbors I'm at the gate my codes not working what do I do?? Karen

On Thu, Apr 21, 2022 at 6:10 PM Ken Cameron via <rocks=[email protected]> wrote:

Hi Again All,

This email is intended to report the discussions regarding roads from the meeting last evening in more detail than reported in minutes for those of you who couldn't attend, and it's intended to promote discussion among the taxpayers in Fairfield Estates regarding options for the unpaved roads. It is not intended to throw darts at anyone. If anyone interprets it that way, I apologize, but that's not the intent.

Two options for the unpaved roads were discussed at the meeting, and I have added a third below.

Option (1) ?To quote from the minutes, “Regrading/gravel for unpaved roads. Recommend regrading and graveling road in the short term until the price of oil/material significantly decreases for future consideration".?

Option (2) Paving (i.e., chip sealing) the unpaved roads in stages.

Option (3) Not discussed in the meeting. Paving the remaining unpaved roads may come to be recognized as financially unrealistic on any reasonable timeline. Reduce taxes to a maintenance level.

The plan for Option (1) seems to be (please correct me if I’m wrong) maintain the present tax rate indefinitely, and then “when price of oil/material significantly decreases”, pave all the remaining unpaved roads at once. Personally, I see several problems with this option. First, what is the likelihood that the price of oil/material will decrease significantly, especially with Russian oil off the market for perhaps decades? But who knows, didn't the price of oil go negative last year? Second, our tax dollars will be sitting in the bank rather than being used while we’re waiting for the price of oil/material to significantly decreases.?

In Option (2) one road will be chosen to be paved first. Paving a specific road is a well-defined goal, and there should be a feeling of accomplishment and satisfaction when that goal is met. If the price of oil continues to increase, the sooner the paving is done, the cheaper it will be. For example, it may be less expensive to pave a road in 2025 than waiting until 2035. Our tax dollars will be working for the community (or at least part of the community) rather than just sitting in the bank. Finally, as I understand it, that’s the way FERIMD has done it in the past. Fairfield Ct was paved first, then later Paseo Venado. How much regrading and graveling, and especially surveying and realigning, do we really need to do for perhaps the next three years when those funds could go towards a designated target?

I’ll be disappointed if we have to eventually adopt Option (3). However, when we start seriously crunching the numbers and considering acceptable timelines, I fear it may prove to be the most reasonable one. There is no reason to continue our present tax rate if there is no realistic chance to pave all the unpaved roads in an acceptable timeline. ??

I would like to go through a simple exercise of “crunching the numbers”. Obviously the first question to ask is “how much will chip sealing cost?”. I don’t know, but I need some number for this exercise. ?I goggled it and found, “The average base cost of chip sealing is about $3 per square foot. The size of the project, the state of the site, and local labor and materials cost will affect the overall price. As the commodity price of oil rises or falls, expect the cost of this project to do the same.” ?

?I have no idea if that’s a reasonable number for our area and our situation, but I need a number to start with and we can change that number as we get more information.

I estimated the lengths of the unpaved roads named below using Goggle Map and assumed the paved roads will be 20ft wide.

Calle Cola Banca? 840ft x 20ft=16,800 sq ft? @ $3/sq ft = ~$50,000? to chip seal.

Sexton north of Paseo Venado?? 840ft?? ~$50,000

Sexton south of ?Paseo Venado? 775ft?????? ~$50,000

East end of Paseo Venado? 425ft x 20 ft=~8,500 sq ft?? or ~$25,000

So, assuming a cost of $3 per square foot, chip sealing all those roads would total ~$175K to maybe ~$200K

I believe the tax income of the Board is ~$20K/yr, so at the present tax rate, it would likely take on the order of 9 or 10 years to accumulate enough funds to pave all the roads at once. That’s assuming that we don’t have other major expenses.

On the other hand, we might be able to pave one $50,000 road in three years in addition to setting aside ~$5K or more for maintenance of the existing roads.

Now, what if the real cost of chip sealing in this area is $6 per square foot? Then the cost of paving all the roads would be ~$350K to $400K. Is that even reasonable to consider with a tax income of $20K/yr? (I’m not at all in favor of rising taxes!!!)

But maybe the real cost of chip sealing in this area is $2 per square foot. Lol! Then we could pave a road about every two years!!

So, what’s the point of this exercise? To me, the point is we shouldn’t be making decisions about our roads until we understand the finances of all options and set long term goals.

As Hal reported in the minutes, Jimmy will look into bids for chip sealing. Jimmy, thank you in advance; those are sorely needed data.

Ken

?

Hello neighbors I'm at the gate my codes not working what do I do?? Karen

On Thu, Apr 21, 2022 at 6:10 PM Ken Cameron via <rocks=[email protected]> wrote:

Hi Again All,

This email is intended to report the discussions regarding roads from the meeting last evening in more detail than reported in minutes for those of you who couldn't attend, and it's intended to promote discussion among the taxpayers in Fairfield Estates regarding options for the unpaved roads. It is not intended to throw darts at anyone. If anyone interprets it that way, I apologize, but that's not the intent.

Two options for the unpaved roads were discussed at the meeting, and I have added a third below.

Option (1) ?To quote from the minutes, “Regrading/gravel for unpaved roads. Recommend regrading and graveling road in the short term until the price of oil/material significantly decreases for future consideration".?

Option (2) Paving (i.e., chip sealing) the unpaved roads in stages.

Option (3) Not discussed in the meeting. Paving the remaining unpaved roads may come to be recognized as financially unrealistic on any reasonable timeline. Reduce taxes to a maintenance level.

The plan for Option (1) seems to be (please correct me if I’m wrong) maintain the present tax rate indefinitely, and then “when price of oil/material significantly decreases”, pave all the remaining unpaved roads at once. Personally, I see several problems with this option. First, what is the likelihood that the price of oil/material will decrease significantly, especially with Russian oil off the market for perhaps decades? But who knows, didn't the price of oil go negative last year? Second, our tax dollars will be sitting in the bank rather than being used while we’re waiting for the price of oil/material to significantly decreases.?

In Option (2) one road will be chosen to be paved first. Paving a specific road is a well-defined goal, and there should be a feeling of accomplishment and satisfaction when that goal is met. If the price of oil continues to increase, the sooner the paving is done, the cheaper it will be. For example, it may be less expensive to pave a road in 2025 than waiting until 2035. Our tax dollars will be working for the community (or at least part of the community) rather than just sitting in the bank. Finally, as I understand it, that’s the way FERIMD has done it in the past. Fairfield Ct was paved first, then later Paseo Venado. How much regrading and graveling, and especially surveying and realigning, do we really need to do for perhaps the next three years when those funds could go towards a designated target?

I’ll be disappointed if we have to eventually adopt Option (3). However, when we start seriously crunching the numbers and considering acceptable timelines, I fear it may prove to be the most reasonable one. There is no reason to continue our present tax rate if there is no realistic chance to pave all the unpaved roads in an acceptable timeline. ??

I would like to go through a simple exercise of “crunching the numbers”. Obviously the first question to ask is “how much will chip sealing cost?”. I don’t know, but I need some number for this exercise. ?I goggled it and found, “The average base cost of chip sealing is about $3 per square foot. The size of the project, the state of the site, and local labor and materials cost will affect the overall price. As the commodity price of oil rises or falls, expect the cost of this project to do the same.” ?

?I have no idea if that’s a reasonable number for our area and our situation, but I need a number to start with and we can change that number as we get more information.

I estimated the lengths of the unpaved roads named below using Goggle Map and assumed the paved roads will be 20ft wide.

Calle Cola Banca? 840ft x 20ft=16,800 sq ft? @ $3/sq ft = ~$50,000? to chip seal.

Sexton north of Paseo Venado?? 840ft?? ~$50,000

Sexton south of ?Paseo Venado? 775ft?????? ~$50,000

East end of Paseo Venado? 425ft x 20 ft=~8,500 sq ft?? or ~$25,000

So, assuming a cost of $3 per square foot, chip sealing all those roads would total ~$175K to maybe ~$200K

I believe the tax income of the Board is ~$20K/yr, so at the present tax rate, it would likely take on the order of 9 or 10 years to accumulate enough funds to pave all the roads at once. That’s assuming that we don’t have other major expenses.

On the other hand, we might be able to pave one $50,000 road in three years in addition to setting aside ~$5K or more for maintenance of the existing roads.

Now, what if the real cost of chip sealing in this area is $6 per square foot? Then the cost of paving all the roads would be ~$350K to $400K. Is that even reasonable to consider with a tax income of $20K/yr? (I’m not at all in favor of rising taxes!!!)

But maybe the real cost of chip sealing in this area is $2 per square foot. Lol! Then we could pave a road about every two years!!

So, what’s the point of this exercise? To me, the point is we shouldn’t be making decisions about our roads until we understand the finances of all options and set long term goals.

As Hal reported in the minutes, Jimmy will look into bids for chip sealing. Jimmy, thank you in advance; those are sorely needed data.

Ken

?

Hi Again All,

This email is intended to report the discussions regarding roads from the meeting last evening in more detail than reported in minutes for those of you who couldn't attend, and it's intended to promote discussion among the taxpayers in Fairfield Estates regarding options for the unpaved roads. It is not intended to throw darts at anyone. If anyone interprets it that way, I apologize, but that's not the intent.

Two options for the unpaved roads were discussed at the meeting, and I have added a third below.

Option (1) ?To quote from the minutes, “Regrading/gravel for unpaved roads. Recommend regrading and graveling road in the short term until the price of oil/material significantly decreases for future consideration".?

Option (2) Paving (i.e., chip sealing) the unpaved roads in stages.

Option (3) Not discussed in the meeting. Paving the remaining unpaved roads may come to be recognized as financially unrealistic on any reasonable timeline. Reduce taxes to a maintenance level.

The plan for Option (1) seems to be (please correct me if I’m wrong) maintain the present tax rate indefinitely, and then “when price of oil/material significantly decreases”, pave all the remaining unpaved roads at once. Personally, I see several problems with this option. First, what is the likelihood that the price of oil/material will decrease significantly, especially with Russian oil off the market for perhaps decades? But who knows, didn't the price of oil go negative last year? Second, our tax dollars will be sitting in the bank rather than being used while we’re waiting for the price of oil/material to significantly decreases.?

In Option (2) one road will be chosen to be paved first. Paving a specific road is a well-defined goal, and there should be a feeling of accomplishment and satisfaction when that goal is met. If the price of oil continues to increase, the sooner the paving is done, the cheaper it will be. For example, it may be less expensive to pave a road in 2025 than waiting until 2035. Our tax dollars will be working for the community (or at least part of the community) rather than just sitting in the bank. Finally, as I understand it, that’s the way FERIMD has done it in the past. Fairfield Ct was paved first, then later Paseo Venado. How much regrading and graveling, and especially surveying and realigning, do we really need to do for perhaps the next three years when those funds could go towards a designated target?

I’ll be disappointed if we have to eventually adopt Option (3). However, when we start seriously crunching the numbers and considering acceptable timelines, I fear it may prove to be the most reasonable one. There is no reason to continue our present tax rate if there is no realistic chance to pave all the unpaved roads in an acceptable timeline. ??

I would like to go through a simple exercise of “crunching the numbers”. Obviously the first question to ask is “how much will chip sealing cost?”. I don’t know, but I need some number for this exercise. ?I goggled it and found, “The average base cost of chip sealing is about $3 per square foot. The size of the project, the state of the site, and local labor and materials cost will affect the overall price. As the commodity price of oil rises or falls, expect the cost of this project to do the same.” ?

?I have no idea if that’s a reasonable number for our area and our situation, but I need a number to start with and we can change that number as we get more information.

I estimated the lengths of the unpaved roads named below using Goggle Map and assumed the paved roads will be 20ft wide.

Calle Cola Banca? 840ft x 20ft=16,800 sq ft? @ $3/sq ft = ~$50,000? to chip seal.

Sexton north of Paseo Venado?? 840ft?? ~$50,000

Sexton south of ?Paseo Venado? 775ft?????? ~$50,000

East end of Paseo Venado? 425ft x 20 ft=~8,500 sq ft?? or ~$25,000

So, assuming a cost of $3 per square foot, chip sealing all those roads would total ~$175K to maybe ~$200K

I believe the tax income of the Board is ~$20K/yr, so at the present tax rate, it would likely take on the order of 9 or 10 years to accumulate enough funds to pave all the roads at once. That’s assuming that we don’t have other major expenses.

On the other hand, we might be able to pave one $50,000 road in three years in addition to setting aside ~$5K or more for maintenance of the existing roads.

Now, what if the real cost of chip sealing in this area is $6 per square foot? Then the cost of paving all the roads would be ~$350K to $400K. Is that even reasonable to consider with a tax income of $20K/yr? (I’m not at all in favor of rising taxes!!!)

But maybe the real cost of chip sealing in this area is $2 per square foot. Lol! Then we could pave a road about every two years!!

So, what’s the point of this exercise? To me, the point is we shouldn’t be making decisions about our roads until we understand the finances of all options and set long term goals.

As Hal reported in the minutes, Jimmy will look into bids for chip sealing. Jimmy, thank you in advance; those are sorely needed data.

Ken

?

Ken,

I really want to believe that you input is provided in an effort to be constructive. However you still appear to be throwing darts at the board an implying something was done underhandedly. Looking back at our proposed budget which was accepted by the County, My name was listed and acknowledged by Tim Matrix. All we were required to do was send in the minutes showing the election. As such I would fill the position until 2024 as indicated on by the vacancy on the contact list you so helpfully attached. Also of note, the board could have simply appointed someone to fill the vacancy until the term is up, but instead they decided to hold a general election to ensure the community was involved. We are currently checking to make sure we followed up, and will also be sending an additional ?follow on email to Mr. Mattix to remedy this issue in case it was lost by the county. Either way we will make sure to inform the community that your concerns with my membership on the board has been resolved. As for required elections, the resource manual says the district can conduct the elections themselves and simply petition the county to not conduct them. As you said we are still charged a fee, which we have already been paying and follow a set timeline. Once complete we inform the county of the results. Again thank you for looking up the information in our obvious absence and please let me know if you have any further input.?

Respectfully,

Matthew Paddock

On Apr 21, 2022, at 3:05 PM, Ken Cameron via <rocks@...> wrote:

Jimmy, If you look at the "Contact List" pdf attached to the original email, you will see that Matt's not listed as a Board member. There is a vacant seat. It's up to date, Jan 2022. We may consider him a Board member. I do, but the County knows nothing about him.? If we are going to do it "right", he needs to be recognized by the County as a Board member. I suggested that he simply be a candidate for the vacant seat, and we continue to consider him a Board member.? But there may be a faster way. Look at the Resource Manual. It may say that the Board can request that he be appointed to the vacant seat. But if so, I think he will only serve through 2022 and he will need to be a candidate to serve past 2022. I'm not sure about the last few sentences but the Board can read the Resource Manual and decide what to do.

Ken

On 4/21/2022 2:47 PM, James Ruby wrote:

Ken,

I still do not see where we are required to hold an election which would invalidate Matt's position??

Did i miss something??

On Thu, Apr 21, 2022 at 2:10 PM Ken Cameron via <rocks=[email protected]> wrote:

Hi All,

I felt that the Board meeting last evening (4/20/2022) was the most productive that I have attended. At the end we were all on the same page regarding what information is needed to make some important decisions regarding FERIMD. As Hal reported the in the minutes, two key issues we need information on are “what official guidance is for elections” and “road option estimated costs”.

I would like to assist the Board by providing the information regarding elections, and I will do that in this email.? In a separate email I will report on the discussions at the meeting of “road options” for those in the community who weren’t able to attend the meeting. This is a super important subject as it affects both our roads and our taxes.

FAIRFIELD ESTATES RIMD is a special tax district in Cochise County. The Special Districts Coordinator for the county is Tim Mattix, Clerk of the Board. A lot of useful information can be found on his webpage .

You can download the names of Board members and their terms expirations from his webpage. I have done that and attached the “Contact List District Boards” as a pdf.? This was last updated 1/18/2022, and you will find the FERIMD Board members listed on page 5.

Elections for Board members are discussed on pages 17-19 of the SPECIAL DISTRICTS GOVERNING BOARD MEMBERS RESOURCE MANUAL, which can be downloaded from the same webpage, and I have attached it as a pdf. The election procedures discussed in those pages were obviously designed for far larger districts than ours, for example Fire Districts; nevertheless, that’s the official guidance.

In the meeting of last evening, the FERIMD President said that only “year around” residents of Fairfield Estates could be elected to the Board. I’m not sure where that idea came from, but it’s certainly not mentioned in RESOURCE MANUAL. To the contrary the RESOURCE MANUAL gives an example of Board members participating remotely in a meeting. Appendix F, page 57, is a sample notice for a meeting. The sample notice says, “One or more members may attend telephonically. Members attending telephonically will be announced at the meeting.”

While I was writing the above, I emailed Tim Mattix, Clerk of the Board, asking if there was any other guidance to election of Board members other than the RESOURCE MANUAL, and I asked exactly who was eligible to vote for Board members. I haven’t heard from Mattix, but got a very informative reply from Lisa Marra, Director of Elections. I will forward that email separately (read that email from the bottom up to get the exchanges in the right order).

We must follow the rules for election of Board members just like we must follow the rules for Board meetings (e.g. posting, agenda, minutes). The election rules are very simple if we don’t have a ballot election. Lisa said, “Usually these small jurisdictions never go to actual ballot”.

Here is a quick summary. In 2022 we will have two seats up for election, Jimmy and Jessie (see the attached “Contact List” pdf, page 5”). Also, there is a vacant seat since Matthew’s election didn’t follow the rules and the County knows nothing about him. ?

We the voters decide who is going to fill those three seats any way we want. I assume that Matthew will be a candidate for his seat. I have no interest in being a candidate for any position myself, but I stand ready to help and assist the Board in any way I can.

The key paragraph for us regarding elections in the RESOURCE MANUAL is the first one on page 17. “If the number of candidates is equal to or less than the number of vacancies, the special taxing district board may petition the Board of Supervisors to have the election cancelled. In that case, the Board of? Supervisors cancels the election and appoints those candidates to the deemed offices.”

So, after we decide on the candidates, we petition the Board of Supervisors to cancel the election and appoint our three candidates. Then those people are officially elected to 4-year (not 2-year) terms.

It’s that simple. Oh yes, we have to pay the County $250 for them doing the paperwork.

I also asked, “who elects the Board Members?” That was a shocker to me. Lisa’s reply was “As far as voters, that is determined by where the person registered.? If they live in the district and are registered, they can vote.? It’s not property owners or by parcel.” So, all registered voters in the 18 homes in Fairfield Estates are eligible to vote for Board members.

Questions?

Ken

--

CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: The contents of this email message and any attachments are intended solely for the addressee(s) and may contain confidential and/or privileged information and may be legally protected from disclosure. If you are not the intended recipient of this message or their agent, or if this message has been addressed to you in error, please immediately alert the sender by reply email and then delete this message and any attachments. If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any use, dissemination, copying, or storage of this message or its attachments is strictly prohibited.?

Hi All,

I felt that the Board meeting last evening (4/20/2022) was the most productive that I have attended. At the end we were all on the same page regarding what information is needed to make some important decisions regarding FERIMD. As Hal reported the in the minutes, two key issues we need information on are “what official guidance is for elections” and “road option estimated costs”.

I would like to assist the Board by providing the information regarding elections, and I will do that in this email.? In a separate email I will report on the discussions at the meeting of “road options” for those in the community who weren’t able to attend the meeting. This is a super important subject as it affects both our roads and our taxes.

FAIRFIELD ESTATES RIMD is a special tax district in Cochise County. The Special Districts Coordinator for the county is Tim Mattix, Clerk of the Board. A lot of useful information can be found on his webpage .

You can download the names of Board members and their terms expirations from his webpage. I have done that and attached the “Contact List District Boards” as a pdf.? This was last updated 1/18/2022, and you will find the FERIMD Board members listed on page 5.

Elections for Board members are discussed on pages 17-19 of the SPECIAL DISTRICTS GOVERNING BOARD MEMBERS RESOURCE MANUAL, which can be downloaded from the same webpage, and I have attached it as a pdf. The election procedures discussed in those pages were obviously designed for far larger districts than ours, for example Fire Districts; nevertheless, that’s the official guidance.

In the meeting of last evening, the FERIMD President said that only “year around” residents of Fairfield Estates could be elected to the Board. I’m not sure where that idea came from, but it’s certainly not mentioned in RESOURCE MANUAL. To the contrary the RESOURCE MANUAL gives an example of Board members participating remotely in a meeting. Appendix F, page 57, is a sample notice for a meeting. The sample notice says, “One or more members may attend telephonically. Members attending telephonically will be announced at the meeting.”

While I was writing the above, I emailed Tim Mattix, Clerk of the Board, asking if there was any other guidance to election of Board members other than the RESOURCE MANUAL, and I asked exactly who was eligible to vote for Board members. I haven’t heard from Mattix, but got a very informative reply from Lisa Marra, Director of Elections. I will forward that email separately (read that email from the bottom up to get the exchanges in the right order).

We must follow the rules for election of Board members just like we must follow the rules for Board meetings (e.g. posting, agenda, minutes). The election rules are very simple if we don’t have a ballot election. Lisa said, “Usually these small jurisdictions never go to actual ballot”.

Here is a quick summary. In 2022 we will have two seats up for election, Jimmy and Jessie (see the attached “Contact List” pdf, page 5”). Also, there is a vacant seat since Matthew’s election didn’t follow the rules and the County knows nothing about him. ?

We the voters decide who is going to fill those three seats any way we want. I assume that Matthew will be a candidate for his seat. I have no interest in being a candidate for any position myself, but I stand ready to help and assist the Board in any way I can.

The key paragraph for us regarding elections in the RESOURCE MANUAL is the first one on page 17. “If the number of candidates is equal to or less than the number of vacancies, the special taxing district board may petition the Board of Supervisors to have the election cancelled. In that case, the Board of? Supervisors cancels the election and appoints those candidates to the deemed offices.”

So, after we decide on the candidates, we petition the Board of Supervisors to cancel the election and appoint our three candidates. Then those people are officially elected to 4-year (not 2-year) terms.

It’s that simple. Oh yes, we have to pay the County $250 for them doing the paperwork.

I also asked, “who elects the Board Members?” That was a shocker to me. Lisa’s reply was “As far as voters, that is determined by where the person registered.? If they live in the district and are registered, they can vote.? It’s not property owners or by parcel.” So, all registered voters in the 18 homes in Fairfield Estates are eligible to vote for Board members.

Questions?

Ken