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Hi All,

I first contacted the 3 Canyons Master Design Committee regarding installation of cluster mailboxes for Fairfield Estates on September 20, 2020, so this has been a long haul for me. With the meeting two weeks ago and with Jimmy’s two emails yesterday, I feel we’ve made some progress. As I’ve said many times, I don’t care where the mailboxes are located; I just want to have mailboxes. ?Frankly, the main objective of my suggesting a deadline was to stir the pot and get some action happening. The mailboxes are going to be in place for our lifetimes, so I’m in complete agreement that waiting on decisions regarding the legality of sites is more important than deadlines. With that background, let me address specific points in Jimmy’s emails.

“We think #1 is the best option for these reasons.?
1. The mailboxes would be located on the east side of the road which is convenient.?
2. The pull out is on private property. If we lose access to the pull out, where will we park??“

I don’t understand why the east side of the road is more convenient. Perhaps that’s true if you’re approaching the boxes from the gate but not from the houses. Also site #3 is more convenient to the houses than site #1. Depending on where the property line is, there could be ample parking on the west side of the road at site #3. But of course, we don’t yet know where the property line is because the surveyors haven’t been out. If there isn’t ample room, then we wouldn’t site the boxes there. I agree the “pull-out” question is important because wherever the boxes are located, we need room to safely make U-turns both for the postal carrier as well as homeowners.

I would consider site #1 east the best option if the school district allows us to have a more spacious site than #3 west, so it’s critical that there is a written agreement regarding the exact size and location of the site. The site should be large enough to allow a U-turn.

“the postmaster has the ultimate say in where mail boxes go.”

True, the postmaster must approve the site. Before I understood all the easement issues, and based on conversations with several neighbors, I thought that site #3 east (the pull-out) would be the most logical site. I discussed this with the postmaster, Doug Hoover, and he came out and looked at the site. He thought the location was fine but suggested a “drive around” site like they have at Vista del Oro. He told me to write an approval letter and he would sign it. That was done in January (copy attached). I did that mainly to “get the ball moving”, and I never considered it as the final decision on the site. The final decision rests with the community. I think Doug is a very reasonable guy, and I’m sure he will approve any safe site along Fairfield Cir.

“If you would like we can assign?a deadline to consider this option (site #1) exhausted.”?

As I said above, my talk of deadlines was to get some action happening. I have no authority to set deadlines. That is up to the Board and community. ?

“Why do we need to have an attorney write a letter where a friendly conversation can take place?”

I think a friendly conversation should have taken place months ago, but I have had no authority to contact the landowner. Also, friendly conversation isn’t a legal agreement. We must have an attorney write the agreement, and it needs to be recorded in the Recorder Office so some future landowner doesn’t demand that the boxes be removed.

Personally, I think that the cost issues Jimmy discusses in the “Second:” and “Third:” topics should be relatively minor compared to the entire budget of the Road District. Even if some costs are unknown at present, it shouldn’t keep us from moving forward. The District should be able to afford it. The next topic is very relevant to this.

Jimmy’s “Fourth:” topic brings up a can of worms that I have been avoiding. I strongly agree with his statement, “Everything needs to be documented and publicly available”. The following may lead to a painful, but I think ultimately healthy, conversation. It’s important because it involves a lot of our money.

I haven’t seen the governance document for the District, but I suspect that the District hasn’t been doing much in the prescribed fashion. For example, the Board is self-appointed not elected, there has been no annual meeting of property owners, no outside audit of the books that I’m aware of, no published budget (I haven't even heard one), no financial report, etc.

I completely understand that “We are just getting back on track as a board with active members.”. I’m grateful for Jim stepping up and restarting District activity, and I believe he is the type of person who can work with the community to reach a consensus. To accomplish things, one often must ignore some of the rules and just move forward. I’m all for that so long as the majority of the community agrees.

However, I am a bit uncomfortable with the lack of financial transparency in the District. Since moving here in 2019 I’ve paid over $2000 in taxes to the Road District, and I have no idea what has happened to that money or what exactly is planned for it. Jim as President and Jimmy as Treasurer control the purse strings. I greatly appreciate their willingness to serve, but I’m not sure that a father and son controlling the purse strings is the ideal situation. It’s just a matter of appearance. If I were Treasurer (and I have absolutely no desire to be), the first thing I would do is get an outside audit of the books and then provide all homeowners (and landowners if required by the governance document) with a financial statement and projected budget.

One advantage of groups.io is that everything is documented. All the emails are saved on the website and can be accessed by anyone in the group. So, when we vote by email, it’s documented.

How are we going to move forward with the mailboxes? Are we going to wait until we get a decision from the School District before doing anything regarding site #3 west?

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