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We found this cat in our garage last night. If you are missing a cat please let us know.
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Board meeting
Neighbors, Just a reminder there will be a board meeting tonight at 6 PM at Kevin¡¯s house. 8127 S. Calle Cola Blanca. Hope to see y¡¯all there. Respectfully, Matthew Paddock
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March Board Meeting
Neighbors, We will be having a FERMID Board meeting on Wednesday, 22 Mar 2023 @ 6 pm at Kevin Fitzpatrick¡¯s house located on the corner of Paseo Venado and Calle Cola Blanca. I am attaching the agenda for your review and I¡¯ll post notices at the mail boxes and corner of Fairfield and Paseo Venado. Respectfully, Matthew Paddock
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Dec Board Meeting
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Neighbors, I will apologize up front as we are only giving a week notice. We are going to have a board meeting on 7 Dec 2022, at 6 O¡¯clock at Ricardo¡¯s. An agenda will follow, though we do not have much to work on. We are primarily going to re-appoint our new board members that we initially appointed in July, in accordance with county guidance. We will do an open discussion with everyone to make sure we haven¡¯t missed anything and follow up on any outstanding issues. If you have an agenda item you would like the board to consider, please let me know. Hope to see you there. Respectfully, Matthew Paddock
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Hi fellow Fairfield Estate Members, My name is Gail Pielack. I live at 8186 S Calle Cola Blanca, Hereford, AZ 85615. Feel free to GPS me, so you can see my location. On Monday, August 22nd, my husband and I went to Michigan to bury my mother. On Tuesday, August 23rd, our pet sitter accidentally let our kitty out. Our neighbor across the street caught him on the security cam late into the night on Thursday, August 25th ¡ª with meant he was still in our area. We only found out he was missing when we arrived home on Saturday night, August 27th, and we¡¯ve been walking the neighborhood, calling for him, ever since. If anyone has seen him or has him or took him to a shelter, please let me know. His name is Romeow (the w is silent, of course). He¡¯s super sweet, but he¡¯s very skittish and probably won¡¯t approach anyone without great coaxing. Attached are a couple of photos. Please, any information will be appreciated. Sincerely, Gail L. Pielack, DNP 480-862-4338
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Mailbox Key Found
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Good Evening Neighbors, I found a mail box key left in box 30. I would have left it in the box, but there was mail in it. If this is your key, please let me know. Amanda Paddock
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Tree removal in the easement
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Kevin asked a good question at the last Board meeting that I don¡¯t believe anyone answered. As I recall, the question was if the Board has the right to remove trees in the easement. This is an important question bearing on safety (visibility) and maintenance of the road shoulder. Does the Board have a collection of documents concerning the Road District that they can refer to when questions like that are asked? In my research for the mailbox site, I collected a number of documents, and I would be happy to pass copies on to the Board. I do have a copy of the easement agreement between the Road District and the former owners of the lot at the intersection of Fairfield and Paseo Venado. That was one of the documents that the lawyer for the District examined. His opinion was the Board has the right to put mailboxes in the easement. My interpretation is that could have required removing trees, so I assume that the lawyer¡¯s opinion would be that the Board has the right to remove trees in the easement. But the Board should look at the easement agreement and interpret it for themselves.
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Notice for upcoming FERMID board meeting for 3 August 2022
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Neighbors, Attached is the notice and proposed agenda for the FERMID board meeting to be held at Ricardo's Restaurant in Hereford at 6:00 pm on 3 Aug. Hal Nyander Secretary, FERMID
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Board Meeting
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Neighbors, We will be having a board meeting on the 3rd of August @ 6:00 PM at Ricardo¡¯s. An agenda will be out shortly. The biggest issue we need to address will be to elect 2 board members to fill the 2 seats that will be vacant come November. If you are interested in serving on the board please be present and prepared to speak to the community. The term is 4 years. Looking forward to seeing all of you. Matthew Paddock
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Dogs on Fairfield now
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We just saw three dogs, all similar, maybe golden retrievers, walking down Fairfield toward the gate. Spread the word if you can.
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Minutes for 22 Jun FERMID meeting
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Good evening, Here is our minutes for record and for those who could not attend the meeting. Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns. Hal Nyander FERMID Secretary
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Good Evening Neighbors, It¡¯s a long shot but has anyone seen a calico cat lately. She is an indoor cat that has figured out how to use the doggy door. She has been missing since Saturday night. Amanda Paddock
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Notification of FERMID quarterly meeting
3
Good evening neighbors, Attached is the notification of our quarterly meeting to be held at Ricardos in Hereford on Wednesday 22 Jun 2022 at 6:00 pm. Attached is the notification and agenda for the meeting. See you there, Hal Nyander
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Matthew, thanks for the call for agenda items. That¡¯s a real step forward. The County Resource Manual says that elections are held in November, but I would be in favor of having them at a time to maximize participation so not necessarily November. I¡¯m very sorry to miss the up-coming Board Meeting on Wednesday and miss hearing what Jimmy has found out regarding estimates for chip-sealing the unpaved roads. As I said in an email following the last Board meeting, we shouldn¡¯t be making decisions about our roads until we understand the finances of all options and set long term priorities and goals. My present thought on priorities are as follows: (1) No higher taxes (2) Maintain the trunk roads (Fairfield Cr and Paseo Venado) at a ¡°satisfactory¡± level. Note, I don¡¯t say ¡°excellent¡± level. How are we going to define ¡°satisfactory¡±? (3) If it¡¯s financially realistic on a reasonable timeline, plan to pave (i.e., chip seal) the unpaved roads, probably in stages (4) If it¡¯s financially unrealistic on any reasonable timeline to pave the remaining unpaved roads, then reduce taxes to a maintenance level in the next few years. I spend about 500 hours a year staring down at pavement from my road bike, so I pay pretty close attention to the quality of pavement. We don¡¯t want to let cracks to exist in our roads like shown in the attached Photo 1. Water seeps into the cracks and vegetation starts to grow, and the road starts to deteriorate quickly. The cracks in the road have been sealed in the road shown in Photo 2, and to me, that road is perfectly satisfactory. In my opinion, Fairfield Cr is in excellent shape. It has a few potholes caused by either flaws in the paving or something unusual below the pavement. If you look closely, you can find a few hairline cracks but there are few if any noticeable cracks. There relatively little traffic on Fairfield, a few hundred vehicles a day. I suspect that Fairfield can be maintained at a satisfactory level for at least another decade, perhaps two, fairly inexpensively. The pavement on Paseo Venado is much thinner than Fairfield Cr, and a section of maybe 50 feet long near the intersection with Fairfield should probably be replaced soon. But again, I don¡¯t think it¡¯s going to be a great expense to maintain Paseo Venado. These are just my thoughts. What we need are realistic estimates. Ken
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Hi All, I assume that speed bumps will be discussed at the Board meeting in June. Unfortunately, Sharon and I can¡¯t attend as we¡¯ll be out of state, but I¡¯ll put in my 2 cents worth of discussion. Our HOA in California has been dealing with the issue of speed bump/humps for years. They are unpopular with many people. Recently there was a proposal to install one on a specific street. The Board asked the residents on the street to vote, and of the 17 household on the street, 12 voted no. That was the end of that. Personally, I think they are a good idea so long as they are properly designed for the situation. It¡¯s taken our HOA years to work that out. The first two versions of speed bumps were installed and then removed because they were just too hard of ¡°bumps¡±, even at our speed limit of 15 mph. Photos of the third version, speed humps, are attached. I think these are pretty good and effective. They are only about 2 inches high, maybe less, and they are fine to cross at the speed limit of 15 mph, but you don¡¯t want to cross them faster than that. Obviously, a number of questions must be addressed regarding installing speed bumps/humps on Paseo Venado. To me, one of the key questions is what speed should the bump/hump be designed for? If designed for less than the 25 mph speed limit, what liability issues might we be creating? Ken
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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
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Some options for the unpaved roads
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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.¡± https://www.homeadvisor.com/cost/outdoor-living/tar-and-chip-driveway/ 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,
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Information on Election of Board Members. It's very simple to do it right.
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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 https://www.cochise.az.gov/174/Clerk-of-the-Board. 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
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Questions concerning elections of Special Districts Board members.
-------- Forwarded Message -------- Subject: RE: Questions concerning elections of Special Districts Board members. Date: Thu, 21 Apr 2022 19:00:49 +0000 From: Marra, Lisa M <LMarra@...> To: Ken Cameron <rocks@...> CC: Mattix, Timothy <TMattix@...> I should have listed that, Ken. It¡¯s $250 if the election is cancelled and those people who filed are elected. Or if no one files and it¡¯s cancelled. If it goes to ballot, which hasn¡¯t happened in sometime in your district, it¡¯s approximately $800 as a flat fee. I am on my way out of town but if you have more questions I¡¯m happy to answer them on Monday. L Lisa M. Marra, CERA, CPM Director of Elections 1415 Melody Lane, Building E Bisbee, AZ 85603 520-432-8975 Phone 520-432-8995 (fax) 520-727-1390 (cell) Public Programs...Personal Service www.cochise.az.gov From: Ken Cameron <rocks@...> Sent: Thursday, April 21, 2022 11:58 AM To: Marra, Lisa M <LMarra@...> Cc: Mattix, Timothy <TMattix@...> Subject: Re: Questions concerning elections of Special Districts Board members. CAUTION: EXTERNAL EMAIL* Lisa, thanks for getting back quickly and answering the all the questions. About how much will be the "bill for services"? best, Ken On 4/21/2022 11:48 AM, Marra, Lisa M wrote: Good morning, Ken. I am copying Tim on this email as well. There is no distinction in size of district as it relates to special districts such as yours. The call for the November election will be sent out by Tim around May 5. The Board there will then have to do notices, etc. We send a calendar with some instruction on it. You will have TWO seats up for election in November. Usually these small jurisdictions never go to actual ballot. If the same number, or less than open number of seats run, the election is cancelled, saving you significant cost, and the people are officially elected into the 4 year term. Information for candidates is on the website. https://www.cochise.az.gov/650/2022-Candidate-Filing-Information#nonpartisan They can collect petition signatures, minimum 5 no more than 250 for your district. Or they can run as a write in without those 5 signatures, but, take a risk of not being on the actual printed ballot if you do go to an election. Any candidates that want to run would file the paperwork with me as the filing officer for the County. We take care of all that for districts and send a bill for services. It¡¯s much more cost effective and legally compliant than special districts conducting their own elections. 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. There is currently an open seat due to a resignation. Is the board filling that seat? You want to ensure you always have a quorum or you¡¯ll run into other issues. Lastly, I get concerned when people mention an ¡°open meeting.¡± If the Board meets for any reason, that meeting must be noticed (posted) with agenda and minutes so the public is aware. We always want to avoid breaking any open meeting laws. Tim can answer any questions specific to that. Thank you for asking good questions and being informed! L Lisa M. Marra, CERA, CPM Director of Elections 1415 Melody Lane, Building E Bisbee, AZ 85603 520-432-8975 Phone 520-432-8995 (fax) 520-727-1390 (cell) Public Programs...Personal Service www.cochise.az.gov From: Mattix, Timothy <TMattix@...> Sent: Thursday, April 21, 2022 10:26 AM To: Marra, Lisa M <LMarra@...> Subject: FW: Questions concerning elections of Special Districts Board members. From: Ken Cameron <rocks@...> Sent: Thursday, April 21, 2022 9:23 AM To: Board <Board@...> Subject: Questions concerning elections of Special Districts Board members. CAUTION: EXTERNAL EMAIL* Mr Mattix, We had an open meeting of the FAIRFIELD ESTATES RIMD Board yesterday, and as a result of discussions in the meeting, I have some questions regarding election of Board members. For background, we are a very small Special District consisting of 30 parcels and there are homes on 18 of those parcels. I know that the election of Board members is di
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Minutes for tonight's meeting
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Thanks to all who attended tonight's meeting. If there are neighbors that you know who aren't on this mailing list, please let me know so we can get everyone notified when need be. The minutes for tonight are attached. Hal Nyander FRMID Secretary
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Sat 8:39am
Sat 8:39am