The Annual General Membership and Board meeting held in the gymnasium of
the Tesuque school began about 5:40 PM when a quorum of board members had
arrived. Those present included David Dougherty, Cam Duncan and Carol
Sorenson, Amy Thomas, Annie Laurie Coogan, Bruce and Debbie McAllister, John
McCrory, Jamie Gagan, Jerry Barron, Jane Grey Morrison, County Commissioner
Justin Green, Lynn Pickard and Margo Cutler.
Board co-chair Lynn then opened the meeting and asked all present to introduce
themselves.
The minutes from the previous meeting were approved.
Lynn also read the Treasurer's report from Jeanne Boyles that established that the
current total in the TVCA account is $3253.55, which includes $2143.21 reserved
for legal fees and the remainder available for general purposes.
Richard Renaldo's preliminary report on the BBQ expenses held in October this
year included the information that about $825 had been spent to purchase food
and supplies, and between 150 to 200 meals had been served. The firefighters
were very pleased with the event and about 24 new names and email addresses
were added to the TVCA mailing list. There were 7-8 volunteers who helped with
the set up and several excellent volunteer cooks from Bishops Lodge. Later
discussion about the BBQ centered on the need to recruit more of the newer
TVCA members to help with this important community event. Richard Renaldo
and Cam Duncan have been the organizers for the last eleven years.
Two items were added to the agenda. First, Annie Laurie Coogan asked that a
Venmo account be added so that dues and donations to the organization can
easily be made online. She and Jerry Barron then volunteered to work with Jeanne
to have a Venmo link to TVCA's bank account on the website.
Second, a community member expressed concern that a house in her
neighborhood was being used as an adjunct of a downtown hotel. The concerns
were that it was operating a business in a residential area and also may not be
complying with the County short term rental ordinance. Lynn agreed to look into
the matter and make a complaint if warranted. Further research indicated that the
offer of rental for the house was limited to stays of over 30 days, which excluded it
as a short-term rental, and it's arguable that people renting their properties do
not thereby make them businesses and availing oneself of a website is just one
more way of communicating. Therefore, no further action will be taken.
A discussion of the number of board members and the positions to be filled
resulted in the agreement that several board members have either finished their
terms, have resigned, or have been deemed to have resigned. The bylaws permit
the board to set the number of directors as an odd number of between 5 and 11
and say that any member who has missed three consecutive meets shall be
deemed to have resigned. Members whose terms have expired include Kathleen
Jimenez and Cathie Sullivan. Chris Romero had confirmed to Lynn that he
resigned. Further discussion indicated that the sense of the group is that board
members ought to commit to attending meetings regularly. Cam will contact
Richard Renaldo and Lynn will contact Jake Clemens to see if they could make this
commitment, as both of them might be in a position of having been deemed to
resign. David Dougherty and Margo Cutler volunteered to serve as new board
members if needed. Lynn and Jeanne have agreed to stay on for another term as
co-chair and treasurer respectively. Margo would now fill the recording secretary
position. The members present agreed that Lynn would figure out who would be
serving and for which terms and let us know at a later date the number of board
members to be established and their service dates. We expressed great
appreciation for the long service of Cathie Sullivan as a board member and
instigator and coordinator of the Firewise program.
Under New Community Developments, the planning discussion centered on the
fact that the two required community meetings had already been held, the next
step is for the Hearing Officer to approve the revisions to the overlay district, and
then it should be presented to the Planning Commission and the Board of County
Commissioners for their approval in January or February.
Justin Green brought up the fact that there was still time for Tesuque to meet with
Nate Crail of the Land Use Department regarding the parts of Tesuque that will be
affected by the expected limitations on short term rentals in certain areas. Justin
will try to set up a meeting soon for those who are interested. See item 7 of
Justin's report below.
There were no new code enforcement issues or projects that requested variances
and needed to be reviewed by the Land Use Committee.
Lynn has not heard back on the timing of any of the items recommended by the
Road Traffic Study. She had last heard from the authority whose approval is
needed for the Historical Marker about six months ago. She had requested an
update several days ago but had not yet had a response. She will follow up on all
these issues because road safety is a major concern for the community.
County Commissioner Justin Green had a lot of good information to share about
his first year1s work, and the issues that will particularly impact Tesuque. These
include:
1. The re-opening of the Tesuque Transfer Station December 6th . Re-cycling
will still be accepted and sometimes also hazardous household waste.
2. $250,000 has been obtained by the commissioner for a study of a possible
sewer system for Tesuque that would lead to a downstream treatment
facility on Pojauque Pueblo or maybe Tesuque Pueblo.
3. The possibility of a new fiber optic line for the Chupadero/Rio en Medio
and Rancho Encantado areas.
4. A recent allocation of $375,000 for work to clean up remaining flood
damage in Rio en Medio, restore the trailhead and create flood control
structures for future flood related events.
5. A change to the state film credit tax structure that will allow filming done
on Pueblo lands to also qualify for the 30% film production credit.
6. The possible prioritization of several of the larger projects recommended
by the recent Road Study, such as improvements in the area of Bishop1s
Lodge, work needed in the "Downtown Tesuque11 area and a road widening
project up to Chupadero.
7. The possibility that several census areas in Tesuque that are within 5 miles
of the city limits may be restricted to having no more than 10% of the
housing stock available for short term rentals.
Rachel White was not able to attend the meeting and had sent in her Firewise
Report, which Lynn presented. The Tesuque community expended over $250,000
and almost 1700 hours in fire mitigation last year, which was an increase by
individual land owners over the previous year. Reports required by the Firewise
program have been submitted or will be submitted. Projects to be worked on next
year include encouraging more people to report their efforts and expenditures,
and obtaining a chipper for use next fall.
Jerry Barron reported that the first Tesuque Clean-up Day in the section of the
road by Bishop's Lodge itself had gone very well. There were about 25 volunteers
who worked for two hours each and cleaned up trash on both sides of about 1.5
miles of Bishops Lodge Road. The county had donated trash bags, gloves and
safety vests and then picked up about 60 large bags afterwards. In the future the
county would like the clean-up days not to be scheduled on Sundays. Snow led to
the cancellation of the second date and now Jerry expects that the next one will
be in March.
The dates for the TVCA meetings in 2024 shall be February 26th , May 6th ,
September 23rd and December 2nd. The February and September meetings will be
board meetings, and the other two will be combined board and general
membership meetings.
Bruce McAllister reported that the website seems to be working well, though he
is still trying to refine one line of communication.
Jerry Barron will work with Bruce and should be pleased with the reception by the
community of the website he designed. The addition of a Ven mo link is another
good idea.
The meeting was adjourned just after 7 PM.