On opening the meeting, Jerry Judson identified three top priorities
for the Board for the upcoming terms of office:
Completion of the acquisition of concessions on the two springs supplying water
to the community.
Determination of alternate sources of
water for the future, whether that might be additional springs or drilling of wells. One concern continues to be the water
outages on the Ridge Road spur of the water system, which could require either additional water sources or increased storage
for that portion of the system.
Qualifying for reduced
rates from ICE for the electricity to run the pumps during the dry season.
Upon proceeding with the nomination and election of
officers for the upcoming term, the rules as understood from the AyA administrator include the following definitions of membership
in the Water Association:
There are founding members, as identified in the original charter of the Association.
There are voting members, who are members of the Association who own property to
which a prevista has been issued and a meter installed. The voting member is the individual identified as the legal owner
of the property or the President of the corporation in the case that the property is held under a corporate name. One exception
to this rule is that if a property is owned by the spouse of a founding member or the President of the corporation is the
spouse of a founding member, the founding member is the voting member. In any case, there can only be one voting member
for a property. Should a voting member who is the President of a corporation holding property not be able to attend
the meeting, his/her vote can be delegated to another individual; to do this requires that the voting member generate a "persona
juridica", i.e., a legal document similar to a Power of Attorney, naming that individual as his/her replacement.
Finally, there are regular members, who are water users that do not
fit into either of the above categories. All that is necessary is an application with certification of status as an adult
water user.
Any member fulfilling at least one of the above
categories (founding, voting, or regular member) can be nominated for and hold office on the Board of the Association.
To be eligible to be nominated for office and to vote in the elections,
it is necessary that the nominee/voter be present at the meeting.
Elections were then held on an office-by-office basis. The results were:
President
Carlos Mesen
Vice-President Jorge
Herrera
Treasurer Jerry
Judson
Secretary Leslie Rantschler
Vocal
Alexander Mesen
Fiscal (non-voting) Hugo Valverde
Following the elections, there was a discussion regarding the shortfall
between receipts and expenditures. It was approved (19-6) by the members present that the Board should approach AyA with
the concept of a tiered payment structure based on monthly water usage, specifically:
0-40 cu. m. 100
colones/cu. m.
41-100 cu. m. 200 colones/ cu. m.
>100 cu. m. 400 colones/ cu. m.
It was noted that the
figure used for community planning in the US is 250 gal. (1 cu. m.) per day, or roughly 30 cu. m. per month.
