08/25/05, 8:00 A.M.

Pursuant to the e-mail notification dated August 15, 2005, the August Heartland Apartment Association Board of Directors meeting was held at the above stated date and time at the HAA offices, 2405 Grand, Suite 106, Kansas City, MO 64108.

Board members present were: Lee Harris, Rick Oddo, Chris Erdley, Ward Katz, Jim Adams, and Ralph Lewis. Also present were Scott Buescher (in Doug Price’s absence), Jim Bowers, and Sam Alpert. (Doug Price, Jim Beverlin, Jerry Miller, Ken Riedemann, Dennis Watts, and Bill Charcut were absent.)

Sam Alpert called the meeting to order

The minutes of the last meeting on 06/30/05, which had been previously circulated, were reviewed by those present.

KCMO FIRE INSPECTION FEE SCHEDULE - Sam Alpert reported that the trial is to proceed before Judge Del Muro in Jackson County Circuit Court on September 6th. It is anticipated that substantial new testimony and illustrative charting evidence will be introduced at that time.

JOCO WASTEWATER - Sam Alpert reported that he had been contacted by Michael Press, Johnson County Manager, who offered to settle the disputed accounts on which owners had paid the principal outstanding balances last spring. The offer was received favorably and the settlement was to proceed as soon as possible.

KCMO RENTAL UNIT REGULATION TASK FORCE - Sam Alpert reported that the HAA had received a letter from the KCMO City Manager (Wayne Cauthen) inviting the group to designate a representative to serve on a rental unit regulatory task force. Mr. Alpert had been in contact with the Department of Neighborhood and Community Services to establish that he would represent the HAA in these talks; and he also recommended that Doug Price represent the AAKC. In addition, those present felt that it would be beneficial to attempt to install an IREM representative on the task force as well.

"COMMON CAUSE" - Lee Harris and Sam Alpert reported that the HAA had initiated an effort to consolidate advocacy activities for the major real estate development and construction industry interests. An initial meeting held on May 27th was intended to determine whether there is a common interest of the various organizations (HAA, AAKC, BOMA, IREM, HBA, KCRAR, IFMA, Builders Association, and the Construction Users Council) to form a new community advocacy. It was reported that the concept had received a fairly positive response, which was followed by individual presentations by Lee Harris and Sam Alpert to the AGC Board of Directors and to Derek Ramsay of the REALTORS. An agenda for the next meeting of the coalition (to be scheduled sometime in September) is being developed. The first order of business will be to design an efficient organizational structure and protocol.

KCMO BUSINESS LICENSE - Jim Bowers reported that he had been in recent contact with Donovan Mouton of the KCMO Mayor’s office. Mr. Mouton indicated that he was having difficulty getting the City Attorney’s office to retool the archaic and controversial occupational license statute. He suggested that it would be helpful if Mr. Bowers would undertake critical clarification and updating of the law.

KANSAS CORPORATION COMMISSION (KCC) - Sam Alpert reported that the KCC staff had filed a motion for the Commission to open a "generic docket" intended to question the intent of recently enacted SB 63, which effectively exempted "landlords" who sub-meter water from KCC utility regulation. The motion requests that the "Commission open a general investigation into whether a landlord constitutes a public utility when providing water, gas or electricity to its tenants through a master meter or sub-meters and billing for such services separate from the general rent charges" . It was reported that a coordinated industry response was being orchestrated by NAA and NMHC; and that the HAA had been asked to distribute the model letters prepared by NAA and NMHC staff so that the Commission would receive timely response from a number of Kansas stakeholders.

KANSAS HB 2321 - Sam Alpert requested that members contact KS Rep. Jene Vickrey in support of HB 2321, now in interim committee. Mr. Alpert would transmit an e-mail with critical contact information for support letters.

Lee Harris asked the Board to consider taking aggressive action to introduce legislation that would effectively reign in renegade county assessors in both Kansas and Missouri. He suggested that both states need to statutorily discourage assessors from straying from strict valuation guidelines that are specifically intended to protect taxpayers from arbitrary tax assessments.

Ralph Lewis reported that he had been requested by Tim Rook of the Missouri Bar Association to work on amending the MO Landlord / Tenant statute.

Lee Harris volunteered to invite KS Rep. Kay Wolf, who recently replaced Dean Newton of Leawood, to the next HAA Board meeting.

The next regular meeting of the HAA Board of Directors is scheduled to be held on Thursday, September 29, 2005, 8:00 a.m. at the HAA offices, 2405 Grand, Suite 106, KCMO.