The appointment of a new board member to the Recreation Open Space and Housing Foundation brought questions about the organization’s spending and no vote at Tuesday’s Granby Board of Trustees meeting.
The foundation first approached the Granby board, which votes to approve members of the ROSH board, at the Dec. 10 meeting. The town board denied the approval of ROSH’s recommended candidate 4-3, requesting that the ROSH board recruit applications from residents in Granby Ranch.
At Tuesday’s board meeting, ROSH recommended 10 year Granby Ranch resident Tom Chaffin. Other Granby Ranch residents objected to the appointment, citing what they believe to be the misuse of funds by the ROSH board.
“I have put $11,000 into ROSH and Granby Ranch has gotten zero towards Granby Ranch,” one resident said. “We start looking into ROSH and find out they’re doing dog parks and roofs for the museum. Things that have nothing to do with Granby Ranch.”
Residents in Granby Ranch and Edgewater pay a 1% transfer fee on the second sale of their house and beyond. This money goes to the ROSH Foundation, a nonprofit, which was set up as part of the negotiations related to the annexation of the properties. ROSH’s board then decides where this money is spent according to its bylaws.
“We have to pay this 1% transfer fee or the deal doesn’t go through,” the homeowner continued. “We have no choice and now we have no say.”
Another Granby Ranch homeowner brought up two letters sent to the town board in November from former Granby Ranch developer Marise Cipriani and the Granby Ranch Conservancy Board requesting ROSH be dissolved and the fee removed.
“I would say I’m against appointing anybody to the board at this time until we come up with a solution,” the homeowner said.
Dissolving ROSH would require majority votes by both the town board and the ROSH board, which is why the town has not acted on the letters.
Trustee Natascha O’Flaherty also raised questions about the spending by ROSH, including a check to the developer of Dairy Apartments even though some residents contend the housing, which is not deed restricted, should not considered affordable housing.
“I really don’t think we should vote on this because by putting people on the board, we are condoning these actions,” O’Flaherty said. “I don’t think we can say these are OK.”
Town attorney Nathan Krob emphasized that the town board and the ROSH board are different entities with concurrent authority.
“The ROSH board is designed to be an entirely separate board,” Krob said. “The only role that (the town) board has any sort of control over is the membership and if they’re going to dissolve. The decisions of the ROSH board, whether you condone them or not, have been their decisions.”
The town board ultimately encouraged ROSH to communicate more with the Granby Ranch community. While Trustee Becky Johnson motioned to accept ROSH’s recommendation of Shaffin, there was no second and no vote.
The discussion will continue at the next town meeting with the hope that more members of Granby Ranch come forward as potential board members to better represent ROSH.
In other business:
• The Granby Police Department performed a ceremonial swearing in of its newest officer, David Sofer.
• The board ratified a contract with a security company and approved the consent agenda, including accounts payable and minutes for previous meetings.
• The mayor introduced Granby’s new town manager, Ted Cherry.