COMBINED ANNUAL MEETING
JONATA SPRINGS RANCH HOMEOWNER’S ASSOCIATION
AND
BOBCAT SPRINGS MUTUAL WATER COMPANY
January 10, 2026
10:00 am
Buellton Recreation Center
Minutes
10:00 am
Call to
Order, and President’s Remarks
Verification
that previous month’s minutes were reviewed, approved and distributed
electronically.
The
President verified that a quorum was present.
COMMITTEE
REPORTS
Firewise: Kim
Pananides,
Firewise
Committee report as follows.
Acknowledgements: The committee wishes to extend sincerest thanks and
kudos to our community members for the ongoing support of the important efforts
being made to work toward a more fire resilient environment in the ranch. We
should all celebrate the great strides that we have made together! Let’s keep
going in 2026.
We also wish to thank some
individuals: committee chairs Jeanette Webber and Stacey Kiss, for their
assistance where our goals for road, trail and emergency exits overlap; Jim
Powell, JSR’s webmaster for over 20 years, for his efforts in updating and
expanding the fire safety information on the website; the Luke family for
maintaining and sharing their emergency exit with all of us (gratitude to the
Pohls in El Rancho Bobcat, also); Dave Mexico for sharing his wealth of
knowledge about JSR’s history and for assistance with the Luke’s exit
gate; Paul Matsukas with BSMWC for his
help with water-related details; Brian Olesen for allowing us to stage the
roll-off container project on his lot in the Spring and the Fall; Katie Candy
and Jon Phelps for their cost-saving help with compacting the roll-off
container contents numerous times, and to Katie for beautifully restoring the
area where the containers were parked for weeks; the Pinho and Klein families,
our two newest members, for jumping right in on fire safety clearing; and to
everyone who participated in the fuel reduction projects this year and / or
conducted their own defensible space clean-up / removal and home hardening
improvements, and to those who submitted their FWC reporting in 2025!
Kim is deeply grateful to the
committee members who accomplished so much this past year: Judi for the amazing
first newsletter, along with creative suggestions and solutions throughout the
year; Matt for his professional assistance (pro bono), for the suggestion and follow-through
on the PG&E project; Joan for thoughtful, “big picture” ideas and in-depth
research; Lynette for starting the flammable plant research series. I’m so very
fortunate to be volunteering for JSR with all of you!
n Please forgive us if anyone was
omitted here – we are still ever so appreciative of all the support and
assistance that the committee has received!
1)
FireWise Community (FWC) Status for 2026: FireWise USA and Cal Fire have
approved our continued designation as an FWC. Please note: As a community, we
need to focus on improving the number of members who report their vegetation
removal / fire safety improvements and education reporting accomplished, in
order to maintain our status in the future (we are brainstorming ideas to
assist!).
2)
Neighborhood Wildfire Protection Plan (NWPP): As was reported in our brand-new
newsletter last weekend, Rob Hazard, the recently retired SBCFD Fire Marshal,
will be creating this customized plan for JSR. After making numerous types of
assessments of the ranch overall, as well as on the lot level for members who
participate (and at no charge for lot evaluations), he will draft our NWPP,
also drawing on his 36 years of professional firefighting and wildfire planning
experience. The plan will more appropriately guide our fire preparedness
projects going forward; the idea is to target our efforts to increase the fire
safety within the ranch on various fronts, including vegetation management and
creating sufficient defensible space. Rob’s expertise in all things
wildfire related makes him the perfect choice for creating this in-depth plan.
The committee identified this project as the best way to insure we are
addressing important factors such as ease of ingress and egress during
emergency evacuations, adequate water supply for fighting wildfires and so
forth. Pinpointing areas of great concern and finetuning projects that address
these hazards will ultimately be our best defense for ensuring that members
will retain insurance for our properties. Participation of all members will
increase the pertinent data that Rob has to work with and will increase the
plan’s effectiveness. We ask that all members sign up for a property evaluation
when the time comes, even if your lot has previously been evaluated.
Rob was scheduled to give his PowerPoint presentation about the NWPP at
our meeting today but illness prevented his
attendance; we will reschedule his presentation to coincide with a social event
for JSR members very soon.
3)
Fuel Reduction Projects: Both events were very popular and had exceedingly successful
outcomes: Spring = 28 tons of vegetation were removed; this project was paid in
full by Santa Barbara County Fire Safe Council’s grant funds. Fall = 46 tons
removed, a new community record!
4)
PG&E Tour of JSR: The committee toured the ranch with a representative from
PG&E to learn more about their installations in the ranch and to better
understand what is expected of the company, and what is left to their customers
to maintain around their equipment and power poles. A set of notes detailing
what to watch for, where to report concerns and which responsibilities are
whose was distributed to the membership after this tour.
5)
Newsletter: Our
newsletter will keep the membership posted about projects that the committee is
working on or has completed, include suggestions for increasing fire
preparedness on JSR lots, and other timely information. Everyone is invited to
offer suggestions, to forward material that may be shared and to submit
questions that they’d like to see answered in a future edition, as space
allows.
6)
Emergency Exits Review: We continue to monitor these two exits; a search for
additional paths that may be developed for evacuation purposes is included in
the scope of work that will be covered by the NWPP.
7)
Road Setback Reviews: More members kept their road setbacks in great shape this
year without being asked, and more members responded quickly when some
compliance issue or other was brought to their attention. This is fantastic
progress and much appreciated!
The committee asks that all members keep this clearing responsibility
top-of-mind by reviewing their own setbacks and attending to any needed
clearing on a quarterly basis at a minimum, all year round. As a reminder, the
devastating LA fires occurred at this time last year, so it’s necessary to be
prepared at all times.
8)
Fire Preparedness Information on JSR Website: In an ongoing process, Jim Powell has
updated and added fire safety information to the JSR website to ensure that
it’s available to all members at any time. The committee has offered some
suggestions for this project.
9)
Expanded Core Committee in 2025: Judi Stauffer, Matt Cave, Joan Hartmann, Lynette Hulbert,
Kim Pananides (chair); Dave Clark (board liaison)
10)
Please Consider Joining the Committee: We’d love to add at least one more core member to steer
evacuation planning, along with the support of other committee members; ideally
this member would be interested in participating in the CERT training program.
We also welcome members who wish to assist with any project that is of
particular concern or importance to them. Please get in touch if you’re
interested. (Lynette Hulbert will be taking a break for a while.)
At this
time there was an introduction of the general membership.
Finance: Dean
Pananides,
Budget
analysis, JSRHOA and BSMWC and Treasurers Report were included with election
mailout.
General
discussion and Q&A about differences
Roads
Report: Stacey Kiss,
Roads are
in good shape with ongoing repairs like chip sealing and other maintenance
continuing. Roads are being widened to facilitate fire response equipment.
Costs are tracking with Reserve Study estimates.
Acknowledgement
was given for the great work being done on the road signs.
Additional
general discussion regarding roads continued.
Water
Report: Paul Matsukis,
He reported
that both wells are operating correctly.
Arsenic
blending is working well.
There are new State requirement regarding testing for PFAS.
ARC
Report: Nan Freeman,
Nan spoke
of the need to populate the ARC committee. She offered support and guidance to
any volunteers’
Trails
Report: Jennett Weber,
Trails are
in good shape. Insurance is being maintained for the Trail Riders Group and
private property owners who allow horse trails to cross their property.
Gate
Report: Mike Ornee,
The gate
is operating correctly now that the big rat is gone. Mike asked that nobody disable
the gate by switching the power off. That feature is for emergency use only.
Contact Mike directly anytime 24/7 if you need the gate held open.
At this
time Dave Clark advised that the following resolution be voted on:
“Resolved, that any excess of
membership income over membership expenses for the fiscal year ending 1/31/25
shall be applied to future membership assessments in accordance with IRS
Revenue Ruling 70-604”
The
resolution was brought forward and seconded. The attending membership voted in
favor of the resolution with no opposing votes.
Board of
Directors Candidate Statements were discussed
OPEN FORUM
DISCUSSION
ELECTION
RESULTS:
The
following were elected to the board:
Andrew
Hicks
Dave Clark
Dean
Pananides
Mike Ornee
John
Lowell
Next
meeting:
Feb. 25, 2026
6:30 pm
Michael & Dorothy ORNEE
1375 Cougar Ridge Road
Buellton, Ca 93427
ADJOURN:
11:30