MINUTES OF THE MONTHLY BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING

SECTOR 2A AT SNOHOMISH CASCADE ASSOCIATION

7:00 PM   WEDNESDAY    July, 13, 2005

 

CALL TO ORDER / APPROVAL OF MINUTES

  1. Jen Stout called the meeting to order at 7:15 pm.  Present were Jen Stout, Bill Steenis, Steve Yandl, John Patterson and Les Ostermeir.  Also present was Brian Skinner of Skinner Landscaping.
  2. Steve Yandl asked to waive formal reading of the minutes from the June Board meeting which had not been edited from the distributed version which was also posted on the Association web site.  There were no objections.  John Patterson moved to accept the minutes, Jen Stout seconded and the motion carried 5 – 0.

LANDSCAPE MAINTENANCE COMPANY, BRIEF CHAT

  1. Brian Skinner wanted to briefly address concerns expressed over a potential fuel surcharge clause in his proposed 2006/7 contract.  He had put the clause in his proposal to protect himself and still keep proposed pricing low for a two year contract.
  2. Brian has agreed to remove that clause from the proposal.  It was suggested that he increase the pricing to cover his costs based on his best estimates of where costs will be over the two years.
  3. Board members made it clear to Brian that should fuel or some other major costs take an unpredicted significant upswing, we would prefer re-negotiating the existing contract instead of one party or the other giving 30 days notice that they want out.  Such negotiations would require that Brian divulge some details of his cost breakdown but we’re not going to set up a detail oriented monitoring scheme.  The Board wants to avoid surcharges that might be arbitrary but also appreciate that a two year contract (which is what is desired) might be tough to quote if we’re not a little flexible.
  4. John Patterson made a follow-up inquiry regarding his proposal to replace several areas of lawn in the north corners of the neighborhood that are somewhat detached with kinnikinnik (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi) as a minimal maintenance ground cover.  Brian suspected that savings on mowing would probably balance the cost of putting the material in but he pointed out that lack of sprinkler coverage means the grass goes dormant much of the summer.  The plus is that the kinnikinnik or other drought tolerant grass would look better than brown grass.  Brian was asked to provide a bid to make that change.
  5. Brian mentioned that he has suggested to Bill Malowney that we replace the fungal infected dying Junipers in the center islands with a more hardy evergreen shrub, cotoneaster.
  6. Brian advised that if members call with concerns about runners and shoots from Quaking Aspens in common areas we could advise them to purchase root barriers that could be put under the surface along the fence line.  The runners are surface roots that will be diverted by the commercially available barrier and the trees will not be damaged.

TREASURER’S REPORT

  1. Amy Key was unable to attend but she had emailed financial reports and comments to other Board members.  Reports should be considered part of the minutes and will be posted along with the minutes on the web site.
  2. Amy indicated in her email that the Association had paid PUD for street light electricity through June, so we would not be getting a refund when the PUD began their new practice of billing each individual customer beginning at $1.69 per house per month.
  3. One lien was filed for 2006 homeowners assessments.
  4. None of the Board members were interested in investigating options to renew the CD representing our long term capital replacement fund with anything longer than a one year cycle.  We might get a slightly higher return rate but also wouldn’t be able to renew and potentially higher rates after a year.

ARCHITECTURAL CONTROL COMMITTEE REPORT

  1. Les Ostermeir inquired whether Board members wanted to receive updated status reports in his Excel workbook format.  Since the majority of the time, the report is a set of simple paint colors that were approved, distribution of the report might be a waste.  Steve Yandl said he would like to get the report for Secretary’s files to facilitate answering questions if situations came up when Les was unavailable to check the report and respond.  Other members didn’t feel they needed to also be copied on the report.
  2. Les stated he thought it would be beneficial to do a mailing in addition to the newsletter where the process for obtaining ACC approval was detailed.  Other Board members didn’t object but didn’t feel this would be any more effective since the same people who ignore the information in the newsletter would fail to read (or retain) a special mailing.  He stated that even though most requests come through by phone to him or email, many members demand his response in writing.  It was pointed out that an email to the member should be sufficient.  Steve Yandl also mentioned that the CC&Rs require that the requests from members be sent by postal mail or directly delivered to the registered office of the Association and he might start demanding that if people want written responses from him.
  3. Les reported that driving through the neighborhood he only saw one house where yard maintenance looked bad in his opinion.  He planned to direct the other ACC members to check out the yard to make sure they had a consensus before any notification of the homeowner.
  4. The issue of plastic sheds was brought up over the past month.  Les will make an effort to see if there are more such sheds visible from the street.

YARD OF MERIT PROGRAM

  1. Bill Steenis reported that the program is going well.  He has a reasonable number of volunteers to judge and to move signs to the yards of new winners when awards are made.  He can use more volunteers and we will continue to advertise in the newsletter.
  2. Bill has a new information (instruction) packet to simplify the job for judges.
  3. Bill asked Steve Yandl if he could make an updated version of the neighborhood map with house numbers to include annotations of yard of merit winners by month to make it easier for the sign moving crews and judges.  Steve agreed to update the map.

ONGOING BUSINESS – ROOFING MATERIALS

  1. Steve Yandl presented the request to use alternate roofing materials from Gerard and Karen Davis.  They had delivered information packs and samples of a product by Certainteed called Presidential Shake TL which would be their preference of material to use in replacing their problem roof which was done in “Fire free slate-like” roofing approved by Leavitt in 1998.  The material currently on their roof is damaged and needing replacement within the year and has been removed from the market.
  2. Board members were all impressed with the appearance and specifications of the Presidential Shake TL.  This material is approved by Board rule in Mill Creek and approved by many other Associations where there are high end homes.
  3. It was agreed that at the earliest possible opportunity, we should ask for a vote to amend the CC&Rs so that the restriction on roofing materials ends with the words “…or such other materials as the Board may from time to time designate by rule as being appropriate.”.  We will ask that Betty Malowney continue to investigate roofing materials and the Board will inform the membership of the planned list of rules and acceptable materials. 
  4. The initial plan would be to ask the membership to vote on this issue using the same ballots sent out for the vote on budget ratification and proxy awards.  The importance of the vote will be emphasized regularly in the newsletter between now and then.
  5. Steve Yandl reported that in response to last month’s newsletter request for opinions on acceptable roofing materials, three people have emailed positive suggestions.  Nobody has contacted the Board to say they felt any specific material would not be acceptable.  Resident Michael Haight who has his own roofing company confirmed that Presidential Shake TL is first rate material and in character with our neighborhood.

MEETING ADJOURNED BY JEN STOUT AT 8:30 PM