MINUTES OF THE MONTHLY BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING

SECTOR 2A AT SNOHOMISH CASCADE ASSOCIATION

7:00 PM   WEDNESDAY    November, 8, 2006

 

CALL TO ORDER / APPROVAL OF MINUTES

  1. Jen Stout called the meeting to order at 7:12pm.  Present were Jen Stout, Steve Yandl, Brian Schmidt, John Patterson and Trina Coleman.
  2. Steve Yandl presented the minutes from the October meeting.  John Patterson commented that the re-aiming of the lights at the boat park mentioned in those minutes had been completed.  John Patterson moved to accept the minutes, Jen Stout seconded.  The motion passed 5 – 0.

MAINTENANCE COMMITTEE REPORT

  1. John Patterson asked that we review the fines assessed against Dan and Terry Howard and determine if there should be any reduction for mitigating circumstances before they were invoiced.  It was pointed out that if we considered the date repairs were completed to be the date Dan presented the invoice to prove the work had been done by a licensed contractor (October 26), the time span from the first attempt to deliver the certified letter (August 27, 2006) would have been 60 days and fines would total $750(30 days at $25 per day).  Although the demand for the invoice was made quite clear, the gate removal and fence repair had been observed and appeared to be adequately completed on October 13.  Considering the corrective action completed on October 13 would result in fines of $450(18 days at $25 per day).  A sample invoice for the fines(invoice # 1-0-018-F1) was presented that included a notation advising if the fine were not paid in full by December 15, 2006 that the Board of Directors might file a lien and all admin costs would be added to the amount due.  John Patterson made the motion to utilize the invoice with fines kept at just $450, Jen Stout seconded and the motion passed 5 – 0.
  2. John commented that one of the owners advised that they needed to remove gates from common area fence had complied by securing the fence with a new board.  He was instructing Skinner to paint the new board.  John reported that on his most recent check, functional gates remained at lots 1-0-027, 1-0-028 and 2-1-012.  It was brought to John’s attention that there are likely also gates at 3-0-105 and 2-1-001.  John reported that unless there were objections from the Board, he would be instructing Skinner to secure those gates (of homeowners who had received certified letters and are past the 60 day cutoff given in those letters) and send an itemized bill so we might consider any needed special assessments.  The homeowner at 2-1-001 had contacted the Secretary and indicated that they were preparing an argument on why they should not be expected to repair fence boards damaged by a weed-whacker in addition to removing a gate.  It was agreed that John would inform the homeowners at 2-1-001 that the argument itself needed to have been received and ruled on by the board within the 60 day timeframe allowed for the remedy and that simply letting the Board know they were working on a presentation would not necessarily be enough to prevent fines from commencing (fines of $25 began accruing from October 26).
  3. John reminded the group that homeowners with plantings that obstructed pedestrians on the sidewalk or extended into, through or over the common area fence should prune those plants or the Association would have the work done.  John asked if there were any objections to him doing the work himself or at least as much as he could manage.  Steve Yandl made the motion to allow John to do as much of that job as he safely could, Trina Coleman seconded and the motion passed 5 – 0.
  4. John informed the group that he had contacted a total of three landscape maintenance contractors for bids on our maintenance contract.  Since Skinner Landscape Services had a second year provision in our contract with them (includes a 5% increase) we would have to give 30 days written notice to Skinner if we were to change.  Only one of the three responded and the pricing offered was higher than what we will be paying Skinner after the increase.  At this point, John is satisfied that Skinner is providing service at competitive prices.
  5. John reported that he had spoken to the owner at 3-0-050 who agreed to correct a situation where soil or mulch had pushed some common area fence boards out at the bottom.  The homeowner agrees to pull back the dirt and nail fence boards back in place.

ARCHITECTURAL CONTROL COMMITTEE REPORT

  1. Trina Coleman reported that the ACC had met Tuesday October 7.
  2. Approval had been given to Kometanis to change the location of a fence.  Approval was to be given to Tim Rizzo to cover their patio as per his submitted plans.
  3. A letter was sent to homeowners at 2-1-019 asking that they not regularly store their RV in the driveway for sustained periods.  Since warnings have gone out in the past, this warning indicated that fines could commence right away with any future infractions.
  4. A letter was sent to homeowners at 3-0-007 advising that the shelter with canvas roof over their boat was not acceptable and needed to be removed to avoid fines.
  5. A letter went out to homeowners of lot 3-0-099 advising them that they had until May 31, 2007 to repair a broken driveway.  It was recognized that fault for the problem was probably not the homeowner’s and the weather is not ideal for such a repair right now, which is why they’re being given a longer time span to comply.
  6. Trina is sending a follow-up letter to homeowner 3-0-117 inquiring about when certain items on the back of the house were actually constructed and asking for the plans that should have been submitted to the ACC and approved prior to the start of construction.
  7. Trina reported on some lingering issues with paint colors.  She plans to phone and try to work with homeowners at 3-0-053 to see if a better color match can be obtained between stucco and wood wall colors.  Trina also heard some negative comments on the door color for homeowners at 2-1-015.
  8. Trina was encouraged to set a final date for the homeowners at 2-1-007 to replace T111 siding with cedar.  The suggested date was May 31, 2007.

TREASURER’S REPORT

  1. Steve Yandl made sure everyone had received the finance reports for the month generated by Jennifer Russell.  Those reports should be considered part of the minutes.
  2. Our bank statement for the month ending October 31 was shared with the group.  The ending balance on that statement was $36,049.05.
  3. Looking at anticipated expenses based on the previous year pattern, subtracting the $8,645 that belongs in our long term capital improvement fund and paying for our nearly completed 2005 audit should get us to the end of January when we start receiving dues payments.  Because we postponed the projects to enhance the entryways into the neighborhood, we anticipate a bit of a cushion which we can use to augment our operating reserve provided we don’t experience a lot of downed trees or other emergencies that crop up in Fall and Winter.
  4. Steve plans on transferring the funds to the long term capital improvement fund when the CD with those funds matures in January 2007.  Steve asked if there were any objections to renewing this CD for 6 a 6 month period rather than a year so both CDs mature about the same time, giving us the option to switch banks if we’re still interested in Sterling Savings at that time.  Steve pointed out that even if we stay with CityBank, it makes sense to keep our operating reserve in a market rate account rather than a CD as advised my bank manager, Jason, at Sterling Savings.  There were no objections and the plan is to continue to investigate our banking options in the interim.
  5. Steve asked to make sure everyone had received the emailed copy of the latest proposed budget.  The only changed made from the draft discussed at the October meeting was to reduce the landscape maintenance line to accurately reflect the amount of the new Skinner contract and shifted that excess to the improvement and repairs lines.  Steve submitted that if there were no objections, this would be the budget we base our 2007 assessment on and the budget sent to the entire membership for their ratification.  John Patterson asked about the $150 for the yard programs and Steve responded that was down from the $350 we had previous year since most of the needed signs were purchased and we only needed to replace broken signs if they don’t hold up.  Trina Coleman asked about the lack of funds for special events like an Easter egg hunt.  Steve suggested that if and when such events were planned, we could pull money from reserves and make an adjustment for 2008 but didn’t feel we should budget for events that were not yet planned.  There were no objections to the budget after the discussion.
  6. Steve reported that the audit for 2005 appears to be moving along and is probably near complete.  One concern is that the auditors discovered a number of checks with only one signature instead of two and one of those checks might have been a duplicate payment for yard program signs.  The double payment issue will be checked out and resolved but we need to also investigate ways to assure that our requirement for two signatures is always met.
  7. Steve confirmed that everyone had received a copy of the adjusting journal entries proposed by the auditors and already made.

MEETING ADJOURNED AT 8:17PM