MINUTES OF THE MONTHLY BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING

SECTOR 2A AT SNOHOMISH CASCADE ASSOCIATION

7:00 PM   WEDNESDAY    March 14, 2007

 

CALL TO ORDER / APPROVAL OF MINUTES

  1. Jen Stout called the meeting to order at 7:06PM.  Present were Board members Jen Stout, Bill Steenis, Steve Yandl, and Brian Schmidt as well as homeowner Jason Warner.  Board member Trina Coleman arrived a few minutes later and Board member Ron Lee arrived a few minutes after that.
  2. Steve Yandl presented the minutes of the February 13, meeting.  Jen Stout made the motion to accept the minutes, Brian Schmidt seconded.  The motion passed 4 – 0.

DISCUSSION, SPECIFIC LEASE APPROVAL

  1. Secretary confirmed that approval had been made on March 9, 2007 for the rental/lease of the home with lot ID 3-0-044 for the time period April 15, 2007 to April 15, 2009.
  2. Jason Warner was given an opportunity to address some concerns he had and pose some questions.
  3. Mr. Warner assured the Board that during the appeal and approval process he had done nothing underhanded and shared that he felt some of the emails coming from the Board, specifically Steve Yandl were not appropriate.  Explanations were shared on why doing due diligence resulted in the challenges to statements made and paperwork or email sent.
  4. Trina Coleman shared the perspective of the Architectural Control Committee.  The ACC felt that this approval didn’t represent a response to a severe hardship and that would typically be the only reason to permit a rental or lease which, according to the CC&Rs, are not allowed unless the Board determines a severe hardship exists or grants an exception or variance for other criteria that they determine appropriate.
  5. Mr. Warner shared his desire for the time limit for a lease approval to be longer than the two years established by the Board as part of the ‘Rules and Procedures of the Architectural Control Committee’.

DISCUSSION, PERCEPTIONS OF THE BOARD

  1. Ron Lee shared with the Board that the feedback he was getting from others was that we were petty, mean spirited gossips and worse.
  2. Ron felt that our harsh treatment to those who might break the rules, present the Board with false information to get what they want or put unreasonable demands on the Board was completely unjustified.
  3. Ron left the meeting early as he had finals to study for.

MAINTENANCE COMMITTEE REPORT

  1. John Patterson was home recovering from knee surgery but available on cell phone if we had questions.  He had provided an emailed summary report earlier.  Steve Yandl gave the report based on John’s notes.
  2. The company bidding to do the boat park trail from parking lot to play area in asphalt apparently felt the job was too small and failed to mail a proposal.  The bid from Skinner to do the trail with pavers would be approximately $4500 including tax.  Some felt we should investigate other options or get additional quotes as the cost seemed a bit high for a fairly short trail.  More significantly, Board members were concerned that if we lost our debate with Snohomish County Surface Water Management over who had responsibility to maintain the control structure in our NW corner pond, we might inherit a surprise maintenance expense and want to postpone a discretionary improvement such as the boat park trail and the other partially improved trail between 72nd Drive and Snohomish Cascade Drive.  Jen Stout made the motion that we obtain a second bid for pavers as part of our due diligence and also that we postpone awarding the bid until after we’re certain we don’t have to spend some large amount on detention pond maintenance in the current year.  Steve Yandl seconded the motion.  The motion passed 5 – 0.
  3. Maintenance committee has had the surveyor locate the true property line along the west edges of lots 2-1-012, 2-1-013 and 1-1-001 and is waiting for a quote from Town and Country Fence for placing a cyclone fence along the actual property line rather than the edge of the slope easement where the original common area fence was placed.
  4. Skinner has been asked to make some suggestions and provide quotes for planting replacement trees along Snohomish Cascade Drive in spots where trees have been damaged or removed or where there may have been inadequate plantings at the start of the development.

ARCHITECTURAL CONTROL COMMITTEE REPORT

  1. Trina Coleman reported that she had written a notification letter to owners of lot 1-0-032 regarding items visible from in front of the house.  Trash and recycle bins have been screened but Trina needs to do a follow-up to take care of a few other items on the side of the house.
  2. Trina had to send one more follow-up letter to homeowners at 1-0-077 giving them a final 10 days to correct a compost pile issue in their back yard.
  3. Trina had sent a letter to Don and Deborah Armstrong advising them that the Board had granted a variance to allow them to keep their unapproved shelter over their pleasure boat on the side of the house until April 1, 2007 but no later.  The letter advised that a fine of $100 might be imposed after that date if there was no compliance.  While this fine is well below the $500 per day maximum recited in the CC&Rs, it is above the standard $25 per day given in the Rules and Procedures of the Architectural Control Committee for routine violations so Trina wanted the Board to review that the infraction was sufficiently severe to warrant the higher tier of fine.  The Snohomish County Planning and Development Services had been contacted to see if such structures were exempt from the side lot line setbacks which are 5 feet in a PRD-9600 zone such as we are.  According to Neil Anderson at PDS SCC 30.23.100(2) makes it clear that such structures are prohibited within the setback.  He confirms that temporary tent type structures are not an exempt structure.  He pointed out that the fine that would be imposed by the county to insure compliance would also be $100 per day in residential situations.  Trina Coleman moved that the Board verify the level of $100 per day for fines and that if the structure is not removed by April 1, 2007, fines should commence on April 2, 2007.  Bill Steenis seconded.  The motion passed 5 – 0.
  4. Steve Yandl passed along a paint job approval request from the Keene family earlier in the day.
  5. Jen Stout asked for follow-up on two paint situations discussed at earlier meetings (two tone house, bright orange door situation).  Trina said she had no information and would need to report on progress at a later time.

TREASURER’S REPORTS

  1. Steve Yandl reported that the financial reports hadn’t yet been received from the bookkeeper but will be posted to the web site when they arrive.
  2. Steve Yandl reported that on the budget ratification vote, 163 voted to ratify the budget and 7 voted no and two ballots had no indication for ratification.  We got 136 proxy awards to the Board for 2007.
  3. We confirmed that Jen Stout will line up Totem Falls Elementary school for our annual meeting in May.
  4. Steve Yandl asked if there were any ideas for additional items to be voted on my the membership in addition to approval for a more limited annual audit of year 2006 and the ideas already floated to the group like a fireworks prohibition, contributing to a security patrol and time limits on temporary parking of RVs and boats.  Jen Stout suggested we might vote to see if the membership was willing to pay to have an outside agency handle CC&R enforcement issues.  Other than the audit question, issues will be presented to obtain opinions of the majority rather than to effect an actual immediate change.
  5. Steve Yandl reported that the Surface Water Management keeps postponing replacement of the combination locks on the detention pond gates which are now so corroded they can’t operate.  Steve made the suggestion that in anticipation of the county continuing to not correct the problem, we should have a decent set of bolt cutters and two high end replacement locks on hand.  Cost for adequate bold cutters would be about $80 and combination type security padlocks should be less than $30 each.  Steve made the motion that we approve such a purchase.  Jen Stout seconded the motion.  Motion was approved 5 – 0.
  6. A dozen late invoices were sent out.  Several checks have already been received.  We will probably have to treat the recorded lien for 2006 dues and part of 2007 dues as bad debt for lot 1-0-049 where there was a March foreclosure auction.  Steve Yandl has written to the law firm representing the mortgage company that took ownership of the property to attempt collection of the remainder of 2007 dues.

BALLFIELD RESERVATIONS

  1. Trina Coleman asked Brian Schmidt if he had paperwork from SSLL yet as she has observed a fair number of people practicing in mid afternoons.
  2. Brian had tracked down the VP of baseball, sent an email and received a good response that indicates we may get required paperwork and get the portable toilet installed in a timely manner.
  3. It was suggested that we attach a current schedule to the back of the backstop fence the same as Gold Creek 1 does to make it easy for coaches, players and parents to confirm who has reservations for the field and a particular time.  The idea would be to simply use a tie to clip a copy to the galvanized fence.
  4. It was also suggested that if a Sector 2A resident who also happens to be a coach has his team practicing on the field prior to the Association receiving the proper paperwork (document showing the HOA as a secondary named insured on the league insurance policy), the coach should be informed that he/she is the one liable and the team is playing at their own risk.  If kids are in uniform and it’s clear this is a practice tied to a league, the Board was in favor of remaining firm on the requirement that paperwork be in place before any practice or game, even if the coach happens to be a resident.
  5. Brian will get some sort of notification on a sheet reviewable at the field reminding organized groups they need permission (to have a valid reservation of the field), prior to practice or games.  SSLL will be reminded on the need for insurance and other paperwork, setup and maintenance of the portable toilet and the need to haul away their own trash.

EASTER EGG HUNT

  1. Trina Coleman shared the plans for the Easter egg hunts to be held at the boat park on March 30 and 31.
  2. Trina has acquired 300 eggs for the evening hunt on the 30th for the older youngsters.  About 60 eggs are stuffed with certificates for special prizes, most are stuffed with candy.  Trina is still hoping for more volunteers to help with both hunts.  Prep for the evening hunt will begin about 6:30pm and the actual hunt will begin at 7:30pm.  Trina is trying to get the word out that youngsters need to bring flashlights as well as Easter baskets.
  3. The hunt on Saturday the 31st will begin at 10:00am with prep starting around 8:30am.  Our hunt is one of 13 the church is putting together with area communities.  The church will be providing between 500 and 1,000 stuffed eggs for this hunt.
  4. About $130 has been spent by Trina so far.  She has eggs for the evening hunt, disposable serve ware and she will be picking up cake.

YARD OF MERIT

  1. Bill Steenis reported that the program will hold off and begin in May rather than April because the weather just hasn’t been conducive to sprucing up yards.
  2. Bill will be sending out email to former judges to get volunteers for a two month span.  Bill’s target is to have at least 4 judges each month to get fair evaluations.
  3. Bill reported that 43 homes got awards last year.  He will be writing up something for the newsletter.
  4. Bill was planning to pick up replacement signs in the next couple weeks.

MEETING ADJOURNED AT 9:20PM