MINUTES OF THE MONTHLY BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING

SECTOR 2A AT SNOHOMISH CASCADE ASSOCIATION

7:00 PM   WEDNESDAY    April 11, 2007

 

CALL TO ORDER / APPROVAL OF MINUTES

  1. Jen Stout called the meeting to order at 7:00pm.  Present were Jen Stout, Bill Steenis, Steve Yandl, Brian Schmidt, John Patterson and non Board member Jan Corbally.
  2. Steve Yandl presented the minutes of the March 14th meeting.  Jen Stout phoned Ron Lee who was unable to attend as he had earlier expressed that the March minutes fell short of accurately representing the gist of his statements.  Jen relayed much of the conversation to the Board members present.  Bill Steenis moved to accept the March minutes.  John Patterson seconded.  The motion passed 5 – 1 (Ron Lee’s ‘no’ vote placed by phone).

MAINTENANCE COMMITTEE REPORT

  1. John Patterson shared that we have a quote from Skinner Landscape Services to clear a swath along the east border of the detention pond in our NW corner that would allow placement of a fence along the true border rather than the east edge of a five foot slope easement as the fence is now.  The quote is for roughly $975 before tax.
  2. We also have a Skinner quote for extending the cobblestone pavers about 10 feet at one end and 5 feet at the other end of the trail that connects Snohomish Cascade Drive and 72nd Drive for about $2500 before tax.
  3. We have a bid from Landscapes Unlimited for paving the boat park trail in asphalt from parking area to the crest where one enters the tot play area.  Two options were presented, one for about $3k the more extensive for $5k.  The Board discussed advantages of each option and the asphalt option compared to pavers (bricks).  With the asphalt option, we would be able to simply cap the drain that is now in the trail rather than move it to the side of the trail as we would need to do with the brick option.
  4. John Patterson will be contacting Surface Water Management to get a final confirmation that our moving the fence closer to the detention pond would not violate any requirements they have for the pond.  They have finally confirmed that they reversed their previous position and now believe the control structure for this pond is not in the public right of way, thus making it our responsibility.  They have promised to do one more maintenance cleaning of the control structure as a courtesy.
  5. Steve Yandl made the motion to accept the priority scheme for projects proposed: a) new fence along east border of detention pond in NW corner, b) do the more conservative asphalt paving option at the boat park which will include having Skinner first cap off the existing drain in the trail and if there have been no surprise expenses in those two projects, the Board would review maintenance budget and vote to proceed with  c) extending the pavers on the trail between 72nd Dr and Sno-Casc Dr.  Jen Stout seconded.  The motion passed 5 – 0.
  6. Secretary agrees to write letters to both Beardsley family and Sandberg/Bennett to advise both of the fence plans and give them a chance to pay to have privacy slats included in the project if that is their wish.

BOAT PARK RESERVATIONS

  1. Brian Schmidt reported that the reservation schedule is being kept updated with a copy attached to the backstop fence for quick reference by anyone at the play field.
  2. Steve Yandl forwarded some information that had been passed along by Trina Coleman earlier in the day.  It appeared as if someone had made an attempt to start a fire inside the portable toilet provided by the little league.  Brian will keep the little league informed.

TREASURER’S REPORT

  1. Steve Yandl reports that because our bookkeeper is involved in tax preparation, he isn’t pressing to have financial reports prior to meetings in March/April.  The reports will be posted and Board members alerted when they are prepared.  Copies of the March 30 bank statement were available for inspection.  Ending balance was $78,581 giving us adequate funds for anticipated projects.
  2. There are only three homeowners owing 2007 annual assessments.  Two invoices were sent including two months of interest for late fees.  Since lot 1-0-049 was a foreclosure and the mortgage company is now the title holder, we will wait until they sell the house and then attempt to make appropriate collections from previous owner, new owner and the mortgage company.  Attorney for the mortgage company has been informed of the amounts owing and there remains a recorded lien against the previous owners for 2006 dues.  Treasurer reports that the other two homeowners who have not yet paid were warned of the possibility that a lien might be recorded if the amount due wasn’t paid my May 1.  We discussed whether or not we should actually record a lien if payments were not received or a payment plan agreed upon.  John Patterson made the motion that we file the lien after May 1, Jen Stout seconded and the motion passed 5 – 0.
  3. The suggestion was made that we impose some sort of fine on late payers in future years rather than simply charge interest.  Steve Yandl noted that Gold Creek 1 charges 50% of what the current annual assessment is if homeowners pay late.  This probably would get more prompt payments but it might not be supported by the CC&Rs.

DISCUSSION OF ISSUE TO BE INCLUDED ON SPRING BALLOT

  1. Steve Yandl had earlier distributed a list of questions to possibly be included on the spring ballot in addition to the election of a new Board of Directors.  These were issues brought up by individual homeowners or groups of homeowners, not a set of issues the Board simply decided to ask validation for.  The questions were worded not as actual resolutions but as opinion statements on whether or not members felt certain issues should be investigated and pursued by the Board.
  2. It was determined that doing a ‘limited engagement audit’ that still required a 100% sampling of the transactions in the check register would save us so little money that it wasn’t worth asking for the vote for this time.  After a full audit by the new bookkeeper for 2006, we can work with her to find less costly options for 2007’s audit and include the question on our budget vote ballot that will be sent out around January 1, 2008.
  3. Ron Lee was phoned and he shared that he felt asking the membership to vote on attempting to restrict fireworks was creating a problem that didn’t exist.
  4. The proposed issues that remained after the discussion follow:
    1. Should the Association investigate the possibility of hiring a security patrol in partnership with one or more neighboring associations?
    2. Should the Association consider purchasing and maintaining one or more entrance signs to enhance neighborhood appearance and differentiate us from adjoining neighborhoods?
    3. Should the Association consider a prohibition of or limitations on the use of fireworks, beyond existing county and state laws?
    4. Should a fine schedule be established for members who permit their dogs to defecate in the public right of way, common areas, or a neighbor’s lot and then fail to promptly remove and properly dispose of the waste?
  5. Jen Stout moved to put the above issues on the spring ballot.  Bill Steenis seconded.  The motion passed 5 – 1 (Ron Lee’s ‘no’ vote placed by phone).
  6. There was discussion of adding one more question to clarify the number of times a boat or RV might be ‘temporarily’ parked in a driveway or otherwise in front of a house for the allowed max of 72 hours.  This would be similar to the Mill Creek CC&Rs where they define ‘occasional’ as two times per month.  As we already have a fairly detailed explanation in the ‘Rules and Procedures of the Architectural Control Committee’ this issue will not be added to the ballot.

YARD OF MERIT

1.      Bill Steenis reports that he could still use more judges but judges for kicking the program off in May for awards in June were ready to go and evaluation sheets were being prepared.

2.      Replacement signs for those broken last year have been picked up and the sign company will be billing the Association.

ANNUAL SPRING MEETING

1.      Jen Stout announced that she has made arrangements for us to have the library at Totem Falls Elementary School starting 6:30pm on May 9 for our annual Spring meeting.

2.      Jen felt that in addition to the usual newsletter reminder about the meeting, she could increase awareness by placing notices door to door.  We discussed paying neighborhood young people to distribute the notices that Jen will prepare.  Steve Yandl made the motion to approve paying the kids (young adults) to do the distribution, John Patterson seconded.  The motion passed 5 – 0.

MEETING ADJOURNED AT 8:25PM