MINUTES OF THE MONTHLY BOARD MEETING

SECTOR 2A AT SNOHOMISH CASCADE ASSOCIATION

7:00 PM   WEDNESDAY  APRIL 13, 2005

 

CALL TO ORDER / APPROVAL OF MINUTES

  1. Tim Rizzo called the meeting to order at 7:12 pm.  Present were Tim Rizzo, Jen Stout, Amy Key, Steve Yandl, Betty Malowney, Bill Steenis, John Patterson, and Bill Malowney.
  2. Steve Yandl informed the group that no corrections had been made to the minutes as presented on the web site and distributed to the group.  He asked to waive a formal reading and there were no objections.  John Patterson moved to accept the minutes, Jen Stout seconded.  The motion was carried 7 – 0.
ARCHITECTURAL CONTROL COMMITTEE REPORT

  1. Les Ostermeir was unable to attend so Steve Yandl presented a paint color request for lot 3-0-079 for review by Architectural Control Committee members present and the Board.  Colors were clearly “earth tone” and there were no objections to approving the plan.  Steve Yandl will send the letter to notify owners.
  2. Steve Yandl presented the updated home business request for approval from the owner of lot 1-0-034.  He commented that personal observation suggests that the actual nature of deliveries involved in the business might differ a bit from the specifics in the request.  Moreover, the letter could be characterized as a notification to the board rather than a request which isn’t really the correct approach.  Finally, the owner in question is not currently a member in good standing of the Association.  Discussion of the issue raised the following points.
    1. Any approval letter must detail more realistically what the Board is basing permission on, to include thresholds for things like the amount of time delivery vehicles are in the street.  To offer an approval with simply referencing the request letter would imply agreement with the scenario(s) described in the request letter which sends the wrong message.
    2. Letter must state that approval is conditional upon the defined parameters and may be revoked should there be observed deviations from the parameters.
    3. Time frame for deliveries might be limited to 5 minutes to 30 minutes but not longer.  Delivery times should be scheduled so as to not conflict with school bus transit through the neighborhood and ideally would avoid peak commute time for working neighbors.
    4. Betty Malowney agreed to create a draft response letter that the group can review before the committee sends a final version to the homeowner.
MAINTENANCE COMMITTEE REPORT

  1. Bill Malowney inquired to see if a copy of Skinner’s new contract had been received at the PO box and it had not.  Skinner has agreed to do a 24 month contract rather than 12 with some contingency options for price adjustments.  Bill will try and get an actual contract copy so we can go over it at the May annual meeting or the June Board meeting.
  2. Bill reported that the ball field is looking good after the fix up maintenenace.
  3. Bill proposed that we set up a discretionary fund for Skinner.  The fund would be limited $1000.00 per year.  Allowed use would be small repairs that are routine but typically not expected (example, sprinkler head replacement).  Bill would review on a monthly basis and would freeze the account if spending was not appropriate in his judgment.  Currently, every single expense of this type requires Bill’s approval which often wastes time and creates extra work.  Steve Yandl made the motion to create this $1000.00 fund, Bill Steenis seconded and the motion carried 7 – 0.
  4. John Patterson made the motion that we replace gravel with soft patch or asphalt, the eastern portion of the short trail connecting Snohomish Cascade Drive and 72nd Drive that runs between lots 3-0-082 and 3-0-083.  The concept would be to mitigate the migration of gravel to sidewalk and street and the resulting risk.  John agreed to table the motion while various options for getting the job done were investigated with regard to feasibility and cost.  John will be checking with the Boy Scouts and Bill Malowney will be checking with Skinner to see what it might cost to do excavation and forms.
  5. Steve Yandl let Bill know that there were several unpainted board sections on the fence at the 72nd Drive tot lot.  Bill has extra paint and said he would take care of it himself.
  6. John Patterson suggested that we consider replacing lawn with a lower maintenance ground cover in the small area that used to be the pump station near the north end of 72nd Drive and also the strip adjacent to the detention pond along the west side of 67th Ave.  Bill will be talking to Skinner to check how this might help ease the maintenance load and resolve the issue of insufficient sprinkler coverage.
TREASURER’S REPORT

  1. Amy Key presented a set of financial reports that should be considered part of these minutes.
  2. Amy checked with the accountants who do our annual audit and they agreed she should go back to December of last year to make a correction, moving assessments billed in that month to unearned income.  Then she will take the income from assessments and allocate it out evenly to the twelve months of the year.  This should make monthly comparisons of income to expenditures much easier to interpret.
  3. There are only five members remaining who have not yet paid their assessments for 2005.
  4. Amy will be getting away from the three to a sheet checks with Quickbooks and ordering the other type where documentation of the check is produced as the check is printed.
SCHEDULING COMMON AREAS REPORT

  1. Jen Stout reported that the reservation system for the baseball field is working well.
  2. South Snohomish Little League has the field for portions of the day, Monday through Friday and Saturdays.  Five to six times this season the Christian League will be using it.  Jen feels time conflicts have worked out.
  3. Jen reports we appear to be getting good support from users hauling away most of their own trash so we don’t exceed our garbage can capacity.
YARD OF MERIT PROGRAM REPORT

  1. Bill Steenis distributed copies of the updated criteria supporting a 10 point system for evaluation where each category would be rated 1 – 10 for a 100 point total.  Criteria were also shared in the April newsletter.
  2. The program would start with five awards with evaluations beginning in May for awards to be made in June.  Winners might retain awards (and award sign) for longer than a month if their score remained consistently high.
  3. Bill Steenis signed up evaluators for the first few months; Betty Malowney and John Patterson for May, Jen Stout for June, John Patterson again for July.  Evaluation sheets will be presented to Steve Yandl prior to the 22nd of the month so newsletter recognition can be given and Steve will contact Bill Steenis to get signs distributed to winners.
ROOFING MATERIALS REPORT

  1. Betty Malowney reported that she would be going to the Everett home show next weekend and would investigate the newest synthetic materials available.
  2. Board members felt the focus of research should be on materials that mimic shake, shingle or tile rather than something like metal roofs.
  3. Tim Rizzo gave Betty the names of several progressive roofing companies in the area who might be willing to provide added information on the newer materials.  Ideally, they might be able to provide samples so members could actually see to evaluate.
REPORT ON ELECTION FOR NEW BOARD OF DIRECTORS

  1. Steve Yandl reported that ballots with stamped return envelopes will be mailed to all members in good standing prior to the end of April.
  2. Thus far, the only candidates appear to be the existing members of the Board of Directors but Steve will be contacting Les Ostermeir who had expressed an interest in running in the past.
  3. Ballots will need to be postmarked before the end of May to be counted.  At that point, awarded proxies will be exercised for any members who have not sent in a ballot.  Results will be announced in June and the new Board will elect officers at the June meeting.
  4. As in past years, ballots will have member id and require signature of an owner.
  5. Steve asked for a brief bio statement from each candidate prior to April 22 so we can let members know who they are voting for.
ANNUAL SPRING MEETING

  1. Steve Yandl reminded the group that the annual meeting for the entire membership would take the place of our monthly meeting, May 11 at 7:00pm, Totem Falls Elementary School unless Jen is unable to reserve a room, in which case we would have our normal board meeting and attempt to schedule the annual meeting for some other time in May.
  2. Jen reported that she just needed to get insurance papers for the school and Bill Malowney was providing her with the numbers to get in touch with our agent.
  3. Directors and Officers were invited to propose ideas for the agenda through the third week in April.  Bill Steenis suggested we talk about any progress on Willis Tucker Park and Yard of the Month program.  Jen wanted to discuss volunteer participation in the Fourth of July event.  If Betty gets any roofing info by that time we can add it to the agenda; Betty will let Steve know.  Betty also suggested that we might discuss the plan to place a sign at the entry to our development.
MEETING ADJOURNED AT 8:36 PM.