MINUTES OF THE MONTHLY BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING

SECTOR 2A AT SNOHOMISH CASCADE ASSOCIATION

7:00 PM   WEDNESDAY    July 9, 2008

 

CALL TO ORDER / APPROVAL OF MINUTES

  1. Bill Steenis called the meeting to order at 7:15pm.  Present were Bill Steenis, Duane Oord, Steve Yandl, Joyce Bowen and Cheryl Carlson.
  2. Steve Yandl presented the minutes of the June meeting noting that no changes have been made from what has been posted on the web page.  Bill Steenis moved to accept the minutes.  Joyce Bowen seconded and the motion passed 5 – 0.
TREASURER’S REPORT

  1. Steve Yandl reported that current finance reports from the bookkeeper are posted on the web site.
  2. Current balance in operation fund checking is $59,309 with approximately $367 is outstanding checks and $8,645 needing to be transferred to the long term capital fund.  This leaves us approximately $50k in operating funds for the remainder of the year and we remain in line with the budget.
  3. Our operational reserve held in money market account is at $23,249.  Our long term capital fund is at $46,960 with $8,645 to be transferred from the checking.  The long term fund CD matures on July 17 and will be rolled into a new 6 month CD.
  4. Steve Yandl did a recap of primary budget items for the benefit of new Board members.
  5. Steve reported that the County may have a new policy where they would do required detention pond maintenance and add each homeowner’s pro rated share as an additional special assessment for surface water management on our property taxes.  Since this is one of the items we considered to be part of our long term capital fund, were this to happen we would transfer money from the long term fund back to our operational funds and treat that as an offset to our annual assessments for the year the county collected the added tax.  Basically, homeowners dues would be reduced by the exact amount property taxes were increased on that line for that year only.
MAINTENANCE

  1. Bill Steenis indicated he had the maintenance files turned over by previous chairman, John Patterson, and let Cheryl Carlson know he would get the files to her.
  2. Steve Yandl reported that he had spoken to Brian Skinner to remind him to attempt a better graffiti removal from the climbing rocks at the boat park using solvent.  Skinner will do the cleaning at the same time as he replaces three sprinkler control mechanisms that have failed.
  3. Cheryl Carlson will contact Pacific Topsoil to see about augmenting play chips in the three tot areas using their equipment that can blow the chips into place.  Adding 4 inches would require just under 40 cubic yards.  If the cost is approximately $1500, Cheryl will just order it done.
  4. We discussed bringing in additional soil to the baseball infield since SSLL didn’t do that this year as they have the past several years.  We mentioned that soil used on the infield area should be a mix with sufficient clay in with sand to get the proper stability for running bases.
  5. Steve Yandl reported that he had an inquiry from homeowner Loren Carlson about running practices for his Snohomish Youth Soccer U-10 team in the Fall.  We discussed that we would need to be an added named insured on the league’s liability insurance but otherwise there were no concerns with permitting the practices, provided scheduling conflicts could be worked out if there are any.
  6. Portable toilet at the boat park provided by SSLL had been vandalized on July 4.  The Little League was made aware and was ordering the toilet picked up since their season has completed.
ARCHITECTURAL CONTROL COMMITTEE

  1. Bill Steenis summarized the various rental situations and where we are on each.
  2. We circulated the information provided by Lilian Gerges as part of her request that she be allowed to rent out her house for a year.  After discussion of other options that might be available, Steve Yandl made the motion to deny the request.  Joyce Bowen seconded.  The motion passed 5 – 0.  It was decided that Steve Yandl would notify the owners by letter.
  3. Next we discussed the request for permission to rent from Alex Sok and Ponnleu Pich.  This was the situation where they purchased the house next door to their current house and hoped to rent their original house for one year and then move a family member into the house.  Information received from them was circulated and discussed.  The Board didn’t see this as the sort of hardship that should be considered as severe.  Joyce Bowen made the motion to deny this request.  Steve Yandl seconded.  The motion passed 5 – 0.  It was decided that Steve Yandl would notify the owners by letter.
  4. We discussed the two situations where our HOA lawyer has written letters; to the homeowners and unapproved renters in one case and the owner’s attorney in the other case.  The fines imposed thus far for those situations are $5,600 and $6,500 but liens have not yet been recorded on either.
  5. We discussed the fact that the one rental situation we allowed for a two year period was borderline on the severe hardship criteria and none of the subsequent requests have come close.  In the future, we need to review the borderline cases even more closely (even though the one approval granted so far resulted in great renters) and stay consistent on what criteria warrant consideration as a ‘severe hardship’.
YARD OF MERIT

  1. Bill Steenis reported that we picked up three new people last month.
  2. Bill wants to have a meeting with judges to see how the whole judging routine can be streamlined to keep things simple and insure program continuity over time.
OLD BUSINESS

  1. Steve Yandl reported that he has spoken to the auditor, Josanne Eisenman and our bookkeeper, Jennifer Jones, to see if we can get the audit for year 2007 back on track and completed in Summer.
  2. We had a brief discussion on the neighborhood crime situation, including vandalism by neighborhood teens as well as the recent assault on Fire Station 77 (roman candle tossed in open bay).  Cheryl Carlson said she would distribute flyers to neighbors to alert them to the fact that there is a meeting coming the evening of July 16 and the Sheriff’s office for south precinct at Mill Creek.
MEETING ADJOURNED AT 8:23PM