SUNSHINE ACRES PROPERTY OWNERS ASSOCIATION
Special BOARD MEETING
December 27, 2004


CALL TO ORDER:  The emergency board meeting was called to order by Dave Taney at 7:30 pm.  All of the Board members are present, with the exception of Pastor Na.  There were also 20 attendees in the audience.
   
BUSINESS:
Dave - This meeting was called with only one particular item for discussion, the Beach Road Project that is currently going on and some work that the contractor started without, as far as we know, approval.   We need to determine first of all - Sam, as Beach Road Committee Chairman, it is my understanding that you did not, nor did any body on the Beach Road Committee approve that work.  

Sam – That is correct.  We discussed what was to be done there, but it should have been clear to the contractor there was no schedule for it to be done. 

Dave – That is the crux of the problem, as we have the contractor who has taken it on his own to do some work that was not officially approved by either the Beach Road Committee and/or the Board of Directors.  The question is where we go from here and what do we do from here.  Obviously we have limited funds to work with.  We have a contract with the contractor that should be a valid contract.  Sam?

 Sam – Let me begin by saying that the Beach Road Committee had a meeting this afternoon and we touched on this subject.  This was work that the committee wanted to be done and we've been planning since the last general meeting.  Let me give you a little short history of the events regarding that retaining wall.  Through August the committee has viewed the slide area and has discussed, at the time, the need for something to prevent another reoccurrence of the slide because we knew with the installation of a half-round pipe, that if a slide had occurred onto it, the only way to get that pipe out without destroying it was to do some shovel and hand work.  We felt that a retaining wall or someway to stabilize that bank was absolutely necessary.  We asked Olympic Excavating to give us a bid on it, so we would know where we stood and what we were looking at.  They came back with a bid of about $22,000.  The description of what they wanted to do was quite elaborate.  They had terraces.  That bank, by the way, towers about 20 feet above the road in that area.  That was quite a blow to hear that kind of a number on it.

We discussed it quite a bit and Barry Olson came up with using plantings, tree plantings.  He is experienced with large banks and slopes.  We went back to Kevin, the president of Olympic Excavating and asked told him we didn't really feel that he needed to terrace the wall.  That if we could get some kind of a lower wall and then fill with dirt above that, and do plantings above that.  It should be enough to hold that bank.  Kevin came back with a bid, and I can give you copies of that bid, which came to $14,096.  I was going to discuss the bid at the September 1st meeting with the Board, but the idea of a retaining wall was declined.  Various activities began from that point on with the road, working with the ballot issue and eventually we broke the sewer line and got involved with the sewer line repair; in between all of this we have been talking about that bank and putting half-round pipe in there before, and then trying to come back in later to stabilize the bank.  There are many many reason why that wasn't a good idea.  Larry and I had the idea that maybe we can afford the base course of rock, and once put in, the contractor would not have to get back in there and dig any more, but could build on that base of rock and complete the wall when we had the money coming into the Beach Road Account.  That was what we were hoping we could do. 

Sometime earlier in the week of the sewer line fix I stood there next to the contractor, Kevin and I, looking at the bank and I explained to him what we hopefully could afford to do and talked to him about just putting in a base course of rock.  I admit that I asked him that I would like him to plan for something like that.  Then we got involved with the sewer line fix and spent 2 days camped out on that.  That ended on Friday.  On Monday I was home all day.  Tuesday morning I had an appointment in Port Angeles and on the way stopped in there to see what was going on and nothing was happening, except the two workers putting a culvert across the road, temporary culvert to divert the water during construction.  I got back from Port Angeles Tuesday afternoon, about 2:30/3:00.  I got over there and low and behold a wall was well under construction with big rock lying all over the place, the drain pipe was already in and I was kind of speechless to behold that.  Kevin jumped down and the way the conversation went I asked Kevin do you have all the rock?  Maybe you better stop ordering rock, because we have to talk.  We discussed the fact that we had a cash flow problem, that I was concerned, that the money was committed by the membership and we knew we would be getting it, but to be able to do that wall at that time was just not possible.  He said that if he has to wait that was okay, I have to wait for the hold back amount and that is where that conversation ended.  I couldn't see any reason to say stop work, as he had rock all over the place and the wall well under way.  That was it.  As I turned and walked away, Everett showed up and you probably know the rest of that story.  I kind of thought it over that night and I called Dave in the morning and told him essentially the same story that I just told you. 

The wall just sort of happened and there was no order to build the wall.  I think the Beach Road Committee had a very productive meeting today.  We reviewed the bid that you see in front of you.  We've all taken a look at the wall.  The committee agreed unanimously that there is a fair value for the wall that we got and the wall will do job that we want it to do.  After the fact, I am here this evening to ask the Board to approve making payments against this bid value as funds approved go in the Beach Road Account.  We did a review of the finances also, and we see it as an additional expense that we have to work out; additional money that we have to bring in, advance money, in some way from the dues committed by the membership.  We also have some suggestions on how we might do that.  That's where we stand right now.  The wall, we feel, is a necessary thing.  This was the ideal time to put it in.  I think that was part of the reason the contractor did it.  The contractor told me in another part of our conversation, as he was building, when I discovered the wall, that I really wanted that wall in before I put the half-round pipe down there.  Doing it piece meal like we had hoped we might be able to do, to be able to have the cash in hand, would surely have run up the cost in coming back later and possibly risking damage to the half-round pipe in the road in getting it done.  We see it is a good thing that happened prematurely.  It is just a matter now of working out ways to float the money to pay for it.  Not an extra expense, not a catastrophe in that regard.  It's a cash flow problem we have to work on and our next step would be getting back with Olympic Excavating in trying to work out details there; plus, exploring some possibilities of bringing an advance in dues collection.

Dave – When I talked to Kevin, as you know I went over and talked to Kevin, and told him point blank that this work was not authorized and he could not expect payment for it.  That he had not gone through the procedure of getting a change order approved by anyone from either the committee or the Board.  He had no authorization to do the work and we are looking at a $14,000 bill.  I told him basically to stop work, or work on it on his own that was okay, but he couldn't expect payment.  At that point Kevin and I sat down and started figuring how many linear feet of rock we had times how many feet and height we had, and he quoted me a figure of $6,800 for the work that was being done.  Now there is a lot of difference between $6,800 and $14,000.  Where is the extra $7,000?  And, he seemed to be willing to do it at $7,000.  Why is he asking $14,000 on this bid?  The materials don't add up to $6,800.  The biggest bulk is in the excavation, back-hoe, labor and sales tax.  We need to go back to the drawing board and ask him to refigure his bid. 

Everett - I think we have another problem.  We have a whole new project that has not been approved by the membership.  We've got a project that Clark Land and the professional engineer that we hired didn't see any need for.  This is a whole new project.  It is a substantial amount of money.  We have to go out for a vote for this job.  This is not a repair.  This is a whole new project; this is something totally new that's never been there. 

Sam – Part of that ballot was for miscellaneous expenses, which I itemized several different things we needed extra money for. 

Everett – The rock wall wasn't one of them. 

Sam – I said miscellaneous, look it up.  That's in miscellaneous. 

Everett – What we envisioned in there is repairs; some of the metal comes lose, we have to put it back; some slide that we have to clean up; some rock that we have to add; etc.

 Dave – I will read exactly what the ballot says, which the Beach Road Committee put together.  “Shall the Beach Road Drainage system be started immediately and completed using only dues money presently committed to the Beach Road Account”?  Basically we authorized the expenditure of $125,000 of money that was presently committed, meaning prior to this ballot, not money that was coming in after the ballot; that money was to be used for paving and miscellaneous expenditures. 

Sam – And whatever the Beach Road Committee decided on. 

Dave & Everett – No! 

Sam -The Beach Road Committee is responsible for the management and protection, and the decisions

Everett – But not the $14,000 expenses.  

Dave – It has been mentioned several times the Beach Road Committee has no authority or responsibility to spend funds. 

Sam – What happened to the Charter that I turned into this Board that says the Beach Road Committee, in fact, determines how the money in the Beach Road Account is being spent? 

Dave – You can recommend; you don't spend it.  The Board decides whether to spend or not.

After a lengthy discussion and lots of people talking and arguments, it was determined that Sam goes back to the contractor and talk with him regarding the quote that the contractor had given Dave Taney of $6800.  Also, that the road project itself be completed as the contract specifies with this contractor within the $125,000.  


MEETING ADJOURNED:  The meeting was adjourned at 9:35 pm by Dave Taney.