A quorum was established with 6 Board members present.  Pastor Na was in Taiwan and absent.  8 property owners were in attendance.

Dave Taney opened the meeting by announcing that the singular purpose of the meeting was to address change orders to the Mussel Beach Road repair contract with Olympic Excavating Inc.

Before opening discussion Dave thanked Barry Olsen for his efforts after taking over as project foreman, following Steve Ramsey’s resignation due to health problems.  He stated that Barry had jumped right in and improved communication levels between all parties.

Dave Taney turned the meeting over to Sam Mrakovich to present 2 change orders initiated jointly by the Committee and Olympic Excavating.

Sam stated that he was going to present the only change orders he expected to require or that he presently knew of before the completion of the project.  He stated that neither was absolutely necessary, but that the MBR Committee felt that they added significant value to the project.

The first $ 806.35 change order involved widening the roadbed from 12 ft in width to 16 ft.  Sam stated that the urgency for a decision was necessary because the west side half round culvert and under drains were being installed and could not be altered once placed.  The contractor needed to know ASAP what the finished width would be.  Sam and Larry Werner had sat down and calculated the increase in sq. footage this change would have on the eventual paving costs.  That would be 2000 sq. ft. or 10.7% additional.  Sam went on to say that he and Larry had attempted to get some estimates for the paving, but had not been very successful.  They had contacted P&A of Port Angeles and Maristar Paving.  Only P&A had as of this date offered any figures, ranging from $1.25 per sq. ft based on telephone discussions to $2.00 per sq. ft. after an on site inspection.  Everett Stauffer SAPOA VP had encountered the P&A representative during that visit when he inquired as to who the individual was.  Everett had seen the person drive down the work site unaccompanied by any SAPOA or contractor representation.  Everett mentioned that the P&A person had mentioned that they needed a 4” crushed rock base to pave over.  Everett said that currently what we had was inadequate.  Sam said that was a typical estimate starting point.  Larry Werner stated that he had Lakeside Paving coming out to the site Monday February 7th to give us an estimate and discuss any need for additional work.  Larry also said that so far P&A and Maristar had not been returning his phone calls.  Everett mentioned that we had a previous quote from Lakeside Paving.  Sam said that with previous quotes ranging from $20,000 to $50,000 we could expect our paving costs to go up possibly by $5,000 at the most by widening the road.  Sam felt that for the addition 10% costs we would have a substantially better road and that it would be easier for Olympic Excavating and any paving contractor to complete their work.  Sam, Larry, and Everett discussed the various calculations and generally agreed upon the additional sq. footage @ 2000.  

Everett questioned why Olympic Excavating needed more money.  Sam replied that it was for the additional work widening the road.  Everett said that Olympic Excavating should not require more material as the material removed to locate the west side culvert could be reused as fill between the culvert and the bank and or present road bed.  Tom Richardson questioned Everett as to his assertion that no more fill was required.  Everett referred to the working blueprints and explained his point of view.  Extensive discussion ensued between Sam, Larry, Tom, and Everett in an attempt to make their respective points.  Lew Morello interjected that these were questions that should not be directed to the Board and or the Committee, but to the contractor.  Everett was adamant that no additional dollars would be required.  Barry Olson project foreman interjected that some fill would be required in certain areas and none in others depending on location.

Sam Mrakovich asked how many Board Members felt that widening the road to 16ft. would be a good idea.  Dave interjected that we have tonight heard cost figures of anywhere from $1.25 to $2.00 per sq. ft.  Dave stated that as a historical reference the quote given by Lakeside in June of 2004 was $2.76 per sq. ft.  Dave said that he felt that we all agreed that $1.25 was unrealistic and that reality was somewhere between $2.00 and $2.50 was more like it with $2.70 being the high.  Dave added that the June 2004 Lakeside estimate included pre leveling the road base with asphalt and then paving with 2” of asphalt.  Larry Werner stated that pre leveling with asphalt would be more expensive than pre leveling with crushed rock.  Dave agreed, but pointed out that the June 2004 Lakeside estimate was predicated on using the original 11 ft. wide road base which now no longer exists.  That $39,000 estimate was also based on 13,000 sq. ft. of paving and that we now are looking at 19-20,000 sq. ft.  Barry Olsen offered the opinion that this site was difficult to assess and had required much more leveling than anticipated and that the roadbed was much worse than presented.  He also stated that the exact amount of fill required would not be known until the project was much closer to completion.  Sam Mrakovich stated that the contractor had totally rebuilt the road surface and had done way more than expected.  Dave Taney question whether or not that the half round would be at grade level at the lower west side.  Sam replied yes it will, anywhere there is no bank adjacent to the culvert.  Everett again pointed out that the contractor was deviating from the working blueprints in many cases.  Sam pointed out some noted changes that he felt allowed the contractor to make these alternate choices.  Nancy Drake questioned what was wrong with this approach.  Barry Olson offered that the poor road base made this necessary and that the contractor had been getting his trucks stuck and having to push them uphill with his excavator.  As a side result the roadbed is being improved by the continuous addition of quarry spalls and crushed rock to firm up the surface.  Barry and Sam stated that rainy weather and the unforeseen problems had turned this into a no profit job for Olympic Excavating.

Everett stated that he personally thought widening the road to 16ft. was a good idea.  Not for the reasons presented, but because it would give us a better road at low additional cost and would make it easier for paving later.  Everett said we are back to the question of the $ 806.35 change order.  Dave Taney said that he was comfortable in approving this amount by Board action as it was essentially a small part of an existing contract.  The question of how to pay for it i.e. adding to a projected $6000.00 shortfall will need to be worked out at the Special Members Meeting on February 19, 2005.  Everett pointed out that the contractor took on the risk when he agreed to the contract and should have anticipated some of these problems.  Barry Olson said, that as many times as he has walked the road, there was just no way of knowing with expensive testing such as soil core samples.  Nancy Drake accused Everett of being an obstructionist.  Lew Morello made a motion that based on the information we have the Board approve the $806.35 change order to widen the road to 16ft. as quoted and move on.  The motion was seconded by Dan Abbott.  The motion passed unanimously with no objection

Sam Mrakovich presented a second $ 2074.33 change order for an additional 114 tons of crushed rock to pre level the culverts and road base.  Sam stated that the first 600 ft of roadway is drivable and this rock with fines would be added to crown the road and make a firm drivable surface for the remainder of the road.  Sam stated that he felt this was a reasonable request and that the contractor had already done more work than was required of him.  Everett stated that this amount only represented a 1/8 th inch of rock over the 19000 sq. ft. of roadbed.  Everett made a motion that this second change order be rejected.  Kathleen DeStafano seconded the motion to allow discussion.  Sam questioned Everett as to why he wanted to reject the change order.  Lew Morello asked if we do this now what will happen over the next 2-3 years with traffic on the road.  Won’t we still have to do some leveling and rut repair then before we pave.  We should restrict traffic for that period and let the paving contractors factor that into their bids.  Tom Richardson asked Barry Olson if the contractor was going to put this rock over what we have now or would we have what we see now.  Barry explained that this smaller rock would be a binder to fill gaps and smooth the road so vehicle traffic would be possible and not be rough possibly causing tire damage.

Barry Olson questioned what the plans were for the road and vehicle traffic upon completing this first phase of the project.  Barry felt that the property owners had an expectation of this road being useable come spring 2005.  Dave Taney said that a lot of that decision was predicated upon how the requested pre payment of 2006-8 dues went.  A good response might allow us to pave as soon as the summer of 2006 where a poor response may delay paving to 2007 or even 2008 depending on costs.  Irma Martin and Kathleen stated that SAPOA had receive 10-12 such responses so far, but they were unopened yet so we had no gauge to go by so far.  Barry said he was waiting until the February 19th meeting to decide how many years he was going to prepay.  He wanted to see what the results of that meeting were and then make his decision.  He also thought a good number of people may take the same approach.  Barry felt that we needed to do a better sales job on this issue and really needed to do a better communication job on what is happening now.  Dave Taney said that we would have that opportunity on February 19th.  Sam said that he was of the opinion that we would not be able to pave next summer (2005) and more realistic was 2006.  Sam did feel that we would be able to drive the road in 2005 if this hard surface was provided.  Sam acknowledged that yes, some wear and tear would happen and minimal top dressing would then be required.

Dave Taney explained that if we pay the contractor the full amount due within 90 days of completion ($ 125,000), plus the 2 change orders ($ 3,000), plus the retaining wall ($ 11,000) we would have nearly an $18-20,000 short fall.  Dave reiterated that so much depends on the prepayment of dues and or decisions made at the February 19th meeting.  The best case scenario would have over 100 plus property owners’ pre paying 3 years dues raising $22,500 or more.  Irma. said you will never get all of them and Dave said 50% paying 1 year ahead would be an absolute top expectation.  Nancy Drake stated that this change order would make the road drivable and if we don’t have a drivable road many property owners would be upset.   Everett said that in his opinion that it would not.  Nancy accused Everett of being a know it all.  Barry again stressed the need to sell this issue by explaining exactly what had been accomplished and what our future plans were.  On top of that we need to explain, if we do this, this is what will happen and if we don’t do this, this is what will happen.  Barry felt this would also help rumor control which he felt was out of control.

Everett stated that we need to stay within the $125,000 original contract and that in these cases we were just helping out a contractor who was in over his head.  Sam disagreed and said that the 3 year dues extension covered these issues.  Dave Taney stated that in his opinion it could be looked at 2 different ways.  Either as a change order to a present contract or as a preliminary part of a later paving contract and that he was comfortable either way.  Sam said well it has to be done either way and that this way would provide a hard surface in 2005.  Sam said that he did not have a lot of experience in road building, but was putting his faith in the road builders and doubted that anyone present had more experience.

Dave Taney stated that we all agree that we will not have a fully completed road in 2005 and that the condition of the road in 2006 or 2007 will depend on how we use it in the interim.  How we use it is within the control of the Beach Road Committee.  They can determine how much and what type of access is allowed and under what conditions.  Everett also said that this was a recommendation power of the BR Committee.  Bill Andrew stated that any good paving contractor should be able to estimate within a 2 dump truck loads of exactly what it will take to do the job and surely Lakeside Paving could.  Dave Taney said that he was also confident that Lakeside could do that.  Dave said that most of us would agree that Lakeside is not the cheapest and maybe not even the best paver.  However, they are most surely the best equipped to handle this kind of job.

Dan Abbott asked if the board was able to approve a $2,000 change order without member approval.  Dave Taney replies that such an amount as part of an existing contract modification, he felt the Board was within its parameters to do so.  Dave felt that none of us really expected us to complete this job without some minor changes.  If we were talking $20,000 then absolutely no way.  It would go to ballot!  He also said that these change orders were being handled properly in that they were being presented to the Board prior to implementation as opposed to the $11,000 retaining wall addition.

Dave Taney reminded the Board that a motion was on the table, had been seconded, and had been discussed.  Dave called for the question and the change order was rejected by a vote of 4 yeas to 2 nays.  

Nancy Drake again accused Everett of being an obstructionist and questioned why no effort had been made to limit the “liar” name calling directed at her, Sam, and Larry by members at the January 22nd Semi annual Meeting.  Nancy also stated that Everett would be responsible for additional costs for this project.  Everett said in reference to requests for retaining wall solutions he felt that the contractor should drop his price $1,000 leaving a $5,000 profit and that Sam and Larry had negotiated this issue and what ever misunderstanding had taken place they were responsible for.  Sam and Larry demanded proof that they were responsible and angry words were exchanged.

Lew Morello reminded the Board that the purpose of the Special Board Meeting had been accomplished and moved that we adjourn.  Kathleen DeStafano seconded the motion.  The motion was approved and the meeting adjourned at 9:05 p.m.