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SAPOA |
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April 4, 2008 Board Meeting (Draft) |
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MINUTES SAPOA BOARD MEETING April 4, 2008, 6:30 p.m. Diamond Point Firehouse
The Board Meeting was called to order by President Gary Getch, at 6:33 p.m. on Friday, April 4, 2008, at the Diamond Point Fire Station. Present: Gary Getch, Jim Wilson, Annemarie Montera, Marty Tipton, Ben Schrenzel, Larry Reece and Everett Stauffer. There were three members of the Association in attendance as well.
Introduction of Board Members: Gary introduced all the board members in attendance. Gary reminded those in attendance that this was a board meeting, for the board members to discuss SAPOA business. This was not a mini-general meeting. As such, at the conclusion of a topic, members in the audience will be given a chance to ask a question on the topic if necessary. Please allow people to finish their thought before speaking.
Minutes: Marty Tipton had previously given copies of the December 8, 2007, and January 18, 2008 (Special Meeting), minutes to the members to read. Marty asked for changes to the minutes of December 8, 2007. Ev Stauffer made a motion to accept the minutes as written. Motion seconded; further discussion regarding the spelling of Jerry Cordick’s name on page 3. Change “Gerry” to “Jerry.” Vote called. Motion passes with correction. For the January 18, 2008, Special Board Meeting, Ev Stauffer made a motion to accept the minutes as written; motion seconded, no further discussion, motion passes.
Treasurer’s Report: Annemarie Montera presented the report (see attached). Ev Stauffer asked for a clarification on the budget report since he wasn’t on the board when it was prepared. Discussion regarding what comes out of the Beach Road maintenance fund versus the project fund. Annemarie then discussed the 2008-09 Budget Proposal (see attached) and outlined the expenses. Discussion about combining the “Beach Road Maintenance Fund” and the “Other Common Properties Maintenance Fund” so that we could use some of these monies for other common property maintenance. Ev Stauffer suggested we make it the “Common Properties Maintenance Fund” so that we have some flexibility with maintenance. There is now a line item for Legal Fees and Collection Costs. Ev Stauffer again suggested that we combine “Member Communication” and “Collection Costs” to again have more flexibility. Discussion among the board to leave it the way it was so that we could track collection costs. Discussion about raising the Plat Architectural Supervision expenses because we have the ability to do it in the budget. The main change from the proposed budget is the combining of the Beach Road Maintenance Fund and the Other Common Properties Maintenance. The Budget Proposal Ballot needs to go out the first of May at the same time as the newsletter. Ev Stauffer made a motion to submit the budget proposal to ballot as amended. Seconded, no further discussion, motion passes. The last item Annemarie has is the delinquency report, the three liens are in place. Some are going to pay or try and make payments. We have gone from 43 delinquent to 23 who are delinquent. Annemarie asked the board if they know anyone on the delinquent list who wants to set up payment plans, to have them give her a call.
Old Business:
Beach Road Report: Jim Wilson reported that there was some damage done at one of the drains, kids rolling rocks down the culverts. Jim cleaned up the culverts and presented a $5 bill for the repair of a small piece. He also presented more key money and also reported that members who requested a key a while ago still have not picked up the requested key. Discussion about possible squatters on some property. Jim would like to get another work party together for clean up of the road, Ben Schrenzel would like to be involved in the next clean-up party. Bill Youngblood made comments regarding erosion on MBR, accessibility, boat launch usage, etc. Bill asked about the possibility of putting a gazebo or some picnic area down there so that people who do not use the boat launch would have a reason to go down to the end of MBR to enjoy the beach. We would have to be mindful of the 200’ setback from DNR. Ev Stauffer suggested possibly putting a concrete picnic table down there that was not portable that people couldn’t haul off. This has been discussed before, but we would have to be mindful of vandalism. Nothing prohibits people from taking their own chairs to the beach area. Jim Wilson reported that no matter how much we ask members to use common sense when down at the beach area, that people do not. Someone went down MBR during the freeze, had to chain up, and there are gouge marks in the middle of the road. The marks are not deep enough to require repair of the road. Ev Stauffer reported that we have tried to put logs at the top of the beach, but then the wave comes in and erodes behind it and tears everything up. Annemarie said this is an area that needs to be pushed as a natural habitat, those with a desire will find a way. Perhaps SAPOA should have a small function to get people to come down and see what is down there. The sign placement was discussed by Jim Wilson. A lot of what is down at the end of MBR is driftwood or stuff that came in with the tide. Work parties are set up depending upon the need. Winter time requires a lot of work parties. Marty asked about setting up a regular work schedule, but since the need fluctuates, Jim didn’t think it was feasible. Leaves are a huge problem for the road; Ev reported that he took very heavy loads to the dump. Jim Wilson asked Ev if he and Taney were able to run the pumps on the retention pond. They never get enough water in the pond to run the pumps. But they’re working on it and topping of the trees.
July Meeting 2008: 11:00 a.m. set-up. Agenda items: Budget Report, Nominations, By-Laws Review, MBR-Common Properties Report. Other items to be added as they arise. The Board will provide the meat again for sandwiches.
By-Law Review: The final draft will be available at the meeting. But the RCWs are going to be changing again in the future. Vicki Taney will print up a summary that will be available for the newsletter and to be presented at the general meeting. Short discussion about the changes to the by-laws, mostly date changes for meetings on the calendar year.
New Business:
January 2009 Membership Meeting: We may not want to set the date right away if the by-laws pass because it would then be a March meeting. Larry Reece reported that since he is responsible for setting up the date, that we should set the meeting for January as soon as possible. Marty asked if it was possible to set two dates and then cancel the one we didn’t need. If the by-laws pass, a March 2009 date will be needed. Larry will ask Gardiner if we can cancel the January meeting date and have the money switch to the March date. Larry will check with Gardiner and see what availability there is for March. The January meeting was previously set for January 24, 2009. Marty asked if we are going to do sandwiches, can we have more variety – beef, turkey, and ham. That can be done. Ev asked for lots of desserts. Larry Reece presented a receipt for items bought relative to the pot-luck.
Newsletter: Shellia Parker is the new editor. Marty and Annemarie will get in touch with her about the upcoming newsletter and what needs to be done.
Nominating Committee: The new by-laws (if passed) will require the Vice-President to be the Chairperson of the Nominating Committee. We need nominations for two positions on the board. Larry Reece reported that he is not going to run for re-election. Discussion about what the Nominating Committee is about. Ben Schrenzel volunteered to be the Chairperson, and he will solicit members of the association to join him on the Committee. Then the committee will look for people to run for the two board positions.
Architectural Reps: The ballots for Plat 1 and Plat 6&7 went out and they are due back April 30, 2008. The ballots will be counted on Saturday, May 3, 2008, at 10:00 a.m., at the Firehouse. Gary presented a letter from Bill Andrew (see attached) which was given to the board today. The letter brings up some issues with the ballot for Plat 1. There was a discussion about the differences between a SAPOA ballot process and a Plat ballot process. Bill Andrew thinks the question should be clear. There was a discussion about the percentage needed for the vote to be good and then how many of the votes would be needed for the vote to be good if there is only one person running for the arch rep. Bill Andrew reported that one of the rules of voting is that there is to be no other mark on the ballot than the vote for the item. If a ballot is returned with no mark, how is that counted? The general consensus is that it is a “no” vote. Further discussion about the balloting process issues. Annemarie did the ballots for both Plat 6&7 and Plat 1 and will take responsibility for the inaccuracies there might be. In the future, it should be clarified on the ballot that a certain percentage is necessary for a lone individual on a ballot to be elected. It should be clarified that just because only one person is running for a position, that he/she is not necessarily a shoe-in for the election. Bill Andrew wanted to clarify that he has nothing against Jim Wilson, that he was bring up this issue because he has an issue with there being two board members being on a 3-person architectural rep committee. Discussion amongst the board that being a board member should have nothing to do with architectural rep responsibilities, that the board has no authority with covenants. Bill Andrew thinks that the architectural committee has changed the covenants in Plat 1 and Plat 4 on their own. Questions from the board on how that happened. Bill Andrew reported about a house where the setbacks on the front and side and it was discussed that we are off the issue and that we are not going to discuss past issues. Bill Andrew just has a question about the mail balloting and to do it the way the by-laws call for and we got off track. Discussion about how the board is trying to do their job and that if we discussed every single rule, we would never get anything done and it would be very frustrating. Gary Getch answered Bill’s letter that Plat 1’s covenants do not have any instructions on how to do a ballot, so it was sent out with a best guess on how to do it. Plat 1’s covenants need to be re-written with balloting instructions clarified. Bill Andrew asked if SAPOA’s by-laws then do not apply to covenant issues, is that correct? Yes, anything to do with the plat/covenant issues is not governed by SAPOA by-laws. Jim Wilson reported that the covenants for Plat 1 state that 66% of the ballots need to be returned for the ballot to be good. Gary reported that perhaps we should have had a blank line for a write-in on the ballot. Some people seemed to think that the SAPOA Board was appointing an architectural representative. We are not. It just so happens that Jim Wilson is on the board at the current time only. He will not always be on the board. This is not a problem to Bill Andrew, he just wants to steer us in the right direction to follow the by-laws and it was clarified that the by-laws do not apply to the covenants. Further clarification about how the architectural committee is formed and who the reps are. It is up to the residents of the plats to work on their covenants and to elect an architectural rep. Bill Youngblood made a comment about putting clear directions on the ballot. Discussion about the differences in privacy issues from the plat. With a variance, there are no privacy issues, it must have a signature or it doesn’t count. Plat 1 is the hardest plat to get anything done in.
Correspondence: Marty reported on correspondence received from Jim & Chris Orban re the voting process. What happened was that on his return envelope, the addresses were switched with his address being in the “to” spot and SAPOA’s address being in the “return address” spot. Marty called him and said to just mail the ballot back in a regular envelope and that she would take care of it, but to please put the word “ballot” on the outside of the envelope. He didn’t do that, but Marty suspected his envelope might contain the ballot so she did not open it, just put it with the rest of the ballots. Jim Orban also had a question about how many votes people get if they own more than one piece of property. That was answered also. Another piece of correspondence was received from a resident in Plat 6&7, we were “cc’d” on the letter from the Baums and the Clarks which was sent to all residents of Plat 6&7 letting people know that one of the people running for architectural rep in their Plat (Mr. Orban) was involved in a current Clallam County Superior Court lawsuit over covenant issues on their property and that they thought it should be a conflict of interest for Mr. Orban to run for architectural rep. There is nothing in the covenants about what the requirements are other than being a property owner.
Gary asked Ben Schrenzel about the mediation he is handling regarding the Cordicks and Kathy Williamson. Gary asked Ben to do the mediation, however, Ev is also handling this matter. Apparently two people are working on the problem: Ben being asked by Gary and Ev being called in as SAPOA’s architectural rep. Ev and Ben will get together and work on this issue.
Another piece of correspondendce was received from Nancy Drake and copies were distributed to the board. There will be a separate file and log of letters received, our response, if any, just to keep track of these comments. Gary asked the board to review the letter and we will table the issue until the next meeting. Ev reported that the architectural rep is not a law enforcement officer, all he can do is give guidance. SAPOA’s arch rep or any of the plat reps have no rights to tell the people involved in Nancy’s letter to clean their place up. If you don’t like what your neighbor is doing, you have to take the legal action, the board cannot do it, the arch rep cannot take that action. SAPOA does not have the financial resources to take legal action. The covenants are enforceable, it’s just not SAPOA that is going to enforce them.
Comments/Questions from Attendees: Bill Youngblood asked about the possibility of putting up doggie waste stations throughout Sunshine Acres so that people can pick up after their dogs. If that is not a feasible solution, a comment about picking up after your dogs should be put in the next newsletter.
Adjournment: Motion by Ev Stauffer to adjourn. Seconded, no further discussion, motion passes. Meeting adjourned at 8:10 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Martha A. Tipton
Martha A. Tipton Secretary
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