SUNSHINE ACRES PROPERTY OWNERS ASSOCIATION
    BOARD MEETING
    November 8, 2004



CALL TO ORDER:  The meeting was called to order by Dave Taney at 1:35 pm.  All of the Board members were present, with the exception of Dan Abbott.  There were also 7 attendees in the audience.
   
MINUTES:     Dave called for the Secretary to pass out the minutes from the October 2, 2004 Board Meeting.  The minutes were passed out.  Kathleen asked for any corrections or additions that needed to be made.  Everett made a motion that the minutes be accepted and it was seconded by Irma.  The motion was passed unanimously.

TREASURER’S REPORT:  Irma read the treasurer’s report.  Everett moved that we accept the Treasurer’s report and it was seconded by Kathleen.  The motion carried unanimously.
 

OLD BUSINESS

Boat Launch Lease:  Everett reported the Boat Launch Lease is finished.  We have the final copies, we’ve paid and had it recorded at the Auditor’s Office as required by the State.  Every April we will have to make a payment for the lease of $282.  The last thing Everett had to do was have it recorded and send them back a copy of the receipt of what he had recorded.

 Plat Architectural Rep.:  Everett reported that we have 2 new architectural representatives – Woody Hill for Plat’s 6 & 7; Steve Ramsey for Plat 1.  

Mussel Beach Road Status:  Larry Werner said the project is in a hold status pending resolution of the Hibbler sewer line break; and, also because of delivery of the corrugated pipe.  The contractor (Kevin) keeps getting new information about when the pipes going to be delivered, which keeps stretching.  The last official word the contractor had was 2 weeks (a week ago today).  John called them this morning and now they are talking about some extension on that.  I have not talked to the Kevin since then.  The road is in a prep situation to handle the weather, but that doesn’t get us further down the line in getting the job done right now.  Everything is just waiting on the delivery of the pipe.  Everett brought up that we need a lien release for the perforated pipe from the supplier and would like Larry to talk to Kevin regarding getting that done.  He also said we need a real receipt that shows what amounts were paid.  Also, inform Kevin that we will need a release for the corrugated pipe before we pay for it.  
 
NEW BUSINESS

Hibbler Sewer Controversy:  Dave Taney told us that when construction began on September 13, when the contractor broke a sewer line.  We had to repair it to the amount of $1,146.76, and not being aware that the line was there, we figured out real fast that we had to lower that line by about 4 feet.  It is only about 12 inches now and it needs to be 5 feet below the surface of the road.   To do that we have to dig up the line, trench, rebury, and resleeve and refit some shut-off valves, which is going to be in the neighborhood of $3100; or, if you take a look at it in total about $4300 round figures.  We sent Norris Hibbler a letter on October 26th informing him that it was SAPOA’s position that he should be responsible for relocating that line, since we were unaware of any easement and/or permits that were associated with putting that line where it is.  Just the other day, I received a letter back dated November 3rd from Norris and all of the Board members have a copy of it.  It boils down to the fact the Norris has essentially told us to take a flying leap, and he is not in a position to pay for any of it.  He has also asked that if we go ahead with the repair that we sign a Hold Harmless Release that will hold him harmless from any sewage leakage or further problems in that section of the line.  Our next step is whether we just want to let it go, or whether we want to pursue our original contention that it should be his responsibility or not.  Everett – The line that broke, the one that goes across the road has been in there for about 20 years.  Part of that line that comes in there was put in either 1999 or 2000, and it comes across a different section and he did not have a right-of-way or easement to do that.  County records show no easement on Muscle Beach Road for any of it.  If he had gotten an easement when he hooked up Kilppert’s line, we would have known the line was there and could have taken corrective action as necessary.  Larry – It is true that the County records, and I have a copy of the County map and I made a note on it, show no easements on the Muscle Beach Road property as of 1990.  It is probably true that the original line was put in prior to 1990, probably 1960 or 1970, when that plot was originally developed.   However, the fact that there are no further easements shown in the County Recorder records is kind of interesting, because we know that the County road Department got an easement to put that drainage thing in down from Huckleberry and Salal.  They do have a record of that, the County has all done their work very well, and there is an easement signed by Helen Dent that relates to the access down there onto the Beach Road property.  But it doesn’t show in the County records, and of course the map I saw was 1990 and the road department did that in 1991.  So, that is understandable.  However, the County Road Department also does not show any permits across Salal where they put the line.  You can see the trench right across the road.  I talked to Ray Bradford, who is the County engineer and he said it is not unusual for that to happen, but that doesn’t make it right.  The interesting thing that really complicates the whole issue has to do with the plan for the routing of that sewer line.  The plan that Hibbler has in his office (and we should have known the plan was there) or he should have known since he voted on the issue to do or not do, that we were going to go ahead with the work.  He is never responsible or at fault for anything.  The key is this, Ray Cole has a house there and the plan shows that the original sewer line runs on the south side of Ray Cole’s house from the middle of Salal over to East side of Salal, along the south side of Ray Cole’s property over to the East side of Beach Road.  In fact, that sewer line does not run on the South side of Ray Cole’s property; it runs diagonally across the property to the North and comes down to the East side of Ray Cole’s property, on Beach Road property and then goes underneath the road in an aluminum culvert that was put there, but not sure how long ago.  The culvert is about a 12 inch culvert and the surface was about an inch below the dirt/road level.  This pipe was in that culvert, which was filled with dirt.  The line from Kilppert runs not only across Salal, without a permit, it runs along the South side of Ray Cole’s property where the original sewer line is shown to be; comes onto Beach Road property and hooks up to an effluent pipe on Beach Road property with no easement.  He did that totally illegally and he charged the Kilppert’s a ton of money.  It is a hook-up and I don’t know what his charges are, that is his business.  Nonetheless, two aspects were done illegally without proper permits and easements.  You could argue about the route across the South side of the property; but the other 2 aspects of it there isn’t any issue about the illegality of those.  I talked with the head man at the County Environmental Department, Mel Fong; he is there environmental health specialist and you need no permit to do the relocation of that line.  It is on private property so that can be done; it is simply a matter of doing it.  When I mentioned Norris Hibbler, they said ‘Oh yeah’, well why do they know Norris Hibbler so well?  That is basically an outline of what I know based on the research that I have done.  You could say that the research could have done before, but what I have found?  I wouldn’t have found anything that says we shouldn’t go ahead.  And, if you look at this original map, you can’t tell which side of the gate it runs on.  So how are we to know?  Dave – The lawyer Hibbler hired is a very expensive attorney.  The only thing I caution about is we are looking at a repair $4500 total cost, and we don’t want to run up $10,000 in legal fees to win $4000.  Everett – I suggest that we talk to Jan, our attorney, at least to know if we are responsible or not responsible; I don’t know if we can touch his pipe without his permission, hold harmless or not.  I think we need to talk to her to find out what we can and what we can’t do.  Then get some suggestions from her on how to get from A to Z.  It seems improbable to me that we should be stuck and then get a ‘hold harmless’.  Lew – It seems to me that if we move that sewer line, the section will probably be better than the one that had put in there already.  And so, if he holds us to this ‘hold harmless’ thing, I would say that perhaps it should be written so that we would be responsible only for that section that we actually install.  Larry – Clarification though, he did not install that.  He bought that line from whomever years ago.  Everett – The sewers were put in the same time as the Detention Pond so that they were all done with Helen Dent on her property.  So that is why you don’t see any easements in all of this mess.  But, as we have seen, other things that her entity had done, they haven’t been the best engineered projects around.  Larry – One other point that I would like to throw out, and we are going to discuss this at the Beach Road Committee tonight, Sam has suggested that whatever Hibbler’s approach about not wanting to really step up, that we do absolutely the minimum.  That we put a new line in and do a connection on both ends, period.  No valves, no stubs – because that would be at our expense towards his value, his benefit.  We shouldn’t do that; we shouldn’t spend a dime for him.  

Norris Hibbler has known for 3 years at least that this was going to happen someday.  He voted, there is a record that shows he did, on the project.  So he had an obligation knowing that he had that line there to say something, and he did not.  Lew - I make a motion that we take this to our attorney, Jan Tierney, for advisement.  Everett seconded the motion; the motion was passed unanimously.       

2004-2005 Dues Status:  Irma - We have 6 in the collection agency at this time, and we have not received any dues from them for awhile.  I called them to tell them that there is now another $100 due on those.  I was told to make that a new assignment.  We have 4 accounts that 3 years in arrear and they are getting notices which I will send out on the 10th of this month.  There are 12 that owe last years, plus some partial.  Dave – I would send the 4 that are 3 years in arrears to the collection agency, making 10 that the collection agency will handle for us.  Irma – the ones that owe just for last year, and this year, I will get hold of them and try to get the dues owed.  There are about 110 that owe last years for just the $100 and notice will go in the mail the 10th.  Dave – So, if you have 110 times that amount to about $11,000; but $75 of that is going to the Beach Road.  We have $75 times 110 which is about $8,000 plus.  

2005-2006 Dues Level:  Dave – Looking at the operating budget with last year being $10,000; spent $8152 and had a cushion of $1,737 left – I would expect this year to go under a somewhat similar pattern.  We don’t know of any major increases in insurance or legal costs.  We should go through 2004-2005 without having to dip into reserves.  Looking ahead and anticipating some cost increases I would suspect that the 2005-2006 dues are going to have to increase slightly.  By slightly I mean $110 or $120, somewhere in that range; to pick up operating costs for the general fund and looking downstream to be able to start putting a maintenance account together for the Beach Road.  It is hard to encourage people to pay ahead, as we really haven’t established the dues for the coming years.  We have established that $75 of the dues is for the Beach Road Project, but not the amount of the dues.  We should put this on the January meeting that is coming up as topic of discussion; throw it out to the general membership and put it out again in July as a voting issue.  

January Semi Annual Meeting:  Dave – I checked with the Gardiner Hall and all of the Saturdays are open in January.  The last January meeting a year ago, somebody brought up the fact that we have a few people within our community who celebrate the Sabbath on Saturday, and our meetings have always been on Saturday so they can’t come.  They asked that we plan a meeting on some other day than Saturday.  So, I also checked what was available and looked at maybe doing on Monday evening, January 10th.  That would drop the potluck from it and we would have just the meeting from about 7:00 p.m.  We can try it once and if we don’t have a big fall off in attendance because it is in the evening and/or the weather is bad, we can go back to the normal time in July.  Everett – Do we have anything for the January meeting that a quorum would be important?   Dave – No.  Everett – I make a motion that the January meeting be held on a Monday, the 10th, in the evening and no potluck.  The motion was seconded by Lew.  The motion passed unanimously.

Non Agenda Items:  Irma – I am going to call Jeannette Clark, who has agreed to be the auditor this year.  Dave – This came up yesterday, I am still getting a lot of phone calls about loose, aggressive dogs running around the neighborhood.  One of the callers said that he was going to start shooting and asking questions later.  I called the Sheriff again who referred me to the Clallam County Humane Society.  I got hold of the Animal Control Officer for Clallam County.  His name is Jonathan Schenefeld.  I have his cell phone number and he said basically call me when something is going on, so I can come out and do something about it.  That is the best we are going to get.  The cell phone number is 460-0542.  He said call him and not the office in Port Angeles, as they just refer it back to him.     

              
MEETING ADJOURNED:  Everett made a motion that we adjourn the meeting; which was seconded by Lew.   The meeting was adjourned at 2:45 pm.