<>
CALL TO ORDER: The meeting
was called to order
by Dave Taney at 7:07 p.m. There were 9 attendees present and all Board
members were present. Dave then called on
Kathleen DeStefano for the minutes from our last meeting.
MINUTES
OF 5/13/05: Kathleen handed
out the minutes to everyone. She asked
if there were any corrections or additions to please let her know. Ev
made a
motion that the minutes be accepted as written; Lew seconded that
motion. The motion was passed unanimously.
<>TREASURER’S REPORT: Irma read
the
treasurer’s report from June 10 to July 13, 2005. The
balance of the SAPOA account was then $10,643.33. We
have had very little income, $100 for the
general account and $0.94 interest. The
balance forward $10,744.27. The closing
balance for the regular account is $9,598.49.
With all of the restricted amounts taken out of it, we have
$6,373.73
available. The Beach Road Account, the
opening balance is $10,581.49. Income
was $200 and $6.31 interest. The balance
forward was $10,786.80. One bill was
paid to David Hanna for his final report of $600 and weed control
$46.44. The closing balance was $10,141.36
with
$6,141.36 available. For a complete
breakdown please go to www.sapoasequim.com web site.
Pastor Na made a motion that the treasurer’s
report be accepted as written; Kathleen seconded the motion. The motion was passed unanimously. Dave then asked if any of the attendees had
any comments or questions.
<>
Open
Comments:
Les Stuhr: Regarding
the
Beach Road, there are several things that I think should be seriously
considered. The first one that I think
should be seriously considered is eliminating the Beach Road Committee. I don’t think they are of any value and I
think they are being detrimental, since it is my understanding that
numerous
people on that committee were responsible for wasting SAPOA’s money
this recall
ballot. I don’t understand why if it is
required a two-thirds majority – why only 10% are required to get out a
ballot. It would seem to me that would
require close
to 30%. Be that as it may, I think that
we need to get rid of the Beach Road Committee.
Also, I think we should seriously considered just paving a
walking path
down the road and not try to put a road that people allegedly can drive
on. If they really think they are going
to put a boat down there, I think we should be honest with the people
and let
them know that they are not going to be able to take a boat down there
of any
size whatsoever. They will never get it
back out. I have talked to several people
who have had conversations with people who had boats in other places
and they
think that as soon as that road’s done that they are going to be able
to launch
their boat down there. They think
there’s going to be a dock and everything.
I don’t know where they are getting this information. I think that the people ought to be told
about the real truth about that Beach Road. That
they are not going to be able use it, it’s that simple.
Lew
– I would like to comment on that. The
primary purpose that I see for putting a drivable road down there is
not to
launch boats. I’ve launched my boat, but
I don’t have a 26 foot monster boat that you have to have 3 people to
manage. I’ve got a nice little 15
Bayliner and it goes down there and back up the hill very comfortable;
and I
can go fishing in it. But, that isn’t
the reason I would like to see this Beach Road driven on.
The reason I would like to see this Beach Road driven is because it
is a
wonderful and beautiful place to get away and sit and just have and
peace and
quiet. There are a lot of people in our
community that can’t walk back up, my wife being one of them. See what I am saying? It
would be great to have some picnic tables
down there, just a place for people to go and relax and get away from
and it
all, and get back home again. Les
– I don’t want to make it seem like
I am arguing, but it is my understanding - (I was not here so I can’t
say for
sure) but it is my understanding that this committee and this Board has
been
informed that because of the holding ponds and everything else that is
going to
be required down there, that we aren’t going to really have any parking. Everett –
There’s no holding ponds in the parking lot.
The 2 stilling basins that are in there now are all that are
required. The later phases of this thing
is to clean out the 2 ditches so we have some decent drainage, build up
the
parking lot 5 or 7 inches, according to the plans, and some new gravel
on
it. Then there will be parking on it for
half a dozen people on it. I don’t think
boats and trailers are going to be the big deal that everybody is
trying to
make it to be. (At this point there were
about 3 people talking) Tom
Pysher – Let me speak up. This morning
I was out at John Wayne Marina and
I met a couple living out here at Diamond Point. A
nice old couple that moved here and they’ve
got a boat. They were going out
crabbing. I was out there and I helped
on the dock and everything, get their boat straightened around; and she
said to
me, you know I’m from Diamond Point and I don’t know why we can’t get
that
facility out there where we can launch our boat out there.
They had an 18 foot boat. They are
in the belief, these 2 people, that
they are going to be able take there boat down there and they are going
to be
able to get in the water a lot easier than they are at John Wayne,
which is a
crock, because they are not. I think
that there a lot more people that are involved in this thing that
really
believe that they are going to be able to put an 18 foot boat in the
water,
haul there boat down there on the dock or something and enjoy
themselves. It ain’t going to happen. I’ve launched hundreds of boats and the point
I am trying to make is that we can go down there and we can make this a
nice
facility for people to go down there and sit, but the beach if they
want; but
let’s not tell people the crock that they are going to put boats in the
water
down there, cause they are not going to do it.
First of all, there is not enough room to turn boats around, and
trailers around and park them and do anything down there.
Sam and his whole bunch here have been
telling people that they are going to and these people believe in this
and they
are not going to be able to do it. Dave – We have a meeting next Wednesday
Tom, the Annual Meeting, and I think we will try and drive that point
home. Tom – Why don’t we
show people what we can do down there? Dave
– Yes, that is what we are going to try and do.
Tom - I am not against going
down there and putting picnic tables up down there and make it a nice
place for
people to drive down and just get away.
But, let’s not make people believe that they can put a boat down
there. There was a guy at the meeting
the last time I was there and he was upset.
He said I have a kayak, well yes you can take that down there;
you can
take a canoe down there. I have no
problem with that, if people want to do that.
But, I’ll tell you something, there has been this thing going on
here
that people believe that they’re going to take there 26 foot Trophy
down there
and launch it. (Several people talking
over each other at this point.) Bill
Andrew – I would just like to add
a comment to what he’s saying and where this is comes from. For years, since all this talk started, and I
am sure there are enough people that have been here for years, the main
reason
we have to build that road down there is because we have to, we’re
obligated
because we have a boat ramp which is leased from the DNR.
(At this point Tom got very adamant in how he
was speaking regarding not having the boat launch)
The other thing is, the boat ramp is full of
barnacles and seaweed, and you are risking your neck.
It’s slippery. (Several people
talking again.) Irv
Mortensen – People visualize they can go down there and launch
their boats;
how wonderful this is looking and (too many people talking at same time
to make
out all he is saying). I’m not against
people going down there, we will build picnic tables and do some nice
things
down there, but you know another thing we need to consider down there
is we
have to have a porta-potty or something down there for people. You take your wife down there and you know
we’re all older people; you know you won’t be down there 25 minutes and
someone
is going to have an urge or something; nobody even things about that. (Again, too many people talking at
once.) Enid Smith – We’ve
lived here exactly 5 years. Once we lived
here a year we have routinely
heard about the SAPOA road and in telephone conversations with you
Dave, and we
have been assured each year that the following year we will be able to
drive
down the road. I don’t care about the
boats. We have been assured each and
every year; then we have a vote this year that if I know how to read,
the vote
was in favor of ‘A’, and the next thing we knew, and I called you about
this,
that why are we voting again? The next
thing we knew there was a second ballot and you told me you wanted more
input
from the people. You hear what I’m
saying? Dave – I sure do. Enid – I don’t have a lot of
faith in or
what the Beach Committee is doing, and the thing that irks me as much
as
anything else, as I understand, is that if we decide to withhold our
$100
dollar a year dues, if we decided to sell our house we couldn’t as that
would
be a lean against the property. I think
this whole situation is disgraceful and I don’t have any hope of you
all
pulling it together; that it will go on and on and on.
Lew
– Mam, I volunteered for this position because I have faith that there
were
things that needed to be done for the good of the community. Everything I have done and everything I’ve
seen the Board do has been in good faith and the very best they good to
get
this project through. Now, as this
gentleman points out, initially we had a Beach Road Committee to
investigate,
gather information and advise us. We
have used that and we have gotten as far as we have now.
Unfortunately in the last few months or year,
it is kind of like having a sliver long enough it starts infesting; and
I think
our Beach Road Committee has turned to fester and this gentleman here
has a
very good point. I mentioned a couple of
meetings ago that we don’t have a retention pond committee, so why do
we need a
Beach Road Committee. I am prepared
today to see something done about that. Enid
– If I heard you correctly, you said about a year ago the Beach
Committee
started turning into la-la-land. I’m not
talking about as recently as a year ago, I’m talking about 2 or 3 years
ago we
were assured in writing that we would be able to drive up and down that
road. Dave – You are right. I am
going to try and answer your questions as we go through the night, so
if you
will bear with me as we go through this you will get a clearer picture
of where
we are. Pastor Na – When I
bought our here my real estate agent showed me
the Diamond
Point Beach
and I thought boy this is great. But,
unfortunately it wasn’t until after I had been here for 6 months that I
found
out the Diamond
Point Beach
was not our beach. My wife and I walked
down Mussel Beach Road
and I barely made it up. I have had 48
heart attacks. I didn’t know if I was
going to live. But, we have gone this
far and everything is done except the paving.
If I had been here at the beginning I would have thought let’s
put a
trail down there for the people who like to walk up and down hills. Let’s take the $200,000 and offer it to the
Diamond Point group and see if they would let us use that beach. (Several people are now talking.)
Dave
– Let’s get the meeting back to order and proceed with the meeting. Some of the questions will be answered and
some of the discussion has gone on for years and years, so let’s see if
we can
move forward.
OLD BUSINESS
<>Recall Petition
Ballot:
Dave - With that, the first thing on
the agenda is the Recall Petition Ballot.
Kathleen – We had quite a few
people here in this little room when we had the recall ballot count. We ended up with 144 votes to keep Everett
and Dave, and 57 votes to have them recalled.
We needed two thirds of the returned ballots to have them
recalled and
that did not happen. The count went well
and we had a lot of help. There was a
question regarding what you needed to have a ballot count and Dave
explained
that 376 ballots were sent out; 29% of those have to come back to even
have a
ballot election. That is one-third,
about 110. Two hundred and two came
back, so that requirement was met. Then
66% had to be for the recall and only 30% were for it so that is why it
failed,
all of the requirements were met.
<>2205-2006 Budget
Ballot:
Kathleen – Regarding the Budget Ballot,
so far I have 196 returned ballots, out of the 376 sent out. But, that still is enough, as we have 30% to
be able to count them. Bill
Andrew – I think you may not get
many more, as I was going to mail in my ballot and I think really the
Board is
to be commended on one thing that they did hold it to what it was last
year. It doesn’t matter, if the people
don’t pass the budget, you go back to last year’s budget which is the
same
amount of money; so I thought I might as well save $0.37.
Everett
– We
were able to hold it this time because we haven’t had to have any
repairs on
the Detention Pond; and that retention pond fund is big enough now that
we were
able to cut that down. That is the main
reason we didn’t have to raise the dues.
Unknown Speaker – Is your
Detention Pond a problem or is it just Ev
– It can be a problem. It is probably as
poor a design piece of junk that there is.
You go down there and start the pumps and run them.
I was running them fairly good for about an
hour and it’s got PVC piping; the suction pipe goes down and there’s
not much
down there to hold it. When it is dry
this year, I am going to try to get that grate off and go in there and
see if I
can’t put a bracket in to hold the suction lines and keep them from
vibrating
around too much. Lew – I
want to say how much we appreciate Everett, as he has spent untold hours
down
there repairing pumps and monitoring/testing things to see what is
going
on. Ev
– Another man, Steve Sahnow, helps me keep the weeds and stuff down. Most of the job is priming the pumps
periodically, jogging them. If I don’t
do that I try to go down and rotate them at least.
<>
Board of Directors Elections: Dave
– The next item is the Board of
Directors elections. We have one
position, if you remember back in March Dan Abbott resigned, leaving a
position
open, which Sarah has volunteered to fill temporarily; until the next
election
process comes up, that is coming up next week.
I don’t see any of the nominating committee here tonight, so it
appears we
don’t have any volunteers to run for that position.
We do have to fill that one position and that
will be discussed more at length at the Annual Meeting.
Bill
– Is that the only vacancy on the Board?
Dave – To answer your
question Bill, if Dan had not resigned, the way the terms were falling
into
place, there would have actually been no vacancies this year; there
would have
been more coming up next year. But,
because of Dan’s resignation it only had from March to July for Sarah
was
appointed and filled in from March to September, and then she has to
run for
election if she wants to continue in that position.
<>Mussel Beach Road Status: I am going
to try to answer some of your questions; take it in kind of stages. I have been involved with Mussel Beach Road
project since 1998, so
roughly 6 or 7 years; and it goes back further than that.
Irv was involved in it prior to my
involvement, so we probably jointly go back to 1996/97 when the big
disaster
hit it. So back in 1996/97 they had 25
to 30 inches of snow, which melted very rapidly with rain following. It flushed out that canyon and washed out a
portion of the road; made it badly rutted.
From that point on until 2001, there was a lot of discussion
about what
should be done and what shouldn’t be done.
Finally the membership of the association and the Board of
Directors at
that time decided to go and get an engineered plan by a professional
engineer
of what should be or shouldn’t be done to that road. Over the next 2
years
taking it up to about 2003, that plan was devised and put together, and
approved by the Board. There were a lot
of pros and cons, and a lot of public discussion, but the bottom line
it was
finally approved by the members to proceed with the program. Again, in 2002 figures that Beach Road
project
was scheduled to be about $87,000/88,000 project. That
was the first presentation that was made
in 2001. Over the next years, every year
it went up and pretty soon it was up to $120,000; then it kept going up
to
$140,000. Finally the project got to
nearly $200,000. But, the bigger problem
was that we started talking to contractors and we sent bid applications
out to
6 or 7 different contractors, and nobody had the gumption to bid on the
project. They didn’t want to get
involved, is what it boiled down too.
This probably told us something that it was a difficult project
to begin
with. It was not a lucrative money
making project. At that point, in about
late April/May 2004, a little over a year ago, I met with a contractor
that was
one of that group and Clark
Land, who is the
engineer
of the original plan and said this is out of sight; it’s getting out of
our
budget. Is there anything else that we
can do? We came up with a revised plan
that
was a, for lack of a better description, at least a good band-aid; and,
maybe
would have lasted a number of years.
But, the membership and the Beach Road Committee at that time
saw it
differently. That they wanted to proceed
with the original plan and that they would go out and get new bids from
different contractors. They talked to 3
different contractors and finally came up with a bid of about $125,000
to do
the drainage and road preparation of it.
It did not include the paving.
That would have been above and beyond that.
So that original $125,000 was approved and
the project was theoretically started late September, early October of
2004. The attempt at that point that
over the winter of 2004/2005, all the road bed would be constructed and
the
drainage would be in place, and the paving would be done in 2006 or
2007. That was the plan at that point. Things started and the very first day on the
job the contractor hid a buried sewer pipe and broke it, which started
the
downhill process. We had to go talk to
the sewer drain field owner, and get that relocated, which cost about
$3000 to
get that done. Then the project
started. This project was supposed to be
done in 60 days and if you look at October 1st, 60 days
would have
taken you to December 1st. It
should have been done before the first of the year ever rolled around. In March, April of this year it still wasn’t
done. We were still finishing up 6
months later with all kinds of delays blamed on various things from our
interference, to rock walls that were not approved, to contractor’s
equipment
breaking down. One thing after another;
I could give you 15 different excuses as to why it didn’t get down when
it
should have been done. Or, for what was
originally projected to cost. It ended
up costing about $145,000, and we still don’t have a paved road. Backing up just a moment, we did send out a
ballot of couple of months ago that asked for the approval to borrow
$50,000 at
2½ % interest that would have allowed the paving to follow right
on the heels
of where we were back in March/April.
Had that been approved, which it wasn’t, we probably would be
looking at
a paved road or at least very close to a paved road this summer. We did definitely promise in writing,
verbally and every way you can think of that this would be a drivable
road this
summer. I would be the last one to deny
that. That was a combination of promises
made by the Beach Road Committee and the Board of Directors, and
membership
co-jointly. Everybody had the attitude
and the idea that this would be a completed project and possibly even
paved
this summer. Well it’s not.
Now what we are sitting with is a road that
its surface is nearly ready for paving.
When I say nearly, I want to emphasize that because it’s not
quite. There is some top dressing, some
grading,
some shaping that still needs to be done.
The question comes up now that if we took the lock off the gate
and
opened the gate, you could drive down to the parking lot, with a 2
wheel drive
car. But it is a rough rock road surface,
not unlike a rock road or gravel road would be in some farming areas. But our concern, in fact one of our ex-Beach
Road Committee members called me the other day and said the tides are
really
nice right now and I would like to go crabbing and clamming. But, I am too old and too decrepit to climb
back up that road, can I drive down? I
said yes you could if we opened the gate, because the road is actually
passable. The problem is that if we open
the gate up and let people drive up and down it this summer, our
concern is
that indiscriminate driving may tear up that road surface and then we
will have
an extra few thousand dollars of repairs to make before we can pave it. In the middle of June we sent a letter to the
contractor saying where are you. Where
did you go, what happened? We gave you a
punch list of items to be repaired, 9 of them in count, to be done by
July 1st. We still haven’t
heard from you, though items
have not been taken care of. Now we are
expecting by July 1st from you a response that will say when
and how
you are going to address these issues, and when they will be done. If we don’t hear from you by August 1st,
we will assume that you have vacated the project; we will hire somebody
else to
finish the project and go from there.
Part of the contract, what the contractor called for was a
7½% hold back
for repairs. They were actually designed
for warranty type issues that came up during the ensuing year after the
project
was completed. We are holding $8,796 of
the contractor’s money that we should have, or would have paid him, if
it was
all done and done right. We are sitting
on about $9000 of his money and we have 2 options.
I want to point out that when I say we are
sitting on almost $9000 worth of funds, if you look at the Treasurer’s
report
that Irma just presented to you, you will see that it is really about
$6000 in
the bank. There is a short fall
there. We owe the contractor about $8800
and there’s about $6600 in the bank; which means if we had to pay up
today, on
this spot, we would have to dig in our hip pockets and come up with a
couple
thousand dollars somewhere, because we don’t have $8800.
Everett
– The
ballot authorized us to borrow that. Dave – Right, but we don’t actually
have it in the bank. We have $6100
available
to spend. The question has come, and I
will turn this over to Everett in a minute or two, now we have $6000
left,
we’ve got some items that need to be finished up to get it fully ready
for
paving. Since the contractor did not do
his part in taking care of those items, we can hold that hold-back
money for 1
year. This means, we don’t owe him a
dime until next March or April at the earliest.
By that time we will have another round of dues coming in and we
will
have the $8800 that we need. But, we are
of the opinion that we are not going to pay the contractor, period. As far as we are concerned he just walked off
the job. It is our intent to use those
funds to finish up the project and get it ready for paving. Now the problem is, the paving we know from
expense estimates that we got are somewhere in the $40,000/$50,000
range. The problem is, in 2006, we still
won’t have
$50,000 in the Beach Road Account to pay for the paving unless we can
get the
approval from Board members and the membership to borrow that money,
instead of
waiting 2 or 3 years for the money to come in.
That’s the rabbit we have been chasing for the last 6 or 7
years, always
waiting for cash flow to catch up with expense; and as we wait the
expenses
goes up. Irma - $8000 of
that money is in already in prepayments. Dave
– Normally you would get $30,000 in funds for Beach Road each year from dues. But, we have already gotten $8,000 of that,
so that leaves us $22,000 coming. So,
with $22,000 coming with the $6000 that we have, gives us $28,000 to
work with;
far short of $50,000 to work with. We
don’t have this problem solved yet. One
of the problems and this goes back to what Les was saying and what Lew
was
inferring, and the next item on the agenda in New Business, is the
Mussel Beach
Road Committee. Everett –
We need about $2000 of 1½ inch crush, just to get
the road with a little bit of crown in it,
instead of a sally in it, and to bring it up to the edge of the
culvert’s. The sides need work and that’s
another couple
of thousand dollars. If we were to put
the 5/8 crush on now, which I don’t think we should do because I think
it’s
going to wash away. If you look at the
little bit he put on there, it is washing away.
We would hire an operator and a machine; we’re talking $9,000 to
$10,000, to finish the job. Now this is
the money that we are supposed to not pay him the last 25% of, until he
was
done. But because of certain
individuals’ submarining the rest of us, that money got paid. The hold back money was supposed to take care
of any repairs after he was done for up to a year.
He does have a $12,000 bond. My
feeling is that we should approach
attaching his bond to finish this road, and hold our $8,000 for any
repairs
this next winter. I’ve talked to our
lawyer and she tells me I’ve got to file suit to attach a bond, but I
know
that’s not right. I am going to call L
& I; they are the ones I talked to before about some of these
things. Then what I have to do is call the
bond
company and say we have a problem. What
generally happens then, if the bond company goes back and says – hey
Jack you
better go back and finish the work to their satisfaction or we will
finish it
and what ever you have up for collateral is gone and your next bond is
going to
cost you a lot more. Attendee
– Is there a mediation clause
in the contract? Everett
– There is a clause that says we will go to nonbinding arbitration. But this contractor doesn’t want to
arbitrate; he just wants to file suit.
He hasn’t called back. Attendee
– You mentioned that it is
already washing away. I thought the
bedding was supposed to take care of that.
Everett
– If the road was crowned instead
sally – the deviation from what the crown should be to what it is now
varies up
to 7 inches. The majority of it is about
2 inches. Attendee – (A
question was asked but spoken too softly for the
recorder to pick up.) Everett - The contractor didn’t do it
and the
Beach Road Committee said he was done.
If you haven’t figured out by now, we had 2 people on the Beach
Road
Committee that jumped in bed with the contractor; it just happened. Bill
– The voters backed them up on the rock wall.
Everett
– The voters backed them up, but
we never should have paid $12,000 for that rock wall.
That was a $4,000 wall. Lew
– That’s a done deal, can we move on? Everett
– What I think, that as a Board we should look into attaching the bond
and see
what we can get from there. If we can’t
get anywhere there, then we go do the minimum we can to get us the
1½ inch
crush and get some crown on there; get it rolled and packed in so what
we have
will hold. Besides, we need to get some
work done on the sides, because the sides where the water drains down
off the
banks will come in below the level of the culvert too.
Dave
– One of the things that we are looking at also is that some of you are
new to
the community, and some of us have been here quite awhile.
This has probably been the mildest winter,
really dry and mild. So it’s really hard
to estimate what, in fact, the weather is going to have on this surface. We haven’t had a test. Everett
– But, just the little bit of rain since late March early April has
caused some
damage. You can see the start of what
can happen. Dave – It’s
not severe by any means, like it was. The
potential is there. Attendee
– Keep in mind you see that now. Put
blacktop on there isn’t going to change the situation any.
Blacktop is still going to be exposed to the
elements here and a 20% grade slope going down there and we still have
to be
concerned about that road, how much money we put into it for the
benefits would
be. I’ll tell you something I would like
to see, is I would like to see you take a bunch of people down there in
a
vehicle on any given weekend and show them what is there.
Then say, here is what we are in for. Let’s
be honest with people, take them down
there and show them what’s there and bring them back up the hill again,
and let
them see what’s there before everybody makes up there minds. Everett –
Remember, the last paving was an oil and chip that lasted 30 years. The only reason it failed is because the
drainage on the side did not take the water out; it undercut the bank,
the bank
fell. (A lot of people talking over each
other and couldn’t make out all that was said.)
Dave – The one thing we know
is that we are going to move forward and tonight we are not going to
really
resolve a lot of those issues, other than talk about it, as the Annual
Meeting
is Wednesday night and that’s when we bring all the membership in to
vote on
some of these issues and get a sense of direction.
NEW
BUSINESS
<>Mussel Beach Road Committee & Mussel
Beach Road Next
Phase:
Dave
– The next item is the MBR Committee. We
were talking awhile back Enid
about the blame, there’s enough blame to go around covering every base. And I am not really saying any one person or
any one group is totally to blame because we can spread that pretty far. I know one thing as a fact, in the July
Annual Meeting last year is when the problem started.
I will take responsibility for not stepping
right up to the plate right then and there and putting a stop to it. I should have never let the Beach Road
Committee take the reins and run with the project out of that meeting. When the Beach Road Committee was
restructured and new members brought on to it, I should have stopped it
then. I had a second chance and didn’t
do it. So, the buck stops here in that
respect; but its three strikes and you’re out.
Before the third strike falls, we need to disband the MBR
Committee. I think we need a small group
of advisors, and I am talking 3 or 4 people, who have some practical
experience
in that area and who are committed to working with the Board to getting
the job
done before the millennium comes again.
I will promise you that we can probably not get it paved this
summer,
but we are sure going to keep trying. In
fact this is something I will talk about at the meeting next Wednesday
night. We are probably heading into our
dry season right now. Even though we had
a wet spring, usually July through August/ September is pretty darn dry. We may be willing to take the risk of opening
the gate for a couple of months during the dry season and let people
drive;
and, obviously walking is not a problem, as long as you’re able to walk
up that
steep hill. The concern I have is when
you get to the bottom the parking lot area that is down there is messed
up, is
the best way of putting it. There is
just dirt piled and stuff that needs to be regarded, re-leveled and I
think it
goes back to what Tom and Les were saying, when you get down to the
bottom
there isn’t really a lot of place to park except at the end of the road. So, if you get more than 2 or 3 cars down
there you could have a traffic jam. Bill Andrew – I agree with what Les and
Tom were saying, would it be feasible that we could do a farm tractor
with good
rubber tires, with a trailer of some sort that we could run a little
jitney
down to where we would be controlling the vehicle going down and
ferrying
people down on pick a day for Beach Road. Have
a little picnic down there or something,
but get people down there and say here is what we have.
(There are 2 or 3 people talking at
once.) Everett
– I don’t see any reason to open it up except after we are completely
done with
this contract. While he is involved,
until he is out of the picture, if we do any damage we could be liable. Lew
– My impression is that soon either that contractor had better finish
it or we
are going to have it finished at his expense.
So probably in the not too distant future it would crowned and
packed
and ready for people to drive on it.
(Many people talking at once.) Everett
– We gave him until August 1st, and then we should be okay
after
that. Attendee – (Speaking
too softly for me to catch all he said.) We
were talking afterwards about the Beach Road and I
asked her how long she had lived here and she said 8 or 10 years. She said you know I like to go down that road
because the realtor who sold us this house (too much laughing to hear
what is
being said). Lew – In
light of the fact that the majority of the work has been
done, the majority of the research and detective work has been done,
the
majority of the recommendations to the Board has been done, so I see
very
little reason to even have a Beach Committee any longer and I
respectfully make
a motion that we should request all of the documents and research that
the
Beach Road Committee has done so we have the paperwork, and that we at
this
time dissolve the Beach Road Committee.
The motion was seconded by Kathleen.
It was passed unanimously.
<>
Communication Expenses: Dave – Irma pointed out in the
treasurer’s report that we are $307 over budget for communication
expenses. Now that goes back to recall
ballots and a lot of letters. It is just
nothing that we planned on. I also
mentioned that we are going to have the need to elect one more person
to the
Board of Directors, which means sending out a ballot.
Now ballots usually run upwards $400, which
means we are going to be over not $7, but $407 over the budget. This is well within the total budget, but for
that line item we are exceeding the 10%, so that’s going to have to be
discussed at next Wednesday membership meeting, and asked for approval
is what
it boils down to. Tom – Is
there any way you can elect someone at the membership
meeting? Dave – No Tom,
the By-Laws require a mail-in ballot so there is
nothing I can do about it, other than change the By-Laws, which is next
to
impossible. There’s not a lot of
discussion that we can deal with here by the Board members as we are
dealing
with a little extra expense that has not been approved.
Plat
6 & 7 Covenants: Dave – I see Wayne Clark is
here from
Plat 6 & 7, and I think everybody else is from different plats. Does everyone know where 6 & 7 is? I will try to describe it the best I
can. It is the view property on the East
side of Diamond Point road. So, if you
are on the East side of Diamond Point Road where the view property’s
are over
looking the bay, that is a general a description of Plat 6 & 7. Plat 6 & & in the last year and half
has gone through a tremendous development boom.
There is house after house going in.
They are not small homes, some of them being 3000 sq. ft., 3500
sq.
ft. In the process of this development,
the Board of Directors and SAPOA really have no enforcement power to
enforce
the covenants of an individual plat. The
only process or purpose the Board has in relation to the covenants is
to convey
the infor-mation from a complaining property owner to the architectural
rep and
to the property owner that’s involved, that’s where our authority ends. But the architectural rep for that particular
plat has involved me, and I have involved myself, in discussions with a
lot of
the property owners there in those 2 plats.
We are getting a lot of unusual requests, is the best way to put
it. We have 2 property owners arguing
over where the property line is because there are some trees that are
planted
on the property line that will have to be cut down because of a sewer
line. So those 2 property owners are
about to go to war over whether the trees are going to stay or go. Another one decided that he was going to
clear his lot and put a pad in and put a recreational vehicle on it and
rent it
out. We said no to that.
If I can’t put an RV on it and rent it, can I
build a house on it and rent it, to which we said yes, as long as it is
a
conventional home and you can build it or buy it. Another
one that came up was, the covenants
do not dictate what kind of a roof you can put on your house; some
places do,
but in Plat 6 & 7 there are no requirements. One
property owner decided to build a flat
roof with a white like type surface on it which is like the top of a
recreational vehicle. It sounds
terrible, but it is not too bad and it looks worse now than after the
shingles
will go on where the part that sticks up where the skylights are. But, what’s happening I guess and my point
is, that with all this development and homes coming, expense homes,
there is a
lot more discussion of why I can’t do this or why I can do that; or how
do I go
about doing this and the architectural rep for 6 & 7 is saying to
me – when
I took this job you promised me a couple of houses a year, but now it
is a
couple of houses a week. It is a
different ballgame. Then you go outside
of Plat 6 & 7 and into the Industrial Plat, and we have a different
situation. This one is more
interesting. Everyone knows where the
recreational vehicle park is. There are
some lots to the North of the recreational vehicle park driveway that
are not
developed. If you were to go down the
driveway to the recreational vehicle parking lot, just before you have
to turn
left to go into the RV Park on the right side are some lots with a gate. There is a platted, from way back in the 60’s
– it’s been there for years, a platted 60 foot wide easement going
through one
person’s property that is designed to be an aircraft taxi way. But, it has never until recently been used
for that. On Salal, this backs up to
that property, is a hanger with an aircraft in it.
The gentleman who owns it wants to be able to
taxi out of his hanger and taxi up to the airport and take off. Unfortunately the person, who owns the
property that has the easement going through it, doesn’t like that. It is recorded with the County as a taxi
easement. But, this person has chained
and gained, the property has piled brush and piles of rock so that you
can’t
get out with the airplane. So they are
about ready to go to war. Attendee
– That is a Court deal, not
for SAPOA. Attendee – That
is an easement that belongs to all of us. Everett
– State Law does not let Associations enforce covenants.
Dave
– My point in bring the whole thing up is this some of the things that
go on
that are above and beyond the normal scope of SAPOA.
We only have 2 choices and that is one – not
my job; two – we will try and help you out, but be aware that I have
limited
power and authority. What we have been
trying to do is play mediator or negotiator to get the two parties
talking
instead of suing. So far we have been
98% successful. The place was platted
back in 61 or 62 and SAPOA came into existence 84 or so.
So, SAPOA was not put into the
covenants. There are other Associations
in the state where the covenants include the Board of Directors, so
they had
some power to enforce their covenants.
We’re getting growth and some of it is easier to deal with than
others.
<>Annual Meeting: Dave
– The last item on the agenda is the Annual Meeting.
That is scheduled for July 20th at
7:00pm. Hopefully we will have a quorum,
and we will need 38 people to have one. We
are doing something a little different than we have done in the past in
that, a
couple of meetings back somebody suggested that we get away from
Saturday, as
we do have a number of people in our community that are Seventh Day
Adventist
who can’t attend the meetings on Saturday.
For a change we are doing a Wednesday evening and we normally
preceded
those meeting with a potluck. We are going
to dispense with the potluck this time and go with just coffee and
refreshment
type food, just to see how it work.
<>
Meeting Adjournment: Lew Morello
made a motion that the meeting be adjourned; seconded by Everett
Stauffer. The meeting was adjourned at
8:27 p.m.