SUNSHINE ACRES PROPERTY OWNERS ASSOCIATION
SEMI-ANNUAL MEETING MINUTES
JANUARY 24, 2004

CALL TO ORDER:  The Semi-Annual Meeting of 2004 was called to order at 1:00 pm by
    President Dave Taney.  49 of the 347 paid owners were present to meet the quorum requirements.

MINUTES:      The minutes for the July 26, 2003 Semi Annual Meeting were passed out.  Dick Welch made a motion to accept the minutes as printed; Jim Martin seconded the motion.  The motion was passed unanimously.
            
TREASURERS REPORT:  Treasurer Irma Martin read the Treasurers Report.  Dennis Allen made a motion to accept the Report as read; Keith DeStefano seconded the motion.  The Motion was passed unanimously.

MILLER PENINSULA PARK DEVELOPMENT:  Steven Gilstrom, Park Manager for the State Parks & Recreation Commission for Miller Peninsula State Park started our meeting off with a talk about the Miller Peninsula Undeveloped Property which Diamond Point is surrounded by and what is being planned for to establish this property as a state park  with future recreation, trails and possible camp sites.  There are about 3000 acres of the undeveloped property.  He did say that none of the plans are for the near future, but will be down the road a possible 10 years.  Ranger Gilstrom said that gates that have been put up have helped deter vehicles from entering the property.  A great deal of money was spent on hauling about 20 old cars, 10 dump truck loads of garbage and brush to help clear trails.  The Park Service has a few vehicles that they use to help maintain the trails, and are able to put out small camp fires.  A map is being developed with the hiking trails and Ranger Gilstrom hopes to have that done in the next 6 months.  To develop a park on this property could run from $4 to $7 million dollars over 4 to 6 years.  Any one is welcome to call the Park Managers office for further information, or to report any violations that they may have seen regarding motorized vehicles of any kind on the paths.  There was a question and answer period after his talk.  

OLD BUSINESS

    Mussel Beach Road Project Status:  Dave Taney reported that SAPOA has raised approximately $95,000 dollars in the account for the road project.  Three years ago we started a four year project of $120,000 to repave and redo the drainage system on Mussel Beach Road, thus giving us an all season, all access road.  We are now at the point we where we can seriously talk to some contractors and get the project moving forward.  There are 5 or 6 contractors that we can talk to and ask for bids on this project.  Hopefully by the time we get to our July meeting, the project will be started.  We encourage anyone who can to prepay their dues for 2004-2005, or even a portion of it would be helpful.     

    Unpaid Dues Collection Status:  Dave Taney reported that last November of 2003 we had about 25 property owners with delinquent dues payments going back to 1999.  We talked at the last meeting that those would be turned over to a collection agency.  Therefore, certified letters were sent out to each of the property owners to please pay up with the next 60 days.  After that point, they would be turned over to a collection agency.  Nine of the people have taken advantage of that and so only 16 are left to pay.  Sometime within the next 2 or 3 weeks, they will be turned over to the collection agency.  The contract is in hand and Irma Martin and Dave Taney just need to get with the agency to get that accomplished.

    SAPOA Website Creation:  Dave Taney and his wife Vicki went to a class in Port Angeles to learn how to create a website.  The website has been created and you can get to it by typing: www.sapoasequim.com where you will see details about CC&R’s, By-laws, dues, etc.  This is a work in progress.  There is a lot of room to add items that may be of interest to property owners, and future owners.  The utilities that are needed for Diamond Point are on there now; and, we hope to put the minutes from the last two meetings on there, so the general public can see what is going on in their community.  This website will also be helpful to realtors with potential buyers regarding the covenants and by-laws.  The e-mail address for SAPOA is: sapoasequim@olypen.com .  If anyone sees any errors, typos, etc., please feel free to let any of the Board Members know so that they can be corrected.

    Plat Architectural Reps:  Everett Stauffer stated that Plat 1 needs an Architectural Representative.  Mary Howard offered to run for the position, but she is only here for half of the year.  We need a full time resident.  At our last Board Meeting, a new owner – Steve Ramsey – volunteered to be the Arch. Rep., so a ballot will be going out soon for the vote.  The Industrial Plat still needs an Architectural Representative.  Everett is still representing that Plat at this time.     
    
    Mussel Beach Boat Ramp Lease:  Everett Stauffer said that on January 13th he turned in the paper work.  He talked to Martha Hurd, who is our DNR representative in this area for dealing with the lease.  She came out and looked the site over and what a small impact the ramp has on the beach itself.  She has said she would support us in getting a waiver for that $3 to $5 thousand dollar survey that is required.  For this particular case it would be a cost, but no value involved.  The application has been taken for our $25 permit and they will put that through and hopefully we will get a variance on the survey.   

    Disaster Prepare-CERT Training:  Dan Abbott talked about CERT (Community Emergency Response Team) to deal with disasters in our community, with the first meeting in November, 2003, where 33 people showed up for the first meeting.  At that meeting we asked for volunteers to continue on with the training and 20 people are continuing the training.  The second training was January 22nd, where we covered medical response which is triage basic medical things that need to be done to help the people in trouble.  There are 2 trainings left which will cover fire control and search and rescue.  Hazard materials will also be covered.  There has been a Ham Radio set up at the fire house and there are several people who Ham Radio operators in the community, so there will be communication in and out of our area.  Our community does not have a disaster plan and the training of these 20 people, who will then help train others, will help us to put a disaster plan into existence for the Diamond Point/Sunshine Acres community.  In March a committee will be formed of volunteers to help set up this disaster plan.  We have been budgeted for a response siren to be installed at the Fire Station next month.  It will be tested once a month for 30 seconds.  But, if you hear it for longer than that come to the station if you have been designated as one of the disaster plan volunteers.  A set of signals will also be set up.

    Animal Control Complaints:  Dave Taney brought up the fact that we are still having a lot of problems with lose dogs.  In the community there are lose, aggressive dogs running around, report it to the Sheriff’s Department.  They may say that it is our problem, but keep reporting, as with enough reports we may get something done about it.  As you know, Clallam County did away with animal control.  The new sheriff said that he will try to get 1 deputy assigned back to that and funds for it.  In a worse case scenario, if some one has been injured, call 911.  

NEW BUSINESS:
    Hunting-Poaching Complaints:  Dave Taney brought up the fact that we have had a lot of hunting and poaching complaints.  There is a large deer population here, and regardless of what your opinion of them is, the issue is safety.  Right now we don’t seem to be having as much trouble with shotguns and rifles, but bow and arrows.  We had some neighbors who found a dead deer in their yard with an arrow in its head.  The wounded deer had been seen 1 week prior to that and the Fish and Wildlife people came out and couldn’t find it.  No one seemed to be able to capture it.  It took a week for the arrow to kill this deer.  Again, a high powered compound bow has quite a killing range and if you don’t know what you are doing with it, or good enough to hit the deer where you are supposed to, it can be dangerous.  So, please report any signs you may have of poaching, hunting, or shooting in the area that is inappropriate.  The only way we are going to get anything done about it is to keep referring it to the County Sheriff’s Office.  This includes any activity you may see on Mussel Beach Road that doesn’t look right.  Our community is posted no hunting of any kind, and there should be no shooting of any kind.  It is just not a safe practice.

    Reader Board:  Dave Taney mentioned the reader board that is located by the water tower as you leave Sunshine Acres.  Hank Morse has been maintaining that sign for the last 5 or 6 years.  Hank has had some health problems recently and could use some help or a substitute to handle that.  If anyone is interested in maintaining that sign, putting up the notices, get together with myself or one of the Board Members.  Neil Eckerson volunteered to help maintain the sign and do the posting of notices.

    2003 Financial Records Audit:  Dave Taney – It has been required that every year someone audit the financial records of the Sunshine Acres Property Owners Association.  It is time again to ask for volunteers.  We need someone who has some accounting background, but does not have to be a CPA.  If there is any one in the community or this group who would like to volunteer, it would be appreciated.  It is not a time consuming project.
 
    Board Vacancy:  Dave Taney – We have 7 Board Members.  One of our members, John Nielson, was elected to the board by his given name, and commonly referred to as Jack Nielson.  For years Jack has been involved with the Korean ministry and is a religious minister, and is more commonly referred to as Pastor Na.  We, in Board Meetings, have discussed that since he was elected to the Board as John Nielson, which is the way we preferred to address him in communication and paperwork, or any documents that associated with the association.  Pastor Na feels that to deviate from his calling is a problem/conflict for him, and that if we wanted to keep in that stance of using his given name, he has asked to resign from the Board, thereby creating a vacancy.  Pastor Na did say that he has a legal DBA that Pastor Na is his name, and has been for the last 30 years.  The Board serves at the will of the property owners.  We have a little more than 10% of the property owners present and so have a quorum.  Lew Morello said that with the resignation of Mr. Nielson, that would create a vacancy, why doesn’t somebody nominate Pastor Na to fill that post.  Dave Taney said that he would accept a motion from the floor.  Neil Eckerson made a motion that we accept Pastor Na to serve on the Board as Pastor Na.  The motion was seconded by Jim Conquest.  The motion was carried with 48 yes votes and 1 no vote.             

    NON AGENDA BUSINESS:  An attendee brought up that there are several Seventh Day Adventist’s in the community who could not attend our meetings, as they were always held on Saturday.  Dave Taney brought up that we are required by the By-Laws to have 2 meetings a year, one in January and one in July.  The original timing of those meetings is poor, as a lot of people go South in the winter due to the bad weather.  Then in July, when it is nice weather, people are traveling and doing other things.  In either case there are not as many people around for these meetings.  The By-Laws require that we have 10% of the voting members present, but not that it has to be on a given day.  So, it could be moved to another day.  Also, the meeting does not have to be in the day time.  As president of the association, I will do anything that is possible to schedule these meetings when we will get the best turnout.  We have a fair degree of flexibility and are willing to try other things if it works out better.  

        Dave brought up that we only publish a newsletter 4 times a year as a requirement of the By-Laws.  They are published spring, summer, winter, fall; but things do come up that would be good for the community to read about on a regular basis.  With our new website we will be able to get more information out to the community.

        An attendee brought up the wrecked car on private property that you can see as soon as you turn onto Diamond Point Road.  The first owner was the maintenance person for Gardiner Community Center and it went through 3 or 4 owners after that.  The last person abandoned the vehicle.  The property owners were contacted and legal moves have been made to have the vehicle towed away.  

        An attendee (Marydee Countryman) brought up that the fire station is in need of volunteers.  She handed out some membership interest cards.  

        An attendee brought up the subject of variances, how many are turned down and what is a non-responsive answer interrupted as?  Dave Taney – In the past people did things without asking.  We have encouraged people who build and you are going to be a foot or two over the property line, ask for the approval of your neighbors and your plat property owners; then file the approval with the County Auditor, so you are legal.  Then 5 or 10 years from now there will be a legal record of what and why it was done.  To answer the question if most variances are granted, in most cases the answer is yes.  The average is 5 to 1 they are granted.  A non-responsive answer is considered as a No vote.  Some of the plats have 8 foot setbacks and others may have 15.  It all depends on where the plat is located.  The County can be less restrictive.

        An attendee brought up junk cars/garbage on neighboring property and how does one go about getting them to clean it up.  Some one in the plat, or a group from the plat, has to be willing to take the risk of taking that person to court, if necessary, to get this accomplished.  Our Covenants and By-Laws do not cover this situation.             

ADJOURNMENT:  Lew Morello moved that the meeting be adjourned.  This was seconded by Niki Nicklin.  The meeting was adjourned at 3:00 pm