Sunland Division 17 Owners Association
Board of Trustees Meeting, December 20, 2012
Location: The Gathering Place
Detailed Minutes
Call to Order: The regular meeting of the Sunland Division 17 Owners Association Board of Trustees was called to order at 9:07 AM by President Jim Karr.
Roll call and quorum: Board members present were Lee Cox and Jim Karr. Jerry Schmidt was absent for medical reasons. The chair confirmed a quorum.
Review and approval of minutes: Minutes from the Nov 19, 2012 meeting, circulated in draft to board members in advance, were approved as submitted without a separate reading.
Old Business:
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- Expansion of the board to five members, as proposed at the previous meeting, was approved by unanimous consent. Article III, Section 2 of the Sunland Division 17 Owners Association Bylaws will now read: “2. Number: The number of trustees of the Corporation shall be five…” Terms of all five board members will expire with the next regular board election in August 2013.
- Selection of additional board members. Lee Cox moved that Gene Ross and Cindy Rhodes be appointed to the two new board positions; motion was seconded and approved. Ms. Rhodes then joined the board meeting in her new capacity; Mr. Ross was not present, due to a family emergency.
- Revision of board responsibilities. Newly-named board member Cindy Rhodes agreed to fill the office of Secretary, and Mr. Cox will retain his role as Treasurer.
- Scheduling of future board meetings. It was decided the board would meet the first Tuesday of each month, from 9 to 11, for at least the next few months, with the goal of making the standard meeting location “The Gathering Place,” on the ground floor of the SLOA/Sunland Water District building at 135 Fairway Drive (Sequim). No meeting in January because the first Tuesday follows so closely on the current meeting. The next scheduled meetings are:
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- Tuesday, February 5; and
- Tuesday, March 5; and
- Wednesday, April 2
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- Use of BaseCamp for Board Coordination. The chair indicated the board would continue with the “BaseCamp” software that had been used by the previous board, for at least the next three months, so that new members could become familiar with the software before deciding whether to continue it or not.
- Review and reconciliation of governing documents. The chair stated six individuals had signed up at the previous meeting to help review and reconcile the 2 association’s governing documents: Gene Ross, Kevin Estes, Renee Jones, Cindy Rhodes, Cindy Meek, and Tim Paschal. Tim Paschal had already prepared a report that has been distributed to all board members. He asked that Gene Ross coordinate the group’s efforts, and report back their progress at the February trustees meeting.
Committee Reports
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- Treasurer’s Report. Mr. Cox reported his satisfaction with the division’s new contracted accountant, Robin Reese, and that as of Nov 30, 2012 the Division 17 Owners Association had $193,000 in its combined checking, money market, and CD accounts. He also reported that the one home previously outstanding in two of its quarterly assessment payments had provided one of the outstanding payments, and had stated to him that morning that the second payment was in the mail.
- Budget Update.
(a) 2013 Assessment schedule and quarterly newsletter. The chairman reported that the 2013 assessment schedule (agenda attachment #2) and December 2012 quarterly newsletter (agenda attachment #3) had been mailed Dec 14 by the accountant.
(b) Budget and expenditures for 2012. The chair next presented a review of the 2012 budget (agenda attachment #5), based on his review of each individual expenditure in 2012, which shows a projected deficit of $9,815. Discussion followed. Savings in landscape services were offset by higher-than-budgeted maintenance costs for 2012, plus higher insurance costs and the new costs of an associationcompensated administrator for most of the year. Each of the major headings– Landscape, Maintenance, Insurance, Administration and Reserves–included line-item breakouts. Also, as recommended at the Nov 20 meeting, reserves earmarked for the association’s share of water meter setting expenses were shown separate from other reserves. 2012 funds intended to go towards the accumulating General Reserves will have to be reduced to cover the 2012 budget deficit.
(c) Budget for 2013. The chair presented a proposed budget for 2013 (agenda attachment #6). Anticipated 2013 expenditures are again projected to exceed anticipated revenues, by $7,787. The chair mentioned the idea of an informational meeting for homeowners, to be held several months before and separate from the August annual meeting, at which homeowners could discuss association-provided services and their costs, and the implications for future assessments. Mr. Cox moved that the revised 2013 budget be adopted as presented, it was seconded, and the motion passed.
(d) Discussion and approval of assessment for Declarant, 2012 and 2013. The chair indicated conversations continue re: Declarant assessment for 2013.
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- Landscape Report. Mr. Cox reported the landscape contractor would like to be doing trimming now, while trees and shrubs are dormant, but that work has been interrupted by the rain. (It damages the lawn if they walk around on it while so wet.) 3 There had been several special requests to expedite trimming so that owners could put up their Christmas lights, and these requests were accommodated. Mr. Cox also mentioned that the landscape contract runs through August 2013.
- Exterior Change Requests. There was no specific report, as Mr. Schmidt was absent from the meeting; but Mr. Cox indicated there had been one minor request forwarded to Richard Helmenstine, the volunteer Exterior Maintenance Coordinator.
- Exterior Maintenance & Inspection. Homeowner volunteer Richard Helmenstine provided a written outline of planned exterior maintenance for 2013, attached. Mr. Helmenstine said he performs a neighborhood inspection twice a year to identify exterior maintenance needs. A significant upcoming expense will be 10 units (5 buildings) scheduled for whole-house exterior painting in 2014; bids will be sought sometime during 2013. The written report also described the ongoing problem of deteriorating perimeter fences, indicating some suggestions were to remove it completely, and he recommended homeowners provide their input to the Landscaping committee. In addition, Mr. Helmenstine’s report provided progress updates on street lamp upgrades, concrete repairs made during 2012, mailboxes and cracking of caulk. Discussion followed. Another maintenance issue raised was standing puddles of water. The developer, Kevin Estes, said that a contributing factor is years of thatch growing to the edge of the asphalt, raising the sod level, so that water runs off; he plans to have Kevin Estes Homes dig the sod back. He said more extensive work such as drain rock may be a landscape issue.
New Business
New Division 17 Website. The chair summarized a proposal received from Dynamic Graphics Website Development (Sue Forde) to set up the Sunland Division 17 Owner Association Website separate from the Kevin Estes Homes (agenda attachment #7). Discussion followed.[Background Note: “Sunland Division 17 Owners Association” is the legal name of the homeowner association; “Sunland North” is a marketing term used by Kevin Estes Homes and now widely adopted by homeowners throughout the Sunland community..] New board member Cindy Rhodes described her experience with this vendor, and mentioned several other clients of which she was aware, including SLOA, and the potential advantage of having a local contractor. Ms. Rhodes moved that the proposal be accepted, it was seconded, and the motion passed. The chair confirmed that a $450 line item for this activity was included in the 2013 budget that had just been approved.
Other/Announcements
Coordination with SLOA. The chair also reported on his attendance at the regular meeting of the SLOA board the previous day (Dec 19). He said that the board members in attendance spent considerable time re-thinking the tree-cutting rules, as a result of the issue raised repeatedly by Division 17; that they appeared to be open to his comments; and that progress was being made in the most recent incident.
Visitor Comment Period
Fifteen visitors signed in to observe the meeting. (A separate sign-up sheet for comments was not circulated.) Remarks from the audience during the visitor comment period included several pro’s and con’s to removing the perimeter fence–the cost of maintaining the fences, their greater or lesser aesthetic appeal, that some parts are old and badly deteriorated, some parts are newer, still in good shape and valued by the adjoining homeowners; the suggestion that the board meeting be at least periodically shifted to a later time that might accommodate the schedules of more homeowners as observers; that some way be found to better communicate the value of volunteer contributions that are a cost-savings to homeowners, and to promote more volunteerism to help with association needs (specifically, perhaps include estimated value of volunteer contributions along with annual assessments)–ex. electrician’s service call to repair or upgrade security lights would cost $100-$120, versus Mr. Helmenstine’s donated time plus materials); discussion re: reserve studies, with a reminder that the previous board committed to doing a reserve study every two years and that it is now time to do another; whether a larger scale reserve study is actually now required, and a question (outstanding) as to whether the requirement can be waived and under what circumstances; the value of a full CPA review; the suggestion from a previous board member that current reserve funds include projected costs for the scheduled 2014 whole-house painting; a question (outstanding) as to whether those reserve funds also anticipated replacement cost for the perimeter rail fences; discussion that reserves are intended to accumulate towards (replacement?) expenses anticipated within 30 years, and that the roofs, though they theoretically have a 50-year lifespan, are in some cases approaching the age where they should start to be factored into the reserves; and discussion that the cost of doing the reserve studies is an operational expense, and thus not to be paid from accumulated reserves (and thus will need to be budgeted). There was also a short discussion of the BaseCamp software and how it has been used by the board and committee chairs to log and track maintenance and other issues and notify the relevant parties.
Adjourned at 10:50 am
There being no further comments, Mr. Cox moved that the meeting be adjourned, it was seconded and the motion passed. The meeting was adjourned at 10:50 AM.
Submitted by: Barbara Brooner, Volunteer Recorder
Approved by the board: February 5, 2013
Signature:_________________________________________________