September 2020 Board Meeting — Annual Member Meeting
Note: Washington State’s Stay Home-Stay Healthy directive places limits on all but very small gatherings. Sunland North’s normal meeting place, The Gathering Place, can only accommodate a fraction of the normal attendance at our Board meetings and still meet social distancing guidelines. SLOA, which operates The Gathering Place, has elected to keep the facility closed at this time.
The Sunland North September 9, 2020, annual member meeting was held virtually, via Zoom.
Sunland Division 17 Owners Association
September 9, 2020, 2:30-4:30 p.m.
Homeowner Forum
There were several questions about roof moss and how it should be handled. Sunland North has a contract to treat roof moss, but treatments were delayed due to a shortage of the chemical used in the treatment. The shortage is tied to pandemic-related supply chain issues.
One question asked how to deal with dirty skylights, if contractors are not allowed to get on the roof to clean them. The HOA is still looking for a method that doesn’t put the roofing tiles at risk.
One question asked how to tell if roofing tiles are broken without performing an inspection. Roofing tiles are inspected as part of each home’s annual inspection.
One question asked if anyone was looking at gutters. Gutters are inspected as part of each home’s annual inspection.
Deadline for casting ballots
Because of the restrictions on in-person meetings, all Sunland North ballots were cast by mail, and all votes received as of Tuesday, September 8, were tallied.
The Board thanked Eileen Farley and Judy Field for their excellent work as Election Inspectors, and their ability to work under unusual constraints.
Call to Order, Board meeting
The Board portion of the meeting was called to order by President Gary Fortmann at 3 p.m.
Verification of Quorum (announced with vote tallies)
92 signed quorum forms were received from members; 47 were required to meet quorum requirements. No proxy assignments were received.
Purpose of the meeting
The annual member meeting is an opportunity to review the events of the past year, elect new board members, and review and approve or reject the budget for the next calendar year.
Approval of Agenda
The agenda was approved with two modifications: an organizational meeting of the Board will follow the Annual Meeting, followed by an Executive Session to discuss legal issues.
Approval of August 12, 2020, meeting minutes
The August 12, 2020, meeting minutes were approved as submitted.
Old Business
Reserve Study Results
The Association Reserve 2021 study was completed in May, after an on-site visit of the Association Reserves’ project manager. The study is posted on the web. The 2018 full reserve study had the HOA funded at 16.6% for reserves. The 2021 full reserve study has the HOA funded at 24.4%, which still puts the association in the high-risk category for special assessments. The “Do It Yourself” study done the prior two years did not include gutters and downspouts, which probably contributed to the HOA staying in the high-risk category. The study predicts that starting in January 2021, the reserves will be at $420,000, which means that $37,195 needs to be added to our current balance.
Financial Review Results
The 2019 financial review report was received on August 6, 2020. Based on Olympic Tax & Business Consulting LLC’s review, they were not aware of any material modifications to be made to the way that Division 17 has been handling its finances.
New Business
Proposed meeting with Clallam County Public Works
Mike Johnson has had a series of discussions with Clallam County engineers about the proposed traffic circle at Sequim-Dungeness Way and Woodcock Road. He informed the county that we wanted a conversation with engineers prior to the award of the contract. Among other concerns, we would like to know how much, if any, of our natural habitat area will be taken for the roundabout, and we want to prevent Sunland North property from being used as a project staging area.
Introduction of 2019-2020 Directors and 2020-2022 candidates
Members of the 2019-2020 Board were introduced to the members, and the candidates for election were also introduced.
Officer, Committee, and Coordinator 2019-2020 Summaries
President’s Report — Gary Fortmann
Gary thanked other Board members, past and present, who helped him as President over the past four years. He also thanked all the Division 17 volunteers who worked the many tasks, large and small, that help make Sunland North better. He summarized his experience as President by noting that he woke up that morning with a smile on his face.
Secretary — Lawrence Charters
Flyers were placed in all newspaper tubes (over 90 newspaper tubes), with instructions to the owner on how to notify the Board if they wished to keep the tube. In the process of distributing the fliers, it was noted that many mailboxes have no number on the box, or the number is painted over, or the number is incomplete. The Postal Service is not obligated to deliver mail to boxes that are not properly marked.
Lawrence thanked Barbara Brooner for her assistance with rules, regulations, communications styles, proofreading, critiquing of the website and electronic communications, and general attention to detail. Cindy Rhodes, who moved from Sunland earlier this year, also offered invaluable aid in interpreting rules and regulations and providing corporate knowledge and history. The Communications and Outreach Committee, Kay Hatler and Leah Prince, assisted greatly in the task of not only official Board communications but general neighborhood communications. Thanks, too, to those who helped assemble annual meeting packets, who called or wrote about neighborhood security or traffic or other issues, who picked up random litter or tended to decorative plants, and who looked in on neighbors during this very challenging time of economic disruption and global pandemic.
Treasurer — Susan Hamman
Monthly Expense Report: The preliminary August monthly expense report shows our total operating expenses for the month were $18,122 which brings our total year-to-date expenses to $216,037.
Financial Review and Reserve Study: The 2019 Financial Review report and the 2021 Reserve Study are posted on the Division 17 website.
Fire Trust Fund: As reported at the July 2020 Board meeting, the last fire trust fund payment was made to Belfor Property Restoration. That account was closed out in July. Both 191 and 201 Cascadia were sold to new owners in July and August.
Welcome Letters: One new welcome letter was sent to new Division 17 homeowners in the past month.
Susan noted the Board and Division 17 owe a huge debt of gratitude to Gary Fortmann and John Lewis for guiding the HOA through the Cascadia Loop restoration.
Vice President — John Lewis
John thanked all the volunteers who have worked on Sunland North projects throughout the year. He urged new Board members to please read and understand the governing documents. If he can be of any assistance to the new board, please feel free to call.
Board Member at Large — Michael Johnson
Mike thanked Gary and John for their leadership in troubled times.
Mike also thanked the Exterior Maintenance and Landscaping committees for their outstanding work throughout the year.
Architectural Control Committee — Richard Helmenstein
Richard said 20 ACC requests have either been processed or completed in the past month.
Insurance Review — Donna Carson.
Susan noted that a representative of CAU (HOA insurer) was invited to the meeting to outline insurance coverage, but did not attend.
Susan noted that the clarity and completeness of Division 17 governing documents were a great help in dealing with insurance issues over the past few years.
Developed Landscape Coordinator — Eric Mahnerd
It has been a busy summer. Since May 19, 2020, the committee received almost 70 landscape requests. The majority of the requests received have to do with sprinkler issues. The sprinkler contractor is constantly adjusting the system to eliminate over or under watering situations. The contractor is currently reducing the sprinkler schedules by one day a week and, once the Fall rains start, they will be reducing the frequency again
In the case of water leaks, it usually requires the HOA to rely on an irrigation specialist contractor to investigate and, where necessary, replace valves. If you have a problem, please don’t try to adjust the sprinkler control but contact landscaping instead.
Emergency Tree removal – Unfortunately, the committee had to remove four trees recently because of root incursion on the fire hydrant main water line. If the roots had broken the main water line the results could have been catastrophic. An audit of the entire sub-division is being conducted to identify other problem areas.
Summer Pruning – Pruning continues throughout the sub-division. Pruning of the wilted Lavender plants has started. Please be patient as we have a large sub-division and it is impossible to get to everyone at the same time.
Mulching – Mulching will begin this winter once the dormant plant pruning is completed. We plan to mulch the entire sub-division at once.
Fall Fertilizing – Fall fertilizing of the grass has begun. The west side of the sub-division is complete and they will be moving to the east side this week
“Line of the Month” Heard by Landscape workers – “I know I’m not supposed to talk to you BUT….” Once again, if you have a problem or request, please contact the landscaping committee. With 139 units, you can imagine how much time is taken from the crews if they are out there listening to special requests. They have a set contract and they are not allowed to do special favors or projects for the residents
Get out and enjoy the beautiful Fall weather!
Exterior Maintenance Coordinator — Gerry Busch
When Gerry took over temporarily in the spring, no one knew a pandemic would shut down contractors throughout the state. Battling through contracting issues, Exterior Maintenance focused on the most pressing issues first. Big issues: gutter problems, gutter problems, gutter problems.
Gerry noted that, going forward, exterior maintenance problems will consume a steadily increasing proportion of the association’s resources as infrastructure ages and more homes need maintenance.
Regarding moss control: the contractor ran out of treatment fluid, and the treatment fluid is in short supply nationally. Only 10 of 33 units were treated.
Gerry thanked Doug Hale, Mike Johnson, and John Lewis for help. He also noted his term is ending, and a new Exterior Maintenance coordinator is needed.
Natural Habitat — Tom Hamman
The third mowing of the season will take place in a couple of weeks.
Poison hemlock is still an issue: four volunteers go out and check regularly to keep it under control and comply with county requirements for control of noxious weeds.
Mike Johnson noted that Sunland North has about 24 Douglas Fir trees, provided by the Clallam Conservation District, that need to be planted. The plan is to plant them in October, along the outer perimeter of Sunland North’s greenspace. It is a little complicated because not only do the trees need to be planted, but volunteers also need to construct cages to protect the young trees from deer. We hope to use the maturing trees to plug up some of the barrier holes along Woodcock Road and the proposed Woodcock-Sequim Dungeness traffic circle.
Communications and Outreach — Kay Hatler
Since early May, Leah Prince has completed seven new Welcome Visits. She is setting up appointments with new owners and meeting with them outdoors to review all the packet information and answer any questions they might have. For the year, she performed roughly 20 Welcome visits.
The next Newsletter will be published in the first part of October, and Kay will soon be gathering information for the Newsletter.
Sunland Water District Liaison — Al Frank
Also, the Governor issued an extension to the moratorium on charging late fees and water shutoffs. The new extension expires on October 15
Voting Results
Vote on 2021 budget: 103 votes to accept budget; 0 votes to reject the budget
Vote on conducting a Financial Review or a Full Financial Audit: 95 votes for Financial Review, 5 votes for Full Audit.
Election of candidates: all candidates for the Board were voted into office.
- Dianne Bresnahan: 98 votes
- Lawrence Charters: 102 votes
- Betty Gwaltny: 99 votes
Board Actions
Adoption of 2021 Budget (if passed by owners)
The Board adopted the 2021 budget as passed by owners.
Adoption of Financial Review or Audit
The Board adopted undertaking a Financial Review as passed by owners.
Homeowner Forum
Gerry Busch thanked John Lewis and Gary Fortmann for their work over the past several years on the Cascadia Loop restoration.
With respect to the recent Sunland Water District message on backflow preventer inspections: who is responsible for doing the inspections? The Board is investigating.
One member recommended the Board consider increasing assessments by $1000 per year and devote $500 to reserves and $500 for staffing support.
Adjournment
President Gary Fortmann adjourned the meeting at 3:46 pm.
Board Organizational meeting, September 9, 2020
The 2021 Board held an organizational meeting following the Annual Member Meeting, limited to Board. In the meeting, the Board selected the following individuals for offices on the 2021 Board:
The Secretary agreed to send out position descriptions to all Board members.