Overview of Sunland North shown as a slide show at the annual meeting (there is no sound). If you click the link that says “Watch on Youtube,” you can see a much larger version of the video.
Downloadable PDF of the slide show: Sunland North 2021 Annual Meeting Slides (8.8 megabytes)
2021 Sunland Division 17 Annual Member Meeting
September 8, 2021
The meeting was held at the Sunland Golf and Country Club Ballroom, 109 Hilltop Drive, Sequim, WA.
Homeowner Forum
Several members gave thanks to the volunteers for the excellent job edging the lawns.
There was extensive discussion of the SLOA Deer Plan, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife briefing discussing the plan, and the forthcoming SLOA special meeting on the deer plan.
The Secretary noted the current COVID-19 county health risk was rated as high, and asked if there was a preference for virtual meetings or in-person meetings. Several members expressed a desire for hybrid meetings, offering live attendance but streamed for those who prefer to stay at home. SLOA is investigating setting up the necessary equipment to support hybrid meetings from SLOA’s The Gathering Place.
There was a discussion of gravel in Mt. Baker. While most of Division 17 has open storm drains lined with grass, gravel is used in Mt. Baker, and much of it needs attention. It is not covered as landscaping, and the Board has yet to address the issue.
Several members encouraged other members to volunteer, either for one of the committees or to serve on the board. They pointed out it is a great way to get to know people (even during a pandemic), and for people to get to meet you. It is a great way way to make friends, and a great way to learn how to do new things.
Deadline for casting ballots
Announced before meeting called to order.
Call to Order, Board meeting
President called the meeting to order at 3 p.m.
Verification of quorum
The election monitors passed the Secretary documentation indicating we had a quorum, with 73 members present or present through signed quorum forms. This was later revised to 82 members present.
Purpose of the meeting
President Susan Hamman stated that the annual member meeting is an opportunity to hear from the membership on current and future issues, 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 without change.
Approval of August 11, 2021, meeting minutes
The August 11, 2021, Board meeting minutes were approved as submitted.
Old Business
Reserve Study Results
Recorded under the Treasurer’s report. The complete report is on the Sunland North website.
Financial Review Results
Recorded under the Treasurer’s report. The complete report is on the Sunland North website.
One member asked a question from the floor: has Division 17 ever had a forensic audit? The answer was “no.”
New Business
Introduction of 2020-2021 Directors and 2021-2023 candidates
Board candidates Gerry Hatler and Shirley Legg were introduced, as were the current 2020-2021 Board members.
Officer, Committee, and Coordinator 2020-2021 Summaries
President’s Report — Susan Hamman
Susan thanked the many community volunteers who helped make Division 17 a friendly, inviting community over the past year. She mentioned the work in preparation for the building of the Sequim-Dungeness and Woodcock Road roundabout, the conclusion of the Cascadia Loop restoration, and the sustained effort to keep Division 17 a wonderful neighborhood, even in the midst of a pandemic.
She also mentioned the turnover in various committee roles, including the loss of both chairs of the Landscaping Committee. She announced that Tom Steffan has volunteered to take over as landscape chair.
Mike Johnson added that Sarah Miller and Mike Bresnahan have contributed considerable labor to clearing out debris from the natural habitat area, and organized a party of volunteers to take care of young trees that will eventually provide a sight and sound barrier at the edge of the Division 17 natural habitat.
Susan noted the dramatic number of home sales, with 26 new owners out of 139 units in two years.
Secretary — Lawrence Charters
The Sunland North website, https://sunlandnorthownersassociation.com, has had a growing amount of traffic over the past year, rising from around 2,100 visits a month during the period Sept. 2020 to May 2021 to 4,000 to 8,400 visits a month from June through Aug. 2021. This traffic increase appears to be connected to home sales, as potential home buyers (and agents) use the site to check out the neighborhood.
The most popular sections of the website, in order, are:
- Home page
- Photo galleries
- About Us page
- Homeowner Fees page
- Owner Info directory
- Contact Us page
- Agendas and Minutes directory
- Governing Documents directory
- Homeowner forms
- Newsletters
In addition to positives, there have also been negatives, with over 3,000 attacks from Russia, China, Iran, Belarus, etc. While none of the attacks resulted in damage, attacks have increased greatly in the past two years.
Division 17 now has a dedicated email service for Board and HOA business, sunlandnorth.org. In the first year of use, over 12,000 email messages were either sent or received.
A note about security, privacy, and integrity: Division 17 only uses the website and email system for official HOA business. We do not provide any services in support of any commercial business or vendor, nor do we share or sell our email directory with any other entity. The move to a corporate email system was to help reassure our members that they were dealing with Division 17 officers or volunteers
Several members have requested an updated membership directory. With considerable assistance from the Communications and Outreach Committee to fill in missing contacts, we hope to have a directory mailed out by the middle of the month.
Treasurer — Betty Gwaltney
Monthly Expense Report: The preliminary August 2021 monthly expense report shows our total operating expenses for the month were $15,634, which brings our total year-to-date expenses to $241,949. This is $1,945 under budget year-to-date. This is due to lower legal expenses but also the unavailability of labor and materials to do needed maintenance.
There was an emergency order from the state that suspended the issuance of late fees. This order expired in July, and late fees will now be assessed. Assessments must be received by the first of the month, not mailed by that time.
New owner letters: four letters were sent in August. Year to date, there have been 16 new owners.
Financial Review: The full report has been posted on the website. The Executive summary: “Based on our review, we are not aware of any material modifications that should be made to the accompanying financial statements in order for them to be in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America” Olympic Tax & Business Consulting, LLC, CPA, August 4, 2021
Reserve DIY Study: The Association Reserve DIY (Do It Yourself) 2022 study was completed in May. The study is posted on the website. The 2021 full reserve study had the HOA funded at 24.4% for reserves. The 2022 full reserve study has the HOA funded at 31.5%, which still puts the association in the medium-risk category for special assessments. The study predicts that our Reserve Fund balance will be at $651,186. A fully funded Reserve Balance would be at $2,064,207.
Assessment Late Fees: The Washington State Emergency Proclamation 20-51, first issued April 17, 2020, suspended certain statutes to allow community associations to hold meetings remotely and to provide relief to association members from the imposition of interest and late fees for late payment of association assessments. This proclamation has been rescinded as of July 24, 2021. As per Bylaws Article III 2. Assessments – If any assessment is not paid within 30 days after the due date, the assessment shall bear a late charge of $10/month from the date of delinquency until paid. Do not mail assessment checks to SLOA office. Mail to Sunland Division 17 Owners Association, P. O. Box 1655, Sequim, WA 98382
Vice President — Dianne Bresnahan
Diane noted this was her first year on the board, and she learned a lot, and found it a great experience. Most of her time was spent working with the Communications and Outreach Committee, assisting with the newsletter and welcome visits. She also worked on getting owner contact information current. The importance of this information was demonstrated by the recent Florida condo collapse.
Board Member at Large — Michael Johnson
Mike spent most of the year working with the Landscaping and Exterior Maintenance Committees. He described it as an “easy job,” due to the committee leadership, the excellent volunteer help, and understanding members.
Architectural Control Committee — Richard Helmenstein
It has been a busy year, with many projects completed, mostly minor in nature. There are roughly a dozen architectural projects currently underway, with several of them held up due to a shortage of contractors and materials.
Insurance Review — Susan Hamman
Our insurance is with CAU (Community Association Underwriters), and was renewed in April 2021. Information can be found on the website.
Developed Landscape Coordinator — Eric Mahnerd
It was a challenging year for landscaping. Due to the aging sprinkler system, the most frequent type of landscaping request dealt with broken sprinkler heads or sprinklers coming on at odd times. There was also an exceptional number of requests for adding or removing trees and plants. Eric reminded everyone that you must submit a landscaping request to make changes to your landscaping.
Another major accomplishment was the completion of mulching for all of Sunland North.
Landscaping has fallen victim to the COVID-19 pandemic, with labor shortages, shortages of materials, and increased prices for labor and materials. The price increases necessitated a contract renegotiation mid-year.
Tom Steffen will take over as Landscaping chair.
Exterior Maintenance Coordinator — Michael Vandiver
A comprehensive inspection at the start of the year found over 200 items that needed attention. Most of these were minor, such as flaking paint dirt buildup on the sidewall of homes, and rotten wood trim. Most of these issues have been addressed, but ongoing labor shortages and shortages of materials have delayed some work.
Natural Habitat — Sarah Miller
Throughout the summer of 2020, several Sunland North Division 17 residents carefully fostered several baby trees supplied by the irrigation district, watering them regularly and protecting them from being eaten by the deer herd.
In November 2020, a volunteer work party planted these trees and shrubs, and built small enclosures to keep the deer from nibbling the young plants to the ground. These plants will someday form a sight and sound barrier to the roundabout which will soon be under construction at the intersection of Woodcock and Sequim-Dungeness Way.
February 2021 saw us assembling another work party to remove broken branches from the tree line along Woodcock Road. The volunteers worked for several Mondays, filling up the Bresnahan’s’ truck (sometimes multiple times a day), to clear away dead branches that can contribute to an increased fire danger every summer.
March brought the first month of volunteer tree waterers out to lovingly tend to our growing native trees. Our cadre of ten volunteers has done a great job of keeping the plants growing through our extremely dry summer. This has been facilitated by those homeowners that have made hoses available to support the effort.
April this year began the early spring inspections and treatment for Poison Hemlock, a noxious weed that Clallam County requires us to control. This effort is ongoing throughout the growing season, and anyone who spots poison hemlock (or even suspected poison hemlock) in our natural habitat areas is encouraged to report it.
Our natural areas have been mowed twice so far this year, with the last mowing of the year coming up next week.
We Sunland North residents love our natural areas. These areas provide great habitat for the birds, the deer, and other wildlife which we love to watch and photograph. As noted, nearly all of these activities are accomplished through volunteers. There are many opportunities to help with these efforts and others. Ivy removal and branch cleanup will be projects for this winter, and tree watering will be done again next dry season. After two years of supplemental summer water, our native plants should be able to withstand any but the most drastic drought.
I offer my sincere thanks to all of the volunteers who have worked hard to steward the natural areas over the last year! Your efforts do much to make Sunland North a great place to live, both because of the healthy habitat, and the spirit of the community.
Please contact me if you have an interest in helping with any of these activities, and watch for alerts in the regular newsletters or via emails that solicit volunteers to help protect and enhance our natural habitat.
Communications and Outreach — Dianne Bresnahan
Committee activities were covered in the Vice President’s report.
Sunland Water District Liaison — Al Frank
There really isn’t any news to report. Regardless of vaccination status, a mask is required to enter the Sunland Water District business office. Nothing much else has changed. There was a sewer blockage for Division 17: it was caused by kitty litter. Please don’t flush kitty litter, flushable wipes, etc., down the drains.
COVID testing of sewage continues. While it was announced that this would stop, Arizona State University is providing free laboratory support as part of a research study, and testing continues.
Voting Results
Ratification of 2022 Budget: 65 accept, 2 reject
Choice of Financial Review of Association accounts or Full Financial Audit: 86 for Financial Review, 8 for Full Financial Audit
Candidates for Board of Directors:
-
- Gerry Hatler: 88 votes
- Shirley Legg: 88 votes
- Write-in: 1 vote
Board Actions
Adoption of 2022 Budget (if ratified by owners)
The Board approved the 2022 Budget.
Adoption of Financial Review or Audit
The Board approved a Financial Records Review of accounts.
Homeowner Forum
An unofficial recognition committee presented carefully curated gifts to Board members, such as a virtual Zoom meeting printed on a coffee mug.
Adjournment
The President adjourned the meeting at 4:07 p.m.
New Board Organizational Meeting
The outgoing 2020-2021 Board met with members of the incoming 2021-2022 Board at the end of the annual meeting. This organizational meeting was used to elect Board officers and assign duties.
Dianne Bresnahan resigned as Vice President. The Board appointed Mike Johnson to fill the remainder of Dianne’s term.
The Board then elected officers from among their members.
Gerry Hatler was elected President
Shirley Legg was elected Vice President
Betty Gwaltney was continued as Treasurer
Mike Johnson was continued as Member at Large
Lawrence Charters was continued as Secretary
These offices will be confirmed at the October 2021 Board meeting.