Board Members Present: Cynthia Murphy, David Bangs, Susie Carney, Doug McDaniel, Kendra Mills, Susi Tom, Mark Southern, and Shelly Birkwood
Board Members Absent: Mike Quaranta
Meeting called to order at
Minutes: David read the minutes for November 2001, and they were approved unanimously as read. David read the minutes for January 2002. Mark Southern pointed out the bank account balance mentioned was incorrect, and moved that the reference be removed. The minutes were approved unanimously as amended.
Appointment to fill board vacancy: Kendra moved that we appoint Shelly Birkwood to fill the vacant board position until elections can occur at the annual meeting. Susi Tom seconded the motion, which was approved unanimously.
Treasurers Report: Mark Southern -$57,173 in the checking account. 18 members have not paid the 2002 annual dues. We have collected special assessment payments from 121 of the 289 members. Since the last board meeting, we paid out $21,278 toward the new playground equipment and also made all regularly scheduled payments.
Playground Equipment: Kendra reported that the old playground equipment has been removed by volunteers! Mark Southern and his son removed the old equipment. The association will reimburse them approximately $500 in disposal fees. Since playground equipment removal was budgeted as a $2500 expense, this frees up $2000 to be spent on special assessment related projects most likely park drainage.
The new playground equipment is scheduled to be installed the week of March 11th. Installation is included in the purchase price, but Kendra will get a work party together ahead of time to rake gravel.
Special Assessment Projects:
Drainage Nothing has been done yet, but the group expressed a sense of urgency since this is the soggy time of year, and the inspections must be done during the soggy weather. Also, the path project is on hold until we understand what trenching or regrading will be necessary to repair the drainage. Mark and Kendra said they'd get right on it.
Curbing - Susie Carnie reported that the company that will replace curbing wants to wait until April brings warmer weather.
Paths We talked about the width our paths should be. They can remain 4 feet wide, be widened to 5 feet (the width of the sidewalks) or widened to 6 feet as proposed by the board last year. Shelly noted that 5 feet seems the right width, whereas 6 feet might alter the feeling of the park too much.
The March newsletter will contain a brief survey allowing neighbors to express an opinion on the width of the paths, with the options being 4 feet, 5 feet and 6 feet. The Board recommendation is now 5 feet.
Committee Reports:
Easter Susi Tom reported she has secured some youthful volunteers to help with Easter. The date is set for March 30th. David Bangs agreed to make mailbox flyers, which Susi will post.
Tennis Courts Doug McDaniel passed out a document outlining some current and future tennis court expenses. He visited the Seattle Tennis Club and obtained information about who does their maintenance. He learned that the locks on their tennis courts are sturdy, secure, and haven't needed to be fixed for 20 years. Fixing our gates and locks in the same fashion could cost $1300 for both doors. The board encouraged him to proceed to get an exact estimate.
Tennis nets cost $140 each, a squeegee to clean the courts would cost $125, and 2 tennis trash cans would cost $90 each. Doug is recommending these purchases, to be considered by the Board later.
Doug also mentioned that the courts haven't been resurfaced in at least 10 years. The surface is definitely degrading and would benefit from resurfacing ASAP. Since the cost could be $5000, Mark Southern requested an exact estimate that includes a "Pay Me Now Or Pay Me Later" estimate indicating whether the cost would go up substantially if we defer the project. David Bangs pointed out that our current year budget has been approved, and that a project of that size would have to be approved at an annual meeting.
Architecture Cynthia Murphy moved that we appoint Fred Riler as the chair of the Architecture Committee. Susi Tom seconded the motion, which passed unanimously.
Fred submitted a written report, noting that there had been one remodel request and that a vehicle stored in a driveway had been moved.
In discussion, it was noted that most new committee members were having trouble opening the email attachments that are used to transmit forms sent to the Association's fax number. David offered to help anyone having difficulty. This problem has resulted in a two week delay processing one faxed-in application.
Legal Affairs The lawsuit against the Thurlkills is still ongoing. At this point, our attorney has our past minutes and architecture forms on file for reference by the defense attorneys. A deposition of the defendant is scheduled for this Friday. We should be able to pick up our records in a week or two.
Government Affairs David reported that Joan Probala has been talking to Issaquah officials about the possibility of annexing our area. They report willingness to put this on the ballot if we show strong support and deliver petitions with a large number of signatures. The City is happy with the method used in Providence Point, and David will be speaking with the president of the Providence Point umbrella association to understand their process used for public involvement. Joan and David will put together a meeting to get input from all nearby Associations.
Susie Carney suggested an article be written for the March Newsletter with some good background information on why annexation is being considered at this time, and what the benefits and drawbacks would be. David will see what information is available with such short notice.
It was pointed out that Meerwood park has been identified as
a park which
Kendra expressed concern that residents of adjacent neighborhoods will use our park even more this summer when Meerwood park is closed and our park has brand new equipment. We decided to keep an eye on this problem and think about possible signage to discourage use or our park by non-members.
David pointed out that the issue of the park closure is
related to the issue of annexation, given that the City of
Newsletter The March newsletter should be mailed by 3/14. Articles should be submitted to editor@southcove.net by March 7th. David will have the newsletters printed at Kinko's so that Cynthia can pick them up on 3/12. Cynthia will recruit people to help her fold, but refused the help of any board members. Her strategy is to get other people involved in folding newsletters, so the board doesn't have to do all the work!
Newsletter content: Easter, Tennis Lessons, Path Survey, Update on special assessment projects, Information about annexation proposal, Article about change in garbage collection companies.
Landscaping Cul-de-sac islands have been cleaned up. We got some very grateful comments from neighbors.
New Business :
On Insurance: David reported that our D & O insurance and liability insurance appear to be adequate, but that our assets, such as the tennis court, playground equipment and mailbox clusters do not have adequate loss coverage. Shelly Birkwood agreed to be responsible for reviewing our insurance coverage for completeness.
On neighborhood vandalism: We discussed recent vandalism, and a proposal by Fred Riler to offer a reward for information about vandalism. The board members expressed feelings that such a solution would be very complicated. For example, we wouldn't know whether the accused individual really committed the vandalism. We are not in a position to conduct police-like investigations or draw conclusions that should only be reached in the court system.
David suggested we take the high level approach and focus on
governmental issues. It is known that
Meeting adjourned at about
Next Meeting:
Wednesday, March 20,
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