Board Members Present: Cynthia Murphy, David Bangs, Susie
Carney, Mike Quaranta, Kendra Mills, Susi Tom, Mark Southern, and Shelly
Birkwood
Board Members Absent: Doug
McDaniel
Meeting called to order at
Minutes: David
read the minutes for February 2002, and they were approved as read.
Treasurer’s Report: Mark Southern -$68,988 in the checking
account. There is $20,200 in outstanding dues: 87 special assessments, 13
2002 dues and 3 from 2001. Mark
distributed the 2002 budget as it was approved at the annual meeting so that
all Board members would have it. Mark is
working with the bank to get a refund for $325 to correct an error made by the
bank.
Insurance: Shelly has been working with our insurance company (Safeco) to
understand our coverage. Since renewal
for our liability and loss insurance is due April 20, insurance will be an
important discussion item at the next Board meeting. She learned that insurance costs will go up
$500 this year even if we don't change coverage. She learned that the insurance
company's decision to only reimburse us for half the cost (above the $250
deductible) of repairing tennis court locks was in error because the entire
tennis court, including fence and lock, is insured under the current policy.
She will verify that they plan to cover that cost fully. We discussed what
additional items should be insured. The
agent suggested that since the deductible is $250, it wouldn't be wise to
insure mailbox clusters. However, David
pointed out that labor and materials to repair a damaged mailbox cluster can
easily exceed that. Steve Meyers charged
about $300 to repair and paint a cluster that had been knocked down, and a
commercial contractor had bid $1000 to do a similar repair several years ago.
The insurance company has
request photographs of the new playground equipment, a certificate of insurance
provided by Pacific Outdoor Products, and a letter stating our park maintenance
policy. Shelly will draft the
maintenance policy letter and email it to the Board for approval. Mark
suggested she include a copy of our park maintenance contract with Northwest
Grounds. Our new playground equipment is more valuable than the previous
equipment, but it is also safer and more durable, and covered under the
manufacturer's warrantee for at least 10 years.
Kendra will check on the actual length of the warrantee.
Susie Carney suggested
that Shelly get some competitive insurance quotes to be considered next
month. Mark Southern suggested that we
ask Safeco to consider how long we have been their customers and our relatively
claim-free record.
Playground Equipment: Playground equipment has been installed, but tape
has not yet been removed. The project
was delayed slightly because the company (Pacific Outdoor Products) had
powder-coated some of the pieces blue, and had to powder-coat them again to be
the requested green color. The company also installed the wrong piece of
equipment for the small structure, but they are adjusting it to meet our needs
by adding a low platform so small kids can climb onto the structure. We still need to remove dirt that was
excavated in installation. Kendra will round-up some volunteers by this
weekend. Kendra pointed out that the
standard swings are too low, and kids compensate by kicking away all the
gravel. Mark Southern volunteered to
raise those swings. We may need more
gravel, especially to cover certain horizontal support bars which are part of
the new equipment.
Drainage
– Olympic Landscaping and
Irrigation will come next Tuesday to begin developing a plan to
fix drainage. They hope to come up with
a plan that can be implemented in multiple phases. We are paying them $1500 for
the detailed planning work which will involve approximately 20 to 24 hours of
engineering time. The existence of a specific plan will allow us to accept bids
from multiple companies for implementation.
Kendra is researching companies that may be invited to bid. David will
check the records and find the best site plan for the park, and also look for
an existing irrigation plan.
Paths –
David passed out results from the web based survey on park paths. The survey was available on the web site for
3 weeks, and announced via email to the neighborhood and in the March
newsletter. Of 39 "votes", 3
were in favor of keeping the paths the current width, 19 were for 60 inches and
17 were for 72 inches. Several opinions
were also returned via email. Those
sending email probably also voted in the survey. These emails were forwarded to
the Board and can be summarized as follows:
-- 60 inches adds just 4
inches to either side of the current path.
This difference won't be noticeable. Go for 72 inches.
-- Don't widen the
paths. We use paths widely, and width is
not a problem. Wider paths would mean
more maintenance and possible vehicle access.
-- No work is needed on
the park paths. They are fine the way
they are.
-- We are in favor of
72" paths based on safety issues. Unless bikes are banned, 72" paths
are required to avoid liability.
-- Widening the path is
OK, but paths too wide could ruin the look of the park and invite vehicle
access. I'm voting for 5 feet.
-- From our former
landscaper: Wider paths would have
allowed me to bring-in the appropriate equipment in to maintain the park – but
make sure you know how close the sprinkler heads and other obstacles are from
the path. Moving them could be
expensive.
-- There is a big
difference between 60" and 72".
Shouldn't the poll have an option for something in between?
The newsletter encouraged
those without Internet access to call the president and let their opinion be
known, but no one called.
Kendra noted that the
representative from Olympic Landscaping mentioned that they consider 5 feet the
minimum acceptable width for new park path installations, but many parks are
installed with paths from 6 to 8 feet wide to allow safe passing.
David noted that the
neighborhood seems pretty much evenly split between 60 and 72 inches, and wondered whether we should consider 66 inches
(5.5 feet). Cynthia moved that we
tentatively plan to widen the paths to 66 inches, provided that no sprinkler
heads would be impacted. Susi Tom
seconded and the motion was passed unanimously.
We discussed how 5.5 ft.
paths would effect ability of vehicles to enter the
park. Several board members mentioned
that vehicles can and do enter the park through one of the entrances, and that
this is handy for maintenance and setting up park activities. Kendra suggested that locking posts could be
used to block unauthorized vehicles from entering. Mark Southern suggested that we consider
making the paths more narrow at entrances to keep the
entrances subtle and non-vehicle friendly.
Kendra will ask our current landscaper (Northwest Grounds) what path
width is optimal for their equipment to enter the park without harming the
grass. The plan will be refined at later
board meetings.
Easter: David
Bangs created the posters and Susi Tom posted them. The eggs were stuffed at a stuffing
party. Susi reports Easter plans are
progressing nicely.
Tennis: Doug
McDaniel submitted his report in writing.
This month, the Association purchased a new tennis net, two trash cans
and a squeegee for the tennis courts.
The tennis court inspector that recommend that
our courts need resurfacing reported that there is no downside in waiting until
next year to do the work. Doug is getting additional bids for power washing and
lock repair.
The Association runs its
tennis program using a bank account at Bank of America. All other Association funds are kept at Key
Bank. Running the annual tennis lessons
requires quite a few checks to be written to pay instructors and in some cases
to issue refunds. Cynthia moved and Mike
seconded that Doug McDaniel be approved as a check signer for the Bank of
America account. The motion passed unanimously.
Susie or Kendra pointed out that the funds in the Bank of America
account, which represent revenues from the 2001 tennis program, are meant to
help pay for tennis court equipment and maintenance.
Architecture:
3 requests were submitted,
and all were approved.
Rules Committee:
David reported that the
rules committee does not plan to begin meeting until July.
Legal Affairs:
The Thurlkill lawsuit is
still ongoing. Ivonne Thurlkill was deposed, but the defense attorneys have not
examined our records yet, so the records will have to remain at our attorney's
office for a little longer.
Government Affairs: David Bangs
and Joan Probala are putting together a meeting which will be held April 4th,
Landscaping:
Kendra brought up some bids
that Mark Buick had obtained to remove dying junipers along the strip on 188th,
install bark mulch along that strip, install primadalis trees along fences in
the park and install bark at park entrances.
Mark Southern recommended that we postpone non-critical landscaping
projects until we get a handle on the special assessment projects. The impact and cost of the drainage work is
still not known, curbing at the entrance islands still have not been installed,
and we have not developed a plan for improving the landscaping at the
Kendra noted that Squak Mountain
Nursery provides free landscaping plans for customers who will purchase the
plants from them. They did a good job
recently for Sunset Elementary. Kendra
will call
New Business:
We received a letter from
a resident wondering whether we have considered locking mailboxes. David Bangs reported that we rejected the idea
when we replaced mailboxes a few years ago because locking ones cost $100 vs.
$5 for the non-locking ones. Installing
such mailboxes across-the-board would require a special assessment. People acknowledged that mail security is a
growing concern, and their have been reported incidents of mail theft. No action at this time.
Garage Sale: The Greenwood Point
Association asked if they could "tag-on" to our garage sale and share
advertising expense. Board members feel
this is a good idea, and wondered why we don't invite other Associations to
join in as well. David will provide
Cynthia with contact information for nearby HOA presidents.
David reported he had
filed an amended corporate report with the Washington Secretary of State to
list our new officers and directors. The
filing fee was $10.
Mike Quaranta reported
that ropes and floats at the beach will be replaced this spring.
David suggested we take
the high level approach and focus on governmental issues. It is known that
Next Meeting:
Wednesday, April 17,
Home of Mark Southern
This meeting is during
Spring Break, so Susie Carney will not attend, and a few other Board members
may not be able to attend.