At Home of Mark Southern
Board Members Present: Mark Southern, Craig Elkins, Kendra Mills, Jill Cyra,
Jeff Coe, Thomas Marquis, Shelly Birkwood, David Bangs and Don Meyer.
Meeting called to order at 7pm by Mark Southern
Minutes: Shelly read the minutes for January 2003, and they were approved as read.
Treasurer’s Report: Mark reported that he changed the type of account with Key Bank to one that will not incur fees. Jill pointed out that remaining with Key Bank also saves costs of ordering new checks.
Mark reported that there are approximately six delinquent accounts for annual dues. Follow up is needed to either arrange payments and/or begin obtaining liens for the past due accounts.
2003 Priorities:
Repaving park paths and Cottonwood Committee process recommendations: Don has further researched the cottonwoods and how they may be affecting the parks paths, by consulting with Don McQuilliams (arborist), Northwest Paving and Sammamish Paving Co. Don’s research specified age, wind, sun, rain and tree roots as causes of damage to the paths. Don also reported that before the paths are repaved, proper preparation of the ground surface, knowing the approx age of the trees and their probable root growth cycles, would need to be taken into consideration. Don noted that Northwest Paving’s bid includes totally removing paths and digging beneath paths, cutting some roots and infilling with gravel to significantly delay future root damage.
Mark stated that path repaving is a priority, and the information Don obtained is a good first step in setting up a fair process for decisions to be made regarding the cottonwoods.
Craig suggested the information collected can be given as, “justifications for keeping the trees or removing them”, and the costs associated with both. Kendra said that as part of the bid for removal, the costs of replanting should be included. Don will gather this information together.
Homeowners will decide Yes/No whether the cottonwoods by the tennis courts should be removed. A vote will occur in the first two weeks of April. The Board will proceed to remove the central leader of the tree by the beach, and remove the entire tree, only if it becomes structurally unsound.
Mark suggested steps to setting up a fair process: 1) Put together an information packet; 2) Distribute to the board for agreement; 3) Mail packet to homeowners; 4) Implement recommendations.
Jill is researching postcard printing costs. Kendra suggested writing lot numbers on each postcard to allow us to ensure the validity of each vote while still providing maximum anonymity to homeowners.
Rules Committee: The rules Committee met to discuss their timeline and strategy for making necessary covenant changes. The earliest changes can be made is 11/02/06, provided that an Agreement to Change the Covenants is signed by two-thirds of all homeowners and recorded by the County three years in advance, by November 2nd this year (2003). The committee feels homeowners may be confused by a verbose set of changes presented at their doorstep, believes it may be easier to have the agreement contain just a summary of proposed changes along with a process to ratify the exact changes at a later Annual Meeting. In order to keep the change process moving in a straight line, the committee would have that agreement limit changes to these aspects of the covenants: Dispute Resolution by Binding Arbitration, Recovery of Legal
Fees, and Future Amenability of the Covenants.
Some board members pointed out that the “two-step” approach to approve changes could be confusing and inefficient, and encouraged them to see if they can suggest specific changes for approval this year. The committee will consider further.
Government Affairs: David advised that Gary Thede, President of Sammamish Beach Club has proposed a multi-neighborhood lobbying group for government affairs. Thomas suggested the group name to be SaLSA! (South Lake Sammamish Association) We like that name!
Mark suggested that this group would meet with police, King County regarding roads, etc. South Cove residents could attend meetings called by Gary. David Bangs, Shelly Birkwood, Thomas Marquis, and Jeff Coe agreed to be on the SaLSA committee.
Roads: Shelly advised that Morgan Wong of King County said he did not have any authorization to remove the double yellow lines along 192nd Ave. He advised that she would need to talk with Dave Paul, who is a Safety Engineer for King County.
Mark suggested that this would be a matter to review with Gary Thede of Sammamish Beach Club, also.
Parks: Kendra reported that the homeowners across the path opposite Mark’s home, want specific plum trees trimmed. She will need to review our 1-year contract with Signature, (the company that bought out NW Grounds) to see if they will handle the trimming. Also, this year, around April, our sprinkler system will be checked for any damage. This expense should be added to the regular budget.
Legal Affairs: David announced that a Settlement Agreement regarding the Thurlkill lawsuit has been signed by the Thurlkills, Stratiners, and David on behalf of the Association. The fence itself has been shortened significantly, with the main stretch being about 4’ above the rockery. Trees have been planted in excess of the height of the fence, but not apparently higher than the 6’ limit set in the agreement.
Architectural Review Committee: Jeff reported that one request for a shed was submitted & approved. He’ll collect further documents from Fred Riler. They confirmed that Jeff will respond to submittals and he will ask other committee members for their help if needed.
Newsletter/Website: The newsletter to be mailed April 1, 2003.
Cottonwood information will be part of the newsletter and post cards will be included for responses. Jeff will arrange for printing of the newsletter. Kendra will set up a meeting for the folding.
Welcome Committee: Kendra Mills, Shelly Birkwood and Jill Cyra are on this committee. Jill Cyra will be the contact person for new homeowners. Kendra and Shelly will help her as needed.
New Business: Jeff obtained information from Sammamish Beach Club Board regarding mailbox replacement and found that the post office has extra mailboxes in their inventory. Jeff will explore all options for changing over to locked mailbox clusters.
A mailbox cluster near the Quaranta home was knocked down by one of the recycle company trucks. The Recycle Company said they will pay for or complete the repairs, as they are the ones who knocked them down.
David suggested that handyman Steve Meyers would be able to fix it, as he has repaired mailbox clusters for South Cove before. A motion was made to have David contact Steve Meyers for repairs to the mailbox cluster for an amount not to exceed $400.00. The motion was approved.
Meeting was adjourned.
Minutes submitted by Shelly Birkwood, Secretary
March Board Meeting:
Wednesday, March 19, 7pm
Home of Shelly Birkwood
Address: 4549 194th Avenue, SE
Phone: 747 – 0650