SOUTH COVE BOARD MINUTES

April 19, 2005

At the home of Jill Cyra

 

 

Board Members Present  Thomas Marquis, Jill Cyra, Julie McDaniel, Randy Uyeno, and Rod Putney.

 

Meeting called to order at 8:00 PM by Thomas Marquis when a quorum of members arrived.

 

Guest Requests/Reports   Gerrie Hendrickson expressed concern about organized soccer teams holding practices in the park. Practices have been seen approximately 5 out of 7 days per week.  Some of the coaches and players are South Cove residents.  Some of the concerns expressed included insurance liability, damage to the park, parking at entrances, and the possible expansion of practices if non-residents mistakenly believe that organized team practices and/or other activities are acceptable in the park.  Conversely, it was noted that there are no published rules about organized teams using the park when the coach or some players are residents.  There are also no published rules on limits to the number of guests or limits to uses of the park.  At least one of the teams was known to be organized through Issaquah parks and recreation.  Gerrie agreed to call Issaquah parks and recreation to inquire about insurance coverage for the teams at locations other than the fields allocated to the teams by Issaquah parks and recreation.  If the city does not cover the teams at non-allocated locations, Gerrie will request that the city notify the coaches.  Otherwise, the board with reconsider the issue. 

 

Minutes   The March 2005 minutes were read and approved.

 

Treasurer’s Report  A current account balance was not available.  Jill reported that the account, Shawn Stoller, indicated that the South Cove Homeowners Association (SCHA) would not owe tax for 2004.  However, there may be difficulties for 2005 if some expenditures are considered capital expenses rather than maintenance expenses.  Income for capital expenditures may not qualify for exemption under the tax rules.  Jill agreed to investigate the differences.

 

Architectural Control Committee  Rod reported that the committee approved a few requests for painting and one request for window replacements.  The committee did not yet have a recommendation on a general park fencing policy. 

 

Parks and Landscaping  

            Board Priority # 2 – Drainage - Rod reported that he, Don Meyer, and Sam Rosenbalm evaluated the ground after the latest rains (after there had been a dry spell), and confirmed the water accumulation around the tennis courts.  Rod agreed to contact the landscaping company that previously worked on out drainage to determine specifics about implementing the next phase of the drainage design that was developed in approximately 2002.  The landscaping company may have been Olympic Landscaping, but Rod will check.

 

Rod also reported that some drainage grates had been thrown into the lake by some 5th graders, but that he determined who they were, and had made arrangements for the perpetrators to retrieve the grates from the lake on a coming weekend.

Rod further indicated that will try to get a (free) landscape design from a local nursery for the park entrances.

Beach Committee   

Board Priority # 1 – Floating Dock Repairs – Thomas reported that Don Meyer sent an email indicating that Don had attempted to contact the vendor, but did not receive a return call. 

Board Priority # 3 – Buoys – No additional information yet available on a new rope.

Board Priority # 5 – Beach Patrol - Don’s email indicated that a few volunteers had come forward, but we needed more.

 

Tennis Courts Committee  Jill transferred the tennis court keys to Julie for distribution to residents who need them.  Julie reported that she had acquired a center strap for one of the nets at a cost of approximately $9, and a new squeegee at a cost of approximately $69, as authorized by the motion of the March meeting. 

 

Events Committee  Thomas and the rest of the Board requested that Rod relay out gratitude to Kim Putney and Amy Higgins for their tremendous work on the Easter parade and egg hunt, especially given the terrible rainy weather of that day. 

            Jill proposed that the Board purchase a bunny costume rather than continue to rent every year for approximately $100 per year.  Purchasing a costume would cost approximately $300, plus drying cleaning every year.  No formal motion was made or vote taken.

Since we are having difficulty getting someone to coordinate the July 4th event, Rod agreed to give a list of tasks to Randy to post on the web site, so that we could request volunteers for individual tasks rather than request that one or two people handle the whole event.

 

Government Affairs Committee  David Bangs, Co-Chair of the South Lake Sammamish Association (SLSA),  reported that SLSA has registered with the state as a political organization, and that the registration lasts for one year at a time.  SLSA wishes to promote annexation of the Greenwood Point / South Cove area to the city of Issaquah.  David explained that SLSA is repaying South Cove for meeting room rental fees that South Cove provided in the past.  Consequently, South Cove does not owe any dues to SLSA during 2005, while SLSA is registered as a political organization.

            Jill provided David with the most recent room rental bill, so that SLSA could pay it directly from SLSA’s new bank account.

David also reported that the next SLSA meeting will be May 12, 2005 at 7:00 pm in the King County Library Resource Center.

            David further reported that the round-about intersection of West Lake Sammamish Blvd. and Lakemont Blvd. will be expanded over a number of months during the summer of 2005.  Most construction will occur on non-peak hours, but the intersection will be disrupted.

 

Rules and Regulations Committee  
                    Board Priority # 4 – Update Rules & Regulations No activity to report.
 
Mailboxes  No activity to report.

 

Newsletter & Website Committee  Randy reported that he had not yet receive a bill for the March newsletter.

            Randy also reported that Chad’s information is listed on the web site for escrow offices to contact.

 

Welcome Committee  Jill reported that the budget includes an amount for a box of candy to welcome new families.

 

 

 

New Business:

Political Signs – Randy reported that a state substitute bill 6064 had passed both the state senate and the state house, which would invalidate any homeowners association covenants or rules that prohibit displaying political signs.  Randy agreed to post information on the web site, so that any homeowners can submit comments to the Governor.

 

Meeting was adjourned at 9:15 p.m.

 

Next meeting at Don Meyer’s home, 4456 191st Pl. S.E., on May 17th at 7:00 PM.

 

 

 

 


Contents of Treasurer’s Email

 

Since I won't be able to attend the meeting this month, here is the Report:

 

Treasurer's Report for March 13, 2005

Current Balance:  $50,893.04

Dues Collection Status:  12 houses delinquent

 

Other News:

 

David Bangs has agreed to open a separate checking account for SALSA to keep

the funds separate from SCHOA.

 

Mark Southern and I met with our accountant, Shawn Stoller, to discuss the

tax situation.  Several items were discussed:

1.  We need to spend 90% of income on approved expenses (maintenance) or we

will owe taxes.  We decided to review the tax situation in the fall to

determine how much dues we should collect in this calendar year vs in 2006.

We can ask the board members to delay payment until Jan 2006 if necessary.

2.  Shawn has reviewed his billing and discovered that for years he has not

been billing us enough to cover expenses so from now on he says we should

budget approximately $1500 for tax services, not the $350 that we had been

paying.

3.  One way we can bring this amount down is to use Quickbooks accounting

software.  This past tax year, he charged us $450 for General Ledger and

Bookkeeping which would not be required if we used Quickbooks.  I saw the

software for sale at Costco so I went ahead and bought it for $185 (with my

money).  If you can please vote to authorize this purchase, I will reimburse

myself.  Otherwise I can return it unopened.  Seems like it will pay for

itself immediately by avoiding the General Ledger and Bookkeepping fees.

Shawn says it's easy to use and pass on to next treasurer.

4.  Shawn and Jill will work on creating a Treasurer's handbook to be passed

along

 

Respectfully submitted,

Jill Cyra

Treasurer, SCHOA