DRAFT: 17September 2015
FINAL: Approved24 September 2015
Grand Firs Homeowner’s Association
Board of Directors Meeting Thursday, September17, 2015 at 7:00 pm
Graham Fire Station
Board Members Present at start of meeting: (Physically present) Mark Jones, Thomas Martin, Nathan Meeks, James Lahoe, and Steven E Crandall, Sr. (Quorum Present)
FINAL minutes approved by Steven and Mark on September 24, 2015
Begin meeting @ 7:03pm
NEW BUSINESS:
Approval of Minutes from 8/28/15 Amended Sept 3 by email of the board.
- Mark motion to officially approve on 9/17/15, 2nd by Steve, unanimously voted to approve by all board members present.
Announcement of Resigning Board Member
- Mandy Johnson has resigned her position on the board.
Open Floor for Volunteers for the Available Board Positions
- Kyle Reynolds: Air Force for 8 years, now a Real Estate Agent, outside of the box thinker, being able to keep a lot of emotion out of decisions to some extent and do what he believes is the right thing for the community.
- Sonja Breithaupt: CNA at a hospital, has free time, a lot of volunteer work through church, understands working together for a common goal, been in the community for about 4 years, looking at things objectively, wants the rules to be followed in the black and white, wants to help enforce the rules we all agreed to.
By Law Amendments – Agree to Amendments and Sign
- Steve brought in amendments for review and signature of the board to add to Section 4 of ARTICLE VI Meeting of Directors to require a notification of open board meetings using HOA approved Social Media pages and websites, add Section 5 adding Board Workshops and add ARTICLE XVII Annual Election of Directors Section 1 Quorum for Election of Directors.
- Crandall read the new By-Laws amendment 1 and all board members present signed the amendment and gave to Lorne for the records.
- Lorne to scan a copy and send to the boards members to add to the website. He will also send a copy to ALL homeowners within the required 30 day timeframe, per the current By-Laws.
Amend how Minutes are Approved and Published
- Draft minutes should be sent out within 24 business day hours of the meeting to the board members and the property management company.
- Board members and property manager have 24 business day hours to suggest revisions, if no revisions are suggested within the 24 business day hours then the minutes are adopted as is. If a board member or property manager offers a revision and it is agreed upon by a majority of the board members, the minutes are adopted.
- After a revision a new set of minutes shall be emailed out to the board members and the property manager utilizing the same process takes place until the minutes are approved by a majority of the board members.
- It was recommended that if no comments/feedback were received 24 hours after receiving the board minutes, the President or Vice President and one other board member would have to agree with the minutes.
- Motioned by Steven to adopt the above rules for adopting minutes; 2nd by Nathan Meeks; unanimously voted to approve by all board members present.
Amended Minutes from 8/28/2015
- Homeowners contacted the board regarding last names being mentioned in the previous minutes from 8/28/15. After discussion with our property manager, the board has no reason to believe that there was a violation of any of our governing documents or state laws. The only item which was mentioned that could not be disclosed is unlisted phone numbers of homeowners, which were not in the minutes.
- The board believes it to be in the best interest of the homeowners to not disclose names, but list them as a homeowner with a random number designation (i.e. homeowner #1, homeowner #2). The specific name of the homeowner in the example listed in the minutes can be requested by any homeowner from the property manager.
Attorney Opinion Letter
- The board agrees to meet in a workshop to address which questions will be included in the attorney letter. To include the process to redact names listed in previous minutes, including minutes from previous boards.
Board/Owner Dispute Process
- Jim suggested an outline of a process. The board has discussed and agrees to further discuss verbiage at a workshop.
Treasurer Partial Audit Findings (More findings):
- Homeowner #1: Bought items for the “Amazing Race” event in 2012 which never took place. An email was received from Mark from regarding the items and this item will be discussed in a workshop.
- Homeowner #2: Member had been paid on invoice #106 for $160 and #107 for $75 on three separate occasions. One was on 06/20/13 and paid with check #589, the second on 07/30/13 and paid with check #627, the third on 08/30/13 and paid with check #684. The checks were pulled and sent to the board members. All of the checks had been verified to be signed “for deposit only” into the same account #. The board will discuss on how to proceed at a workshop. Mark stated that the person stated to him that they will reimburse the money and they were not trying to be sneaky.
- Homeowner #2 from minutes 8/28/15 (identical receipts): The board has decided to add this amount to the request for payment including the $470 from bullet point one (appx $15).
- Homeowner #2 from minutes 8/28/15 (missing receipts): The board has decided to forego pursuing this reimbursement due to it appearing to be signed off by the property management representative.
Money Reimbursed to Homeowners
- All spending to be reimbursed MUST BE preapproved by the board and/or the committee in which the items are being purchased for.
- All receipts must be submitted which add to the total of the reimbursement.
- All requests for reimbursement must be submitted within the calendar year on the receipt OR 90 days, whichever is longer.
- No reimbursement will be given for receipts which are not submitted within this stated timeframe.
- Motion by Steven to adopt the above rules; 2nd by Mark; unanimously voted to be approved by all board members present.
Cross Walk Painting Complete
- Discuss acceptance of work performed and agree to pay invoice.
- Community members present brought up the big improvements by pedestrians, including children at play, and by drivers when approaching the crosswalks.
- Board agrees that there are no deficiencies and see no reason not to pay the invoice. Mark and James will sign to pay.
- Estimates and warranty with original signatures were given to Lorne with JCH to file in the records.
Which Accounts Money from Collected Assessments Have Been Deposited Into
- Reserve collection is $115 currently
- Annual general assessment is $380
- All money looks to be deposited into the general fund
- This will be discussed at a workshop on how to proceed.
Reserve Proposals
- Association Reserves cost $970 per year for a 3 year contract to include one site-visit and two-no-site visit update. $1,620 for a single year reserve study engagement
- Cedcore cost $892.08 per year for a 3 year contract to include one site-visit and two-no-site visit update. $1,441.25 for a single year reserve study engagement.
- Motion by Nathan to use Cedcore for a single year engagement; 2nd by Mark; unanimously voted to approve by all board members present,
Social Committee:
- Upcoming “Back to School Dance Party” on Sept 26
- Through fundraising the Social Committee raised over $600 plus gift cards, ride along with the firefighters, and much more for giveaways at the dance event.
- Projector purchase: may not be advantageous, from a warranty standpoint, to purchase this year and lose several months of a warranty. Specifications required and price point need to be discussed. Possible warranty through Squaretrade. This will be reviewed at a board workshop.
Dead Trees at Front Entrance – suggestions for replacement, etc…
- Mark contacted Jon Newkirk @ Rainier Landscaping; woodpeckers have been creating the holes and insects have been making home in the holes and destroying the trees at both entrances. According to Jon, this process takes several years. Once it is infected to the point it is, there is nothing which can be done.
- Prevention of this happening to other birch trees in the community, how? Ask the community if we have an arborist in the community to help diagnose and possibly prevent the issue.
- Should we remove and replace? Sonja said that she knows a master gardener and offered to have them come in to take a look. Mark Jones’ wife knows a master gardener and to see if they will come take a look.
- Steve recommend deferring a decision until we hear from an expert on the subject.
Crack Sealing
- Lorne from JCH presented an estimate from GA Jorgenson after looking at the cracks, estimated at 6000LF at a cost of $6000 pretax.
- Mark Jones requested Lorne to obtain additional quotes from other vendors.
Maintenance Committee Work Party Budget
- Committee gave the liaison costs of $961.82 picked up. Nathan Meeks said he can pick them up and save 20%.
- Motion to approve purchasing the items on the estimate, Nathan to pick up, and items on receipt vs estimate verified by one other board member made by Steven; 2nd by Mark; unanimously approved by all board members present.
Annual Meeting
- Thomas stated that reserving any Bethel School facility (North Star) must be done online now. North Star is available for December 8 & 9. The cost is $70 per hour. James and Mark believe that previously we have paid $20 per hour. Thomas will contact Bethel School District to confirm whether the $70 is accurate for our situation.
- Thomas tentatively reserved the gym for December 8th from 6:30pm – 10pm.
Schedule a meeting with Vista for a meet and greet
- The board will look at visiting with Vista to ensure that we are getting the best for our money and the best fit for our community. Mark recommends that we do this in the next few weeks whether with all the board members or just a couple.
OPEN OLD BUSINESS: Not addressed
Parks – Discuss adding electrical outlets in each park. Costs, locking of outlet, etc.
- Mark to contact electrician for outlet costs and access for tie-in at all parks. Only parks with access in the park should be considered due to cost.
GNP – Do all agree there are areas that need change?Fine structure, violation letter timeframes
Community Septic issue at Phase 2 park
- Discussed the concern with the septic for a property owner and the steps gone through to rectify.
- The cost was estimated to have been between $15,000 & $20,000. The board worked hard and was able to make contact with the original installer (Stuth). The cost for the community will be for the electrician and the landscape restoration. The other items will be taken care of by Stuth.
- Mike Crandall offered a new Rhombus box for the property, if needed, to save the community money.
CC&R revisions
- Steve needs help with obtaining the remaining votes to change 4 CC&R’s.
Trees with bees and tent caterpillars need to be addressed
- Susan (JCH) was supposed to be looking into. Mandy believes that there are two separate companies to address the issues. Lorne to look into with John Newkirk.
- Maintenance Committee to look into trimming dead trees at the entrances.
Tabled Topics:
CC&R violations – areas of concern, how to achieve effective results
Committees – current rosters, updates, ideas for gaining traction within the community
Adjourn meeting @ appx9:42pm