Note: Not Official Meeting Minutes but Rather my thoughts following the Board Meeting of June 29, 2017
—President Larry Dittloff
Board Members Present: Bradley, Dittloff, Greeley, LaVack, Luke, Nuesca, Obie and Tremper
The Board heard several presentations during its Open Forum from Members regarding Annexation and requests for variances on Courtesy Letters that they recently received.
Architectural Control Committee reported that they have received many applications as of late and have been consistently turning those requests around within their three-business day goal. The Committee indicated that they now may well be developing a color pallet for paint to be used on the painting of houses to make their deliberations about house painting easier. The current CCR says that all CCGCE houses are to be painted in a light pastel. Providing a color pallet to home owners was discussed last year but it was decided not to go through with that idea at that time. There are also several houses that have started major projects without first completing an ACCC Application. Vantage will be contacting those property owners on an immediate basis to inform them that they must first submit the application to the Association before starting those projects. This requirement is, again, there to protect overall property values of the community and this requirement has been in place since 1977.
Compliance Committee reported that some houses are not keeping up with their yard work and parking issues being the biggest problems at this time. The Committee has received a number of recent compliments that the overall community is looking better than it did last year. The Committee also asked Vantage if they had done any more research on the possibility of the Association being able clean up the yards of several un occupied and bank owned houses as they are becoming fire hazards? If allowed the cost for this work would be added as a lien on that property.
Roads/Signs Committee reported that all of the street lights have been converted to energy saving LED lights. New street signs have been ordered and that the Board itself will be installing them. Bids are still being sought for the repair of three storm water catch basins and that that work will be completed this Summer. The Committee is also painting “No Dumping” signs by the basins in an effort to keep them free flowing. It was also reported that the rest of the basins will not be pumped this year as this needs to be done on an every other year basis and they were all done last year. A discussion was also held regarding the re-sweeping of the streets and it was decided that the streets have been swept and that budget has been fully expended for that work and excessive sweeping removes the small rocks from the seal coat making the roads more vulnerable to wear and tear. Individual homeowners are urged to sweep in front of their houses if there is a need. Speed bump painting will resume next week with the priority being Hogan, Armour and Cotton. Eventually all speed bumps will get new yellow paint. I also asked for and received permission to enter into an agreement with the Thurston County Sheriff for the patrol and enforcement of traffic on our streets. This action is allowable under Washington State law if the speed limit is raised to 20MPH which it will be. All speed signs will be changed to reflect this action. I also reported that I had spoken with the Golf Course Manager and he re-assured me that he would be cleaning out his storm water basin that was full of sand and causing run-off problems on Armour.
Ad Hoc CCR&R & Bylaw Committee reported that their work is complete for the time being and a DRAFT of those two documents have been forwarded to our Attorney for review. Once that has been completed those two DRAFTS will be available for the membership to review. They will be placed on our web site and they can be downloaded from there. It was emphasized that these are still very much “living” documents and open for input and change as even the Committee is not in full agreement on all points. Members may comment on that work at our upcoming July 20th, August 17th and September 14th Open Forums at the beginning of each regular Board Meeting.
The Treasurer Reported we are a little ahead in expenditures with $51,824.04 being spent out of our operating budget of $100,400, so far, this year but that was to be expected as many of our budget items are “front end loaded” like our once a year street sweeping. We should be OK at the end of the year because our real income of $98,644.02 is also running ahead budget projections. It was reported that over $11,000 still has not been collected from members for annual dues for the current fiscal year. The decreased cost of our energy costs for street lights will also positively impact our budget statements in the future. Overall, the Association has accounts receivable of $107,761.50 with $23,379.70 being from this fiscal year.
The Board also deliberated on requests for variances, exceptions, fine reversals and appeals.
