June 2, 2015
Nancy Krueger, Michelle Egusa, Mark Bunger, and Vicki Bengeult were in attendance. Ken Scheweitz and Mark Moberg were out of town. A quorum was present. Minutes of May meeting were approved.
4th of July picnic – 3pm – Please join us! Burgers, hot dogs and fixin’s provided. Bring a salad or dessert to share. We’ll have some beer on hand or BYOB but no glass please, especially in pool area. Help with setup and grilling needed! Call Nancy at 253-941-6390.
Work parties
Thanks to all who came and helped out over the 3 Saturdays. Refund checks have been issued. Special thanks to Sherry and Joey Murchison and Anne Mesick for maintaining the 1st Avenue and Dash Point entrances all year round.
Pool Maintenance – Mark Bunger
The recirculating valve in the pool pump system is leaking internally. The cyanuric acid level was too high on the first weekend (May 23) to allow the pool to be open. Mark had to drain about 5 feet total of the pool water to bring the level down. This acid is not toxic in itself but it prevents chlorine from doing its job. We are awaiting bids to fix the leak and for a new liquid chlorine pump (currently we use tablets) that would automate the chlorine process and prevent the cyanuric levels from increasing over time. The lifeguard closet has been refurbished with cement board to repair rodent damage.
Pool – Nancy Krueger
Our first open Saturday was quite busy. We have 12 families signed up for children’s swim lessons. We have 4 levels, preschool to more advanced, with two teachers from June 22 to August 7th. The pool opens full time June 16th, hours 12:30 to 8:30 pm. Adult swim 5 to 6:30.
Architecture Committee
No new issues or requests. We’ve noticed many people out working in their yards. Thank you for keeping our neighborhood beautiful. Some lots are not being maintained so well. Please abide by the covenants about maintaining yards and not allowing excessive weeds or other overgrowth on your property. As always, be considerate of your neighbors – unmaintained yards are not only unsightly, but create extra work for surrounding lots when weeds spread and go to seed.
The spruce trees by the pool were trimmed to remove dead material and limbed up to above the roof line. Vicki contacted the city and received a detailed response outlining steps required to remove and replace trees. Because the trees are in sensitive area identified for erosion control, we will need to draw up detailed plans, including replacement trees, a drainage plan, and erosion impact report. Because this all ties in with the drainage issues, we will work toward submitting a master plan to address improvements in the area and obtaining permits for all the projects at one time.
Annual assessments
We still have 7 owners late on the 2015 payments. Second late notices have gone out. If you have not paid your dues, please do so right away. Households in arrears are not allowed to use the pool. 2 owners are a year or more in arrears. We have a June 15 date in small claims court against the one who has refused to pay, and will try one more time to make arrangements with the other party before taking them to court as well.
Insurance
Vicki reported on recommendations made by our insurance agent. Our underlying general liability coverage is $2 million and costs about $1800. In the event of a large claim due to a serious event at the pool, this may not be enough, exposing homeowners to financial liability. Options to add $10 million, $5 million, or $1 million in umbrella coverage were discussed. Nancy moved to add an umbrella policy in the amount of $1 million at an annual cost of $250. Michelle seconded and the motion was approved. It is recommended to consult with your own home insurance agent regarding personal umbrella policy to cover a catastrophic event at the pool in excess of our $3 million total coverage.
Playground
The playground equipment is aging, and we had another discussion as to whether some of it should be removed. One idea is to remove some of the large spruce trees from around the pool house and replace them with smaller trees and shrubs in the current play area, and put tables and benches there. The city requires an equal number of tree credits to replace any removed trees, and this could be a nice area for that. Please let any board member know (email info@marcheri.org) if you have strong feelings about keeping the playground. We want to balance safety liability issues with neighborhood needs/wants;, your opinions will help guide us.
May Transactions
Income
$6370 Assessments
$1240 Associate Memberships
$ 80 Swim Lessons
Expenses
$650 Homeowner Work Refunds
$298 Office Expenses
$1565 Pool Maintenance
$ 139 Legal & Professional Fees
$ 38 Postage and Delivery
$291 Utilities
Stream Mitigation Project Update
A revised copy of the mitigation plan was requested and received from the wetlands biologist. The one obtained last year incorrectly identified the Sorenson/Cheng property as being owned by Mar Cheri. The revised version also corrects the stream buffer to 50 feet instead of 100 feet, and reflects the reduced size of the mitigation area not to include the east side of the stream (by the parking lot and sports court). We sent a letter to the city summarizing the results of our last meeting with them (see May minutes), where they agreed that our portion of the mitigation would be based on number of trees on our property as a percent of the total number of trees cut. A copy of that letter and the mitigation plan was forwarded to Dr. Cheng, the new owner of the Sorenson property. We have not heard anything from the city or Dr. Cheng. We would like to see progress on clearing brush and replanting, but at this point are waiting for the majority property owner to take action.
Our next meeting will be held at 7 pm on July 7, at the pool. Meeting was adjourned at 8:30 pm.