RIIA BOARD MEETING MINUTES                                                                

March 16, 2015

All Saints Center, Raft Island

The meeting was called to order by  President, Rich Swenson, at All Saints Center.  Board introductions were made.

Board Attending: :  Rich Swenson, President, Charlotte Crain, VP., Sarah Brown, Secretary, Anne Scea, Treasurer;  Trustees:  Mike Hirko, Jim Cushing,  Doug Van Doren, Linda Karle and Jud Morris.  Absent: Trish Burnett, Trustee

Members Attending:  Island members, Tom Straub, Sean Taylor, Glenn Stewart.

Request to add agenda items:  None 

Member’s Request to Address Board:  None

Approval of Minutes:  Minutes of the February 23, 2015 meeting were approved as corrected and will be posted on the website.  

Treasurer’s Report:  Treasurer, Anne Scea, submitted Treasurer’s reports to the Board by email on March 14th.  Anne distributed a revised 2015-16 Budget for discussion and vote.  Because a monthly dues increase to $165 is proposed, she reviewed the reasoning behind the increase:  a $41K deficit from last year,  bridge insurance is likely to be more, audit and parks maintenance categories require more money.  Judd asked about the scope of coverage for our liability insurance, specifically whether it would cover all roads and Rich said that it covered anything we  might be sued for.  The Budget was passed without dissent.  In reviewing the Balance Sheet, Anne commented that moneys for the USDA reserve will be moved to the recommended Vanguard fund, approved at the last Bd mtg, at the end of March.

Managers Report:  The monthly report from Island Manager, Juanita Carbaugh. was emailed to Board members on  March 13th .

• Juanita reported that we were able to collect the full amount of past dues plus interest from Wells Fargo Bank which has owned lot#61 since 2010 and has not paid assessments.
•  She also reported that she is researching new, improved parking stickers which will have license plate numbers on them to match each vehicle. The Board agreed by voice vote, with Jim Cushing voting “nay,” to distribute the new stickers to those requesting them, along with a gate key after the Annual Meeting.
•  Judgments:  An error on the previous Getty judgment was corrected by the judge with our attorney paying a small penalty for the oversight.  There was discussion on how to handle the successful judgments against non-paying lot owners.  We can pursue foreclosure or go after a bank account or other assets. Jim Cushing said a Supplemental Disclosure would mean the party must disclose assets.  Rich will confer with the attorney about the cost of this action and email finding to Board members.

Bridge:   Tom Straub reported that the road sign we ordered to direct traffic leaving the bridge as to the correct right-of-way had been delivered and will be installed.  The Caretaker at All Saints has volunteered to take care of the removal of brush and downed tree branches at the entrance road to the bridge.  The Raft Island road sign replacement was discussed:  a rough estimate for an aluminum or wood sign might be $350, about 4 X 8.  Island member, Glenn Stewart, will get additional information and forward to the Board.

Committee Reports:

Parks and Recreation:  Sean Taylor, Parks Chair, led a discussion of the proposal to replace the South Beach small boat rack which was removed during bridge construction. His recommendation is not to replace the rack because labor and materials to build would  be costly, it might attract a lot of derelict boats like the previous one and it would detract from the park which looks good now. We decided to ask for a general show of hands for this boat rack replacement at the annual meeting.  Weed control was discussed -- Spring has caused an explosion of weeds in our new beds.  We need a weed eradication party or something of that nature.  Issue was not resolved.

Roads:  Rich reported on the results of the road survey:   members overwhelming voted (about 80%) that “roads” was the top priority facing the Island now that the new bridge is in place.  Most members were not in favor of paying upfront or in two installments.  Just over half favored investigating  a low-cost USDA loan and members were evenly split on whether or not to wait until we had collected the entire amount of the road replacement.

Rich said that the road replacement committee chair was concerned the excess bridge money we voted to put in general funds for roads could be used for other things. He said that we have two questions:  How can we make sure the money is in “road reserves”? and How can we fund the road replacement?   On reserves, Anne said that we need to have a discussion of what should be  in our general fund, how much we should save for emergencies, what if we have more than we need?  The official reserve study we paid for may have different priorities and tends to be high. For the bridge reserve fund: we need to keep enough for one six-month payment.  On funding road replacement, some points were made as follows:

• Jim asked how much it would cost for a road engineers study of our roads:  approximately 4 to 5 thousand.
• There may be other factors such as storm drainage.
• We could plan the work in stages such as we did with the bridge.  Phase I could be for the engineers study, including environmental – what would be a reasonable budget? When would we vote on it?
• Rich will email Scott Wood, Roads Chair, to get information on the cost of a proposed Phase I.
• Rich called for a meeting of the Board in early April to vote on the proposed By-laws changes and determine the budget and wording of a proposed Phase I ballot.  The meeting was set for April 6th at 7:00.

There was discussion of the “private roads” issue.  Linda Karle said the residents of Maple and Cedar Lanes were in agreement that they are members of RIIA whose road repair and/or replacement should be funded by the Island as a whole.  She wants consensus by all three “ Lanes” and would like the Board to provide leadership to get a unified response.  After discussion, it was agreed the we can move forward with further road replacement preliminary planning without a final decision on private roads at this meeting.

Emergency Preparedness:  Doug Van Doren reported that our FEMA plan will shortly be OK’d and will be put on the website.  

Security:  There was a short discussion on the particulars of a security camera.  At the previous meeting, Charlotte reported on the cost of upgrading and continuing use of the current Comcast camera. We haven’t been able to determine if we can cancel the contract and what the cancellation fee would be or whether we can sell it.  There was a suggestion to raise the camera to change the aim to the parking lot at South Beach as a more practical aid to policing parking offenders.  Tom Straub reported that the current camera  is locked and the key is missing; in order to adjust the aim, we would have to get a new key made, raise the camera up higher and protect the wiring with conduit.  Anne made a motion that we spend $150 for a new card, adjust the camera and see how long it lasts.  The motion was seconded and passed, with Mike Hirko abstaining and Jim Cushing opposing.

Communication:  Charlotte is working with Gene Barkin, webmaster, to move the website to a new host, “BlueHost.com,” as agreed to at the last meeting.  She asked that the current website not be disturbed for at least the next three days for the transition.

Old/New Business:  Rich said that we really need a chairperson for the Nominating Committee, as that slate is to be part of the Annual meeting package which will have to go out soon.  He will make some calls.

No further business and the meeting was adjourned.

Respectfully Submitted,

Sarah Brown, Secretary