The Minutes
SLE HOA BOARD MEETING
Date February 20, 2024
Location: John O’Neil’s Home
Board Members in Attendance: John O’Neil (President), Gus Ferguson (VP, attending by phone), Rebecca Morales (Interim Treasurer), and Lois Tarnowski + Brendan Mills (Members at Large)
Quorum: YES
Call to Order: 6:00pm
Minutes from the last meeting: Accepted (motioned by: Gus Ferguson seconded by: Rebecca Morales)
Additions & Departures: Marilyn Rousher has resigned from the board. We want to take a moment to thank Marilyn for all of her hard work in her role as Treasurer over the last 18 months. She no doubt has made a lasting contribution by bringing greater organization + streamlining processes, which has already served to smooth the transition to our new Treasurer. That said, we’d now like to warmly welcome our newest Board Member, Rebecca Morales, who has filled the position of Treasurer on an interim basis. As many already know from previous meetings + minutes, Rebecca was announced in August as the Auditor of the 2023 books. As Rebecca was putting the finishing touches on the audit, which will be made available shortly, she was invited to move into the Treasurer role, and has agreed to manage the finances until May. Given her exemplary work on the audit over the last two months, we hope to interest Rebecca in continuing her work as Treasurer beyond that, of course. While the Treasurer position is not up for election in May Rebecca will reevaluate at that time knowing that is when four other board positions will be up for election, in the event someone surfaces who is capable of taking over the Treasurer role including management of QuickBooks, etc. Rebecca brings a great deal of experience to the SLE HOA Treasurer role. In addition to running a bookkeeping business in her retirement, she previously worked in accounting for a large auto company, which included managing audits. She’s already off to a great start. Thanks for jumping in so quickly, Rebecca. Lastly, Tisha Dore has resigned for health reasons from the time-intensive role of Secretary, but she is continuing her work for the board as Webmaster including management of the website, and all that it connects to including email + google drive, online forms, etc. Unlike the Secretary role, Tisha can do the web work on her own time when she’s up to it, and this will help her to focus on rest, recovery and running her small business on a limited basis. Tisha asked us to say that she loved being the Secretary. She hopes to return to this role in the future if/when her health allows. We can't thank Tisha enough for all of the hard work she has done with detailed and accurate minutes, building a functional website, great communications with community via social media page, and always organizing functions. She brought huge changes for SLE. Thanks for all that you have done for all of us!
Treasurer’s Report:
Current in checking account: $ 73,057.59
Current in savings account: $ 121,932.64
Current in petty cash account: $ 182.24
Total in bank accounts: $ 195,172.47
Fundraising For Grader:
$23,000 from sale of dump truck
$ 5,500 from unused shop equipment sale
$10,040 ($1,200/mo for July-Feb KEC shop rent + $440 for June partial rent)
$ 2,270.03 from donations (including $200 donation from a single homeowner, THANK YOU!)
$ 40,810.03 TOTAL SET ASIDE FOR GRADER
In addition, the 2023 audit is near complete and will be made available online soon. Thanks, Rebecca! The 2023 taxes are in the works with our CPA as well and 1099s have been mailed out.
Behind on your dues? Send payment ASAP or contact Rebecca Morales, at treasurer@spiritlakeeast.org. For more information on payments and donations (including mailing address + PayPal info): www.spiritlakeeast.org/payordonate
Motion to accept Treasurer Report by: Gus Ferguson
Motion Seconded by: Lois Tarnowski
ARC Report: There are no new builds to report and winter is here. However, if you have building plans for Spring (or questions to prep), contact ARC Chair, Jon Dore, at arc@spiritlakeeast.org. Learn more about building in SLE + find the Architectural Form for approvals here: www.spiritlakeeast.org/building-info
Motion to accept ARC Report by: Brendan Mills
Motion Seconded by: Gus Ferguson
Timber Report: VP, Gus Ferguson, reminds that any commercial logging in SLE must be approved by the board. Simply visit the Timber page on the website (link below) and fill out the Google form. Send timber/logging questions to: timber@spiritlakeeast.org. For links to the commercial logging form as well as the Timber Exemption form, visit: www.spiritlakeeast.org/timber
Motion to accept Timber Report by: Brendan Mills
Motion Seconded By: Lois Tarnowski
Roads Report: First and foremost, we want to acknowledge the highly unusual conditions this winter that led to more challenges than usual with the roads. The weather has been anything but typical this year. From unseasonably warm temps to dumping snow to high temps again followed by below zero conditions, this created layers of complications including water being trapped under the frozen ground, which led to a build-up of mud and excessive water in many areas, which then caused extreme potholes to form.
Over the course of the most challenging weeks, we invested a great deal of time speaking with experts all who concurred with the recommendation of our own Road Chair, Joe Sandbank, that we’d need to unfortunately wait a little longer for the ground to soften in order to begin effectively repairing + grading, which started as soon as it was possible beginning with the most in-need sections. This work will continue as weather abides and we ask (and thank you) for your patience through this process.
Once again, Joe reminds everyone to SLOW DOWN.
As soon as sections are repaired, drivers increase speed, causing more problems for our roads, and the work the Road Crew is trying to do. Speeding + passing in SLE are also dangerous and we continue to receive complaints from concerned homeowners. Please respect our roads, your neighbors + speed limits.
The search for a new-to-us grader continues. Joe reminds that pricing fluctuates, but currently we’re still looking at the $80-90K range. Given the situation with the bizarre weather this season, we may be looking at an emergency purchase in the near future, and are prepared for this now that we’re over $40K raised.
Email questions to roads@spiritlakeeast.org. For roads form for reporting issues: www.spiritlakeeast.org/roads
Motion to Accept the Roads Report: Lois Tarnowski
Motion Seconded By: Gus Ferguson
Welcome Committee: Tisha Dore took over the welcome committee on an interim basis, so we’re now looking for a new welcome committee chair. Tisha says she’d be happy to transition this smoothly to the incoming chair. Contact her with questions at welcome@spiritlakeeast.org. Newbies who have yet to register for HOA billing/mailings, please fill-out the form: www.spiritlakeeast.org/new-residents
Motion to Accept Welcome Report: Rebecca Morales
Motion Seconded By: Brendan Mills
OLD BUSINESS
- Newsletter
o The Winter Edition of the SLE Newsletter went out to all residents via email and snail mail to those who have not yet provided an email address.
o Editor & Member at Large, Lois Tarnowski, is calling for all Spring newsletter content from board members by March 17th.
o Reminder of ad pricing for SLE resident-owned businesses only to start (for grader fund):
§ Business card-sized ad: $25 per newsletter, $75 for four issues, if paid in advance.
§ 1/4 page: $50 per newsletter or 150.00 for four issues, if paid in advance.
§ 1/2 page: $100 per newsletter or $300 for four issues, if paid in advance.
§ Full page: $200 per newsletter, $600 for four issues, if paid in advance.
§ Monthly post by Secretary in HOA FB Group: $25/mo, $250/year, if in advance.
§ Advertisers would be responsible for all content, artwork, images, etc.
o From there, we can expand to invite ads from businesses outside of SLE at a different rate.
o Also, if you’ve provided an email address, you can always find the quarterly newsletter in your email inbox (or junk). If you haven’t given an email address, you’ll get it in the mail.
o Homeowners: To cut costs + save time, please send us an email address so that we can reduce the amount of people who need a hardcopy newsletter mailed to them. To provide your email for this (or update your email address) contact: secretary@spiritlakeeast.org.
- Street Signs
o Pres., John O’Neil, ordered signs for Kelso & Liberty and stop signs (2) + one-way (2). They said they’d call when they’re ready for pickup on budget of $500-600 but development in the area has caused delays. Will check back again next week and report final cost.
Motion to Accept Old Business: Brendan Mills
Motion Seconded By: Lois Tarnowski
NEW BUSINESS
- Board Elections
o Reminder: there are no HOA board elections until May 2024, but nominations for the four spots that will be opening up may be submitted now through the deadline of March 31st.
o While there was a table for in-person nominations at the semi-annual meeting in Nov, nominations may now be submitted online here: www.spiritlakeeast.org/nominations
o Voting will be done at the May 2024 semi-annual meeting or online (link TBD).
o Have questions about nominations? Contact secretary@spiritlakeeast.org
Motion to Accept New Business: Lois Tarnowski
Motion Seconded By: Rebecca Morales
- Motion to adjourn at 7:52pm by: Brendan Mills
Motion seconded by: Gus Ferguson
- Meeting was adjourned at: 7:52pm
