Reflection Lake Community Association Board Meeting – May 7, 2019
Board members present: President Glen Mumm, VP Dan Loos, Secretary Vonnie Hutchison, Treasurer Jim Boothby, Security Gary Long, Jeff Toffer, Social Committee Richard Miller, Firewise Charlie Bennett
Meeting was called to order at 6:00pm in the RLCA community room. We’re recording these meetings for accuracy so Vonnie can accurately transcribe the minutes. The recording is destroyed when the minutes are approved.
Minutes from the last meeting: Motion to approve by Jeff and seconded by Gary.
OFFICERS’ REPORTS
President-Glen Mumm: Thanks to everyone who came out and helped with the spring cleanup.
VP-Dan Loos: Special thanks for Charlie and Sandi for the Firewise dumpsters and everyone who participated.
Secretary Report-Vonnie Hutchison: The corporate seal is in. We’ll be stamping all the passes with it before we send them out. The new printer is here and installed.
Treasurer Report-Jim Boothby: passed out treasurer report. Treasurer will work with anyone who comes to him with short term problems paying their dues. The State required we do a reserve account study, which we did. We should have $52,000 in our reserve account. Currently at $32,500, we have increased it to $35,000. We hope to add an additional $3-5,000 each year until we get to $52,000. This fund is for dam & lake emergencies and needs to be replaced if any money is withdrawn.
If a house is vacant and dues are paid up, what happens? If a complaint is made about the property, a letter of concern and desired action will be sent to the owner/member. Our policy on dues, late charges, and the filing of liens is posted at the community center.
Motion to approve by Dan and seconded by Richard.
COMMITTEE REPORTS
Conservation, Maintenance & Dams Committee (CMD) – Dan Loos: handed out last CMD meeting minutes.
A gate chain was installed at Turtle Beach road going into the fish hatchery to stop ATV traffic, etc., but it can still be walked around.
Signs that are being made currently are a security sign and a new gate sign. A new bulletin board is being built by Steve Hutchison. The old bulletin board is being replaced and the old board is being moved to south end of Sheets. Charlie took care of locates before the signs are installed.
Additional rock was placed in front of Eagle Beach sunshade. Weed spraying is being done by Big John’s and the cost will run over slightly. The uprights on the sunshade need to be re-stained which Charlie has agreed to do. Joe Dickinson donated a shed, which has been refurbished.
North dam needs additional rock to be shored up and look better. Rick Hayes has some rock to donate and we’re hoping additional rock won’t run over budget.
Our State dams inspection is tomorrow. 3-4 members will accompany.
Improving the ponds at the fish hatchery is being discussed to possibly raise fingerlings, saving the Association some money. This is way into the future, depending on costs.
We are working with the fire department on installing a dry hydrant. Charlie is spearheading. This would allow fire trucks to be able to pump out of the lake. Fire department is onboard with this project. This should help lower our individual insurance premiums.
We need to install more gravel on the Turtle Beach road, from the chain down to the access lot.
Sandi Bennett asks that when Big John’s sprays for weeds we will be working with them to make sure our new plants are not sprayed.
Lake Cleanup – Thanks everyone for doing their part.
Security-Gary Long: There have been several people reported to be poaching after hours. We need to figure out how to stop that. People have been contacting Gary about unidentified vehicles. If there isn’t a penalty imposed people ignore you. Trespassers can be given a citation from the sheriff’s department. Please join the committee to help stop poaching. We are trying to get a security boat on the lake. New security signage is being made. Gary is very responsive to people letting him know when someone unknown is here. Will there be keys to the launch at Turtle Beach? Launch entrance chain will be open until after the summer season. John Fechner has a suggestion for our gate keys and that is to have new keys printed with “do not duplicate” on them. What are the fishing hours? There aren’t any? People have been fishing at 1:00 a.m. John Fechner says the signs indicate fishing is closed at 10:00 p.m. Actually, the signs read the quiet hours start at 10 p.m. There are no fishing hours posted.
Budget Committee-Jim Boothby: Committee worksheets need to be turned in. Budget meeting is May 23 @ 6:30. We need to tighten up the spending for the remainder of the fiscal year and finish up projects from 2018-2019 budget year.
Guest passes are being sent out right now. They are all being embossed with the corporate seal.
Roads Committee-Robert Syverson: Not a lot of changes yet. We’re trying to get a roads committee together to address problems with Sheets Rd. We will be posting on Facebook to get the committee together. We don’t have a budget yet. The Roads committee will propose a budget. There have been no decisions made on the road. This is up to the community (road committee), not the Board. All we’re asking is for the people on Sheets to be on the committee. What happened to the past committee decisions? Original road was done 18 years ago and the Board at that time decided to spend part of the money for Sheets on the sunshade so the road was never finished up to the point of warranty. Recently Deer Park Paving was here and fixed the approaches. Richard says he helped Glen with approaches. The roads committee put out a proposal for improving the road and the east side members didn’t show up to the meeting to support the proposal. There are a lot of things that need to happen to fix Sheets.
Social Committee-Richard Miller: Cleanup day was a success. Planning a few things at the Community Center. They will be posted.
CC&RS & BYLAWS COMMITTEE-Jeff Toffer: Really the only thing that’s changing is correcting the verbiage. Effective 1/7/18 was being replaced by RCW for the State for homeowners assn. This has been looked at and it has been reviewed by an attorney who did make some suggestions. Will each lot owner be able to vote? Yes. Jeff says there will be a line item veto with the changes. When this is all completed the CC&R’s will be available for approval.
Jeff and Gary are going to be our liaisons for the Water Board. The first meeting we attended was a very positive meeting. We’re being represented on their board and they will be represented on our board. There are some major changes coming to our community water systems. There is some clarification being made on the legalities.
OLD BUSINESS: We’ve been negotiating for the last year to return the lease lots to the owners of record. 3 of the 4 property owners have signed releases. The lots no longer serve a purpose, cannot be used or built on, and are of no use to the membership. A full accounting will be given at the annual meeting. These lots were leased in 2001 and a lot has changed.
NEW BUSINESS: Charlie and Firewise: The first meeting was in February. Everyone was invited from the area. DNR was there and several things were discussed. Firewise works like a Block Watch. There are text alerts of fires if you’ve signed up on Pulse Point. Every fire within a couple miles can send embers our way. As a Firewise Community insurance companies might give breaks on premiums. This is a National/State/Local program. Only 15’ was cleared off lower Sheets of brush and much of it was Oregon grape which burns very easily. Firewise meetings are the first Saturday of the month. John Fechner wants to know what rights we might lose because of Firewise. We haven’t signed anything that obligates us to do anything except cooperate. They only want us to be a safer community. At the shed Firewise provided saws, loppers, rakes, shovels, etc. The State is very serious about preventing fire because the smoke is affecting our farmers crops. Some people think we’re taking down trees instead of just thinning. We’ve planted 80 new fire-resistant trees. Can we cleanup what Firewise missed? We absolutely would love volunteers to help. Jon Fechner says the Greenbelt must be protected. Everyone will need to talk with Charlie about any work to be done and he will get permission if needed. Jeff said they had cleaned up lots of garbage, tires, etc. Thanks for spearheading this Charlie.
GOOD OF THE ORDER: Richard passed out a letter and that’s why so many people turned up for this meeting. Richard says the Road Committee would have been suicide for him to stay on. With the leased lots there is some legalities going on. He derives peace of mind unwinding coming home. Letter states that Sheets is going to be taken care of solely by the east side of the lake. The lower Sheets Rad had trees cut down and brush removed. The trees and bushes were not for me but for the animals. Provides a great view of lake but devastating.
Sheets Road: Spokane County would not take the road because there has to be a 50’ easement and people would have to give up some of their frontage property. As a county road it would be available to the public, it is a private road now. The original road was supposed to have 3 coats of chip seal, but the board at that time only allowed 2 coats which meant the road would not survive. Additionally, every 5 years the chip sealing would be renewed as part of the maintenance. If you will volunteer for the roads committee, maybe we can get something done again.
Permission to put up game camera installed at bottom of the access to see what game is coming through. Get with Dan.
Nan encourages everyone to go to the VFW Friday for steak and Sunday breakfast.
Richard would like everyone to speak with Charlie about the remaining lease lot. Charlie says it could be a park.
Dan stated that this current board works together very well. We talk, share ideas and get a lot of things done. A lot of things have been repaired and built. There have been a lot of positive things happening these last 3 years. Please give us some positive input. Everyone’s input is important. I’ve never been prouder to be on the Board. If you think we’re doing a good job, please come join us.
May 15th final date turning in everything for the annual meeting newsletter.
Jeff motioned to adjourn and seconded by Charlie.
Prepared by Vonnie Hutchison, Secretary