Reflection Lake Community Association Board Meeting – October 1, 2019
Board members present: President Glen Mumm, VP Charlie Bennett, Secretary Vonnie Hutchison, Treasurer Jim Boothby, Dan Loos, Gary Long, Jeff Toffer, Richard Miller, Chad Boyd.
Meeting was called to order at 6:00pm in the RLCA Community Room. We’re recording these meetings so the minutes can be accurately transcribed. The recording is destroyed when the minutes are approved.
Minutes from the last meeting: Any additions or corrections to September’s minutes? There is a motion and second to waive the reading of the minutes. Motion to accept the minutes from the last meeting by Jim and seconded by Gary. Motion passes.
OFFICERS’ REPORTS
President-Glen Mumm: Over the last couple of months some situations have occurred going back to August 15, 2019. The poison pen letters and the accusations are going to stop tonight. On August 15, 2019 a request was made to Spokane County to investigate any improvements as far back as four years ago by Mr. Rob Lee, an association member. He was very concerned about any damage done to the roadway across the north dam. On August 27th Spokane County officials notified the association of a permit violation that included an immediate $600 fine. That fine is being appealed. Mr. Lee personally conducted a tour of the entire lake on August 19th and did not invite a board member to be present or clarify or give a different point of view whatsoever that was said to the county investigator. The county investigator took Mr. Lee’s statements as fact. Additionally, on the morning of September 19th, myself (Glen Mumm), Charlie Bennett, Jeff Toffer and Rick Hayes met with the Spokane County inspector and other county officials involved with issuing the permit violation at Spokane County Public Works building to formally appeal the stop work order and fine. The good news is the county will drop the fine and the stop work order and RLCA will pay for the permit. Essentially everything was overturned by the county. Spokane County has also made available to RLCA an open line of communication and consultation so in the future RLCA can provide the county with a complete list of our yearly maintenance and construction projects so the county can help us with any projects that may require a permit or anything else that may need to be looked at from the proper agencies. Essentially we now have an open line of communication and consultation with the county, which is something we should have done a while back but the county is now part of our lives. Everything we do will be checked with the county, approved by the county so expect to see the county around here on a consistent basis. Gary: I appreciate you meeting with the county because that made a big difference. That’s what should have taken place originally as part of the inspection. If you have an open line of consultation with the county we can’t get fined. Any questions? None presented.
Vice President-Charlie Bennett: After consulting personally with the county, state and federal agencies, RLCA will continue with all our planned projects. These projects include installation of the draft site at the north dam. It has been approved by the fire department and we received the specs. The coming projects include installation of a fishing dock 100’ north of Bald Eagle Beach; repair or replace Turtle Beach dock. One week from yesterday (Sunday morning October 6th) we will be exercising the valve at the south dam, which will include a short term lake drawdown and addition of riprap (rock) to the north dam when we can afford it. Jim: are you looking at the weather because we don’t want to be out there in the coldest part of the month. Charlie: it’ll be close to 60 degrees and sunny.
Secretary Report-Vonnie Hutchison: I would like to suggest we add things the things that seem to be causing a headache for some of the people in the association to the ballets. Glen: We do on the capital projects ballot.
I would also like to propose a fundraiser for social committee projects. I’ll speak with the social committee about it.
Treasurer Report-Jim Boothby: Report included in the minutes. Budget and reserve accounts will be fully funded. In late November letters for past dues will be sent out to those owing less than $185, and liens will be placed on those owing $185 or more. $8300 of future projects are unfunded.
This year and last year we did amazing things repairing and replacing. We got really good feedback from our ecology department, and all other departments. Except for a couple of the members, everyone else has loved all of the upgrades.
I recommend at the annual meeting that there are two things that need to be done. We need a trickle tube on the northwest end of the lake so our lake stays cleaner on the north end. The second item is we need to get these roads done and if we can get some sort of a deal with matching funds and then have a good maintenance plan so the Roads Committee can take over. Both those things need to be presented at the annual meeting so we can get them passed. Budget has always been between $28,000 and $32,000. Unfortunately in the past, any money leftover was squandered instead of saved for projects like this.
The north end culvert is filling up with gravel. We definitely need to do something about it. At the next annual meeting we need to address the drainage. Glen: All the ditches on Lakeside Dr. are county ditches. They’ve been filled full of county sand. We need to get the county out here to clean up their ditches because the water can no longer make it down through the drainage and it’s eroding our approaches. Charlie will be touching base with the county concerning the road work done on the NE end of the north dam.
The original mail kiosk on the corner of Lakeside and Sheets cost $900. Each person who used it was supposed to pay $40. It was installed to keep all the mailboxes from being installed on Sheets Road so the road could be widened and/or plowed. All boxes are being used but new owners were never informed that there is a $40 fee. Should probably be something the title companies should be made aware of.
COMMITTEE REPORTS
Conservation, Maintenance & Dams Committee (CMD), Dan Loos: As of last meeting we have stopped all work with our committee. We will still widen the door for the shed for the golf cart.
Exercising the valve is all that’s happening. It will help clean out the phosphates and keep the lake from filling up with silt. We will be opening the valve and lowering the lake by about 2’. Needs to be posted on facebook and the reader board. We’ll open it 15 turns max. Previously it took 3 weeks to refill. We’re expected to have a wetter and colder than normal October. The water level drops slower when it’s raining.
Inspection report on the dams has to go in and Gary will take care of it. We should have the official report from the state by the end of October. Richard: North dock, don’t remove any of the cattails. Department of Conservation might have a problem. Glen: we have an absolute open pipeline to the state and county. Charlie: don’t plant grass all the way to the lake needs posted in the newsletter. Dan will make the poster board for the drawdown.
Glen: We’ve had an insurance claim against us so we need to have a yellow sign posted at both ends of Sheets that says (rough road ahead). Insurance company pointed out that when the individual who filed the claim got the number of the insurance policy and filed the claim, there were no witnesses and the “supposed place of the accident” there could not have been any witnesses. Corner of Sheets and Lakes. We have consistently maintained our roads. We’re sending receipts to the insurance company showing that we’ve been repairing the roads.
Budget Committee: We’ll have a meeting in March. Need volunteers.
Security-Gary Long: Our operation was shut down in September. Stipends were donated to maintenance. The new cart worked perfectly. What are we doing with the security boat and the cart? Cart will go into the shed. Boat is good to go for use on the valves.
Roads Committee-Chad Boyd: Waiting for the Water Association. Their meeting is in a couple of weeks. Engineers were out and deemed it a low-income neighborhood so the Water Board will be eligible for some grants. If we can roll the roads into the water fix that would really help. Susan Emery wanted to sign up and no one has contacted her. Marriage between the roads committee and water association is going to be a really long time coming. Glen: Chad would you set a date that everyone who wants to be on the committee can sit down and schedule a meeting. Need to speak with Rick Hayes also. We can reach into our reserve account to perform the basic maintenance on the roads. Possibly have a couple loads of sharp rock brought in. Rick can do the work. We need to start somewhere. Have a meeting in the next couple of weeks.
Culverts need to be found and cleaned out. Lakeside Dr. is a county road and they need to get their ditches cleaned out so they aren’t washing out our approaches. A lot of maintenance has been deferred and needs to be taken care of. DOE, Dept of Roads, insurance company are now all involved. One person who turned us in brought all of this on the community. County will be here very often now that someone’s pointed the finger. Road committee needs to get volunteers to clean out the culverts.
Social Committee: Sandi Bennett: We’ve had two meetings. Having a Halloween party the Sunday before Halloween. Second Friday of the month will be the monthly meetings. Jim: we can’t have the meetings here during the winter. Use VFW. Trying to get more events happening. Sandi worked on a new Welcome Committee packet. If you have suggestions, please get back to us. Guy brought us more bags for our welcome packets and Firewise info. Need to get evacuation routes in a laminated form. Put a water survey in our Welcome Packet.
Water Association-Charlie: Meeting will be the middle of October (Saturday?). It’s their annual meeting. Several people on the east side have never heard anything about a water board.
Firewise: Charlie Bennett: Captain Sylvester is putting on an AED and CPR class on the November 2. Equipment has been paid for by donations. Reflection Lake needs to buy it so money will be handled by Jim.
Draft site has been more then okayed by the fire department. DNR is excited about using it too. There is a possibility that insurance rates possibly could see decrease of 49%. This is not written in stone. Elk Fire Station is in danger of being closed because of lack of volunteers.
NEW BUSINESS: This is a proposal because of the recent insurance claim. We have had numerous calls about people speeding on Sheets Road. We have now had an insurance claim. From a liability standpoint we may need a bylaws revision. I suggest “Prohibit the use of unlicensed motorized vehicles, side by sides on all RLCA roads.” If the speed limit is 35 mph or less you can get these vehicles licensed. To license our security golf carts they need to have turn signals. I was informed by the sheriff that we can have the Spokane Police patrol our private roads. There is no fee but they would need permission by us to patrol our roads. Would snowmobiles have to be licensed to use our roads? You cannot license a snowmobile to ride on a road. Jim: so if I had an ATV I couldn’t ride it because I live on Sheets? In the past If there was an infraction of our rules, you had to come before the Board and pay a fine or something. We do have the authority. Is it easier if the police patrol the roads? Glen: it can be either/or. We must sign the agreement with them. Contact the insurance company about what they’d like to see. We need to protect our liability and the kids. Jim says he spoke to the insurance company and they stated if we had a sign that stated “Caution Slow” we’re covered.
Spokane County noxious weed board has us on their calendar to contact Harley Douglas about his weeds. He does have his own spray service. The motorhome or camp trailer needs to have a notice posted on it that you can’t live in it through the winter.
GOOD OF THE ORDER: In August when all the turmoil started to arise, Rob Lee demanded that Jeff Toffer be fired from the Board in public. Jeff turned in his resignation under duress. No one in this Association can demand that. Jeff resigned to put an end to Rob’s harassment and threats. By Roberts Rules of Order we have to take a vote whether to accept or decline Jeff’s resignation. We will go around the table and vote on whether to accept or decline Jeff’s resignation. Jeff: I resigned to put an end to this nonsense, so I gave my resignation to make Rob stop. He didn’t stop, he accelerated. Chad: I don’t know why this is all taking place. Some of us don’t know why he’s so mad. There was one meeting where he was just going off on people and I was wondering what’s going on. Jeff: Russ Bishop had a semi and a crane on Bishop’s Landing and they were installing a windmill within 25’ of the shoreline and they were trespassing on association property. It was a Saturday morning, I was going down the road and I thought whoa, what’s this. I stopped and Russ told me he was putting up this windmill. I was thinking it’s too close to the lake and you need a permit to do that because we are a lakeshore community governed by the State. You need State approval to do that, plus they were trespassing on association property. I stopped and asked if he had a permit and Russ said no. That’s what started it all. Rob wasn’t there right then but then he came out of Russ’ house. I called Glen and we thought that until we got this figured out they needed to stop. They wouldn’t stop and then things started escalating. Chad: So you just saw what was going on. Jeff: yes and as a board member it is my job to find out what’s going on. No one had contacted any board member. Jim: To make this legal and above board I nominated Mr. Jeff Toffer to fill the vacated position by Mr. Jeff Toffer. Could I get a second? Seconded by Charlie. Okay a vote, all in favor? 8 in favor, none opposed. Vote passes. Gary: just so everyone is aware Jeff was doing what he thought was right and there were threats. Jeff had done nothing wrong.
No RLCA Board meetings Nov, Dec, Jan and Feb. All committee meetings will continue except the CMD. We will want to get together to analyze the valve exercise. We will have a meeting the last Tuesday of this month. Motion to take Nov, Dec, Jan and Feb off by Gary and seconded by Richard. This does not preclude emergency meetings, which all board members must be contacted.
Motioned to adjourn by Gary and seconded by Charlie. Unanimously passed.
Prepared by Vonnie Hutchison, Secretary
Glen Mumm, President
Vonnie Hutchison, Secretary