August 30, 2005

Dear Friends and Neighbors,

The community ballot decision results have come in and were announced at the last board meeting:

Total ballot received:  55
Ballots issued: 144
Total votes cast:  72
Total possible votes:  167

Budget:

Accept: 60
Reject: 12

Increase in dues for investment into the Reserve Maintenance Fund

Increase: 52
Don�t increase: 20

Waiver of the annual audit

Waive: 47
Audit: 24

For all of you that participated in the ballot process, thank you very much.  The board of directors needs your input as to how the community should be administered.  What isn�t encouraging is that less than half of the community has voiced their opinion.  We strongly encourage you to participate in future ballots as this is the only way we can ratify the activities that the community and the board must undertake.  We need your support.

There has been some concern about the wording of the ballot item concerning the increase of annual assessment (dues).  Although it might be interpreted differently, the question was to ask if we should increase the dues by $100 per year for 5 years.  This means an increase one time of $100 dollars and then a reduction of $100 per year, so that the total additional dues paid over the 5 year period will be $500.  Please note that this will only add a total of $83,500 to the reserve maintenance fund during the five year period.

In the time since the 2005-2006 budget was submitted, there have been more than $9000 in emergency expenses for plumbing repairs due to leaks in the water system and a last minute increase in the annual insurance premium of more than $5000.  The emergency expenses of repairing the water system can be covered by the reserve maintenance fund, but the increase in insurance premiums can only be paid for by the general fund.  Recognizing the short-fall that we will have this year, the board has chosen to increase the annual assessment (dues) to each lot by the 10% that is allowed in the CC&R�s.  This increase will be on the original annual assessment before the adoption of the $100 increase that is allocated to the Reserve Maintenance Fund.  The total assessment (dues) per lot for 2005 are $532.40.  The balance in the General Fund that is left at the end of the 2004-2005 fiscal year will be swept into the Reserve Maintenance Fund.

A question that has been asked concerning the board�s position on what is titled the Secretary/Treasurer in the budget and questions as to why it is increasing so much.  While there are many opinions as to how much the Secretary/Treasurer should earn, the board of directors examined the issue and discussed alternatives.  Please note that the board is made up of volunteers, all of which are busy with other things to do.  And although many in the past have invested a great deal of their own time and effort into the administration of the community, not every one can.  In fact, there have been several resignations from the board due to the extensive time required by each member and level of frustration with responses and criticism from a few residents.  And still there are things that must be done to keep our community going.  The board determined that we needed for our �Secretary/Treasurer� to act as property manager on many items and therefore increased the hours this person would work each month to 50.  Additionally, a list of duties was put together to define the position, and a contract was written and signed to place legal limits and controls on the community�s moneys records and properties.  The final step was to evaluate the hourly rate and see if we were anywhere near the going rate for the position.  We found that we were paying less than half of the going rate for what we were asking for.  Although there are all sorts of suggestions as to how to reduce the �Secretary/Treasurer� cost, we have not found anyone to take the position for less money.  And I don�t think we will.  So the short answer is that we need more time from the �S/T� and we need to pay a reasonable rate. 

In the last email/letter, we reported to you that Dr. Shenton Oh was applying to the State of Washington for grant moneys from the Drought Relief Fund, in order to improve our water system in the following areas:

The application was denied on the basis that we are a private water system.  The grants are only available to public water districts, so Shenton Oh asked the Fire Department to sponsor the Kachess Association.  The Fire District denied the request based on auditing requirements.  One option that Shenton is exploring is to establish a local public utility district and transfer the water system asset to that district.  This could make us eligible for state and federal grants.  There is more work to be done on this subject in the following months.

We look for your comments and input on these issues.