May 5, 2017
Mt. Index Riversites Community Club, Inc.
Board of Directors Meeting
Board members present: Mark Bollman, Carrie Byrne, Brent Corey, Rebecca Davis, Gary Johnson, Patty Harbaugh, CJ Holmes, Don Larsen, David MacFarlane, Earl Van Buskirk, Andrew Tuttle, Mat Williams
Absent: Kathleen EckartLove, Mark Haenlein
Owners and guests:
Randy McGowen, Julia Akin, Melanie Corey, John Sharf, Mike Herman, Dan Harrison, Gale Williams, Mary Tuttle, Earl & Charlie Thornton
Committee Reports and Information
Executive Committee
Mark Bollman reported that the executive committee had been busy printing out statements and working with Anderson Hunter Law Firm on Collections activity. The committee also compiled information about Payton Creek to be discussed later in the meeting.
The month was spent managing routine business, such as inquiries from escrow companies, paying bills, and filing MIRCC’s annual report to the WA Secretary of State and the corporation’s annual tax return.
Budget & Finance
Earl Van Buskirk reviewed the monthly financial statements. Following are the highlights:
Collections Committee
Earl Van Buskirk reviewed the Collections activity and status from Anderson Hunter Law Firm. There are no recommendations for new cases at this time. We would like Anderson Hunter to wrap up all current activity before pursuing anything new.
The status report covered the attorney fees plus the grand total of what the owner owes MIR plus the legal fees. Following are highlights reviewed in the meeting:
David MacFarlane inquired about the sheriff sale for the Olson lot. The opening bid will include back dues, attorney fees, etc. At the time of the meeting, the Board did not know exactly what the opening bid would be.
Kelly foreclosure – Bekka Davis asked about the inquiry on ownership of the road from Kelly’s attorney during the interrogatory. Earl Van Buskirk said that we consulted with a title company about conducting a title search to verify MIRCC title to the road; this would be prohibitively expensive for MIRCC as every parcel would have to be searched.
MIRCC does have a Statutory Warranty Deed from Rogers c1953 that turns over all roads to MIRCC.
Mark Bollman said that with regard to road ownership, there are two things we rely on: the Statutory Warrranty Deed from Rogers and Judge Wynne’s court order that states the corporation owns the road. Nobody is disputing that the corporation owns the road and the Forest Service has an easement.
The corporation needs the attorneys to earn their pay. If cases like Manley and Kelly can’t be resolved and require owners to pay the fees as well, we cannot continue to do business this way.
Legal/Ethics/Bylaws
Gary Johnson provided information that the Snohomish County Prosecutor is charging Bill Stehl with damaging the green gate on the access road to E-Section. The case is scheduled to go to trial on November 16.
E-Section Roads
Dave MacFarlane reported that there’s been pothole filling on E-Section roads. He talked to Paul Hery about doing work to fill potholes when the weather dries up.
Slumping is still an issue at Philadelphia Creek. We need to dump gravel on it to hold it up. John Vos’ cousin has a dump truck and has been contacted to dump gravel.
John Sharf asked if the Board knew when PUD was planning to remove trees and branches from power lines. A representative came to a Board meeting about 3 months ago. The Board did not have an update on PUD’s tree trimming schedule, although Mark Bollman said he believes they are still working on collecting signatures. Don Larsen said PUD contacted him regarding driving down the side road.
Canyon Falls to US-2
Earl Van Buskirk reported that we’ve upgraded the gate so that a code or card can be used on the inside of the gate to exit. G-Section is scheduled this month to install same type of Door King software that E-Section has so they will need only one gate access device for both gates.
At some time, we will remove the automatic out on the gate.
Van Buskirk reported that we are working to simplify the system. It will probably take another 2-3 months to get it all working. There will be no additional cost.
Julia Akin said she noticed that the motion light at the gate wasn’t turning on and she wondered if it was part of the upgrade. Van Buskirk said that the light was out and needs to be fixed; the light is intended to be there.
A-Section Roads & USFS 6020
Mat Williams said MIR roads in A-Section overall are still looking good.
On the Forest Service road, he reported a lot of potholes are starting to develop. It’s understandable with the rain. We are waiting for dry weather to fill them.
Payton Creek Road has been effected by a mudslide. We will discuss this topic more later in the meeting agenda.
Priority Business
October Meeting Minutes
Carrie Byrne: “Move to approve the October meeting minutes.”
Approved: Yes – 7; Abstained -4 (Davis, Harbaugh, Holmes, Tuttle – all were absent at the last meeting)
August Expenditures
Earl Van Buskirk: “Move to approve the Check Detail report for October expenditures.”
Approved: Unanimous
Invoices detail
Charges and Invoices to be paid:
Discussion Topics
Payton Creek Road
Brent Corey described that in A-Section, we had a landslide happen on 6020 on the way to Mike Kelly’s property. He said it’s to the degree of the Sunset Falls slide. So far the slide has taken out one person’s property - Piersall. Their garden shed was lost.
A couple properties, including a woodshed, are in jeopardy right now with continued slide movement.
Corey said that two large downed trees stopped momentum of the mud. He said that Payton Creek used to meander, but now it’s a raging torrent. The creek is creating its own path.
Corey volunteered and dug a new trench to the existing culvert and it worked well to redirect the water temporarily. With more rain, the ditch held but the culvert didn’t. Then he decided to dig across the road to manage the water flow to another culvert, but rain, debris, and mud plugged it.
Massive rains continue to bring silt, debris, bark, clumps of clay down from the slide area, it’s plugging our culverts, and causing flooding.
Paul Hery has a mini excavator and may be able to help with trenching. After trying to redirect the flow twice, Corey said we need to let the creek take its course.
Mark Bollman asked where are we going money-wise with Payton Creek? Brent Corey inquired as to whether repairs would fall under side road maintenance or a usage issue? Per Judge Wynne’s order, this accounts for a side road or only those affected by a natural disaster that occurs past their property. Side roads are accounted for on an equal share.
Corey thinks that with proper trenching, the flow can be controlled. It’s from Zan Oliphant’s property and up, including Payton Place.
As Chair of the Legal, Ethics, and Bylaws Committee, Gary Johnson will look into the Bylaws and Judge Wynne’s order to provide a recommendation as to who should pay for the repairs.
Payton Creek owners were assessed a side road fee of $50 in addition to 2016 assessments. At this time, there is $640 in the side road fund for Payton Creek work that can be used immediately to pay Paul Hery for some remediation.
Melanie Corey asked if side road maintenance could be pay as you go? Or does everyone have to show up with a check? Mark Bollman said that a special assessment is more likely for this year, given the situation.
Bollman cautioned that extending “a line of credit” to a side road to be paid off in the next year’s annual assessment is a little dicey. At next month’s meeting, we hope to see a motion for a special assessment or other action to collect funds proactively.
CJ Holmes inquired about emergency funds. Is it OK to use this on side roads? Mark Bollman said yes, but we still need the side road owners to replace the money. Holmes then asked: but if the slide becomes major, can’t we use the emergency fund for immediate action and pay it back? Bollman said: yes, but again, we need to see who historically has paid in. He again cautioned Board members about extending a line of credit, because historically it’s hard to get it back.
In the past, people on the main road often subsidized the side road maintenance. You were disproportionately assessed if you were long distance or high value.
Bekka Davis asked would neighbors help each other out financially with donations? Sunset Falls slide people set up private GoFundMe donation accounts. Payton Creek owners may consider doing something similar.
With regard to the Sunset Falls slide, Gary Johnson reminded everyone that we spent a lot of money and time toward something that ultimately wasn’t successful. We need to be cautious with this slide.
Melanie Corey asked about the Sunset Falls mudslide experience. Where was money best spent and what were the lessons learned from the mudslide? Earl Van Buskirk said that $75k was spent between December and March. When it was completely obvious the slide wasn’t stopping, we stopped working to keep it open. Mark Bollman noted that we were broke. At least with Payton Creek, there aren’t 250 owners above the slide’s impact. What we did well? We looked at the timing of it.
Brent Corey reiterated that we want to get the water moving in the right direction and off the road.
Dan Harrison said the priority should be drainage. Don’t worry about making the road drivable right now. Focus on drainage.
Closing Remarks
Next meeting scheduled for Saturday, December 3rd at 9:00 a.m. at the Index Fire Station.
Respectfully submitted by
Carrie Byrne
MIRCC Secretary
Absent: Kathleen EckartLove, Mark Haenlein
Owners and guests:
Randy McGowen, Julia Akin, Melanie Corey, John Sharf, Mike Herman, Dan Harrison, Gale Williams, Mary Tuttle, Earl & Charlie Thornton
Committee Reports and Information
Executive Committee
Mark Bollman reported that the executive committee had been busy printing out statements and working with Anderson Hunter Law Firm on Collections activity. The committee also compiled information about Payton Creek to be discussed later in the meeting.
The month was spent managing routine business, such as inquiries from escrow companies, paying bills, and filing MIRCC’s annual report to the WA Secretary of State and the corporation’s annual tax return.
Budget & Finance
Earl Van Buskirk reviewed the monthly financial statements. Following are the highlights:
- A-Section: 82% has been collected in assessments so far; 48% of special assessment for Sims defense have been collected
- The A-Section budget and anticipated collection rate will be adjusted to take out Falls Place owners as soon as everybody gets a letter regarding assessments.
- E-Section: the collection rate is at 77%; $5k of $11,500 for Sims defense, or 43% of owners have sent in special collection payment
- P&L consolidated for the year to date – E-Section has collected $160,362 so far; A-Section has collected $49,243
- Roads in E-Section – have spent $8,328 including access road; last year E-Sec spent $21,694 – so we have spent less and saved with changing contractors
- All Anderson Hunter attorney charges are listed in detail on the year to date P&L
- Accounting fees continue to be lower this year compared to last year
- Total bank balance as of October 31, 2016 is $98,383
- E-Section owes $62,569 on the bridge to Acrow at this time; we paid Acrow $54,110 in the last year
- A-Section collected $2,890 in October; E-Section collected $4,160 in October
- There are checks totaling about $20k that were recently received in the mail and have not yet posted
Collections Committee
Earl Van Buskirk reviewed the Collections activity and status from Anderson Hunter Law Firm. There are no recommendations for new cases at this time. We would like Anderson Hunter to wrap up all current activity before pursuing anything new.
The status report covered the attorney fees plus the grand total of what the owner owes MIR plus the legal fees. Following are highlights reviewed in the meeting:
- Shiotani – had to spend $166 in October to release the title from incomplete work that had been provided by Adams & Duncan
- Kelly – interrogatories from McBride, Kelly’s attorney, required MIR’s attorney to respond. MIR’s attorney provided a 27-page response, which goes back to McBride and the court. The Galt Report was included in MIR’s response. The case is moving toward a summary judgment; if summary judgment is not achieved then the case will go to trial.
- Manley – no update
- Dumas – closed
- Edwards/Jones – out by publication due to no response from service attempts
- Hendrickson – filed bankruptcy
- Lahey/Russek – in mail, they have to respond by 11/22
- Manley/Tyler – said they would pay the road fees but not the attorney fees. MIR did not accept this offer.
- Neill – holding on this until we see what happens
- Olson – sheriff sale is in for 12/2
- O’Toole – lawyers agreed to transfer the property to MIRCC. It’s assessed as a $13k riverfront lot.
- Padilla – paid road dues but is refusing to pay attorney fees.
- Parks – we have a personal judgment and a lien on the property
- Peterson – funds delivery is still mixed up; we are waiting for the employer to send wage garnishment to the right recipient for MIRCC to receive payment.
- Richards – paid in full, no further updates
- Satterlee – on hold; foreclosure by lender is pending
David MacFarlane inquired about the sheriff sale for the Olson lot. The opening bid will include back dues, attorney fees, etc. At the time of the meeting, the Board did not know exactly what the opening bid would be.
Kelly foreclosure – Bekka Davis asked about the inquiry on ownership of the road from Kelly’s attorney during the interrogatory. Earl Van Buskirk said that we consulted with a title company about conducting a title search to verify MIRCC title to the road; this would be prohibitively expensive for MIRCC as every parcel would have to be searched.
MIRCC does have a Statutory Warranty Deed from Rogers c1953 that turns over all roads to MIRCC.
Mark Bollman said that with regard to road ownership, there are two things we rely on: the Statutory Warrranty Deed from Rogers and Judge Wynne’s court order that states the corporation owns the road. Nobody is disputing that the corporation owns the road and the Forest Service has an easement.
The corporation needs the attorneys to earn their pay. If cases like Manley and Kelly can’t be resolved and require owners to pay the fees as well, we cannot continue to do business this way.
Legal/Ethics/Bylaws
Gary Johnson provided information that the Snohomish County Prosecutor is charging Bill Stehl with damaging the green gate on the access road to E-Section. The case is scheduled to go to trial on November 16.
E-Section Roads
Dave MacFarlane reported that there’s been pothole filling on E-Section roads. He talked to Paul Hery about doing work to fill potholes when the weather dries up.
Slumping is still an issue at Philadelphia Creek. We need to dump gravel on it to hold it up. John Vos’ cousin has a dump truck and has been contacted to dump gravel.
John Sharf asked if the Board knew when PUD was planning to remove trees and branches from power lines. A representative came to a Board meeting about 3 months ago. The Board did not have an update on PUD’s tree trimming schedule, although Mark Bollman said he believes they are still working on collecting signatures. Don Larsen said PUD contacted him regarding driving down the side road.
Canyon Falls to US-2
Earl Van Buskirk reported that we’ve upgraded the gate so that a code or card can be used on the inside of the gate to exit. G-Section is scheduled this month to install same type of Door King software that E-Section has so they will need only one gate access device for both gates.
At some time, we will remove the automatic out on the gate.
Van Buskirk reported that we are working to simplify the system. It will probably take another 2-3 months to get it all working. There will be no additional cost.
Julia Akin said she noticed that the motion light at the gate wasn’t turning on and she wondered if it was part of the upgrade. Van Buskirk said that the light was out and needs to be fixed; the light is intended to be there.
A-Section Roads & USFS 6020
Mat Williams said MIR roads in A-Section overall are still looking good.
On the Forest Service road, he reported a lot of potholes are starting to develop. It’s understandable with the rain. We are waiting for dry weather to fill them.
Payton Creek Road has been effected by a mudslide. We will discuss this topic more later in the meeting agenda.
Priority Business
October Meeting Minutes
Carrie Byrne: “Move to approve the October meeting minutes.”
Approved: Yes – 7; Abstained -4 (Davis, Harbaugh, Holmes, Tuttle – all were absent at the last meeting)
August Expenditures
Earl Van Buskirk: “Move to approve the Check Detail report for October expenditures.”
Approved: Unanimous
Invoices detail
Charges and Invoices to be paid:
- E-Section Checks:
- $273.00 - SLK Accounting (monthly bookkeeping)
- $7.57 – PUD (street lights)
- $3,505.62 – Owners’ loans
- $4,736.17 - Acrow (bridge payment)
- $6,182.48 – Anderson Hunter Law Firm (General Matters, Manley and Tyler, Padilla, Olson, Lahey & Russek, Edwars & Jones, O’Toole, Shiotani)
- A-Section Checks:
- $29.99- Frontier Communications (office supplies)
- $659.48 – Brent Corey (road work)
- $177 - SLK Accounting (monthly bookkeeping)
- $1,606.50 – Carney Badley Spellman, P.S. (attorney fees)
- $1,551.00 – Anderson Hunter Law Firm (Kelly)
Discussion Topics
Payton Creek Road
Brent Corey described that in A-Section, we had a landslide happen on 6020 on the way to Mike Kelly’s property. He said it’s to the degree of the Sunset Falls slide. So far the slide has taken out one person’s property - Piersall. Their garden shed was lost.
A couple properties, including a woodshed, are in jeopardy right now with continued slide movement.
Corey said that two large downed trees stopped momentum of the mud. He said that Payton Creek used to meander, but now it’s a raging torrent. The creek is creating its own path.
Corey volunteered and dug a new trench to the existing culvert and it worked well to redirect the water temporarily. With more rain, the ditch held but the culvert didn’t. Then he decided to dig across the road to manage the water flow to another culvert, but rain, debris, and mud plugged it.
Massive rains continue to bring silt, debris, bark, clumps of clay down from the slide area, it’s plugging our culverts, and causing flooding.
Paul Hery has a mini excavator and may be able to help with trenching. After trying to redirect the flow twice, Corey said we need to let the creek take its course.
Mark Bollman asked where are we going money-wise with Payton Creek? Brent Corey inquired as to whether repairs would fall under side road maintenance or a usage issue? Per Judge Wynne’s order, this accounts for a side road or only those affected by a natural disaster that occurs past their property. Side roads are accounted for on an equal share.
Corey thinks that with proper trenching, the flow can be controlled. It’s from Zan Oliphant’s property and up, including Payton Place.
As Chair of the Legal, Ethics, and Bylaws Committee, Gary Johnson will look into the Bylaws and Judge Wynne’s order to provide a recommendation as to who should pay for the repairs.
Payton Creek owners were assessed a side road fee of $50 in addition to 2016 assessments. At this time, there is $640 in the side road fund for Payton Creek work that can be used immediately to pay Paul Hery for some remediation.
Melanie Corey asked if side road maintenance could be pay as you go? Or does everyone have to show up with a check? Mark Bollman said that a special assessment is more likely for this year, given the situation.
Bollman cautioned that extending “a line of credit” to a side road to be paid off in the next year’s annual assessment is a little dicey. At next month’s meeting, we hope to see a motion for a special assessment or other action to collect funds proactively.
CJ Holmes inquired about emergency funds. Is it OK to use this on side roads? Mark Bollman said yes, but we still need the side road owners to replace the money. Holmes then asked: but if the slide becomes major, can’t we use the emergency fund for immediate action and pay it back? Bollman said: yes, but again, we need to see who historically has paid in. He again cautioned Board members about extending a line of credit, because historically it’s hard to get it back.
In the past, people on the main road often subsidized the side road maintenance. You were disproportionately assessed if you were long distance or high value.
Bekka Davis asked would neighbors help each other out financially with donations? Sunset Falls slide people set up private GoFundMe donation accounts. Payton Creek owners may consider doing something similar.
With regard to the Sunset Falls slide, Gary Johnson reminded everyone that we spent a lot of money and time toward something that ultimately wasn’t successful. We need to be cautious with this slide.
Melanie Corey asked about the Sunset Falls mudslide experience. Where was money best spent and what were the lessons learned from the mudslide? Earl Van Buskirk said that $75k was spent between December and March. When it was completely obvious the slide wasn’t stopping, we stopped working to keep it open. Mark Bollman noted that we were broke. At least with Payton Creek, there aren’t 250 owners above the slide’s impact. What we did well? We looked at the timing of it.
Brent Corey reiterated that we want to get the water moving in the right direction and off the road.
Dan Harrison said the priority should be drainage. Don’t worry about making the road drivable right now. Focus on drainage.
Closing Remarks
Next meeting scheduled for Saturday, December 3rd at 9:00 a.m. at the Index Fire Station.
Respectfully submitted by
Carrie Byrne
MIRCC Secretary