Annual Meeting Minutes
January 20, 2015
Oakbrook Townhouse, Inc.
c/o Northwest Properties Agency, Inc.
9527 Bridgeport Way SW
Lakewood, WA 96499
The Annual Meeting of the Oakbrook Townhouse, Inc was
held on Tuesday, January 20, 2015 at the RMG Golf Club, 8102 Zircon Drive SW,
Lakewood, WA.
Five proxies were needed for a quorum. Karch asked board members to call some
neighbors and others went door to door and brought back sufficient proxies to
meet the quorum requirements. The
meeting was then called to order at 7:46 PM
President Karch welcomed residents in attendance and
recognized members of the Board and asked them to introduce themselves. He introduced Pat and Bill Price from
Northwest Properties, Inc. President
Karch asked each resident to introduce themselves.
Rinnan moved to dispense with the reading of the 2014
Annual Meeting minutes, as they had been sent to the membership with the
meeting announcement. Glamba
seconded. Motion carried.
A motion to approve the 2014 Annual Members’ meeting
minutes as distributed to the membership was made, seconded, and passed.
Karch presented a proposed Rules of Order to ensure an
orderly meeting. Rinnan moved to adopt
the following Rules of Order:
“…I move that the Annual Meeting of the Oakbrook
Townhouses, Inc. be guided by the current edition of Roberts’ Rules of Order,
except where they conflict with the RCWs governing Oakbrook Townhouses, Inc.,
the Oakbrook Townhouses, Inc. CC&Rs or Bylaws, or policies adopted by the
Board, or where the strict compliance with Roberts’ Rules of Order hamper the
orderly conduct of business of Oakbrook Townhouses, Inc., and further, that
members who wish to speak must be recognized by the chair, that any motions are
to be in writing and given to the Secretary, that any member seeking to be recognized
to speak on a motion or to ask questions about any matter coming before the
association will be limited to 3 minutes per motion or question until all
members who wish to speak on the motion have had a chance to be heard…”
Dilworth seconded the motion. Motion carried.
State
of the Association
President Karch reported on the State of the Association:
“…During 2014, we completed the repainting of the entire
complex, on time and within budget, at a cost well below the projected costs
for the project in the 2009 Reserve Study.
In addition, some remedial work on dry rot correction and painting which
the Board has identified, is being completed on a case by case basis. The Board has completed a study of moisture
content of all building end walls (those most subject to dry rot damage) and
found between 5% and 10% of end walls with elevated moisture content, which
will help focus our remedial work.
“…Early in 2014 we discovered a material defect in the
roofing material on Building 3. The
installer and roofing material manufacturer stood behind their product and
work, and after some negotiation, the Board was able to secure a new roof for
the entire building, at minimal cost to the association. This will put off an expense projected in the
2012 Reserve study of about $70,000 by 7 years.
“…We have also completed the repair and/or replacement of
4 driveways, repaired and/or replaced several rear decks, a number of light
fixtures and metal railings, dealt with roof leaks, and carried out gutter and
downspout cleaning following storms. Once again we can boast of an overall
budget in balance, significant contributions to our reserve account aimed at
reducing or eliminating the need for special assessments in the future, and a
“clean” audit.
“…We experienced the resignation of Board members Tim
McCoy and Mike Bitow, and two of the open Board positions are those. So we have four positions to fill on our 9-member
Board.
“…We completed a customer survey of our full membership
in April, seeking information on the issues you felt were most important for
the Board to address, and how well we were doing on each. We got almost a 50% return rate. To my knowledge this is the first customer
prioritization and satisfaction survey even conducted by Oakbrook Townhouses
members. The Board also adopted a set of
goals for 2014, based on your priorities, and completed a Board assessment of
our performance against those goals in December. Copies of the customer survey results and
Board report card were on the table when you came in.
“…During the past year, we invited members to sign up to
receive periodic email updates on issues of interest to the Oakbrook Townhouses
membership, and about a dozen emailings have gone out. A signup form was on the table at the
entrance.
“…We also created a blog site, which can be accessed at:
“…The past year saw a proposal to develop a 62 unit three
story apartment building on the property between Ruby Drive and Zircon Drive,
on the open space formerly occupied by the swimming pool and tennis
courts. We have tried to keep the
membership informed of the developments in the minutes, via separate mailings
and emailings, and on the blog, and have taken strong positions in opposition
to the development, including a joint letter from the three involved HOAs, and
testimony at a rezoning hearing. Several
of you have offered comments and testimony on the projects…”
Karch also reported that “…the Board is looking at a
number of new initiatives during 2015.
In addition to a keen recognition of the financial constraints we have
all operated under during the past few years, carrying out the myriad of normal
maintenance activities, we have been
discussing getting an early start on items in the reserve study; refining the
priority system for needed work; securing additional feedback from you through
a customer survey on what you think are the most important issues facing us, as
well as how we are doing in addressing them; setting up a more formal project
list; carrying out your highest priority projects; and assessing our
performance at the end of the year; refining the process for review of all
contracts; and making needed contributions to the reserve account…”
Reserve
Study Update
State law
requires that all HOAs carry out a Reserve Study, and update it periodically. The OT Board initiated its first Reserve
Study in 2009, with updates in 2011 and 2012.
Karch explained the Reserve Study process and that the Board continues
to work on a variety of issues to keep costs down. The Reserve Study is available to all
residents and there was a request form on the back table to request a copy. The Reserve account has $141,000. Each year we contribute $30,000 to the
Reserve account. The Reserve Study
specialists indicate we are in a good position compared to many other
Associations.
Budget
for 2015 and Projected Budget for 2016
Karch presented the proposal for the 2015
budget and indicated the projected 2016 budget is included, as required by law. Copies were sent to all members with the
meeting announcement, and were available on the table at the entrance.
The
Voting Process
Karch opened up the voting process. He explained that there will be three items to
vote on:
1. The 2015
proposed budget is the same as 2014.
Monthly assessments will continue to be $330.00 a month.
2. It
was moved, seconded, and approved to nominate three Board candidates as
indicated on the proxy (Hamann, Karch, and Pearcy), plus write-in resident Sandra
Charlton. Karch asked for any other
nominations from the floor. There were
none and the nominations were closed.
There are four candidates.
3. Change
to bylaws. This change will allow emails
to serve as a proxy with a follow up telephone call. The proposed wording
change to the Bylaws is as follows:
“…Amend
Section 5, Article X of the Oakbrook Townhouses, Inc. By-laws to read as
follows (existing wording in italics; proposed addition is underlined):
SECTION
5. Proxies. At all meetings of members, each member may
vote in person or by proxy. All proxies shall be in writing and filed with the
Secretary. Proxies
submitted to the Board or its agent(s) by email shall be accepted, provided the
proxy holder confirms the emailed proxy transmission. Every proxy shall be revocable and shall automatically cease upon
conveyance by the member of his/her Lot…”
A break was called while the
votes were counted. Rinnan, Dilworth,
and a member from the audience counted the votes, and certified the results.
Karch reported the 2015
Board members election results as follows:
Hamann – 28 Karch – 28 Pearcy – 27 Charlton
- 6
Karch declared all four were
elected to serve on the Board. Karch welcomed the elected Board members and
indicated a Board meeting would be held immediately following the Annual
Meeting to elect officers for 2015.
Karch announced the 2015
Budget vote results as follows:
Yes – 34 No
- 1
Karch declared the
proposed 2015 Budget approved.
Karch announced the bylaws
change to allow proxy votes via email results as follows:
Yes – 26 No
- 4
Karch declared the
proposed Bylaws change approved.
Karch introduced Pat Price from Northwest Properties. Price presented information about the
importance of having adequate insurance coverage. She encouraged all residents to review their
insurance coverage with their agent to determine whether their coverage is
adequate. The insurance agent needs to
know if you have upgraded floors, counter tops and also flood insurance is
important if a water problem occurs within the unit, as some of these are not
covered in many homeowners’ policies.
Karch asked if there was any further old business to
discuss or new business. Hearing none he
thanked all the residents for attending.
Adjournment
It was moved, seconded and approved to adjourn the 2015
Annual Member’s meeting.
Karch adjourned the meeting at 9:10 PM.
Note: Following
the Annual Members’ meeting, the new Board convened to elect officers for
2015. The following officers were
elected. President Ken Karch; Vice
President Al Glamba; Secretary Sue Bailey; and Treasurer Mike McDonald.
Approved,
__________________________________________
Ken Karch, PE, Board President
