Marymoor Trails
Budget Ratification Meeting
and Board of Directors Meeting
November 20, 2023

A special meeting of the Marymoor Trails HOA and Board of Directors was convened on Monday, November 20, 2023, at 6:00pm by Tim Hollingshead. The purpose of the meeting was (1) to review and vote on approval of the MMT HOA 2024 Budget; and (2) a meeting of the MMT Board of Directors to cover normal MMT HOA business. Attending: Michael Niksa, President; Josh Gibson, Treasurer; Chris Cho, Buildings; Van Chesnutt, Landscape; Linda O’Hara, Secretary; and Tim Hollingshead, Morris Management.

Call to Order and Quorum

Tim Hollingshead called the meeting to order at 6:03pm and took roll to see if a quorum was present to legally conduct business. There was not a quorum present. Tim explained that unless 51% of homeowners voted to disapprove the 2024 budget as proposed by the Board of Directors, it would be approved in its present form. As there was no quorum present, the 2024 proposed budget was automatically approved.

Budget Review and Vote

Tim Hollingshead referenced materials sent to all homeowners in Marymoor Trails by Morris Management. This included 2023 Budget, proposed 2024 Budget, and estimated new monthly homeowners’ dues effective January 2024.

Tim documented that Proof of Notice had been provided to all homeowners. A mailer from Morris Management went out to everybody, email notices were sent by the Board to the HOA, and notice was posted at the mailboxes. Tim opened the discussion acknowledging that this is a larger than normal budget increase, as seen across many communities this year. Tim opened the meeting to questions from the floor, which are summarized below.

• Why are HOA dues going up 40% over two years? The only other communities with this high an increase have a pool. Tim says the costs going up are due to insurance. Tim said that we still have the need to fund our reserves, even with high expenses. Tim noted that it is very difficult to compare with other communities – difficult to know what they are/are not putting into reserves. Other communities did not have the fire that caused our insurance to go through the roof.  A Homeowner noted that future buyers will question these high monthly rates. In response, Tim ran through a scenario that showed we are underfunded in reserves, even though we are putting in the same amount as last year. Two things are driving the large increase, adding to the reserves and insurance. One homeowner would prefer annual special assessments rather than higher dues. The Board has struggled with the dues vs special assessment question. To continue to have another special assessment on top of last year, the Board felt this was not something a lot of people would want. Do we pay by multiple special assessments or do we try to save for the future and collect via monthly dues?
• When the fire claim is closed in Bldg. J, and insurance (hopefully) comes down, will people get their special assessment or monthly dues money back? Prior to the fire we were paying about $37,000 annually for insurance. Now we pay $225,000 annually to the only company that will insure us, Lloyd’s of London. Previously, we had to pay money out of Operating Budget toward the insurance payment — not a good thing. If for some reason the fire claim closes before April, there is no clear information what will happen to our insurance cost. It could conceivably stay at $225,000.  If it does, we will have to borrow $50,000 from reserves (our “savings”) and have to pay it back the following year, which will be either via dues or special assessment.
• Michael Niksa commented that we asked Tim if we could do a “reverse special assessment”, would we get our 4% (the Morris fee for managing an assessment) back from Morris, and that Tim said no, we could not do that. What it would do is reduce some of the need for dues increase in subsequent years.
• Do we have any foreseen increases in future years? And why is it so hard to foresee insurance costs? Insurance companies will NOT tell us the math behind the costs. We invested a fair effort, and no one will tell us. Josh says our broker requested 37 different bids, 35 refused to give us a bid — they refused our business outright.  One company asked for additional details about the fire, but upon receiving them also refused to do business with us.  This left us with only Lloyd’s of London – we had to go with that as the only available insurance, required under law.  While we don’t know for sure, it’s possible that Lloyd’s of London realized this and figured we would have to accept whatever bid they offered, no matter how inflated the quote was.
• When the claim closes will our insurance cost go down? We don’t know. What we do know is that the things causing multiple delays all have to do with City of Redmond (COR). When we were done with the initial permitting portion, COR came back and said they want us to redo all the fire systems inside the one individual unit that burned. With regard to the building repairs, much of the work is done, drywall is not yet done, waiting for wiring to be installed behind the walls. This is why the slow pace of work – it is all the fire system. Between the City of Redmond and Johnson Control, it is a parade of incompetence. The city mandates sprinklers in every single dwelling, no matter what, when they are upgraded. In 1989, when the buildings were constructed, three buildings were linked on one fire panel; new code requires one panel on each building.
• Budgeting — We are budgeting a mid-range figure for fire panels, not the figure we had two years ago, and not the full amount we are paying now. The board would prefer not to do special assessments every year. The only people who have clamored for special assessments are landlords and people who want to turn over the property in 2-3 years. The board will not bias toward landlords or investors. We will bias toward long-term residents, not investors. Anyone who wants to join the effort as volunteers with the board, to call other vendors and see if there are better rates and better quality. The board pays all of this as well, this is a volunteer operation.
• New homeowner thinks there is a lack of community communication. Owners do not have a good communication with each other. Michael noted that we tried Facebook and NextDoor – we have had practically no success in gaining any kind of engagement beyond 3-4 homeowners out of the whole 54. We also have opened meetings to homeowners, and we get 1-2 people. We post meeting notices at mailboxes and send out electronic emails. Josh thinks Facebook is probably the best, but right now, it is mainly being used for misdelivered FedEx packages. We will add the Facebook channel in an announcement (see below).
• Can we charge landlords additional fees?  The bottom line is we cannot charge landlords more. We did increase the price of our resale certificate. Tim has reminded us that whether a landlord, owner or occupier, we legally must treat everyone the same.
• Are we thinking of raising the rental cap? No. It will stay at 15%. We have tried to figure out how to make renter-proof decks by installing Trex.  A homeowner asked if we can make homeowners individually responsible for their decks. Not really. We have tried offloading maintenance to homeowners, and Josh noted we have  found it less expensive to do the maintenance ourselves because it makes the decks last longer. We added a line item in the budget for power washing and leaf blowing the decks, considerably less expensive than $30,000/deck to replace it.
• Fire Control Panels — Duane Nakano, homeowner in Bldg. I, volunteered to assist the Board and take on the role of the fire control boxes. Michael and Duane will connect in December.
  
  

Board Meeting and Executive Session

Following the Budget Meeting, the Board went into a regular Board discussion of current business. Interested homeowners were invited to listen in on the discussion, or bring items of concern to discuss with the Board. At the end, the board went into Executive Session, dismissing owners, for only one order of business and the meeting concluded.

Buildings Update

• B-108 pin piling is going as planned, per Jehan. 
• Van told Tim about a sewer pipe issue that was messing up  the slope behind Bldgs. L-M. Tim asked Jehan to take a look at it. Duane Nakano volunteered to look at the site and call ServPro for an estimate – Michael approved.  (As a note, ServPro came out the next day.)
• Building maintenance on hold until next year. Michael is building a list.
• As soon as leaves fall completely, Michael will have Gene the Handyman come out and blow off roofs to keep gutters clean. Waiting till they all fall.

Landscape Update

Landscapers are on every other week schedule, will be out next week with a big truck that sucks leaves.

Next Meeting — Next regularly scheduled Board meeting is Monday, January 22, 2024, at 6:00pm via Zoom. If you wish to participate, please contact Tim Hollingshead.

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“Marymoor Trails Condos – Redmond”
Facebook Group
Anyone can find this group on Facebook.
Request to join, it is Marymoor Trails residents only. This is a private group –
Only members can see who’s in the group and what they post.
No official business will be posted on this site.
Facebook is for neighborhood communications only –
Garage sales, misdelivered packages, etc.

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