Marymoor Trails
Board of Directors Meeting
June 22, 2020

The Marymoor Trails Board of Directors meeting convened on Monday, June 22, 2020 at 10:00AM via Skype.  Attending:  Michael Niksa, President; Josh Gibson, Treasurer; Van Chesnutt, Landscape; Jerimiah Willhite, Special Projects; Linda O’Hara, Secretary; Tim Hollingshead, Morris Management.

Homeowners Forum

New homeowner really likes the neighborhood.  Concerned about water pooling underneath deck behind his house.  Will this affect the structure or foundation?  Van will have Steve Bodine of Bodine Construction look at this and report back.

Treasurer’s Report

Our overall financials and default rate are excellent.  Josh reports continuing confusion inside Morris Management bookkeeping with replacement fund contributions.  Tim has also noted this. Tim will speak to bookkeeping at Morris and resolve this immediately.  Account balances as of May 31, 2020 are $29,469.82 in the Operating account (checking) and $301,856.67 in Reserves (savings).

Maintenance Report

Michael did a walk around with Gene the Handyman: 

• Gene and his crew are replacing bad siding boards, blowing off roofs and pressure washing/recoating elastomeric decks as needed.
• M-149 has a mushy beam that goes under the living room. A structural beam will be custom-made and replaced, and the elastomeric deck will be replaced as part of the job.
• Michael identified 5-7 decks to be re-topped with Trex (a composite decking material) this year.  Decks replaced with Trex last year are great. Everyone is very satisfied with them.
• A few garage door panels need to be replaced.
• Michael called PSE again about the meter box replacements.  We opened the seals around these at PSE request two months ago.  PSE has not been out to do the work.
• Gene will pressure wash decks as needed and blow off roofs more frequently to keep the gutters clean. We have had a bit of dripping because of gutters filling up.
• Bldg. B-108 monitoring, nothing to report until formal survey in October. 

Major Building Maintenance

Inspection:  Jehan Bharucha, Consulting Engineer, inspected roofs and siding.  His findings reported to the Board are serious and prompted a long discussion. 

Roofs:  Roofing material (shingles) of several buildings are breaking down far in advance of warranty life. Some roofing shingles need to be repaired immediately to avoid structural damage. Installation was done poorly, shingle edges were not sealed, and the shingles that were used appear to have some quality problems.  This was not known by Marymoor Trails at the time of installation in 2008.  Jehan has advised the Board that five buildings – B, C, D, E and possibly I — need to have roof patching or replacement as soon as possible.

Tim retrieved 13 boxes of association records from archives. Michael dug through for items related to the roof. The original roof estimate says it has a 10-year full replacement warranty, and 30 years prorated warranty, but we cannot find a formal contract. We are at 12 years now. Tim will follow up with Jehan and a lawyer who successfully pursued these kinds of cases to see if we can get compensation from Sound Roofing (installer) and CertainTeed (shingle supplier) to offset repair/replacement costs.

Siding:  In addition to the roofing, Jehan says siding on one building is in quite poor condition. This runs the risk of moisture seepage and structural damage.  We have been doing spot replacement, patching, and caulking.  We now need to think about completely residing the buildings.  This is typical of buildings of this age.  The Board asks if we can re-side two buildings a year and pay as we go. Tim and Jehan advise strongly against this approach, stating this could cause additional problems.

Windows:  If we are ever going to upgrade the builder’s aluminum-frame windows to current code with more energy efficient windows, the time to do it is when all the siding is off. 

Bottom line: In the relatively near future, we need to replace roofing, siding, and possibly also bring windows up to code.  We don’t know how much it will cost yet; we don’t know if we can get any recourse from Sound Roofing and CertainTeed; we will follow the expertise of Jehan in planning and orchestrating the projects.

Financial:  Tim and Jehan have said it takes a couple of years to plan big projects like this. It is also fortunate that Building B’s foundation appears stable with ongoing monitoring. 

If we re-clad all buildings with fiber cement siding, many maintenance expenses would not exist.  We would not repaint for 15-20 years.  Woodpecker damage and rotting siding cease to be an issue. We estimate that would save a tremendous amount annually.

Taking It Step by Step:  This is a lot of information to digest.  These are big decisions that impact all of us. We cannot afford to have a bad job done again.  None of us are experts in construction.  We must rely on our consulting engineer Jehan Bharucha to map out options, build cost estimates, negotiate prices, and oversee work as it is done to ensure everything is done correctly.

We need Jehan to inspect all buildings immediately and prepare a detailed report with alternatives.  We need costs, risks, benefits of each alternative – incorporating reserve study, financials, cash flow. Tim recommends we move forward with temporary roof repairs immediately to stop damage while he and Jehan do background work.  Inspecting, planning, financing, and scheduling will take months to do.

Plan of Action:  The Board passed several motions. 

• Motion #1 – Authorize Jehan to immediately address the roof problem for the critical buildings and proceed with patching wherever needed.  Passed unanimously. 
• Motion #2 – Authorize Jehan to do a thorough inspection of roofs/siding/windows, map out courses of action, and email all of us with a report.  Passed unanimously. 
• Motion #3 – Authorize Tim to contact attorney Stephan Fjelstead, who worked with Tim on a similar roofing issue with good results.  This is not authorization for a long legal battle.  We need a legal opinion on our chances of getting anything out of our roof warranty.  Passed unanimously.

Landscape

Tree trimming by Davey Tree will be done this week. 

Special Projects

• Community garden is not going forward per resident feedback. 
• Lighting is on hold, as we focus on decisions about siding. 
• Residents who wish to receive email minutes and notifications should go to the www.marymoortrails.com website and add themselves.  Click the update button on the right side.  Michael added a challenge to thwart spam.

Next Meeting

Our next meeting is scheduled for Monday, July 20, 2020 at 10:00AM via Skype.