birch bay leisure park association 7704 birch bay drive ......mar 12, 2016 · place: bblp brier...

1 BBLP Open Board Meeting Minutes March 12, 2016 ………………. Indicates where the audio was illegible

Birch Bay Leisure Park Association

7704 Birch Bay Drive

Blaine, WA 98230

(360) 371-7122

www.birchbayleisurepark.com

MINUTES of the OPEN MEETING OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

PLACE: BBLP Brier Center DATE: March 12, 2016 7704 Birch Bay Drive Blaine, Washington TIME: 10:00 a.m. Called to order at 10:15 a.m. CHAIR: Mike Van Geyn, President PRESENT WERE: Directors: Mike Rae Vicci Burnett Taryn Bell Patti Austin Wes Gmur Daryl Vyse BBLP Staff: Don Brown, General Manager

OPENING REMARKS FROM THE CHAIR

Welcome by Mike Van Geyn – President Good Morning Everybody, Welcome to our Open Board Meeting of the Birch Bay Leisure Park Association. The president introduced all the Board Members. 10:13 am meeting is called to order. We have a good turn out here which is excellent. We are doing a slight change in the format we have set up a microphone and we would like people to go to the microphone and make their comments and then either sit down or move to the back of the line if there is one. Wes Gmur Proposed a Motion to approve Minutes of February 13, 2016 Meeting Minutes Seconded by Taryn Bell Any Comments? None heard. Carried Unanimously.

http://www.birchbayleisurepark.com/


Report by Mike Van Geyn – President Basically the things I want to talk about are on the agenda. I have been working a lot lately with Don getting a handle on some cost issues. Which I will be discussing later. Aside from that, I have no report. Report by Mike Rae Vice President/Rules and Regulations As Vice President I don’t have anything to update you on. As for rules and regs we haven’t started with any changes yet, that is still in the works. Report by Daryl Vyse and Wes Gmur – Recreation and Entertainment Wes Gmur – Good morning. The first events of the year for Birch Bay Leisure Park are getting close. We start with March 26th Easter Egg hunt at Circle 17 which is sold out and the Family Easter Pot Luck dinner is at Brier at 6pm and this is also sold out. We would like to thank Taryn Bell our communications director and Mike Van Geyn our President for coordinating this event I think it will be a lot of fun. An update of the calendar of events is on our website and will be updated as needed. Members can also pick up a copy of the events in the office. I wanted to thank the members who have put their names on the volunteer lists in the office and we want to encourage you to continue to do so. We are still looking for a coordinator for Western Days August 27th at Circle 17, if there is anyone here who is interested in coordinating this please see Wes or myself after the meeting. Report by Taryn Bell Public Relations and Communications Good Morning everybody, I don’t have much to report at this time. I will be putting out a Spring newsletter hoping to send it out by the beginning of April, if anyone has anything to contribute or wants anything included please let me know. Our emails are on our website. We will have the update of all the Spring events in the newsletter. Wes: Are we selling ads in the newsletter again this year? Taryn: This is just the little Spring newsletter. And yes we are. Report by Vicci Burnett - Secretary/Treasurer Good Morning Everyone. I am going to start off with the Treasurers report. Year to date we are not sending out our monthly statements but we are following them and we are exactly where we need to be and we are very happy with that. As for 2015 I have a statement that I am going to distribute with the minutes. Basically in 2015 we did very well and we have money left over which we will reinvest.


Now the Secretary part I will read the following:

1. Read Circle Rep Minutes they are attached. **Side Note - There is always a published agenda on the website prior to the board meeting. **Side Note – Letters to the Board and responses will be published without the senders name(s) unless the sender specifically asks that there name be included.

2. Letter from Member Miscellaneous Topics – Attached 3. Letter from Member regarding flood gate – Attached. The email member

referenced was not received by the board. 4. Letter from Member regarding Off Leash Dog Park and Waterpark 5. Letter from Member regarding Dog Park and Bike Lanes – Attached 6. Letter from Member regarding Door locks at Brier - Attached

Don says the common room will be locked the parts are on order. The main door is currently not locked during 8am-10pm

7. Letter from Member regarding storage sites – Attached 8. Letter and Response from Member below:

Hello Member:

Thank you for your email. this board appreciates the members contacting us directly rather than being caught up in rumor mills so thank you for contacting us. I am very concerned with how our money is being handled. We are sorry you feel this way, not sure how to put your mind at ease other than to say, we have not undertaken anything that has not been outlined in the 2016 budget. We have no intentions on spending any money not outlined in our budget. We have several ongoing ideas that cost money but these are ideas and the reason you will see them in the minutes is because of the transparency of this board discussing items and requesting feedback. Nobody on this board has done anything outside the established budget.

We are not contributing anything towards the contingency fund and should an emergency develop we will all be in financial trouble. I think it’s rather arrogant of the board to place us all in this precarious position.

Well Member, this is a very debatable subject. We currently have $2 million and $40 thousand US dollars in Term Deposits along with another $100,000.00 that will be going into a USD Term deposit


We have our operating expenses and NOTHING is being taken from the Contingency amount. Years ago the Park had $1-$1.5 million and yes it was depleted when they did the major electrical upgrade and we all had $2,500.00 assessments. So, Our electrical is in good shape! As for the unknown it is unknown and how much money do you think we should be accumulating for our non-profit association? Some comments we have had say what we have is too much and we should pay as we go, so we are middle of the road on this and given the rate of inflation and rates of interest we are of the opinion that what we have right now is sufficient. Lets keep in mind the 2016 budget is in place and will not be changed. The 2017 budget will be presented for members to ratify at the AGM. Therefore, if you truly feel we need to increase dues or rather surcharge for contingency then please let us know what amount you think is appropriate. Perhaps the Board will look at some long range issues and make changes to the 2017 budget, at this time we haven't reviewed the 2017 budget proposals. From what I have read, the contingency fund that we have accumulated over the years has the potential of declining rapidly if your ideas for the park develop.

The contingency fund isn't for Park Development per se it is for emergencies or for something the membership as a majority decides they want.

While I am all for the development of the park, I think a more responsible attitude must be taken as to how you spend all of our money.

Well, if you have read the minutes then I think you should agree we haven't spent any money or committed to spend any money on anything actually.

I don’t think a dog park or a water park are something we need to consider at this time. There are dog walks that have worked very well in the past. If people feel their dogs need more exercise, there is an entire beach to walk them on. If your kids are bored, there is also an entire beach for them to play on.

We hear your concerns and take them seriously. We have had a request by approx. 100 people for the want of a dog park. As a board, whether we agree with this or not, in all fairness to those members we have a duty to investigate and explore this we have to look at things objectively, again we are exploring options and this is something we do on our own time at no cost to the members. I personally have no dog and no young children, however, as a board member I have to look at this objectively as we all are. I want you to remember something we are all members and after our tenure on the board is over we will have to face the membership and our neighbors and feel we did the best for the membership we all are well aware of this.

I think rather than the entire park paying to entertain children, the parents and grandparents have to step up to the plate and keep them entertained. I have a dog and I have children and grandchildren. I don’t expect the members of BBLP to pay for their entertainment. I pay for them to go to the waterslides, I spend time with them by playing


games etc.. While I am all for BBLP being a family park, I think we have enough to entertain the kids with the pool, playgrounds etc. When all is said and done, the kids do not pay the bills. Many people in the park do not have small children or pets and I fail to see why they should continue to pay for those of us that do.

I fully agree with you that that the Parents and Grandparents are the ones responsible to entertain the kids. If we could provide something extra for kids to alleviate the heavy load on the pool that would be great for everyone, if we could do this with minimal cost and then it would be a winning situation for everyone and it could be allocated for in the budget and the membership will decide.

As another member reminded me, BBLP is an Association not a resort, I don’t think recreation and entertainment should be our main concern at this point in time and most certainly should not be funded out of our contingency fund.

This board fully agrees with you and perhaps this other member hasn't fully read the minutes or attended any open meetings and is misguided. Once again this board has no intentions of funding anything out of the contingency fund for recreation and entertainment. There is actually a recreation and entertainment committee that raises money to fund specific things and it never comes out of contingency.

Financial statements should not have to be requested! You are handling all of our money and we have the right to know how it is being spent. Financial statements are standard procedure in all aspects of business. We have never had to request them in the past and I fail to see why we should have to request them now! It is your duty to provide these statements and keep us all informed as to how our funds are being spent.

I think you are referring to a Budget not a Financial statement. However, it did not go out with the 2016 first dues as it has in past and if you would like a copy of this statement I can ask the office to send to you. You all absolutely have a right to know how your money is being spent and this board has not undertaken any extra projects so, you can rest assured we are paying the usual items power, water, wages etc. There is nothing being hidden there is nothing the members do not know about. I feel several people have become very upset and assuming and speaking out of turn that this board is just spending our money irresponsibly, that is absolutely not true.

You have stated that there will be some changes to the By-laws. Since we are all members of the same park, do you not think you should make us all informed as to what By-laws are being considered to change? I think we all should have received an informed bulletin so that we can make an informed vote regarding the change? Perhaps a little time to consider the ramifications of changing the By-laws is in order?


Yes, this is correct. We are planning on changes to the bylaws and for the most part a lot of it is simple housekeeping wording, but there will be some additions. The plan for this as has been discussed is we will put together a Draft Copy of what we would like to see changed and this will be sent to the members for their evaluation and submissions. We will then consider what has been submitted or what has been challenged and we will send out a final document with full explanations of the why it should be considered for change and then a month later we will have a Special General Meeting to vote yes or no on the changes. So to respond to your statement you will all be receiving a full explanation of what changes we are looking at and your opportunity to have a say. Please be clear we are not re writing the bylaws by any means. The members will decide what changes and what doesn't. In the past you have all stated that we need more communication, more transparency, yet I for one have never felt more “in the dark” than I do now. You are accountable to the entire membership. You are not on the board to satisfy your individual needs or wants, you are on the board to act on our behalf, for the overall good of the park.

Member, on a personal note this board fully communicates with the members and I'm sorry you feel in the dark, perhaps you should attend an open board meeting and first hand hear and see how this board does business. We are fully aware that we have a fiduciary duty to the entire membership and we as a board are certainly fulfilling this requirement. I am not aware of any board member that has a personal agenda on this board. Every single one of us are managing our portfolios to the best of our abilities and I think we are all doing a very good job. You have to understand as we do we will never please 718 people but I must say we are certainly pleasing a lot of them with the added events in the Park and the open communication.

I hope I have addressed your concerns, and please feel free to attend our open meetings we have one this coming Saturday morning at 10am at Brier.

9. Letter from Park Attorney regarding the use of Security Cameras and GoPro cameras. Attached

Report by Patti Austin – Grounds and Maintenance Good morning, I had planned to start to do site visits next week, but due to the extreme weather the wind and floods etc I want to give the members some time to deal with their fences etc. I will start the site visits first week of April and hope to have any necessary correspondence out to the members by the end of April. Circle 52 park fence was leaning on members shed, Staff has straightened it up an reset one post with concrete. Shop roof was raised four inches to level roof line and doors. Added supports to the beams. Commissary shelving has been completed.


Transformer fence two thirds complete. Commissary entrance pad for the Brier has been started. Brush bin four has been rebuilt. Brush bin five the gate has been rebuilt. Brush bin seven has been torn down and will be rebuilt. Panic bars for inner common room are on order- three weeks until they arrive. We have reused lava rock to beautify the berm number seven. Junipers have been trimmed on berm number nine, fourteen, twenty eight, forty one. Berm twenty two has been reseeded. Removed dead rhododendron on berm thirty two. Removed grapevine in back of center way twenty eight. Cut lower branch on berm sixty one. Transplanted pompous grass out of the front of brier to the rear of brier. Cut up large pine that the wind storm blew over on berm twenty four. Debris clean up after the flood and wind storm continues. Kendall’s tree service has removed various dead trees and pruned a few others. All the berms have been mowed once the front entrance turf three times. I would like to thank Don and his staff for doing a great job.

Report by Don Brown –Manager Hello Members, Guests and Board Members. Spring is less than 10 days away. We have had a very unusually wet winter, and some of you may not know, but the Park received some minor flooding a couple weeks back. This flooding was less damaging than last year’s flood. I am currently working with the Whatcom County Public Works on the issues of the tide gate located at the front of the park. Both Mike Van Geyn and I have observed the tide gate to see if it is working properly. It appears as some barnacles and sludge could be removed. This work will have to be done when the water level is down low. I am waiting on some information packets from the county, and they should be here next week. More recently we just had a severe wind storm mixed with high tides. Sadly, we lost the big beautiful pine that is between mainline and bath house four. The wind storm completely uprooted the tree and we were unable to recover it. In an effort to keep it short all old business projects that have received bids and the grounds and maintenance report have been provided to the board members in their binders. Thanks for your attention and have a great time this spring with all events that have been planned. Respectfully Submitted to the Board of Directors, Mike Rae – Don whose responsibility is the flood gate? Don Brown – It is the responsibility of Whatcom County Public Works.


Mike Rae - Then why do we need to get a permit? Don Brown – We want to get permission to clean the barnacles and sludge then we could get it working properly. Mike Rae - Will it improve the water flow in the Park Don Brown - Yes it will I have asked them about a pump station in the event of flooding Mike Van Geyn – There is more information on that we did get a letter from the County’s representative they want to purchase a little piece of property out front. It wasn’t part of the agenda but we need to talk about it. Mike Van Geyn – That concludes the reporting section of the meeting we will now move to old business. Old business: We have a couple more estimates for fencing on the off leash dog park materials only cost $1,200.00, I don’t think we need to discuss this any further at this time. We also got an estimate for striping for a bike lane for $800.00 so we now know the cost if we ever decide to proceed. Mike Van Geyn - We will now move to new business. New Business I want to talk about the BBWARM assessment. There was correspondence from an agent from the County, they want to purchase an easement from Birch Bay Leisure Park. Its at the front of the Park and they are offering to pay us $1,900.00. The reason they are doing this is they are building a seawall along Birch Bay they call it a boardwalk. The actual work will start in the Fall. It is flood protection, wave protection, handicap access. This is a project that is funded out of the BBWARM assessments. It starts just past our property and runs north around the bay. This easement is a part of the public review and has been in discussion for two years. They have offered to buy the property and we can argue with them as to whether or not we feel its worth $1,900.00 or not. This is something we have to discuss as a group and then meet with the County. Getting back to the BBWARM, stands for Birch Bay Watershed Aquatic Resources Management District. It was implemented in 2009. It’s basically a tax and our share of this tax is $74,418.00 per year. The way this works is we are assessed for the area of impervious surfaces which are roads, gravel, buildings etc. The rate is $104.52 per year for every 4,000 sq ft of impervious surface that we have. To put this in perspective, if the entire Birch Bay Leisure Park was paved it would cost us $91,057.00 and our actual cost is $74,418.00. So the county believes that 81.7% of the Leisure Park is impervious. I took a walk around and we have some information from past boards that identifies different areas of the park, and based on that it is my guess that we are being over charged in the area of $5,000.00- 6,000.00 per year. The way the County decided on this is analysis of satellite photos. They did not come out here and measure all the areas, they just did an estimate. In knowing counties and governments


interested in obtaining tax dollars, they won’t likely assess in our favor. I would like everyone to be aware of this, and if we can measure ourselves we could not only save the money for this year, but reclaim overages for previous years. So this is what we are going to do. I think everyone can help out with this by measuring the lawn and also flower beds or any area that is not gravel, concrete or buildings, including the common areas in the circles. If we get that from you, if each person spent maybe 20 minutes that would save us a lot of man hours. Let us know how much you have on your site. I took a walk around my circle just looking, with no tape measure, and it looks to me like we have about 4,000 sq ft of grass in my circle. So 11 circles, if they were all the same would add up to an acre. We could easily add up to 5 acres just by analyzing what is on the sites. I believe we are off by about 5 acres. I know there are a lot of grass areas on Center Way. So I am asking for everyone’s help. Please send me an email ([email protected]) that you have, however much grass or flower beds that you have, whatever it is you have, please let me know. Even though water flows through gravel it is considered impervious under the County’s system. The other thing I think is grossly unfair is we need roads to get to our sites and they are dinging us for the roads. If a County road went up we wouldn’t be paying for that so we have some arguments with them based on fairness. The other thing is according to their website we are actually paying 10% of all the money collected in this program just this park and I think that is unfair! I don’t know if I can change that but I think is just unfair, so we have many arguments with the County. We do have to get our measurements done so we can go to the County and present our data and then we can get our money back! I want everyone to be aware of that and I am asking for your help, and if we are undercharged we will not say a word. The other thing we need to consider is to increase the amount of grass in this Park. I took out 150 sq ft of concrete on my site. I’m not saying you can’t have concrete but I’m thinking there should be an incentive to not have concrete. It’s just a thought. When the manager’s house comes out I am turning that into grass specifically for the purpose of the BBWARM assessment, after that we can do what we want but I would like to get another 4,000 sq ft of grass on the positive side. The other thing that this indicates is if you already have gravel you can pave it, they view asphalt and gravel the same. If I’m being dinged $100.00 for every 4000 sq ft I may as well pave it, that is just a side thought. **Please note there are site diagrams attached you can either email Mike Van Geyn or note your measurements on the diagram provided and turn this into the office with your site number. Thank you. The second item looking at costs, these are big cost items. If we can take $1,000.00 a year off in ten years, its $10,000.00. These things add up. I want to talk about water. This is another tax. We pay property tax, BBWARM assessment and Water which is another tax. So water and sewer. Our normal bill for water and sewer is $14,700.00 per month our water is $10,000.00 and $18,000.00 for sewer for 2 months so divide it In half is $14,700.00.


Here is the problem. That is a rate if you don’t go over the allowable usage. We in the park are metered and if we go over that rate we are charged a surcharge. **Mike Van Geyn showed charts that showed our Summer usage and the fact that we go over the allowable usage and the base rate. When you do that, they charge you twice. They charge you for the water you use and the water going down the drain so your water bill goes up and your sewer bill goes up. In the September bill we were assessed for the additional water we used $5,643.00 for the water and $4,840.00 for the water going down the drain in the sewer. So we are talking over $10,000.00 we got hit with because we used too much water. This is interesting because at the same time there were County water restrictions in place. What I would like to see us as a Park do, is control our water consumption to eliminate this. This happened to us twice last Summer in July it cost us approx. $12,000.00. So, if we can control the water usage, we can put that money back into our hands and use it for other things or to just save the money. What I never knew is that if I washed my driveway there was a meter somewhere ticking that is costing everyone some money. So the number one thing we all have to realize now is that your behaviour affects the money we pay for water usage. My next item that I want to discuss is power. However, we need to immediately implement some strategies to control this $22,000.00 water problem. One suggestion I think is we can read the meter ourselves and see within that 4-month period particularly on weekends putting us in the danger zone for surcharges. We need to let the members know. If we keep going this way, we will be dinged thousands. I would like to possibly see the elimination the use of sprinklers on sites. It’s fine to water but people are grossly overwatering and it’s a large problem. You have to think how much water does my lawn really need? Hand watering should be done and we need to have water restrictions. Taryn Bell – Mike why don’t we look at getting rain barrels? Mike Van Geyn – Yes that’s a great idea we need to look at this as a group. What are we going to do about this? I don’t think anyone wants to blow $20,000.00 down the drain and I think we can still keep our gardens nice and our lawns green without spending the extra $20,000.00 I really don’t. If we have to spend a little extra fine, but try and keep it on the lower side. What I am asking everyone today is #1 – Awareness and #2 – How to manage it in the best way to take care of this cost? We don’t have to come to a decision on this today but this is a topic that will not go away. Mike Van Geyn – Don you know where the meter is right? Don Brown – That is correct and we do read that meter everyday of the year. Mostly if there is a spike we know we have a leak somewhere. Mike Van Geyn – Exactly if you have a leaking tap or any water that is not being constructively used. Does anybody else have any other ideas or suggestions? Taryn Bell – Just rain barrels. Don, can you get us a quote on these maybe a bulk price?


Don Brown – Sure, they do have a rain barrel seminar through BBWARM different ways to hook up to the barrel. Lids and stuff to keep mosquitos down. They have a lot of information. Mike Van Geyn – The rain barrels usually need an eaves system and a lot of trailers don’t have that. You need to have eaves and down spouts and then it would work great. I can wash my car with three gallons of water some people need 100 gallons to do the job. I’m not opposed to car washing because I’m a car buff I like a clean car, but I am opposed to wasting water. I use a bucket, have a nozzle on your hose limit pressure washing and do it before May 1st, before the peak usage season. Any ideas from the group? Q - Trish Bryant – 37-5 – Do you have an estimate as to how much water is used on the weekends at the pool with the showers going all the time? Believe me the young kids like to stand under the shower. I walk my dog around the park and I don’t often see sprinklers running and I would like to say to keep the grass I have grass and we don’t water very often. So how do the pool showers rate with this? How about on the weekends when there are more guests in the park and using the laundry facilities? A - Mike Van Geyn – I agree with you I have grass and I have never watered my lawn and it looks relatively green. What about the showers? Can we control that? A - Don Brown – They are human controlled. Mike Van Geyn - We used to have a button timer can we put thata system back in place? A – Don Brown – We can look into it. A – Patti Austin - We should look at putting a button in each shower, then that would prevent people from running and slipping on the floor. I have come in and all the showers are running and I am shutting them all off. I think it’s a great idea to go back to buttons. Mike Van Geyn - I remember the story from a relative that lived in California there was a contest on how to conserve water and a house wife won the contest and her solution was everyone put 2 bricks in your toilet and you would use 2 litres less each flush. Its still not a bad idea if you don’t have a low flush toilet. Any other water saving ideas? Q – Paul Crocock 20-3 - …………. Have you thought of what usage a waterpark would use? A – Mike Van Geyn – Yes, that is an issue for sure and we haven’t decided to build a water park but that’s all a part of it now. We would have to look at it have to limit gallons used and having buttons with timers, it’s definitely all a part of the cost. Anyone else have any suggestions on water saving ideas? No further comments on the water the next topic I want to talk about is electricity. It came as a surprise to me because I figured I can use as much power as I want because it is billed back to me at 5.7247 per kwh. So I can plug in as many heaters as I want because I pay my own bill. Well it doesn’t really work that way. They allow us 3 million kwh at 5.7 cents but if you go over that it’s not like the rate doubles or goes ten times as much the rate goes 250 times as much to $12.00 per kwh. Now if we can keep our power under 3 million kwh then we pay 5.7 cents per kwh but we got dinged


$8,000.00 for going over 645 kwh overage charges. So, here is the problem, it is a cumulative effect. I don’t really want to spend $8,000.00 for a month and the members are billed at the 5.7 cents per kwh not $12.00. You can’t ever point to any person or group for the overage, it’s actually very small with a very high cost. So, one of the things I thought was - ok as with the water we need to know where we are at, and we need to know what our consumption is - and whether or not we are getting close to 300,000 kw in a month, and if we are getting close we need to tell everyone: Listen, we are about to hit the high cost. Do all you can to reduce power if you are running heaters. Maybe this is a time to consider turning them down. Maybe we should turn off street lights during the weekdays not as many people are here. Our street wattage is only 100-150 but it all adds up. We could turn the heat down in Brier. Anything we can do to keep us from going over that 300,000 kw limit we need to do. Imagine 300,000 kwh costs I think its about $17,000.00 and 645 was $7,800.00 that’s a humongous step so we spent $7,800.00 that we could have saved if we watched our power consumption, told people where we were at, and taken steps to reduce it. So, in my opinion that’s what we need to do. Any comments on this issue? Q – Gerry Hutchinson – 54-10 – I thought that our electricity in here is all metered? A – Mike Van Geyn – It is Q – Gerry Hutchinson – 54-10 - So do we not know what everyone’s monthly costs are? A - Mike Van Geyn – Yes we do. Q – Gerry Hutchinson – 54-10 – So when we go over, why don’t you just go to those 15 people who are adversely using the power and charge them? A – Mike Van Geyn – It doesn’t really work that way because it’s a cumulative total. Q – Gerry Hutchinson – 54-10 – That’s fine but if we know how much power I have used for November to April I make sure all my electricity is off. Is the cumulative monthly? A – Mike Van Geyn – Yes it is monthly. Here is the problem, lets say you have zero watts in January and I have 24,000 my neighbor has 28,000 and someone else has 15,000 how do you divide that up? Q – Gerry Hutchinson – 54-10 – What were those tremendous costs for then putting in the meters? A – Mike Van Geyn – The meters tell you how much power you use. How do you isolate the usage to any one individual you really can’t. Q – Gerry Hutchinson – 54-10 - If we go and pay somebody we have very good people in this park and once a month to check everybody’s meter, then the following month you know the same thing. If somebody is using 10,000 watts and I’m using none then charge them! A – Mike Van Geyn – It sounds easy but if you work through it all it takes is 100 people to have a light bulb on to make it go over the limit. As long as we are under the limit it doesn’t matter. When we start to go over the limit its impossible to isolate who it is. What happens is it becomes part of your dues divided by 718. At this moment and the way its been happening for the past several years, the members are being billed at 5.7 cents and the overage is a cost to the park and we pay that in our dues. It is impossible to go back to the consumer it is a small amount of power at a very high rate of cost.


Q – Gerry Hutchinson – 54-10 - So when we have 4 months of the year when we have an overage and I don’t mind going to my neighbors and say we have to protect ourselves. I know people have heaters on I don’t want to pay for someone else’s fridge on in the winter time I’m not paying for people to have 4 heaters on in their trailer. A - Wes Gmur – That’s the cost of being in this park and we are opening a can of worms for nothing. Everybody here has to pay a portion of the power for Elm, Brier the office how do you divvy that up? A - Mike Van Geyn – You don’t have to divvy anything up if you can stay below 300,000 kwh per month. A – Wes Gmur - You can’t go lot to lot and tell people to shut heaters off. We all paid to have meters installed. People don’t want to be hassled about having their heater on. A – Patti Austin – What’s happened is we have just become aware of this problem and now that the membership is aware of this problem everybody will take responsibility and try and cut usage where they can instead of using 3 heaters they will use 2 or 1 heater there are ways around this. I use my propane furnace and little bit of electrical heat and I have never had a problem and we all have heat tape. There is no way to charge back to the consumer it would be too hard to manage. Just to make all the members aware we are having overages in the winter they can do their part so it doesn’t happen. A - Mike Van Geyn – We need to tell people this is happening. What we do have control over as a board is what the park is spending so we can turn off the street lights if we are in peak time there are things we have control over. People may voluntarily turn one of their heaters off if they know its costing everyone a lot of money in dues, there are things we can do. We can turn the thermostats down. Q - Sandra Turner 50-2 – You know the big board they have at the fire station, why don’t we have a board here power consumption High or water consumption High? A - Mike Van Geyn – Excellent Idea. I think also email blasts for the same thing if we get the word out I think it will happen. Mike Van Geyn - There are 2 outstanding items that we want to talk about. Brier is not fully furnished we would like to see this as a fully furnished facility. We need to give this some consideration as to how much when and what for Brier. Taryn Bell – I’m just curious what we need in here because when we have events in here we end up pushing the furniture to the side. What do people want in here? We need to do the patio furniture Daryl Vyse - We need to replace the sink already Mike Van Geyn – That is a maintenance item. We have a couch in one end and only seats 8 people. Taryn Bell – Yes but when you have an event like upcoming Easter or breakfast with Santa we have to shove it over so do we need it?


Daryl Vyse - Was Brier to have any window coverings? Taryn Bell - I do not know I wasn’t involved in that. I don’t recall seeing anything about that. We never had them in the old Brier. Wes Gmur – What the board is looking for is input from the membership as to what you would like to see as a finished building? We have had 3 years of no usage. We are going to have another year of no pool table no furnishings no patio furniture. We want guidance from you? We should go borrow some money and in September find out how much we owe and assess everyone. Vicci Burnett – The patio furniture there were funds raised from the Italian Dinner and we need to just go shopping and buy it. Mike Van Geyn - The other option is to do some fund raising. Wes Gmur – Put it to the membership and see what they want to do. Taryn Bell – Does anyone have any suggestions? Mike Van Geyn – Yes if anyone has any suggestions or any feedback? If not that’s fine we are just throwing it out there. Q – Analisa Battryn 24-1 – I just want to say thank you for raising the money from the Italian dinner to get the furniture for the patio I think as a member I think it’s a lovely building I think it would be nice to have a bit more furniture a few more seats and another couch to make it more usable. Don Brown - There is new member that donated a treadmill and a fairly new Bowflex to the park. Any further comments on furnishing brier Final agenda item is for a proposal for an extension of the awning on Elm Extend the awning by 30 ft at a cost of $1,200.00 USD and I will put it up myself. Taryn Bell - Why do we need it Wes Gmur - of people have been asking for it keeps you out of the rain or the sun and for the cost of it. Daryl Vyse - It would offer quite a bit for the cost of it. For example Caesar Sunday could happen rain or shine.


Patti Austin - Now that we are having Caesar Sunday down at Elm I think it’s a good idea. Q – Gerry Hutchinson – 54-10 – Fund raising is always important I or my grandchildren or my relatives love this place if there is a fund raiser specific to something I will support it. When you need money get a fund raiser together we have a great horse race on our street. Don’t ask me to throw a bunch of money into a black hole and the board decides how to spend it. Say specifically what you are raising money for and I will support it. Wes Gmur - Gerry are you saying you don’t want us to put up the awning? Gerry Hutchinson – 54-10 – If you specifically raised money for that awning put it up. Q - Don turner – 50-2 - We are dealing with $1,200.00 I say put it up if its about the money my circle will donate $500.00 and I haven’t even spoken to them yet. Wes Gmur made a Motion extend the awning at elm at a cost of approx. $1,200.00 and and the funds will come out of entertainment and recreation. Daryl Vyse seconds the motion Mike Rae asked do we have enough money in entertainment and recreation fund? Motion carried unanimously. This concludes the business portion of the meeting. This begins the question and answer period. Q – Bob Saunders – 53-1 – This may be my last meeting I have my unit for sale. If you want to improve the marketability of sites we should consider having a hot tub rather than a water park we had people interested in our site and because we had no hot tub and no cover over our pool for the winter they purchased at Beachwood. A – Mike Van Geyn – Thank you, Bob. …… 13-2 - I just want to comment on the hydro I think we need to turn the heat down in the wash rooms in the winter months the one by my place is warmer than my house. Mike Van Geyn – Thank you. Are those gas powered? Don Brown – Some are gas and some are electric Mike Van Geyn – Turn the electric ones down. Q – Linda Christianson – 20-3 – My question is directed to the secretary. I’m confused about the board procedure policy on communication. How do we get that information? What should we expect as members? A – Vicci Burnett – The minutes of the meetings are emailed out to everyone. As well they are posted on our website. The agenda is posted on the website during the week before the meeting.


Q – Linda Christianson – 20-3 – What about the financials? A – Vicci Burnett - The financials I am sending the 2015 financials with these minutes normally you would not receive these until the AGM but I will be sending them out with these minutes. Q – Linda Christianson – 20-3 So as a member if we are out of town we will be getting email that there are emails of minutes what else are we guaranteed we will be getting? A – Vicci Burnett – You will be emailed the minutes from the most recent meeting. For this month you will be getting the 2015 Financial statement. Q – Linda Christianson – 20-3 – What about year to date actuals? A – Vicci Burnett - We are not going to be sending them out on a monthly basis. Q – Linda Christianson – 20-3 – when would get them quarterly? A – Vicci Burnett – That would be up to Mike. A - Mike Van Geyn – No month by month financial information has never been provided by this park. Q – Linda Christianson – 20-3 - I am looking for what you are going to do. What will the membership be getting so I don’t have to wonder if its in the office or on the website. A – Mike Van Geyn – Ok any decision for spending money is made at the board. Meeting the day to day, monitoring performance vs budget is done by the board and we will provide a summary in the treasurer’s report at the meetings and its in the minutes. We track how we are doing vs budget. Keep in mind the budget is an estimate. In 2015 some of the numbers were too high and some were too low. It’s an accumulation of all of the information. When we make a purchase decision you will read it in the minutes and it will be emailed to you and on the website. Q – Linda Christianson – 20-3 To clarify the minutes via email and within the minutes there will always be information that the membership will want to see I can feel comfortable that I will get the minutes via email. (After the meeting it was decided we will not put financials on our website and monthly statements will not be provided, but from now on there will be monthly summaries provided when available.) Q – Kelly Bentley – 54-7 – What is happening with the 110-120 members without technology how do they get all this information? A – Vicci Burnett – Those people will be able to pick up copies in the office, we will not be mailing the minutes out to them and there are less than 50 people without email. Q – Bob Saunders – 53-1 – Regarding Financial information, the previous treasurer in all the months there were newsletters May - Sept he would publish the most recent statement I don’t see any reason why the most recent statement can be put on the website? A - Taryn Bell – We can do that no problem. (After the meeting it was decided we will not put financial information on the website at all but is attached to these minutes and copies are available in office upon request)


Q – Paul Crocock 20-3 – I want to say my biggest concern is the financials I want to see ongoing numbers once a month and people are concerned about it. A – Vicci Burnett – OK Mike Rae made a motion to adjourn Seconded by Patti Austin Carried Unanimously.

birch bay leisure park association 7704 birch bay drive ......mar 12, 2016 · place: bblp brier...

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