A Message from the President
September 1, 2002
Dear Homeowners, Residents and Neighbors of our Washington Park Community.
When I took over as President in July of 1999 I thought that I might only be president for a year and that I could turn the office over to someone else with Washington Park in a much better condition than when I stepped into office. Well, here it is September 2002 and many of the projects I set out to do are not completed yet. Soon will be December and we will have to hold another Annual General Meeting and vote in new board members. During the following board meeting the board then will have to vote in new officers. The same officers can be voted in for another term since we have no term limits, provided the officer(s) do(es) not decline the position.
I have struggled with the idea of accepting another term if the board was to vote for me one more time since it takes an enormous effort and most of all time. --- As you might know I had just started a new career in the financial services industy only a short time before I took over as president of WPHA. I am in the process of building my business by constantly recruiting and training new associates. We help families get out of debt faster (by refinancing other so called junk debt into first or second mortgages and accelerating them, saving the owners thousands of dollars and paying the debt off years ahead of the previous schedule), protect them with life insurance and help them to invest for their children's education, their retirement, and we can offer Long term Care Insurance to protect their assets from being lost should they ever need to go into a nursing home. In addtion we offer a pre-paid legal protection service. Unfortunately, businesses and Non-Profit organizations do not qualify for the pre-paid legal protection service or I would sign us up. We offer a complimentary, comprehensive Financial Needs Analysis and financial education to all of our clients. If you know of anyone (including yourself) who would benefit from my services, or if you know of someone (or yourself) who might consider a career change I would greatly appreciate your help and kind consideration.
---- In spite of my time restaints I finally came to the conclusion that I would have to accept the position of president once more (should I be elected one more time) since many projects that I wanted to see finished did not get accomplished because money had to be spent somewhere else first.
(Please, don't complain that I mentioned and tried to promote my own business above. Just so you know, this site belongs to me and not WPHA. I pay for it from my own money. I use it to communicate with the members).
Soon we will send out letters to the members asking for nominations for board members. Then during the Annual General Meeting (or by proxy) we will vote. I hope all of you will participate. It is not necessary for a board member to also be a member of the Homeowners' Association. So an interested neighbor of our community or a banker, a lawyer, a real estate agent, a school teacher, preacher, or anyone else who might be interested in helping us to better our community could be elected. There is no compensation for being a board member at Washington Park Homeowners' Association and therefore it is hard to attract any one other than a member or maybe a concerned renter or property manager.
I am going to keep the original letter I wrote in September 1999 on this site for a while so you can see how many problems we have had and how many of them have been solved. Not enough, I agree.
We did remove a large number of trees that were a danger to many units and which did tremendous damage to many roofs. This was indeed necessary before we addressed spending money on roofs only to have them damaged again. It cost us almost $13,000.00 and we did it in stages.
We also had several roofs replaced and many units painted. All with the little money we have coming in. Remember that we started out with $35.00 and that the membership voted to increase the amount (dues and water) by $30.00 to be implemented over a 3 year period. Before we voted on that we had already increased the amount by $5.00 to adjust for the actual cost of the water. The water had cost us $16.00 per unit for several years before I caught it, and we had only billed for $11.00. So in reality we had only collected $19.00 for dues. No wonder that nothing could be fixed or upgraded.
This year I could ask the members to vote again for an increase in dues. I won't do so. We will, however, keep a close eye on the waterbills and if warranted will adjust the part to reflect the actual cost of the water. I have sent out many notices to owners, landlords, and management companies asking them to repair leaks and to not waste water. So far we have been pretty successful in keeping the price down, except when we received the last bill and the actual cost per unit/month had jumped to over $20.00 for two consecutive months in a row. Remember, Tacoma has raised the water fee significantly in April. That is a lot of extra money we had to pay out and I hope we can recoup most of it during the winter months.
A roof over a two-story duplex on 13th Ave is scheduled to be completed this year yet and several units will have continuous gutters installed. If the weather holds up we will also paint a few more units that were supposed to be painted last year.
I know that it is frustrating for those people owning the units that have not been painted or re-roofed yet. Without the money in the bank we cannot start a new project and we cannot spend the last penney because emergencies do happen and we have to have a small amount in reserve.
Since I have been in office we have gone through the procedure of foreclosing on two members. The Westerns on 13th Ave. finally sold at the last minute after dragging on for an eternity. We and our lawyer had complied with all of the requirements (more than usual since they lived out of state) and the unit was supposed to be foreclosed when Mrs. Western contacted the judge at the last minute and told him that she was in negotiations with a buyer. The judge allowed her to sell with the condition that we would receive the money they owed us along with late fees, interest and the legal fees we had spent. It cost them almost $3,000.00 in legal fees we had already paid. All together we collected about $9,000.00. They had hardly ever paid any dues for the entire time they owned the unit and unfortunately former boards and presidents did not follow through with foreclosure proceedings. Now I can understand why. It takes an enormous amount of time and energy for the president to pursue something like that, plus it takes a committed board to authorize him or her to spend the money on a lawyer and legal system up front.
The second one we tried to foreclose on had just filed for bankruptcy prior to our filing. We are getting paid through a trustee, but it will take years to recoup the money at the rate they are paying. We will continue to add late fees and interest to the account. I won't reveal the name of this owner since he still lives in the community and this forum is open to people who do not need know. Other members are allowed to know this information.
There is one other member who might face foreclosure soon if he does not catch up by the end of the month. We are seriously going after the "dead-beats" because we don't think that other members should have to support them and projects have to be put on hold or postponed because of them. It is true that they cost us extra money up front because of legal fees, but such costs will be eventually recovered.
In the past, presidents spent some money early on for legal fees by having lawyers write threatening letters but then they did not follow through and the owners sold their units without ever paying what they owed us and certainly never the legal fees and the rest of the members had to absorb the costs.
Since we changed the system that Resale Certificates have to be issued by the president for all units sold here, we have had a much better success rate in recovering past dues at the time of closing. We will continue to monitor this process very closely.
At our last board meeting Mrs. Sittnick offered to have a "Big Toy" installed in our playground in memory of her husband who passed away February 26th of this year. I thanked her on behalf of all of the members. The Sittnicks own three units here. (They are grandfathered in to have more than two units because they owned the units prior to the membership vote that limited the amount of any entity to a maximum of two units.)
We hope that other members will help to prepare the playground to receive this generous donation. Last year Mr. Sittnick paid his son Keith to erect a new fence where the playground meets the street. Mr. Sittnick appreciated all of the improvements and clean-up efforts of the board and he wanted to contribute in his own way. He was a wonderful man and I had many opportunities to enjoy long conversations with him. I will miss him and think of him fondly.
Unfortunately we have so many children and teenagers in the neighborhood that only want to destroy anything that looks nice rather than enjoying what is being offered. It is important that all members help to maintain, preserve, and upgrade what we purchase or receive for the common area. It is in all of our interest. Don't say: "The Association can fix that!" You!!! All of us make up the Association!
"Ask not what this country can do for you, ask what you can do for this country" (President Kennedy's famous words). The same applies for this community. It is not Benno or Barbara or Randy or Bill or Ilona or Lyman, it is all of us! It is our neighborhood and community, so please let us treat it that way. Pay attention to what is going on and help make changes for the better. Report illegal activities, report kids who destroy park benches and other equipment, or better yet intervene when you see it being done. We all have to pay to fix it again.
Please, let us all work together for a common goal to have a neighborhood we can all be proud of.
Thanks,
Benno Wallé, President
September 9, 1999
My name is Benno Wallé and I am your new president. I have lived at 10441 13th Ave Ct S for 20 years now (since October 1979). And I have seen our little community of 50 townhouses go through many changes over the years. Right now the neighborhood looks the best it has in some time, however, we have a long way to go to make it more attractive and to become the neighborhood we can all be proud of. This is the goal of the Members of the Board, the Vice-President --Bill Stacy, the Secretary -- Barbara Gulley, and mine.
We are determined to live up to our duties and we promise to work hard for you, but we need your constant support and input.
The board meets every first Tuesday of the month at 7:00 P.M. at my home. You are invited to attend, however, due to space restriction I would welcome a call ahead of that time at (253) 537-9023. You'll be admitted at a first come (call) first serve basis. I hope for your understanding. If you have business to bring before the board, we will certainly try to accomodate you.
The main reason why I have designed this home page is to allow us all to communicate. Our e-mail address is: wash_park_home@webtv.net . (Now also: WashParkHome@aol.com )
Please make use of it. You will find that we will also post our minutes on this site within a few days (no later than one week) after our meeting. I intend to have a rather "transparent" policy. All of the homeowners are members of our association and they (you) should have the same insight into our financial situation as the board members.
For many years the members of the board and former presidents have tried to change the By laws. They have never succeeded because there were never enough votes.
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My board and I have decided to keep the original By laws in place because they contain everything that will make this community a safe, healthy, and good looking neighborhood. We, however, have our work cut out for us to make those By laws work.
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Please be patient with us, nothing can be accomplished over night. But look for slight changes and improvements right away.
The biggest challenge is money. Expect raises of the homeowners' dues over the next few years, and a raise in the water bill immediately. The $35 you are currently paying include $11 for water usage. The actual expense for water has been $16 per unit/month. At this rate we are draining our roof/paint fund in no time. According to the By laws the Board of Directors can adjust the part of your bill to reflect the actual cost of water at any time and without a vote. We will closely monitor the cost of water and make the necessary adjustments (which could also reflect a decrease) to your bills every six months.
Update: 10/4/99 A letter was sent to all homeowners with the October bill informing everyone of the change in water fees.
This brings me to the point of water conservation. Landlords please check your units for leaky faucets and toilets and make the necessary repairs. Also please monitor how many people actually live in your units.
We have counted up to 12 people in one unit. We will start to call the health department and any other government agency necessary to resolve this particular problem. First of all it is not a safe environment, secondly, those households use more water and since the units are not individually metered, everybody in our community shares in the water expense.
I want to give every homeowner - landlord a chance to take care of these situations because the owners might not know and it is not my intention to get anyone in trouble, but please be forwarned that we will call the necessary authorities if you don't care or don't do anything about this.
Starting immediately, the association requests a copy of a current lease contract on each property rented out. Since the owners don't live here most of the time we have to deal with the tennants and their children and it is important that we have names on file. We also require each landlord to give a copy of the Rules and Regulations to their tennants and forward to us the original of a signed acknowledgement statement accepting the Rules and Regulations.
These documents will be posted on this site and can be downloaded for free or you can ask us for a copy for our published fee.
All Sellers, be aware, that I have to issue a Resale Certificate to all Real Estate Agents who sell your townhouses. There is a cost of $50.00 per Resale Certificate including copies of all of the required documents incuding: The Articles of Incorporation, the By laws, the Covenants and Restrictions, etc, and financial statement. These Resale Certificate packages are required by the buyer's lender. This also discloses any outstanding debt you might owe the Association.
Accounts in arears: If you are falling behind on your dues temporarily because of some unforseen expenses, being laid-off, or for any other hardship, please contact me right away and explain your situation and give an estimate when you can resume payments or make other payment arrangements. I need this in writing, and signed!
Communication is vital. Depending on your past payment history I can ask the board to waive the late fee of $5.00 each month. Interest will accrue, and you are still responsible to repay the amount owed, but we might be able to hold off filing a lien against your property. A lien can get expensive and it has to be cleared before the property can be sold. Update: Since January 2002 the late fee is $7.00 or 10% of the outstanding balance up to the maximum of $25.00.
Right now we have several liens filed against several properties. Some are very far behind and we are having our lawyer check into foreclosing procedures. I am not clear right now at what point we can legally foreclose, but as soon as I'll find out I will update this paragraph.
Update: 10/4/99 Our lawyer has instructed me to send a letter to the homeowners seriously in arears with their dues. A certified letter was sent out on 10/1/99 to 4 homeowners warning them that we can have the water disconnected and telling them that we are seriously considering foreclosure procedures. Next step will be a letter from our lawyer if we don't receive a response within 15 days and finally foreclosure if they don't respond to the lawyer.
I simply don't expect the rest of the homeowners to carry these four individuals. One of them is $5,500 behind on his dues. So you can see that this has gone on for many years. We could replace several roofs with that money.
Update: We did finally recoup about $9,000.00 - after late fees, interest and legal fees were applied - in the fall of 2001. The money came just in time to repay a contractor who had replaced a roof over 4 units on 12th Ave Ct S and extended us credit until we could pay for the work. The total of the project was almost $15,000.00. One of the owners loaned us $2,000.00 to get the work started and we recouped some money from other owners because of cost increases due to owner's neglect.
Update: 10/4/99 We have already painted several of the worst looking buildings on the block and still have a little touch up and trim work to do. This alone has improved the neighborhood a whole lot.
I have worked out a contractor's discount for Paint for our Association with Sherwin Williams on South Hill Puyallup. If you need Paint for the interior of your townhouses you can go there and tell them that you are with the Washington Park Homeowners Association and you can get that same discount. Just don't try to charge on our account because they won't let you.
Look for more information later.
I wish for each and everyone of you that you can live in peace and among friends in our commuity.
Yours,
Benno Wallé
President WPHA
Board of Directors Meeting Minutes of 9/7/99
Recorded by Barbara Gulley, Secretary
Attendance:
Benno Wallé, President
Bill Stacy, Vice President
Barbara Gulley, Secretary
Sharon Stacy, Bd Mbr
Bill Marlin, Bd Mbr
Lu White, Bd Mbr
Absent:
Alaina Morgan, Bd Mbr
The meeting was called to order by the President at 7:30 P.M. There were no additions or deletions to the Minutes of the August 8th meeting and the Minutes were accepted as read.
Benno is currently establishing an annual budget to accomplish exterior requirements for each unit; i.e. painting, roof maintenance, and landscaping of the common area, etc.
He has contacted owners of Cox/Hall property at 10417, 12th Ave Ct S to have abandoned junk car and auto parts removed from the front of the property.
Benno has made up packets consisting of Condo Resale Certificates, By Laws, Covenants and play ground rules, and other documents to provide each seller when they put a unit up for sale. A motion was made and seconded that a fee of $50.00 be charged each seller of a unit to cover the costs of paper and printing for each packet.
He will send letters to owners: Bowen, Western and Cox/Hall who are overly delinquent in their Association Dues and will contact a lawyer for advice on how to handle these delinquent accounts and to assure us that all of our documents comply with current laws.
Exterior Painting: Estimates will be obtained to find out costs of painting of units. Then will establish a schedule of units requiring painting on a rotating basis of so many units to be accomplished each year.
A motion was made and seconded to reimburse Benno $135.00 for Landscaping project on the south end of the alley.
Lu White and Barbara Gulley will contact tree service companies to get estimates for tree topping, trimming, removal of dangerously boken limbs and removal of same.
No further business being addressed, meeting was adjoured at 9:55 P.M. Next regular business meeting to be held October 5th at 7:00 P.M.
s/Barbara Gulley, Secretary
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