Letter from the Board of Directors:
I trust this note finds you all well. Stay cool and lay low. This pandemic will end.
That said, the Welker lawsuit continues, and continues, and continues... This too will end, but when? Five years ago, the Welkers filed suit in superior court against the MDA and all owners of Mount Dallas parcels. Two-and-a-half years ago, after more than five hearings and a three-day trial, the superior court entered a comprehensive Final Order governing management of and assessments for Mount Dallas Road. The Welkers appealed. One year ago, the appellate court issued its opinion, which disagreed with the superior court’s allocation method and certain aspects of its discount formula for undeveloped parcels and mandated that the superior court revise its order accordingly. Judge Eaton (retired) graciously agreed to hear the case again. Since then, there have been two more hearings in superior court, supported by fifteen additional legal briefs. We are cautiously optimistic that Judge Eaton will enter a revised order sometime this summer. Keep your fingers crossed for that; we want to get back to normal operation.
In the meantime, since the allocation formula is up in the air, our annual budgeting and billing process is on hold. Consequently, you will not receive a normal invoice this year. However, shortly after Judge Eaton enters a revised order, we will need to make retroactive adjustments of the 2018 and 2019 assessments. Those adjustments will be calculated to bring each owner’s payments in line with the revised order, as if the revised order had been in effect since the beginning of 2018.
Fortunately, we completed repaving last year, so we won’t need to repave for another seven or eight years. Meanwhile, ongoing maintenance expenses are minimal. We have enough money on hand to cover necessary maintenance this year, including weed whacking and tree trimming. We expect to resume normal annual assessments early in 2021.
Importantly…
As you may recall, the court decided that liability insurance fees could not be assessed to owners. We absolutely must have liability insurance to protect the Association and owners from certain liability claims. So, we need voluntary contributions. Contributions need to be in hand by the beginning of September so that we can pay our insurance bill, nearly $800 in total. We are asking owners to contribute $50 per parcel owned. Any excess will go into a pot for future necessary but non-assessable expenses. Send your check made to Mount Dallas Association to P.O. Box 2481, Friday Harbor, WA 98250.
On another note…
While you have your checkbook out, we are still asking for voluntary Legal Defense Fund contributions, “a separate check”, to LDF MDA; again, PO Box 2481. As you may recall the ongoing legal costs are not allowed to be drawn from the MDA general fund. All legal fees are made by us as individuals on a voluntary basis. Any amount you can contribute will be appreciated.
General Meeting and election of directors…
We still need to hold a general meeting to elect the directors of the Association. We plan on having that meeting in September. Hopefully we will be able to hold the meeting in person in conjunction with a fun social gathering. The alternative is a “Zoom” meeting. That decision will be made subject to conditions at the time.
Thank you for reading all this and please stay tuned.
Your Mount Dallas Board of Directors
Bob Tauscher, President bob.tauscher@gmail.com
Bill Severson, Treasurer bill.fairhope@gmail.com
Flo Macalary, Secretary mcmcmc@rockisland.com