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Volunteer Spotlight


Linda Hull Board Position: President Association Name: Sierra at Klahanie Condominium Type of Community: Condo


How long have you lived in your community and why did you choose to live there? I moved into the Sierra community 13 years ago in October of 2004, shortly after taking a new job with a business based in Issaquah. I had looked at several other condominiums but Sierra immediately felt like home. It’s surrounded by a green-belt and the buildings and property were well maintained.


What inspired you to volunteer? We have been very fortunate to have had a couple of long-time community volunteers who did a remarkable job of establishing our COA and the House Rules over the years which are essential to how well our property has been maintained and has kept Sierra a very nice place to live. They decided several years ago that it was time for them to retire. Since I had been on the receiving end of all of their hard work, I was compelled to step up and volunteer to serve on the board. Gratefully, the gentleman stayed involved to help with the transition. This was so important since they had a wealth of legacy knowledge that would otherwise have gone away and which has been invaluable to the current board.


What is your favorite accomplishment as a community volunteer? One of the things I hoped to gain from serving on the board was to learn new things. Well, that hope has been fulfilled in spades! There is a lot to know about building and landscaping maintenance, city and county regulations, community rules and enforcement, problem solving, and working with homeowners. I am fortunate to work with and learn from other community volunteers who generously share their knowledge and expertise. Being able to turn that knowledge into better decision making and serving the community well is gratifying.


What challenges have you faced? When I joined the board, there were two other new members who were also new to the community. We stepped in during a period of upheaval by a small group of owners who were resisting the removal of trees that had been deemed unsafe and/or causing damage to our infrastructure. Their emotions ran high and they circulated a petition around the community trying to stop the tree removal process. A special meeting was held to hear them out. A third certified arborist was brought in to review the 5-year tree removal plan that had been developed by a prior board (that was ultimately supported by all three arborists that were involved). Even then, the group threatened to stop the workers from removing the trees. During all of this, Klahanie


26 Community Associations Journal | January/February 2018


was acquired by the city of Sammamish so all of the permits that had been obtained from King County and Klahanie were no longer relevant. We had to start the permit process all over again. One year later, we achieved that goal and we removed and replaced the trees. It has been a significant improvement to the property in the eyes of most owners.


We are now in the process of replacing the fencing surrounding our 10-acre property and working through the challenges of dealing with the rules of a master association. Their rules pertaining to fences are in general, not all that unreasonable, but neither are they a one-size fits all solution. We have circumstances for which their rules are not reasonable – they planted trees flush against our fence along the main boulevard. On our side, the fence is situated atop a 5 to 6-foot rock wall. The master association has refused all requests to create an easement between their trees and the fence that would allow workers to install and stain the fence from their side or to allow us to install a vinyl fence instead which would not deteriorate as rapidly if at all from the close proximity of the trees. We continue to pursue an equitable resolution in hopes of doing the best we can on behalf of our owners without compromising the consistency and aesthetics our master association seeks to preserve.


What are your future goals? One of my goals is to establish a portal through which we can communicate with owners about what is being done on their behalf and where they can log in to get minutes, newsletters, rules, and more. It would also be a means of pushing out information and notices like maintenance schedules when workers will be on the roofs or washing windows.


Another is to review, revise and update our community House Rules. It’s a time-consuming process but most important to insuring they are relevant, easy to understand, and accessible to all owners.


If you could do or provide anything for your community what would it be? I would like to provide a repository where all of the documentation and guidelines could be stored and shared from one board to the next. It would be beneficial to future boards to be able to reference why and how things were decided in the past so not to reinvent the wheel each time or rely on people’s memories. Each board could share lessons learned, board resources and contacts for who to call for various services, regulatory agencies, important dates and deadlines, etc. This would serve to ease the transition and help new board members learn what is needed to fulfill their roles in serving the community.


When you are not volunteering what do you do for fun? I love spending time with friends and taking day trips around the state. The two most recent trips I made were to Port Townsend and La Conner, both interesting and beautiful Washington locations. There is also nothing like a good book or movie.


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