Our new proposed by-laws have arrived. The officers have reviewed these and feel comfortable with the language and content recommended by Mr. Isaac Anderson. There is one space blank where he is still tracking down the recording numbers with the county.
Review the proposed by-laws here.
We had lots of questions. You may have questions too! If so, we need your questions by August 5th at 5 PM. We will collect all questions together and send to Mr. Anderson to answer. We will bring answers to the membership meeting.
We are holding our summer meeting on August 15th at 5 PM in the HOA Park. Burgers and toppings, hot dogs, plates/utensils, and bottled water are provided by the HOA. Please bring a side dish or dessert to share. Last year we had a ton leftover so don’t bring too much food!
Complete this form with your questions. You can submit as many times as you wish.
Here are answers to some of the questions we had. You might read these before you ask your own, as we got a lot settled before distributing these to you.
How are by-laws and CCRs different?
By-laws, which we are proposing to change to be in accordance with Washington state law and also better represent our association’s general working order, govern the internal affairs of a non-profit corporation. The by-laws show how the association is run. We are proposing to update the by-laws.
Covenants, conditions, and restrictions (also known as covenants or CCRs) govern property rights, which are supposed to be within the declaration of covenants recorded against the property records. Covenants are recorded against the title of the home and enforceable by the board of directors. We are not proposing to change the CCRs at this time.
How are the board of directors different from officers?
The board of directors are elected by the membership at the annual meeting. An elected board is then trusted to make decisions to govern and maintain the neighborhood on behalf of its members, in accordance with the by-laws and CCRs.
The board of directors cannot be compensated for their service. The board of directors can issue policies and procedures on how to uphold the covenants, issue assessment notices, resolve grievances, maintain common area property, etc. They can also appoint officers to carry out duties within the association.
The officers can be the same people as the board of directors. In our association, we are planning that! Officers can receive a dues waiver for their service (as they do currently).
This seemingly semantic change is in compliance with updated state laws.
What is the process for these updates?
We must follow the old by-laws to accept the new by-laws in a formal membership meeting.
We are required to have 10 homes represented for a quorum, and the new by-laws must be approved by 2/3 of the voting members present to be approved (Article II, Section 4 and Article VIII of the old by-laws).
Immediately following that vote, if the by-laws are approved, the membership will need to elect a new board of directors. This election will be held in accordance with the new by-laws, which requires 13 homes present (Article 2, Section 7) and must be approved by a simple majority vote.
The old by-laws had more articles. Are the new by-laws missing information?
No, not according to Mr. Anderson! In his opinion and evaluation of the fundamental principles of current state law, use restrictions, assessments, common areas, and other topics that were addressed in our old by-laws should be contained in the CCRs because they deal with property rights, not the function of the association. Topics like grievances should be contained in the rules and regulations approved by the board of directors.
He says, “The covenants act to govern the property rights of the owners. They are recorded so that every owner and future owner knows what their property rights are when they purchase a lot in Strawberry Hill. Bylaws, on the other hand, govern the internal affairs of the corporation… when there is a conflict between the covenants and the by-laws, the covenants always control.”
The only place our new by-laws and our current CCRs conflict is in relations to voting rights for raising assessments and special assessments. We hope to reconcile these differences with updated CCRs at a later date. Washington state’s requirement for amending or replacing the CCRs is 30% quorum (30 homes) and 67% majority approval.
Strawberry Hill HOA 