The 2023 dues notices were mailed out on December 14, 2022. If you did not receive yours, make sure to let the officers know. Email us at officers@strawberryhillhoa.org.

Make check payable to SHHOA, and mail to: PO Box 456, Port Orchard, WA 98366.

Do not send cash! Payment must be by personal check, money order or cashier’s check. Please indicate on your check your name and the address that the dues apply to.

In accordance with Article 4 Section 8, of the Strawberry Hill Homeowners Association CC&R, the 2023 homeowners dues are due starting January 1, 2023. Dues are past due after February 1, 2023, and interest on late dues will begin to accrue at 12% per annum, compounded monthly at a rate of 1% per month. Homeowners may contact our treasurer to schedule in person delivery of their dues if needed.

Under the terms of our SHHOA CC&R, Article 4 Section 3 Paragraph (a), the board has the authority to increase dues by a maximum of 5% each year. The board voted unanimously not to raise the dues but rather to maintain the 2022 dues amount of $150.00 again for 2023.

We are happy to report that of the 93 homes in our Strawberry Hill subdivision 92 homes remain current and up to date with their dues. Only one homeowner has not paid and may become subject to an SHHOA lein on their property if their home remains outstanding.

On the back of this page is a copy of the preliminary 2023 Annual Budget for review. As we have voted to change our fiscal year to coincide with our annual summer bbqmembership meeting, please note that while the attached budget is the 2023 calendar year a revised budget will be issued in advance of the summer membership meeting for the following fiscal year. The final budget will be discussed and voted on during the January SHHOA meeting; method and location to be determined.

A note from Mary: I thank you for your patience and understanding as I have taken on this tremendous role of HOA treasurer over the past year and hope to continue to improve in my fulfillment of duties such as the sending of these notices with time.

Anyone is welcome to join our annual Thanksgiving day activities!

9:00 AM • Turkey Trot • Meet at the main park entrance near Providence Ct to walk or jog the loop with neighbors. Pets, wagons, and strollers welcome.

9:45 AM • Touch Football • Continue the fun by joining a friendly game of football. All who can carry a football are welcome to participate! Last year some dog walkers and play structure explorers came as observers too.

Last night at the membership meeting, we approved pursuing removal of the invasive, noxious plant scotch broom from the park common area.

Neighbors new to the plant may not be aware of its potential to become a nuisance. Don’t be fooled by the seasonal yellow flowers! If you see this plant on your property, your neighborhood appreciated you removing it! Here’s some information on that.

https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/ornamental/shrubs/broom-plants/scotch-broom-control.htm

We were thrilled to welcome 19 neighbors (16 homes represented) to our fall membership meeting.

View our meeting minutes here.

View the treasurer’s report here.

The big update is that we have new by-laws. You can read, download, and print them here. If you need a paper copy delivered to you, request one from officers@strawberryhillhoa.org.

This does not change the CCRs. Those documents remain available here.

The board of directors scheduled our next membership meeting for Monday, January 23rd at 7 PM at the Keene home unless otherwise determined. We will remind everyone at least 14 days prior to the meeting as usual. At that meeting we will vote on a new budget for the first half of our next fiscal year.

The officers are seeking input on the Christmas light display contest. Feel free to email us your thoughts at officers@officersstrawberryhillhoa.org.

The officers are also seeking volunteers to serve on a special committee to research new playground equipment. This committee would research options, receive quotes, and present their findings at the January membership meeting. We prefer at least two people on this committee. If you are interested in filling this request, let us know by November 1st at officers@strawberryhillhoa.org.

Becky Keene, President
Josh Thomsen, Secretary
Mary Mingels, Treasurer

We look forward to continuing to serve you!

Date: Monday, October 17th / Time: 7 PM

Location: 7966 Cabrini Dr SE (The Keene home). Feel free to park in the circle driveway or in the HOA-owned field adjacent to this lot. Coffee, tea, and water provided.

Notes:

• The officers and meeting chairperson will strive to follow Robert’s Rules of Order Newly Revised (RONR) as required by our by-laws. While we certainly aim to keep our meetings congenial and neighborly, we recognize that following these guidelines is respectful of the purpose of efficient, productive, fairly conducted organizational meetings. Here is a helpful website about RONR as it applies to HOAs. Keep in mind that we have specific rules to follow in our by-laws that may contradict RONR in some cases. It’s complicated and we welcome your patience as we navigate all the procedures with diligence.
• A quorum in our current by-laws is 10 members, which is representation from 10 homes. If we do not reach a quorum at this meeting, we adjourn until the following scheduled quarterly meeting in January 2023. By-laws can only be voted upon in general meetings.
• A quorum in the proposed restated and amended by-laws is 12 members. If the proposed by-laws are adopted and we do not reach the new quorum at this meeting, we adjourn and can reschedule for anytime within 3-30 days.
• Several members voiced concerns over the length of the previous meeting. A member can move to limit the debate on any motion to a set period of time or limit the number of times each member can speak. As this action suspends the right to deliberative assembly, this motion requires a 2/3 vote of the members present. Following RONR, each speaker can have the floor twice for no more than 10 uninterrupted minutes each (unless extended through a similar vote), and speakers should alternate viewpoints if possible. Read more here.

Agenda:

I. Approval of the minutes (from last meeting, written according to RONR 48:1-8)

II. President’s Report

III. Treasurer’s Report

IV. Unfinished Business

A. Motion to ratify Josh Thomsen as secretary as we did not have a quorum at the April 18th meeting when he volunteered to serve.

V. New business

A. Motion to elect a chairperson pro tem for the duration of this meeting.*

B. Motion to adopt the second restated and amended second by-laws.

C. If passes, nomination of board of directors (3) as required by amended by-laws.

D. If fails, nomination of 2 members for the finance committee as required by current by-laws; nomination of 4 officers for 2023 as required by the current by-laws.

E. Either way, motion to continue with a board-appointed architectural control committee (which requires 3-7 members) OR motion to have the officers serve as the committee, both of which are allowed in CCRs div1/div2 Article V, Section 2.

No other new business has been submitted to the officers at this time.

*This is important because if the motion to adopt the restated and amended second by-laws passes, there will be no board of directors until they are elected in the following motion, so there will be no chairperson to lead the meeting! We must elect one for the duration of this meeting as the first item of business.

V. Open forum for community announcements

VI. Door prize drawing

VII. Adjourn

Congrats to our neighborhood for already submitting 17 paper ballots and 16 digital ballots to the by-laws update process. That’s 1/3 of our homes already represented! This is the most involvement we’ve had in a vote in a very long time. We’d love to have 100% of the homes represented.

Reminder that we need at least 10 homes represented at the meeting on October 17th for a quorum.

If you plan to attend the meeting, you do not need to submit a proxy ballot!

Today you are receiving a letter. The letter is an overview of the HOA process to approve the by-laws at the October 17th membership meeting. The officers group will be visiting homes who do not respond in person to ensure that every home is represented. You can avoid this personal visit (and save your officers a lot of time and energy) by responding with one of the options below before the end of September or by letting us know you plan to be at the meeting.

If you’ve been following our updates here, you know that we are in the process of updating our by-laws to keep our organization legal under Washington state laws, and to streamline the way our neighborhood officers handle business on behalf of the community. (This does not change the CCRs, which are our agreed-upon community guidelines.) We have been working with Mr. Isaac Anderson to advise us in this process.

According to the Covenant, Conditions, and Restrictions Merger dated May 1990, the adoption, amendment, or repeal of by-laws requires the consent of 2/3 of the members. (That’s you!)

At our August membership meeting, we had 23 homes represented. The members present voted unanimously to vote to approve the new by-laws at the next meeting on October 17, 2022. We answered questions and discussed the differences between the old and new by-laws.

Normally our membership meetings have just 10-15 homes represented, and we know that not everyone can or wishes to attend a meeting. We can’t adopt these new by-laws and keep our HOA functioning properly without your vote.

Fortunately, our current by-laws allow for proxy voting! A proxy vote means that you give permission to someone else to cast your vote at the meeting.

If you do not plan to attend the meeting on October 17, please voice your opinion with one of the following options:

1. Complete and return the paper form you receive in your envelope to the ballot box at 7966 Cabrini Dr SE.
2. Complete the digital form at https://bit.ly/StrawberryHillVote.

If you have any questions about this process, the new by-laws, or anything else in our neighborhood, you can also contact us at officers@strawberryhillhoa.org or through the contact form on the website. We’re here to serve the good of our community!

Thank you,

Becky Keene                Dean Fidecaro             Josh Thomsen              Mary Mingels President                     Vice President              Secretary                     Treasurer

What an amazing turnout for our annual summer barbecue! Huge thanks to John and Cathy Keene for donating the grill and to Josh Thomsen for manning it – also to everyone who brought a side dish and showed up. It was great to meet new neighbors and see returning faces in person! We had 45 adults plus lots of kids playing together in the sunshine.

Meeting minutes are posted here. You can also find them on our website in the Resources section.

Treasurer’s report is posted here and linked from the minutes.

Our membership voted YES to vote on accepting the new by-laws (in person or via proxy) as currently written at the October 17, 2022. More to follow on details!

Thanks to those who submitted questions about the by-laws revision. We are posting the answers below. Most importantly, however, we have an update on the revision process after discovering a line item in the amended by-laws and declarations for the CCRs filed in 1990 states that the by-laws must be amended by 2/3 of the members (not necessarily those present). We were previously focused on Article VIII of the current by-laws which states that we only need a two-thirds majority of those voting in person or by proxy. The amendment to the CCRs in the merger document further restricts any updates to all members consenting.

Section 3: The membership shall have the right to adopt, amend or repeal by-laws of the Association, for the purpose of directing and managing the affairs of the Association. The adoption, amendment or repeal of by-laws shall require the consent of two-thirds (2/3) of the members.

Our legal advisor, Mr. Isaac Anderson, has commented that this is extremely unusual that the CCRs would control the by-laws, especially through an amendment, but it is permitted and therefore supersedes the by-laws. This is yet another reason that the officers feel the documents should be cleaned up into one process!

In addition, the original by-laws state that the membership has to be provided the amendment in writing (which we did) and that any agenda must be posted at least one week ahead (which we did) but that the amendment must be submitted at a general membership meeting. This significantly slows down any process to require us to wait three more months to approve any changes.

What does this mean? First, consent is not the same as a vote. However, in order to be completely above board in this effort, Mr. Anderson has advised that we do the following:

• Provide the proposed by-law amendment to the membership at today’s meeting (digital copy is appropriate, we do not plan to provide printed copies).
• Plan to vote on the proposed by-laws at the next general membership meeting, which is October 17th.
• Allow for proxy votes in advance of this meeting so that we have a better chance of receiving the required two-thirds of members. Include the words “I consent” in the voting form so there is no objection regarding consent. (Proxy votes and consent forms can be digital.)

So, we need your help! We’ll take questions at the meeting today, and then vote officially between now and October 17th. The officers will have Mr. Anderson review the digital proxy voting form so everything is legal and correct, and then distribute it digitally and send reminders until we have a majority of homes who have voted!

Q&A from the previous by-law review form:

Question 1 – New by-laws article 3, item 4: Why does it take 1/2 of the members to call for a special meeting, when it only takes 1/8 to form a quorum to vote on business?

Reply: When the members call a special membership meeting instead of the board, that usually means the members are dissatisfied with the board’s performance and want them fired immediately.  Requiring a majority of the members to sign a petition will ensure that a minority of the members cannot usurp control over a board they disagree with.

Question 2 – New by-laws article 4, item 1: Speaks to “articles of incorporation” and “the declaration,” what are these and where can they be found?

Reply: Articles of Incorporation are filed with the State of Washington. We have located a digital copy of ours, which you can view here. The Declaration is the document filed with Kitsap County. It is referenced in the merger document as “A Declaration of Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions for Strawberry Hill, P.U.D. dated October 17, 1978 has been recorded in the Kitsap County Auditors Office, No. 7810310109” and we believe it to be this one that we have in our files. The document is too old to have an image available in the Kitsap County public records search (although it appears in the search with the correct information), so we have requested a paper copy to ensure it’s the correct one.

Question 3 – Is there a link or RCW# governing the establishment of the non-profit Association?

Reply: The statute controlling nonprofit corporation is RCW 24.03A. There are also additional laws regarding HOAs scattered throughout Washington State regulations, but this is the main section.

We hope to see many of you at today’s HOA sponsored barbecue in the park! We will have a much shorter agenda. 😉

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.