Renewing Our Community: An Update from Your HOA Board

Hello Community!

As we approach the summer season, I wanted to take a moment to update you on the significant progress your new Board has made in our first three months. Think of this as our first quarterly update. The energy and engagement we've seen from homeowners has been incredible. It's driving positive changes throughout Klahanie! We greatly appreciate and encourage community involvement in the journey forward.

The March Board election had a remarkable 62.5% turnout and 71% voted in favor of transparency and fiscal responsibility. You sent a clear message, and we heard you loud and clear. Since then, we've been working hard to deliver on those promises. I'm excited to share that we're already seeing real results on financial performance, community engagement, and operations.

If you are able to join us at the Board meeting on Tuesday, June 24, you’ll hear the story of where we are and where we’re going together. Since we know many are not able to attend due to your family and work commitments, we will be following up by posting the presentation deck as well as a comprehensive letter with hyperlinks to source documents. In addition, we will mail the letter to your homes. Altogether, it’s a detailed look at our community's journey--one that we encourage every homeowner to read.

Today, I’d like to provide a preview of some of the highlights of the last three months.

As we communicated earlier this month, the Board promoted Chris Siler to become our Director of Operations. This action combines two positions, the former roles of Facilities Director and Community Manager, into one for better efficiency. Many of you know Chris from his excellent work as interim Community Manager over the past two years. To support Chris and the rest of the Klahanie Staff, the Board is completing a deep dive into office and maintenance workstreams. This work will prepare inputs for the needed workflow documents required for an upcoming software change that should further drive efficiency and reduce complexity for staff members and residents alike.

Here's something that might surprise you: we’ve already avoided costs of nearly $70,000 through careful contract reviews and smart management. We have changed the way we procure equipment, tightened some of our service contracts, and looked at fine tuning our landscaping work. Our goal? Minimize HOA fee increases for 2026. That's right, we're working to keep your dues as close to flat as possible while maintaining all the services you expect.

These savings are just one example of our commitment to transparency and accountability. Remember during the election how we promised more transparency? Most Board decisions now happen in public meetings. For those decisions that we have had to make between Board meetings, using the process known as “Unanimous Consent” to facilitate timely decisions, we take time at the next Board meeting to review and discuss these decisions and why we made them.

What’s Happening with the Mountainview Community Center Complex?

As you may remember, the Mountainview Pool/HOA office building project was paused this winter when the Board learned that the costs for the project increased to $14.5M due to geotechnical findings. To date: 2024 / 2025 about $140,000 has been spent on this effort and the 2025 Board paused the project to conserve the Association’s financial resources and consider alternatives. It simply no longer made financial sense to spend money to study and develop drawings for the project without deeply considering fiscally responsible alternatives.

One of our first actions, as a Board, was commissioning independent assessments of all our facilities. Why? Because you deserve facts and the Board needs independent data to make decisions.

The good news is that our infrastructure is in better shape than previously believed. Both pools need maintenance but are structurally in good shape. As previous Boards were planning the development of Mountainview Complex, it made sense at that time to defer some maintenance to save expenses if structures were going to be demolished. We are now at a point where we need to fix them. For example, earlier this spring, a temporary patch was placed on the Mountain View liner to remediate two large “holes” of about one inch depth. This was completed for under $1,000 and enabled a safe opening of the pool for the summer 2025 swim season. Yes, the liner needs replacement very soon and the cost estimate is about $200,000 if we replace the tile as well. This is a 10-15 year maintenance cycle that any concrete pool requires.

For those that have experienced the Mountainview pool deck flooding, you will also be pleased to hear that the cause wasn’t as bad as previously thought, and the fix is currently in progress. In fact, we hope that it will be completed by the end of July thanks to our small but mighty maintenance team (Chris, Steve, and Seth) and some outsourced services.

Lakeside: HOA Office, Pool & Locker Rooms:

While we were having assessments done at Mountainview, we also wanted to find out where we stand with the Lakeside pool. The pool itself is structurally in great shape, no sinking, no leaks! For anyone who uses that pool, you have seen the degrading pool deck coating that was placed there in 2017, and the Board is currently assessing its options and considers this to be a top priority. Because the underlying deck concrete is of poor quality, it is likely the entire pool deck will be replaced and the pool re-lined at the same time. The Lakeside pool is also due for re-lining and the cost estimate is about $200,000 depending if the tile is replaced at the same time or not.

The cost to remove and replace the current degraded Lakeside pool deck coating is about $120,000. However, as we have experienced with the current coating there is about a seven-year lifespan. The cost of replacing the entire deck would be about $360,000, (no coating required) with a likely thirty plus year lifespan. During the downtime for the deck and pool project, we hope to move forward with a deep

renovation/update to the Lakeside locker rooms. And here’s the best news of all—based on the wetlands study, it appears we have the option to remodel the office on its existing footprint. This gives us greater flexibility in planning for our community’s future needs. We are still working with experts to gather more information regarding the office.

Renew Klahanie Committee: We’ve also launched the Renew Klahanie Committee, and it's not just another committee — it’s your voice in action. The Board, with the support of the Renew Klahanie Committee, will use professional technical studies to determine our options. This Committee will be instrumental in guiding each of these projects and will help prioritize projects based on what our community needs. In addition, they'll look at everything from pool/court and recreation trail maintenance to green belt management, and even have conversations about Boulevard fencing, with your input factoring into decisions. The committee will also utilize our recently completed reserve study, giving us a realistic 30-year roadmap for maintaining our amenities, to also help guide the committee's decisions.

Looking forward, we also have been hearing from you that you want to know what is happening with the Bylaws that were changed in 2023. During the next quarter, July to September, we will drive to have a plan in place to update bylaws to restore your voting rights on major financial decisions and will begin addressing major changes coming as a result of the Washington State Legislature that will take effect in 2028. These are the kinds of concrete actions that demonstrate our commitment to responsible governance and planning.

Stay Engaged!

Your engagement is what makes all this possible. Keep attending Board meetings (last Tuesday of each month). Consider joining a committee. Report issues (425-392-4663) when you see them. Ask questions. Share ideas. This is your community, and your involvement makes it stronger.

Watch for our detailed letter and email in the next few weeks and attend the June 24 Board meeting at the Summerwalk meeting room or on-line. We will present this information—it's important for you to understand the full picture of our community's renewal. In the meantime, know that your Board is working hard to earn the trust you've placed in us.

Together, we're not just maintaining Klahanie—the place we all share as home--we're building its future.

See you around the neighborhood!

Bruce Bruski

Board President, Klahanie HOA