Turning

Mt Index Riversites Post Office Box 177 Index, WA. 98256

Mt Index Riversites around

Plus . . . MIR update Roads and Bridges Winter Storms New IE Plan +Tips and Info and more . . .

STOPE 2004-2005 Door Prize! WIN

a 1 week Stay in Maui + airfare $2,800 value

(stop) n. [prob. <MLowG. Stope, akin to step] a steplike excavation formed by the removal of ore from around a mineshaft t., vi. Stop’ing to mine in stopes

stope

STOPE

2004 - 2005 Get involved!

President Fred Slusser Hello Neighbors, It has been a year of change for MIR and the way we do business. Our new assessment method has everybody buzzing with questions such as “How did you ever come up with this idea?!” By now almost all of you are aware of the ruling last March by Su-perior Court Judge Wynne, which led to the change in our assessment method. While we should not have been compelling anybody to join anything (i.e,., MIR) they did not wish to join, the judge said we are to charge road maintenance fees to those who drive on the road to get to their property. Please see the article by Bill Stehl in this newsletter for more details on what we have dubbed the Implied Easement Plan, or IEP, On behalf of the entire Board, I would like to express thanks to Bill Stehl, Mark Haenlein and Mark Bollman, who were the brains behind this as-sessment formula. A scanned copy of the judge’s ruling is also posted on our website (www.mtindexriversites.com) for your reference. In January of this year, the Board voted to continue with our efforts to replace the Canyon Falls Bridge. That put an end to any tentative plans of refunding any of this account, unless it becomes apparent in the future that a new bridge is not feasible,.. We hope all of you will support these efforts, as this link in our com-munity is critical to each and every one of us. We have been very pleased with the number of people who have been paying their assessment fees, with an additional contribution towards the bridge. Sky Valley Excavation has done a wonderful job for us, in as much as we have been willing to spend, during our year of no offi-cial collection of funds. Mark Hopkins has given us a few great recommendations, which we have already authorized him to begin. Detailed and accurate maintenance records will be kept in order to comply with last years ruling, and to only charge each person for their correct portion of maintenance done on their section. Mark Hop-kins is available for hire at 360-793-9709. Rumors are always abundant in MIR and we hope that The Stope will help to set the record straight. We are currently considering the possibility of future newsletters going out more often than once a year; let us hear form you about that idea! For now, know that the Board is here just as it has been for 44 years, made up of

volunteer members of the community just like you. We are dedicated to this unique neighborhood of ours and are working heard for you. There is no restructuring takiing place, no disbanding of anything, just a change in the assessment method. Some of our by-laws need to be corrected and that is on the chore list for 2006. The fact is — and will remain — that the Board exists for the sole purpose of road mainte-nance. Any of us can contribute in a vari-ety of ways, be it picking up litter, slowing down to help de crease dust, or coming to a Board meeting to volunteer for some task. We are all in this together, Neighbor. Vice-President Bill Stehl

“Implied Easement Plan (IEP)” This year the Board of Directors adopted an assessment plan which is now called the Implied Easement Plan (IEP). This plan was necessary because of the recent court ruling which ruled the way which we had collected before (by compel-ling any property owner to also be a mem-ber of MIR) violated the First Amendment. The judge did find that property owners are obligated to pay for road maintenance, but only their percentage of the mainte-nance done on the section of road from the brown arch to their piece of property. This ruling, by which we now must abide, has been a real challenge for use as we have struggled twi9th how ato assess 500+ different property owners within such specific parameters. Another unfortunate side effect: we are actually prevented from spending any road dues which we collect on road maintenance on the portion of road west of our brown entrance arch. We hope that some of the $25 club dues can be put to use there. In other words, we , the property owners, have an obligation to pay for a fair portion of the road mainte-nance done only on the section of road which MIR owns and which we each travel to reach our property. The IE formulas was deter-mined by first reviewing the history of annual road maintenance costs. Factored into the amount needed for 2005-2006 is a

contingency for emergencies, as well as for additional repairs due to the lack of work per-formed in 2004-2005. The budget for 2005-2006 is set at $ 1000,000, which is not to say we will collect all that money. Unfortunately, there will always be a few owners who will not pay. The goal is to collect this amount of money, so that we can work to bring the roads to top shape and so maintenance can then be minimized for years to come. Any funds remaining from 2005-2006 will be put toward the projected needs for 2006-2007, and will be calculated and allocated for the portion of road for which it was collected. Then, when we set the next years assessment for owners, that assessment could be adjusted up or down, depending on what was spent on the portion of road they drive. In any case, all monies collected will only be spent on the road section for which it was collected. The Board is the first to acknowledge this is not the perfect plan, but it is the closest we can come to satisfying the court ruling. We have had attorneys review the plan and they have give it a legal stamp of approval. (See Gary Ackerman’s letter on our website at www.mtindexriversites.com) Our hope is that this work in progress will be improved over time, based on owners’ input and the needs of the community. http://www.mtindexriversites.com Our community website is run by Zach Sheldon MIR’s website highlights activities around our community, notices of board meet-ings, the complete monthly board meetings minutes, various forms, and regulations, previ-ous year’s copies of The STOPE, opportunities to email directly to the MIR Board of Directors and a complete roster of current board mem-bers and how to contact them. We also have a forum which features comments from members of the websites. This is your opportunity to contribute ot our community. Feel free to sug-gest items to be added to the websites; for example, send us an interesting hiking guide to one of the local trails. The webmaster love to hear form you with your ideas, so please email him. There is another forum too at Yahoo!. Check it out! h t t p : / / g r o u p s . y a h o o . c o m / g r o u p /MtIndex_Riversites

A word from your Mt Index Riversite board

A word from your Mt Index Riversites Board leaders

2

Important Info + Phone #- 5

Bridal Veil Creek — We built a new bridge this year!

5

Canyon Falls 4

Philadelphia Creek Winter Storms

3 6

Implied Easement Explained by Bill Stehl

2

Stope Issue # ? Published in May 2005 Editor and Art Director Thom Boullioun Photography taken from the area Email your comments to: Skylani2@aol.com

Inside this issue:

Philadelphia Creek The water flowing through this creek was destroying the road so something had to be done quickly. The old one was too small and inadequate so a bigger and stronger culvert was determined to be the solution. After replacing it this improved the road and reduced the severity of the dip making the drive less dangerous too. An eight (8’) diameter culvert and some guard rails were installed. This repair has been in place for nearly 10 years. This is a good example of the can-do attitude needed to accomplish such tasks. Problem solved!

Moved? Sold your Property? — Contrary to popular myth, MIR is not electronically networked with Snohomish County or the utility company. If your mailing address has changed or you have sold your property, please send us a note or call. Treasurer, Julie Lemire, 360-799-1714 Thank you for helping us keep our re-

Security — Many of you feel that street lights make it safer. As a cost saving we decided to stop paying for the street lights, how-ever you can get them turned back on. You can sign up for the adopt-a-street light program. You can have it placed where you want and they will give you a discount if you sign up for a five year commitment. Call PUD at 1-800-555-5555

On the cover: last winter was mild but our area can bring us high winds, snow and ice storms. Are you prepared for the coming season? See the feature article on pages 6 for useful tips and information. Cover photo is Mt Index

Paving — The community may be poised to do major improve-ments to the roads and bridges once the by-laws are modified and an assessment plan is determined and implemented. We are collecting IE fees and taking donations and you can send any amount to the address on the front of this mailing.

Vegetation Management — If you have some dangerous trees that look like they might fall down and take out your power lines. Help is here. You can call these folks and they will help

Win a 7 day stay in Maui at a 1

bedroom oceanfront condo plus

round trip airfare. Ask at door

MIR’s Annual Property Owners

meeting at the Index Fire Hall

May 1, 2005

And Good Luck!

Building a bridge — An Act of faith Story by Joe Gilbert

BRIDGE

CANYON FALLS UPDATE

S elling a community on build-ing a bridge is a bit like ped-

dling religion. Building one re-quires an act of faith. The Con-tractor demands full payment up front, but the Community has to wait for years — for the funds to be saved up. It has taken sev-eral years already. Meanwhile, there have been setbacks. Many also have doubts: Will the bridge really be built? Is the bridge really necessary? Who is responsible for the cost of these bridges? “You sell on the basis of the relationships of the top peo-ple of both groups.” the bridge builders and the communities representatives (board mem-bers), said T.A. “Thom” Boul-lioun, who’s was on the board of his community for nearly three years. He has left for medical reasons. ‘Mt Index Riversites’ Property owners, the ones build-ing — the bridge — have already put up a third of the money, or part of the money, for something that’s not going to be built for three to four years,” Boullioun says. “And so they have to have faith in the people (the MIR BOD). . . They’re going to buy into the idea based on the integ-rity of the people they’re talking to, and their past performance.” he said. The communities risk

are greater if the bridge is not built. A PARADOX in build-ing the Canyon Falls bridge is that there are just a few people that actually benefit by it but the amounts of money involved are huge. “In my mind, a rela-tionship is established here,” Boullioun said. “It’s actually very simple to me, the entire area was platted at the same time wasn’t it? “G” lot property owners are just as much a part of the commu-nity as “A” through “E”. “So he’s willing to contribute to the bridge and hopefully the rest of the community will

come through.” Another anomaly is that bridge build-ers typically don’t take pay-ments. We will need to have the full amount in hand or commitment of funds from other sources in hand to pro-ceed with building this bridge. Typically, selling the idea of a building a bridge starts years before contracts with Contractors are signed. The Mt Index Riversites’ Board of Directors on behalf of the community will have to court the remaining skep-tical members with technical argument, financial models and the less quantifiable lures of the need to re-build

this bridge, and the confidence in the Boards’ competence, and the kinship formed by long per-sonal associations with past and new board members is more im-portant than ever. Mt Index Riversites sent out a survey asking the property owners which directions they wish to go. They chose to not form an HOA now. The community isn’t giv-ing up on the Canyon Falls bridge just yet. There is a lot of work that’s been done and lots of money at stake. The Board at MIR may ask you that part of the payment that you send in be put toward this bridge. We will need that money up front, we need to start saving for the bridge again, but the community (you) will have to wait — several years — for the payoff. Question: Will the bridge be built” Answer: We certainly hope so, and with your help and possible funding from outside sources (being determined as we speak)

we will build this bridge. Question: Is it really neces-sary? Answer: Absolutely. Question: Why do I have to contribute? Answer: You don’t have to contribute but it is good and it is necessary, you will need a bridge in the event of extreme flooding. Question: Is it really a vital part of our infra-structure? Answer: It is the only part of our infra-structure that is gone. CONCLUSION: Your road fees will make possible projects that would otherwise go undone. Roads and bridges and other community projects can be considered. We feel that as a rep-resentative of the community we are going in the right direc-tion. Finally all the pieces are coming together. Support your community, Get involved!

Important Info and phone numbers

The MIR by-laws and cove-nants only address road maintenance and Board ad-ministration. The Board has no authority to intervene in disputes between neighbors nor can we act in any ca-pacity to compel any prop-erty owner to comply with the law. If you have issues in your neighborhood about raw sewage, you are en-couraged to file a complaint with the Snohomish County Public Health Department by calling 1-425-339-5250 and ask for “Water and Waste Water”. Complaints of excessive junk and gar-bage should be directed to Snohomish County Code Enforcement at 425-388-3650. Snohomish County requests that all Animal Control issues be handled via the 911 dispatcher. These county agencies serve us well and are on our side. If you don’t call, nothing gets done! Please do your part to decrease the number of dogs killed on our roads by slowing down and keeping your dog con-fined to your own property and off of the roads. Snohomish County lease laws DO apply within MIR.

Bridal Veil Creek Bridge

To the right is the new Bridal Veil Creek bridge. Replaced through pri-vate donations this sum-mer. It was built in Au-gust 2004

T hose of us that live here year round see the harshness

that visits this otherwise beautiful area. Whether you live here year round or just visit during the sum-mer, the beauty of the land is sometimes contrasted by its harshness. We need to anticipate that once again we will have to respond and repair the damage. Windstorms + rain and high water in the river can bring us flooding. Snow and extended low tempera-tures result in ice forming causing problems such as power outages. If we have any combination of these weather anomalies they can create slippery conditions you can see that we have a fragile and difficult environemtn, making it almost impossible to travel in and out of this community. Former President of MIR, Mark Haenlein says “We are a community of privately owned land and roads. We are on our

own. “An assessment system that collects funds and applies it exclusively to maintaining access to your property is the only way that we can accomplish this.” says Haenlein. We have already rebuilt the Sunset Falls area two times. There was a major slide near Can-yon Falls and your community re-routed this road in “C” lots. Many new culverts have been installed. This year with the help of private donations we built a bridge at Bridal Veil Creek. Because the roads are

composed of clay and granite they are easily softened by the water and the roads shift and collapse. This can happen anywhere throughout the community. All areas “A” through “G” need to be constantly maintained and re-paired. We need to restore our infra-structure too. We have another bridge to build and many of you have indicated that you want some of the roads paved. “Forming a Homeowners Association (HOA) could allow for

WINTER STORMS!

Photos and story by Thom Boullioun

all of this.” Says current Presin-dent Tom Lange.” “This can only be done if the community bands together.” “Recently we sent out a small survey asking all property owners if they wanted to form a HOA. The results of that survey will help us decide which way to go.” Lange says. “The HOA will not be completed in time to fund winter repairs of our roads. Therefore, donations are encour-aged .” Basically the purpose of our organization is to provide you with continual access to your properties. Help us keep Mt Index Riversites the friendly and unique community it is. We need all of you to help. Support your community. Support MIR! Send your contributions or dona-tions for the roads & bridges to:

Mt Index Riversites Post Office Box 177 Index, WA. 98256

Snow covers a road near the Jersey Barriers at Sunset Falls.

Mt Index with snow

Index’s General Store last winter