The GSPOA board of directors will meet on Monday evening, October 2nd, at 6PM via Zoom, in preparation for the Annual General Meeting this weekend. Agenda for this call:
The 2023 Annual General Meeting (AGM) is set for an in-person meeting at the East Whatcom Regional Resource Center on Saturday, October 7th, 2022 at 1:00 PM PDT.
AGM information and proxy forms, which have been mailed to members, must be returned by post or email by October 5, 2023. Failure to secure a minimum of 50 proxies or in-person member attendees will cost the Association considerable expense to hold a second meeting, so please return your proxy or plan to attend on October 7th.
The following items of business are presented:
Meeting materials:
AGM Documents, including Annual Report, Financial Statements, and the 2023-2024 Budget are password protected. The password is listed on the paper copy of the meeting notice mailed/emailed to each member. If you have misplaced your notice, please email info@glaciersprings.org with your name and Glacier Springs address, and we will re-send the password to you.
Just a quick reminder to property owners and residents about two upcoming meetings. Information about both can be found in your AGM notice mailed/emailed earlier this week.
An information session has been scheduled via Zoom for Monday evening, September 25th, from 6-7PM. See this link for information, a registration link, and to submit your questions in advance:
Water system informational session – September 25, 2023 – 6-7PM Pacific via Zoom
As mentioned in the AGM notice sent on Tuesday, the association’s Annual General meeting will be held on Saturday, October 7, 2023, at 1PM Pacific at the East Whatcom Regional Resource Center. Check back here for associated documents, which will be posted by Saturday, September 30th. And please remember to return your proxy form if you are unable to attend in person. Thank you!
As mentioned in previous communication, we will be hosting an optional informational session regarding the water system. This session is scheduled for Monday evening, September 25, 2023 from 6:00-7:00PM Pacific.
The purpose of this info session is to provide an update on our water system remediation efforts and potential plans going forward. It will include representatives from the Department of Health as well as our water system operator and the engineering firm we have been working with for the first phase of these efforts. The meeting will be held via Zoom. Advance registration is required, but it is open to all community members. We will record the session and make the recording available via our website for anyone who cannot attend on September 25th but wishes to view it later.
Registration/Q&A links and general info are provided here: https://glaciersprings.org/WaterInfoMeeting
Please Register in Advance:
Please visit the link above for information and a link to the registration form, or enter this link into your browser: https://washington.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_0OfWys9-Q6iSE0MAfekOcg
Q&A:
To make the session as efficient as possible, please submit your questions by Monday, September 18th. We will consolidate questions submitted in advance. The link to submit your questions is also available at https://glaciersprings.org/WaterInfoMeeting, but is provided here as well:
This is a friendly reminder that Glacier Springs Property Owners’ Association (POA) dues were due on March 31. Reminders for unpaid balances were sent in April, and final notices were mailed this week. After August 31st, the GSPOA will be conducting a thorough review of all outstanding POA dues. Any balances remaining unpaid after this date may result in further actions being taken, including the placement of a lien on your property. A lien is a legal claim against your property that can affect your ability to sell or refinance your home or property.
We recommend that all property owners ensure that their current mailing information is shared with the GSPOA at info@glaciersprings.org. We also recommend that you ensure that your mailing address on the official Whatcom County Assessor & Treasurer site reflects a deliverable address. If the mailing address listed on the Whatcom County site is the same as your Glacier Springs property address, your invoices may be being sent to that address, which is typically undeliverable, as USPS does not deliver to Glacier Springs. It is the owner’s responsibility to ensure that the GSPOA has your proper/deliverable mailing address. If you have questions about your dues balance, contact accounting@glaciersprings.org.
Hi, everyone – it’s been a few weeks since our last update, so I wanted to provide one. We’re still in a holding pattern at this point, awaiting completed designs from our engineer. The target date for completion is the end of this month, at which point we’ll schedule the informational meeting we’d talked about back in June. Next steps would then include a review meeting with the DOH to get their approval on our remediation plan. Our goal is still to have at least preliminary remediation work done at the spring collection point before the rains return this fall.
In terms of current status/water quality, we have moved from weekly testing to bi-weekly. We did get test results showing unsatisfactory trace results for coliform in two locations yesterday (at Olson Dr and Miller Way). Again, with the recent rains, this somewhat aligns with the pattern that has developed since February. Due to the hit-and-miss pattern, the DOH guidance is still to keep the boil water advisory in effect.
Lastly, a reminder about the bear which has been in our community and others nearby, tipping over trash bins and scattering garbage about. The Association has no covenants, conditions, and restrictions (CC&Rs) pertaining to trash and recycling, so guidelines regarding timing of putting trash bins out at the road as well as returning them to the property is governed by Whatcom County and not by the Association. Whatcom County residents and businesses must manage their garbage so that it does not become a nuisance. This includes keeping garbage contained in a solid, waterproof container with a tight-fitting lid to prevent wind or animals from scattering it.
Again, while the POA is not directly responsible for individual owner’s trash bins, we are committed to fostering a sense of community responsibility. In light of recent bear encounters that have resulted in trash being strewn about, we want to emphasize to all homeowners the importance of properly securing their trash bins to mitigate the risk of attracting wildlife and preventing unwanted incidents. I’m sure I speak for everyone when I say that we appreciate those full-time owners who have stopped to help their neighbors by cleaning up the mess when they see it – but at the same time, we recognize that doing so over and over again gets tiresome, and ultimately shouldn’t be the responsibility of others. In the spirit of maintaining a clean, supportive, and collegial community, we would like to remind all homeowners of the following steps to ensure responsible waste management:
• Secure Trash Bins: Please ensure that trash bins are securely fastened and not easily accessible to wildlife. You may wish to contact SSC to inquire about the availability of bear-proof bins.
• Timely Disposal: Dispose of trash on the designated collection days and avoid leaving trash bins out overnight to minimize wildlife attraction. For those who are not full-time residents, consider coordinating with a neighbor to put your bins out and return them from the street in a timely manner, or for the time being, you might consider packing trash and recycling out with you at the end of your visits until the bear moves on.
• For folks who have short-term rentals, ensure your renters are aware of the recent bear issues and encourage them to properly secure trash when they leave.
• Report Bear Encounters: If homeowners encounter bears or any other wildlife within the community, please report the incident to the appropriate local authorities or animal control agencies promptly.
Thanks, everyone – we’ll be in touch again soon.
Jeff Sabado
President, Glacier Spring Property Owners’ Association
info@glaciersprings.org
Dear Members,
A quick update on our water system. The board is working hard on multiple fronts to help address our community’s water systems issues. As many of you know from your own experience building and maintaining your properties in Glacier Springs, it is often difficult to get contractors out to our area, and that is equally true when dealing with specialized/niche services like water systems and engineering firms. But here is brief update on our progress:
Engineering
• We have spoken to several engineering firms who have been helpful in guiding our future direction. Some firms have expressed their willingness to help; others have referred us to other firms. We are exploring all/any vendor options, but the list of qualified firms is very small.
• We’ve had productive briefing with the firm that helped with our 2007 water main and tank replacement project. The firm principal is quite familiar with our system, and we are coordinating a site visit within the next two weeks.
• We have another firm that also expressed a willingness to help and has come highly recommended from multiple sources.
• We have a contractor that we’ve spoken to for some short-term remediation efforts designed to provide greater seals to our spring tanks and increase areas for ground-water run-off near the tanks. We need to confirm these measures are advisable with the water system engineering firm, as well as a geological engineering firm since it will include moving earth from around the spring source. All of this work will be coordinated with the Department of Health as well.
• All firms have urged us to exercise patience and recognize that whatever solutions we move forward with, it will likely take time to have the work engineered, permitted, and constructed. Timelines will be drawn once plans are set.
• While it is too soon to make the determination whether any treatment system is necessary, we are exploring all options including chemical and UV systems.
Community Meeting
• Our intention remains to have a community meeting as soon as we have completed at least one engineering site visit and have a recommendation from an engineering firm.
Recent Testing
• We continue to test the water system bi-weekly. After the rains four weeks ago, we had a very minor detection of coliform in one of the eight testing locations. Otherwise, the tests have been clean.
• The boil water advisory remains in effect per DOH guidance.
We appreciate everyone’s patience. Like you, the board and volunteers on our water task force are homeowners and working diligently to get this solved as quickly as possible. We are committed to the long-term health of our residents and our water system.
The 2023 Consumer Confidence Report for the Glacier Springs Waster system is now available for all property owners. Click here to download a copy. A special thank you to Larry Watts and John Mercer/Water Systems Services for their efforts this year.
Hello everyone –
First off – not a lot of change in the past two weeks in terms of test results; now that things have stayed drier, we have continued to have clean test results. The boil water advisory is still in effect, however, per the DOH.
Second, and more importantly, an update on our remediation efforts:
Two representatives from the DOH were up last Wednesday for a site visit to the storage tanks and the spring boxes at the source. This visit has been planned since we had our first unsatisfactory test result – not due to any recent changes. On the whole, DOH has been very complimentary of our handling of the situation so far, but the visit did result in recommendations that were unexpected.
The DOH recommended we redesign and replace the spring boxes at the source and also implement a plan for water treatment. This would mean installation of either a UV or chemical/chlorine treatment system. They had concerns that our system, as designed nearly 50 years ago, would not be approved under today’s standards. They also felt that our current plan for remediation work would be insufficient to solve the issue long-term. For these reasons, we elected to put the originally-planned work at the source on hold.
The Board has formed a task force to respond immediately. We are working with our water operator and the Department of Health, and have reached out to contractors to identify water system engineers who might review DOH’s recommendations, review the current system, and suggest solutions. The board’s task force will meet weekly to advance this work.
Once preliminary information is collected, we will call a special meeting of the Association. This meeting will be scheduled as soon as we can confirm that we’ll have at least one engineering firm’s review of the system. This will give all of you the chance to hear about the challenges, proposed remedies, and costs, and hear the Board’s recommendations for next steps. Whatever course of action we take, it is extremely likely the membership will need to approve.
I realize this is not the news we were hoping for, but the health of the system and of our community is the top priority. Additionally, it is important that we solve the current water challenges for the long term. This infrastructure is the most important asset of our community, and we treating this with the highest care.
Please be on the lookout for more information soon.
Hello everyone! We’re back to a bit of better news these past two weeks – The most recent sampling results were submitted. All 9 of these results are clean, as were the 8 testing locations last week. The main thing that has changed between this round of 9 samples and the previous round of 8 samples on 4/28 (that all had trace coliform hits) is that the weather had improved and the area around the spring boxes had begun to dry out. This further supports our assessment that the bacteriological hits are most likely coming from surface water contaminating the spring boxes near the spring source.
That said, the go-forward plan is still the same. The association and its contractors are still waiting for things to dry up enough to get started on the spring box maintenance project. We’re super hopeful that the upcoming stretch of good weather will finally allow the remediation work to be competed.
