Somerset Community Association
Bellevue, WA
Bellevue, WA
We had a fantastic in person turnout at last night's Annual Meeting--156 people signed in, and who knows how many joined after the sign-in sheets filled up!
We appreciate everyone’s patience, as more neighbors attended than we had capacity for. Without the benefit of a microphone, we were grateful to members for keeping the volume low enough for the speakers to be heard. This year, we also engaged a parliamentarian to facilitate the meeting, which brought structure and benefits we hope to continue. Using ballots for the floor vote was a new experience for us. While we recognize areas for improvement, we plan to refine the process and use ballots again next year. As presented during the meeting, many votes were proxied to others prior to the floor vote: Director & Budget CRC Vote Votes Proxied to SCA Board 265 205 Votes Proxied to C. Bofferding 41 38 Votes Proxied to F. Brito 4 4 Votes Proxied to B. Zhang/C. Lee 7 6 Votes Proxied to Others 2 1 In addition to the five Director candidates recommended by the Board (Lawrence Chiu, Nikhil Gore, Jiawei Gu, Fred Huang, and Lisa Young), six members were nominated from the floor: Charles Bofferding, Francis Brito, Christina Lee, Yue Zhao, Benson Zhang, and Reza Zinati. Volunteers from the audience formed a Tellers Committee, consisting of Gary Albert, Bonny Ghosal, Judy Guzak, Kristen Iversen (SCA Secretary), and Marie Vieth (SCA Treasurer). The committee validated and tabulated the ballots, and the results are as follows:
Result
Congratulations to our newly elected Board members! Thank you all for attending the meeting. A recap will be sent out next week, and the presentation slides and handouts are available here on Google Drive. Reminder!!! The SCA Annual Meeting is tomorrow, Thursday January 23, at 7:00PM in the Ackerley Conference Room at Forest Ridge School. The meeting is open to all dues paying SCA Members, please refer to the following documents to prepare: Voting at the meeting can either be done in person, or through a proxy. We will be using a ballot at this meeting for the planned floor votes, including approval of the 2025 Budget, Ratification of the 2025 CRC Members, and Election for the 5 Board Director positions. Approval of the 2024 Minutes will be voted on by a show of hands. Members are welcome to nominate themselves or other members for the 5 Director positions, each member can vote for five (5) candidates. Covenant Review Committee (CRC) members are appointed by the board, and ratified by the Membership, so CRC members cannot be nominated from the floor. We will have a sign-in sheet at the door, where we will distribute ballots for the meeting. All ballots will be validated before counting. Please respond to let us know if you'd like to volunteer to count ballots at the meeting. Remember, only one (1) vote per property, and all proxies need to be received by EOD today (1/22) to ensure they can be validated/recorded. Submit your proxy online (link below) or email it to [email protected]. IMPORTANT: A Special Meeting RE View Protections and the Third Amendment is being scheduled for February, to discuss topics we won't have time to cover in this meeting, as we are obliged to complete our annual SCA business, as dictated by our Bylaws. Please refer to this link to see Special Meeting Details: Special SCA Meeting RE View Protections and the "Third Amendment". Finally, our Somerset Signs were vandalized again today, with spray paint directly applied to them. If you know something or have seen something, please let us know. We strongly object to anyone trying to discourage attendance at the meeting tomorrow. Thanks for Supporting Our Community!!! The SCA Board invites you to a Special Meeting to discuss View Protections and the changes introduced by the Third Amendment. The Board understands that there is a lot of confusion regarding these topics, so let’s get together to share and discuss the following topics:
Please note: The upcoming Annual Meeting on Thursday, January 23, is not the venue for this discussion, as time during the Annual Meeting is limited and must focus on deliverables outlined in our SCA Bylaws. Please read the updated Fiction vs Facts document before the meeting to get a better understanding of:
While we are still finalizing a venue, we hope to confirm and announce the location during the Annual Meeting on Thursday. We look forward to your participation! REMINDER!! Please join us at the Somerset Community Association Annual Meeting this Thursday, January 23 at 7:00 PM in the Ackerley Conference Room at Forest Ridge School (Click HERE for a map of the school and parking details).
This is a members' meeting, so you must pay your 2025 dues (link below) to attend. The meeting will begin promptly at 7:00PM and will be facilitated by a Parliamentarian using Robert's Rules of Order. The Board will review 2024 activities, approve the 2024 annual meeting minutes, present the 2025 Budget for approval, present the 2025 CRC members for ratification, and ask members to elect new Directors. The Membership will elect five (5) new Board members this year, to join the current 10 Directors. The Board has nominated the following 5 candidates for election: Lawrence Chiu, Nikhil Gore, Jiawei Gu, Fred Huang, and Lisa Young. Candidates can also be nominated from the floor, all interested members are eligible and welcome. Directors will be elected by plurality vote, with each voter able to cast one (1) vote for each of the five (5) Board positions. Only one (1) individual from each dues paying household will be considered a voting member on any given vote. Votes may be cast in person at the meeting, or via proxy vote. Members joining over Zoom will not be allowed to cast their vote, if you are unable to attend in person, we recommend you proxy your vote to a member who will be in attendance. All proxies must be validated prior to the meeting, so they must be received by the SCA Secretary ([email protected]), or submitted online (link below) by EOD 1/22/25, any proxies received after can't be guaranteed validation prior to the meeting. The Secretary will report on all proxies received. We must end the meeting at 8:30PM so any remaining time after the Board of Director election will be spent on Questions & Answers. If additional time is needed for any topics, a Special Meeting can be scheduled. Thank You for Supporting our Community!! SCA Board of Directors Nominees, Action Items, Vandalism Dear Somerset Residents, As we approach our upcoming SCA Annual Meeting on Thursday, Jan 23rd at 7PM, we want to encourage every member to attend and actively participate in the decision-making process that will shape the future of our community. At this meeting, we will be electing five new members to the Board. This past year, we’ve been inspired by the incredible response from our community, with so many members stepping forward to volunteer their time and serve on the SCA Board of Directors. We are thrilled to recommend five exceptional nominees for election to fill five spots on the Board. These individuals represent a highly qualified and committed group of Somerset neighbors, and we couldn’t be more excited about their potential contribution. The nominees bring a wealth of experience from diverse industries, including technology, banking, law enforcement, and medicine. Each of them has raised children in our local schools and, with an average of living 14 years each in Somerset, they deeply understand the importance of maintaining our neighborhood as a beautiful, welcoming, safe, and vibrant place to live. Meet the Recommended Nominees for the 2025 SCA Board of Directors
Community Security: We will discuss a proposal for installing cameras to enhance the safety of our neighborhood. Community Safety Preparedness: Hear about vital projects aimed at improving our preparedness for any future emergencies. Covenant Review Committee: We will ratify the appointed 2025 CRC members, per the bylaws. 2025 Budget Presentation: Our Treasurer will walk through the 2024 expenses, and the 2025 budget, which we will vote on. Please submit a proxy vote to the SCA or vote in-person, to ensure your vote is counted. Your voice matters, especially in electing the right leadership and contributing to discussions on key projects that impact us all. Only members can vote, so if you haven’t already, please send or submit your dues payment and proxy vote online (somerset98006.org), only proxies received by January 22 will be included in the vote count. Some Somerset residents are suggesting that members should not vote for the SCA recommended nominees (by proxy). We strongly advise against following the guidance of neighbors who VANDALIZE Community Association assets (see photos below). Particularly, do not give them your vote through a separate proxy if they fail to provide the names of the individuals they plan to vote for or specify the motions they intend to make!!! We value your participation and feedback and look forward to seeing you at the meeting! Meeting details and materials coming soon!!!
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