Shelter Bay candidates for board hold election forum

Shelter Bay board of director candidates offered a daunting mix of current issues and future goals requiring creative problem-solving and long-range planning during a two-hour April 27 virtual forum.

About 100 homeowners from the residential community logged onto the town hall-type format, which featured a briskly paced question-and-answer session with six of the seven candidates.

Nancy Shimeall, Judy Kontos, Brad Voorhees, Dan McCaughan, Joe Harper and board treasurer Louise Kari fielded questions relayed through board executive secretary Ann Serwold and moderated by board president Jack Galbraith.

Stu Gustafson was unable to attend.

Each candidate had one-minute to respond to each of 20 questions. Topics included personal ethics, increasing constituent engagement, board transparency, crime prevention, budget priorities, improving Shelter Bay home values, appropriate content for executive sessions and, perhaps most pressing, the negotiation of the new master lease with Swinomish Indian Tribal Community officials to replace the agreement expiring in 2044.

Voorhees, though the newest resident – the internet marketing firm founder moved here in August and continues to split time between Shelter Bay and Palm Springs – was quick to prioritize the lease among the community’s key concerns.

“The lease,” he stressed, “is Job One.”

Under the 1969 lease, fees paid to Swinomish for use of tribal land are adjusted every 10 years to reflect area property values. A new fee schedule takes effect in 2023.

Candidates’ consensus was that everything depends on a new lease. Once secured, Shelter Bay home values will rise.

All stressed the importance of keeping open lines of communication with Swinomish leaders.

“We need to bargain in good faith and maintain these (good) relations and focus on what benefits both sides,” said McCaughan, a two-decade Shelter Bay resident with a background in business management and master’s degree from Gonzaga.

“We have to do this together,” he said.

Shimeall, a retired teacher trained in consensus-building, advocated building and maintaining a strong, respectful relationship with Swinomish to secure a new master lease.

“What is the vision of the Swinomish Tribal Community?” she asked. “Where do we need to meet for compromise?”

An environmentalist, Shimeall promoted tackling community infrastructure issues with comprehensive planning and effective communication.

“We need to reach out and find new ways for input,” she said, alluding to barriers associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. “These town halls are a great idea. They allow for more back and forth communication.”

Kari has served on the Shelter Bay rules and finance panels. She suggested building bridges on an individual basis by inviting tribal senators to community events and reciprocating with attendance at Swinomish functions.

McCaughan similarly encouraged greater integration between Shelter Bay and Swinomish.

“We could invite one or two senators to our meetings and one of two of us could go to tribal senate meetings,” he said. “It’s all about communication and building relationships.”

Kari stressed the large capital investments needed soon.

“We are a 50-year-old community,” she said. “Our infrastructure is challenged. We need to start repairing things that have fallen apart, work on the lease and even if there’s no (immediate) lease (agreement), continue to work for Shelter Bay."

Among the difficult budget remedies is a monthly capital assessment fee.

“What hurts,” Kari said, “is these are going to be a crunch on residents. We have an aging infrastructure for which (funding) hasn’t been properly reserved and a lease that has to be adjusted every 10 years. Land values have shot up. Prices are going up. Everything is going up.”

With an extensive career in business and the mortgage industry, Kontos has done a deep dive study of Shelter Bay since moving there. She is not totally convinced that the capital assessment fee is the route to go.

“Right now,” she said, “I would say, no, I don’t agree with it. Our capital should be earning more. It can be done without raising things to the point where people can’t afford to live here.”

She acknowledged that potentially steep expenses loom ahead related to upgrades of community facilities, including its swimming pools and clubhouse.

“We need to take a thorough look at repairs,” she said, “and what can be done with the pools, leverage our capital, borrow wisely and weed down our consulting fees. I would like to go line by line by line through the budget. I’d like to see where the money is going.”

Kontos suggested reviewing mandated codes governing the community’s amenities to further assess their levels of compliance.

Community crime prevention sparked much discussion as well.

“I think everyone knows someone who has been a victim,” said Harper, a six-year Shelter Bay resident with two children in La Conner schools.

Experienced in management and personnel, roles which he said have fostered communication skills and relationship-building, Harper endorsed greater community involvement.

“I want to make sure everybody is represented,” he said. “I want all ideas and thoughts heard.” He favors low-cost beautification projects that can also improve home values in the community and lamented the presence of moss on the community basketball court and that “people do things in the corner.”

All candidates embraced greater use of technology, employing a neighborhood watch mindset and maintaining regular contact with Swinomish Tribal Police.

“We have two effective tools,” Kari said. “One is being proactive in the neighborhood. The best tools are the cameras. We should have more. We have 15 now. We should look into a service that monitors them in real time.”

Voorhees touted the value of putting new eyes on old issues, saying he has seen similar crime-related conditions arise elsewhere.

“We had the same problems in Palm Springs,” he said. “We closed back entrances, installed cameras, hired guards and that fixed the problem.”

In the end, everything came back to the lease. The candidates’ consensus was that by securing a new lease, Shelter Bay home values will rise.

During questioning, no specific reference was made to the Rainbow Action Coalition, the Shelter Bay residents’ group formed after non-sanctioned tree-cutting at Rainbow Park by board member Steve Swigert in September 2020 led to over $92,000 in fines and penalties imposed by the Swinomish Planning Department.

The entire candidates’ forum can be viewed on YouTube. Voting opened last Friday via electronic and mail-in balloting ahead of the May 21 Shelter Bay annual meeting.