Welcome to Sunlight Shores! Visit your Community Shoreline, Clubhouse and Heated Pool, 2705 Evening Glory Court 98236
New primary Contact for SSCC Members: Windermere Property Management, hoahelp@windermere.com, 360-246-4012
No water? See water leaking? Call NW Natural Water Services, 360-678-5336, to report the Street Address.
 

April 23
IMPORTANT NOTICE FOR SUNLIGHT SHORES HOMEOWNERS

A Special Assessment is about to be required to be paid by each voting member of Sunlight Shores Country Club, Inc.

• The transition with Windermere Property Management is continuing in 2025.

• However, as of April 21 only 41% of SSCC members have used the Windermere Portal for information or to pay their dues and water bills.

• Be looking for an information package from Windermere with your voting ballot. Overseas or traveling SSCC members should contact Windermere as soon as possible. The Annual Meeting is May 18.

• Find time to read the information provided for you below.

Check back often as this information is subject to change.

Updates after April 22 will be indicated in red.

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April 25:  Paper information packets were sent by Windermere PM to each SSCC voting member at their mailing address of record. Also, a file with your voting ballot and other information was sent as an attachment to email addresses of record in Windermere PM's HOA management system.

 

The Special Assessment is to cover the estimated cost of a pool area rebuild project that SSCC members rejected before last year's Annual Meeting. 

• Each voting member will be required to pay $963 each year, over the next 3 years.

• The $963 each year will be in addition to your Annual Dues.

 

If the proposed Annual Budget with Special Assessment is approved (ratified):
 

• The owner(s) of each Lot with no connection to the Water System will be paying $1288 each year, for the next three years, an increase of $963 per year.
   

• The owner(s) of each Lot with a connection to the Water System would be paying $1800 each year, for the next three years, an increase of $1475 per year.

 

The Class A shared community Water System in Sunlight Shores is an essential asset.
All homes need clean, reliable water.

• However, water treatment and testing costs have continued to increase.

• Maintenance and repair costs are much higher than in previous years. 

• To cover rapidly increasing costs, the proposed Annual Budget also includes an increase of $187 in Annual Water Dues (from $325 to $512).

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When you are filling in your voting ballot, be sure to do the following steps for your ballot to be counted.
 

1. Pay any past-due dues and water bills. Payments must be recorded by May 14th. 

   • Mail a check to Windermere PM, or log in to the Windermere Portal (see email sent to you on December 16, 2024). Know what you owe? Know the ways to pay?
      

2. Mark your ballot to Approve or Disapprove ratification of the 2025 – 2026 Budget. 

   • “Approve” means you accept (vote to ratify) the Budget and Special Assessment.

   • “Disapprove” means you reject (vote to not ratify) the Budget and Special Assessment.
      

3. Mark your ballot to select a once-yearly, Monthly or Quarterly payment (plan).

   • If you do NOT mark your Billing Preference, each year you may be required to pay a lump sum by July 1st toward the Special Assessment. 
      

4. Mail your ballot to arrive at Windermere PM no later than May 14th, 2025, 5:00 PM. 

   • Mail to: Windermere PM, 32785 SR 20 #4, Oak Harbor, WA 98277

   • You may send your ballot by email to be sure that it arrives by the deadline.
      

5. Important: If you don’t pay your SSCC bills, or you are late mailing your ballot, or you forget to mail your ballot, in effect you have automatically Approved (voted to ratify) the 2025-2026 Annual Budget and Special Assessment. First payment due by July 1.

 

For help, SSCC members contact the Windermere Property Management office in Oak Harbor, or send an email message to hoahelp@windermere.com, or call 360-246-4012. 

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Background Information (details further below)

 

SSCC, Inc., a non-profit corporation, was formed in 1962 however the association was nearing bankruptcy by 2014/2015. Community assets (water system, clubhouse, pool, grounds) were in poor condition, there was only $9,000 in a bank, and there were no funded Reserve accounts (savings). That was after more than 50 years of annual changes in the volunteers on the Board of Trustees. 

 

However, the long recovery from 2015 to today’s situation in Sunlight Shores is remarkable. In 2023 there was enough in the Water (System) Reserve account to pay for the emergency replacement of the well pump. Otherwise drinking water to Sunlight Shores homes would have stopped until the members could find a way to quickly pay $34,000 for a new well pump and control system. The recreational property has been improved through steady work by volunteers, enabled by their donated labor and increasing dues dollars for operating expenses and increased savings in the separate Water (System) Reserve Account and the Lot Reserve Account. The SSCC website lists the volunteers who have served on the annual Board after 2014.

 

Now it is April 2025, and because of the declining number of aging volunteers to serve on the annual Board, a decision was made to contract with Windermere Property Management to begin to help operate the business of the association. Most plat communities on Whidbey Island have entirely separate Boards and funding for the neighborhood water system and any recreational property. This allows a neighborhood to have drinking water, while allowing property owners to decide if they want to also have benefits from paying to use a local recreational property (clubhouse, pool, picnic area, shoreline). However Sunlight Shores has had only one Board to try and manage both the water supply and the recreational property. The transition to services by Windermere Property Management (“Windermere”) should be complete in 2025. Unfortunately, only four members volunteered to serve on the Board for 2025-2026, all of whom are retirees who have already served many years on the annual Board of Trustees.

 

The 2023-2024 Board proposed an Annual Budget with a Special Assessment to rebuild the swimming pool and surrounding area within 3 years. That Budget was rejected by the membership in April 2024. With Windermere’s assistance, a draft Reserve Study was briefly reviewed in a meeting of the 2024-2025 Board on April 16, 2025. A final proposed Annual Budget was developed, including a Special Assessment on 82 Lots, to be paid over 3 years. The assessment would increase the Lot Reserve Account to pay for the pool project that had been rejected in April 2024.

 

The draft Reserve Study did not suggest other options for continued maintenance and repairs to the pool and surrounding area, or a date for completion of a pool rebuild project beyond 2028. If the total estimated cost of the project is accurate, an additional Special Assessment will not be required. The draft of the Reserve Study is available from Windermere for your review: hoahelp@windermere.com 360-246-4012. 

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Are you happy enough with the performance of your annually-elected Boards of Trustees? Are you unhappy? Have you considered volunteering to be a Trustee?

• Here is a link to the names of the individuals who volunteered to serve on the Board since the association began a turnaround in 2015.

• See the names of Trustees in alphabetical order with years served:  Nancy Stiefel Boyle - 1 (moved Away); Debbie Campbell - 2; Sarah Bellin - 1 (moved away); Alaric Cox - 1; Mike Downey - 4 (moved away); Martha Fleming - 9; John Githens - 6; Andrew Hess - 1; Nancy McCallum - 5; Glen McConnachie - 5; Jennifer Moore - 1; Lance Porter - 3; Liz Post - 5; Eric Rembold - 6; Pam Rembold - 1; Sharon Rose - 1 (moved away); Andy Quinn - 1 (moved away); Anita Smith - 2; Brad Smith - 5; Linda Smith - 4; Vivian Stembridge - 5; Wil Surface -  6 (deceased); Robert Toombs - 5; Gary Uhlig -  5 (moved away); George Westergaard - 1 (deceased); Frank Worster - 6.
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Note that development of the Aquatic Recreation Center of South Whidbey Parks is moving forward. Link to project status. "(January 8, 2025) We are ‘hopeful’ to be going out to bid later this spring or early summer for construction."

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As an SSCC voting member you may:
 

1. Mark your choices on the paper ballot assigned to you, enter the required information and send your ballot by USPS Mail to: Windermere Property Management, 32785 SR 20 #4, Oak Harbor, WA 98277.
    

2. Mark your choices on the paper ballot assigned to you, enter the required information, scan the ballot and send the file from the email address you use for communication with the SSCC Board or Windermere to: hoahelp@windermere.com
    

3. If Windermere offers an online ballot, follow the instructions to mark your choices, enter the required information, and submit your ballot.

 

After ballots have been received by Windermere Property Management:
 

1. Each ballot will be examined for the date and time of receipt by Windermere.
   Ballots received after 5:00 PM, May 14, 2025, will be ignored.
    

2. Each ballot will be authenticated according to Windermere’s record of the 65 voting members. 
   Duplicate paper or scanned ballots will be ignored. 
    

3. Authenticated ballots will be reviewed for eligibility to vote. In accordance with SSCC Bylaws, Article I, Section 3: A Member who has an unpaid balance on any account at the time of the Annual Meeting may not vote during the meeting or hold a ballot or proxy. 
   Ineligible ballots will be ignored.
    

4. Windermere staff will count the choices marked on the eligible ballots. Your ballot is considered confidential and will only be viewable by Windermere Property Management and the current members of the SSCC Board of Trustees.

   • A summary of results from the ballots will be presented during the Annual Meeting. The meeting starts at 2:00 PM on Sunday, May 18, 2025.

   • Windermere has offered to hold the meeting on Zoom, with optional attendance in person in the SSCC Clubhouse, 2705 Evening Glory Ct, Clinton WA 98236.
      

5. After the Annual Meeting has adjourned, Windermere will develop the draft Minutes of the meeting, and ask the 2025-2026 Board members to review the document for accuracy. The elected Trustees will elect the Officers (President, Vice President, Treasurer, Secretary) and select a date and time for the first Board Meeting.

 

If the 2025-2026 Budget and Special Assessment is ratified (approved):
 

• Voting members make their first payment toward 2025-2026 Annual Dues and the Special Assessment by July 1, 2025, according to their marked Billing Preference.
   

• Members owning a lot with a paid connection to the water system:

  • Will begin paying $512 for their Annual Water Dues (instead of $325/year).

  • Will continue to pay $325 for their Annual Lot Dues.

  • Will also pay $963 per year (for 3 years) toward the Special Assessment.

  • (The total paid for the lot will be $1800 per year, for each of the 3 years.)
     

• Members owning a lot with no paid connection to the water system:

  • Will continue to pay $325 for their Annual Lot Dues.

  • Will also pay $963 per year (for 3 years) toward the Special Assessment.

  • (The total paid for the lot will be $1288 per year, for each of the 3 years.)
     

• The increased annual Water System dues assessment of $512/year is to enable the association to pay the significantly increased charges by Northwest Natural Water Services (NWNWS) for continuing water treatment, testing, flushing, other maintenance, and minor repairs (that are not to be paid out of the Water Reserve account).
   

• If the voting members are able to pay the Annual Lot dues assessments and the Special Assessment, Windermere would work with the 2028-2029 Board of Trustees to engage a supervising Civil Engineer and contractor to begin the pool rebuild project. If the 2023 cost estimates are accurate, no additional Special Assessment will be required to complete the project.
   

• The dollar amount of monthly transfers to the Water Reserve Account would increase to become closer to the annual savings levels recommended in the Reserve Study.
   

• The dollar amount of monthly transfers to the Lot Reserve Account would increase to become closer to the annual savings levels recommended in the Reserve Study.

 

If the Budget and Special Assessment is rejected (33 or more votes):
 

• According to SSCC Bylaws (Article VI, Section1), if the proposed budget is rejected by the members to which a majority of the votes in the corporation are allocated, the last dues/assessment structure in place shall be continued until such time as the members ratify a subsequent budget proposed by the Board of Trustees. (There are 65 voting members in SSCC.)
   

• Therefore the 2024-2025 Annual Dues assessment will continue to be paid by the members, until they vote to ratify a subsequent Budget.

  • Members owning a lot with a paid connection to the water system:

    1. Will continue to pay $325 for their Annual Water Dues.

    2. Will continue to pay $325 for their Annual Lot Dues.

  • Members owning a lot with no paid connection to the water system:

    1. Will continue to pay $325 for their Annual Lot Dues.
        

• The amount and due date of the first Annual Dues payment is unclear at this time.
  The SSCC Bylaws currently require full annual payment by April 30 (late fees start June 1). Windermere and the Board of Trustees may allow monthly or quarterly payments, if requested.
   

• The pool rebuild project proposed for 2028 is deferred. Routine maintenance and minor repairs in the pool area are expected to continue. If enough savings have accumulated in the Lot Reserve Account, then smaller projects may be completed (for example: pool resurfacing). 
   

• The association may not have enough cash during the 2025-2026 fiscal year to pay the significantly increased charges by Northwest Natural Water Services (NWNWS) for continuing water treatment and testing, system flushing, other maintenance, and minor repairs (that are not to be paid out of the Water Reserve account).
   

• The elected Board of Trustees may need to work with Windermere Property Management to prioritize and defer specific expenditures, to have sufficient operating funds for maintaining the Water System.

  • Maintenance, repairs or improvements as itemized in the 2024-2025 Annual Budget for recreational property may be delayed or deferred to the 2026-2027 fiscal year.
     

• Progress toward SSCC being closer to the annual savings levels recommended in the Reserve Study would be delayed.

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Don't wait to vote!  If mailing, send it to arrive in Oak Harbor by May 14.

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​See the Water System page.

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