Board Members Present:
President Mary Pracht Sharon Carr
Vice President Ken Benck Gordon Moore
Secretary Diane Jones Larry Hibbs
Treasurer John Porter Suzi Combs
Joe Claflin
This meeting was FULL of much needed information & discussion. Some narrative has been omitted for
brevity. Tape recording is available
upon request.
President Mary Pracht opened the meeting by inviting the
Town’s comments.
Gordon Moore: The 2015-16 proposed budget begins in less
than 3 weeks. I have not had time to go through and intelligently discuss or
listen to suggestions. And I don’t think
the rest of us are prepared, either. We
should have gotten this budget in January.
I don’t think we should get into a long discussion about the budget when
we are not prepared to discuss it. It is
not fair to the Town’s people. I think
we should put all this on the agenda for the March meeting when we are more
prepared…
Mary Pracht: There are several members of this board who
feel the same way as you do, Gordon. I
appreciate you for speaking up first. No
board should pass a budget unless they have read it, questioned it and
understand it. I have a lot of questions…
(Speaking to the Board) I don’t think anyone here is ready to vote for
any dues increase tonight. Is that
correct? (nodding of heads)- Because we
haven’t discussed it. I’m unhappy with
part of the budget; there may be other members who are unhappy with it. It needs to be talked about before any
decision is made.
(Speaking to the Town)- I still want to hear your comments
and concerns because this will help the Board in making their decision.
Mary Gage: How long has the board had access to the
budget?
Mary Pracht: About a week ago.
Mary Gage: Will there be enough time…?
Mary Pracht: What I am suggesting, and what some other
Board members have suggested is that the Board have time to get together itself
and talk about this, too. To see what
our concerns are – the same as yours. Than, after we’ve gone through the budget,
we will see what we feel should be cut out, what can be trimmed, or if we see
there are things that should stay in there; we would have time to note those,
with our justifications.
This is what I would like to do – the board can veto it if
they choose – We have got to get the statements out and waiting another month
is not going to work. They need to go
out tomorrow. My suggestion is that this
board gives its approval to not raise the dues, leave them as they are. Send out the statements – with the
stipulation that after this board gets together, fine tunes this budget to
their liking – then present it at another meeting, explain how we came to the
conclusions we did and, if at that time a special assessment is needed, we will
vote on a special assessment for (X) amount of dollars. That is my suggestion. It is up to the Board. Comments?
“I agree”, “excellent idea”, “yes” = various board members
Larry Hibbs: I don’t want to come back here year after
year. An assessment is just a band aid.
Sharon Carr: We need to look at the golf dues as well
Diane Jones: I think we need to talk about
everything. How are we going to afford,
and what can we afford? We may have to
step back on some things that we simply can not afford anymore. (Applause from the
Town)
Mary Pracht: Two things, what we need and what we want. We
can not keep handing budgets out, not having the Board look at it, pass it and
hope for the best. This has happened in the
past. I was on a Board where it happened
that way. (Applause
from the Town)
Mary Gage: May I have a copy of the Budget?
Diane Jones: You may have my copy.
Kathy DeVilbiss: Can we have an explanation as to why the
Budget was so late getting into your hands?
Frank Pohlkamp: This is the way we have always done it.
Gordon Moore: Most businesses, depending on the size, start
working on their budget 6 months before the year is over. … I
feel I should have this in my hand not less than 2 months prior to the start of
the new fiscal year. We can’t do this in
2 or three weeks and have an intelligent discussion.
John Porter: If we only have 3 months of history, it just
doesn’t work.
Gordon Moore: John, you don’t just have last year to base
this year’s budget on. You have the year
before that and the year before that and the year before that. (Applause from the Town)
Sharon Carr: It seems to me that the Finance Committee
presents the Budget to the Board and the Board simply stamps its approval. We would like to change that system this year. (Applause from the
Town)
Sandra Shipp: What good would it do to put a dues increase
on Lot owners who are already not paying?
Diane Porterfield:
40 years ago lots were sold unseen / as an investment opportunity. Lot Owners
who have been paying dues faithfully 30-40 years are dying; their kids do not
want the property. Past Boards have
acted as if nothing has changed. We have
lost over 500 dues paying lots. I have
received a phone call regarding 4 more lots that will no longer be paying dues.
Mary Pracht: Ever since 2008, Treasurer Terry Shipp
started out every board meeting with the number of Lot
owners who were no longer paying dues.
Quoting Terry Shipp, ‘The Lots are our main problem’.
Sharon Carr: You must have 7 people on the board vote for
a dues increase. I, for one, will not.
Gail Porter: This is the way the Finance Committee has
always done things. It is not the
Finance Committee’s fault. They have
been doing it like this for years.
Mary Pracht: That is the problem. It is time for a change.
Gordon Moore: I would like to think everyone who is here
tonight. I wish we would have a crowd
like this, or twice as big as this, every Town Hall meeting. (Applause from the
Town) Don’t believe everything
your neighbors / friends say about issues.
If you have a question, call me.
I want to hear your concerns and suggestions.
John Porter: We need to be setting aside $145,000 in a
Capital Improvement Fund every year to maintain Diamondhead’s infrastructure /
equipment that is 40-45 years old.
Fred Locke & John
Porter suggested obtaining a 1 à 2 million dollar line
of credit.
- $1 million on the Roads – repave all the streets. *See info below
- Pools
- Tennis Courts
- Roof on the Golf cart shed
- Pay off the Club House debt of $190,000
- Manicured green ways.
- Pay everything off & still have $250.000 to place in the Capital Improvement Fund.
*Mark Dawson Asphalt stated that it would cost "roughly $250,000 per mile of roadway". For verification of this cost, you may contact Mr. Dawson @ (501) 617-3112
* Note: DH has about 40 miles of roadways [ 40 X 250,000= 10 Million Dollars ]
* Note: DH has about 40 miles of roadways [ 40 X 250,000= 10 Million Dollars ]
Fred Locke: If you bring the appearance of DH up over
night, you will sell lots. The Board
should have full say as to the raising of the Dues. It is the obligation of the Board to maintain
Diamondhead to a standard that is was when we bought a home in here.
If I was a builder, I would not come in here.
John Porter: I think the entire community should be a part
of this decision.
Diane Porterfield: You are betting that buyers will come. Instead àStop the bleeding.
Security System Budget is about $200,000 with a police
force.
The following information was received from a property owner as a suggestion:
·
$4,200 – 4 camera system to capture cars entering & leaving
the community
o
Plus the cost of underground cable
o
$10,000 investment for entire job.
·
Cameras capture license plate info.
·
Yearly maintenance fee of $350.
·
A bid would be required before finalized.
Community Standards changes
are in process.
Question: Why don’t we have a Pool membership fee for
those who want to use it.
Answer: A 2008 Board decision gave away this option
to DRC.
An option to take the gates down / no longer be a gated
community was expressed.
Larry Hibbs made a
motion to not raise the dues at this time with the stipulation that another
meeting will be held to discuss the need for an assessment. Motion passed unanimously.
The Finance Committee and the Board will meet on Wednesday,
March 18th at 6:00pm.
The Board approved the auditing firm of Jordan Woosley for 3
years.
Meeting adjourned
Notes submitted by,
Diane Porterfield
620-3167
