KIAWAH PROPERTY OWNERS GROUP, INC.
Meeting of the Board of Directors
August 6, 2008
MINUTES
The regular
monthly meeting of the Kiawah Island Property Owners Group (KPOG)
was held at the Sandcastle on Kiawah Island at 9:00AM, Wednesday,
August 6, 2008.
Present: Those
Board members in attendance were President Art Morgenstern,
Treasurer Pete Silveston, Secretary Ron Ritchie and Blasé Keegel.
Joining the meeting by phone was Vice President Arie deZanger,
Past President Diane Lehder and Board Members Katie Kotz and Bob
Oakman. Also present were TALK Editor Barbara Winslow and Data
Manager/Membership Chair Kathy Heikes.
Treasurer’s Report:
The meeting began with a treasurer’s report from Pete Silveston.
He stated that he had taken out a six month CD at Sun Coast Bank
in the amount of $95K at a rate of 4 1/4%. in addition to the
existing six month CD at BB&T for $51K at a 3.15% rate of
interest. We also have $43K in a money market account and
approximately $15K in our checking account. Since we currently
have over $100K in BB&T Art suggested we look at putting some of
the funds in another bank so all of our funds are covered by, and
do not exceed, the FDIC $100K maximum insurance amount.
Pete also
indicated he will be gone later in the month until the end of
October. During his absence Art and Ron will fill in for him in
their roles as President and Asst. Treasurer respectively.
Membership Report: Kathy Heikes had more good news
in her role as Membership Chair. She reported that we now have
2060 property owners as members…….a new record! Given the fact
that there are 3731 property owners on the island we are have
garnered approximately 2/3’s of all owners as KPOG members.
Kathy also reported that our new software vendor has definitely
lost money on their contract with us as it has taken them far
longer than they envisioned implementing all the changes that are
called for in the new contract.
Lastly, only 26 people have signed up so far to be included in the
FYI blurbs that we may put out from time to time. Last year we had
125 “signed up” to receive this communication. It was her
perception that many former participants did not understand that
they have to register once again to continue to receive these
communications. Instructions regarding this procedure will be
published once again in the next issue of TALK.
OLD
BUSINESS
-
Safety and Security: Safety and Security: Bob
Oakman stated that in July the traffic count at the Main Gate had
remained almost flat vs. the June count, however, the count at the
V-Gate went up by 8,000 from the previous month. This is a trend
that we have seen for many months. Incidents also saw an increase
from 15 to 24 many of these attributed to the influx of tourists.
Vandalism was almost constant from the June figures with most of
these incidents involving thefts of bicycles.-
Roads:
Art reported that he had attended a meeting at which the
consultant, mutually hired by the county and the City of Charleston,
had endorsed the plan that had been championed by the city. This
called for a number of feeder roads parallel to Maybank Highway
rather than adding additional lanes to Maybank. Where it goes from
here is anybody’s guess.-
Development Agreement: The on going saga continues. The
town sent the resort their latest proposal on May 5th and as of the
date of this meeting (3 months later) the resort has yet to respond.
The question was raised as to how long the town will wait to get
some kind of a reply.-
History Committee: The history of the town which Barbara
Winslow/Wendy Kulick has been working on is proceeding nicely.
-
Marshland Presentation: Barbara Winslow informed the Board
that the presentation by the SCDNR will be held at the Sandcastle on
October 16th at 1:30. The presenter will be Billy McCord. It was
agreed that we should give an honorarium of $200 to whatever
conservation organization/group/etc. that he specifies. The Board by
unanimous vote agreed to allocate up to $1K to cover this cost as
well as any other expenses that may be incurred.
NEW
BUSINESS
-
Property Owner Survey: The question was raised as to whether
KPOG should survey property owners on current local issues. The last
time this was done was a number of years ago. The general feeling
was this might have merit. Diane Lehder will forward to all board
members the questions that we asked on the last survey and a summary
of the responses. This item was tabled pending receipt of the data
from Diane. The question will again be considered at the September
Meeting after Board Members have had the opportunity to review the
last survey results.-
Annual Meeting: Due to the KPOG By-law changes approved at
the last annual meeting the 2009 meeting will be held in February
not in March. Given this revised calendar Art asked the Board to
think about when in February it might be held and to develop a list
of possible speaker(s) that we might invite to the meeting. In
addition, he reminded the Board that it is not too early to start
thinking about the composition of a Nominating Committee. These
items will be further discussed at the September Meeting.-
Meet the Candidates Night: Given the fact that elections for
Mayor and Council for TOKI will be held in early December the
question was raised as to whether KPOG would again sponsor a Meet
the Candidates Night. KPOG did this two years ago and the only
candidates who appeared were individuals running against the
incumbents. Since KICA has already indicated they will sponsor such
an event again this year does it make sense for KPOG to also sponsor
such a forum? The opinions of Board Members were mixed and as a
result the following was decided: Barbara will contact the League of
Women Voters to ascertain if they would be available to moderate
such a forum if we decided to sponsor such an event. As an
alternative it was suggested by Diane that we might consider a less
formal Meet the Candidates Meeting which essentially would be to
“meet and greet” the various candidates.. It was also suggested that
we consider putting a special election issue in a fall issue of
TALK. These various alternatives will again be discussed, and a
final decision made, at the September Meeting.
ADJOURNMENT
The Board then adjourned and went into Executive Session to
discuss some legal issues.
The meeting adjourned at 1l:30 AM.
Respectfully submitted,
Ron Ritchie
Secretary
