Beacon’s Reach Master Association, Inc. (BRMA)
Board of Directors - Meeting Minutes
September 5, 2004
A meeting of the BRMA Board
of Directors was held on Sunday, September 5, 2004 at 1:00 p.m. at the Pine
Knoll Shores Town Hall. (This meeting
had been re-scheduled from August 14, 2004 due to a hurricane warning on the 14th.)
Those in attendance included:
Bill
Brettmann - Coral Shores
Bruce
Carbrey - Maritime West
Breen
Condon - Representing Ocean Grove West
Ed
Erickson - Ocean Grove #1
Jim
Galloway - Westport I
Jim
Johnson - Westport II
Sue
Kirkpatrick - Fiddlers Walk
Judi
Matzke - The Breakers
Seth
Medlin - Beacon’s Reach Single Family (BRSF)
Charlie
Snipes - Maritime Place
George
White - Westport IV
Peter
Wilson - Westport III
Grady
Fulcher - General Manager
Andy
Chused - Fiddlers Ridge
Harold
Lail - Westport Woods
Eric
Fearrington - Egret Lake
Joan
Lamson - Pine Knoll Shores Mayor
Ken
Magel - Egret Lake
Charles
McBriarty - Egret Lake
Phil
Valentine - Westport III
Bob
Warren - Ocean Grove #1
Marty &
Marilyn Langenohl - Egret Lake
Call to order / Welcome: The meeting was called to order by association
President Erickson who extended a warm welcome to those in attendance. Judi Matzke and Seth Medlin were recognized
and welcomed as the new directors from The Breakers and BRSF. Outgoing director Eric Fearrington (BRSF) was
thanked for his two years of diligent service to the Board.
Fearrington,
as a follow-up to some discussion at the May meeting, presented his findings on
possible ways to allocate BRMA dues.
Fearrington had looked at allocating costs based on a ad valorem tax
basis and also on a heated square footage basis. His research indicated that ad valorem tax
basis would have too many variables – waterfront vs. non-waterfront, as well as
variations in values with tax values only updated every 8 years.
The
heated square footage basis allocation indicated that condominiums larger than
1,813 sq. ft. would pay more in dues than they currently pay. Condominiums less than 1,813 sq. ft. would
pay less. Break-even for single family
homes would by 2,719 sq. ftt. He noted
that many single family homeowners would pay more, particularly large water
front homes. The larger condominiums would pay more as well.
He
implored the Board to find a way to equalize the master association dues. He thanked the board for their time.
The
Board took no action.
Pine Knoll Shores Report: Mayor
Lamson was introduced. Her comments
included:
·
Town government
has been broken down in 3 broad areas – Public Safety, Public Works and
Finance/Administration with 2 commissioners over each area.
·
The Town
continues to be in negotiations with Carolina Water Service (CWS) to purchase
the existing CWS water system. The town
will not take an active role in opposing CWS’s request for a 30% increase in
water rates, but encourages PKS residents and associations to consider opposing
the rates.
·
The Town is
working diligently to procure funding for the US Army Corps of Engineers 933
Project. The Town is working with the
various associations in town on beach access agreements.
·
The Town is
considering the idea of a “Canal Keeper” to inspect and report on the canal
waterways in the town.
·
The Town is
working with the NCDOT on Pedestrian Study and will develop a non-motorist
traffic plan for the town.
·
The Town is in
the process of updating its 5-year Land Use Plan.
·
The Town is very
pleased that Carteret County has positioned full-time paramedics at the new PKS
Public Safety Building. The response
time for emergency calls is about 4 minutes.
Meeting Minutes: Minutes of
the May 15, 2004 Board meeting were reviewed.
On a motion by Galloway, seconded by White, the minutes were approved as
presented.
Insurance Update: Fulcher
next presented as Appendix 2 a spreadsheet of the Consolidated Insurance Plan
and the savings of approximately $186,000, with increased limits of
coverage. The spreadsheet showed the
allocation of costs to each of the associations.
Warren,
President of Ocean Grove #1 and chairman of the recently appointed BRMA
Insurance Committee, updated the Board on a serious fire at unit E-2 Ocean
Grove on Augsut 22. He noted that the
cause of the fire was apparently a hair dryer or curling iron that was left on
a chair. The damage to unit E-2 is
$45,000-$50,000. The smoke damage to the
adjoining units is about $4,000. Bids
have been solicited and a fire restoration company from Kinston has been hired.
He
noted that the new consolidated insurance plan has a $100,000 deductible for
fire losses. Therefore the $55,000 +/-
in fire damage will come from the BRMA Insurance Loss Reserve Fund, which has
$75,000 in it.
The
Insurance Committee will be working with the consultant, Kurt Fickling, to
establish guidelines on how to handle insurance events such as this fire.
Erickson
noted that he had appointed Warren, Breen Condon and Jim Galloway to the
Insurance Committee.
Committee Reports:
Landscape: Fulcher reported that
Beacon’s Reach had experienced some shortcomings in the landscape maintenance
during the early summer. The landscape
contractor had made some changes and the quality of the landscaping has
improved significantly since August 1. The
landscape committee will continue to monitor the landscape maintenance as we
move into the fall.
Marina: Johnson’s comments included:
·
The committee is
very pleased with our new dockmaster, Dave Shapiro.
·
171 property
owners utilized the marina during 2004.
·
114 property
owners are now on the waiting list for a boat slip.
·
The marina has
undertaken some major dredging work and some construction work during the
spring and summer.
Marina Rate Ad Hoc Committee: Johnson also reported that the ad hoc
committee had met and was recommending the following as far as marina
rates. Items to be recommended included:
·
The goal will be
to have $100,000-$125,000 in the marina self-insurance fund and
$100,000-$125,000 in the replacement fund.
·
Annual slip rates
will increase from $400 to $550. The
incremental $150 will be allocated with $100 going into the self-insurance
fund, along with the existing $12,000 annual allocation. The remaining $50 will go into the
replacement fund.
·
Storage fees will
increase but that will be determined later.
Architectural Control Committee: There was
no report, but Fulcher noted that a lot of single family home construction is
on-going.
Treasurer’s Report: Fulcher
next presented the July 31, 2004 Treasurer’s Report. His report included the Comparative Balance
Sheet, Budgetary Income Statements and reports of the marina and utility funds.
Finance: Lail next gave the report of the Finance Committee
(FC). He reported that the committee had
met twice since the May Board meeting to establish the 2005 Operating/Capital
Budget Proposal. He noted that the 2004
dues increase of 4% had covered the operating costs of the association. The 2005 operating budget proposal would keep
operating dues the same. However, the
FC, after considerable thought, is recommending that the capital dues be
increased by $33 for condominium owners and $50 for single family owners to
increase the funding for capital projects.
The FC wants to be pro-active and keep the amenities and infrastructure
of Beacon’s Reach in top condition.
Warren
also noted the need to be proactive. He
noted that this modest increase of $3-$4 per month per owner will generate
$100,000 in the next 6 years.
A
discussion ensued.
Motion:
On a motion by Carbrey, seconded by
Wilson, the operating and capital budget presented by the FC was approved as
presented. (Dues for condominiums will be $896, while single family BRMA dues
will be $1,345.)
Executive: Erickson following up on
some comments made earlier by Lamson, noted that Bogue Banks is way ahead of
where it was last year in securing Congressional funding. We are waiting for the Senate to act. He noted that he was cautiously optimistic.
Erickson
reported on certain other beach nourishment initiatives, including work by the
Carteret County Beach Commission to refute the findings of the Corps in prior
years that the continued deepening of Beaufort Inlet has not impacted the
beaches of Bogue Banks.
Election of Directors: On a
motion by Medlin, seconded by Galloway, the following slate of officers was
unanimously elected for 2004-2005.
Erickson - President
Johnson - Vice-President
Snipes - Secretary
Fulcher - Treasurer
Lail - Assistant Secretary
General Discussion:
·
Johnson noted
that he had heard concerns about the cleanliness of the pool bathrooms at the
Marina and Westport pools. Fulcher noted
that he was aware of those concerns and steps had been taken to remedy that
situation.
·
Johnson noted
that the marina committee is receiving more requests to open the boat storage
to travel trailers.
·
Lail expressed
appreciation for the work that former Breakers director, Stewart Pickett, had
done on behalf of Beacon’s Reach.
Pickett’s unit is scheduled to close soon. Erickson noted that he would
send Pickett a thank you note.
·
It was noted that
this was the last meeting for Sue Kirkpatrick, as her condominium is also under
contract for sale. A round of applause
was offered for her diligent work on behalf of Beacon’s Reach.
There
being no other business, the meeting was adjourned at 2:45 p.m.
Grady
W. Fulcher
Treasurer
