Robin's Blog for Dauphin Island

Hello everyone... below is the monthly newsletter from the DIPOA president.  Bill Harper announced his resignation which went into effect that day.  By election of the Board, Bruce Jones accepted the responsibility of President.  Below is his newsletter to the membership.

_________________________________________________________________

Dauphin Island Property Owner’s Association

November 2009 Newsletter

You will notice that the newsletter has a new author—I'm Bruce Jones, now serving as your president. At the November board meeting, then President Bill Harper submitted his resignation. I was elected president and Jay Minus, vice president. I will take this opportunity to say a well deserved “Thank You” to Bill for his energetic leadership. His presence will be missed but we wish him well in his new “retirement” status. Following are items of interest to the membership.

Communication—we are working hard to improve our communication processes. Our website is being updated with current and accurate information and we have begun a process of completely overhauling our site so that it can be updated more readily and contain more sophisticated features and capabilities. Stay tuned. Also, we are continuously working to improve the accuracy and completeness of our e-mail list. If you have changed e-mail addresses, or if for any reason you suspect that we don't have your correct address, please contact us. Also, if you are aware of other members who are not being reached by our mailings, please suggest that they contact us. We are serious about getting our mailing list in order and need everyone’s help.

Tropical Storm Ida While it didn't seem like much of a storm down in “the woods”, we nonetheless experienced serious beach erosion and washover on the west end. There was minimal structural damage, but the sand loss continues to burden the west end owners –particularly those south of Bienville. The board passed a resolution instructing the president to send the Mayor a letter requesting that every effort be made to restore the sand to where it came from, and if any bulk depositing of returned sand is necessary, to favor locations to the east, rather than the west, so as to be advantaged by the natural littirio flow. We also offered to assist the town in obtaining right of entry permission if needed. The letter was presented last Monday evening at the agenda meeting, and a copy will be posted on the DIPOA website.

Litigation Status The settlement proposal for the Corp of Engineers lawsuit is still under review by Judge Futey. Following the initial briefs by counsel for both sides, the judge asked for additional briefs to respond to three specific issues which were apparently important to him. Briefs have been filed in response to those issues and additional information from Mr. Graves, et al, has been allowed to be submitted. So at this point all we can say is that Judge Futey appears to be actively and thoroughly reviewing the case, but there’s no way to predict just when we'll have a ruling. The filed documents are being posted on our website.

Isle Dauphine Clubhouse The board has decided not to continue the exclusive arrangement with MMEP, but will seek to broaden use of the facility by making it available to members for various events throughout the year. All of the arrangements are not yet worked out so stay tuned for more detail. In the meantime, if you do have an event ahead for which you would like to use the facility, contact our office and we will provide as much information as is currently available. Keep in mind, there will be a charge for using the facility, but dues paying members will receive a special discount.

Board Vacancy We have a vacancy on the board and are in need of someone to fill the remainder of the term ending in May 2010. At that time the interim member could run for election to a normal three year term. If you would like to be considered for this position, please contact a board member, and/or send me a brief bio.

Next Meeting As is customary, the board will not have a regularly scheduled meeting in December. Next scheduled meeting will be Jan 21 2010 at 6:00 PM, at the clubhouse.

I would like to join the other board members in wishing all of you a safe and enjoyable holiday season. Please feel free to call on any of us if we can be of assistance. We welcome your comments, suggestions, ideas, and criticisms.

Bruce Jones

DIPOA President