Robin's Blog for Dauphin Island

Hello everyone... I'm sure you will read this letter from Bill Harper with great interest as it contains much information to digest.  Don't hesitate to email or call if you have any questions.

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Dear friends,

Summer is here with a vengeance. Hot weather, plenty of visitors, the Island is a busy place. If you are local business person, you love it, if you are an island curmudgeon like me, you complain about the traffic, but we have to remember we live in a wonderful place and many people want to share in our good fortune.

As most of you know, we have added three new members to the Board of Directors of the DIPOA as a result of our elections in May; Glen Coffee, Jack Gaines and Jay Minus. Our Officers for this year are: Bruce Jones, Vice-President, Glen Coffee, Secretary, Bruce Thompson, Treasurer, and me, Bill Harper, President. Every year, we add new energy and perspectives with the addition of new members to our board. I want to thank all that stood for election, the field was excellent, and the membership spoke.

During May we re-opened our DIPOA office in the old annex, north and west of the Club. It had become a huge storage area over the last 4 or 5 years. We boxed up thousands of files taking them to a secure storage area off the Island. A good cleaning and a bit of paint has created a place for small meetings, 10-12, and an office area for new part-time Administrative Assistant, Katherine Algie. Over the past year it has become apparent that our merging the golf operation and the DIPOA business operation several years ago had become awkward with the increase in play at the course. Katherine's main functions will be membership support, which includes dues and membership records; as well as staff person for the Architectural Committee. If you need any help or information, contact Katherine at 251-861-2343 or by e-mail at dipoaoffice@skyynett.com

Our June board meeting was interesting. We barely had a board quorum, one member attended, and we sat around a table facing each other, which changed the meeting's dynamics considerably. We are thinking of doing this set-up again, with members seated around us.

At the June meeting we presented and passed the Operating budget and the Capital budget for 2009/10. Modest this year being aware of the overall economic situation in our country and area. We project an income of $471,000; $431,200 in expenses, and Capital budget of $38,175 for maintenance and projects to our various properties. The Capital budget involves some much needed bulkhead work at Jeffries Park which has created a hand launch site for small craft like kayaks, sailboats, and such. In the weeks ahead we will improve access and a small parking area there too. Also in the Capital budget are repairs to the roofs on equipment barn, pump house and rain shed at the course. We also want to build a kayak launch at our Salt Creek property. In this same budget we have created funding for sharing the cost with our members for sand fencing, plants and trees. Details to be worked out.

Our finances are pretty good. The 2009/10 membership drive has started and dues are rolling in. Our goal this year is to surpass all yearly collections of

year's past. I urge everyone to participate in paying your dues this year. There are so many things can do with additional funding to make this Island a better place. May and June play on the golf course have been good, higher than past years.

On the legal front only the Corps Lawsuit/Settlement is still open. We expect a final end game in about 80 days.

This summer our beach at the Club will have some additions. Island Style, Inc., a local business will be renting beach chairs, umbrellas, kayaks, sailboats and paddle boats. Come and enjoy these additions to the best family beach on the island.

We continue to discuss our membership e-mail list, and letting individual members access to it. In 2007, we had a legal opinion that it was probably a part of Alabama's law on access to association's records and books. One of our board members is researching this further.

As soon as the membership drive has slowed down, we will start to update and modernize our website as well as update it regularly from the new office. I will keep you informed on the progress.

Now for the important stuff! The Town of Dauphin Island, along with the help of all segments of Dauphin Island's community, including us, has been working hard on coastal restoration. It is a multi-pronged effort.

Consultants have been hired in Washington and Montgomery to work the legislative halls in both locations. The Town received funding for a feasibility study of the far East End from NOAA for $400,000 this year, and the Town has applied for funding of the same location in NOAA's stimulus funding package. At the same time, a $1.5 M inclusion for a similar study of all of Dauphin Island has worked it's way out of the House committee for the Department of Commerce/NOAA.

On the State level, our consultant is busy preparing for the next round of CIAP/GoMesa funding that comes from taxes and royalties from off-shore oil and gas activities.

Locally, one of our board members, Glen Coffee, has taken the lead in getting Dauphin Island included in the Mississippi Coastal Improvements Program. Below is a message from Glen and me asking our membership's assistance in getting this accomplished:

"On June 18, the Senate passed the War Supplemental appropriations bill, sending it to President Obama for signature. The House passed a similar funding bill earlier in the week and the differences in language between the two chambers of Congress have been reconciled by conference committee. The President should sign the bill into law within the next 10 days. The Mobile Press-Register and the Biloxi Sun Herald carried stories on this bill in their June 19 editions.

The funding bill contains a provision making available $439,000,000 to strengthen Mississippi's barrier islands (i.e., Petit Bois, Horn, and Ship Islands). That work will be done at 100% federal expense. What is significant is that Dauphin Island is not included in the restoration work even though our Island suffers from the same coastal erosion problems. Less than 5 miles separate Dauphin Island from Petit Bois Island, and sand is proposed to be taken from Alabama to repair Petit Bois Island.

Congress decided to fund the Mississippi barrier island restoration work in advance of the Corps finalizing the Mississippi Coastal Improvements Program (MsCIP) Report. Despite passage of the funding bill, the Corps will continue work on their report, making the Final Report and EIS available for a 30-day public review sometime this summer. When that happens, everyone having an interest in a stable Dauphin Island should provide comments to the Corps and we should request that a public hearing be held to address our Island's coastal erosion issues.

What each of us needs to know and should remember is that to date, our Alabama Congressional delegation (i.e., Congressman Jo Bonner and Senators Jeff Sessions and Richard Shelby) has disappointed everyone who has an interest in finding a solution to Dauphin Island's erosion problems - be they Island landowners, oystermen, recreational fishermen, residents of the Mobile County mainland, etc. Apparently, our elected representatives in Washington have not taken seriously the numerous requests they have received to have Dauphin Island added to the barrier island restoration work.

Despite this apparent setback, there is still a "silver lining" in all of this. For the first time, Congress has actually appropriated a substantial sum of money to be used in repairing the Mississippi barrier islands. After the President signs the bill into law, the $439,000,000 will begin to be funneled in increments to the Corps to conduct additional studies of the Mississippi islands before construction actually begins. There is no way the Corps can expend all of this funds immediately or in a single year. The task before us now is to hit our Congressional representatives even harder with additional letters, petitions, meetings, letters to the editor, news stories, etc. to convince them of the need to have a portion of that money re-directed to address Dauphin Island's erosion problems. If we are committed and do not give up, we should be able to ultimately influence our representatives to make that happen. However, if our representatives continue to ignore Dauphin Island's erosion problems, then we need to let them know we will remember their lack of support the next time they come up for election.

The Town of Dauphin Island will lead a diverse delegation of interests to meet with the Corps on this issue on July 8. Hopefully, the Town will also hold similar meetings with our Congressional representatives. In addition to those efforts, each of us must make these individuals know that we expect them to begin fighting for us on this issue.

If anyone is interested in working on this issue, please call Glen Coffee at 861-7475. Please forward this information to anyone you think would be interested in helping to solve Dauphin Island's erosion problems".

The next DIPOA Board of Directors will be held Thursday, July 9 at 6 pm in the lower level of the Isle Dauphine Club.

All the best,

William (Bill) Harper

President