Dauphin Island Times

General Business

• The golf course will be operating with a full 18 holes open for play beginning October 17th.
• A group from Florida has come to the island to harvest some of the sea oats. They will then germinate the seeds and the Town will have a plant sale/give-away of the seedlings in the spring.
• The swimming pool has closed for the season.
• Bids for the removal of trees affected by pine beetle infestation are being considered. The number of tree affected has grown since the initial problem was detected. A company will be selected soon and the actual removal of the several hundred trees should take about 2-3 weeks.

Money matters

• Membership dues collected so far this year total $94,000.
• Royalties through August were $30,000. (Low natural gas prices reduce royalties.)
• The actual amounts of the operating balances, CD’s, etc. are posted in the minutes on the website.
• An accounting firm has been hired to oversee some of the financial operations.
• To date over $326,000 has been donated or pledged to the berm fund.

Committee Member changes

• Carol Merkel and Connie Taylor have resigned from the Architectural Review Committee.
• Several new members have joined. The new members are Pat Rischbieter, Roger Geil, and Fred Cushing.
• The Volunteer Committee participated in the Annual Coastal Clean-up concentrating on areas owned by the POA.

Recreation Committee
The Recreation Committee has studied various areas on the island owned by the Property Owners Association. The committee then made a proposal regarding plans and request for funding for 4 areas to be enhanced by the volunteers. Property owners in the areas surrounding each property were notified by letter.

A property owner expressed concerns regarding changing the nature of the property away from the way it was originally designed to be. She stated that as of now, property owners could walk to the area. If improved with parking spaces, boardwalks, picnic benches, etc. the question of policing ability, disposal of trash from pails, etc. needed to be addressed. Some of the property owners felt that it was not set up to be a park per se and that the plans were not appropriate.

The committee will be meeting Wednesday evening and it was suggested by Board President John Reed that the property owners in any of the areas designated for enhancement meet with the committee either then or at another time to seek a solution agreeable to all.

It was also agreed to put the exact areas and possible proposals on the website so that all could view the sites and scope of the work.

The West End Beach
Since the discovery of the provision in the deed prohibiting the sale, etc. of the DIPOA properties, the Board met with counsel to determine options left to them. One solution would require litigation. This, of course, will take time. President Reed urged any person or group with a viable solution come forward. Prior to the discovery of the deed restriction, talks with the county re: land acquisition for conservation purposes, had been in the works. Two and a half million was the figure used to be designated for land on the island.

Next Meetings
The dates for the next two monthly meetings were set for November 11 and December 9.