Annual Meeting Minutes 2010

First off, the president apologized to those who got their meeting notices late or possibly not at all. The notices to all members and property owners on Edisto Beach and environs went out on the 23rd of March but only about half of the 2009 membership received theirs. As members began to call in about the meeting it became obvious that there was a problem. We followed up by email and a second mailing with first class postage on April 15; and I hope that all who wanted to attend got the word. We’ve never had this problem before and as far as is known the Ballot mailing seems to have gone OK.

Minutes. The minutes were mailed after the annual meeting in 2009. The vote to dispense with the reading and accept the minutes as distributed was unanimous.
Financial Report: Mr. Larry Tilby, Treasurer. Year ending December 31, 2009
Income
Dues                                                                $16,610
Interest                                                                 1,121
Total Income                                                                            $17,731
Expenses
Website, legal, printing, admin.              $4.431
Postage                                                            1,500
Donation – E.B. Fire, Police                                  400
Annual Meeting                                                  5,480
Insurance – Directors & Officers                       1,911
Total Expenses                                                             13.722
Net Income                                                                  $4,009
Assets
Cash                                                                $4,655
Certificates of Deposit                          29,444
Total Assets                                                   $34,099
Note: EPBOA collected and disbursed to E.B. Fire and Police Departments $1,085 each.
As you can see we are in good financial shape due to a fine job by Larry.

The Lobbyist Fund is being accounted for separately and checks are being cosigned by Treasurer Tilby and President Cannon. The fund had a beginning balance of $1,877.24. We received $240.00 in donations, we had $900.00 in expenses leaving a balance of $1,217.24. Basically, we have spent the money as follows: $300.00 on mileage to Columbia for NoHomeTax meetings, and $600.00 on the legislative research service, Capitol Information Affiliates (CIA). NoHomeTax is paying half the CIA expense.

Special thanks for organizing the annual meeting are due to John and Lois Morgan who made all the arrangements for the bar and tent. Lois is ably carrying on the annual meeting leadership position that Rosa Bresnahan filled for so many years. We thank Beth and Archie Johnston for the the name tags, mailing out the membership cards and computerizing the list of members. These are big jobs and these people deserved and got a round of applause.
Archie reports that we have 380 memberships at present for 2010 with more coming in still . The mail snafu has really slowed things up. We ended with 506 memberships last year.

Website
EBPOA has a website, www.ebpoa.org, where we are posting Town Council minutes, Planning Commission minutes, minutes of the Bell Property Committee, Calendars of Events, EBPOA newsletters, copies of pending ordinances and legislation and announcements. Please take a look.
The Bell Property Park The Bell property park has been renamed Bay Creek Park by vote of the Town Council. The committee has been revamped by Council from seven members to five with Chairlady Cheryl VanMetre, Archie Johnston and Charlie Boozer, Sr. removed and Bill Houston and Bob Foster installed. Mayor Lyons, Ray Archibald and Drew Weeks are holdover members. Members of the Council have stated that the park will be open this summer. The seawall and grading remain to be done and bids are going out for that work.

Sand Fencing Further work on sand fencing is pending receipt of a permit from OCRM/DHEC which involves preparation of an extensive mapping of the beach. It is unlikely that we will be able to do more sand fencing before turtle season.

Election of Trustees –
The Nominating Committee, consisting of the three past Presidents of the Association, has recommended re-election of the 2009 members of the Board of Trustees whose term has expired.
Andy Cook, a local CPA, has been retained to receive and count the ballots and he and his staff are the only persons to see the ballots. The ballots are destroyed following the election.
We have received 337 ballots. The results, certified by Andy Cook, are as follows: Elected to a three year term are: Greg Smith, Roger Whaley, Charlie Boozer, Sr., Larry Tilby and Mickey Blancett.
The Nominating Committee’s recommended nominees were elected by a minimum of 324 votes each and the highest at-large nominee vote was 3.
The trustees are:
Class of 2011                           Class of 2012               Class of 2013
Bob Sandifer                            Lois Morgan                 Roger Whaley
Archie Johnston                        John Morgan                Charlie Boozer, Sr.
Beth Johnston                           Patsy Cannon               Larry Tilby
Ginger McLaurin                      Bill Swygert                  Mickey Blancett
David Cannon                          John Morgan                Greg Smith
Emily Craig

The Program
174 Federal Scenic Byway Designation As you may have heard, through a two year effort by the Edisto Open Land Trust with participation of many Edisto Island residents, highway 174 has achieved National Scenic Byway status. Speaking on the subject was John Fisher, Chairman of the Edisto Island National Scenic Byway Committee of the Edisto Island Preservation Alliance of which Edisto Beach Property Owners is a proud member.
The SCDOT picture/diagrams of the replacement bridges for Sand Creek, Russell Creek and Store Creek were displayed on a wall. The new bridges will be wider and higher and will parallel the existing bridges which are “functionally obsolete”. The plan is to remove the center section of the existing bridges once the new bridges are completed and leave the ends in place as fishing piers. Charleston County Parks and Recreation will supply railings and may be able to provide canoe and kayak launching ramps as well. The start of work is projected for 2012.

Happenings on Edisto Beach
The newly reconstituted Town Council has passed a flurry of 13 ordinance changes in this month’s meeting.

Definition of a bedroom The ordinance defining the numbers of bedrooms for purposes of a building permit has been changed to eliminate the plumbing fixture count as one of the criteria.
DHEC uses the number of bedrooms to determine the required size of the septic system. In the past bedrooms have been relabeled “den” and “office” to permit larger houses to be built on lots smaller than will accommodate the septic system for a properly stated number of bedrooms. As you know, Edisto Beach is loaded to the max with renters who double up or more in houses in order to share the rent. Ten cars in a yard is not unusual. Septic systems have been overloaded and we have experienced sewage running into Palmetto Blvd. The fixture count was implemented to stop this deception. No reason was given by the Council for this move.
Abolishment of the Tree Commission The tree ordinance has been altered to eliminate the Tree Commission and give sole responsibility for enforcement of the rules protecting large oaks, cedars and magnolias to the Building Official. This commission, consisting of five volunteers, has functioned since 2001 in a non-controversial manner to counsel with homeowners on the preservation of important trees through home siting or, if necessary, replacement of trees with new plantings on site. No reason was given for the elimination of the Commission. This change was approved on the first reading of two required and should be opposed!
A Construction Board of Adjustment was established to adjudicate appeals to decisions of the Building Official on his application of the building codes. This board may be totally composed of local contractors if a qualified architect and engineer cannot be found to serve. This board has the potential to seriously weaken enforcement of the building codes by over ruling decisions of the Building Official. No reason was given for the establishment of this Board.
A proposal by the Planning Commission to exempt conversion of lots to residential use in commercial zones from review requirements met with Council disapproval. The object was to eliminate the lengthy Planning Commission and Council review process on what currently is an approved use in a Commercial Zone. All of the Dock Site Road residential housing has been built in a C2 Commercial Zone and the Arc Street housing across from Whaley’s is in a C3 Zone. The reason given by Councilman Tommy Mann for the disapproval was that we have too little commercially zoned land left and need to preserve it for commercial use. However, commercial lots would not be selling as residential if there were a demand for commercial development. The assessed value of developed residential lots are doing more for the tax base than commercial lots that have set vacant for years. This argument does not hold water.
What you can do
Taken altogether, these ordinance changes seem to strongly favor commercial interests over residential and pose a threat to Edisto Beach as we want to preserve it. EBPOA needs to gear up and let these new Council Members know how we feel about these issues. Write to them care of Town Hall and express your views. There will be a Public Hearing on these ordinance changes at Town Hall, 5:30 pm, May 13. This is the time to voice your concerns. Petitions to protest the action on the tree committee and fixture count were at the door.

At this time, the president recognized Archie Johnston, Joe Bresnahan and Micky Blancett, all members of the EBPOA, who have served for years on the Council and have done a fine job of holding the line and keeping Edisto Beach a uniquely wonderful place to live and visit. A spontaneous round of applause followed.

Property Tax Legislation. Act 388, passed in 2006 with considerable help from the EBPOA lobbyist fund, provided for the swap of school operating expense for an additional 1 cent sales tax. It also eliminated 2 cents of the 5 cents tax on food. The 1 cent sales tax covered the school expenses with a nice cushion. However, the 2007 General Assembly eliminated the other 3 cents of the food sales tax without an offsetting source of revenue. Restoring 2 cents of the 3 cents food tax cut would eliminate the decline in sales taxes enough to eliminate any shortfall in the school operating tax. Sales tax receipts have held up better with a decline of (-16.5%) than individual income tax (-20.9%) or corporate income tax receipts (-44.1%) in this recession.
Act 388 also put a cap on millage rate increases the counties can levy. Allowable increase equals consumer price index plus population growth. You probably noticed that the Colleton Co. property tax went up hardly $100 this year. That is because CPI was zero and Colleton Co. hardly grew in population. Act 388 at work.
Act 388 proposed a constitutional amendment, which passed with 69% approval. This limits assessment increases to 15% in the 5 year cycle statewide. Reassessment is due this year but the County is, by law, allowed to put it off a year. We want to make sure they reassess next year while property values are down.
Act 388 is under severe pressure from the school districts and municipal and county governments in this recession. H4585, a bill to allow the Tax Realignment Committee (TRAC) to look into changing the tax swap, (school operating tax for the 1 cent sales tax), passed the House in a matter of days. Members of the NoHomeTax.org lobbied the Senate intensely and the bill was amended to retain the provision prohibiting the TRAC from investigating the swap. One Senator, to his credit, said he considered the swap to be a sacred trust with every homeowner in the state. So far, the swap is safe. We will be vigilant throughout the rest of the legislative session, however, lobbyist funds are running low for travel and paying the service (CIA) that follows the legislation for us.

At this time the meeting was adjourned for refreshments outside under the tent. A light rain made the tent a good investment for the first time in memory.

If you did not receive your invitation to join the EBPOA as a result of the mail delivery problem you can use the form below and send it with the 2010 dues of $30.00 to:
Edisto Beach Property Owners Association
P.O. Box 147
Edisto Island, SC 29438

---------------------------------------cut-off line---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Please complete, cut off above and mail with your check so we receive it before March 30, 2010

Your name_________________________________________Spouse____________________________
Mailing Address______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
Phone Home _________________________________ Email Address: SEND ME AN EMAIL

---------------------------------------cut-off line-----------------------------------------------------------------------