2005

2004

2003

2002

2001

2000

1999

Bermuda Beach

President Leonard Tatar, acting as Chairman of the meeting called the meeting to order at 10:12 AM, October 16, 2004.
President Tatar introduced himself and the other board members: Andy Lang, Legal Advisor; Mildred Coker, Treasurer; Kathy Love, Secretary; and Al Birdwell, Delegate to the WGIPOA. Al was not present at first because he was attending to his duties of Treasurer to the WGIPOA and arrived later.

Carroll Cobb, Hal Shivers, Glenna and Larry Landry were introduced as the current Shore Protection Committee members. Al Birdwell is the Chair of that committee.

Thanks were given to the registration committee, Joyce Hill, Kay Gilliland, and Susan Upchurch. Bill McFarland and Larry Love also were thanked for the photographs taken and used on the web page by Bill and for shooting the new directory cover by Larry. Gratitude was also expressed to Steve Klopp and his company, the Gyro Data Corp, for the loan of the "In-Focus" projector. Being able to see pictures of the Pro Tec Tube on site made a terrific difference and enhanced the presentation greatly.

The Chair asked if there was any discussion about the 2003 Annual Meeting Minutes. There being none, Larry Landry moved to accept the minutes as written. Hal Shivers seconded the Motion which was unanimously passed as written and distributed.

2004 Financial Report was presented and discussed. Gratitude was expressed to Kathy Love for recovering $10,000 of our previous $25,000 payment to CEPRA. Hal Shivers moved to accept the Financial Report as written. The motion was seconded by Carroll Cobb and passed.

Carroll Cobb then was introduced to present the Shore Protection Committee report on what the Committee believes appears to be the best way at this time to protect the beach and homes in our subdivision. Carroll's power point slide presentation showed the type of tubing being suggested and pictures illustrating its strength against a category 3 hurricane. Slides of the Pro Tec Tube before and after the category 3 hurricane Ivan hit Cape San Blas, Florida, showed no damage to the tube itself and very little scouring under the homes protected by the tube. A neighboring subdivision was washed out totally. A lengthy, in depth discussion followed on the advantages of using Pro Tec Tube on the beach of Bermuda Beach. It was noted that Surfside has already obtained funds for installing a mile of the Pro Tec Tube on its beach.

Guest speaker Jerry Mohn, President of the West Galveston Property Owners Association, reported on the status of creating a Public Improvement District (PID). He said that at the WGIPOA meeting that morning, Spanish Grant announced that they are entertaining the idea of a 20 year instead of 10 year PID bond issue. This would reduce the 10 year annual payments by about one-half to make it more appealing and affordable. Mr. Mohn explained that we could write into the PID any provisions we want and for any length of time.

The results of our survey of lot owners to ascertain their thoughts about establishing the Public Improvement District were announced. The votes were 67% "yes" of those received. However, only half of the property owners have responded. The discussion indicated that because of the very short time between mailing the survey letter and the requested deadline of October 11 (a no mail delivery holiday) people needed more time and information to respond. Accordingly, Andy Lang made the motion that the deadline for replies be extended to November 15 and that a second letter be sent urging those who had not responded to reply yes, no or abstain. The President explained that the Board wanted to make sure that as many lot owners as possible respond because of the critical importance of this issue to the survival of the Bermuda Beach subdivision and because the Board did not want to waste time and energy on this huge project unless it is strongly supported by the lot owners. The motion was seconded and passed.

A motion was made by Kathy Love and seconded by Jim Hill to exempt the vacant front row lots from being billed the $145 annual maintenance fee. The question was asked of the legal advisor, Andy Lang, whether we legally could vote on this. During the course of that discussion a motion was made to table the motion until the legality of a vote could be determined. A hand count was taken and the motion to table passed 30 to 29. The tabled motion will automatically come up for vote at the next meeting of lot owners. The reasoning for the motion to exempt the front row is that the lots are no longer usable. Permits cannot be issued for building or any kind of activity on these lots. The property owners were forced to move their homes and prohibited from restoring, filling in or doing any kind of activity on the lots.

The Chairman addressed the problem of inconsiderate parking by vacation renters. He asked that property owners require whoever is handling the rental house to make sure the people renting know how many cars can be parked in the driveway and that they may not park at other houses or vacant lots without permission from the owner and should take care not to block the driveways of others.

Paragraph 14 of THE BERMUDA BEACH DEED RESTRICTIONS prohibits the erection or maintaining of any sign, advertisement, billboard, or advertising structure of any kind on any residential lot without the written consent of the BBIC. To help lot owners comply with this deed restriction, the Board of BBIC distributes the following guidelines it will follow for issuing sign and fence approval letters.

FENCES All fences must be Board approved BEFORE installation.
Height 4' or under and constructed of natural unpainted Wood or wood substitute.
Chain link fences will not be approved. When damaged by storms, chain link fences must be removed completely and may not be replaced. Damaged fences and pickets must be replaced in a timely manner. Where applicable, fence building permits must be obtained from the City of Galveston which will be encouraged to coordinate same with BBIC.

SIGNS Temporary signs may not exceed 4 sq. feet and may be posted for no more than 60 days. Political signs must be removed the day after the election. Only one sign per street front shall be permitted.

Permanent signs such as "Vacation Rental" must be located on the house and not exceed 4 sq. feet. No more than one sign per street front shall be permitted. Signs of this nature and size will not need Board approval. Any other type of sign must have Board approval.

For Sale by Owner signs should be in a size and placement similar to those being used by local realtors. Such signs may not exceed 4 sq feet and are limited to one sign per street front.

Advertising signs of any kind are not permitted except during construction. Contractor's signs may be posted only during outside construction and for no longer than 60 days.

The BBIC requests that property owners adhere to all Deed Restrictions and that all signs now in use be brought into compliance.

The President then discussed the advantages of using a Nominating Committee process designed several years ago to recruit Directors onto the Board who before being nominated are interviewed to assure that they are informed of what duties and tasks will be involved and to assure that they want to commit their time and talents to serving on the Board throughout the year, and, hopefully, longer. The commitment to service from Directors nominated in this manner almost always surpasses that of Directors elected from the spontaneous nomination of a friend and neighbor caught up in the excitement of an annual meeting. Moreover, a Nominating Committee is well suited to searching all year long for people to serve along side the Board as Advisory Directors, appointed by the Board, who participate in the leadership, without vote, and constitute a source of future leadership. This process can work well in building up a reservoir of experienced leadership talent for us to use through the years. At present, the Nominating Committee shall continue to consist of your Board.

This year's recommendation of the Nominating Committee was to keep the same slate of Board members and have the Board recruit two Advisory Directors for the upcoming year. No nominations from the floor were forthcoming. Upon motion and seconded, the Nominating Committee's recommendation was adopted and the previous Board was re-elected by acclamation.

Upon motion duly made and seconded, the annual meeting was adjourned for the annual barbecue at the home of Mildred and Ron Coker whose outstanding hospitality is greatly appreciated by all the lot owners.