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Hello everyone!
We have lots of good news and this will be lengthy, so please read through everything! We do have more neighbors who have joined the mailing list, so there is a little bit of recap to get them up to speed.
LEGAL UPDATE
From all the information and research submitted to Steve (attorney) he was able to put together an overview that was significant enough to support the activities of Dixie Shores Association going back the needed 20 years. The court document has been completed and is being filed this week. This is to have our common areas deeded to the association so we have ownership of them as we have not been able to locate the current owners. This allows us to legally have control and authority over them for maintenance, future projects, and to keep the dock area private for our neighborhood.
Steve provided the following to help clarify the time frame we’re looking at:
File complaint
Service by publication (4-5 weeks)
Forty days after last publication for defendants to respond
File affidavit of service by publication (ten days)
Motion for entry of default judgement (thirty days)
Unclear if court will require hearing on entry of default (thirty days?)
So, assuming everything goes according to schedule, we should be done around June. This could slip a bit, depending on whether the Court requires a hearing and, if so, available hearing dates.
We raised $10,000 as a retainer for Steve, and as of this email we have been billed $3,050 – so we have a balance of $6,950 at this time.
BOARDS
Based on the information above we’ll keep operating as Dixie Shores Association to maintain integrity until this is completed. Once done, we’ll be able to merge Dixie Shores Association with Dixie Shores Community Association, Inc so that we are a registered nonprofit with the North Carolina’s Secretary of State’s office. To recap the board members, they were voted in as follows:
Dixie Shores Association
President – Rose Hammer
Vice President – Karen Nash
Secretary – Merrie Foster
Treasurer – Paul Foster
Dixie Shores Community Association
President – Amber Colburn
Vice President – Dawn Morton
Secretary – Chris Heivly
Treasurer – Keith Textor
A board for each entity is in place as they both have different roles to play at this time. The Dixie Shores Association board is working with Steve through the legal process and assuring that we keep operating effectively to maintain our neighborhood. The Dixie Shores Community Association board is putting in place the necessary operational structures and protocols needed for our new entity so that the merging of the two is seamless and we can keep right on going when it’s all done. When we merge, the DSA board will step down and the DSCA board will take over.
ROADS
We had discovered last year that all roads in the Dixie Shores neighborhood are public roads and that once a minimum amount of residency is along each road, NCDOT will come in and maintain the roads. These roads include Dogwood Place, Oak Drive, Cedar Road, Hickory Drive, Pine Lane, and Church Road. Right now, Dogwood Place is the only one that qualified with the residency and the paperwork has been submitted for NCDOT to approve. They will come out and assess the road and then provide an overview of what they will do and when it will be scheduled. Initially they will grade and gravel, but we will also be placed on a list to have them paved….albeit, that will be 10-20 years out as they have a queue of over 7,000 roads to be paved at this time. But this is good news for all of us as we now know there is a way to improve our side roads in the future without a cost to the neighborhood.
BUDGET
Attached you will find a copy of the 2023 Operating Budget for Dixie Shores Association. Transparency and accountability are important for the association to provide and it gives all of us a better understanding of the costs associated with our neighborhood – whether they be fixed or discretionary – and how we can cover those costs. Going forward this information will only be provided to members of the association, but because of the transition we’re going through, we felt it important that anyone who has ownership in Dixie Shores be provided a copy at this time.
The budget is showing what we are projecting in membership fees and fundraisers to generate income. How this number is derived will be explained in the Membership paragraph below. The expenses shown cover the costs of our dock permit/fees, insurance, minimal lot maintenance and administrative costs. No large repairs or maintenance items are reflected in the budget as those are topics of discussion for the Membership of Dixie Shores Association. What the budget reflects is that if we have full participation of all ownership in Dixie Shores, we will cover our expenses and have $4,800 left over to put towards improvements!
MEMBERSHIP – PLEASE READ AS WE’RE MAKING CHANGES!!
Since we have established that we are not an HOA, nor ever can be, we are put in the position of understanding that our coming together as a neighborhood is not a requirement, but a privilege. Whereas other neighborhoods are forced to comply, we have the opportunity to work together and decide for ourselves what is most beneficial to all of us to improve and protect our neighborhood. To that end, the approach for the association needs to be revitalized.
We have determined that while there are 617 lots, there are roughly 289 unique ownerships in the Dixie Shores neighborhood. This means most owners own more than one lot. In 2022, 121 of those owners paid “dues”. This equates to roughly 41% of the ownership in Dixie Shores.
Based on our wanting to involve more neighbors, we are setting a goal of getting 80% of the ownership participating in 2023. That would be 231 owners. If we can hit 100% even better! But we need to be realistic. To make this obtainable for everyone and to encourage as much participation as possible, we have decided to change the approach to the “dues” that have been collected over the years. Instead of paying dues per lot, we are going to change it to a Membership Fee per ownership. An ownership can be a single individual, a married couple, multiple people, a trust, a business, etc. The ownership itself is a single entity. Paying the annual Membership Fee will provide the following:
Ownership will become a member of the association.
Ownership may attend association meetings.
Ownership will be a voting member of the association.
Ownership will have access to the association website for communications, updates, events, and payments.
For 2023 the Membership Fee is $40 per ownership. It does not matter how many lots the ownership owns, they are only paying ONE annual Membership Fee to be a member of the Dixie Shores Association. The goal is to get EVERY ownership participating and this approach simplifies the process and $40 is realistic for all of us. This is also what is captured in the 2023 budget for income. The $11,560 shown would be if all 289 ownerships paid the $40 Membership Fee. Even if only 80% of the ownerships paid (which is our goal – 231 owners), it would equate to $9,240, which is still sufficient to cover all the expenses and have some left over to improve the neighborhood. That should be motivation for all of us!
So, no more paying by lot(s). The ownership of property in Dixie Shores, no matter how many lots they own or how many people are a part of the ownership, has the right to join the association by paying the $40 annual Membership Fee. Going forward we will want the Membership Fees paid by January 15th of each new year, but we’re still making our way through this so if everyone will pay the fee by February 15th, that will get us rolling.
FUNDS
To supplement the Membership Fee and for those that want to contribute more financially to the Dixie Shores Association, we are setting up two funds. One is a Dock Fund and the other is a Road Fund. These monies will be designated specifically for repairs and maintenance to these areas and will not be used for anything else. This allows owners to financially support what is important to them, knowing that those monies are going specifically to those areas. When you send in your monies, if you are including more than the $40 Membership Fee, please let us know what fund you want the additional monies put into – and if both, how much in each one.
For both Membership Fee and additional monies being contributed to either the Dock Fund or the Road Fund, you can send them to one of the following:
Send them to Dixie Shores Association c/o Paul Foster, PO Box 4393, Greensboro, NC 27404
Send them to Dixie Shores Association c/o Rose Hammer, 291 N Shoreline Dr, New London, NC 28127.
If you’re at the lake you can also drop them in Rose’s mailbox. It is locked and secured. Just make sure to drop it in like mail and don’t leave it on the ledge where they pick up the mail!
We are setting up a way to pay on the website, but this will not be active until we have merged the entities and are operating under a registered entity with an EIN. Because we are documenting the Membership, you will be provided confirmation when your payment is received. You will also get a prompt to sign up to access the website. If you don’t receive a confirmation in a timely manner, reach out to us so we can figure out what’s going on.
Also, when sending in your monies, please include the following so we can continue to clean up the data:
Name of legal ownership
Lot numbers of lot(s) that are owned
Physical address(es) of property in Dixie Shores if you have one
Email address(es) of all individuals in ownership that want to be included in correspondences. If you prefer to be communicated with by mail, please note that and include the mailing address(es) you want us to use.
Emergency contact – name and phone number
FUND COMMITTEES
We need to form two committees to manage the funds. Each committee will be responsible for determining what is needed in each area, prioritizing needed repairs or maintenance, getting bids, and reporting back to the membership. If you would be interested in joining either the Dock Fund Committee or the Road Fund Committee, please let me know! Obviously, you will have to be a Member of the Dixie Shores Association to be on a committee. We would like to have these in place by our first meeting in April.
WEBSITE
While it is still a work in progress, we do have a live website! www.dixieshores.org This site will be accessible ONLY by Members of the Dixie Shores Association. The public or owners that have not paid the Membership Fee cannot view anything other than the landing page. You must be logged in to see and/or access anything. Once the Membership Fee has been paid, you will be able to sign up and be approved for access. This will be a great place for us to discuss our neighborhood, communicate, share information, store documents, meet neighbors, plan events and meetings, have committee updates, sell items, etc. Eventually, you’ll also be able to renew your annual Membership Fee on there and contribute to the separate funds.
ASSOCIATION MEETINGS
Because of the changes noted above, going forward all DSA meetings will be for the Members of Dixie Shores Association only. We will have a roster of paid memberships for those Members to sign off on to gain entry to the meeting. If an ownership has not yet paid and would like to pay the $40 at the meeting to gain entry, we will be happy to accommodate that. It will have to be cash though as we will have no means to process anything else at this time. We trust everyone will understand and respect this so we can maintain the integrity of the association and the membership.
Our first meeting will be on Saturday, April 8th, at 10:00am. See you then!
Rose Hammer
Dixie Shores Association
President
www.dixieshores.org (coming soon!)
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