CNCA Governing Documents Campaigns and Revisions Continue:
Sometime in mid-summer 2006, our Block Captain Program faltered as block captains became “tuckered out” from their telephone and door-to-door contacts to “get out the vote” for the March Annual Meeting as well as for the C&Rs revision and Transfer Fee referendum campaigns.  Many of the block captains had been performing their tasks for several years and were ready to be replaced with a new group of volunteers.  As a result, there has been a temporary hiatus in the two campaigns.  

All owner lists recently have been updated both by address and owner name thanks to Karen Hazard.  I am now in the process of using these lists to verify current home and lot owners against home and lot owner signatures to date on the C&Rs revision petition and Transfer Fee referendum ballots in order to arrive at accurate tallies for both campaigns.  John Desautels, the homeowner and former Board member who has designed the database for both the petition and referendum, will then be able to update the official campaign rosters and statistics in his program, hopefully in time for the Board to present the latest figures at the March 1 Annual Meeting.  In addition, Cathy Olsen, my Block Captain Program Co-Chair, and I will begin making telephone calls to homeowners in February in order to put together a new team of block captains.

Update of Petition Campaign for Proposed Revision of Covenants and Restrictions. 
This campaign was begun in February 2005.  Thanks are due both to those Block Captains who worked hard to get signatures on the petition.  At the same time, we are still very much in need of additional Block Captains for the campaign.  There simply are not enough Block Captains to cover all of our community, in particular the St. Andrews and Westchester neighborhoods.  Please consider volunteering to contact just ten to twelve of your neighbors so that we can speed up the process.  Anyone in need of an electronic copy of the proposed revision or additional information, which was mailed to all Association Members in February 2005, can contact Karen Hazard, at 216-7486 or kj_hazard@bellsouth.net (note the underline between j and h), or Charmaine Gillow, Documents Chair, at 216-1275 or cg38@comcast.net. The current document is available at the bottom of the web page.  Click here to go to documents.

Our current Charleston National document was written and became effective in 1992, before the establishment of the Board of Directors as the governing body.  A primary purpose in revising the Covenants and Restrictions has been to produce an updated document written from the viewpoint of the homeowner.  The proposed document is the result of recommendations and concerns raised by members of the Board of Directors, the Architectural Review Committee (ARC), and the Charleston National community.  Most requests have been a call to clarify and tighten current covenants and restrictions as well as a call for increased enforcement of current rules and regulations.  Ninety percent of CNCA Members must sign the petition to approve the revision. 

Status of Transfer Fee Referendum.
At the Annual Meeting on March 2, 2006, Charleston National property owners were asked to vote on approving this single change in the current Covenants and Restrictions.  This campaign has continued through the Block Captains Program.

As explained in the “Message from the President” earlier in this newsletter, a Transfer Fee is a fee usually paid by the purchaser of the home at the time the property is sold.  It is the intent of the Board of Directors to apply some of this money to the Reserve Fund based upon a strong recommendation from our auditors that we significantly increase our financial resources in the event of an emergency situation.  Increasing the balance in the Reserve Fund through the addition of a Transfer Fee would decrease the likelihood that a Special Assessment would need to be imposed on all property owners in the event of major damage to CNCA common areas, lagoons, or structures from a natural disaster such as a hurricane or for costly restoration or repair of community assets, as in the case of the outfall system at Lagoon CN 11.  In addition, as our CNCA president states in her article, there are immediate and pressing needs regarding the nineteen lagoons owned by the Community Association.  A significant number of the lagoons are in need of bushhogging of the banks as well as tree, shrub, and nuisance weed removal from the lagoons, and some lagoons are in need of repairs to the system of pipes and risers that control water level.  All of these needs require more money than the annual Association budget allows.

For additional information, refer to the information mailed to all Association Members in February 2006 or contact Karen Hazard, at 216-8476 or kj_hazard@bellsouth.net (note the underline between j and h) or Charmaine Gillow, Documents Chair, at 216-1275 or cg38@comcast.net.

Status of Revision of Restrictions and Easements.
Review and revision of the various Restrictions and Easements for individual neighborhoods was completed as planned in 2005.  A second draft will be presented to the Board of Directors this month.  The intent is to consolidate those restrictions and easements which apply to all areas of the Charleston National community, to identify those restrictions and easements which are particular to an individual neighborhood, and ultimately to incorporate all of the R&Es into the revised Covenants and Restrictions document in a simpler, more readable form.  The ultimate goal is to combine all of the original covenants, conditions, restrictions, and easements for the entire community and for the individual neighborhoods into a single document that is more relevant, more streamlined, and at the same time more precise about the rules that govern our community. 

 Although it is expected that the Restrictions and Easements will be finalized in 2007, the Board has decided that a vote on the revision by CNCA property and home owners should be deferred until after the current campaigns to approve the proposed revision of the original Declaration of Covenants and Restrictions and the Transfer Fee Referendum.

Revised Bylaws. 
At the March 2, 2006, Annual Meeting, Association members approved a minor change to the Bylaws.  The revised document can be found at the bottom of the web page.  Click here to go to documents.

On a personal note:  Although I will be leaving the Board as of March 19, I have volunteered to remain on the Documents Committee.  I made a commitment to help review, revise, and refine our governing documents when I was first elected to the Board six years ago and would like to see that commitment through to its successful end.

Charmaine Gillow, Documents Chair