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MEMBER FREQUENTLY
ASKED QUESTIONS
The following are questions that
have been submitted by members for Board or staff response. Most recent questions
are posted at the top. Click on the item in the table of contents that interests you
and the browser will take you there. If you would like to submit a question, please
call us at (910) 457-4676, or email us at bhinews@bcinet.net.
We will post the question and response here to provide the information for all
members. We will not use your name.
- Are ballots
for BHA elections confidential? If so, how is this confidentiality ensured?
- Is
Broadband Internet available on Bald Head Island?
- I want to do
maintenance on the common area adjacent to my home. What do I do?
- What is
the function of the Association?
- Why do we
need the Association when we have a Village Government?
- Is Association
membership mandatory?
- What
property owners' associations exist on Bald Head Island, and why? How is Killegray Ridge
different from other neighborhood associations?
- Are the
annual Association dues tax deductible?
- How can I
get copies of Association documents, such as the Covenants, Bylaws, Articles of
Incorporation, monthly financial reports, minutes or other information about the
Association?
Are ballots
for BHA elections confidential? If so, how is this confidentiality protected?
The Association Bylaws state, Article V, Section 2, "Election to the Board of
Directors shall be by secret ballot". Each year, the Association Manager
forms a Teller committee, composed of herself and up to two other Association members.
Up until the date of the annual meeting, the Association Manager enters votes
received by mail into a database to verify property ownership and allow for more accurate
electronic calculation of the votes. On the day of the annual meeting, the other
Teller committee members gather the ballots brought to the meeting. The meeting is
adjourned so that the Board of Directors may vote the proxies they have been assigned.
The annual meeting then resumes while the Teller committee finalizes its
calculations. The final tally is presented by the Association Manager to the
Board President and posted on the door of the Association office and the door of the post
office by 12:00 noon the day of the annual meeting.
The three members of the
Teller committee are the only individuals with access to the ballots. They do
not discuss individual ballots with any other member, including the Board of Directors.
Once the election is concluded, the ballots are stored in secured files by the
Association Manager.
The only situation in which
someone other than the Teller committee would review ballots is if there was a legal
challenge to the vote, in which case the ballots may be reviewed by an attorney, audit
firm or other party to the suit. However, even in this situation, an attorney would
be instructed by Association counsel that the ballots are confidential information and
should be treated accordingly.
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Is
Broadband Internet Service available on BHI?
There
are currently
two sources of broadband
– Bellsouth offers DSL, and Tele-media intends to offer the cable version in the
near future with implementation anticipated for December 2006. Bellsouth is
currently maxed out on its available ports, but if you have questions on this, just contact them through your usual
Bellsouth number or go to their website for more information (www.fastaccess.com).
For Tele-media, call 910-842-8383. You can of course go with satellite dish as
long as the dish is under 36” in diameter and some people have gone with that
option. For that you can contact any of the dish providers in which you have an
interest, because their service is not dependent on local utilities.
Wireless hubs exist at the Association Center, marina area and Shoals Club.
Another hub is planned for the maritime market area. The hubs at the marina,
Shoals Club and maritime market are subscription services ($10/day, $30/week).
You will be prompted to subscribe when you attempt to log on, and can do so on
the Internet. The hub at the BHA is currently available free of charge.
I want to
do maintenance on the common area adjacent to my property. What do I do?
Any landscaping or maintenance on common area must be approved by the Association prior to
the work being done. The only exception to this is vine clearing. Vines
threatening the wellbeing of trees may be cleared out of the trees without Association
permission. The member is encouraged to mulch beneath the tree once the vine removal
is complete to bolster the tree's health. For any other landscaping, contact the Association
office at 457-4676 x 21. The staff will instruct you on submittal requirements.
The Association has three primary roles:
- Protection: Protecting
property values by enforcing the Covenant restrictions passed by our membership.
- Communications: communicating
through our monthly newsletter, website, and the Village cable channel, information of
concern to members.
- Advocacy: assuming an advocacy
role for our on- and off-island member interests with respect to the activities of the
Village/Developer.
In the Covenants, these
roles are defined formally as follows:
(a) to act on such matters as
the Board determines affects the welfare and recreation of its Members and the
beautification and conservation of the natural environment of the Properties;
(b) to communicate the
actions, decisions and activities of the Association and Bald Head events (deemed by the
Board to be of general interest) to its Members;
(c) to provide such services
and facilities to its Members as the Board determines will promote the welfare and
recreation of its Members and beautification and conservation of the natural environment
of the Properties or any part of them, which services may include, for example, operating
a Community Center building for its Members and others;
(d) for ownership,
management, maintenance, operation and control of the Common Area owned or leased by the
Association within the Properties and any private roads and Amenities owned by the
Association, or other areas maintained by the Association;
(e) for enforcement of this
Declaration, the Articles, Bylaws and the Rules and Regulations;
(f) for administering and
enforcing the architectural design guidelines and controls set forth in this Declaration
and in the Design Guidelines; and
(g) to perform its functions
in accordance with this Declaration , the Bylaws, the Articles and applicable North
Carolina law
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As a government organization,
the Village is limited by law as to what restrictions it can impose. For instance, they
can require a clean up deposit of approximately $250 when a new construction commences.
However, if the owner refuses to clean up adequately when the construction is complete, or
refuses to complete the construction, abandoning the structure, the Village is limited to
issuing a forfeit of the clean-up deposit. The Covenants would allow imposition of
significant fines and a lien against the property, and foreclosure if necessary to ensure
compliance. Another example, on a smaller level: the Village may specify what dimensions
of signs are permitted on the island, but nothing with respect to color, shape or content.
The Covenants permit strict regulations on commercial signage. The Covenants also define
what is to remain residential area on the Island, regardless of zoning changes. In short,
the Covenants give property owners more legal latitude to protect property values and the
character of their community.
Finally, Bald Head Island is
a unique community, where over 80% of the property owners are not residents of the island.
Property owners who are not residents are not permitted to vote in Council elections.
However, property owners always have a voice through the Bald Head Association’s
advocacy actions with the Village.
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Yes. Association membership
is mandatory for all Stage I property owners. While the Association attempts to
ensure that new property owners receive a copy of the Covenants at closing or soon
thereafter with other Association membership information, purchase of a Stage I Bald Head
Island home or property is automatic acceptance of membership, with or without that
notification. This is due to the fact the Covenants "run with the land",
being a publicly recorded document, and tracing back to the original 1972 property
restrictions issued by Cape Fear Corporation.
There are two primary ones, Stage I
and Stage II. There are smaller neighborhood associations (i.e., Timbercreek, Lighthouse
Landing, etc.) but they are governed by the larger Association, Stage I or Stage II,
depending on their location on the island. By the end of 2012, or when the developer has
sold a certain number of properties in Stage II (whichever occurs sooner) Stage II will
come under the control of the property owners of that area, and Stage I and II
associations will merge.
Why so many? Neighborhood associations exist primarily to do property management
specifically related to that multi-family site (pool and landscape maintenance, etc.).
Stage I and II exist because Bald Head Island Management has developed the Island
in these two primary stages; hence when the company was finished with the majority of
sales/constructions in Stage I, they relinquished their control of the area to the Bald
Head Association. However, they still retain control of Stage II, under the Stage II
Association, while they are completing their last major development area, Cape Fear
Station.
If you are in a "neighborhood", you pay your neighborhood association
assessments, as well as the annual assessments of Stage I (BHA) or Stage II Association,
depending on the area of the island in which your home is located. The exception to
this is the Killegray Ridge area. They belong to both Stage I and II Associations.
They also pay assessments to the Killegray Ridge neighborhood association.
The Killegray Ridge Association voted to be a part of Stage I, and the membership may vote
as a whole to leave the Stage I Association. However, their Stage II
Association membership is mandatory at this time.
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The answer to this question
is "no". Association dues have in the past been called an "assessment"
because they were calculated based on an ad valorem value of member property. This made
for a confusing misnomer, since "assessment" implies tax. What is paid by
property owner members to the Association each year qualifies as "dues". These
dues support services rendered to members in the form of Covenant protection,
communications like the Island Report, advocacy by Association members with respect to
development and government interests, and the beautification and utilization of island
common area for member benefit. However these dues are not tax deductible.
How Can I
Get Copies of Association Documents, Such as the Covenants, Bylaws, monthly financial
reports, minutes, etc?
There are two ways. Most of the documents listed above are posted on this website, www.bhinews.com and can be viewed with a PDF
viewer, such as Adobe Acrobat. You can also contact the Association office via phone, fax
or email and the Association Manager will mail you copies of the information you request.
Design Guidelines are available in hardcopy by request as well.
Please e-mail suggestions or additions for
this page to bhinews@bellsouth.net.
Home
Revised:
September 22, 2006.
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