GBNA Minutes April 28th 2007

Minutes of the GBNA April 28th, 2007 Annual Meeting
Pt. Washington United Methodist Church, Stephen Center

10:00am Coffee and doughnuts were served while members gathered and voted. Thanks to Lee Eyer for all his hard work in making the meeting happen so successfully.

10:17am Jack Mills opened the meeting with a welcome. The Invocation was made by Leslie Provow, and the Pledge of Allegiance was said by all in attendance. Introductions were then made by everyone present. There were 40+ members present.

* Shirley Sahlie (Treasurer) – Balance ~$16541.29
Expenditures for 2006-2007 ~$4162.07 (parties, bands, landscaping, etc.)

*Larry Jackson (Membership and Landscape Committee Projects) – spoke on membership, parcels, growth of membership, and he presented informational sheets and discussed these with members.

*Larry reviewed the work on the landscaping projects to include the ‘Triangle’, the watering and electrical system provided by Richard Veldman with a reimbursement of $50/month. We are looking for a "few good volunteers" to form an Association Landscape Committee. The committee will help recommend, design, budget and install landscaping projects to support the Association goal to Improve Appearance of Common Areas. If you are interested in helping, contact Larry Jackson, lawrence.jackson@mchsi.com.

*Larry discussed the safety and appearance issues that were raised by the survey sent to all members and prospective members. An issue was brought up re: raising dues. Also, the service of ‘brush’ or yard waste pickup was discussed as it is available from EWS on a weekly basis on Wednesday. Recycling of cans, glass and paper was discussed using the ‘Blue Bag’. Currently, these can be purchased, according to a member, at Publix, but the county will be providing these free of charge in the near future.

*The question of trash pickup at the Red Bar being so early was brought up with the additional question of why couldn’t it be picked up at a more reasonable hour instead of 4-5am? The answer lay in another member who stated that the pickup was designed to alleviate the smell of the garbage that stayed in the dumpsters all night and into the next day’s high temperatures.

*Kitty Taylor (on behalf of Paige Lee – Social) – suggested that we might try having a Fourth of July committee plan for the next 4th event. Other parties and events were briefly discussed (i.e. Fall Party) and more information will be forthcoming.

GUEST SPEAKER – Commissioner Cindy Meadows spoke and answered questions on a myriad of issues.
· raise sales tax in lieu of higher property taxes
· beach renourishment/restoration using sand from the Gulf…2008 estimated
commencement
· beach ordinance – driving on and fishing charters from the beach…issue began with the
closing of the beach driving at Inlet Beach
· beach access funds – have these funds collected from the vehicle passes go to a designated
fund to serve the beaches and not the general revenue fund
· Helen McCall Park improvements discussed with land increase, tennis courts and
playground
· Cessna Landing property for Art and Archeological displays
· Possibility of bringing back the Governor Stone boat
· Blue Bag recycling reviewed
· Drive through Grayton revealed issues such as the need for a grate at Grayton Oaks and
Pine which will be installed very soon; creek barricade near same location will also be
addressed; our roads are scheduled to be resurfaced with the PCI; more signage for speed
control to be installed soon; do we really want a sidewalk/bike path? It could adversely
affect homeowners of older homes on DeFuniak Street

Questions

Blackwell – Need to get the county Public Works to clean up the beach access area where the equipment and debris has been stored and accumulated for beach cleanup and restoration.

DeFranco – thanked Cindy for her talking to the GBNA. Wants a weekend County Commissioner’s meeting for those who work out of town during the week to be able to attend when they are in town for the weekends. Suggested that beach walkovers be sand vice wood due to the adverse affects the wooden stairs have when storms tear them down and they subsequently dig into sand dunes and crash into other walkovers. He reiterated that taxes are far too high for those who use their homes here in Grayton as second homes/rentals, unable to be homesteaded. Cindy agreed…discussion ensued.

Veldman – pointed out that until recently, you could expect more than 10% of the value of the home to be made each year in rentals, but now, the percentage is closer to 3%. He would like to see a cap on taxable values to be capped at 6-8% while homesteaded properties would remain at 3%. Cindy asked us to write our legislators.

Murphy – asked if there were any plans to pave the roads in Grayton (see previous info). Cindy pointed out that the issues for drainage and storm water plans were last reviewed and were due to be reviewed. She realized that some homes were built long before the issue of low-lying homes was a problem.

Eyer – asked if the politics of the BCC was changing with another woman, Sara Commander on the Board. Cindy stated that many votes were now 3-2 where they had previously been 4-1. Three seats in the next round will be up for re-election or election: Larry Jones, Scott Brannon and Cindy Meadows. Vote! There are now more voters south of the bay in Walton County than in the northern part of the county – recent change.

Ellis – asked about Blue Bag. They have been bought by the county and will be available free of charge soon. Wash recyclables before placing in the bag. Items that are placed in regular garbage are sorted by the prisoners in DeFuniak at a very good profit!
Bludworth – reminded us of hazardous waste pickup days in the county twice yearly and publicized in various media.

Gentry – brought up the need for a bike path. Cindy suggested that an aerial view with a right-of-way overlay might show us whether or not a bike path would be feasible.
Cloutier – thanked Cindy for being a woman of her word.

Bludworth – identified that there is going to be an adverse impact on Grayton Beach with the opening of Grayton Grande especially at 30A and CR-283. Cindy says study groups have been formed and meet to discuss solutions concerning traffic lights, repainting crosswalks, design of signs and payment of the signs (Interpretive ones, as well, as presented by a Design Firm from south Florida) and mile markers. $$$

????? – asked if golf carts could be used in Grayton to get from property to beach accesses due to parking constraints at access entrances. Cindy pointed out that golf carts, per se, were illegal on public roads unless they are registered and are street worthy like cars or the newer carts such as the GEM cars. The BCC is looking at multi-modal forms of transportation on the Scenic Highway 30A corridor with a Grant to Scenic Highway. We can join the Friends of 30A to help determine how we want the Scenic designation to be preserved.

Commissioner Meadows Question and Answer session ended at noon after an hour of very informative and lively discussion. All present were more informed and thanked her for taking the time from her busy schedule to talk with us. She was invited to attend the Street Dance later that night.

* Scott Provow (Webmaster) – introduced the new and improved website: www.graytonbeachneighborhoodassociation.org. Suggested links to SoWal and a blog with a message board were discussed. Pictures and events should be well-publicized on the web now as well as minutes (;-)) of meetings.

*Pat Murphy (past President/election ballot counter) – Pat commended the membership for the number of ballots that were returned and was pleased to report that all the slate received quite a few votes with the following having the most:

Grant Blackwell, Linda Eyer, Ann Morrell, and Jean Covell Silva

One last item was brought up – that the sign at the entrance to Grayton Beach with the names of all the businesses and the reference to the historic nature of Grayton might be something the GBNA would want to take over. Kitty Taylor asked if her realty company might be able to get placed on the sign. The board will take that for action.

Scott Provow reminded us to thank the outgoing Board members for their tireless work and efforts to make Grayton Beach the best beach not only on the Emerald Coast, but in the entire world! Thanks go to outgoing President Jack Mills, Secretary Scott Covell, member-at-large Lee Eyer, and Social Chair Paige Lee.

12:15pm Jack Mills adjourned the GBNA Annual meeting.