Belvedere Property Owners Newsletter

January to August 2023 

Introduction

Greetings Neighbors!

As you may have noticed our masthead has changed.  A lot of work has gone into creating our new website, www.BPOA-Hampstead.org. You will find so much information there at the click of your mouse, including a digital copy of this newsletter, the association By-Laws and Covenants, a visualization of the new highway 17 bypass and much, much more.  A big thank you to Terry Hamberger, our Treasurer for masterminding the project.  We hope you will enjoy it and will use it regularly to stay informed about our community.

Enclosed with this letter you will find a handy magnet with the email addresses for the elected officers and the QR code for our website.

Fall General Meeting

 ** Saturday, October 7th ** 9:30am ** Shaka Taco

A special thank you to Noah at Shaka Taco for allowing us to use Shaka Taco for our meeting and for providing coffee and pastries at no charge.  Come for the meeting and stay for lunch.  We are lucky to have this restaurant in our neighborhood.  Support your association and this generous business.

Agenda highlights: 

• Nominations for the 2024 Board election, (open offices Vice President and Secretary)

• Vote on painting lines on the road

• Discussion of a 2024 Budget

• Solicitation for block captains

President’s Message

As my term as President comes to an end I would like to thank the association members who have faithfully served on the Board and committees for the betterment of our community.  I will not be seeking reelection but will try to remain active with the Association.  

We have seen a bit of change in our membership over the last 2 years, new homes, new homeowners and departing members.  Our main roads have been repaved, our entry fence areas have been spruced up, trash along Country Club Drive has been regularly collected, all of this by members of our fine community. We have been diligently working to update our computer software for billing and the website.  We have started assessing late fees for delinquent accounts and we have prepared an electronic option, PayPal, to accept payments for the next dues billing cycle in January 2024.

We are working on updating the BPOA By-Laws and Covenants to reflect any changes in the NC laws governing HOAs, and small necessary corrections in grammar and wording.  We will engage an attorney to review such changes and then ask for the association members to affirm the changes by a vote.

In conclusion, I would like to thank those who have supported me and the Board in our efforts in continuing to make Belvedere Plantation a great community to live in.

Respectfully, 

Gary Barnes

Treasurer Report 

Overview

All of our official documents are available on the new website, BPOA-Hampstead.org.  There is a section titled Treasurer Reports under the Important Information menu.  We will have the 2024 Budget Draft ready for review by September 20th (the day after the September board meeting).  The Treasurer is responsible for the Online Dues Payments, Delinquent Dues Recovery and Internal Financial Audit Board Initiatives.  The details of each are available on the new website.  

2023 Budget and Actuals

We’ve had a very successful year with dues.  Our budget for 2023 was $13,680.  Our income so far this year is $17,230.66. Of this income, $3,245 resulted from recovery of past dues including some from 2014.  We started assessing late fees per our Bylaws resulting in $462.50.  We also corrected our new member fees to abide by the Bylaws so we can report $157.50.   With the Delinquent Dues Recovery efforts, we expect to recover additional funds in an effort to ensure everyone pays their fair share.

On the expense side, we are within the budget but have a few line items which have increased including the HOA insurance, lighting at the entrance, and South Belvedere & Fairway signage.  The software costs are increased due to consolidation of personal email accounts into business/Association email accounts and overall reporting enhancements  The 2024 budgets will be adjusted accordingly.  

2024 Budget proposal 

The proposed budget details will be available on the website after the September Board meeting but has a few items of note

A one-time Increase for legal fees to review and update organization documents covered by reserves rather than income

Increase legal fees to cover collections for seriously delinquent accounts

Increase in admin expenses to cover Google Workspace for Business, 3rd Party registered agent, reporting tools and other automation support

Move the Accountant funds from the 2023 to 2024 budget allocated for internal financial audit of 5 years

Initiatives

Online Dues Payment

Members requested online bill payment options and we’ve delivered.  Since many of our members use personal checks or online bank bill pay, they don’t need to change.  For those interested in online payment, we’ve chosen PayPal for the online bill payment method. The payment options include Venmo, PayPal and Debit/Credit card.  The member doesn’t need to register with PayPal for non-PayPal type payments.  For members using this service there will be a small transaction fee of $5.00, or 5% of the amount due whichever is greater.  

For 2024 Dues, users will need to request to use the online payment if they so desire. We’ll create the PayPal invoice, they’ll get the link to pay and we’ll receive the payment.  As we improve our HOA management software, we are looking to offer user preferences for all communications including online bill payment.  If you want more information, the new website Important Information -> Initiatives -> Online Dues Payment has more details.

Delinquent Dues Legal Recourse 

The Board would prefer to spend time on community events but we need to make sure all members are paying their fair share.  We want to support more events but we need money and volunteers to make these opportunities a reality. As of this newsletter, 65+ members are not up to date on their dues out of our total membership of 325 members.  This is after reminders in August of 2022, invoices in December and reminders again in April 2023.  We are now moving forward with the formal procedures set forth in the BPOA governing documents.  The policies and procedures along with the governing documents from North Carolina, Declaration of Restrictions and Bylaws are available on the website.  Long term delinquency will result in liens on those members as a last resort.

Google Workspace for Business 

In the past, we had to create new email accounts and then try to capture our communications history as we went. With Google Workspace, we’ll have plenty of storage, share knowledge, smooth officer transitions and increase efficiency as we move forward. An organization as old as ours has a LOT of history. The archives will move to the website over time to make the information available for all the members of the BPOA. We’re trying to bring back the memories, and  improve our community knowledge.

Website Improvement

The new and improved website, www.BPOA-Hampstead.org is here.  We’re working hard to give you the things you need.  We’re working hard to improve collaboration of our communications to and from you.

If you have questions, we plan to have answers for you.  Of course, you can connect on Facebook, our website, our officers, our block captains, or other members.  Help us improve the site and improve the community.  Let us know what we can do to improve.  Help us help you.  

Proxy processing

The Board, both past and present, have struggled to meet a quorum for meeting votes.  We hope to change this by providing proxy policies and procedures while reinvigorating the block captains to achieve this goal. We hope to provide incentives but we also understand it is not always possible to attend our General Membership meetings.

If you cannot attend or even think you might not be able to attend, we’d love to have proxies ready, willing and able to provide us with a quorum.  If you change your mind and decide to  attend the meeting then you can cast your vote in person. But if you can’t attend, your proxy document will be on file and your proxy can cast a vote for you and help us meet the quorum requirements.

We’ve included a proxy for the upcoming October 7th, semi-annual General Membership Meeting.  Your information including your membership number is on the top of the page. Please return the Proxy form no later than October 5, 2023 to: BPOA, PO Box 865, Hampstead, NC 28443

Block Captains/Welcome Committee

We have reorganized our neighborhood into 44 small blocks so that each block captain has a small group of neighbors to get to know and stay in occasional contact with.  We have also organized a welcome bag of brochures and information for newly arrived residents. We will rely on a few volunteer block captains to help us assemble these packets for all of the block captains to use to welcome their new neighbors. We have revised our block captain duties to more clearly articulate what we need our block captains to do for our Association. Volunteers are needed for this vital link to our members. Please contact the Welcome Committee at Welcome@BPOA-Hampstead.org

Other News

Social Media Page 

for Belvedere  Plantation Members (owners & renters).

 In 2022, a new social media page was established on FaceBook/META to provide information to all eligible Belvedere Plantation residents in Sections 1 and 2. This Facebook page is private and only open to BPOA members.

To access the page: 

1. Log into Facebook and type in “Belvedere Property Owners Association, Sections 1 

and 2” in the SEARCH box 

2. Click on the JOIN button 

3. Please enter your address here 

4. Receive acceptance notification.

Adopt a Highway:  October 28, 2023

Meet at the Pickleball parking area on Country Club Drive at 8AM to help pick up trash and debris from our section of Country Club Drive.

Historian   

We are fortunate to have a BPOA historian (Kim Acer) who has organized our historical archives. She has an amazing collection of past Board minutes, official correspondence with Pender County officials, members, and local businesses, and photos of our social events dating back almost half a century. We once had about a hundred men and over 80 ladies in our golf clubs, and they played weekly and competed monthly for many years! We once had up to four well attended social events per year for several decades and have photo albums from these events. We would like to digitize these records and upload them to our BPOA portal for all of our members to access. While our interests and styles have greatly evolved over time, we hope that a glimpse of our past will help us appreciate our extensive history and advise how we interact to maximize potential benefits from our BPOA today.

Covenant Reminders 

The Covenants for Belvedere Plantation Sections 1 & 2 contain the rules that keep ours an attractive, desirable neighborhood and maintain property values. Both newcomers and existing home owners should abide by these rules, maintain their property, and respect their neighbors. The covenants apply equally to residents. Abiding by the covenants will make Belvedere a much better place for all. The Covenants can be found on our website www.BPOA-Hampstead.org  A few reminders: 1) No extended vehicular parking on any road, including the easement or shoulder, is permitted in Belvedere Plantation; 2) Boats and utility trailers must be parked even with or behind a residence. Boats and trailers may not be parked curbside; 3) Any construction of fences, sheds, homes, etc. must comply with the covenants. Please submit a plan to the Architectural Review Committee before starting your project; and 4) Please be considerate of your neighbors when parking RVs on your property.