MAY, 2022
www.diamondheadms.org
VOL. 39, NO. 5
From the desk of the President By Ernie Knocloch
B
allots for the June election of Officers and Directors will be mailed to all property own ers in midMay. Most people agree that the easiest way to vote is to complete your ballot and then mail it directly to the auditing firm that counts the votes and determines the outcome. POA staff is NOT involved with this process. The actual voting day is Saturday, June 18,2022 in the Community Center from 9 am – 1 pm. A candidate forum is being planned but the date, loca tion and time have not been finalized as of the deadline for this article. In 2015, the POA re ceived a grant of over $200,000 to dredge the canal bottoms on the south side. At that time, the canal bottoms were owned by the Purcell Corporation, not the POA. The project was sent out for bids. No company submitted a bid, so the grant money remained in the state cof fers but continued to be dedicated to DH. Awhile back the Purcell Corpora tion deeded the canal bot toms to the City of DH. After a hurricane created issues, the POA attempted to move the funds from
dredging to demolishing the severely damaged piers and installing new floating piers. If you’ve ever dealt with grant money, you know that you must explicitly follow the guidelines and there’s usually a lengthy process to complete if you want changes to the dedicated funds. It took months to get the funds moved from dredging to marina repairs, but it finally occurred. The POA then hired an engineer who has dealt with similar grant funding in the past to assist with the pro cess. Bids were sent out and 2 bids were received. The lowest bid was accepted and awarded in December 2021. Work was expected to begin in early January at the latest. Unfortunately, the company, who was awarded the bid, had problems with staffing and materials. As this article is being written, the company is here demol ishing the damaged piers and intends to start in stalling the floating docks as soon as the materials are received. The original grant was not enough to cover the entire cost of materials and installation. The POA GM and several Board members met with the state grant administrator and was able to obtain an additional $100,000 to help with the
expenses. FEMA demanded that the old ship’s store be re moved years ago because it did not meet the specifica tions of their new rules for buildings in flood zones. The POA removed the building and the POA and city could never get a spe cific answer from FEMA as to exactly what type of building they would ap prove. The city then passed a policy, with input from the POA, outlining exact re quirements for a ship’s store. The requirements approved were a 360 square foot building on wheels so it can be moved easily. The building must also have quick disconnect features, removed once a year and checked/certified by a mechanic. The POA now has a portable building which meets those requirements and should be installed shortly. Because of the location, regular restrooms cannot be installed. The POA ordered an ADA compliant restroom trailer that, hopefully, will be here in the JuneJuly time frame. The cost of such a trailer was about $48,000. The gas and diesel pumps at the marina are archaic, to say the least. A major problem is that these
pumps get flooded almost every year due to storm surges. After checking with other local marinas, we determined that the only solution was to install two new pumps. Due to supply chain issues, both pumps are on back order but, once again hopefully, will be installed in early summer. In addi tion, the POA has planned, similar to the Bay St Louis harbor, to have the in stalling company come out and remove the pumps and move them to higher ground when a named
storm is in the Gulf. The agreement is that the com pany must reinstall the pumps within 7 days after the storm passes. This should prevent flooded pumps and the associated costs, in the future. The fuel tank in the marina was recently inspected and repainted. We, your Board, contin ue our due diligence in reviewing and maintaining the amenities, so that costly repairs are minimized in the future. As the weather warms up, everyone is encouraged
Candidate Forum Times and Dates See Page 6.
to enjoy the variety of ex cellent amenities that we have in Diamondhead. The deadline for this article was April 10, 2022, so this presents an update as of that date. The deadline to submit information for the June Diamondhead News is May 10TH.
Diamondhead Memorial Service Under the Oaks at The Club at Diamondhead
Saturday, May 28 Music Begins at 10:30am Ceremony at 11:00am Buffet lunch is available in The Club after the service. Everyone is welcome! Event sponsors are VFW Post 2880, The Club at Diamondhead & Diamondhead Property Owners Association, and the City of Diamondhead.