JANUARY 202 4
By Ernie Knobloch
President’s Report FOR JANUARY 2024
I regret to inform you that Jerry Gillen (Vice President) and I (President) are resigning from the POA Board at 11:59 pm on December 31, 2023. While we’ve enjoyed serving the membership these last 3.5 years on the Board, medical issues now demand our full attention. Section 4.10 of the POA bylaws state “…. the Board of Directors may appoint a successor to fill the unexpired term of such unexpired term is for twenty -four (24) months or less.” Since the next election is in June 2024, the Board will fill these vacancies. If you have paid your yearly dues in full for 2024 and have your ID card from 2023, bring it to the POA office or the concierge desk in the Club to have it “punched” for 2024. Starting February 1st, if your card is punched with 2024, your server will automatically know that you receive the discount on whatever you purchase. If not punched with 2024, the server is required to verify that you’re a member in good standing to receive the discount. When driving on
Kapalama, you will see a dirt road next to Kapalama Cove. You may be interested to know that this road leads to an assisted living facility that’s under construction. According to the Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO), MPO’s are established by federal law and are found in areas of more than 50,000 people. Comprised of representatives from local, state, and federal agencies, they are responsible for developing the long-range transportation planning process. The MS Gulf Coast MPO recently published the average traffic count for our area. The average traffic count for vehicles passing the DH entrance/ exit is 52,000 per day. In addition, the local traffic counts include Golf Club Drive (6,300), turning from Kapalama South (4,200) and turning south off I-10 (4,200). My guess is that this last number is influenced by having the gate closed at times which requires vehicles to use the roundabout to reach DH North. During the recent annual meeting of Coast Electric company, a DH resident, Paul Guichet, was elected as a director on the board.
www.diamondheadms.org VOL. 41, NO. 01
All of us who use Coast Electric were scheduled to receive capital credits in December-January since Coast Electric is a not-forprofit organization. Each member is allocated capital credits based upon how much energy they obtain from Coast Electric. The cost of materials and power generation have increased causing an increase of around 5%, starting January 1, 2024, on our electric bills. A recent newspaper article stated that the average home value in DH is $259,332, an increase of 0.3% from last year and 51.6% over the last five years. The five- year increase is significant. In addition, out of our approximately 9,500 residents, 189 were born outside the US. DH is a unique community with an estimated $30 million in amenities. I’m not aware of any other community this size that has all the amenities that we have here. If amenities close, property values WILL GO DOWN ACCORDING TO THE ASSESSOR. If x number of property owners pay dues to maintain the amenities, that means x is paying to keep the property values
of ALL from declining. It is really a shame that a few property owners expect the amenities to be kept up by other owners and seem unwilling to pay their fair share. They don’t seem to realize that they will be affected, also, if amenities start to close. Hopefully,
ALL property owners will realize this and continue to pay dues until the MS Supreme Court makes a definitive decision as to how to proceed in our situation. This is, also, essen-
• See PRESIDENT PAGE 3