From The Blog

Annual Meeting: Building Community

Kiawah May Be An Island, But It Does Not Stand Alone

During the 2011 KICA Annual Meeting, outgoing association chair Kelly Bragg stressed the concept of building, growing and fostering a sense of community, not just within Kiawah’s gates, but extending throughout the Sea Islands, Charleston County and beyond. The meeting, held on Sunday, March 13, also featured the election of two new board directors and discussion about the strategic and financial directions of KICA.

Kiawah: An Island Community

During her three years on the board, and especially during her year as board chair, Kelly put an emphasis on building community. Whether involving on-island programs such as Neighbors Helping Neighbors – a program that allows members to help other members-in-need – or large-scale efforts such as Sea Islands Cooking – a program that brings together recipes from around the four sea islands to benefit local area schools – Kelly’s goal was to bring community together.

Additionally, Kelly noted that 2010 saw unprecedented participation at meetings and the largest volunteer base ever for KICA. The four island leadership groups – Town of Kiawah Island, KICA, Kiawah Development Partners and the Kiawah Island Golf Resort – are working together and better communicating among themselves and members/residents on Kiawah Island. Kelly exclaimed, “Our community is thriving.”

Financial Stability

Despite ongoing national economic concerns and an overall slowdown in the real estate market, KICA is experiencing a relative state of financial stability, according to association treasurer Paul Hilstad during the annual Treasurer’s Report at Sunday’s meeting.

During a brief, but detailed, presentation, Paul commented that KICA saw higher-than-budgeted revenues and lower-than-budgeted expenses in 2010. Also, the association, as of year ending 2010, held a cash and investments balance of over $10.8 million.

However, for 2011, expenses are expected to increase – mostly due to additional major repair and replacement projects slated for the year – while revenues will remain roughly the same. Paul noted that KICA continues to be very strong financially, and even received an unqualified or “clean” report from its financial auditors. This is the best type of report a company may receive from an external auditor. Also

KICA did not receive a management letter, which is a letter that represents the auditors concerns and suggestions noted during the audit. This is great news for KICA and further shows the financial stability of the association.

Kiawah is Special

For the past several years, the KICA board has focused a majority of its attention on strategic planning and this year is no different. Outgoing chair of the Strategic Planning Committee, Jim Williams, spoke briefly on some new developments in strategic planning for 2011. Jim’s main message to members was simply “read the Strategic Plan.”

The new plan, which was approved at the board’s March 7 meeting, focuses on member understanding, leadership in the community and better communication between KICA and the membership. The approved plan can be viewed on the KICA website at www.kica.us. For more information on changes in the plan, please see the article Strategic Planning: Under the Microscope from the March 2010 Digest.

New Board Officers Elected
Following the annual meeting, board officers were elected for 2011-2012.

The new officers are:
• Chair: Craig Weaver
• Vice-Chair: Marilyn Olson
• Secretary: Joan Avioli
• Treasurer: John V. Connolly