From The Blog

Highlights from the October 2024 Board Meeting

The board met on Monday, Oct. 7 to hear reports from operations, finance, the ARB Work Group, the Amenities Experience Committee, discuss the draft KICA Covenant amendments, vote to approve a revised Reserve Fund Policy, and hear comments from community members.

Trust Property Owners’ Eligibility to Serve on the Board

Board chair Kevin Donlon opened the meeting with a statement from the board.

“We requested the opinion of KICA’s legal counsel Rosen Hagood regarding a question that was recently raised as to whether those owners or members in the community who own their property through trusts, rather than individually, are eligible to serve on the KICA’s board of directors. Our Legal counsel confirmed that such owners that are trustees are members of the association and are eligible to serve as a director, now or in the future …”

Hear the full statement here.

Operations

Chief operating officer Shannon White reminded members that the fall paving project, which impacts 15 neighborhood roads, is underway. As of Friday, Oct. 4, six roads have been repaved. The upper portion of Surfsong Road is now being milled and replaced.

KICA is currently interviewing for the open Director of Operations position and three very qualified candidates will progress to a second round of interviews the week of Oct. 13.

The association will soon seek two board of directors candidates to run for the winter 2025 annual directors election. The application for board service will open the week of Oct. 21 and close the week of Nov. 4. The date of record for the election is expected to be Dec. 11, which means owners as of that date will be eligible to vote Jan. 13 through Feb. 13, 2025.

Board members Cherie and Paul encouraged members to consider board service and to also prompt conversations with neighbors who should consider running for election.

Finance

Treasurer Lisa Mascolo reported the Finance Committee met on Sept. 26; they discussed 2025 budget assumptions, driving factors, and the budget timeline and made plans to review and update the Financial Controls Manual (FCM). A subcommittee of the Finance Committee will review and update the FCM, which hasn’t been updated in about five years, and hopes to present revisions for board approval at the March meeting. On Oct. 17, the Finance Committee will review and share input on the first draft of the 2025 KICA budget; revisions will be made and the committee will provide a final review of the draft budget on Oct. 31. These meetings are open to the public. Refinements will be made in preparation for the board’s review at an internal budget workshop and the final draft will be presented at the board’s Nov. 18 public meeting for approval.

The board discussed a revised Reserve Fund Policy, which includes two changes. The revised policy increases the reserve (infrastructure, facilities and other assets) funding level which was formerly “up to 50%” funded, but will now be “50-100%” funded. The revised policy will use the US Producer Price Index (PPI) for construction instead of the prior Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation rate. The Finance Committee unanimously approved these changes and recommended that KICA publishes the Reserve Fund Overview, the Reserve Fund Policy, and the full Reserve Study. The board voted to approve the Finance Committee’s recommendations and the revised Reserve Fund Policy.

KICA/TOKI ARB Work Group

Chair Kevin Donlon explained that the ARB Work Group has been meeting regularly for the last six months and is approaching completion of their Phase 3 Report, which outlines a transition plan for ARB responsibilities to KICA. The group has solicited feedback from the current ARB to hear their ideas on the transition plan. The draft report will be shared with the community in early November, and a community meeting will be held to listen to members’ perspectives on the plan. The group hopes to finalize the report by the end of November.

Amenities Experience Committee

Conceptual plans for a paddlesports storage structure and landscaping at the Eagle Point Boat Launch are currently being reviewed by the ARB. On Sept. 18, Cherie Gallagher, chair of the Amenities Experience Committee, met with Preserve neighborhood members to hear concerns regarding traffic and security resulting from the potential for increased use of the Eagle Point Boat Launch.

The committee feels that with our limited land for amenities, our current land and amenities should be maximized.

At the Sandcastle, the committee met with the architect for the building’s 2018 renovation and a key concern is whether expansion of the building would require an expansion of parking. Therefore, the architect has been charged with looking for parking solutions, before the discussion of a building expansion progresses.

At the Sandcastle’s Oceanview Adult Pool, the committee is looking at solutions to expand lounge chair seating. One idea being considered is to use artificial turf in the areas that are currently grass so that chairs can be set on the turf (and it won’t die, like grass could).

The committee is also exploring options for acquiring additional land for amenities. Cherie shared a reminder that land only comes at a cost, so the community’s desire for additional or expanded amenities must be balanced with a willingness to pay for those amenities.

KICA Covenant Amendments

Four covenant amendments are drafted and have been meticulously refined with member input through several revisions since April. Most recently the drafts were shared with the community on Sept. 27. Governance Task Force chair Paul Hennessy noted that the task force is still reviewing the architectural review authority amendment to ensure that the language drafted for the KICA Covenants doesn’t conflict with Kiawah’s General Covenants, and the draft amendment is being shared with the TOKI/KICA ARB Work Group to reflect on the amendment and provide feedback to ensure it aligns with transition plans. The amendments have been reviewed by legal counsel throughout the development process, but the task force is working to wrap up final questions or areas requiring additional legal review.

Paul is optimistic that the amendments will be presented to the community and board for final review in advance of the Nov. 18 board meeting. It is anticipated that the board will vote to recommend the amendments to the community and a community vote will take place in correlation with the annual director election in winter 2025.

Related to this conversation, board chair Kevin Donlon commented earlier in the meeting that, “… the board has also heard the request that the KICA Covenants need a comprehensive review to remove ambiguity, to modernize language and to include best governance practices. This is often referred to as Phase 2. This action has been contemplated by the Governance Task Force since early this year. However, a full rewrite should be thoughtfully considered over time as the covenants are a core governance document for our community. The board believes that we can solve time-sensitive matters such as the E-member, ARB transition and enforcement rights through amendments to our current KICA Covenants. We anticipate reviewing in the near term a formal proposal and have a board mandate for a comprehensive review of the association covenants.”

Full Meeting

To watch or listen to the meeting in its entirety, visit KICA’s YouTube channel by clicking here. Expand the video description to see agenda items. Click the item to skip directly to the video segment.

Your Representatives

The KICA board is made up of six community member directors (serving three-year terms) and one director appointed by the developer, Kiawah Partners. Each winter, KICA conducts an annual election to fill any open seats, and the newly elected directors begin their term at the KICA annual meeting, typically in March.

Your directors may be contacted at [email protected] or you can contact individual board members at their KICA email address. See and contact each of them here: https://kica.us/about/board-committees/.