WEST GALVESTON ISLAND PROPERTY OWNER'S ASSOCIATION

MINUTES OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING

Jerry Mohn, President, called the Board of Directors meeting for the West Galveston Island POA to order at 9:00 a.m. Directors making up the quorum were Jerry Mohn, Doug Eibsen - Terramar Beach, Sidney McClendon – Pirates Beach, Tom Booth - Condominiums, Peggy Zahler - Spanish Grant Beach, Bill Moll - Spanish Grant Bay, Rick Heiberg - Pointe San Luis. Susan Gonzales – CKM Property Management was also in attendance and recording secretary.

Jerry Mohn acknowledged Al Choate - Navigation District Commissioner and Candidate for County Commissioner, Pct 2; Eddie Janek, Jr., – Candidate County Commissioner Pct 2; Brian Lamb- Candidate for County Commissioner, Pct 2; and, Robert Cheek – Candidate for County Commissioner Pct 2. Chuck Kaufman running for probate court; Pete Nano running for Justice of the Peace, Precinct 1; John Grady running for Judge in County Court 2; and, Dick McCaully running for District 6 City Council Member.

Jerry Mohn also introduced Bill Hynek on the Galveston Parks Board of Trustees; Navella Cole - Legislative Aide for Congressman Ron Paul; Corporate sponsors Peggy Zahler with -Johnson Space Center Credit Union and Vic Pierson President of Moody National Bank-Corporate Sponsor as well as the Mayor of Jamaica Beach.

There are seven candidates for the County Commissioner, Precinct 2 position and the WGIPOA will have a question and answer forum for all candidates at the February 18 meeting. Elections are March 7 and you must file to vote by February 6, 2006.

Minutes: The minutes had previously been sent to the Board for review. Motions by Peggy Zahler, second by Tom Booth, the minutes of December 17, 2005 were approved by unanimous vote with the following resolution:

RESOLVED THAT, the Board approved the December 17, 2005, minutes as presented.

Treasurers Report: The Treasurers report was not available but the report was Emailed after the meeting to all Board members and it was approved. Cash on hand was $15,861 and an accounts payable for $1000 to Texas A & M Galveston for Seaweed Study.

JACKIE COLE REPORT

The Galveston City Council passed a tax freeze on Elderly and disabled. Vic Pierson is now on the CAD Board. Next Thursday voting on the Bond election will occur, $28 million for water & sewer projects, major portion on the west end of the island to include design work on the entire west end. Work will start in approximately two (2) weeks.

There will be a scooping meeting by TexDot for a bridge to Bolivar on February 22, 2006 between 6:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. at the Galveston Convention Center. The cost to run the ferry is $12 million per year. The cost of the bridge is estimated to be $240 million and it will be a toll bridge. The purpose of the bridge is to alleviate traffic on I-10.

Sidney McClendon stated that there are concerns that TexDot is spending $240 million on a bridge when the needs of the west end have not been met such as an adequate evacuation route on FM 3005. The Board held general discussion on the bridge issue and the west end needs.

Motion Doug Eibsen and seconded by Sidney McClendon, the Board by unanimous vote adopted the following resolution.

RESOLVED THAT, the Board has opposition to the construction of the Bolivar Bridge if the resources of TexDot that could be allocated to FM3005 and FM87 are being diverted to the bridge project.

PROGRAM: NORTH DEER ISLAND; where all those water birds come from! "Why the water birds, pelicans, sea gulls, ducks, etc, all congregate there and what we need to do to continue to protect them. Jerry Mohn introduced the guest speaker Winnie Burkett, Sanctuary Manager of the Houston Audubon Society.

We have a lot of birds because we provide food and a place to nest. North Deer Island, a 7.5-acre island co-owned by Houston and Texas Audubon, is the most productive colonial water bird island in Galveston Bay. 20-40,000 pairs of birds of 17 species nest here. North Deer is the largest natural island left in Galveston Bay. One-third of the island is uplands, covered by really interesting South Texas vegetation, and two-thirds of the island is a beautiful, productive salt marsh.

The nesting season usually starts in January and February. The Great Blue Heron nest first because of their size, the next to nest are the Neotropic Cormorant (a small delicate-looking cormorant of southern lagoons and marshes; black glossed with olive, with orange throat pouch narrowly bordered with white.), the Grady Gannets (adult white with black wing tips; head tinged with orange-buff. Great Egrets with long pointed tail wings nest at the end of February or first part of March. In April, the nest begins for Snowy Egrets (small, white heron with a slender black bill, black legs, and yellow feet. In breeding season, it has long lacy plumes on its head, neck, and back. Immature bird has a yellow stripe up back of leg). Making nests in trees. Herons that nest in low shrubs are the small Blue Herons and the Tricolored Herons (a slender gray-blue heron with rufous neck and white belly). Reddish Egret Heron is a tropical Heron and nest as far north as Louisiana. They have a red form and a white form. They do not nest together but do breed together. Night Heron and Black Herons nest in Dickinson over pools, cars, etc.

The Brown Pelicans are large stocky birds with a dark brown body and long flat bill. Only non-white pelican in the world. Head whitish in adults, dark brown on hind neck during breeding season. Young birds have dark brown head, whitish bellies. The Brown Pelican’s were in trouble in the 1950’s due to the use of DDT. DDT thinned their eggshells. Since stopping the use of DDT the population has increased and in 1991 and they began to nest in Galveston. The last count was 13000 nests on the island. The largest colony is on North Deer Island.

The White Ibis (adult white with black wing tips and usually hidden at rest); bare face and down-curved bill are red; legs red in breeding season, otherwise slate-gray. They can eat salt and fresh water invertebrates, but they have to feed their young fresh water invertebrates otherwise it will stunt the young birds growth. The White Ibis nest in various places including on cactus and in bushes. Terns come in May. There are Caspian Terns, Royal Terns, and Forester Terns, who nest on debris in marshes. Laughing Gulls are very adaptable birds and there are 5000 pairs on the island.

The active number of nests and the species is as follows: Brown Pelican- 1306, Neotropic Cormorant-150 post nesting, Great Blue Heron-36, Great Egret-32, Snowy Egret-25, Little Blue Heron-4, Reddish Egret-8, Cattle Egret-24, Black Night Heron-1, White Ibis-2000, White-faced ibis-15, Roseate Spoonbill-25 post nesting, Laughing Gull- 3500, and Royal Tern-60

At the turn of the century Herons were declining due to feathers being used in ladies' hats. A group of ladies in New York met to make a change.

The North Bay has changed drastically over time. When the early settlers came across Galveston Bay, it was very clear and shallow with many islands. There were three Deer Islands – a North, South, and Middle Deer Island. There were many islands previously, which have disappeared. The cause of the change has to do with the construction of the ship channel; ships wave action, dredging out the fossil oyster shells to build roads and pulling out ground water. By pulling ground water out for drinking the bottom of the bay sand and the islands disappeared.

In 1930 Tiki Island was all marsh. Today North Deer Islands has lost land due to subsidence. The Intercoastal Canal impacts North Deer from wakes made by ships. When tropical storm Francis took 40 feet of the marshy shoreline in 1998, we knew there was a problem. In 1997 a simple project was set up to determine the erosion rate on the rest of the island. What we learned was that much of the island was eroding at a rate of five feet a year. Prompted by Texas Audubon and the Houston Audubon Society, the Texas General Land Office (TGLO) initiated a program to address erosion, called the "Protection and Restoration of North Deer Island" project. Woody Woodrow and Jamie Schubert of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) assumed leadership of the project, which is divided into two phases. Each phase addresses erosion on one-half of the island. Almost miraculously, $900,000 was put together to build Phase I, which was completed in the spring of 2003. This project created a low breakwater offshore on the south side of the island, cutting down the wave energy and protecting the marsh. It is working well. Sea grass is also returning to the area and areas have grown out 6 to 8 feet.

Now we need funding for Phase II, which will construct a revetment that will protect the north side of the island adjacent to the Intracoastal Waterway. Projects like these are expensive since they are designed to last a long time. The project cost is $1.4 million and $1,200,000 has been raised to date. It is critical to Galveston Bay birds that North Deer Island be protected so nesting habitat is available in the future. Houston Audubon is helping to look for new funding partners. Funding has come from TPWD, TGLO, Reliant Energy, Galveston Bay Estuary Program, Audubon Texas, USFWS Coastal Program and the National Coastal Wetland Conservation Program.

Sandhill Cranes will be lost due to development and not hunting. We need to protect the habitat on Galveston Island.

WGIPOA ANNUAL MEETING

Next month is the annual members meeting for WGIPOA. Peggy Zahler is the nominating committee. Associations whose terms are expiring are Terramar, Spanish Grant Bay and Condominiums. The Committee nominates Terramar, Spanish Grand Bay and Condominiums to run in the election for three (3) year terms.

TERRMAR BEACH: Doug Eibsen stated that Terramar has protested a dredge permit. The WGIPOA, Jackie Cole and other property owner associations requested the COE to deny the permit.

CEPRA CYCLE II – HURRICANE RITA

FEMA will only accept surveyed data for any project reimbursement. They will not accept LIDAR surveys. Surveys have been taken from the end of the Seawall to 13 mile Road to monitor the sand socks. Subdivisions that lost CEPRA II beach sand in these areas will qualify for reimbursement from FEMA to replace the material. The GLO is preparing the applications.

CEPRA CYCLE IV PGS: As a result of Hurricane Rita, the GLO has filed a FEMA hazardous mitigation grant for dune reconstruction for subdivisions that submitted a PGS (Project Goal Summary) for CYCLE IV CEPRA. The areas with sand socks do not qualify.

CEPRA CYCLE IV EMERGENCY PROJECT FUNDING

CEPRA IV funding started September 1, 2006 and ends August 31, 2007. If funds are not used for projects, they can be diverted. To go after these funds, it will be necessary to file an emergency PGS for walkovers, sand nourishment, and dune reconstruction by the summer.  

ENERGY BILL

$60 million will come to Texas for the next four (4) years. 65% goes to the State and the balance to coastal areas. WGIPOA requested the Governor for GLO administer the funds. The Coastal Coordination Council is trying to take over the role of administering the funds. A motion was made at this meeting by Jerry Patterson but he Chair refused to recognize the motion.

GARM: For any rental property problems, please call GARM at: 409-682-3603

There being no further business to come before the Board the meeting was adjourned at 11:30 a.m.