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December 2015

OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER

CAPE CARANCAHUA PROPERTY OWNERS’ ASSOCIATION

Board of Directors Craig Brooks Gonda Moncada Charles Taylor Marie Weakley Dick Wilkinson

Come one, come all! The Capers and CCPOA invite you to join your neighbors for a

feast full of food, fun, and friends.

The Capers will provide prime rib and ham as well as wine, tea, and water.

Everyone is encouraged to bring an appetizer, side dish, salad, or dessert. If you’re

not a cook, don’t worry – come anyway because there’s more than enough for all!

Saturday, December 5 at the Community Center

Cocktails at 5:00 p.m. with dinner to follow

Welcome 2016 ! Join your friends and neighbors for a fun

New Year’s Eve Party and Dance. 8 p.m. at the Community Center

Bring your favorite adult beverage and hors d’oeuvres. We’ll provide the music.

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What on earth is that??

You have every right to wonder because you can hardly tell it’s a golf

cart. But…. that’s what has been reported driving at night with no lights.

Please protect yourself, your children,

and others in the Cape by never driving at night unless you have

adequate lights on your vehicle. We are fortunate to be able to enjoy the

luxury of driving golf carts while we enjoy the beverage of our choice and

taking the opportunity to teach our children to drive without breaking the

law. Let’s all help keep that special privilege. Don’t forget to get a one-

time registration number at the office. It’s just $10 and may be the only way

we can contact you in the event of an accident.

Thanksgiving Schedule: Nov. 25 – CCPOA Office closed at noon

Nov. 26 – CCPOA Office closed all day Nov. 27 & 28 – CCPOA Office open Nov. 26 & 27 - CCWSC Office closed

No ACC Meeting on November 26 December 3 – CCWSC Board Meeting, 6:00 p.m.

at the Water Department Office ADULT DINNER PARTY December 5 – Everyone welcome! 5 p.m. at

the Community Center December 9 – CCPOA Board Meeting, 6:00 p.m.

at the Community Center December 10 – ACC Meeting, 9 a.m. at the

Meeting Room Holiday Schedule:

No ACC Meeting on December 24

December 24 & 25 – Both CCPOA and CCWSC Offices closed

December 26 – CCPOA office open December 31– CCPOA Office closed at noon December 31 – NEW YEAR’S EVE PARTY & DANCE

8 p.m. at the Community Center January 1 – Both CCPOA & CCWSC Offices closed

January 2 – CCPOA office open January 13 – CCPOA Board Meeting, 6 p.m. January 14 – ACC Meeting at 9 a.m. at the

Meeting Room January 28 - ACC Meeting at 9 a.m. at the

Meeting Room February 11 - ACC Meeting at 9 a.m. at the Meeting Room

February 13 – Pot Luck Dinner 5 p.m.at the Community Center

February 14 – CCPOA Board Meeting, 1 p.m. at Community Center February 14 – Quarterly CCPOA Property Owners’

Meeting 2 p.m. at the Community Center February 25 - ACC Meeting at 9 a.m. at the

Meeting Room

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2016 Board Elections

The following two-year terms of office will expire

on March 13, 2016: Position 3 – Craig Brooks

Position 5 – Gonda Moncada

Any property owner wishing to run for any of these positions needs to obtain the official filing form from the office, per

CCPOA bylaws copied below: Article V, Section 3 (d)

Any property owner wishing to run for the

CCPOA Board of Directors shall present to the

Election Committee or the Cape Carancahua

office, in a sealed envelope, a brief biography of

qualifications, along with the position for which

said property owner wishes to run, before the

deadline posted at bulletin boards and in the

CCPOA office. The outside of the sealed envelope

shall show the date and time it was submitted and

the property owner’s signature. The Election

Committee or CCPOA office personnel will issue

a receipt for same.

Ballots will be mailed to all property owners

between ten and sixty days prior to the election on March 13, 2016.

The deadline to file paperwork to run for

office is January 9, 2016, at 4:00 p.m.

A very big “Thank You“ to all the generous

volunteers who give of their time and talents

to make the Cape a better place. Special

thanks to Board Member Craig Brooks who

spent untold hours procuring the material and

building the extremely nice stall dividers in

the restrooms at the Community Center.

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DID

YOU

KNOW….

tree limbs touching power lines are the

responsibility of the property owner, not a job for AEP?

you should drive on the side of gravel roads and in the middle of paved roads

to prolong their usable surfaces? Cape taxes went up over $4000 from

2014 to 2015? The 2016 budget is being adjusted accordingly.

Sad Farewell

Cape residents were saddened to learn of the

deaths of three of our neighbors.

Joe Stavnicky – October 2, 2015

George Seaman – October 14, 2015

Laddie Svatek – November 10, 2015

Sheriff’s Sale – Foreclosed Lots

The following Cape Carancahua

properties will be auctioned by Jackson County Sheriff Andy

Lauderback from the steps of the Jackson County courthouse

starting at 10 a.m. on Dec. 1, 2016:

Lot # Sect. Street Min. $$_ 1137 3 Buckskin $1300

1274/1275 3 Indigo $3000 1462 4 Meadowlark $1900

1467 4 Meadowlark $1900 1527 4 Bayshore $1000

Stop by the office to see a map showing

the exact locations.

For information, contact Linebarger

Goggan Blair & Sampson, LLP at 713-844-3576. Payment must be made

in cash or by cashier’s check. All sales are final.

NEW BOARD MEMBER

Dick Wilkinson

The Board of Directors is pleased to

announce the appointment of Richard “Dick”

Wilkinson to serve the remainder of the term of

Position 4 held by Joe Wyatt. Dick took the

Cape oath of office at the November quarterly

property owners’ meeting

We were sorry to see Joe leave and we wish

him well with upcoming surgical procedures.

Dick’s 27 years’ experience with the Texas

Department of Transportation as project manager

overseeing state highway contracts makes him

the ideal person to take over Cape maintenance.

Dick and his wife Barbara have lived in the

Cape only a short time, but they are eager and

enthusiastic about helping make the Cape an

even nicer place than it already is.

JACKSON COUNTY REPUBLICANS

PRIMARY ELECTION County Chairs can file until December

13, 2015. County Offices can file until December 14, 2015. Forms are

available in the County Clerk’s office

and completed forms can be returned there. Do no wait until the last

minute, as all applications must be reviewed.

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WHOLE LOTTA ROAD WORK GOIN’ ON!

After numerous weather and material availability delays, road work to re-surface Stovall has been completed. AND all the Cape’s gravel roads have been graded and tons of gravel added where needed. This process will be scheduled three times each year to maintain the gravel roads in good conditions.

LOOSE PETS -- WHAT TO DO?? Even though Cape regulations are clear that pets are not allowed to run loose, many property owners ignore the rule. The Board can address the issue only if they know the name or address of the property owner whose pet violates this rule. If you know the name of someone who allows a pet to roam free, please put the information in writing so the Board can raise the issue with the property owner and assess non-compliance fees if the violation continues.

CARANCAHUA COMMUNITY VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPARTMENT

Department Activity and Emergency Responses: Your Fire Department is happy to report a bit of a slow down on our response rate. We may not beat last year after all (that's a good thing).

Last year we had 87 total, and this year so far we have had 76. We're hoping for a very safe and quiet Holiday Season! We're

there if you need us, but we hope that you won't need us.

Department News: We learned that we were awarded a $4,000 grant to improve our

training library. This grant from the Texas Forest Service has allowed us to purchase a digital projector for training DVDs, and a large number of fire and rescue training videos. All this

will help us stay trained and be better prepared to help out when needed. CCVFD and the other Fire Departments in Jackson County have grouped together to all use the eDispatch system for paging/emergency message backup, starting this December. CCVFD has been

using this system for about four years, and we have found it very useful in providing better emergency services. Grouping with the other Departments will also result in cutting our costs.

We will have our annual dinner here in the Cape at the Community Center in early December.

This is our annual recap of the year, and a thank-you to our Members for all the hours of hard work they give to the community we serve.

Safety Stuff: If you have an emergency, please call 9-1-1 first! Feel free to call anyone on the Department afterward, if you want, but call 9-1-1 first. Calling an individual actually

slows down the general response to your emergency, which isn't good. Make sure you give the Dispatcher a good address, and let them know you are in the Cape. If there is someone at the emergency that can do it (and it's safe to do so), have them go to the end of your

driveway to flag down the first emergency vehicle - it's a big help. Be sure to put up a visible, reflective 9-1-1 address sign so that we can find you. You can

pick up your free sign at the Cape Office or from the Fire Department or just give me a call and I'll even bring it to you.

2016 Fund Raiser: We are continuing to plan for a Fund Raiser which will be the same day as the Cape Garage Sale. More details on that as we figure them out.

Be safe, Craig Brooks, Chief, CCVFD

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The President’s Thanksgiving Report

It was difficult to start this article because there is so much

going on in the world that is so very sad that it feels wrong to experience joy and give thanks. On the other hand, being sad is not going to change anything, so what to do? At our level, the only

thing that we can do to bring about change is to express our feelings, remain brave, look out for our neighbors, respect each

other’s opinions, vote for the people you feel are the best leaders to guide us and, if religious, pray.

In the meantime, as a community,

we have so much for which to be thankful and joyful:

The moon over the water for the East Enders The sun dipping in the water for the West Enders

This gorgeous weather we have been experiencing lately

The Capers who have been organizing potluck dinners, bake sales, and hay rides Our neighbors who have been volunteering to tackle some of our challenges

New neighbors and some we have known a long time Parents and grandparents welcoming new life into the world and sharing it on Facebook

A new coat of paint on our office

Remember if you do not like the color, it will grow on you

Some administrative issues – With the assistance of our attorney, we are writing some new regulations regarding the use of golf carts, ATVs and other motorized vehicles and we are also

writing pet policy. Of course we will publish these new regulations prior to implementation. We wish our outgoing maintenance director Mr. Wyatt a speedy recovery and during our last

meeting we welcomed our new board member Mr. Wilkinson who is doing a fantastic job – see! Yet another thing to be thankful about .

From all of us on the board we wish you and yours a very thankful and joyous Thanksgiving

Gonda

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Cape Carancahua Water Supply Corporation

would like to take a few minutes of your time to

inform you about what has been going on and

what to expect in the coming year.

Two years ago, TCEQ (Texas Commission on

Environmental Quality) mandated that all metal

parts involving installations or repairs to water

meter tie-ins be done using all brass components.

This ruling has caused a large increase in cost to

CCWSC, 30 to 50% both to install new meters and

to repair existing ones.

On September 1, 2015, CCWSC had to

increase charges for a new water tap installation

from $600 to $1200 because of the cost increase

for supplies. Note that this includes meters and all

extra fittings along with manpower and

equipment.

We now have 407 total water meters in the

Cape, up from 393 meters in 2010. And we’re now

faced with another problem. Our allotment of

meters has surpassed TCEQ’s allowable of 375

meters for our water system.

We were able to get a variance from TCEQ that

raised our allowable meter count to 412. In order

to get this increase, we had to start plans on

expanding our present water capacity from 7500

gallons pressurized to 12,500, allowing us to

increase to 500 meters in the future, and to 625

with a fourth booster pump when needed.

We have started working with Mercer

Engineering out of Edna to come up with a

projected cost to upgrade our facilities. The

projected cost is $334,687. You are welcome to

come to the office and see the breakdown of the

planned expansion.

Needless to say we don’t have the funding to

accomplish this project at this time. It will have to

be done in stages. In order to obtain our goal

of meeting state requirements, our charges for

water usage will have to go up. The CCWSC has

been able to maintain a flat line on income versus

monthly expenditures that I have witnessed during

my two years on the board. I hope you understand

why on January 1, 2016, water rates will increase

as follows:

Basic rate charge from $27 to $37

Variable rate per thousand gallons used:

0-4,000gallons = 5.75

0-8,000 gallons = 6.25

0-12,000 gallons = 6.75

0-16,000 gallons = 7.25

0-16,000 plus gallons = 7.75

Believe it or not, with the new increases,

CCWSC is still well below the price that property

owners of surrounding areas pay to their water

providing systems.

If the needed improvements are not met, then

the CCWSC runs the risk of falling under TCEQ’s

control, meaning the possibility of being taken

over by M.U.D (Municipal Utility District). We

don’t want this to happen to us. Look at what’s

happened to Port O’Connor’s system. It fell into

the hands of M.U.D., and now each of its property

owners is paying a base charge above $100 per

meter, per month.

The CCWSC wants you, the property owners,

to be fully informed concerning the decisions that

we have had to make due to the new mandates

TCEQ has required of us. And please be aware

that all five board members live in the Cape and

are faced with the upcoming increases along with

each and every one of you.

Joe Wyatt, President

Cape Carancahua Water Supply Corporation