For those who may not have received it or have not yet read it, the following January newsletter was received from St Francis Bay Residents Association

Hi Folks                                                                                                                                           January 2016

As you are only too aware our infrastructure in St Francis Bay has been in serious decline over the past decade. Our river is silted up, the spit and beach are badly eroded, our roads are worn out, our stormwater drains are overgrown and useless, and our sewerage service is unreliable. We decided to formulate a 5 year plan to save our infrastructure. The proposal is available on the SFBRA website (www.sfbresdents.org). We presented our proposal to residents and property owners at two public meetings held on 25^th November (attended by about 80 people), and again on 17^th December at our AGM (attended by some 180 people). We also gave the presentation at a meeting specifically organised for all Estate Agents operating in St Francis Bay.

The proposal was given overwhelming support, by a show of hands, by those present at these meetings. We have also received a lot of feedback following these meetings which has been very helpful.

At the St Francis Bay Residents Association’s AGM, Nigel Aitken (Chairman), presented his report on the achievements and issues addressed during 2015 and thanked his Committee for their support. He announced his retirement from the Committee together with all of his Committee members, as they had all completed two or more years on the Committee. As part of the Proposal presented at the AGM the new Committee would consist of Wayne Furphy, Chris Gray, the Chairman of the Riparian Association (to be elected at the January meeting of the Riparians), Norman Dyer (Chairman of the Joint River Committee), David Truter and Louis van der Merwe. Further Committee members will be co-opted onto the Committee in due course. The new Chairman of the SFBRA will be elected at the January Committee meeting. Nigel and his Committee have all expressed their full support for the Proposal presented at the AGM and handed over responsibility for the SFBRA to the incoming Committee.

The immediate focus of the new Committee is to :

1. Raise as much of the funding as possible from donations.
2. Complete the registration and set up of the Schedule 1 company which will be required to manage all monies received and spent on fixing our infrastructure.
3. Start the process of setting up a Self-Improvement District (SID) structure for St Francis together with the Municipality to enable us to raise funds (via a levy) on an ongoing basis to maintain our infrastructure (and thus avoiding an onerous levy).
4. Organising a ballot to approve the SID.
5. Engage with both DEDEAT and Oceans to Coast departments to get the approval of Basic Assessment report (BAR) so we can start work on the emergency repairs to the beach and spit.
6. Draw up the detailed plans for fixing the roads and stormwater drains.

We appeal to all property owners in the greater St Francis Bay area to donate whatever you can afford the help us fix the infrastructure of our town. Generous donations have already been committed by a group of Property Owners wanting to save our infrastructure. The more that is donated the less we have to rely on a levy in the future. Your generosity is very welcome!

DONATIONS FOR FIXING OF THE ROADS; SPIT/BEACH ETC

Bank:                          ABSA Humansdorp

Account name:             Moore Stephens Trust
Account number:         1940 141 962
Branch code:                632-005 or 334-115

Reference to use:         The  Erf No. and the name of the entity to which the payment relates

Please email a bank proof of payment to contact@sfbresidents.org

All of the above requires a strong Residents Association and we urge all property owners and residents to become members by paying their annual subscription.

ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION

2016 annual subscription is R450.00 or R300.00 for pensioners.  Our subscription year runs from 1st October to the 30th September. 

Bank:   Standard Bank Humansdorp
Account name: St Francis Bay Residents Association
Account number:         08 249 9276

Branch code:    050015

Reference to use:         Please quote your name and Erf. No. as reference

Best regards

Wayne Furphy
(Committee Member)