Akumal Council General Meeting. Monday, February 21, 2011

The Q1FY2011 General Assembly Meeting of the Akumal Council was held at CEA on Monday, February 21, 2011, starting at 10:00.

On February 23, 2011, David Poor, Secretary of the Akumal Council, published an e-mail message on the proceedings of the meeting, and they are being published here.  There are no "Notes" from The Akumalian Staff.

The Akumal Council meeting was well attended with about 25 people.  Based on the meeting, there are three possible directions for the Akumal Council.  Please read the specifics below and then return this e-mail showing your personal preference here:

 1.      I support continuing the council in its current mode: _____
      (This was supported by a minority of those present.)

 2.      I support suspending all fiscal operations of the council: ___
       (This was supported by a large majority of those present.)

1. 3.      I support permanently disbanding the council _____

This option received no direct support.)

 MEETING NOTES

The meeting began with short reports on programs:

RACCOON RELOCATION: Pablo Diaz gave a report on the raccoon relocation program which resulted in 109 raccoons being relocated.  There was discussion on the importance of removing human debris as food sources for wild animals as the primary vehicle to keep the population to a natural level.

ENTRANCE BEAUTIFICATION: Marcy Essy reported that main entrance to Akumal now looks good thanks to the efforts of the gardener and donations of plants and flowers from multiple sources.

PARKING LOT: David Poor reported on the initial attempt to implement a program for the main Akumal parking lot and indicated that people are working on alternative procedure to re-establish the administration, maintenance, and security of the parking lot as a self-sustaining project.

Editor's Note: It was reported that fees are NOT being charged at the parking lot.

SECURITY: Laura Bush reported on the security program. While there are no hard figures, the overall security situation has seemed to improve over the eight months of the program.

TREASURER'S REPORT: Marcy Essy provided a summary of 2010.  For the year, more money was spent for direct projects than for overhead and administration, but there are significant costs associated with having an ongoing non-profit organization.  The report showed that the expenses for the year exceeded the funds raised by $2,393US.

NOTE: There is a negative Cash Flow Balance of -$2,393US. 

Six new members were then formally admitted into membership.

The balance of the meeting consisted of active discussions on the priorities for our community and the best way to meet them.

Major concerns included:

• Security and Coordination
• Clean and Attractive Town
• Marketing and Unity
• Coordination with the Pueblo

SECURITY AND COORDINATION
There was general appreciation to Laura and Juan Antonio for their efforts to improve security through the Central Security Network (CSN).

Going forward, there was considerable support for a central coordination process throughout all of the bays along with acknowledgment that the Akumal Council might not be the best way to actually provide or manage security in the individual areas.

CLEAN AND ATTRACTIVE TOWN
There was some discussion on how unattractive, untended, and messy the town had become. There was some agreement that the efforts of the gardener and others to clean the entrance, along with the efforts of N Akumal to clean up the road, had made a big difference.

It was also acknowledged that North Akumal is actively raising funds to permanently fix the N Akumal roads.

MARKETING AND UNITY
A great deal of the conversation centered around the image of Akumal and how to promote it.  Ideas included funding a unified approach throughout all of the companies, homeowners, restaurants across all of the bays of Akumal, creating brochures, working with major market newspapers and more.

There was general consensus that a community wide effort is needed and that getting an effective message to promote all of Akumal should be a high priority.

There was additional discussion on possible tourist-directed events in Akumal.  Well publicized events serve to both promote Akumal and can be self-sustaining if well planned and publicized.

Russ Motley donated his web site www.AkumalChamberOfCommerce.com  to help jumpstart the effort.  And, I believe that Dan Freeman volunteered to spearhead the marketing efforts.

COORDINATION WITH THE PUEBLO
There was discussion on the need to find common ground with the businesses in the Pueblo and work towards unified marketing.  Additional discussion centered on the need to have joint projects, not handouts from the beach side to the Pueblo.  The successes at Chemuyil were presented as a model that Akumal should emulate, and there was general agreement to see if real cooperation would be possible after the new administration takes over.

OPTIONS GOING FORWARD

Three main options were discussed:

1. Continue with the Council directly funding programs
2. Continuing with the Council as an all volunteer coordinating entity.  Suspend all financial activities of the Council and find alternatives to support programs requiring financing.
3. Disband Akumal Council totally

1. CONTINUE AS BEFORE

• The council will need to raise between $10,000 and $12,000 USD for administrative, accounting, legal, and operational costs.
• SECURITY: The council will need to raise approximately $7,200 for a coordinator and an additional $7,200 for each guard (six days a week).
• CLEAN AND ATTRACTIVE TOWN: The council will need to raise approximately $7,000 USD for a gardener for the entrance. Same if additional gardeners are added.
• MARKETING AND UNITY: This will be a mostly volunteer effort with some overhead for promotion and infrastructure (e.g. web sites).

In summary, the Council will require more revenue than for 2010 - probably in excess of $30,000 for the year. A significant portion of the funds will go for overhead.

2. SUSPEND FISCAL OPERATIONS

• The council will not have any money collected or disbursed. There will be no expense for overhead.
• SECURITY: Laura and Juan Antonio are exploring ways to fund a security coordinator.
  Each area will need to be responsible for its own security personnel. North and South Akumal already have organizations capable of dealing with such questions and Jade Bay has engaged a security company to provide services.
• CLEAN AND ATTRACTIVE TOWN: Each area will need to be responsible for its own cleanup. This, however, leaves the entrance to Akumal (shared by Central Akumal and North Akumal) as an unresolved issue that will need to be dealt with.  If the parking lot is resolved, however, it will likely generate sufficient funds for a gardener to take care of all cleanup and gardening from the police station at the end of the parking lot to the highway.
• MARKETING AND UNITY: This will be a mostly volunteer effort with some overhead for promotion and infrastructure (e.g. web sites).  The coordinating committee will need to find individuals or businesses willing to pay for the overhead items.

In summary, the Council will become a totally volunteer organization with no income or expense.  We will continue to have meetings as appropriate and will continue to distribute information.

If a future need for a fully functional civic organization should arise, the council can be reactivated with minimal effort or cost.

 Pre-Meeting Meeting on Composting
This was was chaired by Paul.

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