Pier M Association Annual Meeting

Emailed to Members on May 23, 2023

First, a note of thanks to all 12 slip owners who attended Pier M's annual meeting. What a great turnout! We re-elected Chris Berglund and Rob Sweeney and added Tanja Castor, Denise Gregg, and Darrell Struck to the Pier M Board for a one-year term.

 Here is the Annual Meeting Presentation.

During the meeting, we discussed the fact that the pier is showing its age, with boards coming up and the bumpers falling off. As a group, we agreed that we need to perform some quick fixes as soon as possible to ensure a safe boating season this summer. (E.g., fix the hole in the pier, secure board pops & reattach bumpers). A special thanks to David Haught and Chris Berglund who agreed to take this work on for the short-term plan! 

Additionally, we have established a Construction subcommittee to develop a long-term strategy that will create a broader plan for the pier. More to come as the team assembles and many thanks to those who agreed to help. 

 Construction Subcommittee Members: 

·  Chris Berglund 

·  Chuck Cavallaro 

·  Tanja Castor  

·  Angelo Chiazza 

·  Darrell Struck  

·  Rob Sweeney 

Action item: Your 2023 annual pier dues are now due. Please send a check for $450 made payable to The Point Boatslip “Pier M: Association, Inc. to Chris Berglund at 268 Milford Circle by June 30th. Here is a link to the optional dues return form you may use for returning the dues. Note that it is fine to just drop off the check, but if you do so, please text Chris at 563-529-0386 to let him know so he’ll be on the lookout.

Friendly Reminders to Keep Us Safe: 

Extension Cords  

We all need a little power every now and then.  However, do not leave an extension cord unattended if it crosses over the main pier walkway -- it’s a trip hazard/safety issue and we want the pier to be a fun and safe place.  A long-term solution to getting electrical power to your boat is to have a marine-grade extension cord installed under the main pier walkway.   

Boat Lifts  

If you have a lift (or plan to install one), please abide by the following to help prevent your lift from damaging your slip. If there is an issue, please have it addressed promptly. 

  1. Your lift should be well secured to the pier, in accordance with the lift’s installation instructions, and your lift’s floats must be adjusted such that the air in the lift is the primary force that keeps your boat afloat, not the pier. Keep in mind that there is only one float under each finger of your slip, and if your boat weighs it down, the float will flood (which pretty much destroys the float).

  2. Remember that the heavier the boat or the further back a boat sits on its lift, the more stress it exerts on a slip.  Accordingly, when you put your boat into your lift, please make sure that it is centered and pulled fully onto your lift. 

  3. It is perfectly fine to keep your lift down while you are out boating.  However, do not keep your lift submerged for multiple days at a time as it can damage your slip.  Numerous contractors have told us that it is good to keep at least a little air in the lift at all times. 

Pier M Website  

We are one of the few community piers to have our own website.  Check it out (and bookmark it) at  https://pier-m.com.   To access the pier directory, use the pier owner-only confidential password to access contact information for your fellow slip owners.  Please reply to this e-mail letting us know if you need to update your contact information (email, phone number), send an updated picture of your boat, or if you do NOT want your contact information listed. Note that the directory is solely for use in Pier M business (e.g., a boat is sinking in a slip, and you want to notify the owner, you found something left by a slip, and want to contact the likely owner).  

Here’s to a fun and safe boating season on beautiful Lake Norman.

Your Pier M Board, 

Darrell, Tanja, Chris, Denise & Rob 

Pier M Association Annual Meeting

Emailed to Members on November 11, 2019

Annual Meeting Presentation & Election Results 

First, a note of thanks to all of the slip owners who submitted a proxy for the annual meeting as we met our quorum requirement. We elected Tanja Castor, Denise Gregg & Rob Sweeney to the Pier M Board for a one year term.  

Annual Meeting Presentation Materials: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1HYt-P5geIzUPwdWDvjYtewWh1EEzj9d8/view?usp=sharing 

Cold Weather

As you prepare for the cold weather, please keep in mind that Pier M has limited electrical capacity, and that various factors can cause the circuit breaker that serves your slip to flip to off (e.g., water can pop the safety on a GFI outlet, multiple engine warmers in simultaneous use can overload a breaker, storms can interrupt power, vandals can flip a circuit breaker). Accordingly, if you opt to use some type of engine warmer instead of winterizing or storing your boat offsite, you do so at your own risk.  Pier M will not be responsible for any damage related to power interruption, GFI/circuit breaker overload, weather, vandals, etc.

You are responsible for making sure that you have power and taking appropriate steps in a timely fashion (e.g., flipping the circuit breaker back on, pushing in the button on the GFI outlet to your slip). The Pier’s electrical box is in the back right corner of the parking lot looking at the lot from Yacht Road. The breakers are labeled (Slips 1-8 share 20 amps, slips 9-16 share 20 amps and slips 17-30 share 20 amps). If you need to coordinate with other slip owners, contact information for many slip owners is located in the Directory on https://pier-m.com. If you need access to the directory, please send an email to support@pier-m.

Extension Cords

We all need a little power every now and then.  However, do not leave an extension cord unattended if it crosses over the main pier walkway -- it’s a trip hazard/safety issue and we want the pier to be a fun and safe place.  A long term solution to getting electrical power to your boat is to have a marine-grade extension cord installed under the walkway.  

Boat Lifts

If you have a lift (or plan to install one), please abide by the following to help prevent your lift from damaging your slip. If there is an issue, please have it addressed promptly.

  1. Your lift should be well secured to the pier, in accordance with the lift’s installation instructions, and your lift’s floats must be adjusted such that the air in the lift is the primary force that keeps your boat afloat, not the pier. Keep in mind that there is only one float under each finger of your slip, and if your boat weighs it down, the float will flood (which pretty much destroys the float).

  2. Remember that the heavier the boat, or the further back a boat sits on its lift, the more stress it exerts on a slip.  Accordingly, when you put your boat into your lift, please make sure that it is centered and pulled fully onto your lift.

  3. It is perfectly fine to keep your lift down while you are out boating.  However, do not keep your lift submerged for multiple days at a time as it can damage your slip.  Numerous contractors have told us that it is good to keep at least a little air in the lift at all times.

Your Pier M Board,

Tanja, Denise & Rob

Pier M Association Annual Meeting

Emailed to members 10.24.18

Thanks! First, a note of thanks to Al and Nanette Wilberding for hosting the annual meeting in their beautiful home and to all of the slip owners who either submitted a proxy or attended the annual meeting in person (we met our quorum requirement).  It was great to meet new people and to see some familiar faces while enjoying great food and wine.  

We elected Tanja Castor, Denise Gregg and Rob Sweeney to the Pier M Board.  Al Wilberding rolled off of the Board and we would like to thank him for his leadership, dedication and hard work as Pier M Board President over the last year.  We'll miss having him on the Board. 

Pier Color Change

Weather permitting, a contractor is set to power wash and stain the pier next week.  Note that we are changing the color from pumpkin/orange to light gray.


Pier M Website

We are one of the few community piers to have our own website.  Check it out (and bookmark it) at https://pier-m.com.   To access the pier directory, use  the pier owner-only confidential password.  If you need a password, please email the board at support@pier-m.com. Please reply to this e-mail letting us know if you do NOT want your contact information listed or needs to be updated.  Note that the directory is solely for use in Pier M business (e.g., a boat is sinking in a slip and you want to notify the owner, you found something left by a slip and want to contact the likely owner).  No one is permitted to make any other use of the information.

Meeting Presentation & Election Results:  https://drive.google.com/open?id=1Mq6wdnHb_tI5-PEQY7EivfJbQpJbnR1y

Your Pier M Board,

Tanja, Denise & Rob 

Pier M Update

Emailed to members 8.28.2017

Thanks to those who attended the Pier M annual meeting on July 21.  We had a great time sipping some wine while electing Tanja Castor, Denise Gregg and Al Wilberding to our Board of Directors.  We’ve been without a Board for several years, so it’s taken some sleuthing to learn some history of our pier as well as get an idea of the pier’s finances and current and future maintenance needs.

Here is what we’ve found out and our plan for going forward:

Short Term Maintenance
We have some short term maintenance issues and have engaged a contractor to screw down popped up boards/replace any rotted boards and secure bumper pads where needed.  Weather permitting, we hope to have this work completed within the next few weeks.  Your boat may remain in its slip while the work is being done.  Note that any boards that are replaced need to “age” before they are stained, so you may see some unstained wood for a bit.

Long Term Maintenance
The community piers in the Point as a whole have not aged well and many other piers have had to undertake major repairs ranging from total rebuilds to replacing decking and floats, etc.  We expect to have to replace all of the floats and bumper rails on the pier within the next few years.  This will be very expensive -- we have received one ballpark, non-binding guesstimate of $1,300+ per slip -- and we need to plan accordingly. 

Finances
We have sufficient funds for minor routine maintenance costs; however, we are not in the position to fund long term extensive maintenance costs for our aging pier. Our historic annual fee of $300 is not enough to meet projected maintenance costs.  Most other piers charge $400-$500; several charge significantly more ($900).  The 2017 fee for Pier M will remain $300; however, in 2018 we will raise the slip fee to $400 in order to proactively save for future upgrades. 

Additionally, we plan to terminate our arrangement with Herman Management at the end of this year, which will provide an additional $1,600 annually towards cash/increased reserves.  Some of the existing management activities will move from Herman to the board members such as managing repairs, finances, etc.  

2017 Annual Fees
Herman Management recently sent a $300 invoice to each slip owner that has not already paid for his/her 2017 annual fees.  Note: this annual fee has historically been billed by Pier M in July, but billing was deferred until the Board could meet after directors were elected at the July 21 annual meeting of members. 

2018 Annual Fees
Hawthorne Management will start billing each slip owner the $400 annual fee, with the first bill (for 2018 fees) to be included on the Point Owner Association, Inc. bill that will be mailed in late December 2017. 

Check Out Our New (We think it is Fantastic) Pier M Website!
We have created a website for Pier M.  Check it out (and bookmark it) at https://pier-m.com.  It includes basic information about the pier, planned maintenance, a “submit request” feature for reporting issues you observe on the pier as well as a directory of pier M owners.  The password to access the directory is [contact support@pier-m for password].  If you would like your information to be available in the directory, please e-mail your street address, e-mail address and phone number to support@pier-m.com.  Note that this directory is solely for use in Pier M business (e.g., a boat is sinking in a slip and you want to notify the owner, you found something left by a slip and want to contact the likely owner).  No one is permitted to make any other use of the information. 

Happy (and safe) boating!

Pier M Board of Directors,

Al, Denise and Tanja

Pier M Association Elects Board of Directors

July 21st, 2017 - Pier M boat slip owners met to elect new board members during the Annual Meeting of Members hosted at Denise and Keith Gregg's house.  Proxies were collected ahead of time for those that could not attend in person.  The Greggs served a yummy collection of hors d'oeuvres and wine.  Denise Gregg, Tanja Castor and Al Wilberding were elected to the board of directors.  Al will serve as the board President, while Tanja and Denise will serve as Treasurer and Secretary respectively.