2024 DH Annual Meeting

Hello fellow members, and Happy New Year!

It’s time once again for the DHARA Annual Membership Meeting. This year’s meeting will be held on Wednesday, February 7, 2024, at 7 pm. The agenda includes meeting the candidates for the Board, hearing proposed revisions to the Bylaws, reviewing the 2024 budget, and sharing updates on the Board’s and DHARA’s activities. See the annual letter from the president and meeting agenda for the full list of topics, and please, reach out if you’d like to have any ideas considered for discussion.

Please Note: you’ll need to log into the Dominion Hills website to access some of the DHARA Annual Meeting Materials

April 27 Cleanup cancelled

Due to some scheduling conflicts, we are postponing the cleanup activities planned for tomorrow, April 27.  If you had planned to come and help out, thank you!

We’ll let everyone know when we get another day on the calendar.

Enjoy the amazing weekend!

Cheers
– the DH Board

The 2024 DH Kentucky Derby Party! 🏇🐎🏇🐎

Hello Fellow Members!!

Please join us on May 4 from 5-8pm for our Kentucky Derby Watch Party & Potluck on the Dominion Hills lawn! We’ll watch the Derby on the big screen, play corn hole and other lawn games, and hold some fun contests for children and adults.

Please bring a main course and either an appetizer, side dish or dessert to share. Derby-inspired menu items are encouraged! Beverages are BYOB.

So find a Derby Hat (the fancier the better) and come have some fun! Contests and additional activities will be forthcoming!

Sign up here: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/60B0D49A5A72EA64-49140468-kentucky

 

2024 Springtime Volunteer Opportunities

Hello fellow members!!

It’s hard to believe that the 2024 swim season is almost here! We can’t wait to see you at the pool!

As we’ve mentioned, we have several exciting opportunities for members to volunteer their time to help make DH a better place. It’s a great way to contribute to our community, meet new people, and share your talents. We’ll have more volunteer announcements as the season gets underway but we wanted to share several opportunities that are ramping up now:

Long-Term Planning:
As mentioned at our recent special membership meeting, we’re looking for several members to serve on the new strategic planning committee to help develop options for a “master plan” that will be presented to membership for their consideration. This is a great opportunity to help plan for DH’s future and improvements to our facilities, and to set the direction for our aging clubhouse and pool.

If you’re interested, please send a brief overview to info@dominionhills.org regarding any relevant experience you have, why you want to join the committee, and what perspectives you’d hope to bring to this process. Ideally, we’d like members to participate on the committee for two years and attend semi-monthly meetings, with an estimated time commitment of 3-5 hours per month. Even if you aren’t available to join the committee, we’ll have plenty of opportunities for members to share their skills and views as the planning process develops, so stay tuned!

Membership Activities:
Hello! The DH Social Committee is looking for a crew to help plan and make the magic for DH’s 2024 membership activities! Do you want to make the pool’s traditional events  – such as the Kentucky Derby Watch Party, Family and Adult Movie nights, Sunday Brunch, Luau, Wine Down on the Hill, Oktoberfest, and the Halloween Potluck – more fun?  Would you like to meet other members at our pool? Then join DH’s Membership Activities Committee.  We’re also looking for some new events to expand our social calendar. So, bring your ideas and then volunteer your time to make our 2024 pool season more exciting for our members!  We can’t do it without you! SIGNUP HERE!

Spring Cleanup and Grounds Maintenance: 
While we have our landscaping company doing a lot of the heavy lifting, which is a huge help, this year we are bringing back the spring clean up, but with an eye towards some grounds and other improvements. Plans include painting parking lot stripes, some painting on and around the guard area by the pool, and some trimming of the crepe myrtles. If you have any perennials, bulbs or small trees to donate, we’d love to have them.

Our Spring clean-up and grounds improvement day will be on Saturday, April 27, at 9am. Coffee and pastries will be provided, bring your gloves and any gardening tools you like and we’ll have some fun! RSVP HERE!

Community Garden:
An idea was posted last year in the DH Idea Portal to expand the small garden area by the shed for members to use as a community garden. If you’re interested in driving and leading this, or just working together to grow something delicious to share, sign up HERE! We’ll set a meet-up to discuss ideas with other interested folks to get things moving.

Teen Volunteer Service Hours/Eagle Scout Project:
The pool will maintain a list of needed projects that could be a great way for a teen to gain volunteer hours.  In addition, if members with Scouts working towards their Eagle rank would like to have DHARA be the focus of their Eagle Scout Project, we’ll help identify projects that would be a good fit.

Results Of The DH Long Term Planning Vote

Dear fellow members,

We want to extend our thanks for your active participation and all the thoughtful discussion, questions, and feedback regarding the assessment and the next phase of our Long-Term Planning. Your engagement is invaluable. Voting on the assessment closed last night, and the assessment was approved. Thanks again, very much, to everyone who voted.

As discussed, to reduce the burden for members, we are splitting the $500 assessment into two payments. The first installment of $250 is due by March 15th, with the second $250 payment to be paid near the end of the season, by September 30th. You’re able to make your first assessment payment now as our website is ready.

Please note that if you are renting your membership to another party this season, you are responsible for paying the assessment rather than the renters.

We’re also excited to announce that we’ll shortly be forming a Strategic Planning Committee, and we encourage interested members to volunteer. Further information on how to get involved will be communicated in the near future.

Should you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact the Board at info@dominionhills.org. Your input and engagement are crucial to the success of our pool community, and we appreciate your continued commitment. To provide as much transparency as possible we have compiled detailed information and FAQs on our Long-Term Planning page: https://dominionhills.org/about/board/long-term-planning/. We’ll continue to update this page as questions come in and we make progress on our planning.

Thank you once again for taking the time to vote on this important matter. We are eager to embark on this journey and look forward to a great future for DHARA.

All the best,
– Your DH Board

Reminder: Long Term Planning Vote Closes 2/27 @9PM

 

Hello fellow members,

The vote on the Long-Term Planning assessment proposal is fast approaching, with the deadline set for Tuesday, the 27th, at 9 PM.

We urge you to take a moment to express your opinion by casting your vote through the following link:
https://dominionhills.org/about/board/long-term-planning/dh-ltp-assessment-voting/

To provide you with a comprehensive understanding of the proposal and address any questions you may have, we have compiled detailed information and FAQs on our Long-Term Planning page: https://dominionhills.org/about/board/long-term-planning/

Thank you for your continued participation and feedback in this process. We appreciate your support and involvement in our pool community.
Please feel free to contact the board with any questions at info@dominionhills.org.

All the best,
– Your DH Board

Follow Up – Long Term Planning Meeting 2/20

Hello fellow members,

Thanks to all who attended the 2/20/24 special meeting regarding long-term planning and the proposed assessment to fund it. Please find a few highlights from the meeting below, along with the links to the presentation, meeting recording and, to the voting page. We also had a member move to extend voting for 1 week, until 9pm on February 27, which was passed by a majority vote of members on the call.

The 2/20 meeting covered topics including the state of the existing pool, environmental concerns, the scope of this next phase of work that we’re asking to fund, the financial needs for planning, construction and future operations, what our goals are and more.

The call recording covers these and others in more depth. If you have additional questions, feel free to reach out the board at info@dominionhills.org, and we’ll reply as quickly as we can.

Meeting Presentation:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1TY4PrFDrNtQn6dBNHDzJRekYD1o8GPEX82oL2TTlzIg/edit?usp=sharing

Meeting Recording:
https://us06web.zoom.us/rec/share/mnN1-xSDKkgio2thiut12hSjkldv4gDBCk7haFLFPqXn0yp2cMtc9xEPMVpMYmGc.fuGWrH4QftVc07ri
Passcode: %N5wr1T#

Voting page:
https://dominionhills.org/about/board/long-term-planning/dh-ltp-assessment-voting/

Reminder: Special DH Long Term Planning and Assessment Meeting – February 20

Hello fellow members,
We wanted to remind you that on Tuesday, February 20 at 7:30pm we are holding a special membership meeting to discuss DHARA’s long-term planning projects and the proposed assessment for the 2024 season. We’ve received good feedback and questions so far, and based on that, have included some additional information and this link to the meeting presentation for members to consider. The presentation includes a recap of points made at our 2024 Annual Meeting, prior annual meetings, and additional information that will answer many of the concerns.

We’re proposing a 2024 assessment of $500 per membership to help cover the costs associated with the member-approved long-term planning effort.  We do not propose this fee lightly, and we understand this may be a burden to some members. As a result, we are proposing that the fee be paid in two installments, the details of which are in the presentation. Also, if the assessment is approved, we plan to proceed on a component-by-component basis for this project to allow us to credit a portion of this amount back if membership decides to terminate the process at any point.

At our meeting, we will discuss the planning process so far, potential pool sites, and next steps. And of course, we will be able to respond to any member questions and concerns. Please check your email for the Zoom link for the February 20 meeting, members can vote in advance on the assessment at this link:  VOTE HERE

If you would like to change your previously submitted vote after reviewing the materials and/or attending the meeting, please vote again at the link here.

Please check your email for the Zoom link, and we’ll see you soon

 

All the best,

the DH Board.

Special DH Long Term Planning And Assessment Meeting – February 20

Dear members,

Please join us on February 20 at 7:30pm for a special membership meeting to discuss DHARA’s long-term planning projects and proposed assessment for the 2024 season.

In 2021 we started an in-depth process to develop a plan for our aging facilities and to better utilize our property. Determining whether an additional pool could be placed on our existing grounds or our neighboring Inscoe property has been a central component of this process.

An additional pool would serve two main purposes: 1) it would provide more modern and accessible facilities to improve the membership experience and; 2) it would prevent DHARA from having to close for one or more seasons if/when our existing 1950s pool foundation must be replaced or significantly rebuilt.

We have been able to use existing organization funds to contract with Studio3, a highly recommended architectural firm in Reston, to complete a site evaluation. We are pleased to report there are multiple areas on the DH and Inscoe properties that are suitable for an additional pool!

Continuing this process would require a substantial new investment to proceed with choosing a site, conducting the required environmental and land assessments, and receiving authorization from Arlington County for an initial facility plan. Studio3 has provided a quote of roughly $250,000 for these services.

We are proposing a 2024 assessment of $500 per membership to help cover these costs. The assessment would be paid in March, along with regular 2024 dues.

We do not propose this fee lightly. If the assessment is approved, we plan to proceed on a component-by-component basis for this project in order to credit a portion of this amount back if membership decides to terminate the process at any point. If we complete the items listed above, we could proceed to the development of full architectural plans that could be permitted and bid out for construction. We have been informed that we could likely build expenses for the design and permitting phase into an overall construction loan.

At our meeting, we will discuss the planning process so far, potential pool sites, and next steps. And of course, we will be able to respond to any member questions and concerns. Please check your email for the Zoom link for the February 20 meeting, members can vote in advance on the assessment at this link:  VOTE HERE

All the best,
Your DH Board of Directors

DH is Hiring – Membership & Communications Position

DHARA Members,

This year the board has continued to examine how we can best serve our members. The board has identified room for improvement with respect to communications, website, and membership services. DHARA only has a handful of paid administrative positions that support running the pool which include our pool manager, membership recorder, and contracted accounting. We are currently in the process of expanding the membership recorder role to include new responsibilities.

Starting next year, the membership recorder role will handle many tasks that were unaccounted for or managed by board members and volunteers. This is a seasonal position with the busiest months being those that lead up to the swim season. We are beginning a job search for this position and wanted to offer this to pool members and friends first, before posting widely.

The job posting can be found on our DH website at: (https://dominionhills.org/about/board/dhara-membership-and-pool-administrator-application/).   We are looking to make a hiring decision by early to mid February 2024, interested parties should apply by 1/15/2024.

We look forward to continuing to serve the DH community. Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns at: treasurer@dominionhills.org.