Residents and ratepayers in the Ohau Village now have a combined voice after setting up a group.
A recent meeting of 20 village section-owners formed the Lake Ohau Alpine Village Residents and Ratepayers' Association Inc.
The village has 20 permanent residents, but 40 houses and 130 sections.
Because so many owners are holidaymakers - some even live overseas - contacting them all when issues arise has been difficult, but an organisation was needed to ensure there was one voice on issues affecting the village.
The meeting elected a committee of six, with Malcolm McMillan as chairman, Eileen McMillan secretary-treasurer and committee members Genevieve Becroft (Auckland), Viv Smith (Christchurch), Lois Trevathan (Christchurch) and Bob Hall (Timaru).
The geographic spread of committee members is typical of the village itself. Only seven houses are permanent homes for their owners. Section-owners in New Zealand live between Dunedin and Northland, with others in Australia, the United States and Europe.
The committee hopes most decisions will be gained by consensus via email, which will also be used to gather feedback from all the association's members worldwide.
The group is already legally incorporated, and its next action will be to seek charitable status.
The committee will investigate funding a street and home lighting level study, and the expensive village water-supply upgrade that will be required in the next few years by legislation setting new drinking water standards.
The idea of forming a residents and ratepayers' group was first raised two or three months ago.
There had been much interest and support for such a group.
