Advocacy – January 2020 – HOA approach to Advocacy – part 1

Last month I wrote about how the HOA is starting to use advocacy to ensure that HOA lives up to its “Be Engaged. Be Informed. Be Heard” charter. A key ingredient in this process is to develop consensus and alignment with homeowners regarding what needs to be done here in Tellico Village.

This month and next I’d like to discuss what advocacy looks like in practice from an HOA perspective. The Long-Range Planning Advisory Committee (LRPAC) has recently proposed six planning principles, which provide a convenient structure to think about our village (words in italics are from the LRPAC):

1. Ensure Tellico village offers a competitive best value lifestyle with lake, golf, recreation and other highly sought-after amenities and services. Said another way, lifestyle offerings will need to change with time as the needs and interests of residents change.
   1. To properly represent the evolving lifestyle needs of homeowners, the HOA needs to understand their evolving needs. This might include expansion of existing capability (more Pickleball courts, more walking trails, more docks, etc.) or new amenities (climbing wall, Bocce ball, bike lanes, bowling alley, etc.).
   2. Similarly, the HOA needs to be aware of existing amenities that experience declining use, which will then need to be evaluated to determine why the decline is occurring and the corrective remedy for resolution (e.g. reinvigorate the amenity or convert to other use).
   3. The HOA recommends that the use of all amenities be continuously measured to ensure fact-based analysis and actions.
   4. In all cases, the analysis and evaluation will need to be performed by the group which provides the amenity (most often the POA). The role of the HOA is to ensure homeowner views are well-represented and that the amenity provider is responsive to changing needs.
2. Improve property values of property owners. Our homes are a key asset of every family in Tellico Village. It is important to ensure that there is a focus on maintaining and improving the market value of our homes.
   1. Value is derived not only from the house itself and the land it sits on, but the community that it resides in (e.g. Tellico Village and the surrounding area).
   2. The value of Tellico Village to potential homebuyers is based on how we appear nationally, not just locally. Since housing values are based on demand, we need to work to ensure that values increase at equal to or more than national rates and that time-to-sell is reasonable.
   3. The role of the HOA is to ensure that POA marketing activities, as well as Loudon and Monroe County organizations are working in the best interests of Tellico Village homeowners.
3. Enhance the Social Fabric of the community. I think Bruce Johnson (POA Board member) covered this topic well in the 3Q 2019 POA newsletter). In answer to the question “what is this thing called social fabric?”, Bruce wrote that “It is a metaphor for how well community members interact amongst themselves. If you consider all the individual members as threads, the “social fabric” is made by having members interact, thus weaving the threads together. The fabric is stronger when the weave is tighter, i.e., when members interact with each other more frequently and positively. The fabric is weaker when the weave is loose. The weaker the fabric, the more likely it is to tear (have conflicts that pit one group against another) or fray (lose members). Enhancing the social fabric, then, means to provide more and better interactions between members of the community so that they can make more friends, be more involved, be happy, be more willing to help someone when there is a need, and be inspired to keep their village a positive, pleasant place to live.” Using this definition, Tellico Village’s social fabric is an important asset, one that we should protect and cultivate. I believe we must make decisions that enhance our social fabric—decisions that ensure that everyone gets to enjoy the amenities and services that Tellico Village has to offer.
   1. Success can be measured in the number of clubs, including their membership count and the initiatives they complete. It also can be seen in the HOA and NV meetings and events, and use of village amenities.
   2. I think that a robust social fabric is undergirded by several key principles:
      1. Parity – everyone in the village is offered an equal opportunity to use all amenities.
      2. Inclusion – all amenities are accessible by all TV homeowners.
      3. Transparency – all TV homeowners have clear understanding of issues, plans, etc.
   3. The role of the HOA is to:
      1. Provide social activities that engage Tellico Village homeowners in a wide variety of ways to meet their needs.
      2. Promote communication and transparency, primarily through improvements to TellicoLife and the HOA web page.
      3. Address issues of parity and inclusion when they occur, including advocating for homeowners to reduce or eliminate these issues in the village.
      4. Promote a wide variety of clubs and service organizations to ensure a diversity of opportunity for homeowners.

Next month I’ll discuss the remaining 3 principles – a lifetime of wellbeing, financials, and legal & safety.

We have set up a new tab on the HOA website to support our advocacy activities. There isn’t much there yet, but in the next few weeks we will begin using it to post information and data on key village issues. Our focus is currently on development of a new irrigation guideline and there should be something posted soon on this.

I welcome any input you might have. Please feel free to send me a note, or track me down at the next HOA Social or General Meeting.

Thank you. I look forward to hearing from you.

Mark Pantley
HOA VP of Advocacy
mark.pantley@gmail.com
(832) 654-1272