Last month I started a discussion about what I think advocacy looks like in practice from an HOA perspective. Using the six planning principles from the Long-Range Planning Advisory Committee (LRPAC), I covered the first 3 principles concerning lifestyle, property values, and social fabric. This month I’d like to focus on the remaining 3 principles (italics are from the LRPAC):
- Deliver a lifetime of wellbeing for all residents. In general, I think that people who are attracted to Tellico Village want to lead active lifestyles. Fortunately, here in the village we have access to excellent support programs (e.g. STAYinTV, services provided by the churches, library, and fire department, etc.) that provide enabling help when it is needed. As the village ages and we age, these offered programs and services may need to evolve to ensure changing needs are addressed. HOA will work to identify these opportunities to help to ensure Tellico Village is always a great place to live for every resident.
- Maintain Tellico Village’s financial status ensuring recommendations are affordable. While any organization always has room to improve, Tellico Village currently enjoys a strong financial status. In general, I think that financial strength is achieved by practicing transparency and accountability not only in its accounting and reporting processes, but also in related activities such as project management and procurement. Having robust processes and procedures also helps with the second part of the principle: ensuring that recommendations are affordable. While there are many aspects to having a strong, robust financial system, I think these aspects are critical:
- Regular reporting to the community of financial results.
- Actual results should always be compared to something so that we can measure our success. That may be the current year budget, last year’s actuals, etc. Any difference (i.e. variance) should be explained as to whether it is temporary (e.g. a timing difference that will reverse later in the year and can be ignored), or a permanent item that requires some analysis to understand what happened.
- Reported results need to be in a format that is easily understood by someone without financial training, with plain English explanations of variances.
- All financial results should be tied to applicable Key Performance Indicators (KPI). The true drivers of financial results are the non-financial KPI’s – e.g. number of golf rounds, utilization rate of the restaurants, open boat slips, etc.
- A routine annual review by independent auditors. Auditors should be changed periodically to ensure objectiveness and to gain additional insight from having a fresh look by someone new.
- A rigorous planning process with a multi-year plan, tied to the long-term strategy. A good financial plan is the result of robust planning assumptions and establishment of non-financial KPI’s
- All capital investments should require a business case, with a comprehensive plan that includes all impacted aspects of the project (e.g. risk mitigation, impact on aesthetics and environment, opportunity cost, communications, etc.).
- All existing assets should have a maintenance plan to ensure we get maximum use from our investment. Any new asset should have a maintenance plan put in place as part of the implementation project.
- Our procurement processes should include competitive bidding, with established procedures to ensure objectivity and independence.
- Regular reporting to the community of financial results.
While finances are the responsibility of each individual club and organization (including the POA), HOA will promote a high level of financial integrity across all Tellico Village entities.
- Be legal and ensure safety. All community activities should have legal and safety compliance embedded it them. This starts with good facility design, most often seen as ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) compliance. It also shows up in how we conduct our meetings and address needs of attendees with accessibility limitations. HOA aspires to be a champion of legal and safety compliance here in Tellico Village.
Next month I’ll discuss an advocacy project that we’ll be rolling out in March to provide recommendations regarding lawn irrigation practices.
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