It’s 2023! What happened to 2022? Wow – it sure went fast! Starting a new year is a good time to set some goals and to recognize all the things that occurred in the prior year. HOA had a very good year in 2022. Here are some highlights:
- HOA Socials. Our goal was to increase attendance at our monthly Socials. We focused on making the events more entertaining (including live music), providing better prizes, and overall having more fun. The result was that we saw attendance increase through the year. Thank you to Nancy Mariani for leading this!
- Events. A common request we hear from the HOA membership is to provide more events and activities. This year we held a large number of events, which were well-attended. Thank you to Jim Barton for leading this! Our primary limitation is the number of Event Coordinators we have. If we had more EC’s, we would put on even more events. Please consider volunteering to be an EC for one or more events this year.
- Open Village Meetings. We held 3 events this year – State of the Village, Candidate Night for Monroe County Elections, and the POA Board Candidates Forum. These events were well attended and had good audience participation. Thank you to Lavonne Mitchell for leading this!
- Neighborhood Watch. Our goal this year was to launch the NW program by individual neighborhood in the main village (we did Kahite las year). Separate Neighborhood Watch Coordinators were appointed, standard NW signage was installed (including Kahite), and a communications process was established. In addition, we hosted the FBI to provide two presentations on fraud awareness – one in the main village and another in Kahite. Thank you to Sherry Le for leading this!
- Highway Safety Program. We maintain an ongoing relationship with TDOT, TVA, and our County Road Superintendents to advocate on behalf of Tellico Village homeowners for highway safety. This year we were able to see the Halls Bend Trailhead (Boy Scout Trails) parking expanded, with more expansion planned in the coming year. Among other projects, we also worked with TVA and TDOT to clear up confusion about mowing along Hwy 444. Thank you to Ed Wilson for leading this!
- Litter Angels. This long-standing program in Tellico Village became an HOA-sponsored activity this year. Under new leadership and a renewed relationship with TDOT, our Litter Angels have done a fantastic job keeping our parkway neat and tidy. Thank you to Annie LaCour for leading this!
- A&E (Aesthetics and Environment). Our aspiration was to start up an A&E program this year, including rolling out the TN Smart Yards Program. Jim Hawkey was appointed to lead this. Unfortunately (for HOA), Jim has many talents and it became apparent early in the year that his available time would be best spent supporting PSAC with the water and sewer system studies. So, we reluctantly decided to put A&E on hold until such time as we could appoint someone else to lead this activity.
- Increased Collaboration. Our goal in this area is to find new ways to work with New Villagers and the POA on activities where we have common aspirations. HOA, NV, and POA will be stronger working together. This year we held several joint events with NV, which went well. We also worked with NV and POA on combining the Welcome Orientation program into a single event. Implemented mid-year, the new combined Welcome Orientation has been a big success for everyone involved. Thanks to the POA Marketing and Communications Team for doing a lot of the critical work on this!
- Membership. One of the primary tenants of HOA is to be an advocate for the residents. Membership is key to being an effective advocate, for if you don’t have any members, then you’re not able to represent them! This year we were able to increase HOA membership by 253 households, to 1864 total households.
- Costs. This year we invested in Neighborhood Watch signs and improvements to our HOA Socials. Events, including HOA Golf, are designed to break even and did so. Overall, we ended up with a small surplus.
In 2023 we have some similar goals, and a couple of new ones:
- Recruit more Event Coordinators – so we can have more events.
- Increase attendance at monthly Socials – more fun, more variety, great prizes.
- Continue offering quarterly information forums. This year we plan on focusing on Tellico Village, Loudon and Monroe counties, Tellico Lake, and the POA Board Candidates.
- Grow our membership – currently we are at 35% of total households.
- Increase collaboration with POA and NV – common events; support each other as needed.
- Continue supporting our ongoing advocacy programs – Neighborhood Watch, Litter Angels, Highway Safety Committee.
- Support re-establishment of the A&E Committee – including promotion of the TN Smart Yards program. Barb Burke has been appointed as A&E Committee Chair. If you’d like to help with A&E, please contact Barb.
- Evaluate HOA brand identity. Our Mission Statement was last refreshed 3 years ago, so this is a checkup to ensure it’s still correct. Also, we want to consider whether or not to rename “HOA” to something else. HOA/POA continues to cause confusion for many people. Is there a better way to do this?
Please remember to renew your membership for 2023! It’s still only $15 for the year, which includes your entire household. It’s easy to renew on Tellico Life.
Mark Pantley, HOA President