TKPOA Management Transition

TKPOA Management Transition
From: All Board Members

Earlier this year, your Board unanimously approved an updated Vision Statement submitted by our Ad Hoc Vision Committee. It states that the Tahoe Keys aspires to be “Lake Tahoe’s premier lakeside boating and recreational community delivering an exceptional lifestyle to homeowners.”

Suffice it to say, we have work to do to fulfill this vision.

After much discussion and deliberation, the Board of Directors has unanimously agreed that it is time to bring in a professional management company to take over the day-to-day operations of TKPOA.

This management transition will likely take upwards of six months to complete. To assist us in the process, the Board has brought in an interim General Manager, Mark Madison. Mark has a lifetime of experience in the public sector and has driven significant organizational transitions in his career. In addition, Kirk Wooldridge will remain on hand for ninety days to support Mark.

The Board of Directors wants to thank Kirk for his dedication and support over the last seven years, helping us navigate numerous challenges and critical issues.

So, you may be asking, why the decision to head in this new direction?

Like so many businesses today, we struggle to maintain sufficient staffing levels to sustain the sizable workload necessary to operate our Association effectively, and the Board of Directors and our volunteer Committees (thirteen of them) are often unduly burdened with complex issues and numerous critical projects. It is the Board’s view that these challenging trends will continue, at least for the foreseeable future.

After much deliberation about the future management of our Association, it is the unanimous opinion of the Board that the Tahoe Keys is simply too big and too complex for us to continue to manage ourselves. In support of the Board’s belief on this matter, there are only a small minority of Associations of our size and complexity that continue to be self-managed.

While there is never a good time to effect such a change, and despite several critical projects underway, the Board feels that a change is needed if we are to put our Association on the right track for the future.

Fixing our staffing and other challenges will not happen overnight. However, a management company that runs many associations around the state (or even the country) will be better suited to address the critical human resources issues we face.

Such a company can also provide us with many centralized support functions that we currently lack, such as HR, payroll and benefits administration, public relations, legal, homeowner communications, and IT support. While we will always need local staff and a local General Manager, they would be supported by a regional General Manager and “home office” staff with experience running high-end associations with a service-centric mindset.

The Board wants to be clear that this is not a cost-cutting exercise; we fully expect this will impact the 2023 budget. While we may save money in certain areas, bringing in a professional management company will cost more overall. While we don’t know exactly how much (preliminary estimates are in the 10% +/- range), it is likely, that we will face increases in our annual dues next year. The benefit will be that our Association will be operated by professional management, and the board can focus on the long-term vision, which we all deserve as homeowners.

If you have any concerns or questions, please feel free to contact Bonnie Halleran (bhalleran@att.net), who has volunteered to talk with homeowners on behalf of the Board about this decision.