Randy Young, TLIA President
This is my full presentation to the membership from the 2016 TLIA annual meeting.
Recently, I had the privilege of working with Mr. Malcom Gladwell, I’m sure many of you know who he is, Social Scientist, best-selling author, and contributing editor to New Yorker Magazine. In his presentation, he spoke of the kind of people who create change and the acceptance of change in our society. I found his talk to be enlightening and very applicable to TLIA
He classified the people of change in three categories:
The Conscientious ones;
These folks are detail and goal oriented, they are concerned about everything and dedicated. They see a project and are focused on moving that project forward.
The Creators;
These folks are the thinkers and idea makers. They are never afraid to put ideas into play. They work and live outside the box. Gladwell described many of them in his book “Outliers”
and then there is The Disagreeable Type;
Don’t think of this term in its usual sense. Mr. Gladwell calls them disagreeable because they are the “full steam ahead” and “don’t get in my way” kind of people who “don’t care what others think.” Rather than disagreeable, I prefer to call them the Get it done type,
In our leadership group we have all three of these types of people.
In Grounds, John Yancey and Mike Mitchell are Conscientious in making everything about our natural beauty and environment better. If you want to speak about details…we have Mary Margo on the expense side and Linda Kuna on the revenue side of our finances.
When I think Lake, I can’t imagine a more Conscientious team than Judd and the entire lake Committee. Judd made his final appearance at the Annual meeting where he highlighted his teams’ 2016 actions.
Then there are Creators, like Randall Cross. He created the new TL Address Book App which I believe is brilliant!
The third type are the Get it done type. People like Steve Burgoon when he steps up to so many projects within the Board or Lake and Kathy Pattengale who manages our information flow.
The best part of this is that I have the privilege of sitting at the head of this table, surround by the Conscientious, the Creators, and the Get it Done type of people. Your Board is willing to try any good idea, go out on that limb, ready to be wrong for all the right reasons and then be right for the best reasons.
In my presentation to the meeting, I thought of reviewing the past year by telling them of the tennis courts, our grounds, flowers on the islands, the bridge path construction on the west side, the boat landing, lake improvement, silt removal, our communications, the beach, the events you’ve all attended, and our wonderful youth programs. But you’ve been there, attended that, and see it all.
At the meeting I took a little different approach and talked more about 2017 and a few proposals for change.
i believe it’s time for a new dawning over Tower Lakes. We all know that change doesn’t come easy, but as I look into next year, I see a very formative time for TLIA.
So, think about this number; $425,709.25. That is the amount of our money we have entrusted to the Lake Committee over the last five years. We entrusted them to improve our lake. They have fulfilled that trust with their care and management of our most valuable asset.
Looking forward, they continue that contract of trust by requesting the 2017 Lake Maintenance Special Assessment, $200 per year, per household, for a total of 5 years to continue their efforts with our lake.
The Lake Committee is conscientious, creative, and displays a true get it done attitude … a real triple play on the Gladwell scale of people.
I believe in these guys and I trust their actions. Their continuing plan for the lake and this new initiative was successful and I am proud to say that you passed the 2017 Lake SA.
Andy Hay has been the guiding light on the Rain Garden Project for the past year. He has been conscientious in his approach and management, creative in his thinking, and patient despite his get it done attitude. Andy presented a detailed plan for the rain gardens at the meeting. They are going to happen and they are going to be great for Tower Lakes.
I see great things for all of our Committees:
In 2017 Communications will launch a new outreach program to make sure the entire community has access to all of our communications, the newsletter, our website and email.
The Youth Committee for ’17 is made up of all new faces, a new generation of members reaching for new heights, new ideas and even better activities. They are focused on your kids and those special moments in their young lives.
The Events Committee has completed their year of re-structuring and as a result, never before has there been more people involved, in more activities. On the 2017 horizon, there are new leadership opportunities, opportunities for all of our members. Rick & Fran and Bob & Kristi have Created the playbook for events and it’s time to change.
It’s time for one of the next generation of Tower Lakers to step up. I’d love to see a TLIA conscientious type at the helm in 2017. Hanging in the balance is the very concept of our neighborhood events. It’s your turn to step up and fill this void, it’s your turn to volunteer to lead this effort.
The creators who lead Beach Committee; Paula Voska, Mary Magro, and the lifeguards will be in great shape for the summer of 17, given the conscientious approach by the Lake Committee.
When you look around Tower Lakes during any season of 2017 you will see the creativity of Grounds and Grounds Beautification. Thank you John Yancey and Pat Covek and your teams for being the creative and get it done members of TLIA.
Tennis will get a makeover as well in 2017 in the areas of their finances and lesson management. As we move close out 2016, I can’t talk about tennis without one last mention and props to the Tennis Court Committee. Jack Johnson, Mary Magro, Kathy Covek, and Vic Manina . It was their get it done style that completed our largest and most visible project of last year, on schedule and on budget.
Looking at the bigger picture, I see change and improvement opportunities that will start at the top. In 2017 your Board will be presented with several items that will be considered for action.
I’ll begin with finance, you know, not everyone realizes that TLIA nearly a $350k management endeavor and I know how challenging our money can be to manage! We must be become the Conscientious ones on this front in 2017.
Three years ago we initiated QuickBooks on the expense side of the ledger, last year we incorporated our revenue accounting. This leads me to the first action item and the next step in financial management.
We will set up an internal finance sub-committee consisting of the President, VP, Financial Secretary, and Treasurer. This sub-committee will work to merge both the expense and revenue sides of our accounting. For years they have been separate but that is to be no more. They must work together to present a balanced joint revenue and expense report to the Board and membership each month.
In order to accomplish this goal, I will propose that the Board invest in formal QuickBooks training for the financial team.
Additionally in the finance area, a proposal will be brought to the Board to engage an accountant on a limited basis to review our monthly books and accounting procedures until we become proficient in this task.
In the area of Board operations, we will review and act upon a comprehensive plan defining new practices for the Board. We need to apply better processes, in a more efficient manor so we can better serve and respond to the membership.
We will develop a plan for better reporting by our committees as well. My hope is to help the committees be more responsive to the Board in the areas of finance, goals, plans, and results.
As we move into 2017 and beyond, we need to be aware of the value of our investment in knowledge. No longer can we have boxes of records in basements, closets, misc. computers, and drawers scattered around Tower Lakes. We risk too much information loss. In 2017 we will create a central repository for TLIA records and knowledge.
When I described how Mr. Gladwell categorized the people of change, I said that I did not care for one of the classifications. They are the people I preferred to call the Get it done type. Maybe now I will call them the relentless type. So let me test the boundaries a little and step into the relentless type for a moment.
We have a dues issue, plain and simple. I don’t understand why more of us are not outraged by this. Moving forward and in 2017, I see a much stronger approach the issue.
Last year we set our budget allowance for non-payment of dues at 10% of revenue. If you recall, I labeled that as un-acceptable, but manageable. In the 2017 budget, we again allotted 10% as un-collectable and once again I label it as un-acceptable and now I believe that we should not have to manage around it.
When our association carries such a large percentage of delinquent dues we are only biding our time for this shortfall to inevitably cause a needless expansion of our dues structure. It is time for this to come to an end.
There are members of our Association who are severely behind in their dues and causing issues for the association and hence, issues for all of us.
In 2017 the Board will consider a proposal allowing that, moving forward, the Board should publish in the Tower Lakes News, the addresses of properties who are at least one year in arrears on their dues and have made no attempt at payment, made moves to cooperate, or set up a payment plan. We may also consider the potential of involving a credit agency and collection services.
I believe this is only fair to the members who pay their bills. It’s especially evident when I see the members who are not paying their dues enjoying the benefits of membership that the rest of us have paid for. Far too many of our members view their dues obligation as an optional activity!
Perhaps this will be a motivator, maybe not, I am open to suggestions here. If anyone has ideas on how we can encourage better dues compliance bring them forward to me or any board member. This is not just a board issue it is everyone’s issue.
So you see, we have a very challenging year of big ideas and productive plans.
In 2017 we will be;
Conscientious on our lake improvement
Creators of the Rain Gardens
Restless to improve our financial management with a tougher stance on dues compliance.
Creative in new board procedures, committee reporting and improved record storage
The cost of these proposals is not large in dollar value but huge in productivity and life style value to TLIA. They are projects to improve our neighborhood and our association and when accomplished will be part of our community for years to come.
All of this will be initiated, developed, and delivered by you, our volunteers, your neighbors, our friends and fellow members of TLIA. Each of us who steps up to the challenge be that conscientious, creative and get it done person for Tower Lakes.
We have the opportunity to make 2017 the next wonderful year in the life of TLIA because we are nothing less than a community of people who love what we do, where we do it and why we do it. So together, let’s bring a new dawn to TLIA and move forward into 2017.