Talis Management Group has been selected to manage the Seven Lakes Landowners Association [SLLA] and a formal three-year contract was signed before a packed room of residents during a Special Meeting held Thursday, January 14.
    On a roll call vote, the Board approved the contract with Talis 5-0. Director Bud Shaver was unable to attend the meeting and did not vote; however, President Randy Zielsdorf said that in Board discussions, Shaver had recommended approval for Talis. Director Gary Caulk also did not vote — choosing to abstain to avoid any potential conflict of interest because his wife, Debbie Caulk, is an employee of SLLA.
    New SLLA Community Manager Alina Cochran will take the helm on February 1, and was on hand at the meeting to greet landowners and answer questions, along with Talis President Vince Matal and John McInerney, a vice president and regional manager for the firm.
    Founded in 1991 by a merger of Ross Taylor Management and Southlantic Management, Talis is a full service property management firm based in Raleigh, providing services to 140 associations throughout the Triangle area of North Carolina.
    If at any time either Talis or SLLA decide they do not want to continue the relationship, the contract includes the option to cancel with sixty days notice.
    
Why Talis?
    Director Kent Droppers presented an overview of the management search and selection process, aptly titled “The Long and Winding Road.” He explained how the Board had explored a dual-path process over the past year, looking at individual manager candidates to lead the community, as well as at management companies. Droppers said, during the decision-making process, there had been Board support for each option; however, the majority leaned towards hiring a company.
    He explained that the Board has identified many things that must be accomplished over the next two years to take the community to the next level — and a competitive position with new area subdivisions.
    Talis was selected because they were “the best fit with Seven Lakes,” said Droppers. “They had a willingness to work with us and be flexible to structure management. They listened real hard to what we had to say.”

   
At what cost?
    Management expenses are projected to increase $21,952 as a direct result of hiring Talis, Droppers reported.However, using the firm’s purchasing power and knowledge base, Droppers said he anticipates much of that difference will be made up in savings in other areas of the budget.
    “They manage a lot of communities and they know how to do this very well. I think there are savings to be had, not defined today, but I think we will find them together,” said Droppers.
    He continued, “We will pay them to have a manager on-site, office staff, roving patrol — it is not terribly different than what we have today. Part of what we’re paying for is accounting and expertise at headquarters.”
    The additional $22,000 in management expenses represents approximately 1.8% of the entire budget.
    Responding to financial concerns raised during Public Comment, Treasurer Denny Galford said the additional costs could be absorbed by the current budget and that he did not anticipate any dues increase would be necessary.
    
Management structure
    Alina Cochran will work out of the Seven Lakes office four to four and half days each week: the fifth day will be spent working on SLLA finances and strategic planning using resources at the Talis Management Group headquarters office in Raleigh.
    Cochran has over seven year of management experience and joined Talis in January 2008. Her most recent position was managing Carolina Lakes — a large lake, golf and residential community near Sanford. She has a degree in management information systems from the Romanian-American University in Bucharest, and settled in the United States ten years ago. Cochran earned the Certified Manager of Community Associations® (CMCA®) certification in April 2006 and the Association Management Specialist® (AMS®) designation in November 2007 from the Community Associations Institute (CAI). 
    All SLLA employees — including administrative staff, maintenance, and Roving Security Patrol — will continue in their positions with the Association but will be employees of Talis, serving under Cochran.
    Accounting tasks will be centralized on sophisticated software programs at Talis in Raleigh, which will free up Debbie Caulk to take on her new role as Operations Assistant.
    In this position, Caulk will “keep things running smoothly,” picking up the administration tasks that had previously distributed between the previous manager and assistant manager, Dalton Fulcher and Chad Beane.
    “She’ll be doing the duty stuff that makes the trains run on time — the critical stuff that she knows the ins and outs,” Droppers explained during a follow-up telephone interview with The Times. “We don’t want to lose the tribal knowledge she has. Debbie’s a good fit and she knows what is going on.”
    With accounting tasks removed and Caulk running much of the day-to-day mechanics of the Association, Droppers said Cochran’s primary role will be planning and getting out into the community — meeting with residents. Cochran will also oversee the recreation program.
     Droppers reiterated the Board’s role is not to run the community but to set policy.
    “We have aging infrastructure and the community could use some sprucing up. The curbing project was a good use of money but there are a lot of those types of things we need to look at,” said Droppers. “How do we polish this community? How do we increase the value of everyone’s home? These are the types of questions that Talis will be looking at.”
    Director Sally Kindsvatter agreed, and, during a comment period set aside for the Board, read from a prepared statement.
    “New management means a new way of doing things — the status quo just doesn’t work anymore. It isn’t just the look of Seven Lakes that is old and tired: it is the lack of innovation, foresight and planning that puts us at risk,” said Kindsvatter. “A management company will provide education and development of our staff . . . have state of the art accounting and information system . . . It will have total professional support.”
    During the follow-up interview, Droppers told The Times he felt the majority of property owners agree that the community needs a new direction with more proactive management.
    “Many came up after the meeting with a little ‘Missouri‘ — a now show me attitude,” said Droppers. “This is perfectly legitimate and even the Board is doing that. We’ve done a lot of research, but the proof is in the pudding. They need to do the things they said the could do and the reason we hired them.”
    “We are putting some bread upon the water, fully expecting through better management and planning that we will save a lot of money that can be redirected to things we need done,” Droppers said.
    Zielsdorf also spoke with The Times and addressed some of the financial concerns raised.
    “We’ve got Chad’s [salary] pulled out, yet there was an increase, but we’re still paying Dalton his consulting fee,” said Zielsdorf. “I expect Talis will find cost savings — I would be shocked if we find they don’t pay for themselves.”
    He asked residents to be patient and give Talis an opportunity to prove themselves.
    “We’ve been living under one way for twenty-three years. It is time to make a change and give these folks a chance,” said Zielsdorf. “They manage over a hundred communities and know what they are doing. I expect they’ll have to be in place for at least a year before we see significant changes.”