The HOA Outreach Committee
“Any
committee that is the slightest use is composed of people who
are too busy to want to set on it for a second longer than they have to.”
~ Katharine
Whitehorn ~
British
Journalist
It is just one of those
things. Growing up in Western Kentucky, we never locked our doors. First of all, we didn’t have much that
anyone else would want and secondly, we had no reason not to trust our neighbors. When and why did we lose the
ability to trust that others intended us no harm? Why did we become suspicious that if anyone offered us an opportunity,
they must have some kind of hidden agenda? Why would eight individuals volunteer to serve initial terms on
a brand new committee when the benefactors
of their effort will, in all probability, ask the following question? “What’s
in it for you?”
Who exactly are those benefactors?
Timeshare/Vacation Ownership Owners Association
The Directors & Officers of those Associations
– and
the Collective Individual Members of those
Associations.
Some would say that these are all-the-same, not so. The Owners
Association is a legal entity and its Members are the owners of the property governed by that entity. The Directors
of the Association are most often elected by the members, however, may or may not be members of the Association
themselves. Typically, the Directors elect the Officers (both primary and secondary) at an organizational meeting
held directly following the meeting when the Directors themselves were elected.
In the world of business, those in charge often want to define
what they are going to attempt to accomplish. The common name for this definition is a Mission Statement.
The following is the initial Mission Statement for the ARDA HOA Outreach Committee:
- To foster and promote the understanding and development of the Industry’s
Owners’ Associations, their Officers and Directors, and individual Owner Members and to serve these same entities
through education, directed outreach, communications, committee and/or task force efforts and advocacy.
Now that sounds grandiose doesn’t it? Someone who has a tendency
to mistrust the intent of others could ask the following questions: Just
exactly what does that mean and what is the ‘real’ purpose?
All of us know that ARDA stands for the American Resort Development
Association and the skeptics believe that the key word is ‘Development’ which easily converts into ‘Developer’.
They make this conversion to emphasis that ARDA functions fully and exclusively for the Developers and their interest,
consequently, any action taken must be for their (the Developers) benefit.
Let’s take a look at some facts that relate to the issue.
The most recent research into the Resort Timeshare Consumers was conducted for the ARDA International Foundation
(AIF) by Ragatz Associates as of 2005. This research revealed that 42.6% of the most recent acquisitions of a timeshare/vacation
ownership week (or its equivalent in points) were from sources other than the Developers. The Developers’ percentage
of acquisitions has been dropping steadily over the past few years. 1996 / 85.5% - 1999 / 75.9% - 2002 / 72.8%
- and 2005 / 57.4% Of the 57.4% that were acquired from the Developers in 2005, a significant fraction was
via existing owner reloads or referrals. This study indicated that about one quarter of those who make up
the most recent acquisitions are highly interested in purchasing additional timeshares and that only 12.2% of all owners expresses dissatisfaction
with their timeshare ownership.
Ok, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that
it is in the best interest of the Developers to begin paying attention to timeshare owners. However, that doesn’t
mean that the developer receives all the benefits to be found by the results of the HOA Outreach Committees Mission.
The ‘real purpose’ of the HOA Outreach Committee is very
simple. It is to reach out to the timeshare owners who serve in some official capacity with their Owners Association
and ask them some ‘if I could, would you?’ questions. Those questions would include but not be limited to the following:
- [1] If I could convince you
that the ARDA Board of Directors (made up primarily of Developer Representatives and those that service ARDA member
Developers) fully endorsed the creation of a direct communication vehicle and governance body that facilitated
input about the needs and wants of Owners Associations, its Directors & Officers and its individual members,
would you temporally set aside any trust issues you may have and give the new entity an opportunity to become effective?
[2] If I could convince you
that ARDA has finally established an official place for you within its organizational and governance structure
would you consider becoming involved in determining what ARDA (working through the HOA Outreach Committee) could
do that would directly benefit you and others like you in similar situations?
[3] If I could convince you
that many of the aforementioned benefits currently exist and that others were feasible, would you consider encouraging
your Owners Association to become a member of ARDA?
[4] If I could convince you
that as a member of ARDA you could attend educational sessions directly related to the operation of your Association
and/or its Directors and Officers that would enhance the physical and fiscal condition of your resort, would you
consider attending such sessions when they were presented within reasonable distance of your home and/or resort?
[5] If I could convince you
that one of the most effective parts of ARDA is its Resort Owners Coalition and that by participating in ARDA-ROC
you and the other members of your Owners Association would greatly enhance
the effectiveness of ROC to protect the interest of all Timeshare Owners, would you consider encouraging your Board
of Directors in approving such participation?
The Eight Committee Members feel that if just a few Board
Members, Association Officers and/or Individual Timeshare/ Vacation Ownership Plan owners respond affirmatively,
we will have a head start in the planning process for the Committee's all out effort.
Just who are these Committee Members and what do they feel
about the Committees purpose?
- Lisa Siegert-Free is
the General Manager of the Chirstie Lodge and its HOA over in Avon, Co. The Lodge has over 14,500 deeded intervals
and is the largest independently managed mixed-use HOA that is currently a member of ARDA.
Lisa feels that one of the important goals of the committee should be to recruit
more HOA’s to join ARDA. As active members they would have access to industry knowledge and key events and make
a strong statement in supporting the industry’s growth and encouraging professional development for all involved
in resort operations and leadership of their Owners’ Association.
Susan C. Kelley is the
Senior Vice President of Shell Vacations Hospitality. In that capacity, she is responsible for the resort operations,
both Fiscal and Facilities, and is currently responsible for the management of over 30 Owners’ Associations with
memberships exceeding 100,000.
Sue feels that there is no need for a protracted period or to reinvent the
wheel to establish training programs specific to Timeshare/Vacation Ownership HOA’s. Shell and many other firms
have already established such programs and they could easily be adapted to fit every HOA situation.
Jay Morin is the National
Director of Operations for TRICOM Management. In that capacity, he is responsible for overseeing the operations
of all TRCOM managed properties as well as the affairs of over twenty HOA’s.
Jay believes that the Committees biggest challenge will be finding ways to
communicate the vast knowledge and experience contained within the body of the Committee, to all those HOA’s leaders
that have never been exposed to ARDA.
Gary Kujawski, Esq. is
an attorney with a practice in Denver Colorado and is currently Director of Title Operations – Foreclosure – Investor
– and Timeshare for Title American in Denver. Gary has served two full terms on a Timeshare HOA Board of Directors
and one term as its President.
As a member of ARDA, Gary has been part of several educational sessions relating
to HOA’s that have been conducted at industry gatherings, both nationally and regionally. He believes that many
great educational programs can be developed from the body of work already existing within the ARDA archives.
Linda Riddle is the Compliance
Paralegal for Sunterra Corporation. In that capacity, she assists Sunterra Resort Management, Inc., in all aspects
of Board affairs and HOA annual meetings. Linda created the Sunterra’s Board of Directors Relations Program which
involves training board members in such items as fiduciary responsibilities and governing documents.
Linda was instrumental in bringing all Sunterra Resort HOA’s to membership
in ARDA and believes the benefits of that membership must be exposed to all non-member timeshare/vacation ownership
plan HOA’s. She is dedicated to the Outreach Committee to accomplish this task.
Lori A. Howell is a member
of the legal team at Orange Lake Resort & Country Club in Orlando, Florida Senior and is currently the Director
for Association Management. As such she is responsible for the management of the four HOA’s (with over 100,000
members) at Orange Lake as well as the company’s other Associations outside of Orlando including the most recent
acquisition in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin.
Having been directly involved in the establishment of Orange Lake’s ‘best practices’
approach to HOA management, Lori believes that it’s past time that the existing information about HOA’s and how
they can effectively operate, is shared with those association entities that currently operate outside of ARDA
and that the HOA Outreach Committee is the best place to build the foundation for advocacy.
Bob Jackson was involved
at NASA in several capacities from personnel specialist to manager of training and as such taught everyone from
“Grunts to Astronauts”. He later became involved in budget analyst for the State of Florida and ultimately as a
consultant for the Florida Department of Education. Bob purchased his first timeshare interval in 1978 and became
involved in HOA leadership in 1982. He is currently the President of the Owners Association at Magic Tree Resort,
in Kissimmee, Florida, a small independent resort.
Bob believes that there is definitely a place for small independent resort
HOA’s within the ranks of ARDA and has been active on behalf of his association as a speaker and panelist for ARDA
both regionally and nationally. He indicates that the Community Association Institute is a resource that the Outreach
Committee can tap into for existing training materials.
It will be my privilege to serve with these individuals on
the well balanced HOA Outreach Committee and am additionally privileged to serve an initial term as its Chairman.
Those of you that are frequent readers of this column, all know how I feel about the subject. I assure you that
not a single member of the committee volunteered to serve for the glory, prestige or pay (if any exist).
FINAL THOUGHT
Clearly there are those within and outside the Timeshare/Vacation
Ownership industry who feel that any interface with members of an HOA that comes from others than themselves, is
an infringement on their turf. There are Directors and Officers within many of the HOA’s out there in the USA that
don’t want anyone informing their members about anything that differs from the way they are doing it themselves.
There are clearly members of Timeshare/Vacation Ownership
plans that wonder if those in charge of their Owners Association are acting in the best interest of the full ownership
and don’t have anywhere to turn to obtain information concerning the proper administration of Association Affairs.
Clearly there are those out there in leadership positions
in their Resort Owners Association that would like some assistance dealing with due-diligence, the duty of loyalty
or understanding the governing documents that feel they have no where to turn for unbiased information.
It is the intent of the ARDA Outreach Committee not to step
on anyone’s toes or to crossover into anyone’s turf, however, we are committed to reach out to this industry segment
in an effort to determine what ARDA can do to enhance the overall quality of HOA administration.
If you have any thoughts or ideas on how this intent and
our commitment can be forwarded please e-mail me at the address listed below.
JS
11/06
