EMPOWERING TELLICO VILLAGE

Our Mission....To communicate critical village news in a fair, clear, truthful and concise manner of key issues that impact YOU.

Publisher: Mark Werner

Empowering Tellico Village just completed a village survey on Water and Sewer. This survey was done by Constant Contact a neutral, unbiased third party.  We asked the following questions:

The results are:
 

1. 4261 emails were sent. 

2. 618 opened the survey and started it…226 never submitted it. 

3. 392 did submit it

4. Of the total sent, 4261...392 submitted their results. That's 9.2%

Definitions....Bounce rate are suspended emails that bounce back to Constant Contact. Click rate are the people that open the survey.

Industry standards for Nonprofit Membership Organizations 

open rate  43%

click rate   1.95%

bounce rate 12.19%

OUR SURVEY RESULTS              

open rate   64%

click rate    13%

bounce rate 2.0%
 

We are well above the industry standards for non-profits,

for those who opened it and (392) submitted the survey.  Thats a whopping 63%.  
 

Conclusions
 

So, it’s safe to say the village is in favor of stopping the $80 and of implementing Mike Lackey's TAP 2.0.
 

The village is not in favor of shutting off your water or the new services agreement.
 

These are not small numbers...they confirm what we saw in the November 2024 election with the huge win by Joel and Mike....a mandate. 
 

This being the case why is the POA continuing to try an implement the original TAP program? And why are they using the draconian tactic of shutting off a residents water? AND why are we still paying the $80 fee....

So why hasn't the $80 fee stopped? Well we know that John Orr is not in favor of it. His comments in July of 2024 made that clear along with his NO vote. None of those reasons has changed. If anything they have gotten worse.
 

We also know that Mike Lackey and Joel Reed are not in favor of it....THATS 3 VOTES. A fourth vote is needed...THESE are the board members that will not vote to stop it....Steve Schreiber, Marty Inknott, Ed Grollemond and Mike Braddock. WHY?

We know the RESERVE STUDY is incorrect. Braddock and Orr have admitted that and our "resigned" CEO did too! The assumptions are inflated, in some cases almost 3 times. So the target of $10M is inflated. We currently have $32m in our General Reserve Fund and its growng at about a $1m a month. WE DONT NEED THE MONEY!



The original TAP of $37M is slowly being reduced. The elimination of the poop tank saves almost $7M and was the center of Jacobs Engineering's solution. The tanks removal means the entire plan needs reworked.



Mike Lackey's team already reworked it. Their alternative TAP 2.0 plan is only about $9M. Yet the POA led by the holdover members (above) and Mr. McCrea continue to drag their feet inplementing TAP 2.0. WHY?
 

SO WE DO NOT NEED THIS $80 A MONTH FEE. IT NEEDS TO STOP NOW!
 

A SIDE NOTE, the POA says its too difficult, time consuming and expensive to get the residents input. This survey was done by Constant Contact. The cost of $93 is the price of a monthly subscription. We provided the questions and Constant Contact did all the number crunching and comparisons.  I dont think the POA wants the residents input!

TIME FOR SOME REVIEW…..

https://www.youtube.com/live/GRJzLtejAD0?si=z57b7tLZwQY84EhW 

11:40 timing and transparency disagreement for elimination of the CIO position Mitzi Lane.

12:40 John Orr laments as to the difficulty of his position and that our issues ruined his vacation. 

13:45 announcement of an interim General Manager.

38:45 Scott McCrea commented that past maintenance personnel installed risers on 500 to 1000 tanks and saw no reduction on flow...

Just rewatched the last town hall and it seems Mr. Orr’s statement at January’s town hall that only agenda items will be discussed at board meetings has been retracted and the updated policy and open forum aligns with our bylaws and CC&R’s. While this policy update is welcome it is disappointing that the POA continues to make statements one month then retract them at the next meeting as false information and does not fully admit they presented a false narrative at the prior meeting.

At the Feb Town Hall, our project manager said he was seeking board approval for approximately $400K for engineering the new lift station at Kahite. Come to find out that was not approved by PSAC or the FACT! 

Then a week later, at the board meeting it was scoped down to 78K for a “preliminary design” and a discussion ensued on whether this is only for Jacobs or could be bid out to others (Mike and Joel’s recommendations), which seemingly got support. Then when it came time to vote, PSAC evidently approved this for Jacobs only, which apparently Mike was not aware of. How does this happen, with Mike Lackey as the board liaison to the PSAC? 

Something seems amiss.

Here are our questions:

-With two presentations by in a row on TAP by our project manager seemingly not coordinated with our new board member Mike Lackey, who is the liaison to the PESAC, should there be a “doted-line” reporting relationship with him to ensure better coordination? Maybe Mr. McCrea should hard line report to Mike Lackey. Doesn’t that make better sense?

Arguably, based on Mike's expertise and study of our water/sewer issues (and his role with the PSAC), he and the project manager should be on the same page going forward.

- Are the architects of the TAP 2.0 plan (whom received our overwhelming votes questioning the original plans and spend on TAP) being involved in all the needed discussions/recommendations before we move forward on these projects? 

From our vantage point watching the tapes, it would appear not.

Just how much have we given Jacob's Engineering. Below is a chart from the POA, it shows how much we have given on the Jacob's since 2016.

Below is the money we have already spent with Jacob's Engineering. HERE's the important take away...In Oct. 2021 Jacob's report to the POA identified Infiltration and Intrusion (I&I) of rain water into our backyard tanks as the main problem with our sewer system. Did we begin a program to fix this in 2022? NO...The POA claims that in the 2019 to 2020 timeframe about 500 to 1,000 risers were installed on resident tanks mostly in the Mialaquo neighborhood. Not possible at that time Mialaquo only had about 350 homes.
 

According to a former PESAC member, who shared this information with the POA manager who was responsible for this work, the total was no more than 350.
 

So where is that project paperwork...Did they measure the flows at rain events, to see if it worked? Did they write it down somewhere, maybe in a project plan and a conclusions report, that would have been given to the POA? Who knows, apparently all that paperwork conveniently burned up in an office fire at the public works office. So we have no record.
 

So if we knew the problem was I&I in Oct. 2021, why are we continuing to spend (years 2022, 2023 and 2024) over a $1m with Jacob's?

OPINION
 

Finally, I remember when the POA was attempting to make Tellico Village a "Gun Free Zone" essentially taking away our guns. The village came out in droves. The POA meeting was taken over by residents clearly against this attempt. I was impressed by the empowerment of the community and what their voices could do. In the end (of that meeting) the proposal was withdrawn. It took only one POA meeting....
 

But when the POA clearly takes away your right to input on critical issues in our village, when they brazenly go around the

Covenants and Restrictions (and tell us they are doing so) C&R's put in place to protect us...we hear an equivalent whimper. Yes a few residents speak out some take action, the the greater village remains....indifferent or so it appears.
 

The bottom line is we are happy to carry the load. But we do need your support. The "holdover board" believes you are happy with their decisions...they have ignored your voices and message from the November 2024 elections. Clearly by your votes you have given Lackey and Reed a mandate to implement their plans. But YOU are being ignored! Well you will get another chance to set this ship right again.