Nick Davis tellicovillageconnection.com

One familiar face and two new ones will hold seats for the next three years as members of the Tellico Village Property Owners Association Board of Directors.

Four candidates ran for three seats on the board, with Steve Schneider the lone incumbent and Sue English-Kovar, Marty Inkrott and Susan Kirk as challengers. Mike Colacone and Cap Purvis are rolling off the board.

Inkrott led the way with 1,814 votes out of 6,145. Inkrott currently serves as president of the New Villagers club.

“My story is I was president of the New Villagers, really got involved,” he said. “I really got involved with HOA and POA, and once I learned that, I was just like, ‘Well, I want to be part of the growth of this community.’ It’s kind of a relief that that part is over, but now the work begins, right? Now I’ve got to figure out what the other board members are going through, what the issues are ... I mean, I know what a lot of the issues are because I attend meetings, but really get more involved and make sure that I’m voicing my opinion on those issues.”

Inkrott believes his prior business experience will prove a benefit.

“I think that my business experience, primarily, running a business because we are running a $20 million business here, that’s probably a huge part of my experience,” he said. “I look forward to bringing that, the whole cost control, making people accountable and those types of things. I think the big things right now are making sure we get our reserves built back up. I think we’re focused on all the right things with the water tower and roof replacement down at the Wellness Center. I think those are hitting some big infrastructure issues that we’ve got to be on top of, so barring anything else coming up like that, I think our focus has got to be on getting our reserves built back up and then start looking at the long-range planning and figure out timing and different things that are in that.”

Schneider, who finished second with 1,755 votes, looks forward to serving another three years.

He agreed with Inkrott’s plan to keep building reserves. “The main focus is rebuilding the reserves to an acceptable financial level,” he said.

English-Kovar finished third with 1,397 votes and hopes to make a noticeable difference in the community.

“I’ve been here since 2014 and, during that time, I’ve been involved the whole time,” she said. “I was in New Villagers, I was on their board, I was the HOA president in 2018, so this is just sort of a natural progression for me. I’ve always felt like I’ve wanted to contribute, and I feel like with all the things I have behind me here in the Village, and then from a professional experience, too, that I have a lot to give. I’m thrilled to death to be here.”

English-Kovar brings more than 30 years of experience in program management.

“Really, that’s a mixed bag of having to create budgets and that kind of thing ... people management, time management,” she said. “Putting that all together to make sure that you move initiatives forward in a positive manner. As you’re doing so, you have everybody on board with what you’re doing. There’s no concerns and those kinds of things.”

Her main focus will be to improve communication between board members, staff and Villagers.

“What my sweet spot is is really communication, change management and those kinds of things,” she said. “Really trying to work through how we do a better job of getting the word out, how the committees talk to each other, how the staff talks to the committees and that kind of stuff. ... How we get that information out to the community as quickly and efficiently as possible.