The POA board has met with representatives of GSI Executive Search and will soon see a job description for the vacant general manager position, according to Brad Morris, chairman of the board's search committee. On Friday, he said, he thinks the position could be filled by the first of the year.
The position was vacated by Tommy Bailey on Aug. 31. Since then senior staff members have been running their own departments with board chairman Bob Brooks supervising.
After the board approves the job description, Morris expects GSI will present about a dozen candidates within a few weeks. The board will then decide who will be interviewed.
Morris said that the board is ready to invest $30,000 in the search in order to get the best possible leader for the POA. With assets of over $68.8 million to protect, he believes it's a good investment.
"There are investments that are made for the future of the community," he said about the cost of the search firm. "People who invest in a home here should want the community to maintain and improve what we have. The key to that is the next leader."
He also commented that $30,000 is about half of what he expected to pay based on his past corporate experience. It equates to 83 cents for each lot in Bella Vista.
Often a corporate search firm also receives an additional fee based on the salary paid to the new hire but that's not the case this time, Morris said. The contract with GSI calls for no additional fees, even if the search goes on longer than expected.
Morris wouldn't say what salary the next general manager might be offered.
"The salary will be what the market dictates," he said, adding, "It is very likely that we are in the top five -- if not the number one -- of the largest POAs in America. We're looking for the best leader possible."
In an effort to give members some input into the process, the board developed a survey about the qualities needed in the next general manager.
"We are a service organization and we want to hear from our customers about what our leader needs to be like," Morris explained.
The first three questions on the survey ask about the three most important characteristics for a general manager. They ranged from "recreational community management experience" to "certified public account."
The survey will be up on the POA website until Oct. 10, marketing manager Ashlee Napier said. It was emailed to many members as part of regular POA communications. Members who indicate that they want to see the final results, will get those via email.
General News on 10/07/2015