11 minute read
Meet the CSA Front Offi ce Staff
With the opening of the new CSA Office, we thought it would be a good time to find out more about the three ladies in the front office and what their responsibilities are. Believe us when we say we could have filled up this entire issue with their stories and responsibilities. It took a lot of editing to get it down to just three pages. Read on and you’ll see how important their roles are in keeping The Great Outdoors’ wheels in motion.
Donna Edinger
Donna, how long have you worked at TGO? This time, almost 13 years. I previously worked here from 1989-1996. Do you live locally? Yes, In Titusville. Tell us how you came to TGO? I was living in Ft. Lauderdale in 1989 and I came to visit friends who had just purchased property on Fawn Trail. I decided I had found heaven and two weeks later I moved.
I lived in the park for six months on Sunset, then decided to move to a house in Titusville. I became a server at the Jukebox and, while there, a former TGO manager offered me the position of ARC secretary. At one point I was full-time as beverage cart girl, bartender, server and helped with catering. I’ve worked my way through many different positions. I’ve now been the ARC secretary for 13 years.
I took on various duties as needed then, when Connie Hudson took medical leave in 2015, I learned how to run the CSA front office.
Today I am still the ARC secretary and assistant to the Condo Boards. I do ARC business on Monday, Wednesday and Friday and do all Condo business on Tuesday and Thursday. What does all this entail? I take all ARC applications, review them and make sure everything is filled out as it should be, report to the committee, take the minutes and make sure everything stays in order, maintain the files, and try to assist people as much as I can to make sure I can get their application through the first time. I call people and let them know if their ARC application has been approved or disapproved. I am just the messenger, I don’t have a vote in approving or disapproving an application.
Every October the process of Rules and Regulations for ARC starts. We have the Monday Planning Meeting and the Wednesday Action Meeting. We have our Guideline Review Meeting directly after those meetings for three to four sessions. At that point the committee has gone through the whole process one time, then they go back, tweak it and get it the way they want. They bring all that to me and I create a document that is in a strikeout version and that is sent out to the community. The board votes on it in February and then it goes on the website as the official guidelines. Does it change a lot from year to year? It varies, most years it doesn’t. Mostly it’s just tweaking. People will point out where things might be in contradiction, so we strive to be consistent. Sometimes we need to add, sometimes we need to delete. Sometimes there are new things. In the last five years I’ve seen that there are more people who are putting in generators with buried propane tanks. We have had to put in a whole new section for that. So, the book evolves as our TGO world evolves.
Most people are very good about complying with the ARC guidelines, but there are people who are surprised when they get in trouble for not getting approval. I’ll hear questions like, “You mean I have to ask for permission to put on a roof or paint my house?” Yes, you do. Anything that can be seen needs to be approved, this includes backyards. Backyards can be seen from the golf course and the nature trail, so changes in the back also need to be approved. This includes screen rooms in the backyard. There is probably only 5% that don’t comply and this is mainly because they simply don’t know the rules. How can we do a better job getting this information out to the new owners? The guidelines are in the welcome packet. If I hear people asking about what to do, I always try to let them know I am available to take their questions. I don’t care how many questions they ask, I want them to get it right. Continued...
Every application that comes across my desk gets a phone call from me. If the application gets field approved, meaning a drive-by was done and the change was approved, they get called quickly. If it goes to the committee, be it approved or disapproved, they still get a phone call. Everyone is asked to come and pick up the approval packet and make sure it is posted in a window that can be seen from the street.
In the 13 years I’ve been doing this, I’ve watched the ARC committee evolve. When I first started, it was a bit more lax, but now it has become more strict. When we say a five foot setback, we mean five feet and not four foot, nine inches. Rules are rules, we must follow them.
I am also the assistant to the Condo Boards. I help prepare meeting notices; I maintain their banking accounts. I am still learning this part of the job as I just took it over in January. There are certain condo presidents and secretaries who have been doing this for years and they are a great source of information. I make sure all the meeting notices go out. I make sure they are following the timelines of when documentation needs to go out. I’m also responsible for the billing of the Condo dues.
I go to all the President’s Council meetings. If there is any communication that needs to be made to the council I send an email, if there is something they should be doing that they haven’t, I try to nudge them along..
Carmella Galley
How long have you worked at CSA office? It will be two years this February 1, about 5 months after we moved to Titusville. And from where did you move? That would be Moab, Utah. Moab, Utah to Titusville! What did you do in Moab? I was the Executive Administrative Assistant to the city - I assisted the Mayor, the City Council, the City Manager, the Assistant City Manager, and all the other department heads.
Sounds like an important position. What made you leave? We left due to Covid. The city was going through some budgetary constraints due to tourists not being able to visit with the Covid shutdowns. Since we had already planned on heading to Florida in two years, we just did it sooner. We will return to Moab for visits in the future. Tell us about your position and your duties. I started out as service representative. My position now is Lead Office Service Representative, Marketing Assistant and Manager Assistant.
My days vary. I work with Billy and all employees as the need arises. I do a lot of the purchasing, from office supplies to flooring for whoever may need it.
Having been the first point of contact, I now help Sabrina if she’s busy with someone or needs help with a situation she’s dealing with.
I’m responsible for the Alert Media notices, Facebook, The Blue Heron website, Constant Contact, and soon the TGOCSA website. We use these to inform residents when there is an important or emergency notice, like vital weather information, a water outage, an interruption of trash service, or street closures. The system works great as long as we have the correct information from the residents. I get a few complaints from people saying they didn’t receive the information via email or phone, sometimes it is a program issue, but usually it’s because they haven’t updated their information with us. So... please do! On Fridays, when needed, I’ll go out to residents’ properties and register their RV for our Bar Code system. It gets me out of the office and gives me a chance to say hello to anyone that happens to wave and say hello to me as well! Any suggestions how TGO residents can help you and the office when they come in? Patience with us is as helpful as our patience with them.
Becoming more familiar with our Rules and Regulations would be helpful for all. These are all posted on our tgocsa.org website, under CSA Documents, and can usually answer most of their questions. But we are always here to help and inform when needed.
There is a lot of information on our site that’s valuable for both residents and visitors alike. If you can’t find something, let us know! We can help. That’s what we are here for!
Sabrina Priske
How long have you worked at TGO? November 9 was one year. I previously worked in the legal field. I am a licensed paralegal. I worked in family law and criminal law. When our firm closed after 25 years in law, I decided I wanted to do something different, so here I am. Where do you live? I live in Port St. John. I grew up in Orlando and have been here for about 33 years. I’ve been married 32 years. I’m an original Orlando girl. I remember when Orlando was an unknown tropical paradise. How did you find your way to TGO? I thought I wanted to stay home after working 25 years, but soon decided I needed more to do. I only knew The Great Outdoors as a place my husband liked to play golf. I didn’t even know what was out here. I saw a job offer on Indeed. When I came here, I met with Carmella and Sharon and learned about The Great Outdoors. I quickly decided that I really wanted to work here. I mean, where else can you work where you pull into the driveway and three deer run across the lawn or a Sandhill Crane family just comes walking by? This is an awesome place. Tell us about your responsibilities? I am a CSA representative. I am primary on phone calls and I’m the first point of contact when people walk in the door. On Mondays we catch up with everything that happened over the weekend. I put in the work orders for any issues people have called in and delegate them to the correct division - either irrigation, lawn crew, courtesy patrol, etc. This is all done via our service program and emails to the different crews.
I handle the barcodes for all the cars. We handle these by appointment only, Monday through Thursday, and I also take RV reservations for Carmella to handle on Friday, where she goes out to the RV sites. Also... If you get a new vehicle, you should always call the CSA office to make an appointment to get a new bar code. After we place the barcode on the vehicle, I then input the information (make, model, year and contact information) into our computer system.
I also gather all the renter information from owners who rent their properties. They fill out the forms we provide and I put that information into the system so when their renter arrives at the gate, their name is on the list and they will be given a pass into the park. Otherwise, if the owner of the property hasn’t furnished us the paperwork, the renter is left sitting at the gate while the gate attendant tries to contact the owner to get permission for that person to come in. If an owner has a friend coming for a visit or an extended stay, the owner needs to call CSA or come in and add that person’s name to their information so that visitor can get a paper pass from the front gate.
Our guest passes and rental forms have an arrival and departure date and the computer will automatically deactivate the bar code on the departure date, so if someone is staying longer, the owner of the property needs to let us know so we can extend the renter’s stay in the computer. We work closely with the gate and the mail center to make sure we always have an updated guest list of who’s in the park.
How do you handle the contractors and golf or restaurant visitors? If an owner has a contractor coming to do work on their house, it’s a good idea for the owner to call me and let me know that XYZ Company is coming in for a day or more. That way I can update their file, put their name in the computer and the timeline of the pass needed. The gate will issue a pass for that period. For people who want to look at property, golf or visit the restaurant - the gate attendant will issue a pass accordingly.
