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SUN CITY CENTER– For the next 10 weeks, a five-man committee here will consider contenders to manage operational and administrative aspects of this community.
It is the first time in nearly 10 years that a widespread search has been instituted for a professional community management firm to handle tasks currently the responsibilities of Sterling Management Company.
A total of 16 Requests for Proposal (RFPs) outlining the community’s management needs were mailed in early March, according to Paul Wheat, SCC Community Association president.
He declined to name all 16 firms on the CA list of potential managers, terming it “proprietary information.” He also suggested that with a process established and a schedule set in connection with the management selection, it would not be appropriate to open the door to others now. However, Wheat described the listed potential managers as “good companies,” most with multiple offices and strong Florida connections.
The CA president acknowledged that the incumbent manager, Sterling, is among those solicited for a proposal.
Responses to the CA’s proposal invitations are due no later than Friday, April 6, Wheat said. At that point, packages received will be secured unopened until the five-man selection committee can initiate the review and evaluation process of each proposal, he added. Committee recommendations are due to the CA board at its May 9 meeting.
Regarding the eventual management choice, the CA president said “the winning firm will be selected on the basis of weighted criteria, of which there are many in three categories.” This trio of categories he identified broadly as the qualifications of the proposing company, the prospective costs of its services and the qualifications of its suggested on-site personnel. Costs, he emphasized, are but one factor in the evaluation.
The selection committee consists of two sitting CA directors, Gordon Bassett and Patrick Long, as well as three residents, Edmund Barnes, Ron Pelton and Don Van Gelder. Bassett, Long and Van Gelder reportedly are experienced in aspects of company management while Barnes’ background is consulting and Pelton’s is in engineering. Wheat, a former USA logistics officer whose assignments included NATO service, will chair the group as a non-voting member, he said.
Regarding anticipated responses, the CA president tamped down any expectation of a large reply number. “We’d like to think we’re going to get a dozen,” he noted, “but we may be lucky to get five or six.”
The aspects of community management in Sun City Center assigned to a professional manager are not the typical Home Owners Association or Condominium Owners Association responsibilities, Wheat pointed out. As a consequence, proposals must be tailored to specific requirements, he added.
The management company scope of work covers operational oversight of the community’s amenities, maintenance of the related facilities, certain accounting records, and administration of the management office as well as management of the pertinent workforce, Wheat said.
Those amenities encompass the various recreational components of the three community campuses, he explained. The central campus involves many club facilities as well as the atrium complex, the south campus is anchored by Community Hall and the west campus includes the agricultural gardens and rec vehicle storage.
As for administrative staff, Wheat said at the present time Sterling employs two, the on-site manager and an accountant. All other staff members are CA employees.
The management firm scope of services does not include policy decisions which are – and are likely to remain - the purview of the volunteer CA Board of Directors, Wheat added.
Sterling, the current community management firm, originally was engaged in 1998 under a three-year contract, Wheat recalled. When that agreement expired in 2001, the firm subsequently was signed to additional contracts in one-year increments, he added. Its current agreement with SCC sunsets on July 31, 2007.
The management company also presently handles certain community-related responsibilities in Kings Point. And, in the last year, KP community leaders have mentioned – but have not acted upon – a move to relocate Sterling offices within KP.
Through SCC’s early years, as a succession of developers built new neighborhoods and participated more heavily in its management, the community hosted both a civic association and a homeowners association led by resident volunteers. The two organizations joined forces in 1987 to create the contemporary Community Association. The combination developer and volunteer approach to SCC management continued until 1996, when an individual professional manager employed for one year preceded Sterling’s arrival on the scene.
Drawing a clear line between obligations of a paid community management company and responsibilities of CA volunteer directors, Wheat said he considers “maintaining amenities at a level expected by the membership” a key matter on the horizon for the community’s management firm.
On the other hand, issues of concern in the near future to the CA board, he said, include departure of current developer, WCI Communities, the impacts of explosive growth surrounding SCC and funding replacement of aging amenities with new infrastructure.
Wheat pledged the management company selection will be “above board and straight forward,” with the objective a contract ready to execute by mid-June.
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