Patrolling the Pond, January
By Mike Miller Board Member and Sergeant at Arms
January 23, 2025
One of the goals I have for Patrolling the Pond in 2025 is to bring you different perspectives on how our beautiful lake operates. My past few years of being a Board Member have really opened my eyes on just how much it takes to run a lake community that, by all intent, is like running a small town…then add a lake. So much strategy, planning, and activities happen behind the scenes that what we all experience in the warm months of summer is like seeing the tip of the iceberg. “Patrolling,” congers up the notion of being, “onsite at the moment.” Because lake operations, rule setting, rule enforcement, and even safety are so much more than just want happens on the water, sharing different perspectives of lake operations from the those closest to it may be the best way to truly, “Patrol the Pond.”
I recently had the opportunity to interview Marilee Magerkurth, Office Manager at the Lake Lotawana Association Office. After 31 years as a lake resident, Marilee has moved off the lake but still enjoys the beauty and nature that the lake provides even by working for the Association. Marilee and her team provide all of the administrative and organizational support to tackle such activities as invoicing for dues, registering boats, and keeping the books and administrative responsibilities for the Association. Here are some more pearls from my interview with Marilee:
Mike: Why do you enjoy your role as the Office Manager for the Association?
Marilee: I love the variety that this role offers: on any given day I’m working with our insurance company to manage risk, helping to keep tight records of our assets, accounting, investing excess funds, process improvement, and many more functions. I’m extremely lucky to have a great team who is very talented and gets things done.
Mike: What do you enjoy most about your role?
Marilee: I really enjoy working with everyone in the office; each person comes with different training and background and all of that adds up to an extremely professional team. Denise DiPiazzo has architecture and art degrees with experience running large projects, Courtney Fleenor has a fisheries and wildlife degree with experience in corporate training and mortgage servicing, Sophie Reed came to us from being an office manager in a dental office, and Denise Henik, our newest part-time addition, came to us from the corporate customer service world. I hold two business degrees as well as the CFA charter (institutional portfolio management) and I worked in banking and property/casualty insurance finance.
I get most excited about figuring out new ways to do things and thinking of new ways to improve processes.
Mike: We recently received 2025 invoices that were all inclusive. Tell us a little bit about what went into that change.
Marilee: We have a lot of data to manage with all the different registrations like boats, golf carts, docks, trailers in the lot, and member contact information. Combining all the data together on one invoice was a challenge. We simplified it for residents and brought everything into one invoice that was delivered electronically.
Mike: Mission accomplished?
Marilee: Yes. But there is always more to do.
Mike: What part of the outcome of the new invoicing process will be most helpful moving forward?
Marilee: Members not having to register lake toys like SUPs, Kayaks, and other water toys will save a lot of time and effort. It also saves money for each resident who owns that type of property. I do highly recommend putting your lot and block number on EVERYTHING that floats, even if you don’t need to register the toys.
Mike: What other processes and administrative duties do you and your staff support?
Marilee: There are several. Even though we are moving to a forever registration sticker, we still will register all new watercraft. We hope to move the delivery of the boat registration forms to an electronic process in 2025. We also manage the permitting process for construction projects and dock changes, citations, and property rentals, among many others.
Another big project that happens each year is preparing for the Annual Meeting and the Budget Meeting. They require sending ballots for each to all members in good standing. With 2200 properties and 1100 residents we send communications and prepare packets for the annual meetings and make the notes available from every Board Meeting.
Mike: How can residents help you with these processes? What can we do on our end?
Marilee: We really want to make it as easy as possible for everyone. I know everyone is very busy, but the more you can read the communication pieces that we email, the better. Be informed. Let us know if you have suggestions for any ways that we can communicate more clearly or streamline. Also, with forever decals it becomes even more important to let us know as soon as possible after you sell or remove boats or trailers that you previously had registered. If we don’t know that it’s gone we will have to bill you for it next year.
Mike: What’s coming up in 2025 for you and the office staff?
We have a lot of things we’re working on. After finishing the year with AED training, we have a new initiative around asset management. It’s critical for us to effectively manage all the assets we own as an Association. The Operations department does a great job keeping maintenance up to date but we need to improve our record-keeping of that process to know the current standing of all of our assets. We are stewards of the assets and that is an important element of our financial accountability to the residents. We’re here to help enforce the Rules and Regulations and deed of restrictions and anything else the Board would like for us to do.
I’m excited to bring new and more effective processes to this in 2025. I’m also excited to work with the team to get it all done just like we did with our initiatives in 2024.
Mike: Thank you Marilee for taking time to share more about everything you and your team do for the residents of the association. I also want to thank your staff, Denise, Courtney, Sophie, and Denise H. for their hard work as well. I think I can speak for everyone in saying that we look forward to seeing what’s coming from you and your team in 2025.
It’s exciting to share more about what goes on around and behind the scenes. Marilee and her team are one example of what it takes to make all residents’ experience the best it can be. Someone told me that whether you are a full-time resident or a part-time resident you are still a full-time owner! I’m sure I am not the only one that has a great appreciation for what it takes to make Lake Lotawana work. And now I have just a little bit more.