Associa Desert Resort Management Helps Board Lead Community to Successful Future

This planned-urban development (PUD) consists of 1,074 single-family homes and several amenities, including an airport, lake, community center, pool, playground, picnic cabanas, and groomed roads for horseback riding and vehicles. Associa Desert Resort Management has managed the community since 2020.

Challenge:

Before hiring Associa Desert Resort Management, the community was self-managed. The board of directors was challenged by many factors, including consistency in processes, human resources expertise, vendor management, and financials reporting. A volunteer board that changed annually, it was difficult to maintain consistent collections efforts. Because new board members often lacked the background in proper community management, meetings were disorganized and financials were inaccurately reported. In addition, without a background in employee relations, the board found it difficult to navigate issues with OSHA requirements, workers’ compensation, hiring and firing processes, pay, holiday leave, tax forms, and much more. The board was not able to sustain daily oversight of employees, payroll, accounts payable, financials, and all other responsibilities while also focusing on maintaining the future success of the community.

Resolution:

When the board partnered with Associa Desert Resort Management, it saw immediate change. First, as a full-service management partner, DRM offered employees consistent benefits, performance reviews, holiday, vacation, and sick leave consistent with the laws of the state of California. It also provided training and job oversight. Its team of human resources professionals is well versed in OSHA training and tracking, hiring and firing processes, employee retention, and workers’ compensation. DRM’s industry leading payments and financials technology handled vendor payments, coding,reporting,W-9s and other tax forms, and budgets. Plus, the management team ensured that residents were aware of the goings on of the community with frequent communication. Today, the board has seen improvements in all areas of concern. It is confident in the work the management team is doing as it relates to employee management, collections, meeting management, consistent processes, and much more. It lauds its community manager, Paula T., for bending over backwards to help it move forward and keep focused on what it needs to accomplish. The board is happy with its decision to hire a full-service management team from Associa Desert Resort Management.