DAPHNE, Ala.—This year’s Lake Forest Property Owners Association board of directors election ended with Richard Kersey, Gene Ponder and Ed Kirby — the three members of The Reform Team — winning three available positions. They defeated top competitors Joe Jablecki, Steve Scarcliff and Reb Bailey of The A Team.

The two groups campaigned aggressively with a difference of opinion on a major issue in the subdivision: Vision Golf and Association Management had been voted in as the subdivision’s management company, ending a reign of residents’ self-management. The topic was heavily argued among Lake Forest residents and the two groups of candidates.

But the Lake Forest election’s players included more names than just the nine candidates: The Reform Team, The A Team, and independents Fred Hill, Dean Watson and Michael Shultz.

Battle lines drawn

The subdivision’s board voted 6-3 on Sept. 16 to bring in Vision, a Florida-based property-management company. Proponents cited dwindling amenities and rising debt as justification for the action.

The Reform Team supported bringing in Vision; The A Team opposed the process behind bringing in the company.

But there was more to it than that.

Jablecki said the latter group formed because one Lake Forest resident would campaign for three candidates each year, and “The A Team” wanted to combat the tactic.

“We (banded) together as a direct result of George Lieb’s ‘slate of three,’” Jablecki said.

“It was a direct attempt to try and get someone elected that wasn’t one of George’s candidates.”

Lieb supported The Reform Team candidates — and after this year’s election, could chart another victory. The 12-year Lake Forest resident supported Mary Ann Hampton, Bill Menefee, Jim Moss and Anthony Dees in the 2009 election and Travis Stone, Ray Sturch and Marie Bidney in the 2008 election — all of whom, minus Bidney and Sturch, voted in favor of bringing in Vision Golf and Association. Lieb said he supported Clint Martin and Anthony Dees in 2007, the outgoing members from this year’s board turnover, but he cannot recall whom he supported before that.

Lieb’s methods included word-of-mouth, yard signs, postcards, a website and flyers to individual homes. The Reform Team ran a half-page campaign ad in the October issue of The Lake Forester — the subdivision’s monthly newsletter — but the A Team had a full-page ad in the same issue of that publication, and on the group’s website.

Lieb — who’s assisted Lake Forest leadership campaign efforts since 2005 –— thinks one of the biggest reasons for his success is that he has Lake Forest’s best interests in mind.

“We always do our best for people,” Lieb said. “We keep our word. My rule is if you’re looking at special interests, it never benefits Lake Forest.”

Tomasina Werner, a subdivision resident, said that’s why she supports Lieb’s picks.

“… His number one interest is helping the property owners get their property value back up,” Werner said. “He works endlessly trying to get the people to do what will help the property owners.”

No rules prohibit a person from campaigning for individuals in the annual vote, but Jablecki said he would rather see Lieb officially leading.

“His ideas are not bad,” Jablecki said after the election results were announced. “It’s just I’d rather see him actually on the board or run for the board, but he’s said to me that he’s happier ‘leading from behind.’”

Lieb, however, said he has a reason for not running for the board: time with his family.

“My motivation in Lake Forest is working with the Improvement Committee to do improvement projects,” Lieb said. “I will back whomever I think are the best candidates running for the board that year. If anybody has a question as to why I would not run myself, it’s basically because I have six children and I could not make that commitment. God bless political people because I don’t want to take time away from my family.”

Board member support

The A Team also had an influential person supporting its agenda — Lake Forest board member Ray Sturch.

Sturch was one of the three board members who voted down bringing in Vision to operate the subdivision. Other dissenters were Bryan Frater and Bidney. Frater’s term on the board ended this year; Bidney is still a member.

Sturch and Bidney would not comment on why they voted down bringing in Vision, and Frater was unavailable for comment, but the group Sturch supported — The A Team — opposed the process behind involving the company.

“We’re not against Vision at all. We’re just against the process,” Jablecki said. “All three of us believe professional management is a better option for managing our subdivision. The way it happened was just wrong. Vision may be the best, but who knows?”

A-Team supporters said the Vision vote seemed like a closed bidding process — that Vision, all along, was the lone option for property management. Municipal governments, like the city of Daphne, usually open projects to various entities before deciding which business is awarded a job. Lake Forest, on the other hand, is a private subdivision. 

Some feel The A Team backed off from its initial stance on property management, settling for a middle-ground approach.

“They probably evolved their stance over the course of the campaign,” Lieb said.

His choice for the candidates he supported came back to the same issue: Vision Golf and Association.

“I sought candidates who would mostly support the concept of professional property management,” Lieb said. “I campaigned for (The Reform Team) because I thought they were the ones who were most strongly behind Vision Golf and Association Management.”

Lieb said he had no “ulterior motives for supporting property management in Lake Forest”; he said he feels it is in the best interest of the subdivision.

An era of change

For the first time since 2005, three candidates joined together to compete against Lieb’s successful campaigning. But in the end, Jablecki, Bailey, Scarcliff, Sturch and A Team supporters fell short when baldwincountynow.com, The Bulletin’s website, broke news that Reform Team members Ponder, Kersey and Kirby won the three vacant board positions.

Lake Forest finds itself in an “era of change” with a new management company, but the same person still finds campaign success whenever the annual board member election rolls around.             

“I don’t know how (Lieb) picks the people he picks, but I will give him credit: He is an outstanding campaigner,” Jablecki said.

An independent viewpoint

Shultz — one of three independent candidates in the election — said he felt group campaigning was counterproductive.

“I think it does hurt as far as maintaining impartial representation for the majority of the members,” Shultz said. “I appreciated both (groups) giving me insight into their platforms and what they stood for, but I didn’t feel it was in the best interest for Lake Forest or the membership to have teams standing out for the membership of the whole.”

Shultz said that the groups were “polarized and didn’t look like they were able to provide an objective view besides a couple issues that got the limelight.” One such issue, Shultz said, was with The A Team’s stance that property management was needed but the process seemed faulty.

“I agree that we do need some professional management assistance,” Shultz said. “The method that it was brought to the voters I thought was very poor.”

“The Reform Team”:

—Supported property management.

—Opposed raising dues

—Supported by Lake Forest resident George Lieb

“The A Team”:

—Opposed the process of bringing in the specific property management company

—Supported by current board member Ray Sturch