Tellico Village is a private development. It’s not a city or town that is incorporated as a municipality. While this is all true, Tellico Village is also a “community”. A recent article in the Stanford Social Innovation Review (What Is Community Anyway? (ssir.org)) defined community as:
“It’s about people.
First and foremost, community is not a place, a building, or an organization; nor is it an exchange of information over the Internet. Community is both a feeling and a set of relationships among people. People form and maintain communities to meet common needs.
Members of a community have a sense of trust, belonging, safety, and caring for each other. They have an individual and collective sense that they can, as part of that community, influence their environments and each other.
That treasured feeling of community comes from shared experiences and a sense of—not necessarily the actual experience of—shared history. As a result, people know who is and isn’t part of their community. This feeling is fundamental to human existence.”
Tellico Village has the great fortune of having many residents who dedicate their time and money to support the many clubs and organizations that make us a community. This may be the Fire Department, Library, T-Bart, POA, HOA, New Villagers, Lions, and many others – it’s a long list! Together we make up the social fabric of the community called Tellico Village. Whether you just moved here or you’ve been here since the beginning, you are part of our combined shared experience. I encourage you to participate, volunteer, and support the clubs and organizations that make us a community worth living in.
In late June we held our “Summer Fun” picnic at the Yacht Club. About 500 people participated in a fun event with good food, live music, and games. The weather cooperated and we all had a great time visiting and hanging out together. Betty Fortune and her team did a fantastic job planning and running the event. Well done and thank you for all your hard work!! We plan to do this again next year, so block out June 24, 2024 on your calendar so you won’t miss it.
Our August Social will be on the 8th at the Yacht Club starting at 5pm. The theme for this Social is “Back to School” in the 1950’s. Come dressed for the occasion, so dust off your poodle skirts and spruce up those pompadours. There will be a 50’s themed Singo during the Social, which should be great fun. We will be focusing on the TN Adopt-A-Class program as part of our back-to-school focus. Please bring items to donate and/or cash. There is a listing of suggested items later in this edition of the Voice and also on Tellico Life (attached to the August Social invite).
On August 18 starting at 4pm we are holding an Open Village Meeting at the Kahite Community Center. Our focus this time is on Monroe County and various topics that directly impact our Kahite residents. You will be hearing updates on the new Hwy 411 RV Park, Kahite Pub Renovation, providing a recycle container in Kahite, Hopewell Fire Dept & EMRs, and the new transfer station in Vonore. Also, the Highway Safety Committee has several updates and there will be POA Advisory Committee Reports for Golf, Recreation, Long Range Planning, Marina, etc.
We are actively looking for people to volunteer for HOA in 2024. We need village residents like you to fill roles on the Board, committees, and support teams. The only requirements are to be an HOA member and a desire to help our Tellico Village community. If you’re interested and/or want to ask questions about this, please contact anyone on the Nominating Committee for information: Mark Pantley, Ken Litke, Lavonne Mitchell, Joe Bogardus.
There have been recent instances of people camping at Clear Creek. This was discussed at the June POA Board meeting and you can hear what was said at the meeting by reviewing the TVN recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUIjuAG4p4A&t=5899s. Since then, we’ve heard from various residents of other instances of people camping on common lands in Tellico Village. Our Neighborhood Watch team is currently collecting data on this to assist TVA, TRDA, and the POA with understanding the extent of the problem. If you’re aware of prior occurrences like this, please send a note to NW at: tellicovillagenw@gmail.com
I hope to see you at a future HOA Social or event.
Mark Pantley
HOA President