Estate Living Digital Publication Issue 7 July 2015 | Page 56

c oN FERENCE
Jeff Gilmour

Association of Residential Communities (ARC): Annual Conference 23-25 June 2015 – Feedback
Although only in its third year, the annual ARC
conference is already a must on the calendar for
estate and community managers at residential and
other estates. Held at the Simbithi Eco Estate in Ballito
on the KwaZulu-Natal north coast, representatives of
approximately 80 gated communities gathered and
had the opportunity to engage with speakers from
South Africa and the USA.

ARC

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Keynote addresses were delivered by Tom Skiba,
the CEO of the Community Association Institute in
the USA (CAI), and Rob Felix, Senior Vice President
of Associa Property Management, the largest
community management company in the world.
Furthermore, Dave Caplan, President of CAI,
delved into how communities in America deal with
legislation imposed on them, while Rory Steyn, a
renowned speaker and security expert, shared some
of his experiences as Mr Mandela’s bodyguard in
Witness to Greatness.
Delegates were exposed to legal issues facing
the industry specifically related to the fiduciary
responsibility of the estate manager and dealt with
other legislative issues, including the new Labour
Relations Act and the POPI Act. Both of these pieces
of legislation have an important impact on our
communities and managers are urged to study these
to ensure compliance.
A great deal of time was spent on the Community
Schemes Ombuds Service Act (CSOSA) and we were
privileged to have Mr Themba Mthethwa, the chief
ombudsman, talk us through the Act. The roles and
purpose of the Residential Community Council (RCC)
were introduced by the current chairperson, Richard

Kelland, who urged all communities to support the
council in its critical role in protecting the industry
from poor legislation being imposed and legal
matters arising from the imposing of this legislation
on the industry.
The My Xclusive Community card was discussed
by Mark Smith from Cognition, who demonstrated
the immense value this new initiative will give all
communities in South Africa.
The ways in which to create sustainable landscapes
were presented by Jonathan Ferguson from TopTurf,
who dealt with some new innovations when
landscaping, especially with regards to energy saving
and protection of the environment. Mike Morey, the
MD of Pam Golding Property Management, reminded
us of our responsibilities in terms of financial
controls, and Barry East from Impro addressed the
issue of access control in an energetic presentation
and shared some interesting new developments in
this field.
The AGM of the CAISA was held on the evening of
23 June, where new directors were appointed, and
the inaugural meeting of the RCC was also on the
programme.
ARC’s partners recognise the immense value of the
estate community and came on board as sponsors and
exhibitors, including Estate Living, Alifurn Outdoor
Furniture, Bidvest Managed Solutions, Bidvest Protea
Coin, CORE, Discovery Financial Consultants Gauteng
East, Famous Fun Factory, Glovent Solutions, Impro
Technologies, Kusile Consulting Services, MTN, NIC
Brokers, ONTV, SpeedSentry, Telkom and Vodacom.