GENERAL SECURITY

Notice 2017 No 36

GENERAL SECURITY IN THE SUMMERWOOD VILLAGE

Dear Member/s and Residents,

1. The Association’s Management Committee is continuously reviewing the status of various aspects of the general security of the Summerwood village. The recent withdrawal of the remote controller system in use by residents and replacement thereof with the biometric access control system flowed from such review. Had it not been for the excessive cost factor, the Committee would at the same time also have invested in an identity scanning system which was to have replaced the current signing-in process which applies to visitors to the village. The decision regarding this following step in the upgrading process was to provide funding therefor in the budget for the forthcoming financial year.
2. By means of on-going discussions with security service providers the Committee has remained abreast of improvements which are considered to be a necessity.
3. The Village Manager of late kept the Management Committee informed of shortcomings in terms of the management function provided by the Association’s current service provider, Servest Security. Their standards have progressively deteriorated which is detrimentally affecting the camaraderie of the security staff employed to deliver the guarding function in the Summerwood village. Indirectly this is also affecting the functioning of the Village Manager.
4. Due to the level of uneasiness which the Management Committee were experiencing in this regard, an alternate security service provider, the Phangela Group, was interviewed with the view of addressing management’s specific concerns, but also to get to grips with the need to further upgrade the security, generally, in the village.
5. The Committee, when considering the end result of their meeting with senior delegates of the Phangela Group, resolved on 24 October 2017 that Phangela was to replace Servest Security as the Association’s security service provider. Their offer in terms of service delivery was superior to that which Servest was able to provide. The company clearly was run very professionally and they were aligned to satisfying the needs of the client. Most importantly is that they will provide a scanning access control system at the visitors’ entrance which makes the control of visitors more economically viable than the purchase of a similar facility which the Association envisaged for next year. The quotation in respect of their service proposal included the upscaling of the grades and the doubling of the performance incentive of the guarding staff, the provision of an armed response function – which is not readily available in the case of Servest – and the on-site availability to the guarding staff of a golf cart equipped with an electronic tablet for communication enhancement. The proposition makes provision for more regular vehicular patrols in the village during daylight and night hours.
6. At the request of the Association, Phangels Group are quite prepared to transfer to their employment the current six Servest guarding staff members serving at Summerwood, after having subjected them to a stringent induction process. The company also envisages providing a personalised armed response to individual residents who are desirous of acquiring the service.
7. The Phangela Group will commence with service delivery on 1 February 2018.