The designer I have been waiting for is Lucian from
http://www.emblematiq.com I worked with him once before (he designed HostingDiscussion.com) and I think, his CMS interface skills are fantastic. Every time I snoop around, I find myself drawn to his work:
http://www.emblematiq.com/portfolio/complete/
I also contacted
www.builtbybuffalo.com and
www.jasonsantamaria.com. The Buffalo team is extremely expensive, and Jason was completely booked.
I very much agree that I would rather have an active member of TalkFreelance design the new site. I approached 4 members to design their concepts (not a finished product!) based on a brief website profiler.
http://www.pixairline.com/pic.php?u=4EGiHb&i=1468
http://www.pixairline.com/pic.php?u=4EGiHb&i=1467
http://img709.imageshack.us/img709/3944/newtflkyle.jpg
http://www.pixairline.com/pic.php?u=4EGiHb&i=1469
Different approaches, different styles. Now that you have an idea of where we are, it would probably be easier to comment.
@Jordan: I just sent James an email as well.