Post by Admin on Jul 17, 2017 21:52:30 GMT -5
President’s Message July 17, 2017
Board and Management made the choice not to hold a Board Meeting in July. It was felt that there were no issues that required our immediate attention. Dates for summer meetings of the Board are set at the beginning of each year, however, because there is much less business activity during the summer months, they are only held as needed.
SLohA bylaws call for at least (4) regular meetings of the Board of Directors in a year. That is easily achievable by holding meetings only during the peak of the winter season so as much as possible the attempt is made to conduct meetings when the directors can meet face-to-face. The conference call system allows us to conduct meetings long distance, as we did last month, but that set-up is far from ideal. The Tech. & Com. Committee will be looking at options aimed at improving the quality of this system.
Clear and prompt communication has been priority #1 during my time on the Board of Directors. Tummy Blkbrn, in her time as Board Secretary, has been extremely faithful in posting information on all the bulletin boards in the resort and she has kept the marquee current with all the upcoming S-bag activities. Establishing a reliable and current website was an important achievement and this offers the best available means of communication while we are in the resort and while we are away. Those of us who have been administering the site have succeeded in keeping the information posted there accurate and up to date.
I recognize that I am preaching to the choir here because only those who access this site will be reading these comments. What I I would like to encourage, however, is to make sure that we are taking full advantage of the service which our website offers.
Our website has been operating for just over 18 months now and still more than half of our owners have never logged onto the website. It goes without saying that some of our owners, who are advanced in age, will never feel comfortable using a computer but I do know several who are over 90 years old and log in regularly. At the present time, however, less than 10% of us have visited the website an average of once a week.
It is true that much of the site appears the same over the weeks but that is something that all of us have the power to change. Board activity is announced monthly along with emergency messages such as the water use restriction which has popped up over this recent dry spell. Tummy Blkbrn has been posting her delightful Trail Notes almost weekly and I was encouraged this week when Golf Club president, Hrld Hooper sought out my assistance to set up a Golf Club home page that lays out plans for the upcoming season. This is the sort of thing that can be done. We have had some talented contributors to our photo gallery but that is a resource which could be constantly refreshed by anyone with photos to offer.
At present, the Sunshine Report, which is updated weekly, is the most frequented feature on the site and this is an indication that our owners want to be kept updated on the well-being of our S-bag neighbors and friends. We have just begun to scratch the surface of the potential that our website has to offer.
More workshops are needed to assist those who are not comfortable with accessing the site and those will come. In the meantime maybe there is someone that you can assist. Encourage others to use the site and help all of us realize more of what this source of information and tool of communication can provide.
leery
Board and Management made the choice not to hold a Board Meeting in July. It was felt that there were no issues that required our immediate attention. Dates for summer meetings of the Board are set at the beginning of each year, however, because there is much less business activity during the summer months, they are only held as needed.
SLohA bylaws call for at least (4) regular meetings of the Board of Directors in a year. That is easily achievable by holding meetings only during the peak of the winter season so as much as possible the attempt is made to conduct meetings when the directors can meet face-to-face. The conference call system allows us to conduct meetings long distance, as we did last month, but that set-up is far from ideal. The Tech. & Com. Committee will be looking at options aimed at improving the quality of this system.
Clear and prompt communication has been priority #1 during my time on the Board of Directors. Tummy Blkbrn, in her time as Board Secretary, has been extremely faithful in posting information on all the bulletin boards in the resort and she has kept the marquee current with all the upcoming S-bag activities. Establishing a reliable and current website was an important achievement and this offers the best available means of communication while we are in the resort and while we are away. Those of us who have been administering the site have succeeded in keeping the information posted there accurate and up to date.
I recognize that I am preaching to the choir here because only those who access this site will be reading these comments. What I I would like to encourage, however, is to make sure that we are taking full advantage of the service which our website offers.
Our website has been operating for just over 18 months now and still more than half of our owners have never logged onto the website. It goes without saying that some of our owners, who are advanced in age, will never feel comfortable using a computer but I do know several who are over 90 years old and log in regularly. At the present time, however, less than 10% of us have visited the website an average of once a week.
It is true that much of the site appears the same over the weeks but that is something that all of us have the power to change. Board activity is announced monthly along with emergency messages such as the water use restriction which has popped up over this recent dry spell. Tummy Blkbrn has been posting her delightful Trail Notes almost weekly and I was encouraged this week when Golf Club president, Hrld Hooper sought out my assistance to set up a Golf Club home page that lays out plans for the upcoming season. This is the sort of thing that can be done. We have had some talented contributors to our photo gallery but that is a resource which could be constantly refreshed by anyone with photos to offer.
At present, the Sunshine Report, which is updated weekly, is the most frequented feature on the site and this is an indication that our owners want to be kept updated on the well-being of our S-bag neighbors and friends. We have just begun to scratch the surface of the potential that our website has to offer.
More workshops are needed to assist those who are not comfortable with accessing the site and those will come. In the meantime maybe there is someone that you can assist. Encourage others to use the site and help all of us realize more of what this source of information and tool of communication can provide.
leery
The Florida LAW now mandates that all condos maintain their own websites and post ALL official records on them by July 2018. HOA's should be prepared for a mirror bill and legislation that requires HOA's to do the same next year. Even without a mandate, it makes good sense as society says goodbye to a paper-based world. (Polk County no longer maintains paper records at all and has mandated that all records are in electronic format!).
Is the website cost effective? Consider it costs SEVERAL HUNDRED DOLLARS per month to maintain the website. There might be more since the Management Company likely charges SLohA for anything it posts. I have not seen any corresponding reduction in costs for printed newsletters. Staff are still running around the park pinning paper to Bulletin Boards that no one reads or can even hope to read unless they happen to be in the park and feel like standing in the heat or the rain and squinting at a glass bulletin board. If only 10% visit the website on a weekly basis, then HUNDREDS of DOLLARS are being spent for the benefit of maybe 80 owners.
This is not cost effective. The website was originally proposed and represented as costing about $80/mo. I thought at the time it was too much since websites can be maintained for "nearly free". But, the website was a step in the right direction and I naively thought there was some forward-looking planning to begin the electronic balloting process for SLohA which has been authorized and set forth in detail by Florida since 2015.
I asked the Board, in writing, how much it was actually costing SLohA for the website, since there were recurring, unidentified expenses on the financial reports that suggested a document scan service had been contracted (?). Predictably, my request was ignored. I can only guess that my request touched a nerve and BOD did not want to answer to the true cost. I am thinking that the website fees, doc scan service, management company website billing and paper/printing costs for the newsletter that the communication is costing SLohA around $1000+/mo. I would like that figure to be refuted as this is exhorbitant. I hope that my suspicion is proven wrong.
It would be nice to see the website better designed for easy user navigability and for something more useful than golf games and photos of hot dog socials. I would not be able to show anyone how to use it since it is confounding to me how the thing is organized! And if I can't figure out the logic of how documents are posted, having administered my own website for many years, I think I can safely say that not many people will stick around very long to try to learn the unlearnable.