One of the functions that your Board of Directors now and in the past has taken seriously is how to make information easily available for our residents. As technology gets more and more sophisticated, we are able to offer more and more ways for you to get information on your community. We have two advisory committees, Communication Advisory Committee (CAC) and the Information Advisory Committee (IAC), that focus on various ways to communicate information.
The CAC creates the monthly magazine we know as the View. This magazine focuses on the calendar of events occurring throughout the month, information on the various clubs and groups that you may be interested in joining, highlights about our various residents who live in our community, and our fitness schedule for keeping us all young not just at heart but physically as well.
The IAC works with technology to create numerous ways to get information to the residents. One of their main ways is our scshca.com website. This website contains an electronic copy of the View so that when you are away from the community you can stay informed. It also includes videos of various Board meetings that were held during the month, financial information regarding our community, information on security issues, highlights of events going on in the community, and an important way to get additional information, “Ask a Question.” If you click on the button called “Ask a Question,” you can type in your question. Members of the IAC then look at what the topic concerns and forward the question to whomever is dealing with that issue to get a factual response. They then respond to the question, and the question and answer is posted on the website in case others have the same question.
Another item is email blasts. If you sign up at the HOA office you can, every Monday, receive an email blast that tells you the highlights of what is going on in the community that week. We also use this email blast for urgent items, like a gate that may be down and undergoing repairs.
We have a phone app if you have a smartphone that will allow you to see events going on in the community. And we are working on eventually being able to send out notifications, if you want them, to the phone when urgent items occur, like the aforementioned gate closing.
Robert Firring, a member of our community, has also embraced and overseen the fabulous Podcasts that will help educate you on a plethora of topics in and around our community. The Podcasts can be received on your computers or smartphones, and they usually run under seven minutes in length. They are great to listen to while taking your daily walk or exercising in the fitness center. Thank you, Robert and Gus, for these great Podcasts.
There are also individual flyers in flyer holders in each clubhouse that will give you details about the huge variety of events to choose from over the month. You can pick these up, take them home, and place them on your bulletin board as reminders about what is coming up.
In 2014 “Meet a Board Member” began. Each month, two board members sit down with any resident who wants to attend and ask any question that they have or make comments about how to improve the community. During the corporate Board meetings, comments have to be restricted to a maximum of three minutes in order for the Board to complete the business of the corporation. The Meet a Board Member sessions afford residents more time to explain their recommendations or ask their questions. These meetings are noted in both the View and on the website. Board members hope to see you there.
As you can see, we have added a lot of ways that you can gather information about what is going on in the community. But if you have additional ideas on how to dispense information, we always want to hear them. You can email ceasar.larrach@associa.us or any Board member (our emails are listed in the front of the View), or you can go to Ask a Question on the website and make your recommendation or ask your question.
Joan Duzro
President