It seems to me that the Castlegate HOA Board has not communicated to the membership very well and this lack of communcation is the root cause of most of the dissention within this organization.

The HOA meetings are helpful, but there are many concerned and interested members that cannot regularly attend.  What's more the meetings are purposely too short for much conversation, and what little discourse I've heard is mostly the board defending decisions they have made and irrate homeowners trying to get the board to listen and act on their individual problem.

I believe because of the cost of mailing, the board has relied on this website for community communication and too few homeowners use this site.  Either they don't know of it or they just don't think about it. 

The best way to communicate with homeowners is a regular, reasonably frequent newsletter to review issues discussed and remind homeowners of their responsibilities. 

Newsletters can be tedious if laid on one person, but a small committee could produce what's needed in a timely way.  What's more, local merchants may also be interested in advertising in the newsletter and that could defray some cost.  The cost of a newsletter is  a cost of doing business and it is probably the best money this organization could spend.

I hope the new board members will consider ways to improve communication with the homeowners.  I'm quite sure homeowners would be more supportive of decisions of the Board if they knew what was going on.

Jeff Simonsen

(PS: why don't people sign their messages on this site?  I'll even tell you where I live and you're welcome to stop by for a chat as long as you bring some beer) 

I'd say not signing on here and giving addresses, etc is due to the fact that it's a public site, anyone can read it, post on it, etc.  You don't have to be approved, live in the community, etc.  In this day and age putting too much personal info on a public site probably isn't a good idea.

Most people know who I am. the vr is Van R. Beer sounds good to me.

Wow..you hit the nail on the head with that one. When I was on the board last year, one of the very first things I brought up was a newsletter.  I even said since we can't afford to send it out then lets do it anyway and post it on the website. Suffice it to say that was only one of my ideas that was ignored or turned down.

I am all about communicating, working together, being organized and ethical.