Paul Lavigne Running for the Board of Directors
Enhancing Communications at Four Seasons
If elected to the Board, I will propose that the Board initiate a Communications Committee to plan and evaluate our internal and external communications. I will offer to develop the Charter in consultation with others.There is extensive internal communication by Management, Board Committees, and clubs through email and the Herald. There doesn’t appear to be much external communication. Four Seasons at Beaumont has a large Communications Committee which includes their magazine's publisher, the same one as ours.
The Board does communicate every spending decision, and other matters, without much explanation, by considering and approving them, always unanimously, in monthly Open Board meetings and documenting them in Board minutes. Only 30 homeowners on average attend our Board meetings. Four Seasons at Murrieta “zooms” every Board meeting to increase their homeowners' knowledge and interest.
No homeowner, other than a Director, knows what is discussed in the twice monthly Executive Sessions. That’s where the sausage appears to be made. Among other things, Directors communicate to the full Board in Executive Sessions what they hear and observe in the Committee meetings they attend. According to several of our Directors, these reports are not included in the minutes.
Small numbers of homeowners attend New Homeowner, Coffee with the Board, the Candidate Forum, and special subject-specific meetings. We don’t know how many residents pay attention to emails, mailings, posters, and signs. Considerable effort goes into the submission of content for the Herald by Committees and clubs. Our HOA doesn't have and doesn't want to have a written agreement with the publisher for it, because "we get it for free." The format rarely changes.