Community Newsletters

Started by ElaineI • 7 replies • 323 views

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ElaineI (Georgia)
Posts: 33

Posted:

Good Morning!!

When the New Board of the HOA took over in January they ran on the platform of better communication to the homeowners and the discussion was to create a newsletter for that purpose. We started this venture in February of 2023. Somewhere the board decided to stop answering questions we had asked of them and seem to always have an issue with the product.

One month is was that one of our event sponsers gave out discount cards to their business (one of the board members owns a business and we refuse to advertise for them because it's a conflict of interest), The next was there wasn't enough neighbor spotlights. We have searched the Bylaws and Covenant documents and there is nothing in them that says we can't continue the publication.

Can the BOD decided we need to cease the publication?

JohnC46 (South Carolina)
Posts: 14,265

Posted:

Elain

You can continue to publish but best to add a disclaimer such as THIS PUBLICATION IS NOT AN OFFICIAL PUBLICION OF SO AND SO ASSOCIATION

BillD16 (Texas)
Posts: 971

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By ElaineI on 10/08/2023 9:44 AM
Good Morning!!

When the New Board of the HOA took over in January they ran on the platform of better communication to the homeowners and the discussion was to create a newsletter for that purpose. We started this venture in February of 2023. Somewhere the board decided to stop answering questions we had asked of them and seem to always have an issue with the product.

One month is was that one of our event sponsers gave out discount cards to their business (one of the board members owns a business and we refuse to advertise for them because it's a conflict of interest), The next was there wasn't enough neighbor spotlights. We have searched the Bylaws and Covenant documents and there is nothing in them that says we can't continue the publication.

Can the BOD decided we need to cease the publication?

First, I'm not a lawyer.

On the face of it: First Amendment, freedom of the press, etc. Sure you can continue to publish. The thing to watch out for is some kind of civil action for, say, defamation. Tim's advice to add a big "not official" label is good.

I'm curious:

- Are you getting paid to do this work? Ie, is there some kind of issue where the BOD is preventing you from publishing by not paying you? Or refusing to pay you because you produced something they didn't like? Or is this a volunteer effort?

- Do you have any kind of signed agreement with the BOD?

- Do you think the BOD is trying to hide something? Or: are they just picky? Or: are they simply not responsive with providing content to you? Back in the 90s I had a nice home business for awhile doing custom website development (including websites for misc non-profits) and I frequently encountered delays and broken promises in the delivery of content. I'm just saying that if the BOD simply isn't getting you the content you need to publish - that's not an uncommon or surprising thing and they probably aren't trying to cover up a local alien autopsy or anything. I don't mean to sound unsympathetic, but frankly, if you're attempting this as some kind of business deal, I would back the hell out of it as quickly as possible.

Bill

HOA Board ex-President
Austin, Texas USA

“You can’t put too much water in a nuclear reactor”

ElaineI (Georgia)
Posts: 33

Posted:

Hey Bill,
No I am not getting paid this is strickly a labor of love. When the New board got elected in January of 2023 they ran on the platform of better communication with the Homeowners. This Newsletter was how it started. Sometime early on the board started to ignor the requests for imput into the newletter so after a few months we stopped asking. Personally it is our belief that it's one specific person that has a bug because we wouldn't promote her business in the newsletter even though it was a conflict of interest.

We did put a disclaimer that this is not the Un-official newsletter.

Thanks.

KerryL1 (California)
Posts: 14,550

Posted:

I'm sorry, this still isn't clear to me. Is it that you want board members to contribute news items, let's say a "President's Message" from the Board president? Or a rundown of the decisions the Board made at its last board meeting? In other words, what do you want from the Board?

There probably shouldn't be anything called a "signed agreement" with you & the board. All that matters is this: Did the Board vote at a board meeting to permit you & others by name to publish a newsletter called xxx News? Does the HOA manager publish it and distribute per the Board's instructions? The vote and any details are in the board's minutes of that mi meeting. If the Board didn't vote to approve the newsletter, the Board has no reason to contribute anything--either the HOA's staff time, or mailing it out. It simply is your group's personal newsletter.

If it simply is a newsletter written by whomever and distributed by whomever, as JohnC advises, make sure you note that it is NOT an official newsletter or the xxx HOA. Give it a name that doesn't suggest it's official. You can summarize Board decisions form board meeting minutes to present as new being careful to note them correctly.

TimB4 (Tennessee)
Posts: 21,059

Posted:

My suggestion is to volunteer to be the editor of the newsletter.

My last association had a newsletter that was published 4 times per year Or more if needed.
We also created a calendar to indicate what repeating articles needed to be included in each issue.
Extra articles were done by the editor or other contributors.

We also chose not to advertise businesses. This is because it can be seen as a recommendation from the Association and if someone used the business and issues arose, they could point fingers at the Association for "recommending" the business. It could be worse, if one of the business owners were friends of the board or actual members of the association.

If you become the editor, email me and I'll provide what we did: [email protected]

Here are some links:

Copyright-Free Newsletter Articles from CAI

13 Tips And Ideas On How to Improve An HOA Newsletter from a property management company

Newsletters actual newsletters from an association

KerryL1 (California)
Posts: 14,550

Posted:

The question to me is: Is Elaine's task to put out a newsletter approved by the Board a meeting? Let's say the Board appointed her as editor of a newsletter nd she has certain requirements.

If not, it's just something she and her friends publish at their own expense, distribute, etc.

BillD16 (Texas)
Posts: 971

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By ElaineI on 10/08/2023 5:11 PM
Hey Bill,
No I am not getting paid this is strickly a labor of love. When the New board got elected in January of 2023 they ran on the platform of better communication with the Homeowners. This Newsletter was how it started. Sometime early on the board started to ignor the requests for imput into the newletter so after a few months we stopped asking. Personally it is our belief that it's one specific person that has a bug because we wouldn't promote her business in the newsletter even though it was a conflict of interest.

We did put a disclaimer that this is not the Un-official newsletter.

Thanks.

I applaud you for taking on this task as a volunteer.

May I offer a couple of suggestions, based on experience?

1. Newsletters are great, but you may want to consider something a bit more interactive. For many years I ran an email listserv that was very popular (and useful) for our neighborhood. It eventually died because of the advent of

2. Facebook. Which, honestly, I dislike tremendously. But it can work as a combination newsletter / interaction system. Its primary advantage is “low entry threshold”: since so many, people already have FB accounts.

In either of the systems above, there is work involved in ‘vetting’ subscribers (to make sure they’re legit), plus you’ll spend a certain amount of time helping to add or delete people.

Just tossing these ideas out; in the end “you do you”, because you’re on point and you know your neighborhood and the people in it.

I wish you the best with this!

Bill

HOA Board ex-President
Austin, Texas USA

“You can’t put too much water in a nuclear reactor”

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