Issue link: https://imageup.uberflip.com/i/1281674
By Melissa Valona As the weeks progress and the COVID-19 orders change I am working diligently in being prepared for us to enjoy some of the amenities you are used to. Recently there was an email blast that was sent out regarding a short survey on the website. The survey is an opportunity to share your input on holding Lifestyle Events for the year of 2020. If you have not already done so please visit the website at soleradiamondvalley.communitysite.com and click on the upper right hand corner on the red bell icon. The icon will direct you to the survey. What you can look forward to in the coming weeks: • The Shred It company is now hosting shred events. I will be announcing the date within the month. So, get your paperwork together, everything must be turned in a bankers box. Your first box will be free and $4 dollars any box after that. Please register your name and number of boxes at the front desk with Teri. • I was recently informed that city hall has placed a box outside of the building to collect all garage sale permits. This makes it a much easier process than having to issue all permits electronically. I will also be announcing the date for the garage sale within this month. Please don't forget the city charges $10 for the permit. If you have not yet attended these past few board meetings, then you would have missed the memos submitted by me to the Board of Directors for lifestyle event requests. I urge you all, if you have a request to please submit a Resident Request form or submit a request to speak card during open session. I need the voice of the community to share that we are ready to come out of our homes and back to the Lodge. If you are missing a certain activity, please send me an email or submit a room reservation form to get a group or club back on the calendar. Attention all billiards players: while your groups are still not yet back to its normal size, please be sure you are maintaining 6 feet distance and sanitizing in between games. Our facility monitors have been instructed to disinfect all the equipment, but for the safety of all residents, please help take extra precautions by cleaning during use. I currently am still receiving many questions about the email blast and the website. You may sign up for the email blast through Teri. collette@seabreezemgmt.com. If you need assistance registering or getting into your website account, please call me or Teri ahead of time and schedule an appointment. These IT issues sometimes can be time consuming and we want to make sure you get the assistance you need. 4 SOLERA DIAMOND VALLEY | AUGUST 2020 By Kim Walker, SDV Board Treasurer trans·par·en·cy| tran(t)sperns | noun (plural transparencies) 1 the condition of being transparent: the transparency of ice. 2 an image, text, or positive transparent photograph printed ontransparent plastic or glass, able to be viewed using a projector: color transparencies of the Grand Canyon. With November almost upon us, I was reminded that during our last two elections, the word "transparency" was mentioned a lot. Even I must have said it a few times in reference to the fact that, as homeowners, we often feel we are kept in the dark with what is happening in our neighborhood. It was not until I was elected to the Board that I began to understand. California heavily regulates its HOA organizations. You might have heard us talk about the Davis-Stirling Act. It is a huge body of law that went into effect in 1986 and regulates all the common interest developments in our state. The Act defines how an HOA must operate. There are very specific guidelines on how an HOA Board does its business. Executive Session meetings are for Board members only and the Board can only discuss 1) legal issues (litigation), 2) the formation of contracts (third party vendors), 3) disciplinary hearings (violations), 4) personnel issues (staff ), and 5) delinquencies (payment plans, foreclosures). That's it. Nothing else. The irony I find is that the Board cannot even have preliminary budget discussions in Executive Session. All of that debate has to happen in open session. And under the Code of Ethics the Board members each sign, we are not allowed to discuss matters brought up in Executive Session with our neighbors. The Board's Open sessions are a little different. During those we can discuss such things as Committee reports, financial reports, approval of liens, minutes, and reserve expenditures. We can talk about new business such as emergency rules, capital improvement requests, owner requests, and updates. The Board is attempting to do a better job with these open discussions and my hope is that we continue to improve. I have been encouraging the Board and staff to use every avenue available to us to communicate with our neighborhood. Times have changed and we now have social media sites such as NextDoor and Facebook. We have The View. We have the Blast, email, and good old snail mail. If we take advantage of all these methods of communication, perhaps we will no longer be talking about transparency. The HOA & Transparency LIFESTYLE REPORT COSTUME CONTEST! For the October issue, we're having a "Halloween Costume Contest!" Take a look around your house, in your closet, in the guest room closet, in the garage — wherever you have stored your stuff — and put together your best Halloween costume. Take a picture and send it to us… and don't forget to write a one line caption telling us about the costume and who is wearing it. The deadline for sending in your picture is Sept. 7. Put "Costume" in the subject line and email soleradv@yahoo. com. And don't forget your pets… they can participate too!