Volunteers reaching out to POA voters
By mid-September, 13,000 Property Owners Association members should have heard from volunteers with the POA.
More than 100 volunteers have been making the calls in an effort to remind everyone who owns a lot in the POA to cast their vote in the current assessment election. The ballots, which went out last week, will be counted on Nov. 1.
In order for the election to be valid, 50 percent of the ballots must be returned. For the assessment to pass, 51 percent of those votes much be “Yes.” Ballots can be sent back through regular mail or email.
There were two assessment elections in 2014. In May of that year, less than the necessary 50 percent of votes were returned, so the assessment portion of the election was not valid. But the votes that came in were more negative than positive. In September, a second election was held, but it too did not draw the necessary quorum. That proposal was for a smaller increase, but the negative votes still outweighed the positive.
POA General Manager Tom Judson, who has been on the job less than a year, said the volunteers are not asked to recommend a yes vote; rather, they just encourage members to vote. Each volunteer is given a script to use, although they can also answer questions. Volunteers work two-hour shifts between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m.
“It’s neighbors reaching out to neighbors,” he said.
“We get an astonishing number of bad phone numbers,” volunteer Dave Barfield said. People just don’t think to update their phone number with the POA, he added.
Jane Barfield said she has spoken to many more answering machines then people, but when
she reaches an actual person — maybe 25 percent of the calls — they are usually very nice.
One member she reached owns a lot but lives out of town. He was surprised there were objections to the assessment issue.
Some members may get two calls, Judson said. The POA has also contracted with a calling company that will place automated calls and those will go to the same list of numbers. No one else, not even the members who volunteer to make calls, will get the list, he said. So far he received one email from a member asking to be
removed from the call list. He was removed, Judson said.
When he heard from unhappy POA members that the automated calls had been placed at 10 p.m., he called the company and told them to stop the process by 8 p.m. every night. He also apologized to the member who had been called after 8 p.m.
The POA will spend about $600 on automated calls, Judson said.
Earlier, a paper mailer with election invitation was sent to all members through the U.S. mail. There have also been at least two email notices sent, Judson said.
His goal is to make sure everyone knows about the POA election and casts a vote.