(Nov. 24, 2016) Ocean Pines homeowners – and possibly all residents – could soon have authenticated online accounts hosted by the association that would allow for payment of assessments and purchasing of memberships to the various amenities.
That notion was floated last Thursday evening, when the OPA Board of Directors met with the Comprehensive Planning Committee to discuss the implementation of a survey it had been working on for the better part of a year.
Committee Chairman Frank Daly said the group had been eyeing SurveyMonkey as an inexpensive, online tool to conduct the questionnaire. Interim General Manager Brett Hill, however, said Ocean Pines already had its own mechanism to conduct surveys, but that it had not flipped the “on” switch.
Daly said the committee had been working on the survey as a means to inform a new comprehensive plan, and that he hoped to turn that document over to the general manager’s office for implementation.
“This committee has absolutely no ability to the execute plan,” Daly said. “If we write this plan, submit it to you and you approve it as a board, our recommendation is going to be that it gets turned over the to general manager and it becomes incorporated in the annual planning and budgeting process.”
While he said something like SurveyMonkey would only cost about $300 and could be promoted through Ocean Pines’ existing database of users through regular “e-blasts,” a more expensive alternative, about $3,800, could be conducted through mailings.
“The whole purpose … is to give you he information that you need to understand the communitywide needs and priorities,” Daly said, adding the committee was shooting for a 20 percent response rate.
Board Vice President Dave Stevens argued that the committee at least needed to offer mailed copies of survey “to eliminate the bias” because not everyone in Ocean Pines was computer literate.
“Absolutely,” Daly said. “And we can handle it.”
Hill said one solution could be sending the survey out with assessments. While the annual bills are generally printed on two pages, he said about eight pieces of paper could be included in the envelope without increasing the postage cost.
Moreover, Hill said Ocean Pines already owned a “survey engine” and had the “full ability in house to do electronic surveys that are tied directly to membership.”
“But, it’s been a while since we’ve touched it and I don’t believe it’s ever been utilized, but at some point … someone asked for it and we had it built and it’s in there,” Hill said. “We essentially own our own SurveyMonkey.”
To get the best results, Hill said, the association would need better data about its membership – specifically, their email addresses. He guessed Ocean Pines had those records of about 1,600 of the more than 8,400 homeowners.
“We’re within a clickable reach of being online, as far as our membership, and that would be to paying our assessments as well as registering for amenities,” Hill said. “For whatever reason we haven’t gotten all the way there. Whatever software click had to go through to turn it on hasn’t been done.”
He said an information technology work group, led by Director Doug Parks, was working to address that as well as other technology issues in the Pines.
Hill said the association had the ability to activate dedicated online accounts for each homeowner, and that the systems could access renters. He said the annual assessment, mailed to each homeowner in March, could be used “as a means to get some type of authenticated electronic account on our membership base.”
“Hopefully, we have an IT person [hired] very soon, so it would be asking the IT person to do this in a couple weeks,” he said.
In the meantime, the directors agreed to discuss via email the specific questions developed by the committee for the survey. That topic will likely appear on the agenda of the next board work session on Monday, Dec. 5.
“We really want to give you the best available data to make really good, informed decisions,” committee member Gail Blazer said.
“I want to see this through. I’ve been on [the committee] a long time,” she added. “I really am passionate about this … we’re here as your committee. We want to give you the data so you can be great leaders.”
Ultimately, Hill said what the comprehensive planning committee puts together could be invaluable for whoever takes his place in the general manager role.
“If we leave them a vehicle where we’re not making somebody recreate a new map in here – we can use this process over again – I think we’re in a position to really get a lot more value out of what you’ve created here than just today,” he said. “I’d like to do the best I can to help us leverage the long-term value and leave the process here so it’s not another committee having to redo it.
“I think we have a lot of potential here and I hope the rest of the board can see that and invest the efforts necessary and the resources necessary to leave us in a good place going forward,” he added.
That notion was floated last Thursday evening, when the OPA Board of Directors met with the Comprehensive Planning Committee to discuss the implementation of a survey it had been working on for the better part of a year.
Committee Chairman Frank Daly said the group had been eyeing SurveyMonkey as an inexpensive, online tool to conduct the questionnaire. Interim General Manager Brett Hill, however, said Ocean Pines already had its own mechanism to conduct surveys, but that it had not flipped the “on” switch.
Daly said the committee had been working on the survey as a means to inform a new comprehensive plan, and that he hoped to turn that document over to the general manager’s office for implementation.
“This committee has absolutely no ability to the execute plan,” Daly said. “If we write this plan, submit it to you and you approve it as a board, our recommendation is going to be that it gets turned over the to general manager and it becomes incorporated in the annual planning and budgeting process.”
While he said something like SurveyMonkey would only cost about $300 and could be promoted through Ocean Pines’ existing database of users through regular “e-blasts,” a more expensive alternative, about $3,800, could be conducted through mailings.
“The whole purpose … is to give you he information that you need to understand the communitywide needs and priorities,” Daly said, adding the committee was shooting for a 20 percent response rate.
Board Vice President Dave Stevens argued that the committee at least needed to offer mailed copies of survey “to eliminate the bias” because not everyone in Ocean Pines was computer literate.
“Absolutely,” Daly said. “And we can handle it.”
Hill said one solution could be sending the survey out with assessments. While the annual bills are generally printed on two pages, he said about eight pieces of paper could be included in the envelope without increasing the postage cost.
Moreover, Hill said Ocean Pines already owned a “survey engine” and had the “full ability in house to do electronic surveys that are tied directly to membership.”
“But, it’s been a while since we’ve touched it and I don’t believe it’s ever been utilized, but at some point … someone asked for it and we had it built and it’s in there,” Hill said. “We essentially own our own SurveyMonkey.”
To get the best results, Hill said, the association would need better data about its membership – specifically, their email addresses. He guessed Ocean Pines had those records of about 1,600 of the more than 8,400 homeowners.
“We’re within a clickable reach of being online, as far as our membership, and that would be to paying our assessments as well as registering for amenities,” Hill said. “For whatever reason we haven’t gotten all the way there. Whatever software click had to go through to turn it on hasn’t been done.”
He said an information technology work group, led by Director Doug Parks, was working to address that as well as other technology issues in the Pines.
Hill said the association had the ability to activate dedicated online accounts for each homeowner, and that the systems could access renters. He said the annual assessment, mailed to each homeowner in March, could be used “as a means to get some type of authenticated electronic account on our membership base.”
“Hopefully, we have an IT person [hired] very soon, so it would be asking the IT person to do this in a couple weeks,” he said.
In the meantime, the directors agreed to discuss via email the specific questions developed by the committee for the survey. That topic will likely appear on the agenda of the next board work session on Monday, Dec. 5.
“We really want to give you the best available data to make really good, informed decisions,” committee member Gail Blazer said.
“I want to see this through. I’ve been on [the committee] a long time,” she added. “I really am passionate about this … we’re here as your committee. We want to give you the data so you can be great leaders.”
Ultimately, Hill said what the comprehensive planning committee puts together could be invaluable for whoever takes his place in the general manager role.
“If we leave them a vehicle where we’re not making somebody recreate a new map in here – we can use this process over again – I think we’re in a position to really get a lot more value out of what you’ve created here than just today,” he said. “I’d like to do the best I can to help us leverage the long-term value and leave the process here so it’s not another committee having to redo it.
“I think we have a lot of potential here and I hope the rest of the board can see that and invest the efforts necessary and the resources necessary to leave us in a good place going forward,” he added.