✉ by Guy Scharf, Chair, Communications Committee
Phone:
The Communications Committee is responsible for the website, newsletter, SMVE Alerts, and the master database. It’s been a quiet summer as many homeowners, including us, decided it would be a good time to visit a cooler place!
The website continues to serve SMVE well. We’ve continued developing the website with mostly behind-the-scenes improvements and fixes to minor problems. Kathy Mitton has joined the committee as a newsletter editor and will help bring you well-written articles of interest.
Currently 40 individuals have taken advantage of the subscription service, which sends them an email each morning when new articles are posted on the website. Everyone is welcome to subscribe to these announcements. Just click on Subscribe to email updates in “Using the Website” in the right column of this page and you will see the email subscription form. Fill in your name, email address, and whether you are homeowner and click on the “Sign Up” button. You will receive an email asking you to confirm that you want to be added to the mailing list for email updates. Once you confirm that you wish to receive updates, you will receive an email each day that new posts are added to the front page. You can unsubscribe at any time using the “unsubscribe” link that is included in every email.
As we described in the last issue, the newsletter is now based on the website content–yet another reason to subscribe to email updates and get the news now rather than waiting up to six months for the next newsletter. For now, we do plan to continue issuing the newsletter twice a year and we continue to mail printed copies to those few homeowners who do not have email. If you receive a printed copy and do have email, please let us know so we can reduce costs and labor–a savings for everyone.
The only SMVE Alert email since Spring was the announcement of the new mailboxes and instructions on how to get your new mailbox keys. We continue to have sporadic problems with some email services randomly deciding our emails are spam and diverting them to your spam folder, or blocking them altogether. As described earlier and in the last newsletter, you can take some steps to help your mail provider know that these alerts are good email and not spam. Subscribing to website updates is another way to ensure you are informed of news, as almost everything said in a SMVE Alert will also be posted on the website.
The SMVE Master Database is a key element in communicating with homeowners. The database contains your address so we can mail you material the CC&Rs mandate we send by USPS mail such as annual meeting notices and dues notices. It also tells us how to contact you when there is an urgent need. If you change your mailing address, phone number, or email, please tell us as soon as possible. You can complete the Homeowner Information Sheet or just email your changes to the Database Manager.