During my 35 years at Intel, I had the privilege of running multiple million dollar major industry trade show events like the Intel Developer Forum, Oracle OpenWorld, and Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. At these venues, thousands of customers visited our exhibits, each arriving with different expectations, challenges, and goals. But to maximize ROI you needed to meet high customer expectations.

One of the most enduring lessons I learned from that corporate environment is that success never comes from telling customers  what they want. True success comes from listening to what they want.

At Intel, we invested heavily in feedback at trade show events. We routinely surveyed attendees, measured satisfaction metrics, and constantly looked for ways to refine the experience. That data directly shaped better demonstrations, provided clearer access to technical experts, and delivered experiences that our customers genuinely valued.

The rationale was simple: without meeting the needs of  customers, there is no enterprise. I firmly believe that exact same principle applies to modern HOA governance.

​Two Distinct Philosophies of Governance

​There are two fundamentally different approaches to running a community association like Surfside:

• A Board-Driven HOA: This model focuses primarily on what a small group of directors internally decides is best for the neighborhood. Decisions are frequently developed in a vacuum without broader community input, and then simply announced to the membership. It is extremely one sided when all the board members align with one purpose.
• A Member-Driven HOA: This model begins with an entirely different question: “What do our members actually want?” In this framework, the board’s role is not to unilaterally dictate the future of the community, but to gather feedback, understand collective priorities, and responsibly execute the will of the membership.

An effective HOA should never be guided solely by the insular beliefs of its board members. It must be guided by meaningful, structured, and ongoing input from the residents themselves.

The existing board members say the words about wanting to listen to members. This years candidates are all about listening. But in last year’s election they excluded all members with outstanding fines from voting adding anyone with fines were no longer  a member in good standing. And only members in good standing were eligible to vote according to bylaws  having paid all dues and assessments. In addition, They literally pulled my candidate interview from two elections ago to mention names when answering questions about the action of board and committees. They have leveraged fines and lawsuits to silence critics. But the suppression of member voices is the  worst offense.

Excluding members from voting in violation of our bylaws speaks loudly to the words they speak versus the actions they took to silence members.

​A Sincere Thank You to Our Participants

To shift Surfside toward a more member-driven model, I have spent the last five years conducting more than ten community polls. The response from this neighborhood has been nothing short of incredible, generating well over 1,000 distinct responses alongside hundreds of detailed comments and suggestions. The response from the board president from previous years is that’s outrageous. That effort I continues to this day.

​To everyone who took the time to participate in these polls: Thank you.

Whether you provided positive reinforcement or critical feedback, your participation is invaluable. Positive feedback tells us what we are doing right, while negative feedback highlights the exact areas where we need to improve. Your willingness to engage is precisely iw what makes democracy stronger.

Every homeowner has a financial and personal stake in Surfside, and everyone deserves an equitable opportunity to be heard. Your opinions, shaped by your unique life experiences and values, are just as vital to our success as any director’s perspective. But

In the latest poll, I had one member who didn’t complete his online ballot before the poll closed. Instead of telling him to sign up for the next one. I setup a one person election so the member could voice his opinion. Because I felt his opinion still mattered.

​Moving Beyond Procedural Requirements

For too long, member feedback during meetings has been treated as a legal hurdle to clear rather than a strategic resource. It was 3 minutes on one topic. While state law has recently forced an expansion of public comment opportunities to 15 minutes,  our leadership should be embracing member engagement out of a genuine desire for good governance, not just to satisfy a statutory minimum. But also to respect every members right to. E heard.

​That is why I actively advocate for structural improvements to our communication infrastructure, including:

1. ​The secure release of the community email list to facilitate open member-to-member dialogue.
2. The adoption of modern electronic voting systems to make participating in elections and budget approvals accessible for all 2,000+ members. The many missing ballots where people don’t receive ballots is unacceptable.
3. Regular, official community polling to validate major initiatives or opinions before spending community funds.

As a candidate for the board, I have plenty of ideas for how we can improve Surfside. But those ideas are only worth pursuing if they are validated and approved by you, the membership. The recent poll brought some goals for the HOA to gather feedback on member acceptance.  Leadership can easily claim they listen, but true commitment is measured by the tools we use to make participation easier.

The best decisions come from listening, not just leading. Surfside belongs to its members, and the board is here to serve you. The more we listen, the wiser our collective decisions will be .Strong communities are built on communication, transparency, and trust. That starts with giving every member an equal chance to be heard.