This is a MUST read, especially for all POA volunteer’s. Your first poll is at the end of this information. Firstly a big Thank You to all volunteer’s for sacrificing your personal time to serve our community.
Every person volunteering to help our community is required to sign an NDA (Non Disclosure Agreement).
In the setting up of this site, the question of how our volunteer’s were able to use the site, without violating the NDA they signed. This has been a task not easily resolved. The whole point of this site is to gain impartial input from as many owners as possible. Excluding the 100+ volunteer’s was not an option. Below you can view a portion of the NDA the volunteer’s signed that relates to this site and a list of what you can do on here without violating that ridiculous agreement.
The NDA snippet that is relevant: Social Media Policy.
VO POA requires all volunteers to display an elevated level of professionalism and ethics. All volunteers must adhere to appropriate standards of conduct.
The VO POA committee emails are restricted to VO POA use only. It is unacceptable to discuss internal events, other committee members, any details regarding VO POA situations, or VO POA on social media.
If a volunteer is found to have violated this policy in any way, it may result in immediate termination from a committee.
In keeping with this standard, volunteers are restricted from publishing any information such as but not limited to VO POA internal business covered under the required NDA in any public medium (print, broadcast, digital, online, or social media (i.e., Facebook)) that has the potential or effect of:
• Involving the VO POA, their fellow volunteers, vendors in any kind of dispute/conflict with other owners, volunteers, or third parties,
• Interferes with the work of the VO POA or committees,
• Creates a harassing, demeaning, or hostile environment,
• Disrupts the smooth and orderly flow of work within the VO POA, or the delivery of services,
• Harms the goodwill and reputation of the VO POA among its owners or in the community,
• Places in doubt the reliability, trustworthiness, or sound judgment of the person or entity who is the subject of the information,
• Undermines the professional of ethical demeanor to the volunteer doing the
• Or shows volunteer in an unfavorable light for the public to view.
So, if you a volunteer for the POA and you make a comment like ” The POA were wrong doing this” you would be in violation of the NDA.
Everyone Can 1. Vote on anything in this site, all voting is 100% anonymous, not even the administrator’s know how you vote. so, vote away!
2. Comments and solutions are OK for everyone, however POA Volunteer’s, should be wary of comments made. Any criticism of the POA by volunteer’s could violate the above agreement.
This ridiculous document was NOT implemented by any owner run POA. This ridiculous document was inherited from the developers!
10 thoughts on “NDA Required to serve our community”
Seems like 1/2 the necessary information to vote is missing. There are 2 sides to this and only the contrarian side is presented. Poor form to bias the votes by only presenting one side.
Please do give the other side. Everyone needs to hear both sides.
Only the sections of the NDA that apply to this site were published.
Everyone would agree that any volunteers in receipt of owner personal info should sign an NDA.
Please reveal the other side!
There are 2 needs for the NDA:
1. Some volunteers will hear about specific issues affecting neighbors. It is the responsibility of the POA to protect the privacy of those neighbors who have issues, violations, etc. Without this, there is nothing preventing Neighbor A from blabbing to the community at large that Neighbor B has received X number of notices for their violation. This is also why you do not hear the board publicly follow up on issues where a correction or cure has been submitted to another resident.
2. Controlled messages. Official messages from the POA should come to all residents through official channels, thereby giving everyone a single, accurate message. Having a volunteer use additional information that he/she received in POA meetings can lead to miscommunication and confusion.
There is nothing that prevents a volunteer from expressing his/her opinion about something the POA has done or plans to do when acting as a resident. It only prevents that person from representing the opinions or position of the POA when expressing their own view or using information that is not yet public to the community.
Agreed, every vollunteer needs to sign an NDA to protect other owners. What should be taken out is the restrictions on talking about something that is not specific to an owner.
You are correct on item 1, but, incorrect on item 2. The current NDA explicitly stakes that vollunteers are NOT ALLOWED to post anything that harms the goodwill and reputation of the POA. If a volunteer posts on social media that the POA are not doing a good job on the landscaping, they have breached the agreement.
Please do submit the other side!
If you submit the other side you say is missing, it will be published above.
Board needs to be transparent and be honest with the community. Board refuses information to the community on grounds of the NDA. The NDA needs to be written with refusal on grounds of privacy act only: name, address, SSN, phone, etc. The POA can release all info except privacy act info.
This NDA was NOT authored by any Owner controlled board. This 1st amendment restricting document was inherited from the developer.
Hopefully the our board recognizes this great point. If the board is taking this legal advice from the lawyer that was hiried from owner money and it was recommended by him or her, our board should be thinking of another legal representative.
Seems like 1/2 the necessary information to vote is missing. There are 2 sides to this and only the contrarian side is presented. Poor form to bias the votes by only presenting one side.
Please do give the other side. Everyone needs to hear both sides.
Only the sections of the NDA that apply to this site were published.
Everyone would agree that any volunteers in receipt of owner personal info should sign an NDA.
Please reveal the other side!
There are 2 needs for the NDA:
1. Some volunteers will hear about specific issues affecting neighbors. It is the responsibility of the POA to protect the privacy of those neighbors who have issues, violations, etc. Without this, there is nothing preventing Neighbor A from blabbing to the community at large that Neighbor B has received X number of notices for their violation. This is also why you do not hear the board publicly follow up on issues where a correction or cure has been submitted to another resident.
2. Controlled messages. Official messages from the POA should come to all residents through official channels, thereby giving everyone a single, accurate message. Having a volunteer use additional information that he/she received in POA meetings can lead to miscommunication and confusion.
There is nothing that prevents a volunteer from expressing his/her opinion about something the POA has done or plans to do when acting as a resident. It only prevents that person from representing the opinions or position of the POA when expressing their own view or using information that is not yet public to the community.
Agreed, every vollunteer needs to sign an NDA to protect other owners. What should be taken out is the restrictions on talking about something that is not specific to an owner.
You are correct on item 1, but, incorrect on item 2. The current NDA explicitly stakes that vollunteers are NOT ALLOWED to post anything that harms the goodwill and reputation of the POA. If a volunteer posts on social media that the POA are not doing a good job on the landscaping, they have breached the agreement.
Please do submit the other side!
If you submit the other side you say is missing, it will be published above.
Board needs to be transparent and be honest with the community. Board refuses information to the community on grounds of the NDA. The NDA needs to be written with refusal on grounds of privacy act only: name, address, SSN, phone, etc. The POA can release all info except privacy act info.
This NDA was NOT authored by any Owner controlled board. This 1st amendment restricting document was inherited from the developer.
Hopefully the our board recognizes this great point. If the board is taking this legal advice from the lawyer that was hiried from owner money and it was recommended by him or her, our board should be thinking of another legal representative.