HCinc. $4000 con-job.
In the last blog for the accounting (mis) practices of our HOA on utilities, I kinda took blame. This time however I can no longer take it anymore, this is probably though biggest $4000 con-job in Aspen's property management scene -that I know of at least: The Hunter Creek website.
Since you are reading this on the website which I run, I feel confident to say that I know a few things about websites.
It's always a lot to digest at these HOA meeting's as far as going through the budget goes, especially after a day of boot-packing, but it doesn't render me entirely oblivious. Last Friday on Phase II's budget I saw $600 allocated for the website & related services. I thought that this was a lot of money for a straightforward HTML-site that hasn't been updated since probably the invention of the internet. Then last night on the commons budget I about choked when I saw another $2946 charged to the commons in addition to the $600 already charged to Phase II.
I can only speculate that another $1200 is charged to the other 2 phases, but am not privy to those numbers. IF that is the case, that would bring the grand total $5746 for web services... I hate to do this to anyone but check out the website at: www.huntercreek.net.
- It's not responsive. Real websites detect the device on which it's viewed (mobile/ desktop/ tablet) and display content, imagery, fonts, etc. accordingly.
- It's static. Nothing has been updated, the little functionality that is there is not being used. For example in the calendar feature not a single HOA meeting is posted.
- This is what a calender entry should look like
- There is no real functionality. Real websites allow users to sign up with a login of their choice, pick a password of their liking and will have password retrieval functionality. They should not have to write an email apply for and be assigned a login name and then be issued a password.
- The website is entirely not used to communicate water shut off's, maintenance issues or any community building communiqués.
The website on which you are reading this blog is hosted by a company called iPage, the cost of hosting is about $45 a year. Domain registration is another $30 a year.
The CMS (content management system) is by Wordress, open source freeware. There are others for example Joomla and these are all free of cost to use, for the community by the community. All these CMS's have an almost unlimited amount of plug-ins, free or paid for. All these plugins add additional functionality to the website. This can be anything from a calendar, online store or spreadsheet management.
- Electronic payment of HOA dues is cumbersome and charges $25 per transaction. In contrast if I wire money to Germany - an international money wire I get charged less. There is paypal, venmo and many other ways to do this cheaper and more efficient.
The Huntercreek website has no graphic design, I don't see any updated content, I don't see any functionality, I don't see an appealing interesting community fostering website at all. But most important, I really do not see $5000 worth of work on an annual basis on this website. You can consult other sources but take my word for it this website is a total fraud, it's a grand theft.
