The Ditch Saga Continues

Ugh - - the ditch situation in our subdivision will not die and even with having a sub-committee formed last month it still seems that I am doing most of the work. After last months meeting of getting yelled and screamed at for 2 hours by about 60 residents I was ready to run the meeting tonight a little bit differently. In my oath of trying to keep residents more informed I had sent out the agenda and we sent out a newsletter stating when our next meeting was. Well, only about 8 people showed up and then the Chair of the sub-committee for the ditch called me on my way home and said he would be unable to make it, so again it was up to me. Yes, I put an Assessment out for $75.00 to complete this project and yes, it adds up to a lot of money, but really people it's only $75.00 dollars per person (unless you own multiple lots). I just do not understand how people do not want their subdivision to look presentable and avoid a flooding. The funny thing is, is that everyone that has emailed me or attended meetings is under agreement that something needs to be done with the ditch. I don't get wanting to put a band-aid on the ditch and do little things here and there over the next couple of years knowing the problem will get worse and then we will still need to pay for a long term fix. I haven't let on to residents that come into the meetings yet that my family does own and business and I work on business process and such at my job, but it's funny to listen to them state that they are business owners and blah, blah, blah. Well looking at this business wise and taking the personal piece out of being a resident, I would state that we have foreclosure properties and we have empty lots and we need people who pay dues to move into those homes and build homes on the lots that will pay the dues in ordering to keep up with our bills. So, if it takes a little bit of money, such as $75.00 to make our common area and ditch look presentable and welcome prospective buyers into our subdivision, doesn't that make sense?! To me the return on investment could be pretty good for all of us currently living here and paying dues, it means more cash flow and more respectable people moving in, granted I can't guarantee that, but if you look at subdivisions that have beautifully landscaped common areas, they tend to care more about their own property and appearance. We will see how everything continues to unfold. We may be starting a Facebook page to open communication between the HOA board and the residents - I am hoping that I will not regret that!