The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly - Part One

The Meeting Drama Continues

I suspect most of us, at least those who liked those Western movies, remember fondly the Clint Eastwood epic 3-part series (is that too strong a term?), A Fistful of Dollars, For A Few Dollars More and the best of the bunch, The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. Wikipedia called the three movies from the 60's Spaghetti Westerns and starred Eastwood and launched his career. Oddly enough I came across the final one on cable a month or so ago, and my memories of it were better than the movie was while watching again.


What hadn't changed was the haunting theme song they played at every dramatic section of the movie. Sergio Leone had done a masterful job of integrating the refrain letting you know something good, bad, or ugly was coming at you. After the February 14, board meeting, I am of the mind the RCSC needs to incorporate that music overlay into the meeting itself. Or, at the very least add it into the video playback. The drama of it would only add to the way these meetings are evolving.

What most likely would be in dispute is when and where to insert it. My best guess is we (the management, the board, and the members in the room) would see things differently (and that is being polite). Let me give you a couple of examples from the video of the meeting.

A couple of wins for the members

For much of the meeting, we saw the board taking an active and aggressive role in making sound decisions and not acting foolishly. For example, eliminating the 2-hour time limit on meetings and not acting on the 25-foot Viewpoint Lake shoreline rule. Thus, “The Good.” Kudos to them for listening to members.

But wait, there is a few dollars more (and more)

Where the major difference of opinion, I would guess, is when we get to, “The Bad.” I suspect they (the board and management) will argue this is awesome. For those of us in the room (100 plus) when we heard it, a hush, a sense of say what? fell over the crowd. Even after the meeting as we chatted, we had a difficult time getting our head around it.

In fact, the comments by General Manager Cook could fit nicely into the title of the first two Eastwood movies, A Fistful of Dollars and For A Few Dollars More. And while some may have been giddy by the news the RCSC was awash in cash, many of us in the room saw it as what a good Catholic might call a mortal sin. It was that bad. Clearly, the last several minutes would fall under, “The Ugly.” Music should be mournful and somber. Why?

I know, some folks see cash as king, and if you are in a for-profit business, it truly is. Their goal is to be profitable, make money for the owners and stockholders and continue to grow bigger and be even more successful. Non-profits are wholly different. They exist for a defined purpose and that reason is contained in their Articles of Incorporation. The RCSC is there to serve the membership, not build a war chest of cash reserves.

In June 2006, the Sun Dial roof collapsed. The insurance company was screwing with the RCSC and trying to get out of paying the claim. It took two years for the pool to reopen, and the glaring weakness was the RCSC didn't have the cash on hand to fix it immediately. The new General Manager cut costs where she could, and finally, a settlement came. The board came to understand having reserves for emergencies was needed.

In the following years, a Capital Reserve Fund was started with the desired goal of setting aside 5 million dollars. They reached that figure quicker than planned, and today it sits untouched to the tune of $5.5 million dollars with the investment returns adding a half-million dollars; play the song again, “The Good.” It is there in case we need it; a very sound practice for an organization of our size.

Here's where “The Ugly” comes in: In December of 2009, before the creation of the Capital Reserve Fund, the RCSC had available in cash and assessments a total of $7,549,007. Not a bad number by any means. After the current General Manager's big reveal the other day, I started digging out these figures. I just don't pay much attention to anything other than the PIF (which is at $27 million dollars by the way).

Imagine my surprise when I looked at the Finance and Budget Information on their website for December of 2021. We now know over the past 12 years, from December of 2009 through December of 2021, they have increased those $ 7.5 million dollars to a whopping $17.5 million dollars. And to be clear, during that time period they set aside the additional $5 million dollars in the Capital Reserve Fund.

Misspent fiduciary responsibility?

I would argue that the $15 million dollars set aside is not only “The Bad”, but also “The Ugly” (cue music). Seriously gang, if we were a for-profit business, we would be calling our leadership brilliant. Let me remind you; we're not. Our goal isn't to have yearly set-asides money. You can call it carry-over, you can call it carry-forward, you can call it a slush fund or a rainy-day fund, but what it has done is impact the community's needs by saving it rather than spending it on those who paid their annual assessments.

Every year, RCSC clubs submit requests for things they would like. All too often, they buy stuff with club funds and when they do, it becomes the property of the RCSC. In many cases, their requests have been denied. Most often the argument was the RCSC couldn't afford to do it. Let me be blunt; that was pure unadulterated bull sh**. They (the management team who makes these decisions) elected to save the money rather than spend it.

My old friend Norm Dickson, while serving his 6 years on the board, used to argue with new board members who wanted to be conservative with spending told them that our job as board members is to spend money wisely. He was right. But that was back in the day when the board members were more than just the rubber stamp for the General Manager.

There's way more to discuss here. If you missed the RCSC meeting, you can watch it online on the RCSC YouTube channel. If you would rather, you can read our in-depth commentary and several posted comments found here.

Would love to hear your thoughts. You can post them here.

We are nearing 500 members, and our goal is to have 1,000 or more by year's end. We are focused on Communication, Education, and Participation as we return Sun City to its roots - grounded in a sense of community, ownership, and accountability. Who could possibly be opposed to that?

Bill Pearson - Advisory Panel, Sun City Advocates

Continue reading - Part Two