Sun City Advocates: Observations of the Election Committee Meeting

Saturday, February 26, 2022

Observations of the Election Committee Meeting - February 23, 2022

My observations on the Election Committee Meeting, February 23, 2022, 1 pm

Chairman: Dale Lehrer, Co-Chair: Sue Wilson (absent), Secretary: Marcia Johnson

Members: Ida (not present) Tom Marone; Denny Nichols – These

were the only Name Tags on the table

Board Members present: Allan Kenefsky, Darla Atkins, Kat Fimmel

Guests: myself, Patrick Gannon

Call to Order
Introductions
Election of 2022 Secretary
Approval of Meeting Summary: October 27, 2021
Discussion:

Potential Candidates
Survey
Candidate Information Session
Review/Update 2022 Committee Roster

Adjournment

Next Meeting March 23, 2022, at 1 pm – Lakeview Board Room

Before the meeting started, I asked if I could join the committee. Dale basically gave me the runaround; not sure how many were coming, etc. No answer.

Marcia Johnson will act as the secretary since she is there anyway.

Dale started the meeting by requesting that they discuss the good, the bad, and the ugly from this past years’ election.

** mentioned the fact that orientation is set too rigidly; if a member wants to run for the Board, they should be able to provide good dates for the candidates to choose from and it should be easier to do so. Marsha (Marcia) said that can’t happen because she has to reserve the room at the beginning of the year – way ahead of time. ** mentioned that there aren’t that many candidates and why couldn’t the room we were sitting in be used?

** said that election day was not smooth due to the software program that is in use; apparently the computers or the software program shuts down right at 4 p.m. Thankfully there was no one present who hadn’t voted. Marsha remarked that if there had been someone in line to vote when that happened, the printed ballots that were available in the room could have been used. Dale mentioned that they will be getting new software.

** mentioned that the people who got turned away at the door because it was after 4 p.m. blew things out of proportion and were rude and not cordial at all. He went on to remark that he’s finding more and more people appearing in Sun City like this.

Dale mentioned the Candidate Forum the second night was a disaster because of the problems with IT. The system was up, then down, very sporadic. Kat mentioned that they need to talk to Randy Bird now to make sure that he can have the system running smoothly by November. ** wanted to institute a backup plan contingency plan; he mentioned they could use their cell phones and text each other. It was also mentioned that they could have a runner to run the questions down to the moderator.

The Lightning Round was discussed; they didn’t like putting a candidate on the spot. Marcia mentioned that everyone picked their own number out of a bowl so it was a fair way to assign the questions. The discussion then centered on the fact that they want members who are somewhat knowledgeable about RCSC and Sun City to run but that they didn’t need to know minutia (how many clubs, for example). Marcia said the Chair and the Co-Chair would review the questions.

The Candidate taped interviews are well received and have many hits. They liked them but did comment if you didn’t have the internet or a computer, one couldn’t watch them.

Dale mentioned she would like to see more involvement from members of the Election Committee during the Candidate Information Sessions. ** thought maybe having a session before the packets were available would work.

They discussed the Survey; one hasn’t been done in two years. They concluded that the Candidate Information Sessions were a better tool to use.

The discussion on how to recruit potential candidates took place next. Dale thought she would ask the Chair of each Committee to talk with their members about their interests. They remarked that these individuals had already shown commitment to RCSC by just being on the committee.

They briefly discussed the proposed calendar dates for each segment re: Elections. The Candidate Forums will be earlier in October and the Annual Membership Meeting would be on Tuesday, November 1^st, 2022. This past year there was a lot going on in a short period of time so they adjusted some dates.

I did not note what time the meeting was adjourned.

Jean Totten

Member #148753

5 comments:

Bill Pearson said...: Thanks Jean for attending and reporting. Hopefully the RCSC will post a similar summary (when birds fly). It should be noted, years back committee's used to give summary reports at board meetings. I guess like everything else, importance is in the eyes of the beholder.; February 26, 2022 at 12:29 PM
Anonymous said...: The orientation meeting room/date
There are plenty of venues in and very close to Sun City where the orientation
can take place. Will it cost money? Sure, but with 18 million in cash accounts
they can easily afford to rent a space for 1 to 2 hours for orientation.

If the software they are talking about is for counting ballots they should ensure
whatever software they choose can be universal in nature and can handle ballot
counting, surveys, and polls. Why are PC’s being shut down at 4pm? Why can’t
the web site be used for board candidate’s? I have never heard the web site was offline.

Someone said people who were turned away were rude and non cordial. This is not
a new phenomenon. This is the world we live in today. It is occurring everywhere
today - not just in Sun city. Get used to it is only going to get worse. We now live
in aa “I, I, Me, Me, I world” where no one accepts responsibility for anything and
their opinion is the only opinion that matters.

Mention was made that the candidate forum was a disaster because of IT. Way to go.
Pass the buck. Deny everything and don’t accept any responsibility.
Dale has been on several Committees and apparently never pursued making changes
to the existing method of conducting candidate forums.
Solutions suggested were a backup plan - should have been one in place for the past
20 years. The past GM wanted no part of IT and digital data collection. A strict
hardware and software backup plan must be implemented site wide and must be universal.

The lightening round is ridiculous as it has been controlled by the moderator who
decides what questions should be asked and answered. The chair and co chair are acting as censors. The lightening round is for game shows. If online candidate sessions are held online again, there should be no censoring of questions.

The taped candidate interviews are apparently a hit. The fact that some don’t have internet or a computer has been mentioned in the past. With the advent of Smart phones, you get access to the internet. Another solution is PC kiosks in each rec center for use by those without internet or a PC. PC kiosks would be a great addition to the amenities RCSC offers.

What would be the purpose of a pre-session to packets being handed out?
Should we then have a pre-session to the pre-session to iron out what is going
to be in the pre-session.

What is this survey they are talking about? Any and all surveys should be conducted online on the RCSC website.
PC kiosks for the internet and PC challenged to respond to surveys. Smart phones for everyone else.
How many rec centers do we have? The cost of a decent PC is about a grand.
5 kiosks in each rec center times 1 grand per PC is dirt cheap access to the internet and PC challenged. 18 million in cash – I think we can afford a few PC’s.

The best way to recruit candidates is to use electronic signage outside of every rec center where anyone entering will see the signage reaching out for board candidates.
Again, something that can be done fairly cheaply and controlled by a server on RCSC
property. With 18 mil in cash not a big deal. Committee members should not be the only choice for a pool of candidates because they are committee members. The board complains because they have too much to do so they want Committee members to do the work for them. The Committee members probably have too much on their plate also.; February 26, 2022 at 12:40 PM
Marco said...: Jean. Thanks Awesome summary. Best medicine from the Advocates against the disease of slow-motion/bureaucracy/procedural-labyrinth that the BOD uses to wall themselves in from the community. Summary information and recommendations will breach the wall.
Well done. Thanks; February 26, 2022 at 2:12 PM
Bob Aleo said...: Let me chime in and thank Jean and any others that are attending and reporting summaries on these meetings. Very impressive, above and beyond, five stars!

Two things that have noticed. One, is that It appears that many BOD members attend the committee meetings. Two, they (BOD) still make bad decisions while having the opportunity to be well informed. Perhaps they make the same mistakes so often without corrective action, they don't recognize their mistakes. When a dog is conditioned that it is okay to poop on the back porch, it may never understand that the backyard would be the correct place. Glad too see SCA pointing things out.

What, really? The excuse is that I have to reserve a room far in advance. Yikes! I hope we can do better. I am late to the party. Has this type of silliness been going on for long time? I'll answer my own question; Probably, or wouldn't be tolerated now.

Thank heaven for the creation of SCA!; February 26, 2022 at 7:04 PM
Anonymous said...: The board room is the perfect place to hold candidate orientations. Plenty of room for a handful of candidates and no need to reserve a social hall or other room. I think they need to hold as many orientations as needed so that every candidate has the same opportunities.
Next:
The reason The computer shuts down at 4 O'clock is because that's when voting ends. Anybody who was on line to vote still has the ability and will be permitted to do so.; February 27, 2022 at 5:29 PM