Let me start with this; I hate taking minutes, so I don't. I write myself brief summaries of the topics raised and then move on. Following yesterday's meeting, I left feeling a bit underwhelmed. Nope, nothing wrong with the session, the exercise is still a plus for the community and the membership but the real question still lingers: Are they serious about what is said or are we just there flapping our gums?
A better seat at the table
To their credit, they did take the recommendation to let the board sit at tables rather than on bar stools (okay, maybe they weren't bar stools but darned close) with nowhere to take notes or to put their coffee. That was a good start. Then we heard a really brief summary of committee reports, that were really brief. And, they forgot the ad hoc bylaws committee update but someone asked later and it was answered. Oddly, that was probably the one committee we wanted to hear most about.
Following that, we moved through the whiteboard of items raised at the first Member/Board Exchange. It was obvious they had met as a board because each response was handled by an assigned board member. Again, a good thing. The question was asked during the session; would they post the whiteboard answers on the website? I think they said they would and perhaps they will do that in conjunction with the posting of the video. If memory serves me, there was one item marked in red that said COMPLETED but it has to be voted on a second time. For the record, it is to change the name of the meeting from Board/Member Exchange to Member/Board Exchange. Again, a good thing; feels like we are on a roll eh?
The funny thing is they could simply run both logos on the electronic signage and it would be a done deal.
Then it all starts to get a little murkier. One of the hot button topics that were raised at the first session was returning the electronic marquees to say "Sun City, The City Of Volunteers." Back around 2012, the general manager wanted to rebrand the community. She came up with (or a marketing company came up with) the idea we should be called "Sun City, The Original Fun City." I know all too well, that I was on the board when it happened. I thought it was a bad move then, and I still do. The City of Volunteers was our brand, it defined us and made us different and unique from the other 1000 age-restricted communities.
Rather than acting on the suggestion made from the floor at last month's meeting where virtually every hand shot up in support (and which caused the board president to say out loud "Oh My"), they took no action. Bill Cook mumbled something about ASU getting involved and further study was needed. Let me be very clear as this is my opinion; no one wants to hurt the recently departed general manager's feelings. This has been a contentious argument from the time it started. So much so that when several organizations that rely on volunteers worked to get the County signage replaced to read the "City of Volunteers" it became an even more heated discussion. So much for community input. Hopefully, I am wrong and they will change that. The funny thing is they could simply run both logos on the electronic signage and it would be a done deal. To easy, too much common sense I guess.
Is the golf report a "secret?"
The other topic that garnered the most commentary at the first meeting was golf. Apparently, between the first and the second Member/Board Exchange, the board got a full report on golf. That hasn't been shared and frankly, when I got up to ask about all things golf the board got that deer in the headlights look. Sorry, not trying to be unkind, but average laypeople looking at an overload of data (numbers) become numb. I know as I have spent countless hours poring over pieces of information that are hard to get your head around. At the end of my questions, the Director of golf answered everything. Which is fine, at least he had answers.
The bigger problem is the Board did nothing. They took no action. Let me be very clear, we found out yesterday, that nearly 50,000 rounds of golf have come from outside play (and I'm not talking about guests that members are bringing). We know in 2021 they had 350,000 rounds played and this year is ahead of last year. We also now know, that full play pass non-residents can book using our web portal. We also know the membership and especially the golfers have two complaints; Non-members playing for less than RCSC members and non-members having access to tee times that should be available to members before becoming open times for non-members.
In either case, nothing has been done, nor will it any time soon. Full-play non-member passes are paid for one year in advance. That means having taken no action, it will be at least until June of 2023 before all of those passes will expire. Further, it appears that these decisions were made by management. There is a golf committee but clearly, some of those on it had no idea. That is unto itself, terrifying. The biggest tragedy from yesterday is the board apparently doesn't care, or they apparently buy into the argument that the only thing that matters regarding golf is rounds played. It's pure and utter foolishness.
The Board also covered any number of other items raised; transparency which they claimed they have, the indoor dog arena which is being studied, the comment regarding the board management communication which they said must have been a mistake, and the questions regarding member communication which they said they would look at by adding committees and a few other items.
This is far too long already so I will break it here. Part 2 should be available on the BLOG on Friday.
Submitted by - Bill Pearson
6 comments:
Bill, next time, will you please speak to the John Fast presentation? You likely don't want to go there; I was both surprised and tickled that he would re-introduce the Mountain View moratorium. He was not the Only One with questions about M.V. With questions STILL BEING RAISED by many more than the original people, about jumping ahead with this project, it is mystery to me why the are Insistent on moving forward with their budget-busting "plan." I am aware that I am very simple and bias-minded with this statement.
Kristi Svendsen
We'll do better than that Kristi, Jean and Cheri will be working on posting John's presentation on the site here. He went to an enormous amount of time and energy to create his plan and there's no reason to hide or shirk away from it. May position has always been the majority of the board is locked and loaded so why bother.
They simply don't care what we think or say. As i just wrote on TalkofSunCity, the RCSC has pushed an amazing number of very talented members away over the past 15 years and now it appears to be more of the same, maybe even worse.
One point on the golf fees. I have a card listing all fees, except for cards, issued by RCSC and this $2,000 fee for public annual pass is not listed. Not list on the front or the back. The states it is effective 1/1/2022. This leads to the question where did this come from? Is it some off the menu secret handshake deal. Anybody ever question where this pass came from or am I the lonely voice I the wilderness? Just asking.
The decision to let non-residents buy full play passes happened several years ago Dave when the number of rounds dropped and they were losing money badly. The GM saw that full play pass as a means to an end. The truth was, not many people purchased it.
The pandemic hit and with golf the only game in town, numbers started spiking. Apparently no one paid much attention other than being excited by the growing numbers of rounds played. Unfortunately measuring your success on the rounds played formula was foolishness. Of course people are going to buy a pass where the more they play, the less they pay. Both the surcharge pass and normal daily rate work out just the opposite, the more you play, the more you pay.
Several outcomes happened as the numbers of full play passes sold increased; accessing our courses became more difficult and the 50,000 round increase beat the hell out of the courses. You know better than most how cause and effect works. And to be clear, even with all of those additional rounds members are still subsiding golf to the tune of a million dollars a year.
You served on the board, you know, golf was seldom talked about. It was the sacred cow that everyone just pretended was no big deal. To this day, the board gets the deer in the headlights look every time it comes up. They don't have to be experts, but they should have some freaking idea what is going on.
We'll see today if there is a motion to fix the complaints registered regarding golf. The agenda comes out today and there are two items that should be a given; Non-resident full play passes increased dramatically and them not being able to book tee times on our web portal. We'll see.
I've lived in Sun CIty over 25 years, and when I was volunteering at the Sun City Visitors Center under Paul Herrmann, many incoming phone calls and other inquiries asked if we Sun CIty had its own Police and Fire departments, or other official entities. Of course, I had to instruct the caller that Sun City is NOT an actual CITY..., and so forth. So now my question: Why do promotions call us ""Sun City, The City Of Volunteers." instead of what I'd call it, "...A COMMUNITY of Volunteers". That would more precisely promote us and end confusion as to precisely what Sun City actually is. Just one man's opinion.
Fair comment and one that we almost always chuckle about. Several of us used to do the yearly presentation welcoming new residents to Sun City (Paul was on the stage as well). One of the first comments was the explanation that Sun City wasn't a city. My best guess on the City of Volunteers being used because our name was Sun City. I know in virtually everything i write i try and make the name Sun City synonymous with the word community.
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