As
I write this, there are almost 700 views of this meeting. Fantastic!!
Jean, here, stepping in to finish up the Member Board Exchange meeting on May 9th. Bill is off pounding the keys at Talk of Sun City and in his new role as an administrator for the Facebook group, Sun City Chat, so I’ll try to fill in the blanks.
To follow our last email “teaser” to you --- Did they listen to us? --- with this edition entitled, “are YOU listening to them?” has me pointing out a few comments that I heard, some by members, some by the Board. This is not picking on anyone; this is not finding fault; this is not hatred; this is me making observations. About what was said. (And what wasn’t said.) Out loud. Stated by me. Not hiding behind an Anonymous or Unknown title.
- Regarding the branding of Sun City (Volunteer vs Fun)- working with ASU to stay competitive in today’s market. If we are concerned with staying competitive, why not more Pickleball Courts?
- The item “Lack of Communication between the Board and the Management” on the chart was not a mistake. The president of the Board – who is in the majority – feels that there are no issues there. I wonder how the minority members feel about that. I’ve heard Director Collins ask for figures on the MV project several times over the last months; I’m assuming he didn’t get answers or he wouldn’t have kept answering. Or, Director McAdam asking for more detailed information about Golfing figures (nonresident play vs resident play) and being told that the information in there; just pull it out. Or, Director Sue Wilson giving a report on the Club Organization Committee as "we just met; we're meeting every 3rd month and no longer in charge of clubs but in charge of categories. It seems to be working extremely well." And two days later GM Cook fires Chartered Club Supervisor, a well liked staff member.
That’s what we were talking about when someone mentioned lack of communication between the Board and the Management.
- It was interesting to hear Director Fimmel mention that the performing theater could be the Crown Jewel of Sun City --- if it was built as a stand-alone.
- Ex-Board Member Don Schordje is so certain that if the Board doesn’t act NOW on Mountain View, it will be relegated to the bottom of the PIF Budgeting once again. Why does it have to go to the bottom? PIF Budgets have been changed before.
- President Lehrer gave her report on the Election Committee; made mention that packets could be picked up on June 6th if “one was so inclined to run for a ‘great’ seat up here.” However, what she failed to mention were the restrictions placed on members who want to run:
a. Must be at least fifty-five (55) years
of age;
b. Must be Member in good standing;
c. Must not reside with or be related by
marriage or birth to any other Board of Director, Board candidate, or Senior
Management;
d. Must reside in Sun City, Arizona and be
available at least ten (10) months of the year;
e. Must meet the requirement to hold an
Arizona liquor license;
f. Must be eligible and available to serve
a three (3) year term; and
g. Must attend Board Candidate
Orientation(s).
Why a liquor license? Perhaps because in order to get a liquor license, one MUST have an AZ Driver’s License, must be a U.S. Citizen, and must be a bona fide AZ resident. That certainly does leave out a whopping percentage of members – our Snowbirds. Because there is no way for an average person to know exactly how many residents/homeowners/members there are in Sun City, it’s hard to know what that percentage is.
- I expected golf to be mentioned more than it was. However, the best comment I heard was directed at the Board regarding both bowling and golf: “You’re giving our rights away; No one is watching out for us.”
- Director Lenefsky mentioned that the Long-Range Planning Committee is working on a Survey regarding what “we” want and where do “we” want it. He did not elaborate who the “we” was in this case. I certainly hope that it was all the residents/homeowners/members (figure unknown).
- And finally, the Board received an extensive report on Golf from Manager Brian D. Where is it? Are we, the members, allowed to see this report? This is the transparency that we talk about.
1 comment:
One thing for certain, there are way more questions than answers, at least to date. There's only one more member/board exchange meeting before the summer break, will we have more answers to questions like these?
Will the golf issues be dealt with? Will they respond to the amazing proposal John Fast made to them? Will the election committee allow a former board member to serve on the committee and then quit when she picks up her packet to run (after helping make the rules)? Will they respond to disqualifying 30% of the membership from running from the board because of their "qualifiers?" And if they do, will their criteria meet the language from the Articles of Incorporation stating members rights must be equal? Will they admit in the past board members could leave for the summer and be available electronically? Will they explain firing a very popular RCSC employee?
There's way more, but seems like we will break for summer with more questions than answers. BTW, here's a couple more: How is the purchase of the new exercise equipment coming, which pieces have been ordered? How about an update on the technology, are we on schedule? On track to getting back to a point where we can see the RCSC being able to address the security issues? How's the lake coming?
The list is nearly endless. With all of that out of the way, we believe the concept of a member/board exchange is a good thing, now the only remaining question is; will it work?
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