How Did We Get Here?

In a Thread started on 7.23.22 by Bill Pearson, he creates a Timeline for those interested in how we got to the situation that we are in regarding Golf in Sun City. (Residents and Non-Resident Play)

Yesterday on the Sun City Advocates Facebook page, we got a great question from Nia Maxwell asking simply; "how did we get here?" The "here" meaning a place where outside full play passes were being sold to non-residents who had access to our web portal and were playing golf for far less than what Sun City residents were paying less than many of us would should we want to golf. In addition, they were literally able to get tee times ahead of members.

Those following the site were quick to respond, "that's not right." Many of us agree. One notable exception was a semi-regular poster on TOSC who informed us he/she would be back soon to correct us all on how wrong we all are regarding golf. Still waiting say what.

Unfortunately, Facebook is not the place to try and answer the question Nia asked. I've written volumes on this subject, and rather than post 20 or 30 links to threads here, i am going to do a down and dirty tutorial that will show readers just how we got to a point where the management team and several board members see it as just fine to let those from outside the community enjoy the amenities we all have paid for.

One word describes it: Incrementally.

It started in 2006 when a new general manager was hired. There was a long-standing history of GMs with limited power and none of them served for all that many years. The RCSC board were always the ones making the decisions, and the general manager carried out the day-to-day operations. The board, btw, relied heavily on the committees as well as the voices of the members who had basic safeguards built into the documents.

Let me list these in an easy-to-follow manner:
* The first action taken was for the general manager to disband the "Legal Affairs" committee. It was a group of retired lawyers and judges who counseled the board on any actions they considered taking. The gm argued some of them weren't licensed in the state of Arizona so their expertise wasn't needed.

* In 2009, the bylaws called for quarterly membership meetings where 100 members in attendance triggered having to hold the meeting. If there were actions being taken the members didn't like, they showed up. The GM argued that wasn't right and the board bought the argument. The quorum was first changed to 10% (roughly 3500) and after months reduced to 1250. After that action resulted in not having a membership meeting until 2021 when between proxies and butts in chairs saw 1400 plus in attendance.

* With the membership out of the way, the decision was made to rebrand the community from "The City of Volunteers," to "Sun City, The Original Fun City." Sun City was built on and around volunteerism and the message became just move here and have fun.

* By the time i was on the board (2012-2014), the direction set by the general manager was clear, committees were an impediment to her plans. Once the Marinette pickleball pavilion was done, in concert with the board, they voted to do away with the long range planning committee. Shortly after that, the Entertainment committee went away and the communication committee morphed in the first in a series of changes.

* As all of this was happening, the board allowed the GM to start rewriting the bylaws. The problem of course is the Articles of Incorporation can only be changed by the membership and the Articles state, the bylaws must conform to them; they cannot conflict. Sadly, that was overlooked.

* With each passing year, attendance at board meetings became less and less. For years, 20 members in the room was the norm. There typically were more board members and staff there than members. Doing whatever they wanted became standard operating procedure.

* Along the way, the board did do a couple of positive things. They restarted the long range planning committee and they convinced the general manager to video record the meetings. Both welcomed changes.

* In 2019, they deleted about half of the board policies and shoved them into the bylaws. It made them virtually unreadable or certainly unable to understand what they were saying.

* In 2020 and in 2021, the board became so detached from reality (and the membership) they were emboldened to fire board members elected by the community when they weren't sufficiently loyal to the corporation (general manager). It's actually what started the shit storm and why we are where we are today.

* In 2022, after all of the angst in 2021, the president replaced one of the board meetings with a member/board exchange. At the first meeting in April, three members of the golfing community (all having lived here more than 20 years each) stepped to the mic and complained about their ability to get tee times. Something had changed and they wanted it fixed.

* At the next meeting, May, the members heard a golf summary. The argument was there was only 3% of the rounds by outside full play passes. That still equates to 10,000 to 12,000 rounds where members could be displaced. We also heard the average cost for a round of golf on the outside full play pass was $20.18. We now knew how little they were paying (in comparison to RCSC members) and we also knew they were getting golf car rentals cheaper than what a member paid. And we knew they were displacing members.

* At the June member exchange, the board president claimed the outside golf full play pass was solved, even though nothing had been done. In response, Director Collins presented a motion to change full play outside passes immediately. It wasn't going to fix it all, but it did two things; took away the golf car and made them pay full price to rent one, but more importantly took away their ability to be in the lottery as early as members. It didn't go far enough, but it was a start. It was voted down.

I know, i write too much. You can't tell the story, without telling you the story. And to be clear, this is one man's opinion. It is based on knowing our history and knowing what we once were, and what we no longer are. There's nothing sinister or evil in the actions taken during the past 15 years. It was just a vision of a handful of people who thought they knew what was best for Sun City.

Personally, i believe Sun City is best served when the membership plays a role in the direction. It's how we were built and why we were so successful.

Bill Pearson

SCA, Advisory Panel Member