Fall Clean-Up: Issues requiring attention by the Board

Budget and Finance:

If you have not attended a Budget and Finance Committee meeting or the Special Session at Mountain View in August you are most likely clueless on where the RCSC is financially. 

• No, we are not broke
• We are however trapped in a malaise of playing catch-up for past sins 

For some unknown reason, the board and management decided it was better to save money than spend it. My best guess is that even those past boards weren't aware how far behind we had fallen in maintaining the facilities and golf courses. 

The reality is the costs for the 20 million dollars in deferred maintenance could have been done for half that, but now it has ballooned out of control. You can watch the Budget and Finance presentation here.


Adding to our woes is another statistic that is meaningless to most. The RCSC has 430-440 employees. 

• We were told the turnover rate is approximately 40%, which equates to roughly 200 employees quitting each year that need to be replaced. 

While some argue, so what, the challenge is daunting because hiring and training that many people each year is expensive. Worse yet, when employees don't show up, things don't get done. 

Deferred maintenance and reducing employee turnover will need to be addressed in 2024 and both will be expensive.

Golf and the Apparent Rift Between the Board:

Nothing could be more obvious about the dissension between Board Members than what is happening regarding golf. 

• In April of 2022, an outspoken group of golfers appeared at the Exchange meeting complaining about getting tee times
• Some 16 months later, little has been done to fix the mess
• In fact, if anything, it has become more fractured

At the September board meeting, golfers turned out in force to voice their displeasure over potential increases. Sadly, at least one board member has taken the initiative to explain to them that golf is profitable. He accomplished that by narrowly defining how golf's expenses should be arrived at. His conclusion is the 60-65 million dollars from PIFand Capital expenses shouldn't count. 

Let's be really clear, all of that money comes from one source; the membership. You can watch that board meeting here.


But wait, it gets even more interesting: At that same board meeting, a non-resident who has a full play pass showed up to give us all a piece of his mind. As he was charging the mic, he told us he was a non-resident and demanded he should have the right to have his say. Board President, Kat Fimmel, politely told him to sit down as only members had the right to speak. Only after chirping about it not being fair, he returned to his seat. I'm told there may have been another non-resident speaker, but I didn't witness it. 

Here's the bottom line from my perspective: Non-residents should never, NEVER, get preference over residents for tee times and they should never, NEVER pay less than what members pay. It's that simple.

Strategic Alternatives Committee (SAC):

It's been a long, arduous journey and it's far from being over. All of the meetings and data are available here. I've written repeatedly, that the process works (my resolve is weakening a little). 

• The committee has been pairing down ideas
• Determining what can fit on the site
• And what we can actually afford to build or remodel

The good news is there's a lot of money in PIF. The bad news is everything related to building costs has gone up, way up. The biggest upside began 6 or 7 weeks ago when a new architect was brought in to facilitate the discussions.


The architect wasn't at the last SAC meeting and unfortunately, it broke down as some of the members became disgruntled when the three committee co-chairs stepped out of the room to talk amongst themselves. It was a bad look, in my humble opinion. Link to meeting here.

Apparently, the architect had called one of the chairs just that morning to tell him she wouldn't be ready until October 20th with preliminary cost projections. No idea why they needed a break to talk about the phone call outside the room. Sadly it triggered an outbreak that did little to bring the group together.


After sitting through most meetings and watching the ones I missed, I have no idea where this is all headed. 

• I do know this, the Mountain View renovation has gone on far too long and members living around the center need, want, and expect this project to come to a head by year's end and the plans implemented as quickly as possible. 
• It doesn't help that the rumor mill has been running rampant about the available monies being directed toward other projects. 

Wrapping up the analysis and presenting recommendations needs to happen soon.  Redirecting monies at this point would be a mistake in my opinion.

Now, for the Good Stuff:

It hasn't been all bad, not by any stretch of the imagination. 

• We know the Board has pared down the list of General Manager candidates to two. Hopefully, they will be naming him or her shortly. 
• At that September Board meeting the Board passed the motion to change the quorum requirements in the bylaws to 500 members, it was 1250. That's a great start to restoring members' voices. 
• And while the budget and finance doom and gloom isn't pretty, the way Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Kevin McCurdy has been approaching the process has been eye-opening. There has been a commitment to total transparency by creating enough financial detail that members interested can easily digest. That alone is a welcome change from the old closed nature of budgeting.

I am closing this all in bold, because if you remember nothing else written above, remember this and put it on your calendar: On Monday, October 9 is the next Member Exchange. 

• Members have been clamoring for evening meetings for years and this one will start at 6 PM. 
• It will be held at the Sundial Auditorium and promises to be one of the hottest, best-attended meetings in years. 

We already know the pickleball players are encouraging a turnout. We expect golfers will be there in force and rumor has it softball players are looking for answers as to why they haven't started on the long-promised new clubhouse. And that says nothing about the members wanting answers about Mountain View and the membership concerned about large increases in their yearly lot assessment.



As always, this is just one man's opinion:

Bill Pearson. Sun City Advocates Panel Member and Sun City Historian