I believe lots of good things are happening in Sun City although, I must admit, I’m not happy with the number of Members that showed up for the Candidate Forums or the last BoardMeeting!
Let’s forget about that
for now and concentrate on the good.
Increase in Property Transfer Fee
It appears that the cost
to purchase a home in Sun City will become a little more expensive. A motion
was made to add an additional $1000 for the property transfer fee to the $4000 PIF
fee. The $1000 will be designated for use for major capital improvements.
Until now, it seemed
that the PIF was used to renovate or build high-dollar projects but once those
projects were completed there were no real dollars designated to maintain those
projects!
This $5000 total will
now be the same as the fees paid in Sun City West.
Momentous Motions
Several second readings
took place at the board meeting and two great motions passed.
- One was the re-creation of the Outreach & Communications Committee
- The other was the fact that they finally defined what the “Affairs of the Corporation” are
The Outreach &
Communications Committee should help to fill the gap where the RCSC Website is,
in my opinion, lacking. It’s just too darn hard to find what you’re looking
for! This committee should make things more readily available. Not sure how
they intend to do it but there are several options using a better-organized
website, the SunViews, and Independent newspapers.
As I mentioned earlier,
this committee has existed in the past and there are still Members available
within the community who served on it, and who can help get the committee off
to a running start. If you’re interested, I’m sure Director Jean Totten would
love to hear from you.
I’m also excited about
the motion that finally defined “Affairs of the Corporation.” The definition makes
it perfectly clear that the Members can amend the bylaws at the Annual
Membership Meeting.
This year’s Annual
Membership meeting only requires 500 Members to achieve a quorum. Proxies are
also included in that count but hopefully, we can achieve the quorum without the
need for proxies. I certainly hope we have at least 500 Members who care enough
about Sun City to attend.
Motions for Annual Membership Meeting
Just as a footnote, I
have already turned in 3 amendments to the bylaws to the corporate office that
will be on the agenda at the Annual Meeting. Nothing earth-shattering, more in
the vein of administrative housekeeping, but what it will really do is it will
FINALLY give everybody the opportunity to see how the system is supposed to
work. Motions will be made, motions will be debated, and votes will actually be
taken. And remember, the Articles of Incorporation says that the “Members shall
prevail”, so there won’t be any of those past situations where the Chair says
there won’t be a vote because the motion has to be sent back to the board for
study! If the Members pass it, it’s a done deal!
Plan to Vote for Board Candidates
Stay tuned to the
Advocates blog for any further updates. And always remember that this is YOUR
COMMUNITY, and…
Don’t forget to vote for
the candidate(s) of your choice. Online voting begins at 8:00am on November 6th. Visit
the RCSC website at www.suncityaz.org to register and vote through
the RCSC Portal Login option.
Absentee ballots will be
available starting November 6th. Please call the Corporate/Board
office at 623-561-4600 or email boardoffice@suncityaz.org to
request your ballot.
Walk-in voting will take
place on December 12th, 8am to 4pm at the Lakeview Center in Social
Hall #2. Remember to bring your valid RCSC Member card to vote.
Remember, the candidates
you elect to serve on the board are the same people who will determine your
future!
Tom Marone, Sun City Advocates Panel Member
5 comments:
Well said Tom and i suspect some of the fervor that existed in the Sun City Advocates membership has waned. All too often we think in the short term, not for the long haul. Returning to our roots isn't about an election, but about what comes from electing the right people and then holding them accountable. AND, also helping them as we dig in to support their efforts and energies.
Let's be really clear, that course correction can turn on a dime. Self-governance is hard, messy and challenging while making every decision within the walls of the general manager's office is way easier. Unfortunately is seldom proves to be effective.
I believe a problem bigger than just getting the right people elected to the board is the apathy of our membership?
The only way to put the pressure on the board is if the Members show-up at meetings and exchanges and challenge the boards decisions.
I believe it was the pressure from our Membership that finally made it possible to change the quorum to 500.
I'm putting a lot of hope in the new Outreach and Communications Committee. If they do their job right, they will be able to engage and inform the community.
Lets face it, the Long Range Planning Committee can come-up with a lot of good ideas and recommendations, but if the only recipients that hears those ideas are the ones in attendance, and the blank walls of a meeting room, not much will happen.
I think we're in for a very interesting new year?
Tom, what exactly are your motions? Using the term housekeeping really doesn’t say anything. So what to you say, how about some specifics.
Tom and Bill, thanks for your continuing contribution.
Not my first such suggestion on this subject, but here is a thought for the Sun City Advocates long term mission and a means to address limited membership involvement:
Premise - For most people not as committed to the community management process as you blessed souls, it is difficult to have opinions and participate with limited time. Bless those that can, and do, attend hours of meetings regularly, and understand all details of various issues facing RCSC. Many, by temperament or other commitments, cannot commit that much time therefore they find themselves inadequately informed to hold competently developed positions. They are likely to drop out of the process.
To deal with the above, the Advocates could assume two roles:
A. Reducing the time required of citizens to be a competent participant - This could be the mission of AC Advocates. Reduce the time required for members to understand and stay on top of the issues by providing highly summarized reports, after each RCSC meeting, on the matters in front of RCSC. The format should be of a brief outline: short sentences (10-20 words) and up to 3 sentences per issue with links to more details, for the curious ones that need to know more. 50 years ago P&G used to require multimillion dollar issues and decisions to be proposed by a summary "one page memo" with supporting documents in appendix. We need the same concept implemented now that information has exploded on us. With the aid of current technology (on-line posts with hyperlinks to more details as needed)
B. Collect and summarize feedback to present to Directors - This would support directors who want to be responsive to the community by giving them fast access to the plus of the membership. Since they are already buried in information, these "Community View Summaries" should be in the form of "a % of comments are for X, b% are for Y, c% want more debate and information to have an opinion". A simple heartbeat can tell a doctor how the patient feels.
Information systems and polling & analysis processes can be built inexpensively by the KISS process to facilitate the above. The Advocates have done it before with this blog and changed the community by the power of a few movers pressing on the right lever.
Regards and thank you for the heavy lifting some of us cannot do.
Marco
Thanks Marco, all great ideas and if the Advocate's hang around, we need to try and streamline our messaging in ways that better fit both time constraints and levels of interest to those following. Word is you are doing better?
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