Welcome to the Sun City Advocates Blog
We are truly delighted you have found this site. It is hard to believe that Sun City Advocates has existed since 2021.
Our Beginnings
We were born from adversity. When RCSC board member, Karen McAdam, whom over 700 of us had voted for in the 2021 BOD elections, was fired by her co-board members in a suspiciously called Executive Session, we had a “cause.” The directors weren’t happy with her for standing up for the membership. Instead, they told her that a board position mandated “loyalty” to the corporation.
As a small, self-appointed committee, we worked to get her re-elected in December of 2021. Karen got more votes than any other candidate in years past. Four new board members were elected, three of them with the endorsement of our Panel group. The following election we helped to build an even more member-friendly board.
After the 2021 Board Candidate Elections
The Advocate group was determined to collect enough proxies (signatures from members who couldn’t attend) combined with live in-person members with their butts in seats to reach that large quorum and finally have a true annual Membership Meeting. on December 13th, members started pouring into the Sun Dial Auditorium at 8 a.m., and promptly at 9 a.m., the RCSC locked the doors. We were told that locking those doors was an accident, or a mistake, but in reality, it was another embarrassment and an insult to the membership to limit attendance, and it went against Fire Code Regulations.
When the secretary of the Board announced that there were over 1400 in attendance – combining proxies and members in the room - a large roar erupted. We had done it!
Motions had been submitted 10 days in advance - as written in the bylaws - to try and restore the voice of the membership (more on that in another thread). We had done our homework, and the crowd wanted to vote on the motions submitted.
That wasn’t to be. The board wanted no part of governance by the membership. They had become accustomed to letting the general manager rewrite the by-laws and the board to rubber-stamp them. The meeting dragged on for over 2 hours with the board stone-walling us at every turn. Many of those in attendance were left angry and frustrated. All left without voting on anything!
Then to make matters worse (if you can believe that), as we excitedly waited for the release of the video of the meeting, we were told a recording snafu had occurred; a corrupted video card or some such nonsense had deemed the video unplayable. Members became even angrier. Later, the second half of the meeting was found and played on the Sun City YouTube channel, but the most important part – the part that showed the members presenting their motions to the board – was lost.
Moving Forward
To make a long story short, the end of 2021 was a nasty time in Sun City. Frustration and anger were ever-present. The core members of the Sun City Advocates always understood that the Annual Membership meeting would be a turning point for them and for the community. Rather than being discouraged, we embraced the challenges the RCSC threw at us.
In 2023 we saw three previously elected Board Members resign their posts as the majority had appeared to tip away from their point of view. Rather than remain and defend their stance, they chose to leave.
2023 has so far shown us that the current Board is dedicated, willing to put in the extra energy and time needed and to improve communications with the Membership.
Sun City Advocates Fight for the Return of Community Governance by the Members
And here we are today. Following the Annual Membership meeting in December, we have had 500 plus members join us in our endeavors. We aren’t asking for your money nor are we expecting you to become rabid activists. We won’t push you to do things you aren’t comfortable with or anything that we ourselves wouldn’t do.
We hope that you understand that Sun City belongs to all of us. We aren’t “cardholders;” we are members, and as such, we should be stakeholders in major decisions made. We know our history, we have documents from the past that helped to guide us to where we are today, and in the coming months and years, we want to share that with you.
Your role as a Sun City Advocate
So, as you read this, what is it that we want? We want you to care about this incredible community we all live in. We want you to understand just how unique it is. We want you to know the reason for Sun City’s success was because of how it was built. Those buying here weren’t willing to leave that sense of success to someone else. They knew that creating a sense of community meant making a commitment to being a willing and active participant.
Hang with us. We will help you understand the role you can play. We will make it fun, and easy, and along the way, you will get to know your neighbors and fellow “owners.” How does it get better than that?
Our Vision and Mission
Our vision is our return to community governance - not to be controlled by a few board members and a general manager – but to be controlled by a Board of Directors along with the members in a cooperative spirit that benefits all. Our mission is to Communicate, Educate, and Participate as Sun City Advocates.
Your Sun City Advocate Panel:
Joe Brouch
Cheri Marchio
Tom Marone
Linda McIntyre
Jean Totten
Chris Tracy