Sun City Advocates are Signing Off

Hello - as of November 26,2024 we are no longer posting or addressing comments on this blog. We sincerely appreciate all your comments and discussion over the last couple of years. Sun City Advocates

Regarding the Board Motion to Locate the PAC at Lakeview Rec Center

Please attend the Special Session on Monday, November 11^th that will follow the regularly scheduled Exchange Meeting at 9 am at the Sundial Auditorium.

As we said, there are many open issues and we really need some clarifications, answers, and details before proceeding.

East vs West Site Recommendations

 Our  expert in all things Sun City Advocates is on vacation, so here is my feeble attempt to post a Blog. 

As posted in Sun City Advocates FB group on May 15th

One man's opinion

So let's talk about the recent Member Exchange... The good, the bad, and the ugly...

The Good:

-Progress continues on signing a 5 year library lease. There was some push-back by the Membership that this is not happening fast enough.

- The Board has engaged legal assistance to assist in considering the hospital property purchase and are in the process of conducting due diligence on the property.

- A five year plan is nearing completion and we will get a first glimpse of it at the May RCSC Board meeting hopefully.

- A 10-15 year PIF plan will follow.

- It was mentioned the Board is looking towards professional assistance to develop a RCSC Master Plan in 2025.

You cannot understate how Good the Good really is. Based on my understanding of historical Board practices this is a monumental shift and should be applauded!!!

The Bad:

- Communication continues to be a very big challenge for the RCSC. Staff do not even attend the Outreach and Communications Committee meetings, and Management stated it might be until the end of the year before they will do so.

- There appears to be growing frustration that the RCSC is not doing anything about the homeless situation in Sun City. The Board indicated that the RCSC has no ability to address the homeless and concerns should be raised with Maricopa County or SCHOA.

This month it does not appear that there is much Bad. That said, the communications issue is a serious problem, and quite frankly is exacerbating the challenges the Board faces in performing it's duties.

The Ugly:

- Member safety was given as a primary reason for considering the closure of the Fairway library. To date, the Board and Management have not produced a single demonstration of the actual problems faced, rather they have relied upon anecdotal statements. Furthermore, when a factual accounting has been requested, the Board cites "confidentiality" as the reason one cannot be given.

It is understandable that actual incident reports cannot be made public. However, there is simply no reason that the safety violations cannot be summarized by Date/Time/Location/Safety Reason and provided to the Membership. This is a perfect example of where communication is lacking and is causing challenges the Board just does not need. That is, of course, unless safety was merely given as an excuse to cover what was a lapse in Management judgement. I prefer to believe it is the former, but it is becoming more and more difficult to argue that it is not the latter.

(Earl Brigham)

Please feel free to comment below.

*Here is a link to the last RCSC member Exchange. 

From Adversity to Opportunity

Facing the changes

Much has changed since we began. The RCSC Board has an almost entirely new composition of Directors, and for the first time, is starting to show signs of wanting to operate as a Board; one that listens to the Membership, one that is proactive in addressing the missteps of past Boards, and one that is planning for the future of the RCSC.

Everything You've Always Wanted to Know About Committees

RCSC and Committees

Besides observing the Rules and Regulations for all Members in good standing found in Board Policy #10, the following information regarding Committees is located in Board Policy #27. If you enjoy reading legalese, click on this link.  Otherwise, read on. 

Adios, Au Revoir, Auf Wiedersehen ... Until We Meet Again

Ten for Ten

 
Let me start at the end of the story and work forward. This past year's RCSC board election results brought us to a perfect score; ten endorsed candidates over three years and ten winners. The funny thing is, it was never about winning, our focus was always on the outcome of those elections. To be very

Fees, Motions, Meetings and Voting

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

This Autumn Get Educated, Communicate Your Thoughts and Participate in Elections and Meetings

 

Democracy is messy

 

I think it's safe to say, the Sun City Advocates are excited as we come to the end of the first year where self-governance was restored to our community. We won't bore you with the details of how and why we fell so far from our tenets and values; all that matters is we are on our way back. In a bit of honest reflection; I

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 

Board and Community Priorities as We Get Back to Work this Fall

It takes a village to run the village

All's been quiet on the Western Front, or at least it seemed that way. Truth is, there were many things going on all Summer that involved the Board of Directors and the many members of the community who dedicated their time and efforts to the various committees, such as the Finance & Budget Committee and the

Board Meetings are on a 2-Month Hiatus Now But Work Continues

Happy 4th of July To Our Advocate Family!

By the Numbers - Asserting our Rights

By now I suspect most of you have watched or heard about the membership quorum vote at the RCSC board meeting last Thursday. To be clear, it was only the first reading with the second one coming in September whereby all measures it should pass; we'll see before we start celebrating.

Seemingly No End to the Very Busy and Productive Work for Sun City and Sun Citians

With each passing day, I find myself less inclined to post my thoughts. That's a really good thing as it means with each passing day, the new RCSC board of directors is headed in the right direction. What's even more curious is, in spite of the sea-change by them, there are more pressing agenda items now than at any time in our recent past. Here's just a quick snapshot of what is going on; hopefully you are paying attention.

Motions, Mountain View and More...

My apologies, I know it has been weeks since writing but with the weather finally breaking and visitors in town, time was at a premium. However, there has been no shortage of RCSC-related happenings. We won't belabor any of them, because like us, we know being outside when it is 70 degrees is the exact reason many of us live here. We will try and break this into snippets of all of the changes so you can pick and choose the things that are of interest to you.

Mountain View Put On Hold; First Reading.

Easily the most controversial board action in a very long time was at the Feb, 23 board meeting when the Mountain View project was recommended to be put on hold (first reading). If you haven't

Poll Results - A Members Matter Poll - Your Comments

We really think these informal surveys are a great way to gather some broad-based input on today's issues.

We love your feedback and diversity of opinions.  There were a lot of great ideas from this poll.  We hope you read all 6 of the blogs that recap the results.

Please continue to share your comments in the Comment Section below this post.

Once again, Thank You!

The Final Question: 

Poll Results - A Members Matter Poll - Question 5

 We are almost done sharing the results of the recent poll. The last question before a blog post on your overall comments to the poll.  This question gets to the heart of the matter - does the board want to hear from the members?

Please feel free to weigh in again and let us know your additional thoughts in the Comment Section below.

Question 5: When passing motions, the RCSC board should act how?

Poll Results - A Members Matter Poll - Question 4

We continue to share the results of recent poll.

We are going to take apart the results and share them with you. Please feel free to weigh in again and let us know your additional thoughts in the Comment Section below.

The next question gets to the root of the importance of Clubs in Sun City and the resulting support or lack thereof by the RCSC.

Poll Results - A Members Matters Poll - Question 3

 We continue to share the results of recent poll.

We are going to take apart the results and share them with you. Please feel free to weigh in again and let us know your additional thoughts in the Comment Section below.

The next question relates to a passed motion on a fitness equipment trial that has yet to come to fruition.

Poll Results - A Members Matter Poll - Question 2

We continue to share the results of recent poll.

We are going to take apart the results and share them with you. Please feel free to weigh in again and let us know your additional thoughts in the Comment Section below.

The next question: Golfer or not, members are invested in our golf courses with strong opinions about non-resident access. Here's how you answered

Poll Results - A Members Matter Poll - Question 1

We love doing these polls.  Many of you have so many good ideas and we love hearing them. 

We are going to take apart the results and share them with you. Please feel free to weigh in again and let us know your additional thoughts in the Comment Section below.

A Day Late...

The dawn of directors supporting membership

Actually, this blog posting is several days behind our normal schedule, but you know the old adage, "if you don't have something good to say, don't say anything." Sitting in attendance at the first board meeting, I was excited by the prospect of the dawn of a new day. The Sun City Advocates worked hard to elect candidates who understood the importance of listening to the membership. Steve Collins, John Fast, and Jean Totten all campaigned on that premise/promise.