As we creep up on the Annual Membership Meeting the RCSC was forced to hold (damn state laws), it certainly appears the powers that be are nervous about whether we will actually meet the quorum requirements. I suspect they were stunned by the number of people who went out and gathered proxy votes. I also suspect they are working hard to keep as many of those proxies from being counted as possible. We know for a fact, they have notified no one that gathered them the cumulative total collected, even though members repeatedly asked for that to be included with their individual total. After all, who the hell are we? Which kind of sums up this entire years debacle: Who the hell are we, indeed? The changes began in 2007 and every year, another small bite reduced the memberships' rights. It was nothing dramatic, well other than the change from 100 members for a quorum to 1250, but with each change, more people disengaged from the process. They got really comfortable with looking across the audience for board meetings and seeing 20 or 30 members. It made it easy to do whatever they wanted. No one held them accountable for anything. Hell, even when the payoff for the solar was a million dollars higher than it was supposed to be, nothing was said. Even when they were shoveling money out of the general ledger (hell, what's a million dollars or two) for golf and not billing it back, no one from the board said a word. The silence was deafening. The argument was; everyone was happy, that's all that mattered. Then something strange happened: In 2020 a board member was elected that started asking questions about budgets and expenditures. Fellow board members panicked and rather than answer her questions, they fired her. She went quietly into the night and moved to Florida to be around family. They were fortunate, she had drafted a lawsuit (i have a copy by the way) and she decided flight was easier than fight. In 2021, we (the community) elected another board member. She was different; she actually read the Articles of Incorporation and understood the purpose of the RCSC...to serve the membership. While other board members loved to grab the poorly written and conflicting by-laws as their fall back position, Karen used the highest order of documents as the basis for her positions. It was terrifying for them (the board and i suspect management even more so). She wasn't afraid to argue the interests of the community rather than the interests of the corporation. Over the 15 years under the gm that just left, the corporation had become the end all be all. It was never, NEVER, intended for it to be that way. Over the years boards had drunk every glass of Kool Aid she poured. It had become the gm's Sun City, those of us who lived here simply were reduced to card holders whose main purpose was to pay the bills. Committees became non-essential, decisions were made by the board at the direction of the gm. Financials were diluted and watered down to the point they told us nothing. Then the shit hit the fan half way into 2021. They fired Karen and many of us living here were up in arms. The size of those paying attention grew. The angst grew. When the summer break was over, they had hoped it had died down. Nothing could have been further from the truth. 200 or so members showed up at the first September meeting and were greeted by armed off duty police officers and the hostility got worse. They (the board) showed us as they ran off the stage 2 minutes into the meeting. Since that fateful day in September, crowd size has diminished. That said, those that came were outspoken and unwilling to just accept what they said as gospel. Questions were asked and clearly the board saw us a little more than a hemorrhoid that just wouldn't go away. Sorry, no Preparation H to solve this problem. The members had watched up close and personal how things were being run and decided they simply didn't like it. As we are less than 24 hours away from the annual membership meeting they really, really didn't want to hold; and as proxy votes have been submitted they didn't want to have to accept, there is a chance we just may make the 1250 quorum requirement. Several of us have submitted changes to be read that would make Sun City governance more user friendly. Will we get a chance to read them, vote on them? Will members finally have a voice for the first time since 2009? All good questions, but the one that keeps bouncing around my head is this: Are we wrong and they are right; or: Are we right and they are wrong? I know my answer, i suspect tomorrow will reveal even more about the community than i know.
Bravo, Bill! Brilliantly said! "Are we wrong and they are right? or: Are we right and they are wrong?" I vote for the latter. And, even if we haven't quite got a quorum tomorrow, look at the AWARENESS that was raised in such a short period of time. Just think what we newly concerned and very interested groups of members will accomplish this next year! Hopefully we will have a more knowledgeable Board who values our opinions, not shuns them; hopefully we might have the start of a database in which to reach members who have shown interest but don't quite know what they can do to help; hopefully we might have a website built for US, the members, and not controlled by RCSC; hopefully more members might join some of the various committees established to see if they can make a difference; hopefully we can find a way to reach out to so many of the newcomers who are floundering looking for answers or to our older members who just pay their assessment and keep to their home. Remember: "Team Work makes the Dream Work."
