The New Board Members

I've heard it from many sources so here it is...unofficially:
Karen
John
Kat
Alan

I believe John gets The 2 year term?

 

Vindication!

 

And now we wait until January when Steve Collins reintroduces those 5 amendments to the bylaws to see if we can truly claim any sort of victory?

I'm confident that Karen and John will make the right decisions but don't know enough about Kat or Alan to determine who's side they're on.

Does anybody know their intentions and ease my concerns?

 

No idea how the mop will flop FYI, but i will ask everyone to take a deep breath and let the new folks coming on board have a period of time to get their feet under them. I don't think it was any secret several of us had formed a committee to work towards a better informed community. Our goal was a renewed interest in the concept of self-governance. We tried to identify candidates who expressed an interest in expanding that idea.

It was an interesting and evolving process and we weren't in agreement on everyone we considered. Karen McAdam was obviously the catalyst behind the whole effort. Nope, she wasn't the brainchild behind our actions, her firing was the reason for us deciding to become so involved. Most of us understood what she believed in; a board committed to the membership and being able and willing to listen to what they had to say. How refreshing is that?

I heard what Director Collins said regarding the motions we made at the membership meeting being put on the table day 1, but i think it is unrealistic to expect the board to act that quickly. For those who don't know, the first meeting they will attend in January is where they elect their officers. In some cases in the past, that has taken up most of the day. When it has been contentious, there has been several ballots cast to get to the end results. If Director Collins puts them on the table for their consideration on day 1, i think it reasonable to allow some period of time before acting on them.

I don't want to over simplify this or minimize it, because all of the proposals were pretty much common sense and simply returned us to the days when board members were elected to serve the community. The reality is, we have spent the past 15 years moving away from representing the community and making it all about the corporation. We've had board members indoctrinated to believe that was why they were elected. Those proposals/motions we made were steeped in common sense, but it is reasonable to give them an opportunity to understand what they are doing and why they are doing it.

I suspect some of you want immediate action, a sort of litmus test as to where they stand. I don't see it that way. I am more interested in the long term prospects than the short term "wins." There will be lots of issues to deal with and many of them are mind-boggling. So please, everyone take a deep breath, relax, enjoy the holidays and lets help all of the board members (new and used), make 2022 the a year we start back on the path to being the self-governed community it was intended to be.

I suspect i will see some of you reading this at Thursday's final meeting of 2021; 9 am at the Sun Dial Auditorium.

 

RCSC Announces Board Election Results
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

The RCSC Board of Directors election results are in. The number of ballots cast in this year’s election totaled 8,603.
The successful candidates elected to serve on the RCSC Board beginning in 2022 for full three-year terms are:
Karen McAdam who received 1,630 votes,
Kat Fimmel who received 1,567 votes, and
Allan Lenefsky who received 1,424 votes
One additional seat on the Board will also be filled as a result of this election: John Nowakowski received 1,409 votes and will serve for two years.
The newly elected Board Members will be installed on Thursday, December 16, 2021 at 9:00 am at the Board Meeting in the Sundial Auditorium. Those elected will be seated as of January 1, 2022.
Congratulations to those elected to serve on the Board and thanks to those who ran in this election for your willingness to serve the community.
Photo Caption: Shown are the winners in this year's RCSC Board of Directors Elections (from left to right): John Nowakowski (two year term), Karen McAdam, Kat Fimmel and Allan Lenefsky who will serve full three-year terms. (Sorry, can't get pictures to load.)

 

With all due respect, I see it a little different. I surly don't expect that all 5 motions presented at the Membership meeting will pass or be accepted come January, but there are a few no-brainers in there that really don't even justify any debate and if any of the new board members can't see that, THEN I question their motives.

Patrick Gannon's motion to allow signatures be collected on RCSC property is a no-brainer.

Patrick Gannon's motion that require all petitions to be accepted and assigned a control number within 15 days is also a no-brainer for me. The determination of the petition's acceptance shouldn't be determined by the RCSC, it will be determined by the Members when and if they decide to sign the petition and achieve the required number of signatures.

Ben Roloff's motion to provide a similar due-process to remove a director as is required to suspend a Member of their privilege's is a no-brainer. Are there now two classes of Membership, those who are board members and those who are not? No-brainer

It's my opinion that if any of the new board members vote against those motions, then perhaps we elected the wrong people?

Bill Pearson's amendment to lower the quorum requirement might need some real thought and debate. If the quorum gets lowered to 500 I would like to see more than one Membership meeting a year. That would give the Members an opportunity to gather support against any deleterious decisions made by a minority quorum and undo them before they do any real damage.

Jean Totten's amendment also requires much thought. The basic concept is correct that the Members should be allowed to vote at their own meeting or else why is a quorum even required? The board has changed an Annual Membership Meeting into nothing more than a Member Exchange!?!? The current bylaw requires amending so that we can, at least, vote on the amendment to first determine whether or not the board should even take it under consideration or study. To be clear, I believe the final decision of whether a bylaw amendment passes or fails should be determined solely by the Membership and let the chips fall where they may until corrected.

 

So what does that tell us? It tells us that WE, the Members, have better judgment than the board members who voted to remove her!

Thanks to everybody who enabled us to have a Membership meeting, but the fight has just begun. PLEASE don't be discouraged because nothing got accomplished at the meeting. Use it as a learning experience that WE CAN MAKE THINGS HAPPEN WHEN WE SUPPORT EACH OTHER TOWARDS A COMMON CAUSE!

 

RCSC Annual Membership Meeting Video

We regret to inform RCSC Cardholders that video of the 2021 Annual Membership Meeting failed to record. We are currently analyzing what caused this error to occur. Every effort will be made to prevent this from happening going forward.

No words can express how disappointed I continue to be with this group of people who run things around here.

 

How convenient is this excuse?

No real surprise here!

 

ALL board meetings should be streamed LIVE!!!!!!! Was it outdated faulty equipment or plain incompetent employees who are not properly trained? Was it intentionally done???? This is not the first time. What is the backup plan if equipment fails so it will kick in and record next time this happens?

 

Perhaps it was to remove the evidence that Darla called Karen a liar?

Nothing to see here folks! Never happened!

 

My apologies to everyone. I made the mistake of trusting them to be honorable, straight forward people. I know it was butt ugly for them, too freaking bad. They still think this is their community and we are just fortunate to live here. Sorry guys, as FYI said, Allan is really good at his job and the idea the their was a glitch is absolute pile of horseshit. Seems to me i repeated a number of reasons for the RCSC to be ashamed of themselves.

Add another to the long of embarrassing moments from 2021. Hell they should put them all on a video and sell copies at the Visitor Center. Imagine, they might make enough to pay for the 50 million dollar boondoggle at Mountainview.

 

Folks - if ever there was a good reason to get involved with RCSC Board, you've read it here today. A new IT manager just hired - young- knows what he's talking about - and a glitch happens to the video of the MOST IMPORTANT MEETING OF THE YEAR??!! Unbelievable!! Please consider joining our yet to be named group - who are fed up with this BS and want to see the Members represented once again! Send me an email or text at jean.totten47@gmail.com; 505-350-7636. Your information will remain confidential with me. When I email you something of importance, I use the BCC field so no one else has your address. All members deserve to be able to see what happened on Monday!! If they did, they'd all be texting or emailing me. We need to stand together on this!! It's our community!! SEND AN EMAIL TO THE BOARD MEMBERS EXPRESSING YOUR DISPLEASURE AT WHAT HAPPENED!!

 

PS Here are the points that the new IT guy mentioned at their last meeting. Does this sound like someone who would flub up an important video like the one on Monday? Sheila introduced the IT Manager to the Technology Committee and invited him to speak with the committee about his current progress and findings.
Randy Bird, the RCSC IT Manager, was introduced to the Technology Committee. Randy is new to RCSC but in the past has been a Director of IT for Verisign along with multiple other Director level positions for other companies. Randy is in the process of assessing the infrastructure and operations of RCSC IT and its related software applications and solutions. To date Randy has identified the following areas of focus for RCSC in both the short and long term that will assist with ensuring that the RCSC IT Infrastructure and Operations are technologically current which will improve the overall experience for RCSC members.
The following items were noted by Randy:
1. The Network is up and running.
2. RCSC currently has: a. 31 Main Distribution Facilities (MDF) i. Within those facilities there is no labeling on either the cables or the devices 1. This creates challenges and makes resolution time consuming when a production issue occurs due to an inability to easily determine which device or cable is creating the issue.
b. We currently have 50 Software packages which can make upgrades and integration of changes challenging.
c. We currently do not have standardized monitoring or any ticketing systems for any application or network device to provide immediate feedback on the health of the any given application, network device, or infrastructure/operations hardware or software.
d. There appears to be little to no documentation or management process in place for the hardware and software that the RCSC currently owns and are running with the RCSC infrastructure and application pool.
e. Approximately 1/3 of the equipment is obsolete i. There are multiple manufacturers and types of devices for the same feature or functionality of the infrastructure 1. Many are not in use
ii. A number of them are end of life and cannot be updated as the manufacturer no longer supports them
iii. There are printers that we cannot use as we cannot get print cartridges for them
f. The average home in Sun City has faster internet speeds than the Rec Centers i. The golf courses currently have 10 down and 2 up
ii. The Rec Centers have 100 down and 10 up
iii. In contrast Cox Cable routinely offers 1 Gig into homes in Sun City
g. Due to the current situation with the RCSC infrastructure and operations, production issues pull the IT department away from being able to fully assess the current capabilities and to work on proposals to improve the current infrastructure and resolve some of the issues.
h. COVID is creating hardware shortages which will impact any large-scale updates we may want to implement and we will need to plan accordingly
3. All of the items listed above can be fixed; some easily and others with the right investment. The following are possible solutions to the challenges we are currently facing with our infrastructure: a. Moving to a single hardware vendor so we can maximize our relationship with the vendor, lower our licensing costs, and improve the overall infrastructure footprint. i. Currently meeting with Vendors to determine our next best step to mitigate the risk and issues we are experiencing.
b. Board has requested an issues paper and wish list be presented for approval. i. Needs to be prioritized by critical and high impact needs and requirements
ii. Challenging as day-to-day operations make it difficult to compile and present 1. Chris Nettesheim offered to conduct an IT Interview to compile and prioritize the issues and risks for the Board
c. Create a sustainability and obsolescence plan so that the RCSC Board can budget and plan for operational infrastructure and application expenditures.
d. Need to create Infrastructure and Operations Standards that guide all processes and procedures for current and future RCSC IT work. i. Issues/Asks/Standards
ii. Mountain View should be at the top of the list as we need to align all work there with the future vision to avoid rework and introducing issues similar to those being experienced in other facilities. 1. Technology Committee needs to work with the Facilities department to provide any needed assistance
e. Review current infrastructure and operational needs to determine if additional staffing is required to support the current infrastructure and operations and plan for future changes based on technology improvements. i. Scope the required changes to meet identified goals
ii. Review other entities similar to RCSC for staffing ratios based on their current infrastructure
iii. Proposed changes and potential staff increase if indicated
f. Additional help is needed for research and analysis as there is enough work for more than one or two people
4. Questions and Answer discussion between the IT Manger and Technology Committee a. Are items discussed previously transformational or operational i. Everything discussed to date is operational in nature and focused on improving day to day operations at all RCSC facilities
b. What is the RCSC budget for IT Infrastructure and Operations i. There is a standard budget line item that did not account for significant expenditures beyond the normal day to day run of the business budget 1. An example – this would not account for overhauling the network but would account for keeping the network running and replacing parts as needed.
c. What percentage of the Budget is dedicated to IT expenditure? i. This was not known at the time of the meeting but can be determined and provided to the Technology Committee
d. Why is fiber not an option for Mountain View and for the remainder of the RCSC facilities: i. We can pull our own fiber into Sun City 1. The cost is approximately $40,000 per facility which would indicate a significant expenditure
ii. We are currently working with Cox Cable who have indicated we do not have the option to utilize their infrastructure to deliver fiber due to the availability of fiber in Sun City.
iii. Do we have the option to work with someone other than Cox Cable? 1. Century Link owns significant fiber within the state a. Is it possible they could help with the delivery of fiber?
e. Has a risk assessment been completed for security, asset management, servers, patches, network? i. A risk assessment has not been completed 1. Miles to send risk assessment templates to Chris Nettesheim so she can use those as an input for her interview with Randy Bird.
Action Items:
1. ? will schedule an interview with Randy Bird and compile the Board requested issues and wish list. a. Scheduled for November 16, 2021 @1:30 PM
2. RCSC Finance GM will provide percentage of 2022 budget allocated to IT expenditure
3. ? to send ? risk assessment templates for her use during the IT Interview with IT Manager Randy Bird
Discussion Item 4:
The Technology Committee provided a commitment to give assistance to the IT Manager with his research and analysis. The Committee invited the IT Manager to attend future meetings to discuss prioritizations and required assistance as we move forward. With a team of people, we can review issues and present potential solutions.
Discussion Item 5:
Much of what is being discussed are significant undertakings that we need to complete but we also need to understand the impact to the overall RCSC budget, any financial restrictions we might encounter, and any large restrictions that might be in place for investments for the RCSC facilities.
We need to consider that we may need to narrow our focus due to budget constraints and present options to the Board.
It was determined that the Technology Committee would present options and potential solutions to the Board and the Board will determine what investments can and cannot be made. All is at the discretion of the Board.
Our initial focus should be on near term successes that provide confidence in the added value and return on investment that the Board has made.
Discussion Item 6:
A proposal was made to meet more often than once a month as monthly meetings do not provide us with the progress, we need to meet our goals.
After discussion it was determined that due to the holidays, we would like approval to meet biweekly in 2022 until we gain traction and have met our near-term goals.
Action Item:
1. Sheila Rooney will provide feedback on the viability of meeting biweekly beginning in 2022.

 

Let me correct one point you made odaat: This wasn't "the most important meeting of the year." this was the most significant meeting in recent history. It was our defining moment in time; that point where people would look back and say, finally, enough is enough. It is an insult to our intelligence to say there was an equipment failure. I know it would be embarrassing to have the membership watch your actions and our reactions, but you earned it, now you should have the guts to own it.

Let's be clear, you brought all of this on yourselves by firing first Barbara Brehm and then Karen McAdam. It's what happens when you insist on the foolishness of fealty to the corporation. They refused to buy the BS and your solutions were to fire them. Ours is way simpler, we stood and said enough is enough. It is abundantly clear, you heard nothing from the 1500 at the meeting.

 

First of all, I don't believe for one second that the equipment failed.

Here's my opinion:

1. There were way too many comments from the Members that made perfect common sense and the board had no good explanation to defend their position.
2. Ben Roloff took a straw poll going thru all 5 amendments and asked the Members if they approve or disapprove. Pretty much every Member agrees with the bylaw changes that were offered.
3. They don't want to have recorded the point at which Darla Atkins called Karen McAdam a liar. Destroy the evidence!

If the Members were to see and hear what went on at that meeting they would be appalled. You can't imagine how many people question the requirement for a quorum if the Members aren't allowed to vote! The Membership meeting is nothing more than a Member Exchange!

I hope this just causes more people to get involved.

 

Ha! Selling copies...

My Mom noticed right away that they didn't read the 'release language for video filming' at the beginning. Could be unintentional but I don't believe it for a second. Honestly, what is to be investigated? You push record or not. He would have noticed in the 2 1/2 hrs that the record button wasn't on.

Behavior at that meeting definitely points the recall of more than one director. Should we document and get signatures while it's fresh in our minds?

 

YES! I said that, too. If we're going to walk around and get petitions, we might as well get them for two - or maybe even three!! I'm too busy on my computer to do anything right now but sign petitions!! But it's a good busy; people are emailing/texting me to join us. We'll have to touch base with Ricky and see what he's heard.

 

I don't suppose a transcript of the meeting would be available either!

Makes you even wonder if the Minutes will be posted! Minutes are suppose to only report on what was done and not things that were said.

After all, the meeting was called to order and NOTHING HAPPENED!

 

There is quite a bit of chatter on NextDoor that there are personal recordings that exist.