The agenda for the Feb. 14th Board meeting has been posted. Disappointed that none of the Member's desired amendments to the Bylaws are on the agenda! It's good to see that Director Fimmel is requesting $500,000 dollars to start Phase 1 of getting our IT department and equipment updated.
View the 02.14.2022 RCSC board meeting agenda & attachments here! https://suncityaz.org/wp-content/up...day-Board-Meeting-Agenda-with-Attachments.pdf Fimmel’s Motion: Technology Committee – Director Fimmel - On behalf of the Technology Committee, I move for the approval of $500k for Phase 1 of the RCSC Technology Improvement Plan (TIP) as outlined at the Planning Session on January 27, 2022.
The first question that comes to mind is..."is it enough?' Given what i saw, i think not. More important than what was said, was what was not said. I'm no computer guy expert, but listening between the lines was the question; what is our long term solution/goal? If it is to become "cloud based," then patch-working our way through the jungle of cables, miss-marked wiring and inadequate servers and wifi delivery is only more band aids on the broken arm. Yesterday at the Bell Rec Center across from the bowling green a thief came in and tried cutting the catalytic converter off a car. Broad daylight; people coming and going. Last year we heard about the camera system and the 1.2 million dollars to secure the properties. Now, given what we are facing, that is most likely a pipe dream. They can do amazing things with technology these days, but your systems need to be capable of handling it. My best guess is they aren't even close.
Technology upgrades are the perfect project to show the board's fiduciary oversight and hold the management accountable to tech, functionality and cost milestones. An opportunity for transparency to begin rebuilding trust. Let's see how they handle it.
Exactly right Cheri, yet again another test of just how transparent we are/can/will be. We'll see. I've posted this before so if you have read it, ignore it. If you haven't, you should. In the spring/summer of 2019 i was on the long range planning committee. A portion of us were tasked with looking at Generation X as they were going to be reaching 55 and though most would not retire, they may well be shopping for their next home. It is especially interesting in that the pandemic actually made the argument stronger as more people came to understand they could work from anywhere. Anyway, a couple of us wrote the proposal to present to the board and general manager regarding Gen X. It was really well done and the point was, given the report, Sun City needed to enhance their technology if they were to remain competitive. Following the summer break (and after they had received this report) was when Hoffer and i got into a fairly explosive shouting match. As we were breaking, the last meeting in June we proposed a top to bottom analysis of our technology needs. When the gm saw it and returned from her summer break, the whole thing blew up and was dropped the first meeting in Sept. I quit one meeting later. I refuse to waste my time. If you are interested, it is worth the read. Here is the link (click anywhere on this sentence).
500k is merely a drop in the bucket to modernize and improve technology in Sun City. questions I have are as follows; 1. Will any improvements and/or upgrades take into consideration what infrastructure, hardware, and software is installed in the Grand building? 2. What considerations are being made for the Mountainview project? 3. Since there are currently only 2 IT employees, how long will upgrades take for all sites, wiring closets, and software. 4. Is software part of the upgrade and will it be fitted to Grand and Mountainview? 5. Will there be goals set with specific dates for completion, monitored, and reported on the web site or at board meetings. IT is a long term perpetual project. Will there be a budget going forward? who will be held accountable for success or failure of any IT upgrades? Is this a priority item and where does it fit with our water issues, the multiple year leaking of the lake, the softball field and shack, the lakes east/west maintenance shack, and the Mountainview rebuild?
Due to the fact that IT equipment and software has such a short life before the next newest, latest and greatest appears, perhaps the Bylaw requirements for using PIF funds should be looked at? I believe upgrades and updates of equipment and software is going to be a constant and continual thing? We shouldn't wait until things are outdated or breaks!
As I said above “IT is a long term perpetual project.” meaning that hardware, software, and infrastructure will continue to be updated and upgraded continuously. We can thank the last GM for doing a bang up job in keeping our Technology up to date. I know they are those who think she did a good job, but where she may have shined is where the members could see the things that needed maintenance. Think about east/west lakes maintenance shack. A mess and never maintained because it was out of sight. Think about the wiring closets. Deplorable mess, never maintained because the members never saw them. Anything that was out of members sight was neglected. IT will require a huge budget going forward just to get us into the 21st century. After that it will require a substantial budget just to stay current and provide continuing trading for the IT staff. IT by its nature is a continuing learning experience. You don’t just put out fires. You must constantly learn new technology. I don’t think the board or the GM has any clue as to how an IT department functions and how their budget usually increases year after year. 500k is a small start but will that be just for equipment, software, infrastructure, or will that include new hires? Let’s see what the JE board will do.
VIDEO WAS POSTED THE SAME DAY AS THE MEETING!! RCSC Board of Directors meeting, held on Monday, February 14, 2022 in the Sundial Auditorium. This video will remain posted on the RCSC YouTube site for 120 days. Tap Watch on YouTube to land on this video!
Just finished watching the meeting. There was a pretty good exchange of information but also some confusion remains. The meetings are painfully but necessarily long. I'd be in favor of keeping the meetings to 2 hours if the Board/Exchange or Special Meetings(whatever they choose to call them) were in addition to two monthly Board Meetings. The problem with the old Board/Exchange Meetings is that the agenda that was provided didn't include motions that popped up after this meeting and before the Board Meeting where a vote took place. At that time a motion didn't have to be read 2 or 3 times before a final vote. If certain individuals monopolize time at the microphone at the Board/Member Exchange, the format will have to be changed or active in-person participation will diminish. The discussion regarding Club donations isn't really clear. It was brought up that the clubs are under the umbrella of 501c4 Social tax codes. When the Vintage Vehicle Club was pushing to the head of the line for its new space at Grand, they were requesting to be a 501c3 Charitable tax organization. The RCSC said they wouldn't allow it but the Club could pursue it on its own. Did they ever get a change in tax status? How does that affect all the fundraising they do and contributions to the RCSC? Anyone know? Finally, the Parliamentarian is shown as a "guest" in the BOD Meeting summaries. Is she paid or an unpaid advisor?
Miss you at the meeting aggie. Your back ground and knowledge from the committees you served on is invaluable. Personally i think the member exchange is a good thing, but given the way this has been going, i suspect they will screw that up as well. They were pretty clear there wouldn't be an agenda at the member exchange. Now with the move to two readings we will have a chance to speak out at the member exchange after the first reading at a board meeting, and then again at the board meeting they would try and pass it at. The matching fund issue is more complicated. I had never heard the bit about donating money outside causing an IRS problem. Frankly i suspect any donations would be very small and never meet the threshold. It would seem to me there should be a bigger concern about outside revenue coming in to Sun City by non-members. Just not an area i pay much attention to. Finally, i am sure the parliamentarian is paid. I'm not sure that wasn't the reason Dale shut the meeting down even though it wasn't done. The approved agenda calls for board member comments and she didn't allow them. There was also a member who wanted to speak but he didn't get to the mic quick enough i guess.
I was always under the impression that the matching funds that were required to be given to the RCSC were specifically to go into the Sun City Foundation to be used for Members who require financial aid? And if you haven't noticed, they no longer "approve" the agenda at the start of the meeting. "Approval of the Agenda" isn't even listed! What that means is the agenda is not binding and the meeting will be conducted under Robert's Rules standard order of business, which is: (RONR 41:5) 1. Reading and Approval of Minutes 2. Reports of Officers, Boards, and Standing Committees 3. Reports of Special (Select or Ad Hoc) Committees 4. Special Orders 5. Unfinished Business and General Orders 6. New Business (RONR 41:6) "In organizations that have adopted this book (Robert's Rules) as parliamentary authority and have not adopted a special order of business, this series of headings is the prescribed order of business for regular meetings, unless the periods intervening between consecutive regular meetings are usually more than a quarterly time interval."
I'm no financial guy either but something interesting I came across when I wanted to see if there are any requirements how much a non-profit can keep in reserve. What’s a 501(c)(4)? The Definition: A 501(c)(4) is a “social welfare group” that can advocate for causes and propositions, like 501(c)(3)s. However, 501(c)(4)s can also endorse specific candidates – one of the most substantial differences between the two. Examples of this status include political action groups to advance reproductive or civil rights. While nonprofit organizations with this status are also tax-exempt, donations to 501(c)(4) groups are not tax-deductible. (emphases mine) So does that mean if an RCSC Club makes a donation to an outside organization, and then must give an equal amount to the RCSC, the Club can only claim an IRS tax-deduction for the contributions it made to the outside organization but cannot claim the tax-deduction for the dollars it gave to the RCSC? Hmmmm? Like I said, I'm no financial guy. I can only base my questions on what I read!
And there-in is the problem with sorting through the tax codes as they apply to non profit organizations. Way over my pay grade. The one thing i know from a historical perspective is Sun City has suffered through several adverse rulings. In the first 5 years, because this was the first of its kind, there was much consternation on how it should be taxed. Over the years the DEVCO attorneys worked tirelessly to avoid it being taxed at higher rates, which would have stunted growth. The outcomes were positive as the final resolve was to keep taxes at a minimum on the properties they owned. The reasoning was simple, the organization was built to serve the membership and the population of Sun City. There are in fact limits to how much outsiders could use the amenities, with the argument being the primary beneficiaries have to be the membership or the tax status would be in jeopardy. I won't pretend to know squat about the tax code, but my best guess is there is no write-off should a club donate a couple of hundred dollars to charity or group. I suspect the comments regarding said donations was more to provide cover for the RCSC to get their fair share of any excess dollars a club may have.
