I hate to admit, i was naive when i was elected to the board in 2012. I went in with guns blazing but always assumed those seated on the board had the best interests of the membership and the community at heart. I also thought the same of the general manager. Time proved me wrong, time and time again. While on the board, all three years there, the board presidents were retired military officers. They loved the chain of command and believed the general manager was at the top of the chain of command. They saw their role as supporting her every decision. They were also avid golfers along with the majority of board members, so all golf, all the time was an easy sell. Carole Martinez and i were merely speed bumps in the road as we voted no, knowing full well we were out-voted; every time. It's how boards work, the majority rules. That wasn't the problem, the reason i felt foolish. It was because i trusted my fellow board members to do the "right thing" for the community, for the membership. I was on the board when we voted to do away with quarterly meetings. The premise was one big annual membership meeting, heavily promoted, would result in actually having a meeting. To the boards credit, there was a push. The day long meeting was filled with stuff, from free food and entertainment to lots of information regarding the RCSC. By day's end, that Saturday, the number of registered members was right around 500. The quorum was 1250, so we were well short. I was confident my fellow board members would do the "right thing" and reduce the quorum to 500, so we at least had a chance to hold an annual membership meeting. They, along with the general manager, had no interest. It was the members fault if they didn't come. By then, i realized nothing Carole or i did would matter. We continued to vote no on items we disagreed with, but the outcome was always the same. The peer pressure/group think was alive and well and life on the board for both us was less than fun. At times dare i say, painful. I fought with people for a living so for me it was just more of the same. For Carole, far worse because they treated her like shit. I know, long story to get to here, but there is a reason. Serving on the board is a difficult job. It's way easier if you are in the majority and everyone just goes along. Even with that, it is thankless. Worse again by twice if you are in the minority and the majority just tries to push you around. So, tomorrow, if you are in the room, be nice. Irrespective of the outcome, be nice. No matter what happens, we will be around to fight to restore the voice to community members. Whether the motion passes or fails, the Sun City Advocates aren't going away. This is the long game we have written about often. My preference is they vote down the proposed changes, but if they don't we are prepared to move forward. If they do vote them down and the board president takes away member comments, we are prepared for that as well. Life is too short to be angry with anyone, especially over our documents. We know everyone is in a difficult position, unfortunately those in the minority are being squeezed by those who believe they have the power. That is exactly why what has happened to date is so tragically wrong, the power belongs in the hands of the membership. Giving it away to the general manager was folly. In time, we will get it back.
ATTEND THE BOARD MEETING IN PERSON TOMORROW (3/14/22) It is important to attend tomorrow's board meeting in person. The agenda is simple and the board will most likely be surprised with a large turnout. Board President Lehrer has removed general Member Comments and Board Comments from the Agenda. I can only hope that some board members attempt to amend the agenda to put this back on the Agenda. Hopefully we will see some discussion (pro and con) as to why this was removed. Maybe it will be put back. We must remain calm and respectful. Our presence alone will speak loudly! This cannot and should not be ignored.
Finally we agree on something, more people need to be involved. For the past 15 years we've watched them being pushed away. Time to return Sun City to its glory days of involvement, accountability, responsibility and rebuild the sense of community. Wait i've been saying that for years and now it's hate speech. Go figure.
I’m getting a little nervous about the board meeting this week, are the Advocates prepared? By now they should have coordinated three to four Officers from The Players, Tennis and Pickleball clubs as well as four fitness/pool regulars to attend and speak to the board on behalf of the 30 day pause. The ask should be for a full architectural mockup to be displayed in a public place (preferably near RCSC staff noting the interest) for 14 - 21 days with comment cards noting member numbers. The goal is to achieve member feedback and buy in on this large expenditure. The RCSC needs to assist in an email blast at least three times to reach more people. The three major impacted clubs need to provide something in a lottery to encourage onsite feedback. Feedback will be compiled and submitted to the board. Are they ready?
So everyone understands, under the new "rules" if you want to speak at board meetings, it is during the motion portion of the meeting only. You must sign up to speak for or against a motion (at least that is what was required prior to the change). Now that member comments have been eliminated at the end of the meeting signing up before the meeting starts is essential. For this first go-around, it would be smart to allow comments other than sign-ups so those attending who don't know will have a chance to speak. We'll see. As far as coordinating those club officers 3g, the likelihood is those wanting the theater to plow forward without regard to the real costs will be there speaking to killing the motion to extend the 30 moratorium. The players and the gym enthusiasts aren't interested in the costs. The pickleball players have been offered the Lakeview tennis courts as an olive branch and they too will be less vocal. Your comments regarding the full mock up are spot on but i suspect the only way to get those plans drafted and shown is to spend the 1.5 million dollars for the architectural drawings. I would hope, if they plow ahead, which is what this is all about, they do so with the ability to pull the plug if that 27 million dollar price tag explodes to 35 or 40 million dollars. I think we agree, that 27 million dollars for phase 1 and 2 was like most projects, just a place holder number.
I don't want to be negative but at the rate we are going The Players will be tap dancing to the sounds of the weight rack and barbells and the Pickleballers will be playing with the smell of the the empty former fishing lake wafting over their court so it looks like Tennis might be in the best shape after all! People need to show up at the meeting and ask nicely for the 30 day pause and architectural mock up.
It's not being negative 3G, it's being realistic. The Mountainview project, once it starts will take as long as it takes. There's no way to tell given the shortages of building materials and exploding prices on everything they will need. We know the board has called the numbers on the long range planning budget placeholders in the past. In spite of Bill Cook's best efforts to adjust for inflation i would bet the numbers are nowhere close. All they are are numbers on a piece of paper until they write the check. It's been part of the problem all along; we never started with a budget on a project, we just said tell us what it will cost. Going forward that will be problematic. The Fairway project, done from 2005-2010, was 16.2 million dollars. It took 5 years and it was truly a wonderful addition to the phase 1 amenity package. No one argued it shouldn't be done, or if they did, it certainly wasn't loud and constant. Looking at the limited sketches of the Mountainview project raises a boatload of questions and no answers. Let's be clear, i'm only talking about phase 1 and 2. Phase 3 was nonsense from the outset, it was there to placate the affected clubs. If we are to be objective, whatever happens with that small leftover parcel will depend on what the needs of the community are 5 or 6 years (or more) down the road. For now, the deep dive should be into phase 1 and 2. Do we really need another indoor walking track less than a mile away from the one at Fairway? Is the gymnasium for basketball and volleyball really something we need? And to be clear, i have no idea, but there is ample opportunity to study both other newer age restricted communities and see if they are building them into their amenity package. If not, what does that tell us? The bigger issue is the theater. Not against it in the least, but Ben Roloff tells the story about when it was going to be built at Bell in the mid 70's, DEVCO took two years working with all of the groups that would, could and should use it. The problem often becomes people thinking of shared space as theirs. For this to work, it need be multi-purpose. Anything we build should have multiple uses. We need to maximize the space so when we are spending huge sums of money, it has a maximum return on value. There is something like 29 million dollars in the PIF account. Big number that will be depleted quickly. They need to payoff the 4 million dollar maintenance building at Lakes East/West, they will be starting the lake relining and they also have a million dollars slated for the softball fields (no idea what that will build/buy). Back to the lake; does anyone really believe it will be 8 million dollars? I thought the meeting the other day was exceptional, i also found myself struggling with the 15 month time line. The bigger question is when there is a big stinking hole in the ground and they tell us it will be another 3 or 4 million dollars, will we really tell them to take a hike? The only way around that is if there is a clause in the contract stating the number is the number. When we tried that in the past as a board, we were told no contractor would ever agree to those terms. The good news is, with the increase to $4000 and still selling 2000 homes a year, we generate 8 million dollars plus a year to the PIF. The bad news is once Mountainview starts, the PIF is fairly well accounted for years to come. It leaves little leeway on other issues we may be facing. The largess of the number should be frightening for anyone living here. As 3G pointed out, none of this will be answered until an architect starts doing actual drawings and they can put pen to paper to nail down costs that will continue to inflate with each passing day.
