Dang, just sat through another painful exercise in an absolute mockery of the democratic process we all have come to know and love in Sun City. Got home after the second candidate forum and as we walked our standard poodles, all i could picture is game show host Alex Trebek (RIP buddy) questioning contestants about which category they wanted. Seriously gang, it was that bad. Hell, i thought the first round was pure crap, this one was even worse. In year's past, the moderator never, NEVER, let questions be asked about topics that would be before the board in the next year(s). It simply was not allowed. The reasoning is simple, it puts potential board members in positions of promising/offering members something in exchange for their vote. Good old common sense eh? This year, selling one's vote has been in full bloom. In fact, this evening we got the daily double. Maybe the daily triple (wait, i don't think there was ever such a thing). If there had been, it would have been the showstopper tonight. Plus we were treated to the moderator correcting a candidate by regurgitating the nonsense of the mysterious phase 3 Mountain View project somewhere around 2030. Everyone and their brother knows it was a load of crap when then dumped it the first time, but last night the board president trotted it out to try and belittle a candidate. Shameful. Going to end it here, for tonight. There's way more to tell. Who knows if i will get to it before tomorrow's shit show. Sorry for the vulgarity, but with the rumors running rampant about what we are going to be force fed at the 9 am board meeting, i think i need a good nights sleep before going back and watching all over again. If you missed tonight's "performance" i'm sure the video will be up soon. For those of you with a weak constitution, you may want to stay away from the Sun Dial auditorium in the morning. The meeting won't be for the faint of heart. We're slated to see more of the same only worse. Freaking hard to believe.
And the word of the night was "fiduciary." Almost laughable when i think back to what i saw and heard. For those that don't know, here's what it means: "A fiduciary is a person or organization that acts on behalf of another person or persons, putting their clients' interests ahead of their own, with a duty." Pretty simple and when ever anyone takes the stage and is asked about their candidacy, it's a word that is meant to impress. The RCSC as an organization exists to serve the member/owners and the 9 board members are elected to serve the membership along with the organization. Easy, right? All of which takes us back to the "what is pandering for a $1000?" category. I would argue the moderator should never have let questions hit the floor regarding the Mountain View Rec Center remodel, but if she was insistent on allowing the people she wants so badly elected to answer the question, their claims of having a fiduciary obligation to the members should have kicked in. At least some of the candidates on the stage tried to be honest. Thank you. Here's why: Until anyone sees the actual costs, how would you know whether the project should go forward? We already know, they have slated 27 million dollars for phase 1. What happens if that comes in at 35 or 40 million dollars? We already know the next 2 phases, pools and the phony 2 story pickleball courts et al is another 13 million dollars. What happens if that balloons to 20 or 25 million dollars? The problem is at least 2 of the candidates vowed it was going to be built no matter what. Does that mean they are prepared to pony up 50 or 60 million dollars for a single rec center? Because if it does, they are not acting as a fiduciary for the membership. The net assets of the RCSC are listed somewhere in their financials and without digging them out, let me guess on the high side and say something in 130-140 million dollar total valuation. Would it be very smart, or fiscally sound to be spending 50 or 60 million dollars on one recreation center remodel that is a fraction of the space and utilization needs of the Fairway Rec Center. I use that as the example, because at least one candidate threw that out there. It was a massive remodel that enhanced the lives of countless RCSC members. The Mountain View remodel is indeed a necessity, the real question is...at what cost? In my previous life we used to teach fiduciary responsibilities, i can tell, anyone sitting on the stage guaranteeing/promising something is done just to get votes is hardly acting responsibly. There-in is the reason the moderator should never have allowed the question. In that she wasn't capable of some intellectual honesty, the potential candidates should have been. Several of them were, when they tempered their full throated support for a performing arts theater with the response; it depends on the costs. Sadly this is what the RCSC has become, winning at any and all costs. We are watching up close and personal as the thumb and now an entire hand is placed on a scale to insure they keep the candidates that will sit alongside them and willingly rubber stamp everything management does with nary a peep. It's the new normal in Sun City. If you think i'm wrong, drop by the Sun Dial Auditorium today at 9 am and watch the board meeting. No spoiler alert here, but it should be an interesting addendum to what we all witnessed last night.
And why do they keep on reminding us that our assessment hasn't increased in 6 years knowing, in fact, that the GM has proposed an increase to $525 in his budget. The $1000 question is, how come that potential increase has not been told to the Members yet?
BOARD MEETING TODAY Budget & Finance motion FAILED 4 YES, 5 NO! Yes were Wilson, Lehrer, Akins & Lenefsky. Notice “she” voted YES. Hmmm, a good move when running for re-election??!! Assessment was brought up. By Karen who presented the 2023 Budget because she had to as chairman of the committee. Then she commented she was opposed on several points!! Much discussion by board members only! No Member comments allowed today, really! The meeting continued with Bylaws. Each one individually! I left ! More later…
I honestly don't know where to begin, it was that bad. The good news is, as eyesopen mentioned, the lot assessment/budget recommendation failed by a 5/4 vote. The bad news is the general manager wanted to vote it again, but by then everyone was burned out by the lengthy ordeal. Let me give a shout out to those on the stage and those in the crowd who stuck it out. It was a challenging process for sure. While i would love to be optimistic about what transpired, doing so would be less than honest. Beyond that, i don't want to do it in this thread. There's some things i need to address regarding the candidate forums and will do so in the coming days. Suffice to say, today's marathon meeting is deserving of it own thread(s). Stay tuned.
Nope, dropped out and i am supporting Jean Totten, John Fast and Steve Collins. I was only in if they threw out one of those three. Bill.
Sadly, last night it wasn't just the Mountain View project that was thrown in candidates faces (twice byw), the pickleball club was there to find out which candidates would support the new courts at Lakeview. Currently there are 4 tennis courts there, and several of them are unplayable. In fact, they were locked for a year or two. In an effort to placate the pickleball club members they were "promised" courts at Lakeview. I found last night curious, in that the president of the club was there asking who was willing to insure they get their new courts. For anyone not paying attention, the mess that began in 2021 started over the courts at Mountain View being removed and one board member speaking out. Karen McAdam was vocal about pickleball being under served with one venue and was subsequently fired for speaking out about it. By the way, the Sun City Advocates were 100% behind more courts; still are. No, i don't want to relive 2021, i do want to emphasize the point she was making then, and still is to this day. Pickleball is the fasting growing sport in the country. Virtually every age restricted community is racing to catch up and surpass their competition. Sun City, with 27 courts is well below the per capita average when compared with senior communities around us. Not by a little, but by a lot. That was Karen's point. The question about courts at Lakeview last night was poorly addressed. As Karen has said numerous times, if and when courts are going to be built, let's make sure it is done right. If all the club cares about is more courts, i guess it's perfectly fine to end up like we did with the Marinette "experiment." In fact, i was told during the tournament a week back or so, the heavy rains resulted in an absolute mess in the covered area. For those who don't know, there are no downspouts and rain came pouring in (in spite of management being told for years it is a huge problem), the lighting has been changed 4 or 5 times, screening has been replaced numerous times around the building and consequently, there's been any number of expensive fixes that simply haven't worked very well. It's a really nice facility, sometimes. Imagine if it had been done correctly? It was the first of its kind, it could have been done better. If we had known then, what we know now, i doubt anyone would build what we have there. Smart people learn from their mistakes, dummies keep repeating them. Last night's comments were about an unwillingness to commit to building something that is unsuitable for the members. There's no way anyone who is responsible or accountable would just say yes to secure a members vote. Telling us the RCSC would never build something less than adequate is woefully wrong in light of what we are looking at the Grand Ave Center, or even more appropriate when we know what has happened at the Marinette pickleball pavilion since it was built. You want someones guarantee on the Lakeview courts? Show them the detailed plans, show them the costs and then show them how they will remain competitive with the other age restricted communities that are already kicking our butts. Hope that helps clarify what should have been said.
