My apologies to eyesopen who made this point in another thread, but i am writing this so i can post links to it on several social media sites. I suspect she will do the same on Nextdoor. We've lived in Sun City for 20 years this May. We owned 4 years before we moved here, but what i am focused on now is the actual time living in Sun City. Over that time frame, i have attended perhaps as many or more RCSC board meetings than most. Not bragging, most members grew weary of following the antics as we evolved following the 2006 hire of the GM. In all of those years, i do not recall a board meeting being cancelled. Obviously not counting the pandemic as everything came to a screeching halt. In those years, i have watched countless board members take the oath. To my knowledge, it has always been done after the board meeting was called to order and the quorum requirement was met (6 out of the 9 in attendance). I was shocked when i got the email blast from the RCSC announcing the board meeting on Thursday March 30, was cancelled and rescheduled. It immediately sent me to the governing documents to read what i thought was the case, they needed a quorum to swear in the new members. I knew there were two board members out with Covid. That left only 5 possible board members to attend. They could not even open the meeting, so the two board members could not take the oath of office. Nothing sinister about the cancellation, simply a reflection of board tied to an antiquated policy of not allowing attendance via technology. For anyone with a memory, we heard last year the reasons why some board members were opposed to meeting attendance via ZOOM or other such options. Oddly, i have watched other communities like ours not only allow it, but encourage participation through available technology. Two really, really good outcomes are on the horizon: 1). The Board Meeting scheduled for Thursday, March 30, 2023 has been rescheduled to Wednesday, April 5, 2023 at 6pm.Sundial Auditorium. 2). One of the motions on the agenda is to allow attendance using available technology (first reading). Members have been clamoring for an evening meeting and the board responded by doing exactly as members requested. I would hope this 6 pm start time increases attendance and starts to set a tone for recognizing more and more member/owners are working these days.
Having been wrong in the past, I am now here to tell you that according to the Arizona Revised Statutes, electronic meetings are permissible unless the bylaws specifically state that they are not! Chapter 31, Article 2 10-3820. Regular and special meetings A. If the time and place of a directors' meeting is fixed by the bylaws or the board of directors, the meeting is a regular meeting. All other meetings are special meetings. B. A board of directors may hold regular or special meetings in or out of this state. C. Unless the articles of incorporation or bylaws provide otherwise, the board of directors may permit any or all directors to participate in a regular or special meeting by or conduct the meeting through the use of any means of communication by which all directors participating may simultaneously hear each other during the meeting. A director participating in a meeting by this means is deemed to be present in person at the meeting. So actually, there is nothing stopping Directors from phoning-in to achieve the quorum. Call-in participation has been done in the past. I remember when Director Kennedy called-in during one meeting! I'm speculating that perhaps the board wants to make sure that everybody votes in favor for the things they are currently pushing. With two new members and not having the reliable votes from the two absent Directors they may just be playing it safe?
I agree that evening meetings are a benefit. We used to have one a year at Fairway. That was stopped because of the long days that the staff had to endure, but you're right...an evening meeting was able to get people that couldn't (or wouldn't) show up during the morning meetings. I did, however notice a rather significant decline from about 100 early in my term to about 25 or so toward the end. As far as the zoom attendance is concerned, I know that in my first term there was a Board Member that attended the meeting while in Florida via telephone. In my second term, another Board Member attended via telephone from California. There is no logical reason why a Zoom meeting couldn't take place. In fact, if you read Title X of the ARS, it's in there! Y0u HAVE to allow Zoom meetings. So, this motion is basically just a redundancy. Not a bad thing though.
My only concern is with inserting a blanket statement in the bylaws when there are minimum mandatory requirements and procedures that need to be established to hold an electronic meeting for a meeting to be considered properly called and valid. Not to mention electronic board meetings would conflict with the bylaws which currently states that board meeting, including special sessions, shall be open, video recorded with time allotted for Member comments. Think of the situation when everything was shut down do too Covid when nobody could meet in person! I would suggest the board to first establish an Ad Hoc Committee to research and recommend a more comprehensive amendment to the bylaws.
The whole truth, nothing but the truth… EMAIL FROM RCSC: Why reschedule the Board Meeting for April 5? Rescheduling the Board of Directors meeting is necessary to fully implement established Covid protocols on behalf of the Board members, management staff, and community members. We appreciate your understanding in this matter. https://mailchi.mp/8dc8008092b3/reason-for-rescheduling-board-meeting?e=f18f779945
Original RCSC Email, sent Tues. March 28, 2023, 7:22:14 pm, lacked an explanation for changing the board meeting date and time. That omission generated speculation! No guesses here that it was precipitated by Covid concerns requiring implementation of protocols. At least RCSC decided to be forthcoming today. Better late than never. Yesterday evening’s RCSC email notice: UPCOMING BOARD MEETING SCHEDULE CHANGE The Board Meeting scheduled for Thursday, March 30, 2023 been rescheduled to Wednesday, April 5, 2023 at 6pm. Sundial Auditorium The motion & attachments are unchanged. View the Meeting Agenda & Attachments here! (Includes General Manager's Rec Centers Update Presentation) https://mailchi.mp/0d93eecd897a/board-meeting-agenda-monday-7513674?e=f18f779945
Just an FYI. Ad the former secretary to the Arizona Board of Regents, I can tell you that even when doing Zoom meetings, we provided a location for people to come to if they needed. Some did not have wifi, some did not have computers, some were technology challenged. To be certain that we were not building any open meeting laws we always provided one location for people to attend.
Good to see the further communication explaining eo. This isn't that hard, being open and straight forward goes a long way in establishing trust. People get sick and when they do, everyone expects them to do the right thing, and they did. End of discussion. Good to see Rhoffer join the discussion. He and i have had any number of disagreements over the years but i never once doubted his interests in making Sun City a better place. Hopefully he will come back and respond to the Mountain View issue. I recall all too vividly he was the most outspoken board member in November of 2021 (i think) when Bill Cook presented his PIF budget. Rich argued the inflation factor the GM used was well below the norm even then which made the total costs well below his projections. Rich had one foot out the door after 7 or 8 years of this. Cook assured us all his numbers were close and not to worry. Of course we know the Viewpoint lake fix was initially set at 6 million and within 3 months spiraled to 8 million dollars (hopefully that's still the number). The only comparison i can do is when i saw the Lakes East/West maintenance building come in at 4 million dollars, the behemoth MV remodel seemed well off the mark, even at 40 million dollars.
Even if there is a lesser attendance in the evening meetings, I think the Board should give them a good chance. It's important to hear from as many Members as possible. I have been on boards that always met in the evening where staff attended and took part in the meetings. There are ways to make it easier on the staff. For example, they could get comp time for those extra hours if they are paid an hourly wage. If the staff is salaried, their schedules are more flexible. As part of the Management Team, it is expected that there will be some extra hours at times. The meetings should be held for the benefit of the Members, not the staff. Otherwise you have the tail wagging the dog.
Yes! Attended the mtg. tonight and I was SO glad to finally have a meeting I could attend without rearranging my schedule and racing around in the morning. As far as I could tell, it was a good showing but not sure how it compares to the morning ones.
