D’Luzansky, RCSC GM RESIGNS March 27, 2025

The micro-managing will continue to happen as long as members are given a voice and especially from those that have no concept of the scope of costs and the related activities. It’s really easy to second guess when one doesn’t have the facts or ignores them. Additionally, if board is going to use the GM as their agent of change and throw him under the bus when they get caught trying to force through changes, it’s going to be hard to move forward. This “transparency” doesn’t seem to be working.

 

Reality - GM spent 400,000 + on RCSC landscaping without board approval, he did not use vetted contractors or put it out to bid. His max on spending is $25,000 without board approval. And, the GM must put items out for bid.
He tried screwing up the library contract with ideas of shutting the Fairway library down. His big “stated” concern was homeless people infiltrating the rec center. There might have been one or two instances where homeless folks were involved but certainly not worth closing the library.
He stuck his “two cents worth” in about the dog park. He actually had the nerve to deny the accusations that he wanted huge changes but was thwarted by Sun City residents.
The five unfilled RCSC positions were shifted to “safety” and the new safety folks tried implementing OSHA standards in clubs. I don’t think RCSC suddenly requires five, (now I think they are up to seven) hired people for safety. The pat answer for the new hires was insurance costs. Interestingly some of the “supposed” issues/ insurance requirements were lessened when community members spoke up.
I am all for moving forward, understanding times change and lifestyles change. The change, (actually dollars) the GM felt was his to use at his discretion is money that belongs to RCSC, paid by us, homeowners. Spending our RCSC money without following the rules is not acceptable. Not in any business environment.
The really great good that came out of this was how incredible homeowners were motivated to participate. It would be nice if we, as a community could continue with that sort of support. Participating in our community is a huge positive. I would really like to figure out how to keep Sun City folks engaged. It would be nice to see the momentum of the recent support for Sun City to continue. To support the board as they move forward making Sun City a continued great place to live.

 

Hey K S-K, long time no hear. Good to see you back in the fray, been a while. Your remarks go well beyond what most casual observers knew about the GM. Which is kind of one of our problems, because we often hear about "micro-managing" by the board but it was/is often a reflection of the GM not following the community documents. Trying to skirt them was never the intention, yet it happened.

The other two issues, that have caused so much heart burn were well before Matthew. We had a GM rewrite virtually all of our documents and shift almost all control in her hands. It was a power grab and in fairness to the GM, the board let her do it. It's still a problem for us and will be until we figure out the separation of power and who does what?

The other frustration for me was watching any one of the 3 previous GM's fixate on working with the officers and letting the rest of the board be neutered, more or less. It's long been a lament of mine, board members all have one vote and anything one knows, the others should know as well. Manipulating a couple of those with additional duties has too often diminished the role of the remaining board members. That has to stop.

Finally, this community will never return to their glory days until boards both respect and listen to committee member recommendations. To be clear, the board has final say, but for too long it has been more lip service than real service to the community.

 

Well said. My question to you is any ideas you could share on how to keep the momentum of Sun City residents participating going.
I would like to see another questionnaire be made available with some basic questions. Not sure what happened with the last one but I would be interested in what home owners would like to have changed. You think that would open a can of worms?
One of these days I would like to sit down with you and get your input. You have seen so much and so many changes.

 

Geoffrey, Josie, Dave, and all the others upset people about Church, State and High school.
Let’s get together and make sticky buns. After-all we are all neighbors.

 

Huge fanfare was made about the ASU survey and then what happened with the results? It sure appears that almost all suggestions are falling on deaf ears. It’s very easy for members to lose interest when they are disrespected by the board.

 

I can see where that would be true. I wonder if the results are posted on the website. I will have to go check.

 

ASU/RCSC Community Survey Results
https://suncityaz.org/rcsc/asu-survey-results-community-involvement-opportunities/

 

LRP and the BOD have been working on computer updates which came out of the ASU work. Also a fitness coordinator and walking trails are being worked on by LRP. These were also mentioned often in the ASU work.

 

I wouldn't hold my breath Tom!

 

Understood, though progress made on the computer front. Talk of at least a walking path at MV. New fitness equipment at Oakmont, which is pretty nice. Fitness coordinator position in works with LRP.
So I guess no need to hold my breath. Was just pointing out that info from ASU survey being used.

 

That's part of it. If you don't believe in some sort of superior religious power than you don't believe you have a soul and all you believe is that when you die you are simply dead. No eternal Life.

That's my upbringing. You have that little guy on your shoulder always guiding you too what's right and what's wrong.

You can believe what you want, but I'm quite content living with my own personal beliefs. And Yes, those beliefs are mine alone.

 

I hate to be redundant, but the answers are often forged from the fires of redundancy. So let me forge away. I know there's always multiple answers to most questions, but in this case, we need to take a page from Sun City's history. Oddly enough we heard the phrase used by triArc at the Mountain View session and one of the reasons i bounded out of bed at 3 am in the morning and started writing; "Is Sun City Back?"

A lot was said that night but two words made my heart sing: "Community Engagement."

I will be so bold as to say; the board, current management and whomever is hired as the next general manager has virtually no chance of addressing the multitude of challenges we are facing without engaging the membership. Sorry to be such a pessimist, it's not my nature to be that way, it's just as a Sun City historian i gave grown to understand every issue we faced was solved by the community members; not be a general manager, not by 9 board members, not even by DEVCO employees who had the financial backing of the Webb Corporation.

Let's be very clear, Sun City isn't financially broke, we have a lot of money in the bank and are debt free; always have been, hopefully always will be. Money alone cannot fix the fractured nature of a community that divorced itself from the concept of self-governance and turned inwards with a blind eye to bigger picture Sun City. We bet on the idea we could build a better mouse trap by telling members to stay home, have fun and they (management and board) would take care of everything.

It didn't work and now we are left with the cleanup, catch up and rebuilding of a structure where the trust, the partnership and the relationships between members, organizations and leadership has to improve and i mean improve quickly. Paying anyone lip service or pretending they matter will only exacerbate the problems.

We already know that's going to be difficult. I've long argued everything starts at the top. It gets really hard when those at the top refuse to let go or engage members and other organizations and embrace them as equal partners in finding solutions. Over the recent past history the erosion of trust by both sides has been stunning to watch. That statement alone screams the problem to us...there should not be two sides.

What exactly does "community engagement" mean? Different things to different people, for sure, but there is one common thread; members have to be part of the solution. The board needs to open their arms and make members comfortable that this is the real deal. Blunt honesty is critical, trying to mask bad decisions with dumb statements is poor form and self-defeating.

Let me give you an example that just happened. We heard the good news the board was going to form a bylaws committee. I know Tom Marone well and frankly he's paid more attention to our documents than any member i know. He submitted a motion for the annual membership meeting. You know, the motions the board shuffled off to Buffalo. He also applied to be on the yet to be named committee and was told he had no chance, the board decided anyone who had submitted motions could not serve.

Dumb idea in that those who took time to submit motions, obviously care and were/are committed. When Tom and i talked about it, my immediate reaction was this wasn't about Tom being on the committee. What i read into it was there were members who submitted motions they didn't want on the committee. Maybe i'm wrong, i doubt it. I know enough to know some members who apply for committees aren't always a good fit. It's why we give the committee chair some (too much) latitude in who is on their committee. (And why there was a motion to allow a committee vote).

My point is simple: We took the good act of telling members we were going name a committee and then we compounded the good act with a foolish one that leaves members angry and distrustful. One step forward, two steps back. I know people accuse me of being blunt, guilty. You cannot fix our problems with half-truths. If there is someone that doesn't fit on the committee, politely tell them so.

K S-K mentioned two things, sticky buns, which were my mothers go to Christmas day treat and surveys. We can leave the sticky buns out but let's talk about the ASU survey. I didn't take it, way to cumbersome. I didn't participate in the initial followup group but i did attend the final workshop session with 80 plus members. It was amazingly good.

Like so much of how the RCSC has been run, great plans, little or no follow up. It's how you wear people out, ask them to get involved (member engagement) and then let it all fall through the cracks. Ben Roloff and i took the ASU professor who oversaw the survey on a tour of the Del Webb Sun Cities Museum. We got a chance to talk away from the maddening crowd and she said she was delighted with the information collected. Way more participation and she loved the answers. As we walked and talked about Sun City's history, she saw the results of building that sense of community. She told us flat out, the survey had the potential to be the next step and she also told us it was out of her hands and now up to all of us.

Great ideas, great efforts are meaningless without an action plan behind them. We had none. It's part of the problem with an ever evolving board. Key players leave and whatever they had working dies. We've long argued for at least one committee chair be a member, not two board members. One only has to look at the LRPC to see the impact of musical committee chairs and how self-destructive that is.

Continuity comes from the membership's involvement. I know we've beat this to death, board members are stretched too thin, and rather than expand the role of members, we shovel more on the backs of the board members. The changes the committees endure creates anger and committee members quit, board members change and the downward cycle continues.

This has gone on long enough, but i haven't even come close to the bigger picture we need paint for Sun City to begin to heal the mistrust built up over past years. And to be really clear, there are a lot of easy to implement suggestions where we grow the membership base of support through modest and targeted "member engagement."

Stay tuned.

 

Thank you for the insight. Now how to move forward with member engagement. Suggestions on how to expand the role of members? I have gone to several board meetings and it seems to me there are too many topics addressed with little focus on resolution. Too much to address and resolve, and it often feels like folks are beating a dead horse. Plus, I would like to see more of folks coming with an issue and a resolution. Seems to me even if the resolution is not possible at least community members have put thought into possible outcomes. Sometimes it seems people just want the board to fix the problems instead of working together with the board, community members and board members more of a team approach. Now how to make it all work and live happily ever after.

 

To make it work, members have to start seeing some actual decisions be made and projects moving forward. Most people are results oriented. This board is same shit, different day. It’s like a tv soap opera. You don’t watch it for a month and tune in a little if anything changes. The only thing that happens with the board is high drama and pet projects. Let’s pick a topic and see it through from start to finish. Tell the members what you’re going to do. Do it. And then tell them what you did. Then listen to what people say and then go out and fix it. This isn’t that hard folks, we’re just making it that hard. Lean on the staff for more and the board members less. We’re paying the employees. Raise the expectations for everyone.

 

Thank you. I see exactly what Bill is talking about “community engagement”.

 

I always seek to lead by example. Words are fine but actions speak louder. Yesterday I was at a center admiring it and one of the many wonderful employees was working on an improvement with a subordinate. I stopped to say hello and got involved in what they were seeking to do. They were brainstorming on the spot and as I listened, I recalled where some free materials could be had that might fit the bill. I mentioned this and before you know it, we were concocting a plan to see if the free materials were suitable for their needs. I would send pictures of what was available, and they could evaluate whether the materials were suitable. I would love to hear others stories of how they are engaged in making this community better.