The Defining Difference; Then and Now.

The other day we held our planning session for the coming Gathering Thursday August 21 at the Sonora room, Grand Center. Starting time is 3 pm. We met at the new community room at the Fairway rec center. Obviously there was some discussion about the room, given it was one of the two topics we had on our agenda for Thursday. Now that it's here, more focus will be on promotion and a name.

We had a couple join us who had stopped in to see the room and we were happy to include them. The discussion unfolded several ways, one of them an old saw i have belabored since my earliest arrival to Sun City. It has evolved and i have beat the tired old horse to death.

As far back as the mid 2000's, i was questioning board members "who owned Sun City?" The answers varied, but at least before 2006, the consensus was certainly more about a community driven structure. We had far more organizations in those days who helped define and refine that sense of community.

That all changed when the board made a decision to give the general manager far more authority than at any time in our 45 year history. With each passing year, documents were rewritten and the membership became less involved. The goal was to become like most other age restricted communities, but way cheaper.

The problem of course was Sun City was built on a wholly different platform. Volunteers across the broad spectrum of organizations needed to step up. As the pool of volunteers that had come from the nurturing nature of selling Sun City died, organizations struggled. Several closed their doors, others clung to the volunteers they had like they were gold...and indeed they were.

The RCSC by then had changed their Articles of Incorporation to include two 3 year terms as a board member. That too created a disincentive, with more efforts being made to get board members to run a second time as opposed to having fill the 3 open seats every year. It was argued the second term would help as those returning understood how it worked. I have my opinion, but i'll spare you my thoughts.

With the general manager hired in 2006 looking forward to retiring, she loosened the hold on the board and gave them greater flexibility. By then, the membership had become mostly there to pay the bills, all of which resulted in us getting the "much-needed" Grand Center...honestly, was it? Don't get me started on all the problems we are still sorting through.

Once the GM did retire, we saw even more chaos follow. Two GM's later (and another to be soon hired?) along with more board members leaving mid term than at any time in our history, we are still struggling to find our footing. Not blaming anyone, because all of the above turmoil is fairly well uncharted territory. The membership in way too many cases aren't fully aware of the challenges and most often are subjected to the rumor mill that abounds across the community.

All of which brings me full circle to my often asked question: "Who owns Sun City?" Without answering that question, can we, will we ever accomplish the goals many have aspired to over the years? Personally, i think not and rather than confounding the discussion with the multitude of responses i have gotten over the years, let me put this in a historical perspective that i suspect even the most dull amongst us will grasp.

John Meeker/DEVCO spent the entirety of his Sun City oversight with one objective standing head and shoulders above all others: His vision, his goal was to make those new home buyers believe they were the owners. They weren't just buying a home, they were making an investment in a community they were accountable and responsible for.

It was theirs...for better or worse.

It worked better than anyone could have expected. The other day i asked this simple question and i'll leave you to ponder the answer: Living in Sun City, do you feel like you are the owner of all we have and enjoy, or, do you feel like you/we are just paying the bills?

 

I feel with the rewriting of many of the bylaws and board policies, the old definition of what Sun City was and what it has become is a tale of two different cultures.
The community of 2006 was changed and rewritten, by a former GM. The bylaws were so changed from their original intent that the belief that Sun City is together for the sake of the members has all but disappeared. The board policies describe how a member is almost subservient to the corporation. Reading just about any policy written leaves the membership out of the picture, directing almost every subject to be considered a regulation designed to give the board greater authority and control.
This was never the intention of the original documents. Since the rewriting, performed by the GM, has occurred, there has only been more and more restrictions added rather than the expansion of membership rights.
The RCSC was not originally intended to be as restrictive as it is today. The opportunity to return to the member focused bylaws are long gone, instead, replaced by directives that are geared towards the board.
The difference is what the original Sun City was designed to be versus what it is today. I am sure the founders of the community would not recognize what it has been legislated to become.
With each update and revision of the rules, Sun City has been forever changed. As long as more changes occur to the documents, the more the community will continue to evolve into something much more complex than it is now. Just my opinion.

 

Agree Carole, and the up-and-coming gens who will be retiring are not big on rules.

 

Thanks for your response E, lots to unpack. One of the challenges for those buying after 2006 is there is little to compare the then and now with. I have absolutely no question in my mind, the change to a top down, less member involved organization was the goal. Driving members away was intentional and the end game was to make their (members) lives more fun while allowing everything to be decided in the board room.

When we bought in 1999 and moved in 2003, i found organizations including the RCSC wanting/encouraging new buyers to take ownership. Clearly not at the level seen during the DEVCO build-out, but still there was a nurturing culture. Then as i became involved in the history, i saw up close and personal what a huge role ownership played in the community's success.

The only reason i ran for the RCSC board in 2011 was i thought i could stop the misdirection. Clearly i was wrong as Carole and i were mere speed bumps as the GM ran over and through us. Majority rules and the majority was clearly embedded in the belief the general manager had all the answers. In retrospect, we know how that worked out.

All is not lost though and while some harangue the current board's actions, i was reading back early threads i had written the other day. A long time favorite of mine on TOSC was Independent cynic; no idea if he or she is even still with us. Anyway, as usual we were bantering about "who owns Sun City" and this comment from 2019 caught my eye:
"From Wikipedia -- The boiling frog is a fable describing a frog being slowly boiled alive. The premise is that if a frog is put suddenly into boiling water, it will jump out, but if the frog is put in tepid water which is then brought to a boil slowly, it will not perceive the danger and will be cooked to death.
We are SC frogs, essentially. That "strong BOD" you desire has been quietly passing "reforms" which have effectively precluded Sun City residents from ever having a reasonable chance of challenging/changing anything the BOD does. They have changed the rules/policies to make it very difficult for anyone wishing to change their agenda. EG...

1. They have amended the Corporate documents (without member approval) to delete/modify elements which my memory recalls once required member approval.
2. They have raised the Quorum to an effectively unachievable number.
3. They have made it very difficult for members to have an opposition voice (eg, can't post signs, can't distribute flyers, can't seek petition signatures on RCSC property, etc.)
4. They have ousted Directors who refused to follow their agenda
5. They meet/vote in secret while pretending to take member exchange input seriously.
6. They amend fees at their discretion without member recourse
7. They pay no attention to the majority of the membership, yet they happily use their assessment money.

The RCSC board once touted at a member meeting that they are an independent corporation who can do whatever they want, that the members own nothing, etc. While this may legally be true, it is not the spirit the RCSC should operate under. Some members think they should have input for major expenditures (like the original AOI intended) -- eg, these members think $50MM is an unconscionably large investment in Golf (I look at it as roughly $1500 for each and every resident that doesn't golf).

Some members think there should parks, green space, a venue for showing movies in comfortable seating, have staged theater productions, concerts, etc. Still others would like an automotive facility where they could change their oil, do brakes, etc. Instead they see the BOD pouring money into a declining sport that's facing water restrictions which have no apparent solution. Sorry Aggie, I don't trust the BOD to always do the "right" thing for the membership as a whole. They have been overrun by the big club lobbyists."

As i was reading through the list of items (1-7), i noted several of them have been addressed. Clearly they are doing better and are trying to make it work. I've been pretty straight forward in applauding some of their efforts while at the same time being critical of the more strange decisions. It's hard to argue, they haven't made some serious improvements since 2019.

I'm absolutely fascinated by the topic of who owns Sun City. While i've been accused of all types of stuff, the one fallacy is that i have all the answers. I've freely admitted i personally have none of them, other than to say, the members do. The fear coming from the board, appears to be in allowing them to become involved as owners rather than just being the bill payers.

Just one man's opinion.

 

I started coming here in 1985 to visit my parents. It was awesome. No fences so everyone knew their neighbors. Block parties. In the 90's as my folks were getting older sometimes I would have to stay for a month or two. Still awesome. It was a whole different atmosphere. I moved here in 2001 to take of parents. Worked full time and caregiving didn't leave a lot of time to see what was happening. They died and I continued working until 2017. Worked a lot and on call. When I was able to finally able to look around and see what was happening I was shocked. Folks weren't out like before. Sorry you did not to get to see that time in SC.

Oddly though my first home was in Westbrook Village, and that was a happening place. Everyone knew everyone. Weekly dinners at neighbor homes, we all took turns.

 

Bill,
It’s uncanny to recall when the members lost our voice in regards to the RCSC and how.
The GM was determined to make sure that the power laid at her feet, then systematically made the decision making process removed from the members to her sole discretion, then to the board. She was awarded such free rein over the delegation of duties and responsibilities that the board was left feckless in the absence of her decisions. You and I witnessed this power grab and were left unable to stop this undoing of member status.
Now, these years later, we look to see what the members should/could expect from the RCSC. There is an effort underway to rewrite the bylaws, but have no clue what the direction these edits may take. We are not sure what the committee was expecting to do with the bylaws rewrite. And there’s been no discussion or clarification about how these changes will be implemented or even made. Is it a fore gone conclusion that whatever edits are submitted will be adopted? Will the members have any input? Seeing as the rewrite is being done in secrecy, I have great fear and concern for any outcome that might be done to the members and the community.

It’s my greatest hope that the latest round of rewrites make the documents more user friendly, member centric, better written so that the documents are easier to understand and more reader friendly. We can hope.

 

I smiled when i read the above remarks E. I was busy crafting my response, the one where i mentioned most have no frame of reference. I've long understood the best change would come from the long game. The best way to make that happen was over years of building a sustainable structure where outreach and helping those buy here knew what they were buying into.

It's neither hard, nor expensive. It takes some effort and a defined goal with education and communication at the core. Instead, we saw just the opposite with the outcome being folks who knew little and understood less. I'm smart enough to know we wouldn't reach everyone, and i'm also smart enough to understand we didn't need to.

To my point Emily; since you moved here, there has been well over 20,000 homes change hands. That's out of a little over 27,000 rooftops. Way better than a 50% turnover even when considering some of the same households changed hands 2, 3 or 4 times in that 12 year span.

There's been a concerted effort to do better, be better, of late. Everything starts at the point of sale, even before if we were truly aggressive and marketing the community the way we should/could be. We can debate whether those buying here are different, but its hard to argue they should know better when we've done so little to help them understand the unique qualities Sun City was built on and around.

I know it's another horse i have beaten to death. That said, when i made the argument in 2012 with the general manager, she was smart enough to understand if she went the other way, over the next 12 years, we would have a community of members who knew little and cared less. The fact it didn't work like she had hoped tells my those buying and moving here want/expect more.

I like what the RCSC/SCHOA/COA did this spring...it was a start...but just a start. One way communication is invariably the choice of organizations. The reality is in our technology/social media world, two way communication is expected by many. Even that simple fact has been a tough pill to swallow for those running our organizations.

We've become enamored with short term goals and strategies. Not surprising when we think about Sun City coupled with short attention spans that has become the new normal. Exactly why i tell those attending our gatherings, we have the ability to once again become "the community that changed the nation."

The problem is we have a long road back to get there.

 

Most of us feel like we are just paying the bills. It was the paradigm shift created when we moved away from the organization committed to a bottom up structure and decided top down was better. It didn't happen over night, but most assuredly it happened day after day with an outcome that in my mind was tragic.

There's no better example of how bad it had become than that Sept day in 2021, at the first of the two monthly board meetings (these days we have one board meeting and one Exchange). You remember, the one that lasted two minutes with the board racing out the back door. Those of us in the room were left to face the newly crowned general manager, Bill Cook and three uniformed and armed police officers.

Cook threatened to have us arrested. When i tried to intervene, one of the officers told me Sun City and the center were the same as a private health club where we could be asked to leave. Really, freaking really? Common sense finally took root and we were allowed to stay in the building and talk. I'll never forget the day, nor would i ever forgive the new general manager for his actions.

The good news is, since the ugliness of that day, we have moved forward. There have been changes and there have been efforts made. Have they gone far enough? Are we on the right path? Will we continue to evolve?

I want to believe we will. We'll see eh?

 

So the Rec Centers are similar to a private health club. Our Annual Assessment is a membership fee. I bet the folks who are going to plop down the $6K non-refundable entry fee (PIF/CIF) to this club would love to know that.

 

Never have been, never will be...which probably explains why that GM is long gone.

 

It appears we are returning to that mindset. Libraries, PAC's, Community Rooms, no voting at annual meetings. Who has the control then? The community almost had to start a war over the libraries, the PAC is still up in the air, this past annual meeting was getting close to 2021 sans cops and guns. You think all of this is ok?

 

The libraries are all in place with 5 year contracts (the cause of the commotion has moved on). The PAC is still being discussed at length with the stakeholders. The Community room discussions are a relatively new discourse with a short-term fix. The past annual meeting was nowhere near the 2021 Sept debacle ( i was in the room for both, beginning till end). Members were disappointed over not being allowed to vote, as they should have been. We'll see what changes come out of the working group on the bylaws.

All of which is why i posted independent cynics (see above) remarks from 2019; many of his concerns have been resolved. Still a ways to go but from my perspective we are moving in the right direction.

 

I thought i did a fair to middling job being both objective and positive:
"The libraries are all in place with 5 year contracts (the cause of the commotion has moved on). The PAC is still being discussed at length with the stakeholders. The Community room discussions are a relatively new discourse with a short-term fix. The past annual meeting was nowhere near the 2021 Sept debacle ( i was in the room for both, beginning till end). Members were disappointed over not being allowed to vote, as they should have been. We'll see what changes come out of the working group on the bylaws.

All of which is why i posted independent cynics (see above) remarks from 2019; many of his concerns have been resolved. Still a ways to go but from my perspective we are moving in the right direction."

 

Bill offers significant support and validation to the history of Sun City and why and how it works. Nowhere has he, or anyone else made such an edict as to make it “imperative” to be a historian to know or understand this community. There exists no need to dramatize what others state or remark on.

 

semantics.

 

The defining difference, as the topic states, is that Sun City will continue to thrive, no matter what semantics or language others use to debase the topic as described.

 

Following the session I had the good fortune of having coffee and a brief internalizing of the meeting. Out of the process of picking it apart, I came to believe we were on the right course, but for certain, a far more aggressive analysis of our future was imperative.
Back to the Future March 2025

Sadly, somewhere along the way, we've lost sight of that. It's become way too easy for the RCSC board and management to just look within and say,"we've got ours, nothing else matters." It is one of the reasons i have been harping on this topic; why i believe it is imperative for the RCSC to wholly embrace the phrase "Sun City, the City of Volunteers." Unless and until they understand that, we'll continue to sink down the rabbit hole of becoming just like all the others.
Untapped potential May 2022

I would go on but there are 27 more and I don't want to.

 

Ironic isn't it? Picking out single paragraphs, taking them out of context and trying to make them sinister. Who would do such a thing?

Matters not, as this particular remark was made back in the days when the RCSC was still flying the flag of; "Sun City, The Original Fun City." For those of you who don't follow the bouncing ball, a recommendation was made at one of the newly created Exchange meetings to revert back to our long held and much cherished logo; "Sun City, The City of Volunteers."

About the same time, the Foundation attached to SCHOA came along championing for the change as well. Volunteers have long been the glue that held the community together, and even more bluntly, they were the defining difference between then and now. When the decision was made to dump the logo (circa 2012), in part we lost our identity. Dare i say, we started to lose our soul?

The slogan has been restored. The RCSC board listened and acted. There's even more irony though; the largest amount of complaining appears to be coming from those who have never volunteered to help build that sense of community. To be clear, volunteerism is an absolutely personal option; what sucks the big one is bitching and moaning at those who do put up their hand.

Just kind of odd in this one man's opinion eh?

 

For those who aren't aware and that care, the Sun City Home Owners Association Foundation has been doing great work for years. They are a true asset to the community. Before the days the RCSC purchased Duffeeland dog park they helped Bob Knight keep it open for residents. Of much greater importance have been the multiple times they raised money via donations and made sure the walls around our community were painted and maintained.

It was one of the oddities that plagued Sun City. The "great social experiment" was built without much thought or consideration twenty or thirty years down the road. The walls lining our community was one of those oops moments. The good news is DEVCO learned from their mistakes and when they built Sun City West they included walls in the RCSCW's documents.

Always fun to help those interested in knowing our history appreciate just how unique and special we are.

 

Yesterday we held our third in the series of Gatherings; i'll post on that topic in the correct thread, consider this just a good segue. We concluded the two hour session talking about the next 4 months and why member involvement is so critical. In addition to the 2 monthly RCSC meetings (1 exchange and i board meeting) there are numerous town halls scheduled.

Which fits perfectly with those golden oldie moments from earlier times. Those first 45 years saw constant meetings where serious discussions and plans were addressed, well just beyond the monthly regular schedule. Part of our efforts were to help those attending understand their participation was critical; and a larger part to get their ideas and opinions.

Ownership is not a one way street. Walking in the door, speaking up and stepping up is. There are 19 opportunities on the RCSC calendar starting in Sept and running through the end of the year. Beyond that, there are committee meetings where topics of interest are hashed out. Members are welcome to attend as guests and different committee chairs take different approaches to allowing a guest to speak. If they don't shame on them.

Yesterday we saw and heard comments that hearken back to those good old days where members voices matter. It's easy to whine and be a naysayer, the reality was those few were never the defining difference between then and now. They were just background noise, while those who cared and loved their community did the heavy lifting.

Nothing has changed in that regard. Whiners whine; workers/doers get the job done.

Which will you be?