Interesting to attempt this kind of thread on a board that is lingering in a state of non-use. It's way easier to ignore what is going on in the community and just play one's life away. I get it, why waste the time or energy to post something hardly anyone will read. The answer is simple, there's too much at stake to turn a blind eye. Many of you have either seen and or read the magazine i wrote for the RCSC this year, The Best Is Yet To Come. The theory behind it was simple...Sun City is as great a place to live because of one thing...the people who have chosen to make it their home. From day one, residents have taken ownership and worked together to build it into what it has become. Before we begin, recognize i have been called Sun City's biggest cheerleader by several different newspapers around the country (we get lots of national coverage). My problem is i have never been content being the house organ, spewing platitudes about how great something is. Nothing in life is perfect and to ignore short-comings insures we never grow or change. Hence this post, because i 100% believe we (Sun City) is missing the mark as we race into the future. Rather than prattle on, you can read why i say that, in this article in the Independent entitled RCSC board approves PIF budget, delay quashed. I couldn't be more disappointed to see the board of nine decide to move forward rather than include the community in the process of decision making regarding where we are going over the next 10 years. I've never suggested we put things up for vote, but committee's have been an integral part of Sun City's history. Unfortunately we have allowed the RCSC board to take that committee away from us. Worse yet, i was on the board when they did it. I voted against it, but like many of my votes i was in the minority. Clearly management was more comfortable without that committee and was able to sway the majority of board members to go along with it. Not hard to do when one can dangle a carrot in front of a board members face. Way too many board members have an agenda and if they get what they want, it's easy to fall in line. I could list a number of examples but i have no interest in embarrassing anyone. This thread is long enough, so i won't belabor the point. The Long Range Planning Committee should be reinstated. When it was moved from a fixed committee to an ad hoc, the understanding was it would be brought back...so what the hell happened that it wasn't put back in play with these new decisions being made?
I have heard people mention a Long Range Planning Committee numerous times at meetings. I have never heard an official reason for not having one.
Good question G and the reason is the board voted to get rid of it back in 2014. Sun City has a long history of committees playing an integral role in the RCSC decision making process. Some committees have more sway than others, often depending on the personalities on them and who is the chair. While a board member and a chair of several committees, i often asked the committee to make motions for the boards consideration. Seemed to me if people were going to spend time and energy in a room, we ought try and make the most of it. Committee's ultimately have no ability to force their ideas into actions, only the board can do that. If it comes to them (the board) as a motion, they have to vote it up or down. It's a cumbersome exercise, but one that gives more input into the process of self-governance. In 2014 the board, at managements suggestion, removed the long range planning committee from a standing committee to an ad hoc. That long range planning committee was the catalyst behind the Marinette remodel and the subsequent Bell tennis courts makeover. The two projects came in just under 8 million dollars and were problematic because management and several board members were hot to trot over the golf course makeovers that were going to costs more than 30 million dollars. The oddity was the long range planning committee had no say or involvement in those expenditures...they were board/management driven. A long range planning committee tends to be a buffer from those kinds of decision as you get a broader coalition of players from the community looking at more varied interests. In my opinion the dismantling of the long range planning committee was shameful and when we voted on the motion i spoke out long and loud against it, but it was all for nought.
The name "Long Range Planning Committee" speaks for itself.* However, exactly who would be on this committee? Question: Why do I often have to do a "reload" to get entire message on page.* You know. I have to click on the arrow in the top left corner that is round.*
Committee members have to be nominated and approved by the board of directors peg. I too am having several issues with the site...not sure what is going on.
