Full disclosure: I am a lawn bowler; have been since 2004. Thank goodness i'm not on the board because any decisions made regarding lawn bowling would mean i had a conflict of interest. You know, like every board member over the last 15 years as they abstained from voting on golf course improvements. Give me a freaking break, never once did they sit meekly by as those votes were taken, they pushed them. Anyway, i digress. When i saw the proposal the board labeled Plan 2 for Mountainview, i contacted a member of the lawn bowling advisory board and asked if they had been told the Mountainview green was going to be closed. The answer i got was straight forward enough; "no, in fact the board president promised the green was going to be there." Really? I wasn't about to argue or challenge his response, he was in the room, i wasn't. If i had to guess, that response came before Plan 2 hit the table. The reconfiguration of the building is what took lawn bowls, pickleball, tennis, mini-golf and horseshoes out of play. If you recall, phase 1 is the theater and a pool, phase 2 is a second pool and phase 3 is as of yet an undetermined piece of land where the only suggestion was an ADA compliant mini-golf course. What makes it all so butt ugly is the board cancelled the third reading of the motion to move forward with Plan 2. They (the board and management) knew it would be controversial and if they had to wait till the first meeting in September the blow-back would be loud and hard. Better to shove it through and hope everyone forgot about how poorly they handled it. Then of course they made it all worse as the day after that meeting they held a quickly called executive session and fired Karen. To no one's surprise, other than the boards, it set off a shit-storm of anger. It was the second board member who had been fired in the past two years. Fired for doing what "we" elected them to do. Dang, again i drift. The RCSC by-laws call for any improvements made or donations given to clubs instantly become the property of the RCSC. Most of you don't know, but lawn bowling had a very long time lawn bowler who had donated over a million dollars to the clubs and the RCSC to maintain grass greens and upgrade the 5 bowling venues. That's a lot of money in anyone's book. She died several months ago and the lawn bowling community lost a dear and much loved friend. She would be horrified to hear/see the motion to do away with the green at Mountainview. Especially when you consider they never once talked to the committee about the possibility of losing it. Now, the bigger question is, with our benefactor gone, how much more pain will they bring as time goes on?
Yeah, but look at the bright side! Now that the board may no longer have to listen to comments from the Members about the venues at Mountain View, the Members can concentrate on the questions regarding why the board dismissed Director McAdam! We know that dismissal for a "conflict of interest" is nowhere to be found in the RCSC bylaws. The bylaws only require that if an actual or possible conflict may exist, it needs to be reported. A member cannot be compelled not to vote on an issue even if there is a conflict of interest and that's because voting is a right of membership! (RONR 12th Ed. 45:4)
I have strong suspicion that while they have passed Plan 2, their actions may well be questioned come the first meeting in Sept. Typically the first meeting of the month is on the second Monday, which put the date as September 13. You are spot on regarding "conflict of interest," and my guess is that topic too shall be a question. The board will simply state it is an action covered by executive session so they will be unable to talk about it. Members will have plenty to say for sure and watch as the lawn bowlers come to grips with the fact they are closing that green down without telling them. I actually went back to see what the minutes of the lawn bowling advisory meeting minutes say. and the comment noted that the green may be affected when the work begins. I'll say.
Just to be clear, it's not a conflict of interest "that could provide grounds for removal as a Board of Director", it's "violating the policy" that requires a Director to report a possible conflict, which could then charge the Director with failure to carry out their responsibilities! I hope you're right! Between the Lawn Bowlers and Pickleballer's the September meeting should be a good one! And the Board's typical lack of any real explanation or response other than "thank you for your comments, we'll take them under consideration" will only piss everybody off all the more. You know they will never admit to their mistakes and the only other option is for them too double-down! Instead of cookies and coffee being offered at the next Board meeting, perhaps they should provide popcorn?
Let me speculate and simply say that come September they will try and get as many theater supporters to turn out. They too often try and pit one club against the other which is about as pathetic as it gets when you think about building a sense of community. We need a theater, we need courts south of Grand Ave and we shouldn't be robbing Peter to pay Paul to do it. Lord knows we have the financial where-with-all to do it, except we've shoveled so much money at golf we find ourselves behind the curve. That's what happens when you have no long range strategic plan that deals with shortcoming and simply throw money around without any consideration of the impact across the community. And, don't start with the "Monday morning quarterback" bullshit, i've been preaching this for the past ten years. Sadly, no one listened and now we find ourselves in a butt-ugly position and the losers will be the community at large. Forget the popcorn FYI, let the board eat crow.
Time for you to come back and be a board member again. You must show the community everything that is going on and go toe to toe with purple man and bag of air and the rude unqualified president of the board. Bill, it is a necessity and you can be the savior that will go down in history!!!!
I'm no savior Say What, never have been never will be. Thanks for the kind words but another retread isn't what the board needs. We need to return to a day when the people living here had a voice. When the general manager ran the day to day operations and the board set policies. All of that happens when the members/owners engage and become involved in the process of self-governance. Stop and think about this for 30 seconds; the long range planning committee have been working towards something as simple as surveying the membership. They've been kicking it about for years. When push came to shove, the board voted it down. What foolishness. I saw the questions to be asked and they were detailed and on point. Then i saw how the board had stripped it of any substance and watered it down to be worthless; and then they voted not to do it. The long range planning committee has been doing a yeoman's job, i have nothing but respect for their efforts. Unfortunately their time spent has been wasted as the board or general manager have let their efforts go nowhere. Is it ego? Is it stupidity? Is their quest for control so stifling no one else matters? Sadly as was we march down the path, they look as if they are only going to get worse. There will be no remorse for firing Karen. For firing Barbara. For shoving the MV Plan 2 down our throats after a second reading, rather than holding it for the third reading in September like the structure intended. Watch what happens come September, it will be stunning to see. Sun City doesn't need a savior, they need residents/members/owners to simply start caring again.
