One viewers observations of the February 24th board meeting I see they put monitors on the stage in front of the board members. Is that so they can see their own facial expressions during their interaction with other board members and the members at large? After watching the planning session I realized why the monitors were there. Does anyone know if a head count is taken of the members attending the board meeting? Should be a no-brainer with a proximity sensor for RCSC member cards. Can we get the camera operators to scan the audience slowly so we can have a visual of the number of attendees? Does anyone know how many members attended the February 24th meeting? From what the cameras show it didn’t look like very many members. As the members are the ones funding major projects they should be able to see who bids on a project and what they bid. Should be placed on the web site. The lake repair started at 6 mil and is now 8 mil and probably going much higher. Has there been an accounting of what has been spent so far on the lakes east/west maintenance shed rebuild? Will this maintenance area be maintained better than the last one so that it doesn’t have to be rebuilt down the road? It would appear to this viewer that the function of 2 board members (Akins and Ege) is to second all motions and reply in the affirmative to all motions and bylaw changes. If bylaw changes are being studied by a committee why are we still making changes before the committees recommendation? There should be an immediate moratorium on all bylaw changes. Lack of a project management system to set goals, timelines, and accomplishments. What is the status of Technology upgrades? Money spent? For what? Did I hear right that there will be no board/member exchange? It seems to me that the member exchanges is where all member comments, requests, and suggestions go to die.
91 Cardholders (most likely ALL are MEMBERS!) February 24, 2022 RCSC BOD meeting summary https://suncityaz.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/BOD-Mtg-Summary-2-24-22.pdf
A couple of other answers; there was information regarding the status on projects and the Lakes East/West maintenance building spending was just over 800K with the ground prep done and the construction to start soon. The lake bid did explode to 8 million dollars and Bill Cook said they wouldn't be looking for any more money, i've told people to cut and paste the sound clip where he said that and we can play it back if they come looking for more. The standard operating procedure has been to get into the project and have the contractor express shock at how bad the conditions are and tell us they need more money, in this case, i expect a lot more. I hope i am wrong. The member exchange meeting motion died because it needed 2/3 of the board members supporting it. Wilson was missing and the only time the president voted during the meeting was on that item and it failed on a 4/4 vote. She appeared to be angry about it. The problem was it was bundled with the motion to limit board meeting comments to only motion items. We think there may be value in board/member exchanges, but not if the board meeting is reduced to 20 minutes of nothingness. I wrote the Sun City Advocates thoughts out on the two meetings and should be available soon. It will help explain much of what went on. There's been much discussion regarding the president voting, now that they are following their by-laws and using Robert's Rules of Order. In large boards (more than 10), the president doesn't vote, only in the case to break a tie (i think i was told). In the case of 10 or less, the president can vote. In fact, they should vote all the time, not selectively doing so. Or, they can elect not to vote, but then not at all. FYI can jump in here and clarify.
This is what Robert's Rules says about small boards: Procedure in Small Boards (RONR 12th. Ed. 49:21) In a board meeting where there are not more than about a dozen members present, some of the formality that is necessary in a large assembly would hinder business. The rules governing such meetings are different from the rules that hold in other assemblies, in the following respects: 1) Members may raise a hand instead of standing when seeking to obtain the floor, and may remain seated while making motions or speaking. 2) Motions need not be seconded. 3) There is no limit to the number of times a member can speak to a debatable question. Appeals, however, are debatable under the regular rules—that is, each member (except the chair) can speak only once in debate on them, while the chair may speak twice. 4) Informal discussion of a subject is permitted while no motion is pending. 5) When a proposal is perfectly clear to all present, a vote can be taken without a motion’s having been introduced. Unless agreed to by unanimous consent, however, all proposed actions must be approved by a vote under the same rules as in larger meetings, except that a vote can be taken initially by a show of hands, which is often a better method in small meetings. 6) The chairman need not rise while putting questions to a vote. 7) If the chairman is a member, he may, without leaving the chair, speak in informal discussions and in debate, and vote on all questions. They are mixing and matching these rules with the rules typically used in larger assemblies. What they should do is create a special rule of order and specify which ones of these lesser formal procedures they want to use at their board meetings. It's not an all or none decision, they can select which ones they will use on a consistent basis from one meeting to the next not just when they feel like it! Problem is, the corporate documents contain no such thing as special rules of order....yet!
Thanks FYI. Time will tell if they ever get it right. You've seen some commentary regarding the 2/24/22 board meeting and planning session. For a deeper dive, here's a link to our comments from the Sun City Advocates. Click here. We also have several other discussions going on the site as well as comments. You don't need to be a member to comment but we would love for you to join us by signing in and up for our newsletters. Change is slow and some get discouraged. I look at what has happened since Karen was fired and simply amazed by the inroads we have made.
Here we go again. Quoting RR procedures that will go absolutely nowhere. Nice information, but that is all it is. The board has no real interest in making any changes in favor of the members. They really don’t want to Spend any more time dealing with member issues and complaints. They want to hold their meetings and be Done in 2 hours. Damn the members for keeping them on stage for more than 2 hours. I’d like to see an evaluation of current board members - what is their agenda, what their position is on board vs members, what do they really want to accomplish? Anyway good luck in getting RR nailed down.
Less than a year ago SCR, they fired Karen McAdam (June 2020). Since then she has been re-elected by the largest vote total in years. 3 of the 4 candidates we supported for the board were elected, the 4th was a toss up for us. Beyond that we held the 1st membership meeting in 12 years. Members worked their butts off to get enough proxy votes to meet the 1250 threshold (over 1400 with those in attendance). We submitted by-law changes that are forcing them to rewrite the by-laws. We'll see how that goes. With the turn of the new year, they have added a parliamentarian, been trying to follow Robert's Rules of Order rather than just doing as they please. The 4 meetings this year have averaged over 100 members each time. We are now attending committee meetings and you saw some push back the other day at the meeting by 4 of the board members who stood against taking away the voices of the membership at board meetings and the motion died. All in all, amazing movement from a community that had stopped paying attention years ago. The average attendance at meetings was about 20, somewhere around the same number of board and staff members in the room. Often they were done in 20-30 minutes. I've been writing and speaking out for 15-20 years now and i guess i could have closed up shop and given up. I haven't, because i believe restoring Sun City to it's historic roots are worth fighting for. I for one am delighted with the progress since last June and especially of all those who have joined in so we may have a voice. Communication, Education and Participation is our goal; it is slow, tedious and rewarding. You should join us SCR, and if you already have congrats.
Check out the Sun City Advocates website. You do not have to join to explore. https://suncityadvocates.blogspot.com/p/welcome.html
