Today, if you go to the board meeting at Sun Dial (9 am start by the way) feel free to stop by and sign my petition to run for the RCSC board of directors. Here's the rub, i don't want to run and if you look at the piece of paper attached to the top of the sheets you will read this statement: "Please read before you sign: Thank you for considering signing my petition for the RCSC board of directors. Full disclosure; I would rather not run. In fact, if the RCSC allows the 3 candidates who have applied, that support that Members Matter, I will drop out of the race. It is critical Sun City returns to its roots, as a community built by and for the members. We've drifted from those tenets. Steve Collins, Jean Totten and John Fast all support that return. I am concerned the RCSC may not allow the 3 candidates to run. If they reject any of the applications, I will stay in the race, if they allow all 3, I will drop out and support them. This election is too important to not have 3 clear choices. You can play an integral in helping rebuild the sense of community, ownership and responsibility we have lost. Thanks for your consideration, your signature and for caring enough to be involved. Bill Pearson, Sun City Historian. If you took the time to finish reading this, you understand, this isn't a normal campaign strategy. This unique approach wasn't/isn't one i take lightly. I want to see new candidates with new ideas elected to the RCSC board of directors, not retreads (and to be clear) i would be a retread. Though, i've never been accused of being one of the good old boys (male or female) of the "rubber-stamper" variety. Rumor has it, the bulk of the candidates this year will once again feature more of the same, second time around. The RCSC the past 8 years has enjoyed the fruits of directors serving 6 years (and more when possible), which has insured, little has changed. The loyalty oath to the general manager has proven to be a fools game. It's time to get off the clown car, elect board members who will be focused on working for the membership, not shoveling money (our money) in the bank so the gm can sleep good at night. We also need to support candidates who don't think it is just fine to give away our amenities to non-residents. We've invested way too much to treat Sun City as a commodity rather than a community. I would be remiss by not addressing Steve Collins quest for a 2nd term. Is he a retread? You can call him that if you want, but anyone watching the last 3 years knows almost everything he has tried to do for the membership has been squashed by board members feeling they owe their allegiance to the management team. If you go, stop by and say high, sign my petition (or not). My preference was not to have to do this, but much like the old Joe South song, "The games people play now," the rumors are rampant and i felt i had no choice to try and stop them from playing twister with the potential candidates. Stay tuned as we update all of you regarding some of those "games." What better way to shut it down than to explain what they are doing before it happens. Or, perhaps they are so brazen as to just do it without regard to what you think.
Please give examples of this behavior. Please offer proof of in person, online or print language that is mean and bullying.
I am sure Bill will have his own reply but I thought I would submit my 2 cents worth. All candidates have to be basically "vetted" by RCSC. Potential candidates submitting applications, 100 signatures and other paperwork does NOT assure they will be an approved candidate. All signatures have to be verified, verification of approval of qualification to hold an alcoholic beverage license and the commitment to attend all REQUIRED candidate meetings plus a few other things. One candidate was disqualified last year after submitting all paperwork all on a technicality. (He who has the power......rules!)
Cheri, looks like Miss Emily Litella left without answering you or even saying, “Never mind.” Wonder what persona lands here with their next quantum leap.
Easy gang, Emily is an old friend and i love her dearly. She always resented when i spoke ill of Sun City. I’ve likened it to being similar to recovering from alcoholism; you have to admit you have a problem before you can ever begin to fix it. Most people simply want to see the good in everything. As i have told E many times, we could be so much better if we just listened to the membership. Instead, the prove to us every day how afraid they are of them. She’s right to a point, i am sick. sick of watching what they are doing to this community we love. The general manage told me point blank in a discussion in the hallway, “we are a business, not a community.” It’s pretty simple, we will never see eye to eye if that is what he believes. After listening to the 4/4 vote on taking golf cars out of full play passes, the sky opened and all became clear. Cook and i exchanged ideologies in the hallway when i asked this simple question: How can you possibly give non residents golf cars for $500 when that same golf car would cost a RCSC member $1200? Think about that for a nano-second and then explain to me the logic of a non-member getting a better deal than a member? Then there was the golfer who came up and told me i didn’t know what i was talking about regarding golf. Really? She asked me if i played, I said i used to. My response to her was it was about the numbers and her eyes glazed over and told me it was no such thing. I tried to engage her on outside full play passes but it was hopeless as she was clearly helpless. I asked another member why golfers weren’t coming and she says, why bother they won’t do anything to fix it. The good news is i told Bill Cook i would make an appointment to come and see him in his office. I told him i wanted two things when i came; the 990’s from 2020 and 2021. He told me 2021 wasn’t available because they requested an extension. I explained that was why i had waited till Oct because that was when it was due even with the extension. We’ll see. Finally, Gary explained it pretty well Larry. The RCSC policies regarding candidates is interesting, and discriminatory. Snow birds, our winter visitors who are owners should be entitled to run for the board. Over the years we’ve had board members who left for 4 months, including some who were board presidents. One of the demands is AZ residency. One of the candidates i would support just changed his residency to be in compliance. Frankly, they would be foolish to deny him, but based on today’s vote, being foolish isn’t something they are afraid to be. It’s this simple, if they boot him, they get me. He’s an attorney, a smart one and also far more reasonable than i am. The reality is, they are already playing games with the process and as we get closer, we will explore some of the crap going on behind the scenes.
Bill, A post from “Emily” has disappeared. “Emily Litella said: ↑ Although I like most of the members of your group there are a few who behave like mean, angry bullies. This needs to stop and there is no, and I mean NO justification for this behavior, in person, online, or in print.” That’s what Cheri and I commented on.
I know, i read it. It disappeared before i could respond. Emily, like many others, hate to be embroiled in confrontation. I would have asked her to be more specific about who and when. Most of us try and be civil, everyone does pretty good but me when addressing management. I really, really hate being lied to. I've spent nearly 20 years trying to get my head around Sun City, how it came to be and why it was so successful. I would argue, i know it as well or better than most. Even with that claim out of the way, my argument has never been i am right and they are wrong. I've long contended the membership should be the ones helping shape decisions and direction. Sadly since 2006, we've gone in 100% the opposite direction. And to be even more clear, i am really really sick of that, as much as being lied to.
Bummer. When i meet with Bill Cook next week, he doesn't have to provide the 990's for 2021. I double checked and the form for calendar year filers is due May 15 after the close of the year. They can request an "automatic 6 month extension" which makes it due on November 15. All of which means i will be asking to see it on November 16. Long before the election is held.
I'm actually looking forward to sitting down with the gm. I never start from or with the premise i dislike anyone. That said, clearly my exchanges at the exchanges with the gm have been less than cordial. I've never had as a goal to be well liked by anyone. As i told an old friend today, my entire work life was one of confrontation and conflict. Not complaining or even rationalizing, it's just who i am. My preference has always been to let the other party set the tone. Unfortunately, even the nicest of people are difficult for me to take when their assumptions, comments or positions are beyond the pale. I won't belabor the golf car motion other than to say the board members supporting it were told straight out, "golf was profitable in 2022." It begs the question, is that why they voted to let the management team give away our amenities? Or the bigger question; is it even true? I do know, if i was on the board and was being told something like that it would be pretty simple, prove what you are saying is correct. The problem is and has been for a long time, there is seldom push back by board members. The sentiment is and has been, even before i was on the board, whatever the gm was telling them was the gospel. Questioning or challenging them was tantamount to treason. It's why that whole loyalty oath crap has been an anathema to me. The long standing phrase "trust me" has rung hollow for me. I've watched board members before, during and after accept that argument and just let stuff slide they never should have. My position has never wavered, if you are right/correct, prove it to me. As board members you have a duty to question, not just take everything at face value. I spent too many of my working year's on trustee education. We taught trustee's to question rather than just accept whatever was being said. I get it, people run for the board and then want to get along. The best way to do that is just buy into whatever management is telling you. No one is looking for a full time job as a board member and frankly 90-95% of what management does on a day to day basis should be left to them. Unfortunately over the years the now departed gm took more and more control and now we are at a point where they have exceeded their authority. Not trying to be unkind here, but too many board members didn't want to be involved in the tough decisions. Rumor has it, as board policies were returned back where they belonged, even those were rewritten to allow more leeway to management. Someday if we ever see them, perhaps we will know for sure. It's exactly how we got to where we are today; just doing stuff and not questioning. My biggest fear has become reality; we no longer are considered a community, we are a business. I've written often about the 35 year fight over incorporation. The membership refused to allow that to happen. They wanted Sun City to remain unique and different from where they came. They wanted to be self-governed and to be the owners of their own destiny. Yesterday i was told point blank, we are a business, not a community. If that is the case, perhaps it is time to give it all up and just go enjoy the years i have left.
The RCSC is technically a business -- in the legal sense. But it really functions, or at least should function, like a classical HOA -- the keeper of the communal property of the community. Regardless what he said, everything in SUN CITY is community. If the GM feels he's employed to manage "a business" that's not part of the Community then the Board who has hired him needs to give him an attitude adjustment. Why on Gods green earth the Management want's to continually create friction with the members has been a 20-year mystery to me. The Corporations I worked for would not have tolerated such a gross viewpoint by a manager.
We agree IC, it actually says that in the Articles of Incorporation. Then it goes on to say what kind of a "business" we are in. They exist for a single purpose: "To do anything and everything lawfully necessary in the interest of the Members of the Corporation." That's pretty damned clear. This is where it gets fun; they argue by selling half price golf to non-residents, they are doing it to benefit the members. Utter and complete nonsense, as almost every time a non-resident takes a tee time from a member, they are in violation of the stated purpose of the Articles. Those tee times belong to the members, not the management team. I've written this often, Sun City's history is critical to understanding our success. The former gm, some of the board members and now apparently the current gm are more interested in running from our past. If they weren't the comment, we aren't a community, we are a business would never escape their lips. I guess it's why my argument we need to rebuild a "sense of community" is beyond their grasp. Here's the phrase i would accept; we need to function in a more business-like manner. Wouldn't that be great. You know, should the person in charge make a million dollar error, they would be held accountable (and fired). Or, if member of management sitting in his office red-lined out air conditioning in an area where members were working year round and now we are looking at paying more money to do it right. How about someone screwing up (no one is saying who) stuck an 8 ft door in where the plans initially called for a 16 footer? And the grand daddy of all, who should be responsible for the RCSC being 15 years behind on our technology? That's inexcusable and yet we were told; "it's no one's fault." Are you freaking kidding me. By the way, i could go on and on, but why bother? We've simply morphed into an organization where the board has been entirely comfortable passing off their duties and obligations as the elected officials of the membership to the hired help. It's been a 15 plus year process and with each passing year, it's gotten worse. Now the rumor is, as they have started moving board policies out of the bylaws (back to board policies where they should have been), someone has started rewriting them without board consensus. I'm at a point where nothing surprises me anymore. Where i do find myself, is utterly and completely disgusted by those running the organization that believe they know better than the members and frankly don't give a damn what they think, or say.
Headed off to the Sun Bowl to see if anyone will sign my petition. The show is at 6:30, i'll be there for an hour or so beforehand. Still have mixed emotions over this entire project, but there is nothing more important happening in Sun City than this coming election. If you see me there, give a shout out. Bill.
