Our ever evolving community of Sun City By Kat Fimmel, Recreation Centers of Sun City board president As our community continues to evolve, it is reasonable to expect some growing pains. We also need to be mindful that Sun City is not immune to what happens outside our walls. So, it is also reasonable, as changes continue to occur, that members will want and expect more information with greater transparency from management and the board. The question then becomes, what constitutes transparency? There are those members who say that transparency means sharing every last detail of every aspect of the organization, with little regard to its impact. In actuality, transparency means sharing information in a way that is easy to understand, so that it is both useful and empowering. It is also part of transparency to inform members that information is either not available or is not shareable. Building contracts and employee actions are two that quickly come to mind. Even though we have been quite transparent, and very clear in the information we provide, some members chose to believe that we are not being transparent, or alternately we are not being “transparent enough.” For transparency to work, we have to be transparent with each other. What is the value of transparency if members opt not to listen to what is being said? Transparency also means operating in a way that makes it easy for our members to see and understand the actions being taken. Timing is always critical in life, and in this case we are in the midst of our annual budgeting process. It allows us the opportunity to re-evaluate past decisions and re-establish a more member friendly system; one that encourages participation of greater numbers of members. The interim general manager outlines this new review process as follows. “As we begin to develop the financial budget for 2024, the Budget and Finance Committee will be much more involved in setting direction for key areas, including assessment levels, key revenue and expense line items, and the capital projects to be included in next year’s budget. The committee will also develop a more systematic process for funding capital projects in the future.” “The committee conducted its first meeting July 5 to discuss the 2024 budget. This is a marked change from the 2023 budget process, when the committee did not meet until October to review the proposed 2023 budget.” “The committee will be meeting bi-weekly over the summer and fall to develop the 2024 budget. Members are encouraged to attend these meetings, 1 p.m. every other Wednesday in the Lakeview board room.” By implementing this process, the old, more internal process, which was very short and had only a cursory review and sign-off, will evolve into a more external process that will allow for input by all interested parties. This new process will result in a budget document that will be more easily understood and provide an accurate depiction of the corporation’s finances and expenditures. Sun City’s history has taught us that we are most effective when we stand together and represent our community as a whole. Every decision we make today should be to prepare our community for the generations to come so they too will experience self-governance and fiduciary soundness as members of our community. Posted Sun City Independent online, no subscription required, 7.20.2023 HERE
So much for timely! The last summary from the F&B Committee posted is the one dated for the November 4, 2022 meeting! That same summary says there was suppose to be another meeting on May 19, 2023? There has also been 2 meetings held since the beginning of July, one on the 5th and one on the 19th, but so far no summaries have been posted for any of those previous meetings! So much for timely transparency!
What's perhaps most interesting was what wasn't said. The former GM (recently departed) wasn't wrong in what he was trying to tell us, the problem was in how he was trying to sell it. Reserves studies and reserves aren't a new topic of discussion. An old friend of mine (who has since moved out of the community) was shocked when as a member of the budget and finance committee, found out we didn't have a reserve study (or reserves). It wasn't long after the Sun Dial roof collapse (2006) and the committee labored long and hard to put a capital expenditures plan in place. I have in my hands one dated 2010 that ran through 2021. It would be interesting to see how closely it was followed. My best guess is, not so much. The former, former GM saw the budgeting process as her baby and was hands on from start to finish. She owned it and those around her were little more than rubber stamps. Reading Kat's commentary and especially the comments from the interim general manager's proposals was a breath of fresh air. How freaking novel is that? Including others in the process to insure it works more effectively. Bill Cook simply couldn't/wouldn't say what needed to be said because it would have come across as if he was attacking the person who helped him get hired as the new GM. Think i'm wrong? Stop and consider when we are were treated to the dismal state of our technology and the first words out of his mouth were: "it's no one's fault." REALLY? I know it sounds like i am pounding on people. The point here is we got in trouble because we carved community experts (volunteers) out of the process and let it become a 1 person show. Moving forward doesn't mean we have to beat people up for their failures, but we will have to be honest enough to admit we got here because of how poorly we executed in the recent past. Kudos to Kevin McCurdy (interim GM), the board and the current budget and finance committee for pulling back the sheets and showing us a new, better way moving forward.
