There's an old adage that rings true here: "Good things come to those who wait." I was beginning to believe it was a large load of crapola. Year after passing year i watched as the community i/we love evolved to something nearly unrecognizable to me. It was 20 years in the making, the exact number of years we have lived in Sun City. The first 5 were pretty stable, but by 2009, it was decided fall from one of the main reasons i fell in love with Sun City. The concept of self-governance and the commitment to a "bottom-up organization" was powerfully compelling to me. The RCSC documents (Articles of Incorporation and Bylaws) had been crafted over 45 years of trial and error. The outcome was literally the perfect balance between the RCSC members, the RCSC board of directors and the management team. Committees made up of volunteers helped steer the decision making process and the result was what i/we viewed as our own little Utopia. Sun City was that darned good. I have no interest in belaboring either how or why it changed. It simply was the perfect storm, as boomers became the prime home buyers. It was an easy sell as the general manager took on more responsibilities, those elected to the board were happy to relinquish the time commitments made by those who came before them. Committees were dissolved, documents were rewritten and new home owners were told to just buy here and have fun. It worked brilliantly as attendance at all things regarding RCSC governance waned. For years, 20 members at board meetings became the norm. We went 12 years without ever having a quorum at our annual membership meeting. Worst of all, the concentration of both power and control rested in the hands of a few. I made a failed and flawed attempt to change it from within, but during my 3 years (2012-2014) on the RCSC board, i was literally the proverbial pimple on the elephants ass. It all changed, perhaps inspired by the pandemic? Members began paying attention. They began asking questions. They grew antsy with answers that showed literally no interest in what members thought. In 2021 and again in 2022, the RCSC election for board members brought in a different mindset. That coupled with a newly anointed general manager (who was in over his head in my opinion), the hostility grew. When 3 existing board members quit the beginning of 2023, the shift was completed. The question was simply; "could it, would it make a difference?" All of us looking in from the outside were hopeful. It's easy to just say stuff, living up to your promises and commitments is wholly different. The new board got off to a ragged start. Changes in officers and a board with splintered ideas was abundantly obvious. The 9 members plowed along in spite of their disagreements. Their resolve to recreate a community where the members voices mattered was far stronger than their differences. Yesterday's meeting was the culmination for my journey to see Sun City return to our roots. If you watch nothing else on the RCSC Youtube channel this year, you need to watch the RCSC board of directors October meeting. It was stunning in scope and depth. I spoke at it and told the newly hired general manager, i had been waiting to hear those words for 20 years. I was dead on serious. His comments were that powerful. There's a boatload of other motions and discussion debated and voted on. All of them impact the community and more-so the membership. Some i agree with, some i don't. That's really here nor there because the beauty of Sun City was never captured or trapped in what i think is right or wrong...but in what the membership thinks and the direction we go in. The New York Times in 2010 did an article about our 50th anniversary. I was the president of the Museum at the time and was also the communication arm for the year-long celebration. In the article the Times called me Sun Cities loudest cheerleader. Odd, that distinction should have gone to one of the POMS, but i was on a mission to reach as many non-residents as possible. The 50th was the perfect path forward. By the time i left the RCSC board, the end of 2015, i had become jaundiced. My comments were seen as negative and many disliked me being critical and out-spoken. The more i moaned, the worse it got. Rich Hoffer, as a board member, made a couple of inroads (recording meetings and restoring the long range planning committee) but it was obvious the general manager had secured her position in what had become a "top-down driven organization." It was an evolution i truly resented. The things i wrote were construed as being anti-Sun City. Nothing could have been further from the truth. It was a community i loved and wanted it restored to those who owned it; the members. Yesterday, i heard, watched and felt a sense of coming home. I know it's been a long, hard journey and there's still a lot of work to do. Let me be perfectly blunt here, because at the center of this rebuild is each and everyone of us living in Sun City. It all starts here: Responsibility, accountability and ownership will all bring us to that sense of community...the platform that Sun City was built around.
Video RCSC Board of Directors meeting, Thursday, October 26, 2023 https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdLy0Uy9sKWCJNLz37tn5ug 10 pm Friday, Oct. 27, 2023 OBSERVATION: SURPRISING & DISAPPOINTING!! **ONLY 67** RCSC member/residents attended the Board of Directors meeting Thursday, October 26, 2023, 9am!! **ONLY 252 have viewed it online!! RCSC written Summary here: https://suncityaz.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/BOD-Mtg-Summary-10-26-23.pdf
I tend to be more an optimist when looking at numbers eyesopen. For years the average attendance at RCSC board meetings was 20-30 members and there was no recording at all. I had tried to convince board members and the GM to do that but failed miserably. Several years later, Director Hoffer argued the value of videoing the meetings and the board agreed. These numbers and the changes that are coming are a direct result of the added ability to watch and read about what is going on all things RCSC related. Change is always slow and cumbersome. Also, we never reach the critical mass we all want. We need to understand that when we open up and move to member involvement it will become more messy and challenging. Like everything, it is a process; and you will read later today how difficult that process can be when clear and concise communication is compromised by those involved when they aren't brutally honest about where they are trying to go. My thoughts regarding yesterday's SAC meeting will be scratched out later this morning. Disappointing...but not surprising.
I “get it” Bill. There was much anticipated high turn out due to the 2024 Proposed Budget with suggested annual assessment increase. That’s all.
I think it’s “WIFM”. What’s I it For Me? When nothing is resolved meeting after meeting, it’s easy for people to lose interest and it’s difficult to get people back on board unless and until they start seeing results.
Apathy is prevalent everywhere. Think about it, if I were to attend all or most RCSC Board meetings, Exchanges, Committee Meetings, SCHOA meetings, Maricopa County Supervisor meetings, club meetings, and church ones, I would not have a life! Good thing we don't have a school district or city government or there would be additional meetings to attend. It's only when something is pertinent to us that we pay enough attention to leave our homes and attend some pretty boring, routine meetings. That's not in the cards for most people or organizations! I do the best I can to attend or view most RCSC meetings but I am in the minority.
The reason for WIFM. We voted for the board members that we thought would represent our best interests. It’s usually only after they prove otherwise that the masses get involved. Show me the money. How do you plan to solve our current budget shortfalls and how long will it take. Then, let’s get real about our long term priorities and how are we going to achieve them. We can’t just keep asking our rich uncle for more money.
It's a fascinating question Larry; how much is too much? And the concept of a "rich uncle" picking up the tab is a bit of a stretch. I would hope by now everyone paying attention has come to understand being cheap isn't the solution to our woes. Yes there are some here who can't afford it and for that we have an amazing infrastructure of support. We need to better promote them and what they can and are doing. The other side of the ledger is a far easier read and one that has a historical reference point. 1981 was the single most contentious year in our history. There were two opposing forces, those who understood DEVCO was gone along with all of the subsidies, and those who felt we should just stay a cheap place to live. The infighting on the RCSC board got so ugly members were locked out of board meetings, only being allowed in by written requests and submitting the questions they wanted to ask. That stupidity didn't last long. By the summer of 1981, recall petitions against the RCSC president and vice-president were filled. The result was the RCSC declaring a mail in ballot for a recall. Of course, that prompted a legal challenge and resulting in a lawsuit. The judge found in favor of the RCSC, the mail-in-vote was held and the officers stayed firmly rooted in place. The community had spoken and those living here were less interested in cheap and more interested in the RCSC taking care of business. That's almost exactly where we are today: The RCSC needs to take care of business. We've let way too much slide by clinging to the mantra of cheap. Our golf courses need help; our technology needs help, our deferred maintenance needs help; the Mountain View Center needs more than help...it's simply shameful what it has become. None of this will be cheap, especially when you consider we had the money to do it the past 5 years but no one held anyone accountable. Let me repeat that by shouting it: NO ONE HELD ANYONE ACCOUNTABLE. The board's job, first and foremost, is oversight. They have one employee to oversee; the general manager. How freaking hard should that be? Now is not the time to look at the small percentage of RCSC residents who can't afford an increase in PIF or yearly lot assessment. Nope not saying ignore them: fire up the Sun City Foundation, Community Action Network (CAN), Sunshine Services, Banner Olive Branch Senior Center, the West Valley Food Bank and any others (yes there's more) who can help support those living in Sun City and need assistance. We (the RCSC) used to do a really great job of promoting them. Sadly we looked inward and thought small picture Sun City, rather than big picture Sun City. Blinders are a God-awful thing other than for a horse race when you don't want your horse to see those running aside them.
It's a new day in Sun City! Many people participated in meetings over the summer, delved into the difficult questions, and presented what they determined were the best options. Let's not study these things any longer. It's time for the Board to vote on the proposals and move forward. It won't be easy with so many interests vying for their special projects, but I trust this Board to make the best selections considering the money available. Then we need to live in the present, while recalling where the past led us, and an eye to the future. I am thinking of the phrase, "It's okay to look in the rear view mirror. Just don't stare at it." Good luck to our elected Directors!
I agree Janet, but the MV project is one they need to get right. But then, so is the budget proposal and so is the long range plan and so is the improved technology and so is the mess golf is in and Lord only knows how they reshape the Communication and outreach committee. And dang, what about this election and the guys recruited to carry the water for the golfers. The point here is their hands will need all of our support,
You are so right, Bill. I just finished watching the video of the last Board meeting. It appears that they made great strides with the go ahead on the softball building, approval of the Communications Committee, budget approval that even had the GAC's support, among the other agenda items. That's REAL progress in my opinion. I can live with the nonresident golfers paying the higher rates and don't get carts before Members, at least for now. I agree that it might be wise for the Board to lower the lot assessment increase to $25-$35 just to show that they are listening to Members. I don't think it hurts to have one or two golfing Members on the Board as long as they pull their weight in other areas. After all, there are at least 4,000 golfers and those expenses take up so many of the funds spent by RCSC. They would be able to go back and tell the golfers about the struggles to get other things paid. However, it didn't appear to me that they were as up to date on RCSC matters as the other candidates when I watched the videos of the Candidate Forums. Hope to get back before the Membership Meeting in November. Then I will see where I fit best on committees if the Board is interested in my service.
Well said Janet, any board member elected should have an understanding and an appreciation of how Sun City and more specifically the RCSC works. Coming to the table with one agenda is short sighted and troublesome.
