Good morning ~ Talk of Sun City is me, Jean Totten. (The system doesn't let me change my "name.") Fall looks different here in Sun City, AZ than where I originally hail from but just like everywhere, it ushers in crisper weather, shiny red apples, scary Halloween critters, bags of sweets and pumpkin spice everything. We Sun Citians also begin the process for our 2022 RCSC Board of Directors election. The slate of candidates was announced yesterday; I am honored to be listed with Jerry Walczak, John Sahlberg, James Rough, Bill Pearson, John Fast, Steve Collins and Darla Akins. I'm not familiar with everyone so I look forward to meeting some and hearing what they have to offer. (That's a lot of J's there!) Please take every opportunity you can in the coming months to gather information/facts about each one of us so that you can make informed choices when you go to vote. There will be plenty of opportunities for you to do so: Candidate Profiles will be distributed from corporate; we have been invited to attend every Board meeting from now until the election; there will be two Candidate Forums where you will have the chance to mingle 1/2 hour before it begins or ask a question once it starts; and the Annual Membership Meeting on November 1st will also be an opportunity to meet and greet. You can help me out a couple of ways. My focus is centered on YOU ~ the members. 1. Tell me what you want to happen in SC this next year. 2. Tell me what you expect of a Board member. 3. Ask me a question. 4. Give me some words of advice. * If you prefer, reach out privately at my email address created just for this election at: jeantotten.iluvsuncity@gmail.com * Or, if you're on Facebook, check out the group I created and will populate as time allows. You should already be in your FB account then just type the following in the Search bar: https://www.facebook.com/groups/iluvsuncity You will have to answer just one question (Do you live in Sun City) to gain access to this Private Group. And remember this: “If You Always Do What You’ve Always Done, You’ll Always Get What You’ve Always Got.” ~ Henry Ford Thank you! Jean
I know it's hard to believe, but the sun shone a little brighter this morning, the birds were chirping a little louder and the future looks potentially better. Only time will tell, but i know i am hearing far more interest from those who have been told for years now, "don't worry, be happy...we'll take care of everything for you." That's not how Sun City was built and why it was so successful. Running from our history and being afraid of the membership was a God awful business model and it is high time to dump it and return to our roots.
If the system won’t let you change your name, is it possible to register with your real name? I think it’s important that you let everyone be aware of you.
JEAN TOTTEN as One Day at a Time While everyone is waiting for the YouTube of the Member Board Exchange of October 10th to drop, here is my take. I didn't take the best notes, but I know what it's like to wait. Reflections after the Monday, Oct. 10th Member Board Exchange By Jean Totten Any errors in reporting are mine First, I’d like to state that it was encouraging to see some new faces at the podium. In my opinion, that indicates that more members are becoming involved. That is a good thing!! · GM Bill Cook presented a State of the Union report; this will be posted on the website. · Brian Duthu, Director of Golf and Grounds, presented an updated Golf report (last presentation June 14th). My Observation: Almost 45 minutes was spent listening to these reports. While I appreciate the information that was given, this is supposed to be the Member’s meeting. Perhaps these could be moved to the more “formal” Board meeting. The last several months have shown that those meetings seldom go over 1 ½ hours. There was a variety of questions asked or statements made. One member requested the Board to look into Handicap Lifts for all Sun City pools. Golf was brought up several times with one member stating that Sun City was known as the best deal in the Valley. That sounds like a good thing but not at the expense of our members losing out on requested tee times or cart rentals. I was surprised to hear that there was still PIF money left for the Grand Center; I thought that Center had been completed. The revised edition of the Bylaws by the Ad Hoc Committee was discussed; concerns were brought forth and we were told that the committee is meeting this week to make some suggested changes. I hope that after listening to the members today, they question some of our comments, too. I’m under the impression that these revised bylaws will not be in effect when our Annual Membership Meeting takes place on November 1st because: · All of the Board Policies that were in the present bylaws were removed by the committee. Because the committee was only charged with the revision of the bylaws, they are sitting – so to speak – on the shelf and need to be added back to our Corporate Documents. Allan Lenefsky, chair of the Ad Hoc C. said that they will be placed back in the Corporate Documents verbatim from the way that they came out. · Director Lenefsky plans to submit the revised bylaws at the “formal” October 27th Board meeting (if the policies have been taken care of). The Board will vote and also have the option of waiving the second reading; however, at the September 12th Member Board Exchange, President Lehrer remarked that “any prudent Board member would not forgo a 2nd reading on something this important that we need members input on.” But she also said she can’t guarantee that doesn’t happen. · I spoke with Director Lenefsky after the meeting, and he too, said he did not want to see the second reading waived. He went on to add that he has presented them to the Board and technically they are out of his hands and in the hands of the President. · I had a member tell me that she was confused because at that same meeting, President Lehrer had asked a member of the Election Committee to read us the 14 Steps for voting that will take place at the Annual Membership meeting this year if/when it comes time to vote. What he stated was not what is written in the present bylaws but is in the revised bylaws. Clearly, I am also confused. One member gave a lengthy dissertation that talked about Board members and the steps that they go through if they have been given an incident report. He also reminded all of us that our facial expression and mutterings into the microphone might give someone the wrong impression. (I had no idea what this was about.) The most riveting speaker was Posse Commander Marc Fuller. It was a “he said, you said” discussion with GM Cook about the breakdown of talks between RCSC and the Posse, and the patrolling of the Golf Courses after dark. Apparently, liability, policies and procedures enter into the conversation. Rusty Bradshaw, our reporter for the Sun City Independent, published a “breaking news” type story in the Subscriber only edition of the paper that same day. It is hoped that a meeting between all parties, with the addition of President Lehrer and Director Lenefsky, can help smooth out this wrinkle. The Posse is a volunteer group who gives so much to our community. We are grateful to have them and hate to see our relationship strained or in jeopardy. I closed out the meeting with my question about the upgrade to the Web Site portal that includes the election voting. I had asked about it at the last Member Board Exchange and was following up on that. I was concerned that some of our member population might need more time to complete the steps necessary for the upgrade and that could impact our online voting this year. Apparently last year, 88% of the votes were online. Joelyn Higgins, Communication and Marketing Coordinator, said that RCSC had decided to wait until later in the year to do the upgrade. That's a good thing.
