Many of you know my best friend in all of Sun City (and everywhere else for that matter) is Ben Roloff. We met in 2006 when we were elected to the SCHOA board. We immediately hit it off when we came to understand just how poorly the organization was functioning. We became comrade in arms as we worked with other board members to rebuild SCHOA. With 75 outstanding violations, membership plummeting and the 14 employees appearing clueless on doing their job, we offered to help them be successful. That suggestion was well received as 13 of them quit by week's end. It was better than firing anyone and allowed us to start with a clean slate. The one employee who stayed was the head of compliance and he had always been good at his job. He stayed through the end of the year as we righted the ship and started going after the most egregious violators with a passion. From that point forward, Ben and i forged a friendship that evolved into a passion for Sun City's history. We've spent years together on the Del Webb Sun Cities Museum board and more interesting are the hundreds of "coffees: we've shared in the past dozen plus years. Between Starbucks, McDonalds and Georges at the Bell Rec Center bowling lanes, we've consumed way too much caffeine together. Ben is the smartest person i know and has mentored me over the years. He's the smart one, i'm the one not smart enough to ever give up fighting for what i/we believe in. He calls himself the self-proclaimed Sun City historian; i'm less modest and just identify as a Sun City historian. Both of us are self-taught. We've spent more hours reading our history than we would care to admit. Ben far more than me. He has for the past 7 years visited the Arizona State archives reading 25 plus years of daily and weekly newspapers from Sun City. More importantly, he has compiled those daily musings in folders which someday he will present to the museum. All properly collated and easily searchable. As a footnote; i went once and after trying to read the wavering microfilm, vowed i would pluck my eyes out with a spoon before going back. Did i mention, he's not only smarter, but way more patient. He doesn't suffer fools well, but he tends to fall down on being gracious while i am a bit more caustic (said with a smirk). Anyway, long story short; we both know the trials and tribulations of the building of Sun City. We know the starts and stops, foolish mistakes and brilliant decisions. We know of John Meeker's unwavering efforts to create a concept built around a sense of community and ownership. We know the ugly battles over Incorporation and the challenges of becoming a school district; or in our case escaping one. We know when DEVCO left and the members accepted the responsibilities in the 80's the nasty interactions between differing opinions. Sun City was forged from fire and infighting over what the membership saw as the right direction. It was never easy, but it was always resolved with the membership being the driving force. No matter direction, they got it right. Then everything changed. Ben moved here in the mid 90's, we moved here in 2003. We both lived under governing documents that were near on perfectly balanced. Rich Hoffer liked to talk about a symbiotic relationship; and back before 2006, it pretty much was. Shared power between the board and the membership. Documents giving both equal weight. In 2006 a general manager was hired who had her own vision for the future. It took three years (a full turnover of the board) and her entire management team replaced by her, to push forward. There's little value in reliving the actions that got us to the point we were at; suffice to say, Sun City had evolved, become something neither Ben nor i recognized. It was frustrating to watch, like a slow motion car crash and nothing we could do. The simple reality is, the path we were all on would have stayed the course but for one action: In 2020, they fired Karen McAdam and started a shit storm that finally crested on Dec 13, 2022. Three new board members were elected that will bring a paradigm shift to the RCSC. Board members who believe the community is best served when we function as a community first and a corporation second. Board members who believe the membership has the answers to the myriad of questions, concerns and challenges we face. For too long, we have trusted a general manager to be our guiding light. For the first 50 years, the GM ran the day to day operations. Long story short, Ben posted the following comments on one of the social media sites we used to help win the election. It pretty much says it all from a man i consider head and shoulders above so many i know: "Yesterday was one of my favorite days ever living in Sun City, and I have been here for over twenty-five years." The thing you don't know about Ben is, he squeezes the most out of every day he lives. I get tired when he tells me what he has done the past week. So, when he says: "one of my favorite days ever in Sun City, you can take it to the bank. From a purely historical standpoint, i couldn't agree more.
So now the election's over, it's time for you younger newbies that don't have anything better to do than bitch about stuff to get your rear ends out and start volunteering for our community! The time you have spent on this website in front of your computer you could have been picking up trash and a whole lot of other things than sitting on your ass in front of a screen. Sun City was built with by volunteers doing the work that nobody else would do. And when you get old and can no longer do these things you will have the privilege to post what I just posted for you folks! Serve our community in a positive way stop your bickering. Sometimes things can't be fixed realize that would you want today may not happen realize that so there are a lot of projects in Sun City that have not been done that need to be done big and small.
Bravo! There's been enough finger pointing and egomaniacs on the sidelines. If they can do better, let's see it! Can't wait.
It's an assumption by both you and Lyoness (and an incorrect one for me) that this younger newbie can't both volunteer in the community and also suggest how to make things better. Maybe things aren't really one dimensional. Congrats to new Board Members! Looking forward to working with them!
