In 2003 the board made a decision to grandfather existing residents with single rec fees and new buyers would fall under a lot assessment. Whether there was one owner or two, the fee was a fixed rate (now $496). The thinking was that over time those long time residents would die off or move. This took place before the current gm came to Sun City. When the new gm came in and looked at it, she argued those pre 2003 weren't dying off or moving away from Sun City fast enough. She went to the board the latter part of the 2000's and suggested they change the grandfathering. Her position was someone here before the 2003 cutoff would lose their grandfathered status if they sold their residence and moved somewhere else in the community. I was up in arms. I was here when they passed the grandfathering clause and i knew exactly what the board had agreed to. When the board was going to vote on the matter, i asked several of the board members who passed it to come and to speak against the motion. They did and it was for naught. The gm claimed the RCSC attorney told her and board members it could have been intended or interpreted that way. The board passed the motion and the most common scenario was for a spouse to die and the living spouse would move to a smaller living quarter. That irritated me because along with losing their spouse they often lost some of their income. My mother was in exactly that position, as were countless others. Imagine my surprise today when i was at the Museum and came across a letter from the RCSC board stating unequivocally when a grandfathered person moved, the grandfathering went with them. It wasn't maybe, it was an absolute. Holy crap. This is what happens when boards simply let a gm do whatever he/she wants. Sorry, just plain wrong and it has impacted tons of residents over the years who should have been paying a single rate once them moved but ended up paying the full lot assessment.
Wow. This is just one of the many issues that needs eyes on it asap. I will stay on topic however. This requires an announcement of the clarification. An audit to determine the 'victims' and the amount of money to be paid in restitution. This issue effects my family members as well. We have to start demanding real change and accountability.
Not sure on topic, but please keep digging, Bill. Maybe you'll find something that says the quorum can't be changed in order to make it virtually impossible for the members to get anything accomplished!
Bill, help me out on this upcoming motion to increase the PIF to $4000. Would I be correct in assuming that on top of the 4 grand, there will also be the additional costs for title change, and that $4000 dollars will most likely end up being more like an additional $4500 - $4800 cost to a new home purchaser?
They say "you can't make stuff like this up" -- but here it is. I suspect the the GM has made a lot of stuff up, and has been doing so for a looong time! Its easy when the Board is gullible and the GM is a bully! I guess we now need two forensic audits -- financial and 'what the lawyers told her'. Anyone want to go for three? If you're asking, I'd recommend looking into the relationship between the GM and politicians Gray and Payne -- members who did her dirty work and screwed our community in the process.
It's going to be interesting to see how the new board reacts to the new GM. I think that the, so called, impressive resume', credentials and experience of Jan Eck intimidated the members on the board and they would compitulate to whatever she said because they thought she knew better! Bill Cook has no such influence or experience as did Jan Eck, so I'm hoping that the new board will finally act on their own opinions and perhaps take more cues from the Members and our concerns. All we want is for our voices to be heard and have an ability guide the RCSC back to the type of community that we received from Meeker!
Let me respond to the comments. Yes FYI, at the point of sale, the PIF is paid, currently $3500 going to $4000 along with 1 years lot assessment and a $300 transfer fee. Actually i am glad they showed some restraint, Gene had lobbied for 5K years ago. The total out of pocket will be $4796 to the RCSC to get your rec card (s). The increased PIF will generate approximately a million dollars more a year, something in the neighborhood of 8 million plus a year assuming home sales of 2000 per holds. My vision for Sun City is we always will remain a community for average working men and women when they retire. I see golf as being the impediment to that existence. To IC, your "you can't make this stuff up" comment was so spot on. When i asked former boards members to show up at the meeting to tell the gm and board their intentions when they passed the grandfathering clause, i was convinced the existing board would say hell no. It was at that exact moment when i realized this community was in trouble. Over the years decisions have been made by boards like taking over the golf courses and them being self-sufficient and grandfathering existing employees and then just ignoring those deals because what? That's what the GM wanted. We suddenly quit being Sun City and became the GM's Sun City. I know that sounds crass, but no one has ever, and i mean NO ONE has ever had that kind of authority in this community. Let's be even more blunt, board members allowed her to do it. To your final point FYI, the new GM might be different. Who knows? I will give him the benefit of the doubt until he proves me/us wrong. The good news is we are finally getting rid of several of the worst facilitators the board has ever had. There was a reason why in the beginning the maximum term for a board member was one year. It went to two and then three and morphed into two three year terms. They always had the ability to bring retreads back, but i will tell you these guys hanging around for 6,7 and 8 years should be done away with. And to Cheri, when i came across that letter specifically spelling out the details of the grandfathered clause and it remaining in existence even when a resident sold, my first thought was, lets hammer them and make them pay. It was roughly twelve years ago when they passed the change and the letter dates back roughly 18 years ago. The GM would argue she never saw the letter and didn't know. The fact that former board members stood up and told her/them should have been enough. I will never forget the day because it was at that meeting where one of the board members and i almost came to blows. I flat out accused him of being a liar and he took exception. All of which begs the question, am i on some sort of mission? Am i tilting at windmills because i need the attention? Hardly. I moved to Sun City because of our unique structure. No place else was built the way we were. Once i started to understand our history, i became fixated on the importance of not just storing our past but embracing the qualities, the tenets that made us different. Sadly, others haven't seen it that way. Their push has been to remake us to be more like other age restricted communities. That is a tragic mistake IMHO.
