For those of you who have read any of my writings over the years, you know i often compare Sun City and Sun City West. Both communities were built on similar platforms of governance. There were some small differences, but their documents were fairly similar. All of that changed around 2000 when an organization was formed; Sun City West Organization for Open Governance (SCWOOG). Those living there felt there was a need for more transparency (sound familiar?). It got really heated and ugly. And then it got better, because calmer heads prevailed. The two groups, SCWOOG and RCSCW, sat down and resolved it all by simply agreeing to let Title 33 become their guidance. For years they acted under Title 10 of the state statutes, as Sun City did. However the community documents mandated far more involvement in the governance than either community were following. Title 33 calls for absolute open meetings (other than executive sessions that are pretty narrowly defined). Sun City West leadership agreed having members involved and knowing exactly what was going on wasn't a bad thing, but a good thing. They worked pretty hard to insure complete and total transparency. In fact, while i was on the RCSC board, we scheduled a joint meeting between ourselves and the SCW board. As the details of time and location were being worked out, they told us they needed for it to be an open meeting and their members invited. Our board and general manager were stunned. Reluctantly we went along with it. I smiled when it happened; no one died because we allowed members to sit in. Imagine that. Anyway, i follow Sun City West for several reasons. Unlike most, i want to know what they do and how they do it. I subscribe to their weekly email blast, which is really nicely done BTW. Last Wednesday i got it and the first item on their agenda was to promote their live Master Plan Survey. Their goal is to reach as many of the members as humanly possible to get their feedback on the future of their community. Here's a copy of the text of the blast: Help shape the future, Sun City West Master Plan survey now live! Does Sun City West need a bar? A new restaurant? Covered pickleball courts? Who would pay for these? Do we need more activities for your age group? Are you satisfied with the clubs and amenities we have? Share your thoughts with us about the community and what you would like to see in the future. The Sun City West Master Plan survey is now available online for residents to fill out. The online survey closes at 3 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 19. Take the SCW Master Plan survey They (Sun City West) has spent the past 20 years making governance an inclusionary process. On the other hand Sun City has spent the past 15 years making it just the opposite. It all begs the question, which is better for us?
I've been a fan of SCW's way of doing some things too. One of the things they do right that I admire is to have a community craft store with items from all their clubs so it can be one stop shopping instead of having to go to each of the clubs and work around their their hours, etc. They have somehow managed to make technology their friend by having it help them with inventory and being able to allocate the proper club's share from sales. Clubs working together--what a concept. What a way to showcase all of them and interest people to join a new club. Volunteers from different clubs working together. "It wouldn't work here," I was told at one of our mtgs....wouldn't even attempt to further study the possibility. Nice way to encourage member input....
Years ago they had one. If I remember correctly I think it was in the shopping center at the corner of Thunderbird and 99th? I think I heard somewhere that a store like that might jeopardize the RCSC's non-profit status, but I'm sure there would be a way to get around that? Don't know enough about it to comment any further.
Good comments and there's any number of other stories i can and will mention them later. Both SCJ and FYI's comments are interesting and on point. SCW no longer has that "community store" run by the RSCW. It's now run by PORA and for the exact reasons that FYI mentioned. Sales of products or revenue for clubs (including golf) should be limited to 15% of the total revenue they take in for IRS purposes. Losing that non-profit tax would crush our community so hopefully everyone at the RCSC is paying attention. It is why RCSCW closed their store but still found a solution to address those making products to see. Again, another example of the community and the organization working together.
I hated when Sun City West dropped the Del Webb name, but the community wanted to establish their own brand and not be linked to the Webb/Pulte corporation. In the end, they (the community) made that choice. For a lot of reasons, they have elected to reach out to their membership anytime they wanted to do things. Losing the Webb name was one thing, however, they never lost their identity. After the SCWOOG fight they embraced the idea/concept there were no secrets they needed to keep from the community. All of which begs the question; why should there be? Literally, why should there be anything to hide? If you follow their website at all, you will find information the RCSC never has shared with our membership. Percentages of single people living in the community; cost per round of golf on a monthly basis; surveys and polling; openly looking forward to the myriad of challenges they are facing. It’s all been an open book. Creating buy-in was how both communities were built and why they were so successful. I defy anyone living in Sun City to delve into our website and find data that matters. It’s not there and there’s a reason for it. If they were honest about how much money they have dumped into golf, the non-golfing community would be up in arms. In Sun City West, years ago, they understood golf wasn’t going to be self-sustaining so they went to the community and addressed the need to subsidize golf. It’s how it should be done. In Sun City the general manager elected to bury numbers so it didn’t look so bad. Hell, they got a freebie when they started using PIF on the courses and even then they presented BS numbers that were less than honest. In Sun City West they went to the membership and addressed spending their version of PIF on golf courses, which the do. The point here is simply this. The organization adopts a philosophy of open and honest communication or it doesn’t. They become comfortable sharing data or they don’t. When i was elected to the RCSC board i went in and tried to change that culture; i failed. It was too deeply ingrained by then. Board members were happy to let the GM do what she was doing without holding her accountable. That is always problematic when you compromise your responsibility to the community. Nope, not something sinister; but a reflection of human nature and people being reluctant to spend so much of their retirement on acting like those before the gm became so large and in charge. The more she did, the less they had to do. The more she gave them the answers, the less they needed to ask or involve the community. In my humble opinion, that was a horrible trade off.
