It's The Process; stupid.

Is it possible other trucks were helping out and going to one location to get the job done on schedule and then driving "home" at the end of the day?

 

You're too smart for this old man. I give.

 

Not my intention to "get you". It's only to educate and communicate the truth with knowing a little bit more of the facts!

 

Bad manners are never excusable, my apologies; welcome Sambo, delighted to have you join us on TOSC. I hate arguing the minutia and most often focus on the outcome. Viewpoint lake renovation was a rousing success and for that we should be ever grateful to Bill Cook's efforts.

That said, he was doomed to failure. I have no problem with promoting from within, if in fact the skills required to do the job are equal to or better than candidates from outside the organization. Several of us have been told by people in the room during interviews that wasn't the case. The former GM wanted Bill and in the coming month or so, you'll see and hear why. It's not going to be pretty.

A board's single most important responsibility, in my opinion, is oversight. It's all well and good to trust the management team is doing their jobs, the bigger question becomes; "are they?" As members, we only know visually what we see or sometimes hear. Day to day operations are the domain of management, but insuring the work is being done is in their purview. The board has one employee and that's the GM.

I don't know if you were in the room for the technology meeting in the spring of 2022, but it was shocking. We all knew we were lacking, i doubt anyone (including the board) understood it was a bad as it was. Calling it shameful would be a gross understatement. It all was compounded when the GM told us it was no ones fault. It is exactly what happens when a person owes their selection to the previous GM. Honesty gets thrown out the window.

For years now we have been regaled over how we were the "cheapest" community to live in. Years with no increase in fees was all the board appeared to care about. The problem is we have a massive infrastructure of amenities that need be both maintained and updated. It's not something we can or should ignore. We all assumed that was the case and that the board was making sure those years of being increase-free wasn't costing us on the backside. If only.

The end of last year when Bill Cook was arguing he needed the lot assessment increase in spite of having 11 or 12 million dollar carry-over we asked why? It was a fair question because on its face, the RCSC was flush with cash. He argued we needed to start a reserve account. Had he been able to be rigorously honest with us and the board, there would not have been the shit storm there was. He simply couldn't do it without exposing years of short-comings that should not have ever been or allowed to happen.

The RCSC is well past the point where they need worry about hurting anyone's feelings. I'm not arguing to beat anyone up how we got to where we are, but it's high time to quit pretending everything is wonderful and we can just spend 20 or 30 million dollars on remodels we can neither afford nor need. Did i mention "rigorous honesty?" And to be clear, we need to renovate Mountain View but it has to be done within the framework of what we can afford.

The road back will be long, slow and painful. That option is far better than ignoring the challenges and kicking the can down the road. We now know, after the past 15 years, it has been a tragic evolution away from a self-governed community to one where a small minority of folks made every decision for us. Had they been infallible it just might have worked; they weren't, nor should we have expected them to be.

 

They weren't, that was on me for failing to welcome Sambo. I always try and do that when we get a new poster to TOSC and i failed to do that. You on the other hand did welcome them.

 

Didn't expect a welcome but thank you for that and the explanations from your deep dive research.

 

Why not S? We've always enjoyed the civil exchange of ideas and always welcome newcomers. It would be a pretty boring place if everyone agreed with everyone else. And to be clear, Sun City's history has taught us, that's never been the case. Vehement, sometimes ugly disagreements have been standard fare. In fact, many agonized over the ARS lawsuit but back in the 70's and 80's lawsuits were almost the norm.

The good news is, in spite of it all, Sun City thrived and came out the back side better for the infighting. There's mo more ugly a battle than whether to incorporate or not. It raged for nearly 35 years and there were forces that hated each other. Some day we should do a deeper dive into incorporation, you would be amazed at how detailed the battles were and how splintered the community was from it.

Ultimately, those who wanted the community to be run by the membership overcame those who wanted a local city government and the costs that came with it. Those in favor argued "revenue sharing" would pay for it all. That was true in the early years, but as time marched on, one only has to look at what has happened in Surprise, Peoria and Glendale. Costs exploded as did taxes. That was what the owners in Sun City were fighting against becoming.

The beauty of it was, the battle forged what i called "the perfect documents." The Articles of Incorporation and the Bylaws were written to create a shared responsibility forged between members, the elected board with some assistance from management. Which is exactly why i watched in horror as it was dismantled and turned into a top-down run organization. There was no good reason for it other than to insure the outcomes the gm wanted.

There's no point agonizing over it, our focus now has to be on the future. We know the process works and we know it is slow and cumbersome. I'll take that over 4 or 5 board members and the GM making every decision for us...every day of the week. We're on the right track, but there's a boatload of work to do as you will quickly come to see.

 

I always enjoy finding "teachable moments" and waking this morning i came across one that is applicable to this discussion and way to good to ignore. And, let me say this loudly and clearly; i have zero interest in turning this thread into a debate on abortion. As a 75 year old male who has never had one and pretty clearly never going to be looking for one, it isn't a topic i am passionate about nor wish to debate.

With that out of the way, the outcome in Ohio yesterday was the classic example of how and why process works, and more importantly a true tutorial about why those in power are so eager to change a democratic process where the people have a voice. Way too many folks become true believers in the fact they think they know what's best for others. Even while in the minority, they become fixated on they're right and everyone else is wrong. Freaking tragic.

The turnout in the special summer election in Ohio was three times plus what they had projected. The goal by the republicans (in this case), was to subvert the will of the voters by making referendum ballots having to be passed by 60% of the voters rather than a simple majority (50% plus1). Their claims that it wasn't about abortion at all infuriated democrats, independents and republicans alike and was crushed by a 57/43 percent. Voters of all stripes understood perfectly what they were doing and were angry.

Which by my way of thinking was so on point when comparing it to what is happening here in Sun City. We lived for the past 15 plus years under leadership who believed they knew best. Their goals of dismantling almost 50 years of history to be run as a top-down organization resulted in us becoming one dimensional and stifled participation from the membership, and was a tragic mistake. Within the next two months all of you will see why.

The good news is, the membership stood up and pushed back. The past two elections resulted in outcomes that put us on the right path. Now we all have some work to do to keep it there. Process works.

 

I think we're on the right track but we still have a long way to go. We still have bylaws that need to be amended so that they are not so restrictive on the Members and we need to bring back some of those committees that have been pushed by the wayside!

And most importantly don't forget...we're only ever 1 year away from an election that replaces 1/3 of the board, so things can certainly change rapidly.

The key is to get the community back involved and engaged and continue to be so. Once we slide back into that "let the others decide" mentality we will continually be told what's good for us!

 

You're both right. That is why it is ESSENTIAL that the current Board does everything humanly possible, together with the management team, to begin a comprehensive communication campaign to educate the membership about everything that's happening. Hopefully, people are watching SAC videos; soon the Finance and Budget Committee will be working with the management team on the 2024 budget. They have been working over the summer to get up to speed on the real RCSC financial picture, which is already a major deviation from the last decade or more. The members will know exactly where we/they stand, and hopefully begin to understand more clearly why their involvement matters. There are a lot of moving parts and conflicting priorities, and throw in the hiring of a new GM. There are a lot of things that need to be done right.

Communication is a key to our success. I'm impressed by the improvements being made by the staff in the ways they are using social media. It's definitely a step in the right direction. This has been an extremely busy summer for the Board, management, staff and various committees, and I applaud everyone for their extra efforts. I think we will see big rewards.