SC Annual membership meeting...Monday Feb 27.

It's a departure from what has been the norm, as the RCSC board is trying something wholly different. In recent years past, the annual membership meeting was scheduled on a Saturday. The first couple were day long extravaganzas in an effort to draw larger crowds. This year, it will be held at Sun Dial auditorium on Monday Feb 27th.There will be a social half-hour from 6 to 6:30.

For newcomers, obviously the history of how we got here is lost in the minutia of change. That's too bad, because that very history contains footholds in exactly how and why Sun City succeeded as well as it has.All of which becomes the perfect segue for me to touch on what got us to this point in time.

Sun City, since its inception, has been all about community involvement and activism. It was built around a premise of buyers taking ownership in the process if self-governance. Even during the DEVCO phase (1960-1978) the goal was to build a sustainable infrastructure being run without their support.

DEVCO provided legal help to shape the community documents, but they were always framed by those living here. Boards from the various community organizations had 2 and 3 times the numbers of candidates running than there were open seats. Votes for those seats were often well above 50% of the population.

In the early 80's there was a fierce battle over spending between those wanting to be frugal and those who understood nothing stands still. Like most struggles, the resolution was somewhere in the middle.There was a hard fought battle to buy the Sun Bowl and thankfully they did (what a great venue to own). Unfortunately, they did nothing in preparing for the future.

By the mid 90's the massive amenity package gifted to the community from DEVCO was starting to show its age. By the late 90's, the RCSC board passed the most aggressive proposal in Sun City's history. They voted to begin a point of sale "tax" that would be used for improvements in the coming years. The Preservation and Improvement Fund (PIF) was passed and beginning in 2000 they started collecting from new buyers a $750 one time fee.

The one constant in the community were the monthly board meetings followed by a potential membership meeting (held quarterly). They needed a quorum of 100 card holders and if they had at least the minimum, they would hold the membership meeting. Through all of those years, nothing ever surfaced that caused distress or ruined the community. It did however hold the board in a position of balance as there were by By-Law things the membership could do if angered.

Things began to change by mid 2000. The board was enacting changes that some in the community started railing against. Paranoia set in and a decision was made to change the quorum to 3500. It passed the end of 2009 and the reality is our last "membership meeting" was in September of 2009. Several years later the board reduced the number to 1250, but it was still unrealistic.

While serving om the board, i voted with other board members to change from a quarterly board meeting (which we never held) to an annual meeting. I was sure once the board realized we would never draw the required 1250 members, they would reduce the quorum requirement to something more manageable (say 500?). Foolish on my part, because board members really didn't appear to care if we had a membership meeting or not.

Today, we exist without some of that rich history that pushes boards and owners to work in unison. Without membership meetings (in my humble opinion), Sun City is lessor for it. Every year we see less interest in those buying in the community. Not unusual given what we know about baby-boomers and their penchant not to be joiners like those from the greatest generation.The reality is to draw people into the concept of self-governance, it would take a commitment that included a clearly defined goal and a plan set in place to accomplish that end.

Perhaps it's neither here nor there. Sun City is perhaps the best value in the country when it comes to age restricted living. We have a long established set of values, tenets if you will, that were carved out by those early owners and for most are unaware and maybe uninterested in them. For me, they are the blueprint for our success and the footprints we should be following. The more we stray from them, the more concerned i get about our future.

The annual membership meeting this year will be held at a time most people will be able to attend. The reality is, 100 to 200 people would be a good turnout.I hope we have more, so we will see.

Help prove me wrong, show up this coming Monday night at Sun Dial at 6pm and begin to get your arms and your head around just how special Sun City truly is.

 

Just a gentle reminder:
Tonight's the nite eh?

Sundial Auditorium.

6:00Pm

Annual membership Meeting.

 

Damn, just missed making the quorum...only about a 1000 people short. It was a good meeting as the GM addressed several topics that are hot button. The biggest was the per property versus the per person. Interesting on the breakout of numbers of grandfathered and the number of owners since 2003 that are single.

It's clear Sun City is a destination for home owners living alone and when you consider square footage and the cost of living here it just makes sense. Especially when you factor in property taxes, even with the lot assessment, it's truly a bargain.Jan also reviewed the history of the number of times Sun City flopped between per lot /per person assessments which i knew happened but not when.

We did see the usual slide comparing the original Sun City with all of the other SC communities around the country, and we are the lowest, with this exception: Sun City West cost for a single owner is less than we are are for a single making a lot assessment payment. That said, i thought Sun City West did their adjustment to their yearly fees early in the spring so i am not sure we are comparing apples to apples.

I would strongly encourage the 37,000 card holders who failed to make the meeting try and watch it on line. I haven't seen it posted yet but i am sure it will be. Lots of good information and a very basic understanding of how the community works.

 

I thought it was online yesterday until I realized I was watching an audio/slide version of the 2016 meeting.

 

Interesting, i will see if they are going to post it and let you all know.

 

So here's the link to the RCSC annual membership meeting.