Sun City Advocates

Discussion in 'Sun City General Discussions' started by OneDayAtATime, Dec 24, 2021.

  1. OneDayAtATime

    OneDayAtATime Active Member

    Advocacy: To change “what is” into “what could be.”

    Sun City was built on Value and Core Values where both the community and the board would work in partnership. Sun City was built around the concept of self-governance of ownership and with a culture forged around a sense of community.

    Our goals include:

    *Returning to the checks and balances that enabled the Membership to be served by RCSC.

    *Returning to allowing the Membership to decide what’s best for Sun City.

    *Returning to Community Input that is the bedrock of going forward.

    *Returning Sun City to the most unique age-restricted community in the nation, not only a community that is “The Original Fun City” but also “The City of Volunteers.”

    *Assisting all homeowners/members in becoming more AWARE of their community and using their voice to spread this AWARENESS; to “GIVE BACK WHERE NEEDED; to offer SUPPORT to new residents and our senior residents; to continue to search for the best way to COMMUNICATE; to VOLUNTEER where needed.


    There was never a question of whether Sun City would be successful; let’s keep it that way!


    An Advisory Panel is in the process of being form to guide us as we endeavor to "go backwards before going forward" (erase many of the mistakes of the last 15 years). The Panel is going to be formed with diverse members who are blessed with different skills. Many of us have worked well together in the past. We will give suggestions and ask for input. We are not experts; we are just like you - members of one of the best retirement communities around who care enough about their community to speak up when they see something going wrong. We'll be here to gently guide the group forward.


    We'll try to keep the emails to a minimum, and we may ask for your help. But for now, please have patience as we watch 2022 roll in along with four new Board members. Will there be a changing of the guard in the Board? Will the new Board members get a chance to be heard? Will the new Board members continue to stand for what they pledged on each night of the Candidate Forums on YouTube? I plan on reviewing those two YouTube presentations to jot down their expressed thoughts and concerns, and then I plan to hold them to what they stated.


    PS You can help by showing your interest by sending me an email to jean.totten47@gmail.com to join or telling a friend, telling the members of a club you may be in, telling a neighbor, telling a fellow church goer. This is one of the only means of communication we have. There are over 27K homeowners/members of Sun City; our database contains about 325. Let's grow!!!!!

     
    BJ Melberg and Nia N Maxwell like this.
  2. BPearson

    BPearson Well-Known Member

    Wow, 325 members to date. that indeed is impressive. I just got a Christmas e-card from Barbara Brehm who was a board member that was fired in 2020 for asking questions regarding the organizations financials. I told her we were in the process of building a group of activists and had surpassed the 200 threshold. Guess you've been one busy bee odaat. I would encourage anyone reading this to consider joining us.

    So we are clear, we are doing this because we love Sun City. Many of us know just how spectacular our history is/was and why we were successful. We know it can be far better than it is, simply by becoming a part of the process of self-governance. Life outside the walls has become crazy: Our lives inside the walls can help ground us and keep us focused on a community where ownership, accountability and a commitment to one another has no political boundaries, only a belief that we can do better. Why would you not want to join and become part of something as exciting as that?

    Kudos to everyone who has joined. We will make history in Sun City in 2022, you might just want to be part of it.
     
  3. OneDayAtATime

    OneDayAtATime Active Member

    To join Sun City Advocates, email jean.totten47@gmail.com
    Please include
    Your name
    Your email address
    Your phone number

    Tell a friend, tell the members of a club you may be in, tell a neighbor, tell a fellow church goer.

    We're 10 short of 400 members!! This is one of the only means of communication we have. Let's continue to grow!!!!!
     
    Last edited: Jan 3, 2022
    Nia N Maxwell and eyesopen like this.
  4. OneDayAtATime

    OneDayAtATime Active Member

    Posted on four FB sites and Nextdoor:
    A big shout out to two of our own - eloquent letter writers indeed! Thanks Bob and David! In case you haven't received your Sun City Independent this week, they have had their opinions published in the Letters to the Editor. Please consider doing the same. The more AWARENESS (Polite) that we bring to our group, the more we grow.

    Even though our numbers are growing, we need to continue to add new members; members who are tired of being labeled cardholders instead of members. Members who want their opinions to be heard and considered at the RCSC Board meetings. We have limited resources to spread the word; this is one. Continue to tell friends, acquaintances, neighbors, people you meet at the dog park, or at the swimming pool or lawn bowling about us! Tell them to send me an email with their name and phone number (as there may be times just a text message will suffice to communicate with) and we'll get them signed up lickety-split! (jean.totten47@gmail.com)

    Many of you are asking to be my friend; please don't be insulted that I haven't answered you. I represent just 1/11th of the Advisory Panel for this group, and I have been way too busy entering information into our database to accept -- but that's a GOOD thing!!

    Remember, next Board meeting is Thursday, January 27th at 9 am at the Sun Dial Auditorium. Important issues will be discussed!!
     
    eyesopen likes this.
  5. OneDayAtATime

    OneDayAtATime Active Member

    Letter from me sent to President Lehrer with a cc to the rest of the Board. Also sent a copy to the Independent but not sure that it is in time to make the deadline for week of 1.24.22

    January 19, 2022
    Board President Dale Lehrer:

    Thank you for the recent action taken at the Board meeting on Monday, January 10th regarding the 90-day moratorium on contracts for Mountain View to allow for some fiscal due diligence in evaluating costs and possible alternatives after receiving the $40 million estimate. I am definitely IN FAVOR of building a performing arts center; I just feel that more research needs to be accomplished.

    I have questions about the proper procedure(s) that need to be taken to present any research that I find will strengthen the idea of possible alternatives due to the excessive dollar estimate. However, I find nowhere on the RCSC website that gives me guidance on how to accomplish this endeavor.

    I re-watched the video of the meeting in hopes that there might be a clue as to how to proceed but didn’t find an answer there. Director Nowakowski asked who was going to conduct this exercise and what were they supposed to bring to the Board. He also asked what you – the Board – were directing the members to do or were you – the Board - directing the staff or a committee. President Lehrer, when asked by a member if you – the Board – would be willing to fund us – the Members – in the charge that came from the motion, you stated, “you did not believe so.” You then conferred with the Parliamentarian – which I could not hear – and then stated that our time would be a budgeting request which would need an approval. You then said something about members of the community just coming up to the microphone and stating yes or no. Unfortunately, before you had a chance to expand on that sentence, the subject was changed to parking spaces and from what I observed, you were never able to return to the directions to the members on a clear path or how we were to proceed.

    Would it be possible to get that information in a return answer from you? I am eager to produce information about several alternatives to Mountain View, but I don’t know the steps that I need to take.

    I’ll wait for a reply, but please be aware that the 90-day clock is ticking against me.

    Thank you for your time.

    Jean Totten

    CC: Directors Akins, Collins, Ege, Fimmel, McAdam, Lenefsky, Nowalkowski, Wilson
     
    eyesopen likes this.
  6. eyesopen

    eyesopen Well-Known Member

    Posted on Nextdoor
    Opinion
    RCSC
    NEW BOARD MEMBERS MAKE NO DIFFERENCE

    The replacement of four board members with newly elected board members has not sufficiently improved the unpopular Recreation Centers of Sun City Board of Directors. See why for yourself.

    You can watch a video of the entire Jan. 10 RCSC board meeting on the Sun City AZ YouTube channel. Warning, it’s a train wreck!

    From the sidelines I would like to thank new board member John Nowakowski for his motions to make changes that the RCSC members requested. Other new board members that were supportive of change were Karen McAdam and Kat Fimmel.

    There is another new board member and I think his name is Allan Lenefsky. He’s an attorney, ladee- dah. Watch the video to get his name right. Board member Steve Collins gave it the old college try with several motions in tune with RCSC members. Let’s give him our support.

    Unfortunately, the remaining four board members were as expected. They are out of touch, to say the least. Board member Sue Wilson’s motion to appoint an ad hoc committee was so poorly written that it took a huge portion of the meeting to discuss amendments to the motion. Maybe Lenefsky can offer his help. He’s an attorney, la-dee-dah.

    The parliamentarian tried to help. Too many mistakes added to confusion and wasted time.

    Please try to attend the next RCSC board meeting 9 a.m. Thursday, Jan. 27 in the auditorium at Sundial Center, 14801 N. 103rd Ave.

    The cookies and coffee are free. Bring your own anti-depressants.

    Bob Aleo
    SUN CITY
    Sun City Independent - Opinions 01.19.2022
     
    OneDayAtATime likes this.
  7. eyesopen

    eyesopen Well-Known Member

    Posted on Nextdoor
    Opinion
    MEETING
    RESIDENT HAS MIXED FEELINGS ABOUT BOARD

    The first Recreation Centers of Sun City board meeting of 2022 is in the history books, a long one, despite being surprisingly truncated.

    It was great to see the large turnout of members and to hear the new president open the meeting with conciliatory words hoping for a spirit of mutual respect and cooperative partnership in the new year.

    However, and you probably knew this “but” was coming, I am rather nonplussed as I try to align the stirring words with what actually transpired.

    Many of the members who attended wanted to observe and speak into the debate about just two baskets of items 1) the Mountain View project and 2) the disposition of the agenda points brought forward by the membership at the annual membership meeting last month.

    When the latter finally came to the floor, all of a sudden we were notified that one board member had to leave for a medical procedure and all debate was thus cut off and the vote postponed.

    Really? We waited for three hours to get to what really mattered to us, and the departure of one single member completely incapacitated the RCSC board? Have we never conducted a board meeting with just eight board members in attendance?

    Check out the 8-member meetings of Dec. 6 and Dec. 16.

    Allan Lenefsky, you are new to the board, and this was your first public meeting. I’m trying to parse your position that your departure incapacitated your colleagues. Are you really that important? Is your presence the determining factor in whether the board can proceed with its business? How did you come to the conclusion that the board could not possibly continue with debate and a vote in your absence?

    President Dale Lehrer, I’m curious about your answer to the same questions. On other matters that came to a vote, I believe you did not cast a vote, which is a proper procedure for the board president to follow. But on the vote to postpone, you cast the deciding vote to break a 4-4 tie vote regarding continuing on or postponing the discussion and vote. Do you have so little confidence in the other eight board members that you could not trust them to continue on in the absence of Director Lenefsky? Or was this simply a political calculation that allowed you to avert a vote going the “wrong way,” i.e., in favor of the membership position?

    As much as I’d like to believe that you really did want to “get off on the right foot” and to commit to “participate and get involved,” stiffing the membership is an odd way to lend credence to that wish.

    I’d love to hear back from both of you and discover that a less sinister explanation exists. For now, though, for me and dozens of other Sun City residents, the suspicion meter is ticking madly.

    David Sinclair
    SUN CITY
    Sun City Indepedent 01.19.2022

    Editor’s Note: In a previous RCSC board meeting it was announced the board would follow Robert’s Rules of Order. which states the president does not vote on motions unless in the event of a tie vote.
     
    OneDayAtATime likes this.
  8. BPearson

    BPearson Well-Known Member

    Let me be blunt here: Brilliantly written letter Dave. And to be even more blunt, the board knew the outcome once Allan left the stage and refused to allow the will of the members from the annual membership meeting to be even considered. Dave was polite enough to "question" it, i'm not feeling that charitable. There is a long standing history of board members missing meetings and the board carries on in spite of them not being there.

    We all agree, Dale's opening statement was refreshing. Unfortunately the RCSC has a long said the right thing and then done whatever they pleased. To be clear, it is why the Sun City Advocates has morphed from supporting returning Karen McAdam to the RCSC board to one where we will be ever-present helping hold the board and management accountable. If we weren't concerned, we wouldn't be wasting our time; if we didn't love Sun City we wouldn't be doing what we are doing.
     
    Enigma, FYI and eyesopen like this.
  9. OneDayAtATime

    OneDayAtATime Active Member

    Sent an email to over 400 members of Sun City Advocates from our new tool!! We're making progress.

    If you haven't signed up yet, copy and paste this link into your browser. http://eepurl.com/hSIQeT
     
    eyesopen likes this.
  10. BPearson

    BPearson Well-Known Member

    Did you know???????

    In the beginning and for the better part of 40 years, both DEVCO and the Rec Centers of Sun City asked the members opinions regarding all of the important issues they were facing. Join now and we will be asking you what you think and want, even is they (the RCSC) won't.
     
    Last edited: Jan 24, 2022
    eyesopen likes this.
  11. FYI

    FYI Well-Known Member

    This is NOT true!

    1. The president can vote if the vote is by ballot.
    2. The president can vote if they are following the Procedure in Small Boards (see Robert's Rules 49:21)
    3. The president can vote whenever his/her vote will change the outcome. (Note: the president can vote to create a tie which would cause the motion will fail.)
     
    Last edited: Jan 24, 2022
  12. eyesopen

    eyesopen Well-Known Member

    “Editor’s Note: In a previous RCSC board meeting it was announced the board would follow Robert’s Rules of Order, which states the president does not vote on motions unless in the event of a tie vote.”
    That was Rusty Bradshaw’s response to David Sinclair’s published Opinion piece in the Sun City Independent. Perhaps Rusty is blindly accepting the board’s interpretation?
     
    FYI likes this.
  13. FYI

    FYI Well-Known Member

    I find it very disturbing when I hear comments being made that the Sun City Advocates are just a bunch of disgruntled residents who are trying to ruin things!

    Truth be known, and it's just my opinion, that those who are criticizing us simply don't have a clue of what we're really trying to accomplish. They are basing their opinions on soundbites and rumors. The Sun City Advocates aren't trying to change Sun City, we are attempting to return it to the type of community that caused its success.

    There will be those who will criticize us as a small group of dissidents trying to get our own way without considering the fact that there are only 9 members of the board who are, in fact, calling all the shots, and typically 3 of those 9 board members leave the board every year!

    Is that who you want making all the decisions about your community and spending your money or would you prefer to have some input on how they are spending the 22 million dollar budget?

    The only interest the Sun City Advocates has is to return a sense of community and self-governance back into the community where we all know and understand where our dollars are being spent and with a more open means of communication. We typically find out about things after it's too late to do anything about it or had an opportunity to express our views or opinions.

    If you don't agree with our mission to Educate, Communicate & Participate, then don't just sit quietly and bitch about it among yourselves. Join us and express your opinion and point of view. You may be able tell us things we don't know and change our mind!

    The charter members of the Sun City Advocates are as different as can be. We come from every part of the country with a variety of occupations and careers and political persuasions, but the one thing we have in common is our focus on returning Sun City to a co-governance, well informed, community.

    Hope to see you all at the Thursday, January 27th Meeting at Sundial at 9 a.m. Come over and talk to us and sign-up for our email Newsletters! You will never be asked to do anything other than keeping yourself informed.
     
    Last edited: Jan 26, 2022
    Cheri Marchio, jeb, eyesopen and 2 others like this.
  14. BobA

    BobA New Member

    Just my opinion. I have noticed that the most intelligent words spoken at a RCSC board meeting come from the members coming to the podium to make comments or suggestions. Many of those people I believe are members of the Sun City Advocates. Am I right? Gripers indeed.
     

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