I was delighted to see Tom Marone’s common sense proposal to upgrade the Sun Dial auditorium for use for all performing arts, including the only performing arts group that does not use Sun Dial, The Players club. I was also encouraged when President Foster told Mr. Marone that he would have an opportunity to talk to the architect. If I understood Mr. Morone’s proposal correctly Sun City could save many millions by not duplicating all the expensive AV equipment in Sun Dial at Mountainview. In addition, by designing Mountainview to be a true multipurpose facility it could be used for dances, sports, events and meetings as well as performances not requiring all the expensive AV equipment… It sounded too good to be true that the Board would ask the architect to work with Mr. Marone to develop such a fiscally responsible option and compare it to the test fit exercise they presented. My colleague Jean Totten steered me to the Board meeting of September 25th regarding what was approved. When I went to our website, the ten-year PIF forecast showed a total budget of $28,000,000 for Mountainview with $14,000,000 being spent in 2026. Then I went to the Triarc presentation and found that Option 3, the one that was approved by the Board, had an estimated cost of $38,500,000. The only thing clear about the cost of this project is the Board wants the money spent as quickly as possible. All of the above led me to listen carefully to the September 25th board meeting video. In that meeting two relevant things occurred: · The Board approved moving the Mountainview Project forward into the design phase with option 3 · Member input into items such as flat floor versus sloped flow can be discussed with the architect. Hmm, I thought to myself, there is no process for discussing anything other than the components (e.g. color of doorknobs) that go into the buildings that are shown on Option 3. Sorry Mr. Marone but it is too late to discuss your excellent suggestion as there is no budget to consider it and considering it would delay completion of Mountainview which has been delayed too many times. But thank you for your participation and don't let the door hit you on the way out... Once again members are being told that the Mountainview express has left the station, and the Players Club is at the controls. The next stop for the Mountainview express is the bridge over the fiscal cliff. Enjoy the crash…
