The other day i had coffee with my best friend Ben Roloff. He is a fellow historian and one of the smartest guys i know. We meet regularly and talk about all things Sun City. Both of us have been more involved in the community's governance than most. Perhaps more significant than the hours we have accumulated, is the number of years we have been doing it. Most tire over the duration and just want to enjoy their remaining years. Ben predates me, coming in the mid 90's while we started getting involved in 2003 when we became permanent residents. Ben and I first met when we were elected to the SCHOA board in 2006. It took us a matter of minutes to see the mess SCHOA had become and we (along with a number of others) quickly worked to rebuild it. Since then, and through countless numbers of hours and commitment we have become most focused on our history. There's lots we don't know, but most of it we do. Ben spent the better part of the past 5 years reading the state archived newspapers from Sun City. His findings are nothing short of spectacular. For my part, i traveled down the RCSC road a little more heavily. My three year term on the RCSC board was painfully long. I found it an exercise in futility as the primary focus over the years has been to prop up and rubber stamp everything the general manager wanted. The idea the community elected us to be their representative was ludicrous. Community documents were rewritten by the gm, blessed by the boards and ultimately became the law of the land. I've written this before and nothing will change my opinion. The general manager had a vision for Sun City to change how it was run, governed and how it was perceived by the membership...who by the way suddenly were called "card holders." To add insult to injury, we moved away from being the "City of Volunteers" to become the "Origin Fun City." The whole agenda was to remake the Recreation Centers of Sun City (RCSC) into the controlling body, much like city governance (by the way, the community fought that for 35 years). Those elected to the boards were told their job was loyalty to the corporation; which morphed into loyalty to the general manager. Any and all of the safeguards built into the documents were changed to insulate any push back by the members. It didn't happen over night, it was a steady drip/drip year after year. I watched in horror as everything i loved about Sun City, the way it was built, the way it was run was dismantled. Apparently the gm saw a future where the membership was best served by non-involvement. Let the board and the management team make all the decisions and Sun City would become a better place. The question you have to ask yourself; did it? Are we better off if we don't care? Don't pay attention? Can a handful of well meaning individuals make better choices than the community at large? I will tell you, that was never the case the first 45 years. Sun City was run, owned and successful because the way it was built by those buying here and taking ownership and responsibility. I won't try and speak for Ben, he's more than capable. For me, i know exactly why i have done what i have done for the past 19 years. I love the community, love our history too much to let it be changed by and for a handful of folks who found it easier to minimize the rest of us. Here's the question i put to Ben over coffee: What if i had given up years ago? What if i had just gone off and played the remainder of my life away? Would Sun City look and feel different? Would we just have become the original fun City and no one would have to pay attention to anything? Let's be honest here, it matters not, because ultimately Sun City will exist with or without me. My only vision for is it to be the best it can be. In my humble opinion, we have fallen far short of that in the past 15 years. Each of us plays a small and insignificant role, or we don't. The choice really is yours. Personally i think it is worth fighting over and for.
Interesting question Bill that got me to thinking! Not that I'm trying to be the finance guy for Sun City but here's a few things I learned by attending the board meetings; first of all, the RCSC has 5.5 million dollars in their capitol reserve and another 1.5 million carry-over from last years budget. If you just quickly run the numbers, every year the RCSC takes in approximately 16 million dollars from our annual $496 dollar assessment plus another 5 million goes into the PIF fund if you use their average of only 1,500 home sales a year. That's over 21 million dollars a year! Now here's the point I'm trying to make that goes into your original question, about paying attention. What's going to happen when the Board decides to raise the assessment? They couldn't raise the assessment last year, not after shutting the facilities down for Covid as long as they did. And how can they raise it when they have 5.5 million in capitol reserve and another 1.5 million left over from last year? This is a non-profit, remember! Point being: the next time the Board recommends raising the assessment, it will open the flood gates of people wanting to know why! Call me a conspiracy nut, but by not raising the assessments the Board is keeping many residents fat, dumb, and happy with no questions asked, just like the previous GM wanted! Now, a few things we DON'T know and the RCSC is not telling us are those incidents I've seen reported or learned about in other places, such as somebody pulling a gun on an RCSC employee on the golf course or the guy on the bicycle who ran over another RCSC employee at Lakeview Lake, or all the thefts of catalytic converters on RCSC property? I know Members who have had their catalytic converters stolen as well as their vehicles being broken into at the Lakeview Rec center! I know that's bad publicity but don't you think the residents should know? They need to be more aware of their surroundings but if nobody tells them about these things going on they are being left more vulnerable and that's on the RCSC! There's definitely trouble in Paradise but many want us too turn a blind eye!
The board chooses to ignore this basic tenant: RECREATION CENTERS OF SUN CITY, INC. REV. 12/90 RESTATED ARTICLES OF INCORPORATION ARTICLE III “The general nature of the business in which the Corporation is engaged is as follows: To do anything and everything lawfully necessary in the interest of the Members of the Corporation, including, without limitation, the following:….” Safety at our recreation centers and transparent financial accountability are absolutely in the interest of the members!! “What we’ve got here is failure to communicate.” Captain -Cool Hand Luke
Bill Pearson and Ben Roloff are good for Sun City. Knowing that they are friends makes me like Sun City even more. There lots of details in some of these long posts, but just let me simply say keep it going Butch and Sundance!
