URGENT UPDATE ON SUN CITY LIBRARIES

Gardeners will get this. It's a hot stinkin compost pile.

 

Rusty Bradshaw, former editor/reporter with the Sun City Independent for years, is passionate about our “ Sun City libraries in danger”

See what he has to say in this video:

 

Posted in his very own thread about an hour ago? Did you listen? If you did I am sure you would have noted the day and time of the next meeting. Monday, 4/8 at 9am. Conveniently timed when the still employed residents will be at work.

 

Answered numerous times.

 

It's the regularly scheduled meeting. It's not nefarious - yes, unfortunate in the timing. There have been others scheduled later and I agree MORE should be scheduled at 6 pm. I suggest members that are working that can't attend send a written statement with a friend or neighbor and turn it in at the meeting or be sure to send an e-mail. Be sure to include their RCSC number.

 

SCW is light years ahead of us in the technology dept. You can actually join their meetings live electronically so your opinion can be heard. Move it to a different day/time. They just don't give a rats tail about the residents here. It is becoming more obvious every day. You think this library issue being in the works for 3 months is not nefarious? Did you listen to Rusty's video? As much as I hate moving, I can't wait to get the hell out of here. You folks who don't get out among the residents have no clue. Bill can sit at Georges and BS about SC and it's history for weeks, but the bottom line is they rehashing old crap. Get out there. Or don't. Bill claims to be so enamored with Sun City and is watching is crumble. Not 1 person answered why financials are not presented, read and understood at every damn board meeting. And what's with all the secret "executive sessions" Those are generally reserved for CEO, CFO etc salary talks.

 

Financial reports are provided to members by hard copies at every Board meeting. Plus, they are included with the email sent with the noticevto members announcing the meeting. The Budget and Finance Committee and the Board get very detailed financial reports EVERY month. Until Bill Cook left last year, Budget and Finance only met 3 times a year. There has been a dramatic change in its involvement and a comprehensive overhaul in how the budget is being prepared moving forward. In fact, in today's email of the Sun City Update, the front page has a chart showing the steps outlining the process for this year. Finance Committee meetings are open.

I didn't say that the library discussions were nefarious - that having the meeting at 9 a.m is not a nefarious ploy to keep working members from attending! The Exchange is the regularly scheduled meeting and members are encouraged to attend.

Yes. It's no secret our technology sucks. The management reports have been addressing this topic for months and hundreds of thousands of dollars are being spent upgrading technology. It's a work in progress - it's not fast enough, but its happening. Management reports are also available when the Board meeting notices are are sent via email. I think the current report was 15 pages.

As members we have every right to be upset about the past. But, if members have been paying attention there has definitely been a lot more informstion shared in the last year via various methods - more Town Halls, several early evening meetings, improved reporting, more Committee involvement. It's not perfect, but it's a major improvement. Mistakes? Yes.

I don't know what you mean by "secret executive sessions." The Board holds an "informational" session after the monthly Exchange for discussion purposes only. They are absolutely entitled to have these kinds of meetings as long as no official actions are taken, no policy decisions are made, no personnel decisions are made, etc.

Before you throw a pitchfork at me, I agree the dog park fiasco and this week's library bombshell are not how we expect our business to be conducted.

Finally, continuing to carry on your disdain for Bill Pearson on every single post, no matter what topic, is getting old and tiring.

 

So financial reports are given to the board 3 x a year. Most meet monthly. evidentially that is not enough, and maybe the BOD does not understand how to read them. If they provided them monthly and the board understood them maybe the $20 mil would have been noticed sooner.

I did not say you said the library issue was nefarious, I said I thought it was. If it wasn't why was it kept under wraps?

The boards hold executive sessions where only a few are involved. Why? What information has to be kept secret?

I don't own a pitchfork.

As far as Bill is concerned, the issue in 2009 is not the issue at all. The issue is that if Bill does not like what you have to say he slings mud at you or bans you from whatever site he is admin on. Be it politics, liking Sun City (or not) disagree with him and you are toast. Ask Tom McClain or the folks he called morons. Someone answered me on this site and EO came back to the person and said "silence is golden", no doubt ordered by Bill. Then came the little parable, no doubt that came from Bill as well. I muted his posts because I am not a fan of purple prose, and if you read one of the history stories you have pretty much read them all. His abusive, derogatory language, or insults is not an acceptable treatment of anyone, and in every business environment I have been in would not be tolerated. His tactics are 5th grade playground actions. Period.

 

I heard this news yesterday and had to immediately check the date to be sure that this was not some sort of April Fool's day joke. As we all know, it was not. That this has been going on for months without anyone knowing bout it is outrageous. Time to take to the streets.

 

Do you think the library closings were being discussed at these meetings? What types of things are discussed that we, the members should not be privy to? I get it when a large, or small company with a President, CFO, COO, CHRO and any other chief "paid" positions are involved. Boards hold executive sessions to discuss salary increases or maybe ousting a poor performing leader. They are generally not held monthly. What are these meetings for exactly? Is it the "Dead Poet's Society" of SC BOD? Just looking for answers.

 

Hey Linda, hope all is well. Thanks for trying to explain the changes that have been made in the past year or so. Communicating with people who have no interest in actually understanding but come with their own predetermined agenda are simply exercises in futility. The information the RCSC is providing (both the board and members) is ten-fold better than what it had been. We spent the past 15 years with the gm being allowed the luxury of deciding for us.

It's exactly how we got so far removed from knowing how bad it was. The general manager had lots of skills and provided a vision, had she been infallible, it would have worked. She wasn't and it didn't. Committee members were telling management that our technology was inadequate as far back as 2010. She had little or no interest and let it get worse year after year. The budgeting process was her domain. She set the course which was predominantly golf driven and the board was often dominated by golfers who bought in.

The intent in rewriting the documents (by-laws and board policies) was to minimize the role of both committees and the membership. It wasn't by accident. Her vision was the new generation of home buyers wouldn't want to be involved and we lived with and through years where there were 20 of us in the room for meetings. Had she been infallible, it might have/could have worked. She wasn't nor should we ever have expected her to be.

The problem was with the safeguards removed, the board needed to become the buffer for the decisions being made. Anyone involved with non-profit organizations knows their primary duty is oversight. They became the checks and balances, but they mistakenly trusted her to do what she was hired to do. I've written before, i have on my desk a 2010, 10 year reserve study. It included all of the items that needed to be replaced through 2021.

The difficulty was to follow it, meant every year we would need to increase fees. While a $1 increase per month on the lot assessment ($12 per year), wasn't a lot, it would have kept us current with actual increases the RCSC faced yearly. We routinely did that, sometimes it was only half that, it kept us on pace. While i was on the board (2012-2014) i found it challenging. The majority consensus was the gm knew what she was doing and for us all to just let her go and follow her lead. I still chuckle to think about the article i posted on here the beginning of 2015 after leaving; "free at last, free at last, thank God almighty, free at last."

Anyway, it gradually got worse and the mantra was we were the best because "how cheap we were." The boards/gm goal was to keep it that way. The one bump in the road came when the state passed a massive increase in the minimum wage and the ARS lawsuit was headed to court (i think it was 2017). Both showed the potential for spikes in costs and the board passed a large increase in the lot assessment. Neither was that impactful in the end and the RCSC began accumulating large year-end "carry-forward" amounts of cash.

Now, we know why. They simply weren't spending money on the projects it was allocated for. All of that started to surface when the long-time gm retired and the new one started posting the "carry-forward" and board members started asking how that happened? It was also around that time (2021) when the push began for an increase in the yearly fees. We asked why when we had some 10 million plus dollars in carry-forward and the gm was unwilling to tell us how it happened.

It wasn't until he was left and the interim gm opened up the books and we saw just how much work there was to do. Technology, deferred maintenance and golf issues were all on the table, along with the proposed 40-50 million dollar, 8 year MV remodel. It was crazy times and the changes adopted over the past year and a half have opened other wounds. In-fighting by the board is apparent. Egos are easily bruised and adding to the mix is a new gm with his vision.

Which all gets us to the point we are at. The library negotiations is a cluster-flock of immense proportions. I suspect the goal was to leverage the county into covering some coming costs (given they are currently preparing the 5 year reserve study) for work needing to be done on the building(s). Nope, not privy to anything, i am trying to remove myself from being involved. It's just trying to understand why anyone would embark on such a bad decision unless there was a reason to do so.

What our history has taught us (at least those of us willing to learn from it), self-governance is about members being involved, speaking out and taking action (when needed). This shit-storm of controversy should have caused a ripple of concern (dare i say panic); any board member, or member of management who would want to sit in at the next Member Exchange meeting with 500 angry members bellowing at them should rethink why they have the position or job.

Whatever the upside is/was to try and force a lease on the county was poorly thought out. Sun City has had at least one library in it since 1961. It has always been subsidized either by DEVCO, the RCSC and supported by the Friends of the Library; other than that short span where the county paid us to lease them (when they first took them over from Friends of the Library).

The solution is simple; listen to the members, negotiate multi year agreements with the county and continue to evaluate the utilization numbers during the term of the lease. If there is a dramatic drop-off, it's one thing, but the data posted tells us these two libraries are well used amenities in the community. Better yet, have the deals done by the time the Exchange comes around.

Save yourself the frustrations of members reaction to a bad choice. Announce to members you heard their cry and are doing the right thing.

 

Please take the time to let this sink in. No one cared enough, or was savvy enough, to "open the books" for 15+ years? Could have caused a Haboob when opened.

 

Lest anyone think i was denigrating the former, former general manager, i wasn't. She had an amazing skill set in a lot of areas. That said, i can tell you in our history, boards never, NEVER, gave a general manager the kind of authority we gave her. She had great interpersonal skills and was genuinely a nice person. Members liked her and the board thought highly of her. The ultimate question is a little more simplistic than was she nice, but how did it all work out by the time she left?

A former board member used to say this: "the relationship between the gm, the board and the membership should be symbiotic." I never argued that should be the desired goal, it's not what i saw in action. I once stated in a board member assessment of the gm (with her seated at the table), "she was the most manipulative person i ever met." Board members were enraged i had insulted her; in reality i was insulting them. She played them like a well worn fiddle.

History has also taught us our community is filled with really talented and smart people. Members who came from all walks of life and with an abundance of skills and when i saw them being pushed away, i decided to run for the board (something i said i didn't want to do). I thought i could make a difference, i was wrong. Every board has different characteristics and styles. The new gm had introduced following her lead, supporting her decisions and choices. For 50 years, the RCSC never functioned like that. It became the "new normal."

Looking back, or looking forward, we need to be able to learn from our mistakes. Lord knows, we all make them. The only way to judge those years from 2006-2021 is by looking at the outcomes. Lots of good stuff happened, but by the time the dust settled some of us understood the impact of being short-sighted and of "trusting without verifying." It happens all the time in non-profits who function with volunteer boards; especially when leadership stays well beyond their expiration date.

Last year, before i stepped away, i often asked myself if anyone (board or management) stopped and thought about what would happen before they took an action. Understanding or predicting human behavior or reactions isn't that difficult. You have to start from the premise that every action will have a reaction. The bigger the decision made and the more members impacted, the larger the potential to explode in one's face. The lease on the library's is the classic case of misjudging.

Sometimes there's a good reason to cause the shit to hit the fan, most often not. Last year i asked one of the board members, do you guys actually think about things before you do them? They looked at me like i was nuts, but what we watched happen last year (and now this), it seems like the perfect question. To be fair, serving on the board or trying to run Sun City is no small task. There's almost always competing interests, all with their own point of view and almost always those touting they are right.

And then it all gets harder. As a society we have become more ingrained in the concept of me rather than we. That sense of community or the greater good has been lost to those who just want what they want. If you think not, watch the board meeting from the other day. I am still dumbfounded by our direction and lack of thought. Satisfying a small portion of folks while ignoring the larger population is mind-numbing.

Going forward, i have no idea how to overcome that inability to see the big picture when so many just want what they want. Times have changed and people have changed; is it for the better or for the worse? Time will tell.

 

Until such time I can ever recover my original CMartinez login, I will use this login for the time being. It is I, Carole Martinez, long time contributor, anf former board member. I have not been as active on TOSC as Iwould like to be due to other reasons no worth getting into right now. Having said all of this, I would like to ask some questions.

Why is there a general manager still running the works? Why is a general manager making community decisions that should be and need to be directed by the BOD for the RCSC membership? Do we need to remove the current GM due to another demigog feeling it is there right to control this community beyond the dictated protols?

Why are there still no open meetings as promised by former boards and their members? Why are there still closed door meeting occurring that makes it clear publiv involvement and comment is not allowed? Indoor dog park instead of a library is beyond ludicroous. The lunacy to suggest an indoor dog park is needed more than a public library in a senior community is indeed a sign that the tail is wagging the dog.

The dog park people have long had their hands in the pockets of the RCSC with the special area designated at Fairway for a very limited club. Then the grass, then the irrigation, then the costly specail sail shades purchased. At that time the cub was asked about a full cover, but no the wanted the sail shades. Then they didnt like the shades. Now an indoor dog park? Makesmy stomach turn to think money woukld be allocated to such a folly.

If the closing of the libraries to be a true direction of this board, by their sole discretion, then this needs to be brought forth during an OPEN meeting of the board now, no more closed door sessions. If there are members of the board not ready and willing to roll up their sleeves and do the work needed, there are former members who are familiar with what is needed to accomplish goals and take the time to make community decisions based upon the needs of the ENTIRE community.

Why we lost two borad members is an atrocity. If they use some of the regular retreads to fill the vacancies, it will be shameful to the community and to the RCSC. I cannot see the same old people being in favor of open meetings and an active community involvement because they have already proven they have no interest in the improvement of member relationshops based upon past voting records. I will not name anyone, but they have been on the board over 10 yeats and have helped create the debacle we have now.

Please forgive the length of this message, it was not my intention to carry on for as long as did.

THIS COMMUNITY NEEDS LEADERSHIP WILLING TO DO WHAT IS NEEDED FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE MEMBERSHIP! AFTER ALL OF THIS TIME,AND THIS IS STILL AN OUTSTANDING NEED!

 

eyesopen, thank you for the updated information. Glad to know the both sides of the library costs and issues. I also apologize for the tirade posted earlier. my bad on several fronts.

 

This press release is from an archived 2014 post on the RCSC website. It is not current.

 

The only thing keeping you from moving is you. If you are so hell bent on leaving, quit talking and start doing. There is not one person in this group that is holding you back. There are actually very few people that either see your posts or actually acknowledge your existence. You don’t have to announce your departure. Just pack your bags and go.

 

Just my opinion but if the Board was smart and wants to avoid a fiasco at the April 8th Member/Board Exchange, either the Board President or 3 Directors need to call for a Special Session and end this insanity before a riot breaks out and Members start filing recall petitions!

The Board and Management has nobody but themselves to blame for whatever transpires. The Members and community should never have been kept in the dark on this.

This Board is quickly losing the Member's trust as we're now seeing the same crap we had with previous Boards!

Spare me the incredulity of 'Transparency and Communications."

To the Board, "Do the right thing, call a Special Session and squash any pending consideration to eliminate the libraries." and send out an email blast before the Exchange.

And for god's sake, why both libraries?

If Fairway is such a concern with the homeless then just close that one. But one needs to ask, if there's such a problem at Fairway why are we going to spend millions of dollars to renovate Mountain View that's within the same neighborhood being infiltrated by the homeless?

These back-room deals are the reason nobody trusts anybody anymore! And we know this one has been going on for at least 2 months!