It Will Never Be Easy Running A Community...

Yesterday's furor over two board members resigning caused quite the stir. In fact, the last three RCSC board member election cycles resulted in all nine of the RCSC candidates endorsed by the Sun City Advocates winning. All of them ran on the slate of listening to the members. All nine of them have done that.

In addition to winning, they dug in and went to work: They have replaced the general manager who threatened to have us arrested at the Sept 2022 board meeting; held numerous town hall sessions asking member input; allowed members to vote at the annual membership meeting; taken on the challenges of the Mountain View remodel; are in the process of trying to fix the Duffeeland park problems; addressed the many golf difficulties; fixing the massive shortcomings in our technology; are working on the 20 million dollars worth of deferred maintenance items and hopefully will have the 5 year reserve fund study done soon and passed bylaws reducing the quorum. Plus, they changed the electronic signage to say: City of Volunteers.

Even with all of that, the inter-personal differences between board members appears to be ongoing. I say appears because i have removed myself (for the most part) from any discussions by and between members. Last year as we neared the election, i was more in tune/touch. I knew about and watched in horror as a couple of board members own personal agenda unveiled and then mercifully unraveled.

The goal was to become golf-centered. The goal was squash the Mountain View renovation to the 10 million dollar range and use the savings for our golf courses. When one of the board members behind the plan resigned the effort morphed to running a slate committed to golf. That too failed. Along with it came a lingering and apparently festering of attitudes.

My hope was always that egos could be set aside and this team of nine board members could work in concert with one another. Clearly that wasn't the case. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to watch the meetings and see the bickering and frustration. It was also notable, some board members didn't bother to show up for scheduled meetings. Beyond the public ones, every board member has two, three or four more meetings they are assigned every month. The question is simply; have they been going to those?

I don't know the answer and at this point i don't care. Quitting is always an option and i honestly have no qualms when board members do so. Better to leave and open the position to someone who wants to be there than someone who is frustrated and doesn't.

Sun City always has been and always will be bigger than any one person. History has shown us countless numbers of members who have given tens of thousands of hours in service to the community...and every step of the way, they were always just a small cog in the large wheel we know and love as Sun City.

This has gotten lengthy and there is more to the story, the bigger picture if you will. So, i will post this and then return with the rest of the story.

 

If you have stuck with me, thanks. This will get a little deep and perhaps odd, but that kind of defines me of late. I know some of you balk at the idea of getting involved in Sun City's self-governance process. It's often painful to watch from afar, let alone in person at the meetings. On the other hand, i freely admit to watching Sun City West and The Grand holding their member and board meetings. It was mostly during the pandemic and i was bored, but i was also curious how they handled the difficulties.

Suffice to say i have stayed mildly curious. The Grand not so much, with my focus more directed towards The Villages of Florida. I know, sick. But alas, i have always touted the importance of learning from others; what they do well, and what they fail at. No surprise, there's plenty of both.

I mentioned the pandemic and it's my opinion that COVID19 had aa impact on the country (duh), but also dramatically caused communities like ours a crush of problems we were unequipped to deal with. The two obvious; supply chain issues and inflation resulted in a massive challenges on how our communities were run and the burgeoning costs associated with maintaining them.

I would argue, there's more. Members coming out of that time period became more fixated on their own "agenda." Along with it came board members who felt they knew better as well. The mix has been lethal as expectations have grown while the budgeting process for it has shrunk. It's been a lethal combination that has resulted in communities like ours becoming swamped by people/members who just want what they want.

Two quick examples beyond our white walls and ones i suspect you have little knowledge of:

1). Sun City West, the closest thing to our style of governance, is in the throes of discord. In the last month alone: The GM tendered his resignation. A board member stepped down in February and the most shocking thing yet, the RCSC board president was suspended for two weeks (including his membership privileges) and following an executive session was removed as president. They currently have 8 candidates for the election taking place soon with the new board seated in June. This from a community that has a well run TORCH program where potential candidates can get a wonderful insight into how the community works.

2). This one is a long way removed from Sun City but only amplifies the unique issues our communities face. The Villages of Florida is the largest age restricted community in the country. It's not even close; we have 27,500 rooftops, they have 75,000 and growing. They were built on the premise of "free golf." We all know there's no such thing, but when you buy in the Villages you golf free of charge at the 40 plus executive courses. The reality is the cost to maintain them comes from member fees that are now more than $2000 per year. If you don't golf, you are subsidizing those that do.

It gets worse. They also have 13 championship courses with high fees to golf. You can get tee times on those courses but you will pay a premium price for a tee time. On the other hand the "free golf" tee times are difficult to get as they have continued to build new homes, but no new courses. On top of that, the courses are horrible (HORRIBLE). They've closed 3 of them to let them regrow but the rest are nearly as bad and the letters to the editor are filled with unhappy members.

Life as we knew it has changed. We all need to learn patience and understanding one another better. More thoughts later.

 

As we watch and follow communities like ours suffer through the challenges, it is easy to think there are no solutions. It's easy to throw up our hands and lament, it's all just politics. We know there's a divide in this country, not so much in our little community. We know there are problems and history has taught us they are fixable. It won't say it will be without difficulty, but the keys are fairly clear; education and communication will lead to better participation.

Quick story here: In 2011 when i was running for the RCSC board, i went to an evening session you know as the "Candidate Forum." This one was the evening session at Marinette. In attendance were several board members, at least two of them had enjoyed an adult beverage or six before the meeting. I never suffer fools or drunks well, but i was on my best behavior. Once the handful of members got done with their questions, the board focused in on me with the theme being "how much did i see injecting myself into the day to day operations of the RCSC?"

Really guys? Look i ran a non-profit organization for years. I taught trustee education regarding fiduciary responsibilities and the specific roles trustees filled. I understood exactly how the organization should work and how i could best serve it. Let me be very clear; i had zero interest in the day to day operations. I think i mentioned had i wanted to run it, i would have applied for the general manager job. Realistically, that's one of the hardest things for new board members to understand...one of their primary jobs is oversight of their one employee, the GM; everyone else works for her/him.

Watching Jean leave was sad, but i wasn't surprised. She is truly a sweet woman who wants nothing but the best for the membership. I loved the communication committee she was working on and it had the potential to be a game changer. I heard she has been frustrated because the alignment between management and her vision regarding communication were not compatible. No idea if it was true or not, but it should have not stopped her from moving her committee forward on membership outreach.

I've long argued we've (the RCSC) failed in telling new home buyers how Sun City works; in helping them understand we are wholly different from where they came. And perhaps of most importance, why it matters they take-on ownership responsibilities. It's a long, hard, slow sell, but over time the dividends will result in a dramatic shift in how members view their role in the community. You never create buy-in by pushing people away. A i used to argue; inclusion, not exclusion.

With her gone, her vision may well fall by the wayside, we'll see. What she should know is had she stayed we had a better chance than with her leaving.

Obviously this is just one small example. Training board members in the art of compromise and the value of respecting one another while still disagreeing without the hostility is teachable. Conflict resolution isn't a new thing, but it is a real thing. What is and has been happening here isn't unique to Sun City as an organization, it's a reality of diverse opinions, styles and visions. Well run organizations work through their weaknesses and find the path forward, poorly run ones suffer through the same mistakes.

Here's the great news and it is a tw0-sided coin: Sun City's greatest asset is its size and that we are a community filled with talented volunteers. Our largest liability is we are too large and those buying here are lost in the transition from life outside the walls to life inside them. We need to do better at helping find those who can make a difference.

 

What I find a little disturbing is the number of resignations within the last few years. It seems like it's becoming an acceptable practice readily available if things don't go your way? I guess the terms "commitment" and "oath of office" have sort of lost their value?

I get it, it's a thankless job that doesn't even pay, but you knew all that before running for office.

Just off the top of my head the last few years have seen the resignations of:

Jean Totten
John Fast
Jeff Darbut
Sue Wilson
Dale Lehrer
Allen Lenefsky

Who's next?

I guess it makes running for office a lot easier because you no longer bear the burden actually making a commitment?

I am however very grateful that there are still people willing to jump into the fire and I thank them for their service, but before committing to serve you really need to do some very deep soul-searching and do it for the right reasons!

 

Now for the $20 million question. What do their financials look like? Pointing to other retirement communities and stating their problems means nothing to me. Every HOA has some issues. As a general rule golfers find things wrong with courses. My concern is my financial future, and what this community has done. I don't live in Florida so I really don't care about The Villages or their golf courses. An issue with a board member in SCW? Same answer. The deflection won't work, at least with this homeowner. Where is the $20 mil in deferred maintenance going to come from? How much will our assessment be raised on an ongoing basis? What other fees will be imposed on us?

 

I’m with you on this HH. These are questions which need to be answered sooner than later. RCSC and committees have been working on the 5 year plan for long enough. Heck, I think they could easily have a basic 15 year plan done by now. Just my opinion of course!

 

Thx. Just tired of excuses. This stuff has been going on for years, and frankly it's an insult to all of us to think you can deflect from our 'real financial' issues by pointing out other HOA failures. And the elephant in the room, wasn't Bill was a board member while all this was going on as well? People need to take off the rose colored glasses and open their eyes. SC is not the Garden of Eden. It's old and showing its age just like I am. Someone said something interesting about the Grand Center........"it was purchased in the middle of the night". I thought about the change to AoI regarding board members missing 3 "or more" meetings. It was suggested at the meeting that board should get out and talk to people. They should, but I don't blame them for not doing it. They are retired too! More board members easing the burden of the few? Hell, let snowbirds be on the board! They pay the same fees we do. Full time residents on the board can miss 3 or more meetings, I am guessing 6? Same as a snowbird? Missing a big opportunity IMO for many reasons. With technology there is no reason not to let part time residents serve if they want to, especially as there are no meetings in summer. Heck, they did something very right with their lives to be able to afford 2 homes! Especially in this economy! The snowbird who spoke at the meeting walked away looking very dejected, and I don't blame her. But keep everything the same....it's working so well.

 

I've always been against snowbirds being on the Board. I won't vote for them in club or condo elections either.

Now if they were here say 7 1/2 months with Sun City as their primary residence, I would change my mind. That means they vote here, have their car registered here, their primary physician is here, their bank is here, and hopefully they plan to be buried here. Otherwise, Sun City will never come first with them. We will always be second in their life.

Directors have been missing quite a few meetings. Those meetings we know of. Maybe many more when you count committees. They should give at least a vague reason when one is gone.

 

People do have the ability to run businesses from other states. People do have the ability to be objective. But you think Einstein's definition of insanity will fix things?

 

Having observed the number of meetings that come up every week in the email blast, I am not surprised that board members are getting burnt out! It looks to me that those who serve on the board are signing up to a full time job. For those who say we need to hire professional board members, do you want your dues to go up exponentially? I think we need to appreciate those who are on our board!

 

I have a different idea after observing all of these (and other) departures. Dysfunction and structural issues - and most are inherent in organizations like this but they can be fixed. Paying attention to fixing it should be a priority.

 

I'm with you O&T. I believe you need to live among those who you are suppose to be governing/working for. I also believe living within the community you are serving in allows you too feel the pulse of the community whether thru rumors or day-to-day interactions. Living in another state and simply Zooming-in to a meeting is a fools errand as far as I'm concerned.

And don't forget, these Directors attend more than Board Meetings and Exchanges. They are all committee chairs and co-chairs as well as liaisons with other outside organizations, such as SCHOA Roads/Safety, the Sun City Fire Department, Sun City Community Assistance Network, SCHOA, Friends of Sun City Libraries, Sun City Historical Museum and the Sun City Posse!

Not sure how you do your job successfully if you spend most of your time in another State?

 

I agree with Linda that a fundamental problem is Board members don't know how to be Board members, and the structure seems like the Tower of Babel. Is another fundamental problem an identity crisis of what the Board is and our unrealistic expectations? The RCSC is not Sun City. It is a corporation that owns rec Centers and golf courses. The Board of Directors primary responsibility is to that corporation. They are not our government.

The beauty is that the Corporation provides a base for social activity - clubs and space - but, as has been said, micro management of those things maybe shouldn't be part of their duties.

The other beauty is the Committee structure - where all of us get a chance to be involved and directly influence, via recommendation, the direction of the Board.

I disagree strongly with O&T and FYI about snowbirds. I don't know what is meant by "Sun City will never be first with them" - this is simply a place we all live in - there are so many more things on the list of what people rank "first" (family, friends, god, a good scotch...). I learned a very important life lesson at the birth of my second child: Love doesn't get divided - it gets multiplied. And yes, people can do their jobs from out of state - if the job parameters are clearly defined (which loops me back to exactly what do we expect?).

 

Perhaps the requirements to serve on the board should be put on the agenda for the next Annual Membership Meeting as an amendment to the bylaws, and we can let the Members decide?

But how long living away from Sun City is to long? You surely don't mean more than 6 months I hope.

 

It's obviously time for a change. What has been done is not working. These board members should not be serving on the committee meetings. Talk about burnout. That's a lot to expect from a "retiree". Each subset of RCSC needs its own board, which has meetings and reports to the RCSC board. Do you think Peter Fine sits in on each Banner hospital board meeting? Create an org chart of what's needed and go from there. Maybe more will volunteer their time if they don't have to give so much of it.

 

Interesting discussion for the most part. I can only laugh at those claiming "it's time for a change." We did change and it got us where we are today. The new GM hired in 2006 found a structure that was too formalized with those checks and balances that got in her way. By the time i was on the board (2012-2014), the evolution to top down governance had been completed and while i was there, it got worse. My (and Carole's) no votes were meaningless.

The promise and the premise behind the GM's strategy was theoretically solid; boomers didn't want to do the heavy lifting the greatest generation had done. She re-invented bylaws, restructured how and what the board did and took much of the work load off board members. Then she compounded it by reducing the value of committees and telling members to just have fun. Again, in theory, it should have been a wholly workable path forward.

What could possibly go wrong?

For those who fail to understand the nature of the beast (how non-profits work), the shortcomings aren't quite so obvious. Those of us who lived our work careers in similar settings know exactly the pitfalls. Easily the most glaring difference is competing for quality employees with for profit-corporations. They simply cannot come close to matching the salary structure. The trade off is non-profits offer a more relaxed work environment. If we look back at that time period when the changes were made, there were employees in positions who had absolutely no clue what they were doing. None!

They survived nicely because the second weakness is almost as disturbing. The person at the top, the GM, becomes responsible for managing her/his team and all too often the one quality they demand is loyalty. Not how good/qualified they are, but will they have their back and be there for them. I lived in that world, that environment for most of my work life and watched as mediocrity was just fine as long as no one on the team ruffled any feathers.

Which brings it all down to the bottom line: Knowing the structure is inherent with weaknesses, the board has one really, really big job: The oversight of the one employee they do have absolute and total sway over. Our documents scream it; the general manager should be held accountable by the board. This is where the board training issue became so critical, they were unable or unwilling to do that one important task. There were no measurement tools or criteria for job performance of the general manager.

It all became a Faustian bargain with the board shouldering less work and the GM merrily hiring whomever for whatever position she said she needed. The management staff exploded in numbers over the years, with little or no accountability. Committees were neutered and the only thing that mattered was whether there would be an increase in the yearly lot assessment? The goal was to tout the line, "we are the cheapest" (it almost became a Muhammad Ali like chant, "we are the greatest.").

Oddly, i would further argue towards the end of the GM's too long a stay, she backed off the reigns and let the board have more control. Coming out of the pandemic was when we watched the lack of leadership spiral out of control. With the GM having one foot out the door and glaring problems looming we watched a new GM inserted who embraced the board hoping to insure his tenure. The former GM had navigated the times with some great interpersonal skills that resulted in people liking her.

The problem of course goes way deeper than whether the members and board liked her. The board's oversight failure was going to unravel and in ways i never expected to be as bad as they were/are. To summarize, this new paradigm shift to a top-down less-work for the board exercise was an abysmal failure. It might have worked had the board been taught the importance of oversight and accountability. Then again, it might not because the salary structure issues would still be there.

It's interesting to note the naysayers are still moaning about "things not getting done fast enough." Non-profits are slow moving on purpose, the goal is to get it right, not just get it done. The goal is to sift through member comments, board expectations and managements ability to produce the data and information necessary to move forward. For those of you not watching, the management team is reshaping and restructuring and it appears the added criteria will be accountability. How refreshing is that?

Look, i want loyalty from my dog. When it comes to employees (including the GM), i expect results based on their performance. We are in the rebuilding process and as someone noted above, board members are flailing at getting it right. Personalities are always difficult and especially so when someone thinks they are smarter than the rest of the board. I never cared about titles, i still don't; each board member has one vote, it is no more important than the others (no matter how smart they think they are).

 

2006 was 18 years ago. You think after 18 years and the failures we should leave everything the same? I worked for a non-profit for 17 years. Believe it or not I do have a tiny understanding of how they work, not as knowledgeable as you though. So during your time on the board things got worse and you just let it because your no vote wouldn't help anyway. I know, there is confidentiality involved, but at what expense? Member's expense. Glad you can chuckle about it tho.

 

One of the regular's on this site, Emily, stopped posting, in part because i was writing criticisms of the direction Sun City and the RCSC was taking. She was right, because i was, but i often tried to assure her my comments were never suggesting we were a "bad place to live" but always based on the premise, "we could do it better." Everything i write and say is still steeped in just how good Sun City is.

I still believe; we can do better.

Best of all, we are on that path forward. While some bemoan how "bad" we are, i simply laugh. Show me another senior community with the amenities for the cost. Show me another community that had the impact we did (and still do). Show me another age restricted community with the carefully structured self-governance concept that is still functioning after 60 years. The reality is; you can't.

I made a point to post references to both Sun City West and the Villages of Florida above. Both are having issues and both are tied to the challenges like-built communities are facing. The foolish push back was it doesn't matter or they don't count. Really? It's like arguing the US has inflation while ignoring the entire world is stuck in the same rut; inflation coming out of the pandemic was a world wide occurrence. Pretending it's the current presidents fault may fit your narrative, it's just not realistic.

Just for shits and giggles, i grabbed a sentence from a Letter to the Editor in one of the Villages newspapers this week. It's informative and speaks volumes, as a golfer it will be even more compelling to get your hear around: "We golfers pay about $1,000 for priority and then about $55 every time we play." Mind you, this is for the championship courses (18 hole), while all of the executive courses are free if you can schedule a tee time in peak season.

Let me be very clear, this has nothing to do with the Villages being good or bad, better or worse than Sun City. They are just different. They have their own unique set of problems, issues and challenges...as does every other age restricted community. The smaller ones are more easily managed, our size magnifies our difficulties. The Villages are surrounding the premise it was built around golf. Sun City West, like us, is large and has an infrastructure based on community involvement.

We dug ourselves into a hole and now we are in the process of digging out. It will be painful and slow and the critics will be out in force. That said, there is a tiny portion of our population of whiners and crier's. They come to the party hating because that's what they do. They are the victims of life who are looking to blame others for their misery. I learned long ago, any unhappiness i have belongs on me, not others.

Bottom line is still this: Sun City is the best bang for your buck in the vast array of retirement community options. Bar none. And, the really good news is, we can do it better and we are in the process of doing just that.

 

ok bill, just keep posting the same thing over and over. i don't know, you just might prove einstein wrong. i do know there did come a time at the last place i worked when the board had enough of the pres/ceo and voted him out. like i said before not enough board members here to have any kind of accountability. even a jury has 12 members. here board members are buddies that ask other like minded buddies to be a part of the club.