Where Are We?

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   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?).
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   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.
   
   Happy Hippie, Mar 16, 2024EditDeleteReport
   #16Reply
   Janet Curry likes this.

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  BPearsonWell-Known Member
  Interesting discussion for the most part. I can only laugh at those claiming "it's time for a change."

 

stop pandering.

 

Walking with my wife and dogs last night, we began chatting about how many folks were leaving Sun City already this year. The end of March is early with more of them departing around the middle of April (or later). Those temperatures soaring into the 90's send some scurrying to their summer homes. All of which caused me to ponder; do we have more "snowbirds" now than a few years back (2012-2020)?

There was a time in our history where 30%-40% left when it got hot. Those higher numbers included those heading to places like Logan Utah and other such college towns with empty dorms. Following the housing market collapse in 2009/2010, we saw a fluctuation in that trend. It appeared more buyers were moving here permanently. Second homes were more a luxury that were beyond the reach of many of those moving to Sun City. That coupled with the demise of defined benefit pension plans, seniors were tightening their belts.

Sadly, that information is a WAG (wild ass guess) on my part. The RCSC has never done a very good job of building a system of data collection. In fact, it was almost laughable when the argument was made we should be using data to drive decisions. While the board president was spot on with the assessment, the follow through was lame at best. It sounded good, but our data collection was nowhere near what we needed and even then, choices were made where data was ignored.

Last year while attending the budget and finance committee meetings, i asked how may privilege card holders there were? No idea was the answer. I was troubled by our membership (hovering around 32,500) was well below the 38,000-40,000 it was for years. We knew there were more homes, yet there were less members. The best guess was it was due the high number of rental properties owned by investors who bought up large numbers of homes. The revenue generated was far better than the rates of interest paid by banks and the increasing rents and the exploding inflation homes brought forth made it a cash cow for owners.

Not knowing that information struck me as odd. The difficulty is not all privilege cards are created equally. Seasonal renters can buy monthly, year round renters can buy for the whole year and in a real twist of logic, they can buy for just one of the renters if the other one doesn't use the amenities. Or, they can elect not to buy at all. For those who don't know, every rental property owner pays the (full?) lot assessment, but receives no card from it. The other fly in the ointment is if there are multiple owners on a deed (more than 2), or if the spouse isn't on the deed, he/she has to buy a privilege card to access the amenities. Dare i say, convoluted.

In my humble opinion, one of the priorities for the RCSC should be better data collection. It would be the starting point in any rewrite or bylaw changes that add more members into the mix. We have been exclusionary for too long. We should also look at how better to integrate those privilege card holders into the discussions and changes. Information is critical, always has been, always will be.

 

This goes back to my unpopular suggestion that we need to know how many of those 32,500 Members actually use the facilities?

Just take the one month of February when we are at our peak of attendance and compile a list of each Members membership number when they check-in. Every Club records their attendance and submits it to the RCSC in March, and every amenity, pools, fitness, pickleball, tennis, etc. has the Member sign-in. Plug those numbers into an Excel sheet, use the provided filter to remove duplicates, and wah-lah, you have your answer!

I also still believe those numbers should be taken into consideration when spending PIF dollars to renovate a Rec Center. I wasn't happy when we purchased Recreation Center number 8 when we bought the property at Grand. Perhaps, with Fairway less than one mile away from Mountain View, the renovation at MV should consist of not much more than a PAC and perhaps the indoor dog training facility?

I would guess that about only one-third of the Members actually use the facilities on a regular basis?

Just my opinion!

 

I think defining Member and Resident upon review and creating an inclusive amendment of our existing bylaw is the first step to gathering that much needed critical data!

Articles of Incorporation is inclusive of members and residents.

However, gives Corporate Bylaws the authority to create the qualifications of membership and resident and their associated privileges.

Restated Articles of Incorporation
December 1990
Amended November 20, 2003

Article I
“Members of the Corporation shall be limited to homeowners or residents of Sun City, Arizona.“

Article III
3. To promote cooperation in all matters of interest and benefit to the residents and/or homeowners of the area within the bounds set out in Article I, who become and remain Members of this Corporation.

Article VIII
5. The Bylaws of the Corporation shall prescribe the qualifications of Members and the terms of admission to membership, provided that the voting rights of all Members shall be equal and all Members shall have equal rights and privileges, and be subject to equal responsibilities. Such Bylaws shall also provide the method for determining assessments to be paid by the Members.


RCSC Corporate Bylaws
Amended December 14, 2023

ARTICLE II – MEMBERSHIP, CARDHOLDERS AND GUESTS

SECTION 1: MEMBERS, MEMBERSHIP, MEMBER CARD/CARDHOLDER
SECTION 3: NON-OWNER PROPERTY RESIDENTS

Sources:
Articles of Incorporation:
https://suncityaz.org/restated-articles-of-incorporation/

Corporate Bylaws:https://suncityaz.org/corporate-bylaws/

 

Ya think? What happened to your primary focus of getting back to our roots and living life like we did in the 60's? The folks who have been saying this very thing for quite some time now are probably just shaking their heads in disbelief. God luv ya Bill!

 

Yes, and Article II, Section 3, defines Non-Owner Property Residents.

 

Yes, FYI, this is in my comment right below quote from Articles of Incorporation.

That’s why I think defining Member and Resident upon review and creating an inclusive amendment of our existing bylaw is the first step to gathering that much needed critical data!

RCSC Corporate Bylaws
Amended December 14, 2023

ARTICLE II – MEMBERSHIP, CARDHOLDERS AND GUESTS

SECTION 1: MEMBERS, MEMBERSHIP, MEMBER CARD/CARDHOLDER
SECTION 3: NON-OWNER PROPERTYRESIDENTS

 

My coffee sessions last week triggered the luxury to ruminate over the possibilities of a more strategic, more open and more informal process on moving forward. Nope, not by me, but by those who are elected to lead us into the future. I've long held town hall sessions can be dynamic, if done right. Capping attendance with topics of interest clearly defined would tend to draw those who have either a basic working knowledge or the where-with-all to learn about any given subject.

I know, it's not "how we have always done it," but that's the beauty in it. We move outside the box we have been trapped in. I proposed we do that when the Lakes Club could have been purchased, but there was zero interest by the board or GM. Now, as we are moving forward, discussing ideas and ideals for an improved Sun City seems like a no-brainer. The problem of course comes on the heals of seeing a too-heavy workload already for board members.

Priorities should always be incorporated into the decision making process; the question is, what are those priorities?

 

For the life of me, I can’t understand why this board doesn’t have the staff do more of the research and report the results back to them, and then discuss the details with the members.

 

Up until 2006. board members spent as much as 40 hours per week doing their own "research" and often kept their own books to insure they were doing proper oversight. When the new general manager was hired she realized that kind of a time commitment would be problematic for the boomers that would be buying into Sun City. The long time "board secretary (she did in fact work for the board) was replaced by an employee (and a really good one at that), who did all of their research for them. The problem was she was also directly under the GM who helped control the flow of data and helped shape the direction the board moved in.

It was nothing sinister, but the impact on the decisions being made were inline with what the general manager saw important. As the years rolled on, those choices were further contained and controlled. As i said many times, if the GM was Pope-like in her direction (infallible), it would have worked out just fine. She wasn't, nor should any board member have expected her to be.

Accountability was a thing of the past and we became focused on being the "cheapest." Eventually every bill comes due and now we are paying them. Of late, some have suggested each board member be allowed a "volunteer researcher" to assist them. Would it work? Maybe.

 

If the new GM can’t be trusted, the board made a bad hire and this train to nowhere will continue. Micro managing is a waste of time and valuable resources. Expecting board members to spend hours on end researching is lunacy. The board needs to govern.

 

I believe there are some fairly longterm employees to garner historic info from. Would make sense to loop them in.