URGENT UPDATE ON SUN CITY LIBRARIES

Dave is right Tom, your impatience is showing. It does take time and the argument it should be done faster (at the expense of correctly?) fails logic. As Dave noted we had nothing for years and no one gave two shirts. The last reserve study was in 2010 and it was strung out over ten years (2011-2021). Great idea except we stopped following it somewhere along the line.

The community is back on track and yes they are making errors along the way. I don't see them closing a golf course anytime soon. I do see them monitoring utilization figures more closely and trying to do a better job of making golf more revenue neutral. Water costs are going to destroy our budgets and the higher the cost to golf, the less rounds played.

 

Got no choice but to wait. I don’t have as much skin in the game as some people. I wonder if the library situation has been part of 5 year planning. Talk about patience or lack thereof.

 

More shall be revealed! If past decisions are an indicator we will be in for a bumpy ride. And yes, I am getting more impatient by the day.

 

No.. the libraries are nowhere in the current plans as developed by the Committee. We are seriously working toward what you and many others are asking for. We are volunteers committed to doing a very important task, but not working 5 days a week. Plus, staff members have hundreds of other jobs to do every hour of every day. One.more.time. Patience!

 

A lot of folks are right there with you. At lunch with neighbors and golfers yesterday. Some are restless. ☮️

 

Seems the library situation has some budget considerations. Would think it would be. No problem though.
I don’t think you folks got the gist of my post. I realize the budget folks are going into way more detail than I believe necessary and this is why it is taking more time. As to Bills’ comment on quickly or correctly goes, we shall see. The jury has not even been seated.
And I do appreciate all your efforts and willingness to share your thoughts on this site.

 

Until Tuesday, there was nothing that had been presented to us that required repurposing space, allocating PIF dollars, new capital, or changes in operating expenses.

Further, I disagree about too much detail. The Board asked the GM to provide a 5 year budget projecting revenues and expenses for operations and capital expenditures, and an updated PIF plan. This requires factoring in deferred maintenance plus the task of taking care of all normal and customary work to keep us on track, trying to realistically project inflation, increases in minimum wages, etc. On the operations and capital side, in order to provide the best outcome, a single staff member is providing a comprehensive update to the 2010-11 Reserve Study. This document lists every piece of equipment - from mowers to pickup trucks to computers and desks and more. This labor intensive project is necessary to ensure that (1) we have an assurance that as of 2024 the records will reflect the year of puchase, estimated end of life and approximate replacement cost (within a certain window of time tbd), and (2) this document can quickly be updated when any changes are made (equipment taken out of service, new purchases, costs, maintence, etc.). We do not want to be in this situation in the future. This information is also required for budget forecasting. We are filling in a lot of big holes that is taking more time than if everything in our house was up to date. If we don't take the time to provide a quality work product, there will be little confidence in the end product. In addition, we are making every attempt to make the new reports much more clear for our members.

There's a lot more, but I've addressed these issues numerous times. Bottom line - I believe it's our responsibility and the due diligence we owe to the members and the Board to deliver the best product that we can.

I hope this addresses the questions and concerns.

 

Linda, the whiners will whine no matter what we do, something I learned from working on the bylaws committee. Now the Board is plagiarizing our work. BTW, so how is that lowered quorum working for you from the last Annual Members meeting? I understand there were only three proxies. Glad it was lowered to facilitate more member participation.

 

Let me deal only with this comment regarding the question, "how is that lowered quorum working?" The answer is perfectly. The reality is most folks never understood the point of a lower quorum nor the point of membership meetings. It was never about what they could or should do at them. It was always about safeguards for the community and how to combat boards or a general manager who wanted to do as they pleased. Guardrails exist for a reason, the best news is when a car doesn't have to run into them and keep them plunging off the cliff.

Sun City and more appropriately the RCSC held quarterly membership meetings with quorum's of 100. Nothing bad ever came from them and often there weren't 100 members in the room and the meetings were cancelled when the quorum not met. When there were problems in the community, the members showed up and any efforts to make unpopular changes were quickly stopped. Guardrails work.

The fact we didn't meet the quorum this year was a plus in my book. Members were basically satisfied. Imagine if the membership meeting were to be held next week? The room would be packed and members would be calling for heads. Hell, they may anyway at the Exchange meeting.

The better question may well be about your argument that 4 members were going to gather 125 proxies each and ruin the community. The fact of the matter is contained and controlled in our documents; the only time members can override the boards decision is regarding conflicts in the bylaws. Arguments are only as strong as the outcomes derived.

 

I would also speculate that the reason a quorum wasn't met was because we had just held the previous Annual Membership Meeting about 100 days earlier!

Also, there wasn't really anything on the agenda of any significance.

I think you will see that packed room next week unless the board squashes this before hand, and the only way we will know that will be if they call a Special Session.

The last time the board called for a Special Session was way back in September of 2021 when they had to approve the budget!

 

Just want to let you all know that I'm still hanging around and keep up to date on all things Sun City. I sent off emails to all the powers that be in order to make sure I didn't let this issue slide. What a horrific plan and way to find out this was even a possibility. The library has been a very important asset to us.

 

Hey aggie, thanks for checking in. Hope the old guy is still as feisty as ever.

 

Wife just said there's a post on Facebook saying they were collection signatures down at Fairway and they were kicked off the premises????

So much for the bylaws allowing the collection of signatures on RCSC property?
Article IX, Section 2, B. Petitions regarding RCSC matters may be circulated within or at all RCSC facilities/properties
while not disrupting or interfering with RCSC Member activities or blocking ingress or egress
at any facility.

What kind of bullshit excuse are they using now? Is this because it wasn't an officially authorized petition from the RCSC?

 

When was the last RCSC audit, and by whom? Here is an article in the Independent re an Audit in SCW. Is it time for Sun City in the name of transparency? Something to ponder as well as look in to. http://www.yourvalley.net/sun-city-...ks-community-needs-audits-transparency,466329

 

Let me be clear. This was from someone on another platform....not me....that said the following:
Not to discourage a petition, but I was told by a former board member they really don’t hold any weight.

 

Possible reasoning for RCSC to make them leave:
If the petitioners were not RCSC members
and /or RCSC in this instance is claiming this library effort by members is an initiative requiring approval and official petition forms.

RCSC Corporate Bylaws
ARTICLE IX – INITIATIVE, REFERENDUM AND RECALL PETITIONS
Lengthy details of procedures
https://suncityaz.org/corporate-bylaws/

Required forms RCSC Member signatures??
• Initiative, Referendum and Recall Petition For (whatever)
• AFFIDAVIT OF PETITION CIRCULATOR
https://suncityaz.org/wp-content/up...erendum-and-Recall-Petitions-2019_03_28-1.pdf


RCSC Board Policy Resolution No. 14
• Posting of Signs & Distribution of Literature
(Relevant excerpt?)
No sign, literature or petition may be posted or distributed at RCSC Facilities if it contains scandalous, malicious, defamatory or libelous language. The Board and Management are authorized to police all posting of signs, distribution of literature or advertising at RCSC Facilities and to order anyone to cease and desist and vacate RCSC Facilities. RCSC may destroy any unauthorized postings or distribution.
https://suncityaz.org/rcsc-board-policy-resolution-no-14/

 

I suspect they used the excuse that it wasn't an authorised "official" petition.

 

Audits current through 22 and 2023 in progress.

 

It appears that a Governance Audit is necessary now. We've had two notable blunders in a short time, hinting at deeper issues in our organization that demand attention. In my view, there are fundamental problems in our oversight, decision-making, and communication that are triggering these recurring errors. With this emerging trend and our past shortcomings, it's clear we need to extensively examine our decision making processes, oversight structure, and Governing Documents.

 

I don't think our Governing Documents are to blame, because they aren't making the decisions! It's apparently the decision making process and oversight structure, not to mention the lack of transparency we were promised.

Geez! If not all the Directors knew anything about this library closure then somethings very wrong.