The other day i was sitting with J/V at the member exchange meeting. V accessed the RCSC website and the goals of the three board members that had been elected. As we listened to some of the poorly shaped responses to questions on the "for-profit" corporation they want to start, she leaned over and said every one of the candidates elected in their goals, more transparency and better communications with members. The thing i didn't tell her, every year, virtually every candidate says that. So what the hell happens to good people with good intentions who suddenly start acting like they took the blood oath akin to becoming a made-man of the mafia? The perfect example is contained in the presidents answer when i asked him point blank if it were true some board members felt this motion should not have appeared before the residents and just passed secretly by the board? He said he couldn't answer that because the by-laws forbid him from saying what happened in "executive session." So now we are at the root of the problem; our documents are preventing good people from living up to their campaign goals. Rather than just pointing out problems, i'm more interested in finding solutions. Here's how easy this all becomes: Let's start with a basic premise i hope no one would argue (but if you feel inclined, jump right in). The general manager works for the 9 member board, all who are elected by the membership (that's us by the way eh). I know how the general manager feels about this, but the reality is if the board members want to truly create a more transparent and open style of governance, simply change the community documents. I know it's a process, but you cannot get there if you don't start on it. For starters, open up work sessions to the general public. For that matter, record them and all meetings and play them back on the RCSC site. There are only a couple of topics that would fall under "executive session" (closed to the public) and they would be employee or resident discipline actions. There's nothing else that should be a part of the "secret society system." All of which begs the question, why didn't I do this while on the board? Here's the answer; the board is controlled by the officers who feel compelled to work hand in hand with the general manager. The remaining 5 members tend to be just there. It shouldn't be that way because realistically each board member has the same one vote the officers do. Unfortunately the cast system is alive and well. The good news is, i doesn't have to stay that way. It's time Sun City embrace a new and better open style of governance. The board has that ability to do just that. And for every seated board member who campaigned under the flag of more transparency and better communication, they have in within their power to begin to live up to the promises that made us as candidates. PS: Here's the kicker, just so we get out front of what you will be told; i know you will hear the RCSC attorney doesn't think this would be good for the community. If that's the case, let's invite the attorney into a town hall meeting and let him explain how Sun City is better served by making it look like everything they do is suspect...after all, isn't our perception, our reality?
Since the candidate forum was not live streamed, obviously people who were not in the room couldn't ask questions. Had I been in the room, and I will be this year, my question would have been, "How do you plan to do that?" . Follow up questions would have been along the lines of accountability, and communicating progress or lack thereof. Just putting that out there so people who are running know it's coming.
