Open Elections and Greater Transparency on the Way

We solicited your help last November to focus on a number of issues which were important to Residents but controlled by the Developer. These issues were outlined in subsequent Newsletters and solutions were offered. Below are the goals initially identified and the progress to date. We are confident that through active Resident discussions, such issues in the Governance process can be improved and SCTX can be an even better place to live.

·Goal -- Change the nominating/election process now in place to an open election for Resident Board member’s similar to other Home Owner Associations and Municipalities. [November Vol. 1 11-05-05 Newsletter]

·Progress to date- At the SCTX Community Association Board Workshop January 12, 2006, selecting Resident Board member candidates by the Nominating Committee was changed to an open election process supervised by the Elections Committee. Any Resident that has lived in SCTX for one year or more and is in good standing can run for the Resident Board position. If a candidate does not receive fifty percent of the vote, a run off will be scheduled to establish a majority vote. We compliment the Board for opening up the election process. We remain hopeful that additional Resident Board members will be added to the current Developer controlled Board in the near future.

·Goal--Foster Transparent discussions and actions in our Governance process. [November Vol. 1 11-05-05 Newsletter]

·Progress to date- At the Community Association Board Workshop January 12, 2006 the Board approved an Open and Transparent governance process that will be announced at the January 26th CA Board Meeting, and future Neighborhood Newsletters as well as the Sun Rays. We compliment the Board in its action to provide an opportunity for Residents to review decisions concerning fund management, expenses and general procedures before they are approved. We are hopeful that full and complete Transparency will become a “guiding principle” in the SCTX governance process.

·Goal – Lease one or both Restaurants to Entrepreneur[s] that have successful track record in operating profitable, well run food and beverage establishments. [November Vol. 1 11-05-05 Newsletter]


·Progress to date- - A Request For Proposal has been sent to several Food & Beverage Management Companies, including the company that has the fine buffet at Southwestern University. Proposals will be reviewed by a committee of Residents and CA staff members. These RFP’s appear to be for management contracts rather than leasing. However, a management contract could be satisfactory if costs savings, including fees, eliminate HOA fees from being used to support restaurant operations. Our position is that the restaurants need to be self supporting.

·Goal -- Contract with a known and established Golf Management Firm to manage and operate our courses. Many of the well known municipal and country golf club courses in central Texas are already doing this and have been pleased with the results [November Vol. 1 11-05-05 Newsletter]

·Progress to date - A committee has been assigned to develop a Request For Proposal that will be sent to several Golf Course Management Companies. We are hopeful the goal is to select a capable firm which can match revenue to operational cost to avoid increased assessments and eliminate HOA fees being needed to support golf operations. Our position is that golf operations need to be self supporting.

Issues That Remain Open and Need to be Addressed


·Goal-- Contract a Community Association Management Firm with experience and reputation to manage our day to day business. [November Vol. 1 11-05-05 Newsletter]

·Progress to date--Open issue that needs to be addressed later--Clearly, Management of the CA, along with its fiduciary responsibility, should be aligned with resident interests to avoid conflict of interest issues.

·Goal--Change the trigger point from 95% to 75% for Resident control. This would give Residents time to review the expense side of the budget and make necessary adjustments. [November Vol. 1 11-05-05 Newsletter]

·Progress to date— Not much; Developer has stated that they have only done this in California –where it is required under state law. This is a fundamental issue of Governance. Residents now provide in excess of 90% of the day to day operating funds. It stands to reason that residents should have full participation in the decision process. We have suggested a temporary solution to increase the number of resident Board members to three.

Perhaps we need a Sun City Tea Party on Berry Creek Lake.

This issue has arisen only because of the delayed transition caused by the expanded DW2500. Lacking any progress on the resident control issues, expansion of 2500 homes needs to be carefully evaluated and considered. Will amenities for the new area be completed and open in phase with new home building? If amenities are not delivered in-line with demand, will new residents over-burden the current facilities? The issues involving amenities in DW2500 are essentially –what and when! Since the Property and Grounds Committee has been delegated the task of examining this issue, perhaps we could solicit the Committee to provide a robust progress report at the January Board meeting.

The City Council on Jan 10th started the approval process for rezoning a portion of the "Northern Lands". Such approval is contingent upon completion of a revised Development Agreement being negotiated with Del Webb for the additional 2,500 homes [DW2500] Hopefully, we will have greater clarity about Amenities, Traffic access, and Building plans as the date approaches for City Council consideration of the expanded project and modified agreement.


So that is the update promised in the last Newsletter Vol. VI January 09, 2006. All newsletters can be viewed on scinform.blogspot.com

When we think about where we were in November and where we are today, our thought is how your emails, phone calls, and letters to the Developer and CA management are what made it happen. Thank you.

You have emailed us that our work is not done and have suggested the above goals and issues (Issues That Remain Open and Need to be Addressed ) you wanted us to work on. You have also asked what you can do, from donating money to protesting. We will continue to ask the Developer to come to an agreement on your suggestions, which are beneficial to both Residents and the Developer, a win/win situation.

The next Community Association Board meeting is scheduled Thursday January 26th at 9:00am in the Activity Center. The Board will discuss many of the above issues and vote on the changes in our nominating process. We would appreciate your attending this meeting to show your support. The developer needs to know you care.
To inform all residents, we need you to continually expand our email data base, please forward this email to your friends and neighbors so they can sign on. jackstro@verizon.net. Not one day goes by when we don’t add a new contact.

Sun City Residents Make Sun City Great

About Transparency and Governance

Extra Edition

The Austin American Statesman carried a very interesting Editorial on Tuesday January 3rd, titled “Lifting the Shroud of Government Secrecy” which relates to our Community. Please click on the following url to read.
http://www.statesman.com/opinion/content/editorial/
stories/01/3foitraining_edit.html

Then take an extra six minutes to view the video.
http://www.oag.state.tx.us/media/videos/play.php?image=121205opengov_conf&id=143

We believe that the lack of Transparency regarding financial information as well as the decision making processes have contributed to the growing red ink in our two major operations. With your support, many of the issues have been brought to the surface regarding HOA fees along with growing losses in golf and restaurant operations. We are encouraged that the Developer has recently agreed to investigate leasing the restaurants and engaging an independent golf management company to operate our courses. Yet, the issue with Transparency in our Governance processes remains.

Nearly half of the budget expense, consisting of management contracts, bonuses, benefits, and salaries remain off-limits from scrutiny and/or modification during the development and review of the budget process. Resident members of the Governance Committees frequently cite this as a handicap to their efforts but continue to go along with the process. Moreover, decisions are frequently just announced, without explanation or adequate resident input. Analysis and information surrounding the decisions are often inaccessible or unavailable.

This lack of Transparency may have been somewhat less objectionable in years past when the Developer was largely footing the cost of the CA operations, but that has dramatically changed. Residents now largely fund the operations and if losses of the two principal operations can be eliminated, the CA would have a surplus and/or lower fees.

Going forward

The Attorney General’s video talks about “compliance”, which is the minimum necessary with Texas State governmental agencies. In SCTX, more than compliance is needed. We believe that Transparency should be one of the guiding principals in the SCTX Governance process. [For more on Transparency see http://scinform.blogspot.com/ ]

Transparency goes hand in hand with strengthening Resident participation and accountability in the Governance processes, which were outlined in the Jan 2nd Newsletter. If current Governances processes and Transparency cannot be dramatically improved upon, there are real questions as to why Residents should support Developer expansion of SCTX beyond the 5000 homes plan.

What can we do?

We have learned by experience that issues important to Residents were not always important to the developer. Only when the Residents have joined together did they get the attention of the Developer.

The golf fee issue in 1998 was resolved when the golfers protested and held firm.

The Connectivity issue in 2002 when a majority of Residents joined together and attended City Planning and Zoning and Council meetings to campaign for “No Connectivity” with three entrance/exits to Sun City. The city voted for “No Connectivity”, a Resident victory.

The golf fee issue in 2005 was resolved when golfers joined together and protested.

Our Governance Committee Chairman and Resident Board Members need to challenge the developer concerning Transparency, they can no longer take the position of being only an advisor and moving the Pulte process along. Let your Neighborhood Rep, Resident Board Member, and the Governance Committee Chairman know how you feel, they are your only contact with the Developer.

Need your Input

We feel that the lack of Transparency and full Resident participation in Governance processes are very important issues; however, we need to know how important they are to you? Individually we will not be able to convince the Developer, we must join together as Residents have in the past.

Are you concerned that you are unable to have access to information accounting for more than half of budgeted resources? Are you satisfied to let the developer completely control the fiscal stability of your Community? Were you pleased with the decision by Pulte to build another 2500 homes and extend the transition date to 2012?
Send your response to jackstro@verizon.net

We understand that the Nominating/Election procedures and guidelines will be part of the Board Workshop scheduled for January 12th at 1:00pm in the Activity Center. We will attend and make notes and report the results in our next newsletter.

Sun City Residents Make Sun City Great

Developer Control Overreach ……???

• Resident Candidates for SCTX board of Directors must be pre-selected and endorsed by the Developer.
  
  This is the implication of the arbitrary action taken by the Developer. The provision that SCTX Resident Board of Director Candidates may be nominated from the floor was eliminated from the SCTX Bylaws. The Developer has the sole and complete authority to take an independent action to modify the Bylaws. However….as has been previously noted.
  
  “The right to do something does not mean that doing it is right."~
  
  In this instance, the action taken to modify election procedures was pathetically wrong. The process was wrong and the action was wrong! There was NO open discussion; NO general notification; NO Board review and NO timely record of action.
  
  Most importantly, the action tampers with our fundamental rights as citizens and residents to be represented by individuals we choose in a free and open election.
  
  Background and… the rest of the story
  
  December and January Sun Rays contained an announcement notifying individuals wishing to become a Board Member candidates, that they MUST submit an application and MUST be available for an interview on February 27th.
  
  Since this information was contrary to the nomination processes outlined in the Bylaws posted on http://texas.delwebblive.com/ [up until mid-December] and [to most every other organization] a clarification was sought from the CA. The response was as follows:
  
  “The initial bylaws for Sun City Texas included a provision that allowed nominations from the floor. However, the Amended Bylaws included language that specifically prohibited nominations from the floor. This amendment was made by the Declarant (Developer) at the Declarant's sole and absolute discretion. These Bylaws were filed with the county and a copy is available at the CA Admin office, in your name. Since the amendment was made by the Declarant (Developer) and not by the CA Board, the action is not documented in Board minutes.”
  
  Following this revelation, new Amended Bylaws have now been posted to http://texas.delwebblive.com/ and Neighborhood Representatives were advised of the Amendment along with further explanation on why the Developer elected to make the change. “It was done in attempt to simplify the nominations and election process of the CA. In addition, the Developer felt the current nominations process was serving the community well in providing qualified candidates for the Board. That said: the Developer and the Board will be reevaluating the option of allowing nominations from the floor in preparation for the 2006 Board elections. Resident input on this subject is welcomed and appreciated.”
  
  One could speculate further as to the reasons for the change in the nominating process, but the change was not in the best interest of the residents, in our judgment. And it is an instance of Control Overreach by the Developer. But, what was done is done! It is water over the Berry Creek dam!
  
  
  Going Forward…
  
  We are encouraged that the Board of Directors and Developer are now seeking resident input on opening up the election process. Clearly, because of the past actions to over-control the election outcome, the current process is sufficiently tainted that candidates elected under the process in place will lack credibility to represent resident interest. A caveat that also needs to be addressed is that the Board now has the authority to disqualify any resident recommended by the Nominating Committee running for the Board, another Control Overreach by the Developer.
  To screen candidates based upon their views and especially, those views regarding the Developer seems unwarranted. Resident voters are quite capable of making informed decisions about candidates’ views and choosing those best able to represent residents.
  
  Recommendations….
  
  We suggest scrapping the current nomination process for Board of Director Candidates. Residents in “good standing” and able to muster a minimal number of signatures from fellow residents should qualify to stand for election. Even those requirements would be more stringent than those required for Council member for the City of Georgetown. The Nominating and/or Election Committee could certify the candidates that meet the requirements for election.
  
  Other good faith actions by the Developer could now be undertaken to restore a measure of confidence in the Governance processes of SCTX. Since transition to resident control will effectively be put off until 2010 or later, more effective sharing of resident participation in the Governance process is warranted.
  
  Adding a third resident member to the SCTX Board of Directors bringing the total to seven members, including the Chairman would be a positive step. Tie votes could still be decided in favor of the Developer by the vote of the Chairman.
  
  SCTX Resident Board members should be delegated sole Board Authority for appointment of Nominating Committee Members. SCTX Resident Board Members would review all applicants interviewed and act on the recommendations of the Nominating Committee for members of Governance Committees, task forces and other ad hoc governance groups.
  
  Future Amendments to Bylaws and/or CC&R’s should be discussed in open forum and distributed generally to residents via various media, including electronic. Full and complete Transparency should be a principal goal of SCTX.
  
  Resident input Requested—your views are important!!
  
  As noted above, the Developer and the Board are in the process of reevaluating the election process. Resident input has been requested. We appreciate those residents that have contacted the Board Members and Executive Director expressing their concern regarding the Developer’s decision to change the nominating process. Your views are especially important at this time because of the upcoming opening for the Resident seat on the Board of Directors. Most likely, these issues will be decided at the January 12th Board Meeting.
  
  You can Email/call/write:Gary Newman, Gary.Newman@delwebb.com
  Rob McDaniel, rob.mcdaniel@delwebb.com,
  Mark Thomas, mark.thomas@pulte.com
  Ira Dolich, idolich@aol.com
  Frank Miller, terfra2@cox-internet.com,
  
  ========================
  Proposed Actions
  
  In order to forestall further significant increases in annual assessments, advances in fees and the complete avoidance of special assessments, the following comprehensive actions are proposed: [Each of these proposals will require approval of the Developer controlled Board of Directors]
  
  · Change the nominating/election process now in place to an open election for Board and Governance Committee member’s similar to other Home Owner Associations and Municipalities. [Discussed in current Newsletter]
  
  · Contract with a known and established Golf Management Firm to manage and operate our courses. Many of the well known municipal and country golf club courses in central Texas are already doing this and have been pleased with the results. [Good Progress because of Resident efforts]
  
  · Lease one or both Restaurants to an entrepreneur[s] that have successful track record in operating profitable, well run food and beverage establishments. [Good Progress because of Resident efforts]
  
  · Change the trigger point from 95% to 75% for resident control. This would give residents time to review the expense side of the budget and make necessary adjustments. [Discussed in previous Newsletter, Developer has stated he is not interested in making this change.] Email us your thoughts?
  
  · Contract a Community Association management firm with experience and reputation to manage our day to day business.
  
  Our goal is to foster transparent discussions and actions regarding the issues confronting our Community Association. We welcome an open dialogue regarding the actions proposed and why they are proposed. And, we would very much appreciate additional input from the many residents that have offered ideas, concepts and details about how to address issues confronting the CA. We welcome comment on the problems outlined as well as the solutions—both positive and negative [hopefully constructive].
  
  Our mission is to make Sun City Texas a community with a solid financial base with an active adult environment. If you support our mission please forward this email to your neighbors and friends. If your neighbors or friends do not have access to the internet, make them a hard copy. Only with your continued support will we be successful with the proposed actions. If you wish to have your name added or deleted from the email data base, email jackstro@verizon.net
  
  Future newsletters will focus on the financial aspects of Operations, future Plans and how different approaches may be utilized to address poor financial results. For additional information and past [Archived] newsletters see:
  
  http://scinform.blogspot.com/ Sun City Residents Make Sun City Great