April 01, 2011 |
Wouldn’t it be great if we could send a bill to Anne Randall Stewart personally for all the resources it takes to respond to her incessant false accusations? It would likely result in her taking some responsibility for her relentless publication of inaccurate information and save the rest of us Sun City homeowners some money as well. A win win proposition in my opinion.
In her latest letter, published in the March 25, 2011 edition of the Daily News Sun and March 30, 2011 edition of the Independent, Anne Randall Stewart continues to disseminate inaccurate and untruthful statements about the RCSC, its Board, its committees and its management.
By using an issue between RCSC and another Sun City homeowner as a catalyst, she is claiming that the “grandfathered” per person assessment basis is being eliminated, which is not correct. This Sun City homeowner owns two homes in Sun City, one she occupies and one she does not. She is eligible for the “grandfathered” per person assessment on the home she occupies only. She is not eligible for such on the investment property that she does not occupy.
Ms. Stewart is claiming that the purpose of the Long Range Planning Committee’s tour of the RCSC recreation centers on Thursday, March 24, 2011, was to determine what recreation center would be closed. I am not sure how she came to this conclusion as she has not attended a meeting of the Long Range Planning Committee, so it is second hand information at best, or what I commonly refer to as just one more thing erroneously produced by the Sun City rumor mill to which she appears to be a significant contributor. Ms. Stewart goes on further to claim that there are plans to close Oakmont, which is an outright deception. There are no long range plans for any recreation center at this time, let alone Oakmont. That is the point; the Long Range Planning Committee is in the process of creating a long range (strategic) plan for the Recreation Centers of Sun City. In order for us to do so, we needed to start by having firsthand knowledge of the facilities and what better way to accomplish this than by taking a tour of them. Has the Long Range Planning Committee asked the question, “Will we be able to sustain all of the recreation facilities we have now in the future?” Absolutely, they would be failing to fulfill their duty if they didn’t. Are there members of the committee that feel RCSC has too many facilities to maintain now? Possibly, but remember one or two members of a committee do not create a plan and the committee is not that far into the process to make any such recommendation to the Board at this time. The Board and committee have already committed to taking the plan to the community prior to adopting it. So contrary to Anne Randall Stewart, do not over react, there are a lot of discussions to be had by the committee prior to recommending a long range plan for RCSC and remember Members are welcome to attend the committee meetings. You can find the meeting schedule posted on the website www.sunaz.com under the Board tab. As always, we have nothing to hide.
Anne Randall Stewart’s implication that there may be some mismanagement of funds in regards to projects and bids is absurd or that there is anything inappropriate or uncommon happening at RCSC in regards to this process is a fabrication. I am not sure who her “expert” is this time, but obviously there is very little practical knowledge about how the process works. I dealt with projects, bids and contracts for my entire professional career and RCSC follows good sound business practices. Let me describe how the process commonly works and how it works at RCSC: Prior to Board approval of the operating and capital budget, or any unbudgeted project, the management team obtains an estimated cost of the project, which is either based on the cost of previous similar projects or estimates (not bids) received from architects, engineers, potential bidders, etc. Once the Board approves the project a Request for Proposal (“RFP”) is prepared based on the scope of work and is submitted to as many potential bidders as possible. Every attempt is made to receive at least three bids. Once the bids are received a bid packet is prepared which includes all submitted bids and management’s recommendation. If management for some reason does not recommend the lowest bidder, there is an explanation as to why they are not doing so enclosed in the bid packet, but that rarely happens. The bid packet is signed by the Controller to verify it is within the operating or capital budget approved, or the Board approval of an unbudgeted project. To complete the process before any work can commence, three Board of Directors must sign the bid packet and approve the contractor(s) and project total. Each project is tracked and monitored by the accounting department and the accounting processes are audited by an accredited Certified Public Accounting firm annually.
Contractors will not continue to bid projects for an organization which puts something out to bid before they even know if they are going to complete the project and the Board cannot approve a project for which they have no estimate of costs. For Anne Randall Stewart to imply that there is something wrong because we have an estimated cost for the repair of the Sundial monument is ludicrous. The Board is approving this unbudgeted project based on this estimate. This is similar to when the Board approved the unbudgeted creek project for Willowcreek golf course which was based on the cost of RCSC’s last creek project. Anne Randall Stewart having a problem with the actual bids coming in considerably lower is evidence of her lack of comprehension of how it works. Matter a fact, Anne Randall Stewart’s admittance that she interfered in this process with Pacific Aquascape is an example why RCSC’s policy is to protect contractor’s confidentiality and competitive bidding process. Anne Randall Stewart asked RCSC to submit a RFP to Pacific Aquascape for this project, which RCSC did and they replied that they were not interested in bidding the project. However, that was not sufficient for Ms. Stewart and her group evidently, because Tom Beckwith attended a Board/Member Exchange meeting where he proudly announced that they had obtained a bid from them, obviously Ms. Stewart and her group decided to take matters into their own hands. RCSC was most definitely not grateful for this interference because it causes problems with vendors and contractors when Members take matters into their own hands as would be evident to any business minded individual.
Anne Randall Stewart we kindly ask for the benefit of all of Sun City that you cease and desist with your false accusations.
Gene Westemeier, Treasurer & Chair of Long Range Planning Committee
RCSC Board of Directors