Two Way
Communication
It Can
Work...If...Both Parties Are Willing to Listen
!
Remember the
Salamader?
No, not the
lizard..
The Cheese Melter
!
We just got a nice note from Board
Director, Carl Weinstein, informing us that after
examining a number of competitive options and reading our article posted September 21, 2015, the matter has been reviewed and it
appears that as a result of a JOINT EFFORT
between BOARD MEMBER...RESIDENT...with a nudge
from...ANTHEM OPINIONS...
...Sun City Anthem residents
will....
SAVE
APPROXIMATELY $3,500
as a result
!
We wish to express our thanks to Mr.
Weinstein for his taking the time to read our article, examine its contents, and
subsequently investigate the concerns expressed.
The best part....Sun City Anthem residents will enjoy a substantial
savings...
...and perhaps...
...as a result of this
episode, the Sun City Anthem Board will strongly consider a plea made over the
years by those who have expressed a concern for needless
waste...
...an "Oversight Committee" for all future expenditures that
exceed a predetermined dollar amount.
For those of you who did not have the
opportunity to read the Anthem Opinions article, we have reprinted it for you
below.
Do you have thoughts on the merit of an
Oversight Committee to police the validity of bidding
projects?
Let us know your
feeling.
Send your emails
to:
________________________
Cafe
V to Get a New
"Salamander"
Huh ?
Something new on the menu to offer "specials" to Sun
City Anthem residents?
We're buying the guy a lizard
?
Couldn't
be...but the question remains...
"What
the H _ _
L is a salamander?"
When you're
a guy whose only experience in a kitchen is the location of the refrigerator,
and whose cooking experience is pretty well limited to the words " Big Mac,
Coke and Fries", cooking words are rather foreign in my
vocabulary....
so...
...off
to Wikipedia I went to find out just what this
contraption was all about.
The best I
could find was that this machine is:
... "a cheese melting cooking device used primarily in
commercial restaurant kitchens. Powered by direct flame of electricity, these
long, toaster-like appliances allow cooks to put finishing touches on dishes,
especially those topped with shredded
cheese."
And so...we
are about to buy Cafe V a new cheese
melter.
This is an
example of a salamander...not the actual one,
should the board approve its purchase.
Why we're
buying Cafe V a cheese melter when, to my knowledge, "grilled cheese" doesn't appear to be on
its best seller menu...I'll never understand !
But...it's
in the budget...a reserve item...something that you are supposed to believe is
needed...because it was previously approved...by a group of people...who design
budgets!
Now...if
that makes sense to you, perhaps you might explain that to me
!
I'm saving
the best part, though.
Turns out
this wonderful "gotta have it gadget" will
cost...
$5,400.00
and to
install it...
$1,600.00
And
that's Seven Grand so Cafe V can provide his "numerous
customers" melted cheese.
Well
that set me off into checking the internet for one of these "necessary"
machines...and here's what I found:
...and low
and behold, after examining the many varieties available...the most expensive
one I could find on this list was a whole lot less than what "the budget
approved".
So now you
know....$7,000 of our money for a restaurant that doesn't
open every day, for a place that YOU AND I ALREADY
SUBSIDIZE.
And how
much of this will be paid by the
renter?
-0-
Looks like
our board has figured out yet another way of
using our
money to...
"Cut the
Cheese"
Dick
Arendt
Anthem
Opinions
Reply to article by cheese melter.
Should there be an oversight committee???
Absolutely. If projects like this cheese melter come up, we should treat it like our own money and not just association money that cost each homeowner a few pennies a month. If we continue to add up those pennies, it comes to real dollars.
Yes, I am in favor of an oversight committee.
Regarding saving money for this project, I disagree.
We have a failing restaurant that is being subsidized heavily to keep the doors open.
They have been less than straightforward to our community. They in the past have not paid their fair share and on a timely basis.
We have spent unnecessary legal fees as a result of this relationship.
Did we just SAVE money?
I do not think so.
Why should WE THE ASSOCIATION, pay any more to continue to subsidize a failing operation?.
Will this cheese melting machine help the restaurant to be successful?
How have they lived without it for the last few years?
The question is not did we save money but rather why are we continuing to throw our association funds away.
It is not a victory to spend less on something that does not appear to be necessary.
Thanks for the comment...the second part was food for thought.
I have learned that according to the original lease years ago with a former restaurant tenant, the actual items included for repair and replacement were inventoried and specified as part of the lease agreement.
One would hope that this was also the case with Cafe V.
A request for the lease agreement INCLUDING A LISTING of the items is being requested as part of a Document Request.
It takes 20-21 days to receive a response, and we will publish an article as to the items OR LACK THEREOF once received.
If we are denied the request, we will also publish the statement received from the management company.
If the cheese melter is NOT on the list, obviously we would then NOT have been responsible for it, and therefore it should NOT have been replaced at association expense.
Let's hope it is...because if it not...it represents another WASTE of association assets.
Stay tuned.