Sun City Anthem
Director
4th
Motion
What To Do About the
Restaurant Space
Motion
Recommendations
1. Do not fund the GM's proposal made at the June 22 BOD
meeting to hire a consultant to tell us what it takes to have a successful
restaurant.
2. Contract with a local commercial
broker specializing in gaming, bars, and restaurants to put out an open
solicitation for bids to lease the restaurant
space. 3. Direction to the broker will require Board approval to ensure that parameters conform to such requirements as emphasizing that homeowners do not want to subsidize by their assessments an enterprise that would otherwise fail . Successful tenant pays broker.
4. If no vendor can be found that can operate at a profit without a subsidy, we all move on to the analysis of re-purposing the space.
5. Allow the clubs/members to utilize the restaurant space during the interim on as generous terms as possible, but with consideration of the possibility of damage.
6. Review the tax implications of having the space closed.
According to Ms. Tobin, her motion was suggested based on a number of emails she received from residents, asking them to make contributions to her thought process in an attempt to bring closure to what she referred to as "this contentious issue".
She then decided to reach out to management and the Sun City Anthem Board for their input.
All were silent, but 1 manager and 1 Board member.
INPUT FROM MANAGEMENT STAFF
Lori
Martin, the Sun City Anthem Community Association
Manager, and former C.A.M. in Summerlin, informed Ms. Tobin she was
wrong about the Five-Star Tavern being successful because she knew they were in
default on their lease with Sun City Summerlin.Tobin asked Martin for a source in order to verify what Martin had told her...
...that she would have gladly changed her original report if Martin would kindly provide her the information proving she had made an error.
Lori Martin NEVER responded to Director Tobin.
Not accepting Lori Martin's lack of cooperation, Tobin them decided to do a bit of homework on her own.
Tobin had received her original information directly from Sun City Summerlin financial statements that are openly posted on their web page.
Those reports showed the Five-Star Tavern had a net INCOME of $27,563 for the for fiscal year covering 2016-17.
Tobin then had the financial data reviewed by a man named Mark Burton, an individual with whom she was familiar prior to her retirement from her position in San Diego, California.
Burton's credentials were IMPECCABLE.
Mark Burton formerly served as The City of San Jose's:
Deputy
Director of Finance
Deputy Director of Information Technology
Finance
Director
and
The San Diego
Police Department's First Head of the Division of Gaming
Control
She then consulted our NRS 116 expert resident, Tim Stebbins, for his input, as Stebbins has always been a regular contributor to Sun City Anthem Board meetings.
Tim Stebbins, being familiar with a number of individuals in Sun City Summerlin, contacted them to find out if there was anything that might have changed since the 5/31/17 Sun City Summerlin financial report.
He was informed THERE WERE NO CHANGES.
There was no comment from the GM.
INPUT FROM ONE BOARD MEMBER
She would not reveal the
name of the Board member, referring to that individual as "I'll let you guess which Board member penned
it". The response was quite dramatic and very telling, as well as inconsistent.
The email claimed that restaurants are successfully operating at other Sun City communities in the area, but the supporting documentation showed otherwise.
Those restaurants required...
Unit owner
subsidies
The email also misstated the Budget and Management Process.
It incorrectly stated:
“The 2017 budget does not include funding for a consultant to do the analysis the GM was told to do before the budget was adopted. Funding a consultant now requires the board to amend the budget by reallocating funds from some other function. This cannot be a unilateral management decision as SCA bylaws prohibit the Board from delegating its policy role in the budgeting process to the manager.”
The annual budget is an NRS 116 & CC&R requirement for establishing the annual assessments to unit owners; it is NOT a line-by-line restriction on spending.
For example, about two years ago, Sun City Anthem’s utility expenses exceeded the budget by approximately $100,000.
The Sun City Anthem Board neither closed the community centers for two months, nor amended the budget because we exceeded the utilities budget.
It ignored the board’s fiduciary duty to Sun City Anthem in two cases.
First, It is the board’s fiduciary duty to make informed decisions, which includes getting advice from experts; that the contents of the email containing these words, “Paying a (restaurant) consultant is a waste of time as well as money” exposes the board to liability.
Second, in order to protect the association, it is the board’s fiduciary duty to ensure any restaurant agreement is financially reasonable and sustainable by the tenant.
In Tobin's view, she believes the solicitation and selection process must be based on the market analysis and business planning done by the competitors for the lease, not by Sun City Anthem.
The email from the unnamed Sun City Anthem Board officer ended in this manner:
"Now 5?, 10?, 50? or more residents have been factually mislead on an import association issue.
Because it came from a director, this misinformation that will probably rattle around the community for years.
As directors, we are required to exercise ordinary and reasonable care in our dealings.
Disseminating unvetted and false information violates this standard."
- - - - - - - -
- - - - - - -
Now it's your
turn.
What is your
opinion of Nona Tobin's analysis?
Do you believe
that Sun City Anthem's Community Association Manger, Lori Martin, intentionally
withheld the answer to Director Tobin's
request?
What is your
opinion of the email Tobin received from the Sun City Anthem Board
Director?
Send your
comments to:
Pretty obvious offensive board members are shutting Tobin out.
They and GM do not want any new ideas or additional resident input.
I wondered how other communities had successful restaurants; what they did that SCA somehow has been unable to do. Guess we know now why SCA board and GM never provided this info.
Thanks to Tobin we have the info, but neanderthals on board and GM still refuse look at it.
The Board's tried and true method of "Delay, Delay, Evade, & Confuse" is being used again.
We are merely serfs in the SCA Kingdom.
It seems like forever ago, but it was actually just 10 days ago, that I sent out my draft of restaurant recommendations to get owner input so I could meet the deadline to submit motions for the 7/27/17 Board meeting.
Thank you to the many people who contributed suggestions (there were 108 emails in the string, one was from a Mary Lee Duley who commented for the 842 owners on her email list as her last act before leaving SCA and moving to Texas.
I incorporated as many suggestions as i could into the body of the report, and put the rest at the end, giving credit by naming the contributor.
Rex (lWeddle) & Aletta (Waterhouse) blocked it from the agenda again with no good reason & no legal authority.
This is another totally unacceptable way to manipulate the way Board decisions are made and to attempt to disenfranchise a member of the Board who has dissenting views.
Although the 9-page research report I prepared as a volunteer Board member was not excluded from the Board Book, I had to pay pretty close attention to find out that my recommendations were not placed not on the agenda for action as requested and required. Technically, no action is permitted on the GM's update, but we'll see.
THE AGENDA
Here is the item as Rex and Aletta put it on the 7/27/17 Board agenda followed by the outstanding work product (one paragraph) that was submitted by SCA's highly-compensated ($257,500 + $20,000 bonus + benefits/year) General Manager.
15. OLD BUSINESS
Update on Restaurant Space – Sandy Seddon
The General Manager will report on the status of the restaurant space. Discussion will consist of the need to hire an outside consultant related to feasibility of a restaurant. There were also be discussion related to re-purposing of the space.
So, here's my prediction for how the discussion will go:
1. Rex will make sure that the Board votes on the GM's recommendation to pay a consultant and will block a full and reasoned discussion of the analysis and recommendations in my report.
2. The GM will say why SCA needs to pay a consultant to tell us exactly what it will take to have a successful restaurant, and
3. That she can't do the analysis herself because we are all too emotional & divided.
4. No one will mention that no consultant is budgeted for this purpose.
5. The Board will abdicate its budget policy-making authority in favor of just letting the GM decide because "we have to support management".
6. The Board will refuse to consider anything I say on its merits because I said it.
7. The majority of the Board will vote to pay a consultant.
What a breath of fresh air to see the types of proposals and detailed information that Nona Tobin is presenting to the board.
I am just astounded that the old guard, Weddle and his merry people, are just ignoring her.
We elected board members to work together, to be creative, to think for themselves, and what is the best for the community.
Now I hear that they are planning to hire another consultant to tell us what to do.
How about just spending the money to do a survey among homeowners, or just to do a survey online and in our various clubs, clubs etc. to get a feeling for what we want?
After all, they chose to communicate by asking our club presidents to email club members the treasurer's comments.
Why can't we do the same for a survey?
May not be scientific or statistically perfect, but it gives us a choice.
Being sarcastic, maybe we should hire a search firm to find a consultant to tell us what we already know.
I am so disappointed in the board for not welcoming fresh ideas with open arms.
We seem to have a jewel in creative ideas to make our community better, but this board continues to be corrupt and shut Nona and all her ideas down.
Rex was not elected king and he is not so smart.
As a matter of fact, he was barely reelected, beating Weinstein, whose recent lewd comment to an individual merely seeking petitions, was deplorable.
He should allow the FULL board including Nona to work on our behalf.
I can only hope that the our residents see this clearly, and sign the petition to recall, and then vote these incompetent directors out of office.
I know of no other way to help our community to improve financially and operationally.