New Sun City Anthem Code Enforcement
A Disguise to Increase Association Revenue to Pay for Increasing Association Costs
By
Jim Mayfield
Former Vice President & 4 Year Member
Sun City Anthem Board of Directors
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"Nevada Know How"
From Marcia Kosterka...to...Anthem Opinions
ReplyDeleteGood for Jim Mayfield for writing that article!!!
Let the machine try to test that!!!!
From Jim Mayfield...former Vice President of Sun City Anthem...to...Anthem Opinions
ReplyDeleteSome ADDITIONAL COSTS and details that I omitted or had incorrect.
One other cost is the cost of the system and IT labor to build and maintain a tracking system.
Besides the retribution capability that will be in the hands of the GM and Board president, if you add up all of the costs, including additional staff vehicles (+ their maintenance and gas), SCA is looking at adding at least another minimum expense of $300k to the budget.
This combined with the restaurant subsidy will be a total of at least $650k to the budget or $91 per roof top per year or about $22.75 per quarter.
QUESTION:
Do a majority of SCA HOMEOWNERS really support a heavily subsidized restaurant AND an active enforcement program to solve a problem, the GM did not document, even exist? I think not!!!
FYI: I would like to know, will the new "plant police & enforcement squad" also be tasked to inspect SCA common area properties to make sure such property is being maintained to the same standard as demanded of homeowners?
Idea: What if SCA deducted from the GM salary and bills from the SCA attorney a fine for every violation identified and verified by owners and the "plant police & enforcement squad"?
Bureaucrats who are not held accountable will always spend other peoples money without being held accountable for the necessity of the requirements or cost effectiveness of outcomes.
At a breakfast at the Tuesday mens club at the Village Inn, I had asked Sandy what she thought about an active program and she was then against it due to the problems of implementation, either the difficulty of eswtablishing a volunteer program or the costs of a management program. So I don't think this came from her
DeleteFrom Rana Goodman...to...Anthem Opinions
ReplyDeleteWe (SCA) pays the largest percentage of the Anthem council fees for the common area landscape.
Has anyone paid attention to the center medians as they come up the hill along Anthem Parkway?
Not only are they messy, but there are many, many dead trees and shrubs that have been that way for a very, VERY long time.
Maybe our people could focus some of this new energy into getting that pretty again..
And what about all the spots left bare from low shrubs removed and never replaced with flowers or something attractive?
Leave the residents alone and take care of the community in general, remember the “property values” so many people keep whining about?
From Rosann Pica...to...Anthem Opinions
ReplyDeleteJim Mayfield and Tim Stebbins are assets to our community. I just want to thank both of you for keeping us well informed of what is really happening in SCA!!
I totally agree that the GM is trying to substantiate her overpaid salary!
Jim, while you were on the Board, you tried to institute positivity & correctness to our community.
We all know the negative attitudes you received from other Board members.
I was so sad to learn that you were no longer involved with trying to keep SCA an upstanding community!!
You were the "Best" board member SCA ever had.
Roseann, I so agree with you.
ReplyDeleteJim literally "caught hell" from the MACHINE.
Shall we start a DRAFT Jim Mayfield movement for the next Board election?
From Robert Nusser...to...Anthem Opinions
ReplyDeleteSo....what happened to that "Blue Card" system in effect forever??
Let the Residents take some responsibility for reporting violations (who cares if there's only two - rather than three - trees in your front yard).
Yet another example as to how this community is being turned into a Jr. High School by treating the residents like stupid teenagers.
There is a known fact that if you drop a frog into hot water it will jump out to save itself; if you put the frog in tepid water and slowly raise the water temperature, by the time the frog realizes what's going on it's too late and the frog can no longer jump out to save itself.
When will the community realize that most are frogs in tepid water?
From Forrest "Mr. Fix-It" Fetherolf...to...Anthem Opinions
ReplyDeleteThe SCA General Manager and Board Members never cease to amaze me with their anti-resident tactics and control power struggle.
As Jim Mayfield stated in his post on Anthem Opinions website, this issue with code enforcement was addressed and decided upon by previous Board Members. Their findings were to be reactive rather than proactive.
The GM and Board indicated that 600 complaints were filed in a 6 month period.
o me, that clearly shows the existing reactive procedure is working. We do not need the paid plant police to do what concerns residents are already doing for free.
My opinion has always been to let the resident’s police code violations in their neighborhood and report to Community Standards.
I have taken the time to drive through several SCA neighborhoods to observe potential plant code violations.
I estimate about 30 to 40% of the homes are in code violation with number of plants.
Plant count does not affect the overall beauty of our community.
I can understand the dead plant issue…that is a no brainer.
As for the required plant count of 10-5 gal plants, 5-1 gallon plants and 2-24” box trees , that will be excessive with many homes that have a small front yard area due to lot size, allowable grass/astro turf areas, driveways, sidewalks, casitas, utility boxes and mail boxes.
As the plants and trees mature, fewer plants would be much more appealing.
Also, there are no provisions to regulate excessive planting or overgrowth of existing plants and trees.
SCA is desert scape. Desert Scape does not include the jungle look of many homes in SCA.
I purchased 9 homes in SCA, 3 were a jungle because of excessive planting.
After I reduced the overgrowth and excessive number of plants, I was very surprised by the number of neighbors stopping by to thank me for eliminating the jungle look.
Forrest,
ReplyDeleteThis is the kind of common sense that should radiate from members of a Board.
Hint Hint !
From Matt Horween...to...Anthem Opinions
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion the General Manager invented this initiative in order to increase the number of employees under her command in order to justify her pay and benefits going forward.
How in the world can a sane board give her another raise for at least five years, because they have already told us she makes so much because she had to start from scratch, and now that we have an established self management, such as it is, we can employ a new manager that does not need all her super skills to just run our established self managed association.
Needless to say this program will hurt the poorer among us the worst and it will for sure increase our legal fees.
I wonder how many people our manager will have to follow the performance of our new restaurant and to make sure they are operating under the terms of the agreement and especially whether or not the restaurant is doing appropriate maintenance?
I wonder who will get sued if someone gets food poisoning at the restaurant?
Are we requiring the restaurant to carry enough insurance to cover this?
As each day goes by, the manager will be dreaming up new schemes to expand her empire.
I know empire building when I see it.
There are times when laughter is the key to a successful day.
ReplyDeleteAnd today was one of those days.
It seems that Mr. Bull Sheet has been simmering, stewing, and stirring while wondering as to the recent developments about Mr. Tutera and G2G.
And with that in thought implanted in my mind, my imagination began to wander as to delving into the mind of Mr. Bull, thinking about the conversation he must have had with himself. (He does that quite often...especially to slot machines).
This is what I came up with.
------------------------------------------------------------
"What shall I do?", thought Mr. Bull.
"I must react, but how?"
"Looks like the people might be on to me after all the time I spent touting the joint and the exec whose their spokesman."
"I sure hope they don't bring up the fact that when it comes to past restaurants...
I supported the woman and her husband, the bank robber...
...or the guy who had an unpaid civil judgment against him that would have first call to profits before SCA would be paid...
...or the guy who was caught walking out the back door with Sun City Anthem restaurant equipment...
...or the head to toe tattooed TV guru who lost is shirt and opened a sandwich shop after his partners stiffed the association for $40,000".
"I need to react this potential catastrophe."
"Ah...wait, let's see if I can get away with how I've always handled these trivial matters?"
"Let's ignore all of what's been said about the lease provisions or the company or guy involved, and change the subject by coming up with a way to get off the main topic and blame some woman for a comment instead!"
"That's it...it's always worked on the dopes who have followed me in the past, let's see if it works now!"
--------------------------------------------------------
Then reality struck and I came up with this conclusion.
Mr Bull, you are not going to get a way with it this time.
Is blaming a woman for something the best you can come up with after all that has been said about your restaurant ally and wonderful Board who, to date, has ignored all of the allegations?
I think not, and neither do most people...and...you know it !
Our suggestion to that loony tune...
Give it a rest.
The community is getting very tired of the Bull Sheet.
From David Strand...to...Anthem Opinions
ReplyDeleteI too attended all of the workshop meetings concerning this very issue.
Did the board even read our findings?
Evidently not, because if they had, they would have never implemented such a foolish, expensive plan.
I guess there is no valid reason to have community workshops in Sun City Anthem.
They mean nothing.
One last comment:
Are the people who are going to do the inspections (every three months, you must be kidding) knowledgeable enough about plants to identify plants that are dead from deciduous plants that are dormant?
If not I foresee a lot of contested violations.
I am so sick of all of this.
From Don Schramski...former member of the Sun City Anthem Board...to...Anthem Opinions
ReplyDeletePART ONE OF TWO
I was a member of the 2013-2014 Pro-active Enforcement Task Force (TF). There were nine members of the TF and I was the Chair of the Education Sub-Group. When I received the SCA letter, dated August 28, I, too, was surprised by the reversal in policy by our association.
Since the inception of our association, compliance with our CC&R's and Design Guidelines has been through submission of resident complaints, often called a reactive system. And, after almost a year-long effort by the TF, the method was reaffirmed. The TF met in open session three or four times and arrived at a method to test the viability of reactive enforcement. On a positive note, each of these meetings was attended by many homeowners, and their opinions were solicited and considered. To help determine a best strategy, the TF divided into two groups to vet the merits of each approach (Education and Proactive Enforcement). The Education group looked at the role of education and communications, while the Proactive Enforcement group researched compliance inspections and monitoring opportunities. The outcome favored initial education opportunities, with the inclusion of an element to measure its success.
Two "drive-by-street view" inspections using an Abbreviated Inspection Checklist were conducted. The goal was to reduce non-compliance by targeting the most common visible violations.
Pre-education - The first inspection included every SCA property in every village, and established a "baseline" to see what percentage of properties actually had a compliance issue. Six percent of the properties had a listed violation. An education campaign followed this baseline inspection.
Education campaign - Articles in the January 2014 Spirit and April 2014 Relay addressed what it meant to live in our covenant-protected community, and noted the eight most common compliance violations visible from the street. Residents were encouraged to ensure their properties were in compliance, and if they believed neighboring properties did not comply, they could anonymously submit a Tan Card identifying perceived non-compliance issues. Reporting would initiate the Community Standards Department process to determine the validity of the alleged violation and take corrective actions as required.
Post-education - After publication of the Spirit and Relay articles, a follow-up inspection was conducted. Only those properties with violations identified during the first inspection were revisited to see if those violations had been corrected. Pre-education inspections were compared with the post-education inspections to assess the effectiveness of the education campaign. Residents were advised of the compliance process and/or appropriate course of action recommended. That generated an increase in the number of Tan Card reports (residents reporting perceived violations). The results comparing the two inspections showed significantly fewer violations in the eight most prevalent Design Guidelines violations. The reactive system worked.
From Don Schramski...former member of the Sun City Anthem Board...to...Anthem Opinions
ReplyDeletePART TWO OF TWO
As I mentioned, I did not expect approval of a pro-active approach. I recall no open meetings, no dedicated TF, and no public discussions prior to the decision by the Board at their August 23 meeting. I know the previous SCA attorney told uswe were unlikely to have problems with NRED if we used reactive enforcement, although I recall he was concerned about defending this position in court if a resident used it as a defense to enforcement of fines.
With regard the staff required to implement a pro-active approach, I understand the current thinking is to add one additional Full Time Employee, so I estimate that cost to be significantly less than Jim Mayfield's estimate.
I believe our association is complying with NRS provisions because we do enforce the rules and regulations equally and fairly, even though we may not identify violations equally. Suspected violations of our governing documents, Rules & Regulations and Design Guidelines are submitted by any resident who notices a deviation, and Compliance determines if a violation exists and sends the case to Covenants for a final determination. Further, I don't believe our landscape or property standards are deteriorating, so I don't believe a pro-active approach is required. I have reason to believe our Compliance office receives from 60 - 150 violation submissions every month. While many of these do not rise to the level of a violation, this is a positive indication our current system is working, and a pro-active system is not necessary. As Vice-Chair of Covenants, I rarely see more than a small number of cases brought before the Committee every month. Some months there are no cases so the meeting is canceled. Perhaps the Board should have a serious discussion with its new attorney, and question the real necessity of pro-active enforcement.
Lastly, it is ludicrous to believe the association is implementing a pro-active approach simply to raise revenue. This association is too well run to necessitate that type of revenue grab. I agree with Jim, if it ain't broke, don't try and fix it. I think our homeowners will agree, and voice their opinions at the September 24th workshop. I hope you will encourage as many homeowners as possible to attend the meeting, so the Board will understand we are aware of our responsibilities as homeowners, and we don't require pro-active enforcement to keep up our property standards.