Do Any Sun City Anthem
Board Members and/or Candidates Know How to
Keep an Eye on Her
?
Somewhere along the line Sun City
Anthem has come up with this idea that allowing a General Manager to "twist them around her little fingers" is an acceptable
business practice...
...and I have to hand it to her, she's
done well manipulating a bunch of old people and bamboozling a community into
believing she should not be considered "the hired
help", but rather...
The queen of
the castle with unit owners as her readily available banking
source.
And...it's time she realized she works
for us...that her spending habits are out of control.
This entire problem...and I
mean...problem...started with a Sun City Anthem Board
Treasurer named Tom Nissen, who obviously believed it
was his "divine right" to choose her in the first
place.
Bet you weren't
aware that a number of board members were BARRED from the initial screening
process, were you ????
Wine and dine, pay for a private plane
to interview her, and then have an exclusive and costly party to further entice
her to come to the desert to run Sun City Anthem.
She was given a salary of $250,000....approximately $65,000 more than the person who manages the ENTIRE CITY OF
HENDERSON, and a benefit package, that has cost the unit owners of Sun
City Anthem a literal FORTUNE.
Let's discuss that benefit
package...and its result to your wallet.
A year ago, a number of us made every
attempt to curtail a benefit package due to the laws pertaining to The
Affordable Care Act.
A previous board candidate, Barry Goldstein, tried desperately to warn of the adverse
ramifications of not doing proper homework before any benefit package was
offered.
He was
ignored...and...
...as always, Mr.
Nissen, in his infinite "know it all"
attitude, along with almost all of his fellow board members who resembled "blind
mice"...
...agreed to a package that they
believed could be offered to her alone.
They were
wrong...expensively
wrong...
DISCRIMINATION (singling out one
individual) was AGAINST THE LAW.
As a result of a lack of knowledge from
a person who claims to be a qualified CPA, the result was simply...you have to treat all employees equally.
Nissen's
solution...
...rather than admitting HE WAS
WRONG......was
simply...
"We promised her a
great benefit package, and since we can't go back on our promise, we have to
give it to everyone no matter how much it costs the residents of Sun City
Anthem".
...and folks, that attitude and
decision has cost us A
BOODLE.
Let me be specific.
While the average business now pays
50% of employee medical insurance premiums, we've
been made aware that Sun City Anthem pays 85% of the
cost.
Do any of you know the real cost of
medical insurance in today's world for those under age 65? Probably not,
because unless you've had to bear those costs as an individual or employer, you
take them for granted.
The average premium of Obamacare
coverage with a $1000 deductible is approximately $700+ per month...and
rising...rising so rapidly, that insurers are dropping out of the market due to
the losses they sustain.
But...we will use that as an example of
cost for medical insurance.
Multiply that by the approximate 50 Sun
City Anthem employees, and that comes to $35,000 p/month or
$420,000 per year.
That's the approximate total amount Sun City Anthem
pays for employee medical insurance benefits.
Where the MARKETPLACE would have
resulted in a cost of half that amount or $210,000, Mr. Nissen's 85% COVER YOUR TRACKS BLUNDER along
with his fellow board members who voted to approve that package, have cost Sun
City Anthem $357,000.
How do you "cover"
your ANNUAL ECONOMIC CATASTROPHIC $157,000
MISCALCULATION due to the refusal or inability to seek qualified assistance or
LISTEN to COMPETENT individuals?
You raise the annual dues 10%...AND....make sure you don't tell the people that an
additional 10% increase is on the planning table for the following
year.
Over the recent past, while the economy
struggled, employers across the country were faced with having to reduce
employee benefit packages in order to SURVIVE.
Pension and profit-sharing plans
disappeared from the workplace and were substituted with 401(k) plans...plans
that initially began with matching employer contributions, but over time, those
employer contributions ceased.
We know of NO MAJOR
CASINO OPERATION in Las Vegas matching 401(k)
contributions any longer.
To further enable SURVIVAL, many of the
largest companies in the US also ELIMINATED or SUBSTANTIALLY REDUCED medical
insurance benefits to their retirees.
The marketplace had changed...it had to
"go with the times", and its SURVIVAL depended on REDUCTION
OF COST...
...common knowledge
amongst those who were capable of reading a newspaper, but obviously
NOT amongst those who were so "over the hill", yet continued
to believe they were every bit as knowledgeable as they were prior to their
retirement...in some cases 10-15 years ago.
That lack of knowledge was quite
evident in employing Mrs. Seddon and allowing her to create what I will now
refer to as "her kingdom" to which she has been given
an almost unlimited amount of POWER...
..by those WHO HAD
NO IDEA AS TO THE REALITIES OF THE TIMES and in almost all cases, had NO
EXPERIENCE at even asking the right
questions...
...or even worse,
NEVER ASKING QUALIFIED EXPERIENCED INDIVIDUALS for input of any
kind...
...in order to properly "guide" her
decisions...
...the model on which "self management"
was originally intended.
The result ?
She "rules the
roost" without any RELEVANT supervision, and
the extravagant expenses she has incurred as a result of LIMITED BIDDING
PROCEDURES, have had little or no justification other
than...
What is her job
description and how is she judged in order to achieve a raise or
bonus?
THERE IS
NONE.
Is there anyone who has ever worked,
not been made aware of a criterion to achieve a raise or
bonus?
After just a few months on the job, she
was also given a $20,000
bonus.
How about her "direction" of the
Liberty Center?
Remember we were originally told the
tab would be close to $500,000?
It's now over $2
million...and...we have a substantial lawsuit as
well.
Bathrooms at Anthem
Center?
$450,000 to
$500,000 to redo them? You can buy 2 new homes in Sun
City Anthem for those figures.
New WHITE carpeting
in the Anthem Center ballroom.....WHITE on a heavily
trafficked floor?
And don't let her
fool you about her desire for a restaurant
either?
She wants
one...but...
...what she won't actually come out and
tell you is that...
She wants YOU to
spend between $200,000 and $300,000 of your dues money EACH YEAR to have one, by
giving an outside vendor FREE RENT and FREE UTILITIES in order for the
kingdom to "look the part" of what will inevitably require INCREASE AFTER INCREASE in annual dues in order to
sustain....
...while at the same time
using a "convenient" 50% voting rule as the only way to avoid
it....
...yet for some reason
not adhering to a similar requirement to file a multi-million dollar
lawsuit.
It goes on and on and is rubber stamped
each and every time because...
"Whatever Sandy
Wants...Sandy Gets"
Why would this situation have been
allowed to evolve to this point?
This board IS
SCARED STIFF of her. They have no back-up plan for any kind of replacement, thereby leaving
all of Sun City Anthem vulnerable to her
wishes.
In short...these "over the hill" lack
of relevant experienced bunch of "leaders" have allowed a QUEEN to emerge whose
attitude now approaches Marie Antoinette's when asked about her spending habits
at the expense of "the people".
When Mrs. Seddon first came to Sun City
Anthem, a former board candidate was told by her...
"The
Dues Are Too Low"
Those words should have raised a "red
flag" as to her controlling the future spending habits of Sun City
Anthem.
And when the pieces have been added
together over the past year...
...rather than providing a financially
sound atmosphere, it's now come to...
"Let Them
Eat Cake"
Got a
comment?
Send them to us
at:
The Board has not adopted a policy or process for regular review and oversight of her performance.
I have tried three times to have this subject, along with a comprehensive PUBLIC review of the SCA Policy Manual, put on the monthly meeting agenda and have been blocked by Mr Weddle and Ms. Meese.
Their blocking of having an item put on the agenda probably violates NRS 116.
Instead, Mr. Weddle appointed three members of the Board to conduct an out of sight review of the Policy Manual.
Ms. Waterhouse and Mr. Burch, who campaigned on transparency, strict legal compliance, and independence, should be held accountable for flip-flop on these issues once elected.