The Directors Diary   

Chapter 1 – My introduction to Sun City Governance   

Allow me to introduce myself.  My name is John Fast.  By nature, I am a competitive individual who worked hard in school and got good grades in Accounting, Finance and Law.  My wife Jane, a nurse, and I came to Sun City as unretired snowbirds during the housing crash of 2010. Our story is like most of yours, a friend invites you to stay with them and you end up buying the yet to be remodeled house next door before you leave.  We are both grateful for what we did. 

I wasn’t interested in “politics” when we bought our Sun City house and I only paid attention to the RCSC financial statements which appeared healthy (primarily because maintenance of facilities was neglected.)  Then came the rumor mill of events surrounding the removal of Karen McAdam from the Board.  I, like so many others, was sucked in.   At the time of deciding to run, I did not know that the primary controversy between the Board and Karen McAdam was that a few members of the Board had eliminated all Pickleball courts at Mountainview to accommodate the building of a large professional grade theater for the 100 +/- member Players Club and their shrinking audiences.  During her Pickleball June 2. 2023 presentation to the Strategic Alternatives Committee Karen stated “she fell in love with pickleball”.  I was introduced to what many have called her pickleball obsession after I became a candidate.    

Please stay tuned for chapter 2…. 

Chapter 2 – Deciding to Run for the Board

I decided to run for the Board because management had forgotten the reason for their existence: the members.   I discovered that many members felt the same way.   Everyone was mad about what was happening but nearly everyone I spoke with was convinced there was nothing they could do about it.    The advocates had created a blog page to educate members.  I felt the time was right to go back to the days when Members Mattered and were allowed to get involved in the process of how their money is spent.  I knew I was ready to tackle the challenge that change would entail.  In my mind that change had to involve a focused governance process whereby data was used to guide smart decisions, management was transparent with information and members took ownership of the quality of their community the way they used to do.

I recognized all these changes involved painful decisions.  I also realized that for this to be successful, the Board would need to give up their agendas and become intensely focused on a clear long-range plan that thoughtfully considered the current conditions as well future trends.  In a nutshell, the time had come for Sun City to be run in a professional manner and not by the whims and wishes of whomever was in the majority on the Board.

Chapter 3 – The “Screen Play”

Early in the Board election process, the board candidates were invited to meet one on one with the President of the Board.  I was also invited to meet with Karen McAdam for a “background briefing”.  I respectfully declined the President’s invitation.  I was curious enough to accept Karen’s invitation.   After what seemed like an eternity of her explaining what should be done at RCSC, she agreed to hand out little slips of paper endorsing me, and I was grateful but, quite honestly, my ears hurt.  I realize now that this briefing was a way to make sure I agreed with her.

This screening process for candidates is quite common in political parties and in National, State and Local elections.  I was surprised to see it being used in a volunteer recreation center board.  However, to control the Board, one group must have five people that will vote together to support the agenda of the group or vote together to support each other’s agenda.  Those who seek to control the RCSC Board will secretly screen or recruit potential board candidates to assure they have the “correct views”.   I was just learning and honestly had no agenda other than transparency and data-based decision making in mind.   I also received the most votes of any candidate in recent history.  Go figure.

In my opinion the RCSC election process is way over politicized and is not what was intended by the Sun City founders.  Again, in my view, there is a duty of impartiality owed by each Board member to the membership implied within the fiduciary duty spelled out in the Corporate Documents.  Directors should not be for or against any activity but should only look to maximize the quality and quantity of recreational activities in total.

Next up   – A cold shower for those in power

Chapter 4 – The Indoctrination Meeting

Shortly after the election of the officers, newly elected president John Nowakowski and newly elected vice-president Steve Collins invited Jean and I to John’s house for a talk.  I mistakenly thought this would be a brainstorming session where we could discuss ideas about how to improve the governance process.  It was anything but that.  When we arrived (and I was late because I got lost) we were introduced to a non-Board member named Russ Toman who had asked John to speak to us.  Russ told us that he was a community influencer who did not need to be on the Board to exert power because people listened to him.  He then told us of his extensive background.   I remember thinking to myself that it was odd that this individual would have secret access to the Board President and Vice President, Treasurer (me) and Secretary (Jean).   I also remember thinking that he was very sincere about his Sun City governance beliefs. 

After Russ finished his talk, he excused himself and I was ready to discuss ideas I had to improve RCSC governance and restore trust among the members.   We were essentially told to shut up and listen.  John and Steve would tell us how it was going to be with them in power and what Jean and I should and shouldn’t do to fully support them.     I was shocked.  Here we had dared to think that this time it would be different.

The most shocking revelation came when Steve Collins started telling us that he was determined to extract revenge on the former majority and would enjoy the pleasure of making them squirm or words to that effect.  He then proceeded to tell us that Kat Fimmel was the previous Board minority’s “spy”.  She pretended to be loyal to the majority but would tell the minority what was really going on so the minority could undermine the majority’s agenda.   As I learned later, Kat had her own agenda.  More on that later.

All this talk of spies, lobbyists and retaliatory strikes had my head spinning.   I thought to myself, OMG, I just stepped into a Tom Clancy novel taking place at the Recreation Centers of Sun City.   Sinister Board level plots filled with hidden agendas, backstabbing and deception was the rule of the day. I knew then that they had grossly underestimated my commitment to open, honest impartial self-governance.