Al and Jerry Board Update
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The following is submitted jointly by Al Reuben and Jerry McQuaid as Board Update #67
The Board of Directors met in a combined workshop/annual retreat format on
Monday, January 12.
The purpose of the workshop portion of this meeting was to prepare for the
quarterly Board of Directors Meeting on Thursday, January 29 at 10:00 a.m. in
Pinckney Hall. The following items have already been decided by Unanimous
Written Consent and will only be reviewed with brief explanations in the board
meeting:
A. Approval of the 2004 Nominating Committee Charter-this allows the
Nominating Committee to propose candidates for the Board of Directors election
to fill two board seats which become open this year.
B. Establishment of a Fitness Advisory Committee-this will formally
establish a resident group to recommend policies and procedures regarding
operation of the community's fitness facilities to the board.
C. Approval of Appellate Guidelines for Covenants Rulings that are
appealed to the board-this will establish the process the board will use in
considering appeals of decisions made by the Covenants Committee in their role
in the appeal process.
D. Establishment of Parameters for Obtaining Association Records, Reports
& Official Documents-this will establish procedures under which residents
can secure specific information from the Community Association and will
establish which information is privileged and, thus, unavailable, e.g.,
personnel information.
E. Approval of Residents Charging Guest Fees (At Prevailing Rates) Against
Their Golf Package-this allows a little extra flexibility in how residents may
use the account they establish when they buy a golf package.
F. Approval of Mail-in Ballots for Neighborhood Elections-In lieu of
conducting neighborhood elections at polling places, this will enable the use of
mail-in ballots.
Under Old Business, the board will review the results against its 2003 goals and
objectives in the board meeting. A proposed change in community rules for
the operation of golf carts will be voted on which means that the residents will
have the opportunity to speak in favor of or in opposition to the proposal.
Take the time to read the proposed rule change posted in Pinckney Hall before
the meeting. In a nutshell, the proposal is to require a valid drivers
license and proof of insurance in order to operate a golf cart within Sun City.
A photo copy of these documents will be accepted by Sun City Security personnel
but will probably not be adequate in the unlikely event that a golf cart driver
is stopped by a Beaufort County Deputy Sheriff. If no documents are
carried, the driver will have the opportunity to avoid a fine by producing them
within a fixed period of time at the CAM offices. There has been a lot of
"churn" over these rules. If you have questions, concerns or
comments, show up at this board meeting. We want to get it right this time
and we want everyone to understand it.
Under New Business, we will consider a proposal to amend the encroachment policy
to include exclusive common area, that is the area around villas. Comment
for and against will be taken here as well. If you have an interest, be
sure and read the posted proposal.
There were several items discussed in the workshop that will not be presented in
the board meeting:
A. The board agreed to do a thorough review and "cleanup" of the
Community Rules in 2004.
B. A proposal was made by Jerry McQuaid to create a Joint Golf-Finance
Task Force. After a great deal of discussion, it was decided to allow the
Executive Director to utilize the specific recommendations in the proposal as a
first step in securing pertinent data for the Golf Advisory Committee and the
Finance Committee. Upon receipt, both groups will assess its adequacy.
Most of the board members supported this approach. Jerry McQuaid and Al
Reuben dissented from that opinion and felt it was better to set the parameters
now and get the two groups working together now in a joint task force format.
C. A number of tax issues were discussed without any action required.
Al Reuben asked that the Board President investigate whether there is double
taxation on community property caused by potentially having the value of
community property included in the assessed value of the individual homes.
Jerry McQuaid raised a similar issue regarding countywide assessments for storm
sewer projects when Sun City has already taken care of their own needs. Al
Reuben asked for clarification as to whether Sun City can transfer a portion of
its assessment to a local tax structure. If so, the residents would
benefit by being able to deduct the local tax portion from Federal Income Taxes.
Jerry McQuaid raised the issue of what the role of the Community Association
Board of Directors should have been in the recent zoning hearing before the
Beaufort County Planning Commission. Since neither the board nor the
developer took a position on the issue, the residents were "on their
own". Steve O'Donnell expressed legal concerns about the Community
Association opposing area developers and also questioned whether or not this was
an appropriate Community Association issue. It will be our intention in
the future to make sure that our new Business and Government Affairs Committee
is in a position to monitor situations like this. They will get on the
relevant notifications lists to know when hearings are scheduled and they will
notify the residents. It turns out that the developer knew about this
hearing. It will be up to the resident board members to trigger action by
the board on behalf of the residents. There should be no legal concerns
regarding the board making statements at public hearings when community input is
solicited.
The entire focus of the Retreat portion of the meeting was on 2004 Goals and
Objectives. The board made a slight modification in the mission statement
so that it reads "Maintain and protect the Sun City Hilton Head lifestyle
and community values through ethical conduct, visionary planning for the future,
active and creative communications and prudent and fiscally sound business
decisions."
The board will attempt to organize its 2004 Goals and Objectives around four
categories:
A. Financial
B. Strategic Planning
C. Preservation of Lifestyle
D. Community Governance
Significant "brainstorming" was done to identify potential objectives
under this outline but this is a work-in-progress. Once the Goals and
Objectives are finalized, they will be presented to the community.
Considerable progress has been made in the whole goals and objectives area
versus where we were two years ago.
As usual, there will be an opportunity for residents to ask questions of choice
at the end of the board meeting. I hope to see you at the upcoming Board
of Directors Meeting.