Things You Should Know

Open Letter To The Community

From Executive Director, Dave Meseroll

Subject: Change in Security Contractors

June 11, 2007

Dear Residents,

In the past few weeks I have received a number of questions and concerns regarding the change in security contractors.  Many of these concerns are due to the lack of information and/or misinformation that have become rumor.  I would like to clarify the situation by addressing the benefits of the change, how the decision to select Marine Security was made and why it was necessary to make an exception to the bidding process.

Dave Gilley, American Citadel’s senior manager on Sun City’s property, recognized a number of security needs that could not be met by his company even though they were in the best interests of SCHH.  As an employee of American Citadel he could not unilaterally make changes that were not in line with American Citadel policies.  After outlining these needs, Mr. Gilley took the initiative to present an unsolicited proposal to the Resident Board Members.  Upon review by the RBM’s, it was obvious that the proposal offered the following benefits:

• Responsive, local management rather than absentee management
• Greatly improved hiring practices
• Significantly more training of the officers prior to their first posting at SCHH than previously available through American Citadel
• Testing of the officers after each phase of training
• 24/7 supervision rather than supervision only during day-shift hours
• Employee retention programs that should reduce turn-over and provide us with a higher quality of officer
• A greater awareness of Sun City’s unique requirements
• More coverage and management supervision at the same cost

Following the review by the Resident Board Members, the Chair and other members of the Public Safety Committee--many of whom have extensive experience in law enforcement both as senior managers and practitioners--reviewed the proposal and met with Mr. Gilley for further discussions.  Following those discussions the Resident Board Members asked Mr. Gilley to provide his business plan and a two-year cash flow analysis for review by members of the community’s Finance Committee. The members of the Finance Committee who evaluated the business plan and cash flow analysis concluded Mr. Gilley had sufficient assets to provide the services contracted for. They suggested that he raise the maximum liability coverage he planned to carry, which he confirmed he would do prior to the signing of any agreement.

As a result, the Resident Board Members, with the approval of the Public Safety and Finance Committee members who had reviewed the proposal, asked Mr. Gilley to present his plan to all of the members of the Board of Directors.  The Board members understood the benefits of the change, and further understood that the additional benefits would be provided at no greater cost than American Citadel was then charging.  As a result, there was unanimous approval to make the change from American Citadel to Marine Security.

The Board of Directors approved a one-time exception to the recommended purchasing policy. The Board acted under the authority of the governing documents via Unanimous Written Consent to ensure that those Citadel employees we felt beneficial to keep on the security staff were in a position to accept employment with the new company.  The Board had strong feelings that had the community gone through a lengthy bid process, it was very possible that American Citadel would have transferred many of the officers we wanted to be a part of the Marine Security’s new organization

The above is the background to the process that was used for changing our contract for security services to Marine Security.

Perhaps we should have communicated the above information previously, but please recognize, what is being done is within the purview of management, approved by the Board, and vetted by members of the respective advisory committees.  That notwithstanding, I do want to respond to a few specific concerns that have come to my attention by stating empathically that:

• No resident of Sun City and no Developer personnel at SCHH have any financial interest in Marine Security.
• The contract with Marine Security does not provide any incentive compensation based on the number of or the value of any citations.
• Marine Security currently enforces only those rules that have to do with public safety and security.  The Community Standards department enforces all other issues related to the CC&R’s.  I point this out because there appears to be concern that Marine Security has provided citations for violations of Community Standards. That is not its role.

Marine Security may have been overly diligent in its enforcement activities regarding golf cart parking.  I have counseled Mr. Gilley regarding this area of enforcement.  Much of the problem was an interpretation of our Community Rules.  This has been corrected and those residents directly affected have or will be notified of a correction to this action.

Hopefully, your concerns have now been addressed.

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