Today’s Anthem View

Management’s Proposed 2017 Budget & Recommendation for an Assessment Increase

Management’s recent 2017 Budget Workshop presentation was illuminating for its detail and thoroughness of the topics covered. Among management’s proposals was a recommendation for a $110 assessment increase in 2017. In recognition of the Association’s aging repair needs, coupled with the need to accelerate such funding for items with a shorter lifespan than was initially projected, management proposed that all of that recommended increase be allocated to the Reserve Fund.

The amount allocated to the Reserve Fund in 2016 is projected to be just under $2 million, which is equivalent to $277 per home and an accumulated Reserve Fund Balance of $10.5 million. In one of two Reserve Funding scenarios prepared by the GM, that per home amount will gradually increase over the next 30 years to $635/home.  An alternative scenario reflects a relatively stable, non-increasing contribution, but which results in an ending Fund Balance that’s 44% lower than the resulting Balance from the staggered scenario as well as inadequate financial strength (below 70% of the fully funded amount in the final years).       

The table below compares the 2016 Budget to the proposed 2017 Budget, showing the dollar and percentage changes.

Some may note that the Reserve Contribution in 2016 is $1.366 million, which reflects the amount that was initially included in the 2016 Budget. The actual amount contributed to reserves in 2016 will reflect the Board’s recent decision to augment that initial amount by $610,000, which will bring the total contribution to $1.976 million.  

The Year-End TGIF Band on the North Lawn

This past Friday, it was a beautiful evening on the North Lawn overlooking the lights on the strip. We had brought some snacks to munch on while we enjoyed listening to the music. Then soon after the band started playing, I thought to myself, “something doesn’t sound right.” I didn’t know the music and wondered whether it was me or my age. After all, this was Sun City Anthem and the average age of homeowner was likely in their seventies. We grew up listening to music in the 1950s and 60s and we were looking forward to listening and dancing to the music and songs we understood.

Instead, SCA’s management staff contracted to provide homeowners with what the band described as a steel band playing generally unfamiliar music from the 80s or later by artists who, for the most part, were unknown to most homeowners.

Unfortunately, when brought to their attention, I understand that management was not especially concerned about their apparent failure to meet the music preferences of most residents who came out Friday evening looking for some fun and familiar music on the North Lawn.            

About Costco’s St. Rose Construction Plans

While Costco has completed the City’s planning and permit requirements some time ago and is authorized to begin construction at their discretion, Costco has yet to announce when they will turn over the first shovel of dirt on their St. Rose property. Whether Costco’s delay represents a short or long-term hiatus is unknown. 

A Las Vegas Review Journal Special Rate Reminder

Since I continue to receive inquiries about the special subscription rate for Sun City residents, I wanted to repeat that information.

Since some homeowners are paying well over $200/yr and upon renewal they can do so for only $85.80/yr, I encourage other SCA bloggers, with or without attribution, to provide this information to their subscribers so that they too may benefit from this substantial savings.  

New and existing subscribers in Sun City Anthem are entitled to a special rate of $85.80 for a 7-day, 52-week subscription.

1.            Who does that special rate apply to? Residents of Sun City Anthem.

2.            Does that special rate apply to your current subscription? You can receive a credit towards your renewal as illustrated below.

3.            Does that special rate apply to your next renewal? Yes.  

4.            Does that special rate apply to your previous renewal? No.

5.            Will that special rate be applicable in 2017? As far as I know today, the answer is Yes. 

6.            Will that special rate change? I was told that the special rate should be applicable through 2017. When and how that special rate will change in the future is unknown.  

7.            Does that special rate entitle you to a cash refund? No.

8.            Are you entitled to receive a credit on your upcoming renewal? Yes.

9.            How does that credit work? Subscribers will receive a pro rata extension on their next renewal equivalent to the difference between the amount you paid on your existing subscription and $85.80.

For example, say your current 12-month subscription is scheduled to expire on 12/1/2016 and you had paid the LVRJ $171.60 in 2015. Your upcoming 12-month renewal rate will be $85.80. Since the amount you had paid in 2015 was equal to 100% of the special subscription amount of $85.80, you are entitled to an extension to your 2016 renewal equal to 100% of 52 weeks, which is 52 weeks. In this example, the subscriber would have their subscription extended for an additional 52 weeks beyond 2017, until the extended subscription expires on 12/1/ 2018.

10.       How do new or current subscribers get this special rate? In order to receive this special rate, you need to do three things:

a.         Call the LVRJ at this number ONLY: 702-383-4613

b.         Talk to or leave a message for Anna Martinez, Head of the Subscription Department. That number is her direct line and if she does not answer, leave a message to call you.

c.         You must tell here you are a Sun City Anthem resident.

d.         Do not call any other LVRJ subscription number as Ms. Martinez is the only person who is authorized to provided SCA residents this special rate.

11.          How did this special rate come about? In response to my recent article about the LVRJ, I was contacted by one of our residents who wishes to remain anonymous who told me of an arrangement that had been made with a LVRJ representative for a special rate for residents of Sun City Anthem. 

AND THEN,

ANOTHER CHALLENGE FOR YOUR BUCKET LIST

               Volcano surfing in Nicaragua. (#22).

Today’s Anthem View

The September Board Meeting (continued)

and today’s Restaurant Meeting

There is one very important area left to discuss about the September Board meeting. That is the 2016 Updated Reserve Study, which is likely to have profound financial implications on assessments going forward, if not in 2017, in the years to come.

A possible assessment increase in 2017, politics, and Criterium Engineers’ 2016 Updated Reserve Study

The completed, still highly secret, 2016 Updated Reserve Study by Criterium Engineers reportedly disclosed the need for $2.4 million in 2017 recommended repairs. Unanswered today is where will that money come from?

If I had to guess, that $2.4 million obligation is one the Association is not prepared to assume, that is, not without an increase in member assessments.  That dire prospect was offered by Director Jim Mayfield, who said that he would not be surprised if we will need an assessment increase in 2017. Jim then asked this question: What will be the methodology that will drive the amount of the Association’s reserves contribution to fund the needed repairs?

Whether the Board will propose an assessment increase in 2017 is problematic and depends on a number of considerations and questions, including:

• The Board is not obligated to adopt (implement) Criterium’s 2016 Updated Reserve Study; in fact, the Board decided to only “accept” the reserve study, however indirectly, and not to approve or implement the Study’s recommendations.

Incredibly, the Board managed to avoid any reference to the existence of this reserve study in making the following announcement of what the Board accomplished at the September Board meeting: “Accepted Management’s report on recommended 2017 Reserve Expenditures and Community Improvement Projects.”

• GM Sandy Seddon announced, without any explanation, that management was not recommending action on Criterium’s list of recommended 2017 Reserve Expenditures. Is she not being paid enough to make such recommendations? What’s really going on?

• Does management or the Board have a problem with Criterium’s judgments on needed repairs?

• Is the Board looking for an exit strategy on how to fund the Association’s needed repairs?

• Or, as some might suspect, is the Board looking for a way to avoid their duty altogether with elections around the corner?

• Past Boards generally prided themselves by funding reserves at around 90% of the level needed to fully fund reserves. That percentage is a measure of the Association’s Reserve Fund strength in meeting future repair and replacement requirements. If that percent fully funded amount drops materially below 90%, it will become increasing difficult for the Association to meet its future reserve obligations.

• Based on the Updated 2016 RS, what is the current level of reserve funding?

• Will the Board be implementing a plan to address what is apparently an existing and substantial reserve shortfall?

Today’s Restaurant Meeting, Monday the 27^th

Today’s Restaurant Meeting was conducted by GM Sandy Seddon and the Board of Directors. It was a standing room only event with chairs lining three walls of the Delaware Room, 3-5 rows deep. The sole purpose of the meeting was give residents an opportunity to voice their opinion about the closed restaurant. 

Everyone who wanted to speak had an opportunity to do so within the allotted 2 hours that was set aside, which concluded after only 1-½ hours.

Below are some of the ideas that were suggested.

• An overwhelming number of speakers favored having a restaurant of one type or another. Many said that they considered the restaurant an amenity, bought here because of the restaurant, were concerned that the absence of restaurant depressed property values and its closure adversely affected sales.

• Most commented on issues association with leasing, primarily in response to the five or so lessees who have failed in the past.

• Some recommended that a survey be conducted; other suggested that such a survey be binding on the Board.

• Some suggested the inclusion of gaming, the income from which would make the restaurant a viable enterprise.

• Some proposed that the restaurant be self-managed, i.e., run by the Board through its management company.  Actually, the restaurant was self-managed for several years when the community was under developer control.

• The potential benefits of self-management are obvious: everything would be subject to the control of the membership, including service, type of operation, menu, cost and quality, among others.

• The downside of self-management would be that the customer base would be restricted members only; the level of the Association’s subside would be uncertain; or members might be required to use or lose “x” number of dollars in the restaurant per quarter, say $15. That would raise about $400,000 annually towards operations.

GM Sandy Seddon said that she had a lot of experience in self-managed operations and will be providing information about her experience in the future.

• Some suggested that the restaurant be repurposed for another use. While this is not a new idea, our governing documents make this suggestion virtually impossible to achieve, based on our past experience, since a majority of our 7,144 unit owners would have to vote their approval for such a change. As a result, that option appears to be off the table. 

• While many speakers commented on financial aspects running a restaurant, few addressed the all-important catering operations and its potential benefit.

• It has long been assumed that a properly run catering operation would generate more than enough income to subsidize restaurant operations. It’s my understanding that some of our past restaurant failures were due to the lessee’s inability to offer and manage a successful catering experience. Those failures greatly damaged the reputation of the operators and adversely affected resident support. 

GM Sandy Seddon and President Rex Weddle thanked those who attended, while promising to keep everyone informed about what’s happening on this issue. At the moment, there are no future Restaurant meetings scheduled. 

Ron Johnson

AND THEN,

ANOTHER CHALLENGE FOR YOUR BUCKET LIST

               Biking on the Cliffs of Moher. (#21).

Today’s Anthem View

The General Manager's Report, Sept. 2016

UPDATE ON LIBERTY CENTER

As previously reported, repairs at Liberty Center began on June 15, 2016. The scope of repairs includes, among other items: solar removal, roof repairs, exterior weather proofing, interior and exterior pool decks, re-plastering of pools, drywall framing and repairs, tile replacement, HVAC work, remodeling of locker rooms, duct cleaning and interior painting.

The construction hours are Monday through Friday, 6:00 AM to 5:00 PM, with periodic work on Saturday and Sunday.  Many residents have asked when this work will be completed.  The construction management company had a target month to reopen Liberty Center in September. Unfortunately, the latest update from them is that we are now looking at October or the beginning of November.

BURGALRIES

There have been three burglaries in SCA on 8/29, 9/6, and 9/8. All three were during the day and the front door was damaged. I reached out to Captain Dane Mattoon of Henderson police and he indicated that they are also investigating six similar cases in Solera over the past two weeks.

According to the Captain a preliminary look at the reports and times, they assume the burglaries were by the same person(s). No residents were home in any of the burglaries and because a couple of them are within a short time span, the suspects may have been in that area and observed homeowners leaving their houses and/or knocked on the door and did not receive a response from anybody inside the home.

Just as a reminder that the crime of Burglary is “the entering of a structure to illegally take items belonging to another.” Robbery is “the taking of items, from another person through fear or force.” All of the crimes listed in this e-mail are clearly “burglaries” since nobody was confronted by the suspect(s).

Since these thieves were probably driving or walking around SCA and Solera, the Captain highly encourage the residents to always be vigilant and call 3-1-1 to report suspicious vehicles and/or people in their neighborhoods. If solicitors are knocking on the doors, also call 3-1-1 to report them so they can be identified by the police and be confirmed to be operating legitimately. If there is a knock on the door, be sure to ask who it is and through the closed and locked door, advise that you are not interested. This will let a burglar know people are present in the home. If no response is made to the knock, they may assume the house is empty, making the house a possible target.

If they continue to insist on talking to you after you have advised you are not interested, tell them to leave and that you are calling the police; then call 9-1-1. There are also affordable products on the market which consist of a doorbell/camera system which can be connected to your Wi-Fi and you will then be alerted to a doorbell ring from an ‘application’ on your phone. You may then choose to “answer” the doorbell from any location in the world where you have access to internet service. In that way, if you happen to be away from your house, you can still talk to the person with two-way communication, making the person at the door think people are inside the home. This type of system also allows you to do this if you are within your home, eliminating the need for the resident to approach the door to see who is outside.

Captain Mattoon indicated that working together we can make difference and apprehend these bad guys. They are diligently working the leads they have to identify and charge the suspects in these burglaries, but also need the assistance of residents by reporting suspicious people and circumstances. You citizens are the eyes and ears of the city, and they rely heavily on that to assist in their daily patrols and crime prevention.

BOARD MEET AND GREET

On Monday, September 26^th from 3 – 6pm SCA will have the board member meet and greet. This is your opportunity to meet the board members and chat with them.

COMMUNITY MEETING TO DISCUSS THE RESTARUANT

A workshop has been scheduled for Tuesday, September 27, 2016 at 9 am in the Delaware room. This workshop is an opportunity for residents to share feedback to Management and the Board regarding the restaurant space. The Board has instructed me that addressing the restaurant issue is a management task. To that end, we hope that this scheduled workshop is productive and meaningful. There is no specific timeline or process that has been outlined yet related to the restaurant. This is just the beginning.

ACCOUNTING

On Thursday, September 29^th at 9 AM there will be a budget workshop in the Delaware Room. The draft budget will be presented by management.

FITNESS

        First, a quick thank you to our fantastic Facilities staff for the expeditious completion of the semi-annual maintenance on the Anthem indoor pool, spa and deck this month. All areas look great and were re-opened right on schedule.

       Moving forward, bids have been attained for the replacement of the Anthem weight room flooring. This project will coincide with the locker room project later this year.

  Research and pricing has begun for the upcoming year’s scheduled replacement of reserve equipment. We hope to install 2017 reserve pieces early in the first quarter.

  New barbells will arrive this week for the Anthem Center Strength Room.

  Lastly, the Group Exercise program is happy to announce the return of “Urban Line Dance with Roberta Mason” to the schedule starting in October.

ACTIVITIES

 September 27 – Tuesday – Bus trip – Joyce Straus Art Gallery Tour 10:15am – 3:00pm

 September 30-TGIF (West Coast Travelers) – Anthem North Lawn -8:00pm -10:00pm

 October 1 – Saturday -Bus Trip – UNLV football game UNLV vs. Fresno State

 October 7 – Friday – First Friday Health and Wellness Delaware Room 9:00am – 11:00am

 October 8 – Saturday –Fall Home Expo 9:00a.m. – 1:00pm

 October 8 – Saturday – Movie (Ricki and the Flash) – Anthem North Lawn 7:00-9:00pm

 October 14 – Friday – Lunch & Learn Delaware Room 11am -1pm Dr. Lee Wittenberg

Apache Foot & Ankle

 October 14 – Friday – Bella Donna – Freedom Hall 7:00pm

 October 18 – Tuesday – “Got Health” Sunrise Hospital – Delaware Rm 6:00pm – 8:00pm

 October 19 -Wednesday -Bus Trip – Wayne Newton Casa de Shenandoah Tour

 October 21 – Friday – TGIF—Women of Rock – Anthem North Lawn 8:00pm -10:00pm

 October 22-Saturday Fall Arts and Crafts – 9:00am -1:00pm

 October 23 – Sunday – Tammy Graham Show– Freedom Hall 3:00 pm

FACILITIES MAINTENANCE

   The Anthem indoor pool & spa had its semiannual maintenance performed this month.

   The re-plastering of the indoor and outdoor spas at Anthem are scheduled to start after Liberty re-opens.

   The 4 new Pool and Spa chemical controllers for Anthem are being installed. The 4 for Liberty are scheduled for installation next week.

   Half the outdoor patio furniture for Anthem has been returned refinished and re-strapped. The second half has been picked. We plan on having the second half re-strapped the same way as the first half, with the blue accent color.

   The new Envise smoke controllers for Anthem have been installed. Final testing is being scheduled.

   The coating of the concrete area outside the entrance doors at Independence is complete.

   The 16 new arm chairs for the Emerson/Franklin room at Anthem have been delivered and put into use.

   The 4 new pool tables for Anthem have been ordered and should arrive in the next 3 weeks. The repair to the 7 at Independence is being scheduled.

   The replacement of the rubberized flooring in the strength room at fitness is scheduled to be installed after Liberty re-opens and the work on the Locker rooms begin here at Anthem.

   All new Handicap signs have been installed in the parking lot between Anthem and Independence.

   New pool signage is being ordered for both Anthem and Liberty. The existing signage is faded and needs to be updated with current CPO (certified pool operator) names and license numbers.

 The balance of the Bocce Ball courts here at Anthem have been repaired.  The city of Henderson’s Life Safety inspector was out this month and inspected Anthem for any Life Safety violations. None were found.

   Desert Fire performed Stand pipe flow testing at Liberty this month. Everything passed.

   Siemens, our File Life Safety vendor tested all our smoke detectors at Anthem this month and everything passed.

   An extra 2 sets of new drapes are being ordered for SCA TV. These will be fire treated.

   New lights are being installed in the fitness cardo room and the walking track. These lights will be brighter.

   Diamond plate has been installed in the hall behind the Delaware room to help protect the walls form damage.

   New walk mats have been put into place between the indoor pool and locker rooms here at Anthem to help prevent slipping.

   Palm Tree trimming here at Anthem is scheduled for next week.

   New plant material is scheduled to be planted at Liberty before it re-opens. Also, all the trees have been trimmed.

        CMC projects (AMOR)

•       o Drywall repair and painting at Independence is finishing up.
•       o Drywall repair and painting at Anthem is scheduled to begin as soon as Independence is done.
•       o New light bulbs for the Tennis and Bocce ball courts at Liberty are being scheduled for installation.
•       o The painting of the fences at the 4 Villa Locations is beginning shortly.
•       o The work in the Delaware room will be done in January.  Carpet replacement, new drapes, touch up of woodwork, new doors, electrical work and repair to the air walls will require us to close this room along with the break out rooms for the entire month.
•       o The complete remodel of the locker rooms at Anthem are scheduled to begin as soon as Liberty re-opens.
•       o The separated wood floors in the aerobics rooms at Independence is being scheduled for repair.

      o The improper curbs in the Handicap showers at Independence and the cracked shower pans in the men’s and women’s locker rooms at Independence are all being scheduled.

Other Board News

Status of Chapter 40 construction defect mediation process on Liberty Center

President Rex Weddle announced at their executive session that with very little progress being made on mediation, the Board decided to authorize legal counsel to file a lawsuit against the developer. The Board anticipates that the lawsuit will prompt the parties to get more involved in the process as the matter heads to court.

Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Case

This month’s executive session also addressed a pending ADR mediation case. There is a reasonable presumption that this matter was the case that had been filed by Ron Johnson in an effort to resolve the Association’s long-term refusal to provide member access to tax audit documents the Association had submitted to the IRS in 2012 in an effort to resolve a $1.345 million IRS claim.

According to Nevada law, before any civil action can be taken regarding a dispute relating to governing documents of a homeowners association, the disputing parties must complete the Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) process under NRS 38. The parties to the mediation provide the mediator a statement and relevant documents pertaining to the dispute, including a statement concerning an acceptable resolution. The mediator works with the parties to resolve the dispute with a written agreement.

Whether that mediation process will result in a resolution is unknown. However, based on the experience of those SCA members who have filed ADR claims, I am not aware of any case that resulted in a resolution of the dispute. To some, that might suggest the Association has not been disposed to mediate disputes, thereby obliging members to incur the expense of litigation if the homeowner wants to pursue the matter.

Collections

Management reported that there were 24 units in collections involving about $62,000.

Surplus Funds

This surplus funds issue involved two things: 1) the accumulation of funds in excess of monies needed to pay our bills, which in the past has been reported to be about a million dollars; and 2) the disposition of those funds, i.e., whether those funds should be transferred to the Reserve Fund or returned to the unit owners.

According to Director Jim Mayfield, this 8-year issue has festered much too long. Jim believed that an acceptable resolution was finally in sight. As previously reported, that resolution was developed by SCA’s Finance Committee (FC) in a report defining “surplus funds,” how to compute the accumulated surplus, and how to manage the disposition of those funds. That FC report was presented at the August 25^th Board meeting, which you can view here,.

At this month’s meeting, Treasurer Tom Nissen presented the Board’s response to the FC’s recommendations on Surplus Funds. That response was generally receptive to adopting the FC’s recommendations, with one key exception. That exception concerned what the FC defined as the “Minimum Acceptable Equity.” According to the FC, such minimum amount was “established to insure a modest margin of safety against potential cash shortage or even bankruptcy of the HOA.” The recommended MAE amount was $250,000.

In practical terms, that amount would reduce the available surplus by $250,000. For example, say the prior year’s computed surplus, as calculated and reported by the Association’s auditors, was $600,000. That amount would be reduced by the amount of the MAE, that is, by $250,000, leaving a net surplus of $350,000 to be transferred to the Reserve Fund or refunded to the homeowners, at the Board’s discretion. In doing so, the Board would have an available cushion equal to $250,000 against a potential cash shortage.

Some might view the existence of this amount as an unbudgeted, off-budget, or a contingency fund that’s equivalent in concept to the amount of “working capital” the Board has been carrying over year after year. So, in some sense while there has been progress in addressing the surplus funds issue, some of the board’s past accounting practices have not changed. 

Tom Nissen’s recommendation to the Board was to increase that MAE amount from $250,000 to $500,000, giving the Association a $500,000 cushion against a potential cash shortage. Most Board members appeared eager to accept Tom’s recommendation, voicing the opinion that the Association would be better protected in the event of a cash shortage.

Interestingly, Former Finance Committee Chair Forrest Quinn rose to address this potential cash shortage issue. He said that based on his historical analysis, the Association has always had more than enough cash on hand to meet their expenses. Since there was no historical basis to conclude that the Association will ever have a need for any MAE amount to protect it from a cash shortage, one might question the need for such protection.

After all, in the event of a cash emergency, the Association has other alternatives, including a special assessment, deferring a portion of planned reserve transfers, or borrowing from the Reserve Fund.

In the end, the seven-member Board approved Mr. Nissen’s proposal to adopt the FC recommendation, as amended to reflect the $500,000 MAE, but with one modification. That modification was to revisit the amount of the MAE after one year, instead of two years as Tom had initially recommended. In addition, the Board approved a FC recommendation to transfer excess funds carried over from 2015 ($610,000) to the Reserve Fund.

Going forward, the Board anticipates that our CFO Jim Orlick and in-house staff will produce more accurate budgets than what the Association was accustomed to receiving from FSR. That tightening effort may substantially reduce the accumulation of surplus funds as the reported income and amounts expensed are in line with the amounts that were budgeted.   

AND THEN,

ANOTHER CHALLENGE FOR YOUR BUCKET LIST

               Glacier boarding anywhere. (#20).

Today’s Anthem View

The September Board Agenda Review Meeting

In attending recent Board Agenda Review meetings, one is struck by certain realities:

• The Board’s repeated promises of transparency are empty.
• Agenda Review meetings have ceased to be a useful as a venue for members to learn in advance what actions the Board is planning to take at the upcoming Board meeting. For example, while the topics are known, the Board was either reticent or simply refused to disclose its plans for how the Board would be dealing with certain topics, such as Surplus Funds and the future role of Committees.   
• Meaningful opportunities for member input into the Board’s decision-making process are practically nonexistent.
• Since the adoption of self-management and in contrast to past practice, members have been deliberately excluded from participating in key processes, including the preparation of the 2017 budget and the 2016 Updated Reserve Study. The Board’s increased penchant for secrecy is unparalleled. 
• As one consequence of such secrecy, decisions are being made behind closed doors and not as required in an open meeting. 

Highlights of the Agenda review include.

• The September Board meeting will take place at night on Thursday the 22^nd at 6:30 PM in the Delaware Room.
• The 2017 budget will not contain any capital improvement projects, such as proposed new amenities, enhancements to existing amenities, or existing PIRFs involving capital improvements.
• Treasurer Tom Nissen will make a presentation on Surplus Funds at the Thursday Board meeting. Nissen did not disclose the content of his presentation or what he will be recommending. In response to a question by Jim Mayfield, Nissen said that he will be asking the Board to approve his recommendation on Surplus Funds, which is unknown to members at present.

It’s unclear whether Mr. Nissen’s position on Surplus Funds is the same today or has changed since he announced last year that the Association has no surplus funds.  Mr. Mayfield said that any recommendation on Surplus Funds should also include a recommendation to transfer the Surplus, estimated to be in excess of $600,000, from the main Operating fund to the Reserve Fund prior to the adoption of the 2017 budget in October. Such a transfer was recommended by the Finance Committee.

• On the Recommendation on the future of SCA Committees.

The 8-page Report, supplemental information and narrative Presentation, 26 pages in all, by Directors Aletta Waterhouse and Bob Burch sets forth their recommendations to the Board on the proposed structure of SCA Committees under self-management. You can read that Report here.

Here are those Committee recommendations:

• Committees to Retain
• ARC
• Covenants
• Finance
• Audit Committee
• Election
• Community Lifestyle
• Facilities and Landscaping (formerly Property & Grounds)
• Committees to sun-set
• Communications
• Golf Course Liaison
• Health & Fitness
• Strategic Planning

Commentary on the role of SCA Committees by Ron Johnson

• While most might assume that this Board Report on the future of SCA Committees was merely just that, i.e., a Report for the Board’s review and consideration. They would be wrong. Without soliciting community input or the input from any of the affected committees or their club officers, the Board made it clear at this meeting that it intends to vote on “approving” and implementing the above recommendations at the September meeting. 

That in-your-face decision to bypass input from the community and committee officers’ smacks of the Board’s ill-considered and thoughtless judgment in how best to address this important issue. Then again, considering the Board’s performance of late, perhaps we are expecting too much.

• In response to this presentation, a number of residents spoke of their dismay at the recommendations to sun-set Communications and the Health & Fitness committees, on the role of the Property & Grounds Committee, and the Board’s failure to include the community in the decision-making process.
• One glaring observation is the inclusion in the list of Committees to Retain, namely, the renamed Property and Grounds Committee. It was pointed out by Committee Chair Carol Siebel that this committee has never really had any “Landscaping” function, as opposed to the Anthem Council, so what’s behind including “Landscaping” in the Committee’s new name? A new mission that’s never existed?

As the report noted, the committee’s primary reason for being, i.e., managing the PIRF process and all that entailed, was excised by the Board and given to SCA’s new management team. With that mission gone, it appears that there would be little substance left to warrant the Committee’s continued life.

• One might be tempted to make a similar argument on usefulness regarding the Finance Committee given the prominent role now assumed by Chief Financial Officer Jim Orlick and his staff, potentially making the role of the FC duplicative and unnecessary. Of greater significance regarding the future role of the FC is the recent or expected loss of a number of CPAs who had the requisite expertise to give advice and make recommendations concerning the accurate production of the Association’s financials.

SCA residents are invited to the following events:

Board of Directors Meet and Greet
Monday, September 26 at 3:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m. in the Delaware room
This is a great way to meet your Board of Directors.  Light refreshments will be provided. 

Restaurant Community Workshop
Tuesday, September 27 at 9:00 a.m. in the Delaware room
This workshop is an opportunity for residents to share feedback to Management and the Board regarding the restaurant space.

Budget Workshop
Thursday, September 29 at 9:00 a.m. in the Delaware room
CFO, Jim Orlick, will be presenting the Operating budget, Reserve Study update and Neighborhood budgets. 

AND THEN,

ANOTHER CHALLENGE FOR YOUR BUCKET LIST

                   Walking over a crevice. (#19).

Today’s Anthem View

The Property & Grounds Committee Meeting

In leading this month’s P&G meeting, Vice Chair Steve Smolenski appeared challenged in opining on the future role of the Committee. There are good reasons for his apparent uncertainty. For the foreseeable future, the Board is not accepting new community projects, which in the past had been initiated through the committee’s PIRF process. Suspension of that process was necessary for the Board to focus on the more pressing needs of deferred maintenance and Liberty Center’s construction defects.

In commenting on the committee’s role in the community’s reserve study process, Steve said that the committee was looking forward to this year’s Updated study by Criterium Engineers. In responding to a question about the committee’s current role of the committee, GM manager Sandy Seddon said that her staff had assumed sole responsibility for the update to the reserve study and that she will be forwarding those results to the Board for their review and action as the Board had directed. Sandy said that while the P&G committee will eventually receive a copy of the study, the committee is not part of the decision-making process.

The Updated reserve study is expected to report that the community is falling further behind in meeting the community’s projected reserve requirements. That report will compare the community’s actual Reserve Fund Balance to the study’s fully funded level, i.e., when the projected reserve balance is 100 percent funded. To the extent that the Reserve Fund is underfunded, the association is devalued.

Recent actions by the Board in purchasing equipment suggests that reserves are being expensed faster than projected. In other words, monies are being taken out of the reserve fund in advance of the projected useful life of the equipment that is being replaced. That apparent necessity will contribute to the underfunding of the reserve fund. For example, you will frequently see reported in the monthly Agendas that the Board had to “Accelerate the purchase of “x” to be paid from Reserves.” The money that was supposed to fund the replacement of “x” was scheduled to be set aside in the reserve fund at a certain time in the future based on the projected useful life of “x.” The Board has to decide on how it’s going to address this and an array of reserve funding issues.   

Here are some other P&G tidbits.

• The Board’s subcommittee report on recommendations to restructure existing committees has been completed and is in the hands of the Board for their decision.
• If the U.S. Postal Service does not agree to repaint the mail box posts, SCA will have that done next year when the fence painting contract is awarded to paint fences in 18 or so Villages that were not included in this year’s fence painting contract.
• SCA’s wild growth areas will be allowed to grow unimpeded because it is too costly to correct.  

The Community Lifestyle Committee Mtg.

Nicole Duffel, Vice Chair of the International Culture Connections Club was back again to address the Club’s plans to hold a holiday event on 27 November for family and children. Given that the Club had deleted certain outside aspects from their initial event proposal, there was no need for the committee to act on ICCC’s proposal since planned event was no longer considered a Special Event, one that would require the committee’s approval.  

There will be a Club Fair on Saturday, 3 December, from 8 – 1 in the Ballroom. 

Director Jim Mayfield’s Thoughts on a New SCA Restaurant

By Jim Mayfield

I am receiving requests for my views concerning food service, including catering services, in SCA property. Let me start by saying that I have not formed an assessment on the issue. The key issues are complex and interrelated. But having observed the results, mostly bad, of food service operations for the last six years, I have formed assessments about the process that should be followed for the Board to a make decision about the future of food service operations at SCA.

1. The process shouldn't start from the assumption that a restaurant and catering operation is desired, on a realistic basis, by a majority of homeowners ("Members"). Instead, the process should begin with a professional, independently conducted, statistically valid, objective survey to determine what SCA Members will support, will be willing to subsidize and at what level of subsidy. No offense meant, but the process needs to start with a blank sheet of paper not a bunch of white papers.

2. Maintaining or losing the 1120H tax will affect the financial viability of a food service operation. The assumption that the 1120H qualification issue can be circumnavigated by offering a homeowners only operation creates risks. First, I do not see sufficient market mass to support such an operation. Even a bar & grill operation will need more customers (economic mass) than has been demonstrated will be available. Trying to skirt the edge of the tax law by supporting non-homeowner events with guests and homeowner sponsored catering events could be challenged in a tax investigation. The loss of the 1120H status would cause the revenues to be taxed and dramatically affect the gross profit margin and amount of subsidy needed to operate the operation.

3. Gaming as the savior is full of legal complications and uncertainties. Using MacDonald Ranch as an example will ultimately disclose that MacDonald ranch had to donate its restaurant and all of its equipment to an outside party to maintain its limited food and bar service and implement gaming. If its operation ultimately fails, the risk to its homeowners will be expensive to correct.

4. The assumption that a limited bar & grill operation can be operated without substantial Member subsidization is unrealistic. The level of increase in homeowners assessments needs to be explored with an objective, detail, professional analysis of the financial requirements.

5. Increased payroll costs and management burden of an SCA managed operation will create both tangible and intangible costs that must be realistically determined. The SCA GM should be required to provide a straight forward, independent (free of Board or committees influence) assessment of the increased costs and demands for management of an in-house operation.

6. If food service is not continued at SCA, the high conversion costs and difficult Member approval process required to discontinue food service operations must be explored. The fight over what to do with a converted restaurant space will be ugly as I suspect consensus will be impossible. 

I favor starting the exploration process. But, let the restaurant stay dark for as long as is needed to determine if Member demand has increased or if a restaurant, like a SCA owned and operated golf course, isn't really a need that most Members will support on a realistic basis. In any event, the final step in the approval process should be a public review of a detail financial plan for the implementation of the decision and a detail business plan for the long-term costs of the decision.

Another restaurant failure is not a option. SCA contains 7,144 units and serves over 12,000 residents. The support of the majority of the community for retaining or discontinuing food service operation will be critical. Therefore, a decision made by a small number of active people is too risky.

Commentary on Mayfield’s Restaurant Thoughts by Ron Johnson

• In contrast to Mr. Mayfield, I see no basis in conducting a survey to ascertain whether members will support a restaurant, let alone to determine whether a majority will. Given our Boards’ repeated failures in selecting a viable restaurant operator, there is good reason to doubt that a majority of members will support a new restaurant. Rather than such a survey, GM Sandy Seddon needs to make a reasonable judgment whether there are several hundred residents among the 13,000 living here who would frequent a good restaurant in the Anthem Center.
• Jim believes that it would be difficult for members to support a bar & grill operation. On its face, Jim is correct, but for unknown reasons he has not factored in the possibility of a combined catering and restaurant operation, one that could be cost effective. Such a combined operation actually succeeded here many year ago. An exclusive and successful catering operation, if offered, would have the added benefit of subsidizing the cost of running the restaurant. Our past ineffective catering operations by one operator after another greatly contributed to the problems residents encountered and the ultimate demise of those leased operations. 
• MacDonald Ranch’s restaurant and gaming experience does not appear to be relevant to SCA’s situation or needs, and there is no reason to believe that the income from gaming is necessary to support the restaurant’s operations.
• Jim’s suggestion that a substantial subsidy would be needed to support a Bar & Grill operation is speculative at best and unsupported at worst if SCA is committed to providing a dedicated catering operation that would meet the needs of our Clubs and residents. If SCA is going to operate the restaurant, then it would reasonable to conclude that our Clubs should be required to use Hanneman Hall.    
• Assuming that SCA will provide members with a great catering experience, there should be no difficulty in developing a viable financial plan for a combined restaurant/catering operation.
• If performed in combination with an effective catering operation, there is no demonstrated need to get the support of a majority of the community to retain food service at the Anthem Center. Furthermore, at best there should be no need for a member subsidy.
• On the other hand, Jim’s many concerns may be relevant if SCA does not opt for a mandated catering operation for Clubs whose income should be more than sufficient to subsidize the restaurant’s operations.   

Other News

News for SCA residents and subscribers to the Las Vegas Review Journal

This is an update to my earlier article regarding the subscription rate for the Las Vegas Review Journal.

New and existing subscribers in Sun City Anthem are entitled to a special rate of $85.80 for a 7-day, 52-week subscription.

• Who does that special rate apply to? Residents of Sun City Anthem.
• Does that special rate apply to your current subscription? You can receive a credit towards your renewal as illustrated below.
• Does that special rate apply to your next renewal? Yes.  
• Does that special rate apply to your previous renewal? No.
• Will that special rate be applicable in 2017? As far as I know today, the answer is Yes.  
• Will that special rate change? I was told that the special rate should be applicable through 2017. When and how that special rate will change in the future is unknown.   
• Does that special rate entitle you to a cash refund? No.
• Are you entitled to receive a credit on your upcoming renewal? Yes.
• How does that credit work? Subscribers will receive a pro rata extension on their next renewal equivalent to the difference between the amount you paid on your existing subscription and $85.80.

For example, say your current 12-month subscription is scheduled to expire on 12/1/2016 and you had paid the LVRJ $171.60 in 2015. Your upcoming 12-month renewal rate will be $85.80. Since the amount you had paid in 2015 was equal to 100% of the special subscription amount of $85.80, you are entitled to an extension to your 2016 renewal equal to 100% of 52 weeks, which is 52 weeks. In this example, the subscriber would have their subscription extended for an additional 52 weeks beyond 2017, until the extended subscription expires on 12/1/ 2018.

• How do new or current subscribers get this special rate? In order to receive this special rate, you need to do three things:
• Call the LVRJ at this number ONLY: 702-383-4613
• Talk to or leave a message for Anna Martinez, Head of the Subscription Department. That number is her direct line and if she does not answer, leave a message to call you.
• You must tell here you are a Sun City Anthem resident.
• Do not call any other LVRJ subscription number as Ms. Martinez is the only person who is authorized to provided SCA residents this special rate.
• How did this special rate come about? In response to my recent article about the LVRJ, I was contacted by one of our residents who wishes to remain anonymous who told me of an arrangement that had been made with a LVRJ representative for a special rate for residents of Sun City Anthem. 

Where will be the new Costco be located?

Costco will be located on the south side of St. Rose Pkwy. just east of Executive Airport Dr.

   St. Rose Pkwy.                    Costco                           Seven Hill Dr.                  Eastern Ave

      Executive Airport Dr.                Airport Runway                                Sun City Anthem Dr.

AND THEN,

ANOTHER CHALLENGE FOR YOUR BUCKET LIST

                Sitting around at Yosemite. (#18).

Today’s Anthem View

The Sept. Community Lifestyle Workshop Meeting

Upon entering the Community Lifestyle Committee Workshop meeting room, I was struck by the standing-room only audience, as additional chairs were being delivered as more and more members were arriving. The room was literally packed to accommodate the understandable interests of the Clubs in promoting their respective activities in common areas in the Anthem and Independence Centers. More on that in a minute.

First, the Committee was set to vote on two seemingly routine “room” requests, which we were told by Chair Pat Carrel was standard operating procedure for the Committee’s monthly Workshops. As the attendees were reminded by Board Director Carl Weinstein, Workshops are not the proper venue to conduct the Committee’s official business—Committee votes should be taken only at regular Committee meetings. The attendees were told by Carrel that the two “Special Event” requests before the Committee were merely “room” requests and, therefore, could be properly acted on by the Committee. But were these requests merely a room request or something more?

“Special Event” requests, while of interest to some SCA residents looking for a free event to attend, also have the potential of raising funds for the Club, attracting outside attendees, and meeting the needs of vendors or others who have their own financial interests in offering their products or services for sale. This was no less the case for the Pet Club’s popular Woofstock event and ICCC’s Bling and Fun Books event, offered at no cost to local hospitals that have ill children by artist John Rothman.

Club Promotions and Ticket Sales

The Committee had invited Clubs and others to voice their concerns over the past use of tables in Anthem and Independence Centers to promote their Club’s activities with current and future event information and ticket sales. Under current management policies, however, those event tables have been declared verboten. That prohibition has brought this issue to the forefront of the Committee’s attention. The Committee’s efforts were directed at learning more about the Club’s concerns and interests in meeting the community’s event planning needs.

Briefly, the information, performing and entertainment Clubs would like to be able to better communicate with interested residents on a personal basis. Past efforts have demonstrated that is best accomplished by offering event information and sales opportunities at tables that are conveniently located where the action is—Anthem and Independence Centers.

SCA’s activities representative and Lifestyle Director Meg Poulson stressed that they can assist the Clubs in promoting their events through various mediums: Flyers, LCD TV screens, Posters, Spirit magazine, SCA TV, Box Office, and eBlasts.

Two suggestions of possible Committee interest included one by David Berman. David suggested that the presence of Club tables give needed flavor to the community and could be permanently (or temporarily) installed for subsequent reservation by potential users.

Another noteworthy suggestion was to include a Playbill type template in the Spirit or Relay that would advertise upcoming performances and special events.

Other News

On the Renewal of the Las Vegas Review Journal

If you subscribe to the Las Vegas Review Journal newspaper, you should take a good look at this year’s RENEWAL notice. There are two potential problem areas. First, is the newspaper’s cost. Having been a long-term subscriber, I was surprised to learn that the LVRJ has markedly different rates for SCA subscribers. For example, I’m currently paying $94 for a 12-month, 7-day subscription. On the other hand, for the same 12-month period and frequency, my neighbor is currently paying 82% more, or $171/yr.

While there may be a reasonable explanation for such a substantial disparity in subscription costs, the LVRJ appears to be open to matching my neighbor’s cost to my subscription rate. I wrote “appears” because my neighbor is waiting for a new renewal notice with the revised amounts for this base year and the new amount for the next 12-month period. As an aside, my renewal rate increased 35% from $94 to $127. 

The second issue is a little more complicated and it apparently impacts all subscribers renewing this year. In the RENEWAL notice’s box labeled RENEW TODAY, it displays the following information: the period, e.g., 52 weeks, the new rate and finally, the new period ending date, 09/01/2017. Elsewhere on the notice, my Expiration Date is reported as 09/02/2016. Since my actual expiration date is 12/21/2016, it’s unclear why the LVRJ had moved my expiration date up almost 4 months.

Was that a clerical error or did the LVRJ intend that renewal should expire on 9/1/2017? My neighbor’s expiration date had been move up too, leading me to concluded that the changes appearing on my RENEWAL notice were not unique to me. 

LVRJ’s attempt to explain what had happened was basically unintelligible. Nevertheless, they readily agreed to correct their record in my and my neighbor’s case. In doing so, however, I had the impression that the LVRJ is doing so ONLY for those persons who contact them. If these changes are occurring in your subscription, you may wish to contact the LVRJ at 702-383-0400 and ask that your subscription date be corrected and a new statement be issued.

Had I gone ahead and paid for the renewal as reflected on LVRJ’s faulty notice, it’s unclear when my 52-week subscription ending in 2017 would have expired, on 09/01/2017 or on 12/21/2017. 

Dryer Problems

Is your dryer taking too long to dry—like taking 2, 3 or 4 times to dry your loads? Failure to address this issue will likely result in increased energy costs and may eventually cause the heating element to fail. If you have this problem, a solution is within reach. I have recently learned that the source of the problem is not so much the dryer, which is typically operating as intended, but is the dryer’s clogged vent that exits the roof.

I contacted John Frey, The Duct Man of Nevada, 702-240-3828, who may be the only person that’s capable of thoroughly cleaning your dryer, removing all vestiges of lint and debris from the dryer, power blowing the vent to expel any remnants of lint and accessing your roof to remove several inches of caked-on lint that’s been trapped by a screen. As a final service, he will remove that offending lint screen on the roof so that the blockage problem will not reoccur. Some homeowners might prefer to call a local handyman or another company to clean the dryer.

However, based on my experience, I would not recommend those other options. In general, a local handyman is neither equipped nor disposed to address the real culprit, which requires a qualified person to climb on the roof and access the vent’s exit.   

AND THEN,

ANOTHER CHALLENGE FOR YOUR BUCKET LIST

            Cycling on a ledge in Norway. (#17).

Today’s Anthem View

The August Board Meeting

Board wusses succeed in putting off consideration of the Finance Committee’s proposal on Surplus Funds.

In his slide presentation on Surplus Funds, reconfigured by Ron Johnson, Finance Committee (FC) Chair Andrew Muha offered a rather coherent and detailed explanation of the Committee’s recommendations on how and when to compute the Association’s annual surplus.

However, when it came time to listen to how those recommendations were received by members of the Board, there was obvious disappointment. It was clearly evident that some Board members had not done their homework on this designated action item. Not only did those naysayers not ask any questions that might have addressed their concerns it was clear that they hadn’t even thought about what questions to ask, despite professing that there were so many unanswered questions.

Eventually, the Board agreed to revisit the FC’s recommendations at the September Board meeting, while also prompting members to submit any questions they might have in writing to the FC.

Ordinarily, Roz Berman, a former Board and FC member who does not get upset easily, was motivated to go to the microphone to chastise certain Board members who were seemingly ill-prepared to address this important matter.

Ron Johnson  

GM Sandy Seddon’s August Report, courtesy of David’s Anthem Journal

UPDATE ON LIBERTY CENTER

As previously reported, repairs at Liberty Center began on June 15, 2016.The scope of repairs includes, among other items: solar removal; roof repairs; exterior weather proofing; interior and exterior pool decks; re-plastering of pools; drywall framing and repairs; tile replacement; HVAC work; remodeling of locker rooms; duct cleaning, and interior painting.

The construction hours are Monday through Friday, 6:00 AM to 5:00 PM, with periodic work on Saturday and Sunday. Many residents have asked when this work will be completed. The construction management company had a target month to reopen Liberty Center in September. Unfortunately, the latest update from them is that we are now looking at October.

To date, the Association has recovered the following insurance proceeds:

· $51,785.36 in repair costs

· $5,413.99 in repair costs

· $72,174.44 in repair costs

· $50,000 from insurance (limit amount of coverage for mold remediation)

· $4,983 (coverage for the security company to secure premises) There are still unresolved claims that are pending.

On June 8, 2016, all residents were mailed a letter from our construction defect attorney, Francis Lynch. This letter was sent to comply with Chapter 40 Notice Pursuant to NRS 40.645. As required, the letter contained a copy of the builder response which basically disputes our claims. Pulte did agree to engage in mediation, which is scheduled for September 2016.

EXECUTIVE SESSION ANNOUNCEMENT

The Board of Directors will have an executive session on Friday, September 9th. You will notice that is it listed in the September Spirit Magazine as an Emergency Executive Session. Some residents have inquired with us wondering why we call it an Emergency Executive Session.

SCA uses the word "emergency" in this instance in order to announce the Board is holding an Executive Session on this date. NRS 116.31083 (12) defines "emergency" as any occurrence or combination of occurrences that: (a) could not be reasonably foreseen; (b) affects the health, welfare and safety of the units' owners or residents of the common-interest community; (c) requires the immediate attention of, and possible action by, the executive board; and (d) makes it impracticable to comply with the provisions of subsection 2 or 5.

Subsection 2 of this statute relates to, at minimum, the requirement of a 10-day notice of a meeting with the executive board. Since there is no guarantee that the Spirit magazine (which is the official communication for SCA) will be mailed within a minimum 10 days before the noted meeting, SCA, being transparent to the unit owners, is noticing the meeting accordingly as an emergency executive session meeting.

Subsection 5, as it relates to the term “emergency” references that the executive board may take action on an item which is not listed on the agenda as an item on which action may be taken.

COMMUNITY MEETING TO DISCUSS THE RESTARUANT

A workshop has been scheduled for Tuesday, September 27, 2016 at 9 am in the Delaware room. This workshop is an opportunity for residents to share feedback to Management and the Board regarding the restaurant space. The Board has instructed me that addressing the restaurant issue is a management task. To that end, we hope that this scheduled workshop is productive and meaningful. There is no specific timeline or process that has been outlined yet related to the restaurant. This is just the beginning.

SPIRIT MAGAZINE – ADVERTISING REDHEAD ENTERPRISES

After a longstanding relationship with Redhead Enterprises, we have officially ended our contract with them. Redhead Enterprises had a contract with SCA to sell advertising for Spirit Magazine. SCA received a portion of the advertising sales on a monthly basis per our contractual agreement.

Our contract with Redhead ended on April 30, 2016, and we elected, for the time being, to be on a month to month basis with them. The primary reason was that Redhead had fallen behind in payment to us. At Redhead’s request, they came up with a payment plan to make the Association “whole” by July of 2016.

Unfortunately, this did not happen. Redhead was unable to fulfill the payment plan that they had requested and we elected to end the relationship. Currently Redhead owes SCA $36,943.33. This amounts to approximately 1 1/3 months (on average) of our portion of advertising. While we wish Redhead Enterprises every success moving forward, we will obviously pursue all courses of action to recoup the funds due to SCA.

Meanwhile, your self-management team has taken steps to secure advertising in the Spirit Magazine. The September issue will be smaller in pages and contain less advertising. Moving forward, our goal is to retain as many advertisers as possible and seek new advertisers for future editions.

ACCOUNTING

· Enrollment for the 401k Plan has been completed and the plan is in place.

· We continue with VMS Training, both from the software provider and from Taylor Management.

· The Budget Process is in full swing.

· The Reserve Study Update is also in progress. The initial draft has been reviewed and changes have been discussed with Criterium. We just received draft two back and management is now reviewing it.

· The transition continues to be a transition, wherein we learn new things about the past each and every day, and continue to work on bringing processing for accounting in house, with less dependence on Taylor Management.

· Edwin Elias has joined our Team as our Accounts Receivable Specialist. Edwin has a strong experience level in our field and also has previous experience with our VMS software. Welcome aboard.

FITNESS

· The new heaters for the outdoor pool and indoor spa have been installed.

· The process has begun to refurbish the worn out pool furniture both indoor and out at the Anthem Center. New cushions have arrived for the indoor furniture and the first round of outdoor furniture has been sent off for re-strapping and paint. Supplemental furniture has been brought over from Liberty in the meantime.

· Bids have been obtained for the replacement of the Anthem weight room flooring. This project will coincide with the locker room project later this year.

· All class slots in the Group Exercise schedule have been filled with the exception of one. We hope to have the Rollax classes back to two times a week this Fall.

ACTIVITIES

· August 28th at 3pm we are pleased to present “Let’s Duet” in Freedom Hall.

· Join us for the First Friday on September 2nd at 9am in the Delaware Room.

· Monday, September 5th is Labor Day and the Activities Office will be closed.

· September 9th is the Lunch and Learn at 11am and the Neil Diamond Tribute is 7pm in Freedom Hall.

· The shredder truck returns Saturday September 17 from 8-noon. That evening, grab your lawn chair for “The Intern,” Cinema on the Lawn.

· Flu Shots will be September 20th in the Greene Room from 2-6pm.

· Video Poker 101 Seminar with Henry Tamburin is in the Delaware Room September 22nd from 1:30-3:00pm.

· There is much to see and do at Sun City Anthem, please check the Spirit for more information..

FACILITIES MAINTENANCE

· The new indoor spa and outdoor pool heaters at Anthem have been installed

· The re-finishing of the two monument signs on Anthem Parkway is complete.

· The two boilers for the outdoor spa and indoor warm water pool at Liberty have been replaced.

· The re-plastering of the indoor and outdoor spas at Anthem is being scheduled.

· Most of our uniforms have arrived and staff is wearing them. There are a few still waiting for shirts.

· Half the outdoor patio furniture at Anthem Center has been picked up to re-finish. As soon as we receive the first half back we’ll send in the second. Some of the patio furniture from Liberty Center has been brought over to Anthem Center to fill in.

· New Envise smoke controllers for Anthem Center have been ordered. These controllers are responsible for controlling the fan to remove smoke in case of a fire.

· The coating of the concrete area outside the entrance doors at Independence is being worked on.

· The re-landscaping project at the waterfall area is complete.

· New alarm panic buttons have been installed in both Handicap restrooms and at the walking track.

· Handicap stickers have been installed at Freedom Hall.

· 16 new adjustable arm chairs for the Emerson/Franklin room at Anthem have been ordered. These chairs will be in a different but complimentary fabric and expect that they will remain in the Emerson Franklin room.

· New cushions for the patio furniture at the Independence Center court area have been installed. Also, new cushions have been installed on the patio furniture outside of Anthem Center’s fitness area.

· The circulation pump on the domestic hot water heater at Anthem Center has been replaced.

· A new partition door was installed in the women’s front restroom.

· New volume controls have been installed for the strength room and locker rooms.

· Bids are being obtained to upgrade our security camera here at Anthem Center and Independence Center.

· Generator testing at Independence Center and Anthem Center is complete. At Independence Center everything worked as expected. At Anthem Center we had quite a few issues, the worst being a safety issue in the fire pump panel. Rodents have been nesting in the lower section and have eaten the insulation off the wires. This was a serious safety issue that has been repaired by installing new wire.

o The elevator did not recall to the first floor and open the doors.

o Three access control areas did not function correctly. Stanley, our contracted vendor, has been contacted.

o The Fire Panel did not respond correctly. Siemens, our contracted vendor, has been called regarding these issues.

o Three computer switches did not have emergency power. Two ran on battery power and one went sown completely. These issues are being addressed.

· CMC projects (AMOR)

o The center-court awning at Independence Center has been repaired.

o Drywall repair and painting at Independence Center is being scheduled.

o The painting & VCT floor replacement in the sewing and arts & crafts rooms at Anthem Center is complete.

o Drywall repair and painting of the soffits and above at Anthem Center is being scheduled.

o New light bulbs for the tennis and bocce ball courts at Liberty Center is being scheduled.

o Work in the Delaware Room includes electrical, woodwork repair, replacement of drapes and curtains, new chairs, carpet and repairs to the fabric on the air walls.

o The Anthem Center Locker Room work will begin once Liberty Center reopens.

AND THEN,

ANOTHER CHALLENGE FOR YOUR BUCKET LIST

       Standing on the Wdgewalk in Toronto (#16).

Today’s Anthem View

The Finance Committee Meeting

On Surplus Funds

The August FC meeting delivered what the Board had requested: A recommendation on how to compute the Association’s surplus and the disposition of that surplus, if any.

Unlike what is supposed to happen at Board meetings, where directors discuss, decide and vote at a meeting that’s open to all members, all FC deliberations and decisions were behind closed doors. As a result, at this week’s meeting there would be no discussion by the assembled FC members on the surplus funds issue—those decisions were already an accomplished fact long before the FC meeting was Called to Order.

Fortunately for those who were in attendance, the FC had made available certain financial printouts for the Main Operating Fund through 6/30/2016 and copies of their recommendations to the Board on the computation of the surplus going forward as well as the accumulated surplus as of 12/31/2015. Those recommendations, at least in part, followed the guidance provided by our CC&Rs at Section 8.1(e) while also appearing to deviate significantly from NRS 116.3114 on how such surpluses should be disbursed.

After making certain adjustments, the FC noted that the computation of accumulated surplus that had been carried forward from 2015 to 2016 equaled $860,067. According to the FC’s handout, they unanimously recommended that the Board transfer this amount “to the Main Association’s Reserve Fund as soon as possible.” Assuming the Board agrees with that recommendation, would that amount be in addition to the quarterly reserve transfer of about $342,000?

When the FC came to the issue of what should happen to the surplus, It’s my impression the committee essentially punted, i.e., rather than biting the bullet they handed off that responsibility by recommending that “the Board shall determine whether the surplus, if any, is refunded to the Owners, deposited in the reserve account, or otherwise used in accordance with CC&Rs 8.1(e).”  In doing so, the FC opened a can of worms by not properly qualifying the alternative disbursement of the surplus to “otherwise used” to a member ratified revised budget if the Board wanted to apply excess funds to anything other than reserves or to return the excess to the Owners.

Finally, there are two other issues. One is the FC’s recommendation to provide the Board with what is essentially a nominal “Working Capital,” or slush, fund equal to $250,000, euphemistically referred to as “Minimum Acceptance Equity.” The alleged purpose of this amount is to provide “the lowest amount that’s considered prudent to avoid negative equity and maintain sufficient cash at all times to meet SCA’s financial obligations.”

While the FC recommendation is seemingly commendable to ostensibly preclude potential bankruptcy, the FC’s accompanying table of Operating Cash Balances since March 2015, and among similar Cash Balance tables since 2013, demonstrated that the monthly balance amount rarely and only slightly dipped below $2 million. With that in mind, what possible purpose would be served by reducing (as proposed by the FC) any potential surplus by $250,000?

However, in recommending that Minimum Acceptance Equity amount of $250,000, it was unclear whether that amount also represented a cap on working capital or whether such amount can increase beyond $250,000. 

Lastly, the FC announced that the computation of an accumulated surplus for 2016, noted above equal to $860,067, was a one-time event. I took that to mean that the FC does not anticipate that there will be any appreciable growth or accumulation of surplus funds in the future.  

Future surplus will be dealt with annually relying the auditor’s annual report for the Association’s main operating fund and using the accrual method of accounting. Such a surplus will be “computed by starting with the ‘excess of revenues over expenses’ from the most recent audited financial statement and making necessary adjustments to arrive at ‘surplus’.” According to FC, “At the time the external auditing firm presents the audited financial statement to the Board, it will also present a calculation of the amount of any surplus for the preceding fiscal year . . .”

Ron Johnson

Who Will Win the Presidency?

From the FiveThirtyEight 2016 Election Forecast

Here is an interesting website that provides an array of statistical data graphically and otherwise nationally, by battleground states, and by state. Click on this Link: http://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/2016-election-forecast/

AND THEN,

ANOTHER CHALLENGE FOR YOUR BUCKET LIST

            Climbing Mt. Wellington. (#15).

Today’s Anthem View

The Fence Painting Contract &

Homeowner Sign Up Instructions

Dear Residents of Arroyo Vista, Big Sky, Desert Sky and Shadow Canyon,

At the July Board Meeting, the Board of Directors approved common area fence painting in your areas.  The contractor (Charger Construction, LLC) has agreed to honor the same pricing for any resident in this area that would like to have any fencing that is the responsibility of the homeowner.

The Association has agreed to assist with the sign up.  If you are interested in participating, please come to the Administration Office or call the office at (702) 614-5816.  Please be prepared to provide your name, address, phone number and which of the neighborhoods you live in. 

The deadline to contact us is September 15, 2016.  After this date, all lists will be turned over to the contractor.  They will contact you directly.  They will provide you a quote and payment will be directly between the resident and the contractor.

For more information, please contact Anneliese Gamboa at (702) 614-5815. 

Sun City Anthem Management Team

[Note: ONLY residents living in the Villages listed above are eligible to have their fences repainted in 2016. In 2017, SCA will award a contract to paint the remaining Villages, at which time residents will likely be able to have their fences repainted under similar pricing conditions. Homeowners are cautioned to make sure that the contractor has sufficient access from potentially obstructing bushes and trees to paint the fence. By Ron Johnson]

DON’T BE SCAMMED-A PERSONAL STORY

This past week an SCA Eblast “Don’t Be Scammed,” see below, warned residents about a recent spate of telephone and computer scammers. According to the Eblast, a computer scammer either badly infected or rendered the homeowner’s computer inoperable.

I became aware of this problem when a friend informed me that their computer had been rendered inoperable with a message to immediately call a certain number that was displayed on the screen in order for the operator to regain access to their computer. The homeowner had received and opened an email from an unknown sender. While the recipient did not ordinarily open messages from unknown senders, the email’s subject line mislead the homeowner into believing that the sender might be communicating about their prior correspondence with SCA’s Spirit magazine staff since the word “spirit” appeared in the subject heading. Routine efforts to delete the message or to turn off the computer were unsuccessful. However, and for unknown reasons, perhaps due the homeowner’s failure to timely call that designated telephone number, the ransom-ware message suddenly disappeared and homeowner access to the computer was restored. But that’s not the end of this story.  

In contacting a computer repair store, I learned that such a ransom-ware program once on your computer will remain there until it is deleted. Not only that, this malware might be pre-programmed to render your computer inoperable again at a future time, e.g., in so many days or weeks.

This malicious program may be viewed as a Potentially Unwanted Modification (or PUM), which targets and modifies the Window’s operating registry. Such programs when inadvertently opened may, among other things, allow hackers to gain access to your computer, backup devices, files and contact email addresses. As a general practice, homeowners do not make changes to the operating system’s registry, unless they are computer experts. Note that a PUM program is distinguished from a Potentially Unwanted Program (PUP) in which the operator downloaded one or more programs in bundled software that was wanted. While most PUPs are harmless, containing adware or intrusive advertising, some PUPs may contain spyware or malicious viruses. 

This owner’s antivirus program, Webroot’s SecureAnywhere, failed to detect, notify or remove this malicious program. When the MalwareBytes’ Anti-Malware program was installed a week later, which has a free version, it detected and removed this malicious program. Click here to see a list of 10 free anti-spyware 2016 programs.      

 Ron Johnson       

Eblast sent on 8/16/2016

SUN CITY ANTHEM

Don’t Be Scammed…

- Terri Begas, SCA Computer Club president

Lately, a number of individuals in our community are being taken in by false warnings about their computers being infected.  Some of these people have had their computers either badly infected or rendered inoperable, in addition to being charged a considerable amount of money. Typically, either you receive a phone call or a popup message appears on your computer screen warning that your computer is infected or is sending out a barrage of infected e-mailings.  Then an attempt is made to gain access to your computer promising to “solve” the supposed problems.  Once into your computer they infect it in various ways and usually require a high fee to possibly fix it.  If this happens to you, immediately hang up on these types of callers, do not click on these types of links, and DO NOT give any of them your credit card number or access to your computer!!!

How can you protect yourself from being taken?

If you did not initiate contact with a company or individual, why should you follow their unsolicited advice or directions, give them your private information, or pay them?  Likewise, if someone e-mails you or a window pops up on your computer, tablet or phone, why should you do as they suggest?  If you personally have actually initiated contact with a reputable company or individual, you are much more likely to have a positive experience.  Only give out appropriate personal information, if you have initiated contact and the details are necessary to process your order or request.

If you have a computer, use a good antivirus program and keep it updated.  Know the name of your antivirus program and be aware of how its messages and warnings look and work.  You might also want to run a good anti-malware program as well.  Some security suites combine both features into a single program.

Be cautious about clicking on links in e-mail and text messages.  If an e-mail or text message only contains a link, it is quite possibly a scam.  Do not click on the link – just delete the message.  Sometimes these may come from trusted friends, who are unaware that their account has been hacked and that someone is posing as them and sending out infected messages.

If a window with a threatening or suspicious message suddenly pops up, do not click anywhere on the window.  If possible, close the web browser and reboot the computer.  If the computer has frozen, turn it off and then turn it back on.  Once on again, you might want to run a security scan with your anti-virus program and an anti-malware program as well.

Even if a website looks legitimate, you still want to be certain that the site is really for that organization.  Also check out any new charity or business before giving them credit card information or sending them a check. 

Things to be aware of

No bank, brokerage, or reputable business will send an e-mail or call you, telling you that they are updating their records and need you to provide them with your account number, pin number or other personal account information.  The proper way to update your information is to log into your account online and edit your profile.  The other option is to visit your bank or business and ask them in person how to update your information.  Note: they will have you personally enter any pin number on a secure numeric keypad, so that even their personnel do not learn your pin or password.

Caller ID’s can be faked.  Just because a particular name or phone number appears, does not mean that the call is really from that entity or number.

When browsing the web be aware of your surroundings, just as you would if you were out walking or driving around.  Links on webpages can say anything and can point to websites that are totally unexpected.

E-mail and Facebook accounts can be hacked.

E-mail can also be spoofed.  Just because an e-mail appears to be from a friend or a particular business, it could be spam from another source.  Frequently fraudulent e-mails will point to website that appear to be that of a legitimate business.  Check the complete URL to see that the web address is valid.

You may also receive an e-mail or phone call, requesting you to immediately wire or transfer money (usually several thousand dollars) to a supposed loved one who has been robbed or arrested while travelling abroad.

Another tactic is a caller or e-mail informs you that they are from a government agency such as the IRS, FBI, the police department, or some other legal sounding organization.  The caller threatens that someone is coming to arrest you for unpaid taxes, fines, etc., and they tell you that to prevent this that you need to immediately purchase a number of iTunes (or other gift cards) or money orders and deliver them as directed.  They may also ask you to wire them money immediately.  Do not let them scare you into paying.  No government agency acts in this way.  They do not accept gift cards and they do not warn you that they are on their way!

Then there is the e-mail where they need you to help someone disburse a large amount of money.  Just think, why would they choose you to either give the money to or to help disburse it?  What they actually need is to have you give them your bank account details and soon your account will be drained or worse.

Summing up

So does this mean that you should give up on all electronic communications?  No, but just use them wisely, and remember that when browsing the web be aware of your surroundings.

If you have questions relating to safe computing via your computer, tablet, or smart phone, consider joining the Computer Club and attending Computer Talk -  a question, answer, and sharing session - each Thursday morning from 9:00 – 10:00 a.m.   The Computer Club also has a House Call program in case you need more in depth help.

Enjoy using your electronic devices, but don’t become a victim.

AND THEN,

ANOTHER CHALLENGE FOR YOUR BUCKET LIST

   Diving 30 meters through a rock in Portugal. (#14).

Today’s Anthem View

The Finance Committee Workshop

 on Surplus Funds, August 10

This week’s FC Workshop on Surplus Funds was both illuminating and distressing for what we learned about the intricacies and complexity of the committee’s Board-assigned task of coming up with a recommendation on Surplus Funds.

The workshop was chaired by FC member Tom Revell and was assisted by former FC Chair Forrest Quinn, who presented some historical perspective and background materials related to this topic. Also contributing was Treasurer Tom Nissen and Association legal counsel John Leach, who provided valuable insights on potential legal issues involving the budget process. Also in attendance as observers were Board members, GM Sandy Seddon and Chief Financial Officer Jim Orlick, among other committee members and residents.

Detracting from the Workshop’s presentation and deliberations was the announcement that Board Director Jim Mayfield had been asked not to attend. Since this workshop was presumably designed to inform members about the issues, the exclusion of Mr. Mayfield considered views on this topic from those in attendance was indeed unfortunate and a sad commentary on the state of governance in our community. 

The issue of Surplus Funds was being discussed due to the ongoing controversy over the Association’s legal duty to comply with Nevada’s law on homeowner associations regarding the disposition of Surplus Funds as mandated by NRS 116.3114.  From Revell’s presentation, it was abundantly clear that the definition of what “surplus funds” is would be at best a judgement call after evaluating a number of accounting variables rather than any particular line item from the Association’s financial documents. The reason for that was because both NRS and the governing agency, the Nevada Real Estate Division, are devoid of a definition of “surplus funds,” while at the same time describing what must be done with those funds. However, without knowing how “surplus funds” should be defined, HOA’s are left to their own devices to decide how best to define how those funds should be calculated.

While NRS addresses the disposition of surplus funds, i.e., to pay or credit the unit owners, NRS also permits HOAs to dispose of such funds in accordance with their own governing documents. In SCA’s case, our CC&Rs at Section 8.1(e) happen to address both of these outstanding issues: 1) the disposition of surplus funds; and 2) a clue if not an actual method on how to calculate the surplus.

Notwithstanding the existence of such guidance on how to calculate the surplus, there remain a number of unresolved accounting issues the committee must deal with, e.g., should certain line items be excluded or adjusted in the calculation. Since the calculation of the surplus is at a point in time, when should the surplus be calculated, e.g., as of the end of the year or as of some other date, such as when the year-end Audit Report is available? Is the starting point for computing the surplus on 1 January or when the Audit Report is received? Since Revenues are calculated on an Accrual basis and Expenditures are calculated on a Cash basis, do those different methodologies affect how the surplus should be calculated? Additionally, how should the FC deal with incurred liabilities in calculating the surplus, e.g., for capital improvement projects, for which funds have yet to be disbursed in the following year? Should transfers to reserves be included or excluded from the calculation of the surplus since such funds represent Association income from assessments?

Although there are a number of variables for the committee to consider in their determination of surplus funds, I had the impression that Tom Revell had a keen understanding of how to go about conducting this particular task and arriving at a recommendation.

Hopefully, we may have the benefit of the committee’s recommendation at their 17 August meeting at 1:00 p.m. in the Anthem Center. 

Ron Johnson

OTHER NEWS

240 Water Street, Henderson, NV, 89015
Please Contact Keith Paul, Public Information Officer, 702-267-4510

Road Work Planned for Volunteer Boulevard

 to Create Lane Restrictions

Henderson, Nev. – Lane restrictions on Volunteer Boulevard between Via Firenze and Rancho Destino Road has started, Wednesday, August 10 and will continue for about two weeks to allow for the paving of the roadway.

The westbound lanes of Volunteer Boulevard will be closed with both lanes of traffic being shifted to the eastbound lanes. Motorist will not have access to the free right-hand turn onto Executive Airport Drive and will have to make the turn at the traffic signal.

Once paving has been completed, all traffic will be diverted to the westbound lanes and the eastbound lanes of Volunteer Boulevard will be paved.

The road work, which is part of the Pittman North Detention Basin project, is intended to improve roadway safety and to expedite the repaving process with the least inconvenience to motorists.

The Pittman North Detention Basin project is a nearly $17 million project providing improvements along Volunteer Boulevard from Sun City Anthem Parkway to Las Vegas Boulevard and along Executive Airport Drive from Executive Terminal Drive to Volunteer Boulevard. The project includes $6.9 million in Fuel Revenue Index (FRI) funding.

Motorists should use caution while travelling through the work zone, be mindful of construction signs, and, if possible, take alternate routes. For additional information about the project, visit cityofhenderson.com. 

Independence Center Access.  Beginning on Monday, August 15, 2016 at 10:00 pm, the Association will be upgrading the concrete surface entrance at the Independence Center. We are installing a new coating to the surface to enhance and protect our entrance. Work will commence after the Center is closed on this date.  One-half of the entrance will remain open during regular business hours until completion. Please bear with us while this enhancement is taking place. The project is estimated to be completed before the following weekend.

The Community Service Group invites SCA residents to the following monthly meetings:

Diabetes Education and Support Group – Monday, August 15, in the Morris/Nelson Rooms in the Independence Center at 10 AM. Over 25% of the population above the age of 65 has diabetes and many more are pre-diabetic. The purpose of this group is to provide education about diabetes, simple lifestyle changes that may assist in the prevention or controlling diabetes, as well as providing support for diabetics, caregivers, family, friends and any Anthem resident who has an interest in Diabetes. Learn from the experiences of others.

Living Well with Disabilities – Monday, August 15, in the Greene Room of Anthem Center at 10 AM. This group welcomes all who are suffering from chronic diseases or issues which may limit mobility function. Partners, friends, and caregivers are especially welcome.

AND THEN,

ANOTHER CHALLENGE FOR YOUR BUCKET LIST

          Extreme kayaking at Victoria Falls. (#13).

Today’s Anthem View

An Important Announcement Affecting the Governance of Sun City Anthem

The Finance Committee Workshop on Surplus Funds, August 10 at 1 in the Delaware Room

Below is a rather innocuous appearing unsigned eblast titled “Dear Resident” about next week’s Finance Committee (FC) Workshop on Surplus Funds. Rather than a routine announcement of a forthcoming meeting, this announcement, presumably authored by President Rex Weddle, is actually a warning from the Board that they will not tolerate what they view as interference in their illegal practice of retaining and spending surplus funds.

The Board is understandably reluctant to embrace the term “slush fund” to describe their 2016 use of roughly one million dollars in unbudgeted monies, but regrettably there is no better term. The Board’s past and current practice runs counter to their legal authority to spend only those funds that were ratified by members in a Board-adopted budget in 2015. That ratified budget does NOT give the Board what amounts to a blank check to expense funds that were carried over from 2015 as it sees fit.

If the Board wants such authority, there is a legally accepted remedy available to the Board, one proposed and advanced by the State. That remedy is for the Board to offer members a revised budget, which would detail the manner in which such surplus funds would be expensed. However, the Board has refused to accept such advice from the Nevada Real Estate Division, preferring instead the extra-legal option of using a slush fund.   

While the Board is ostensibly seeking an independent recommendation from the FC on the proper treatment of Surplus Funds, that’s not how I read their announcement. The choice before the FC, and ultimately the Board, has the appearance of being simple: either come into compliance with Nevada law and, or our CC&Rs on the disposition of surplus funds or ignore what our governing documents require the Board to do with surplus funds. According to NRS 116.3114, such surplus funds can be used for reserves and, or to refund unit owners or credit such owners against future assessments.  

According to the announcement, here is what the Board would like their readers to understand. “Many issues are integrally related to this important [matter] and the members of the committee need resident input as well as that of SCA’s legal and accounting firms, both of which will be in attendance.”

It appears that the Board believes the FC acting alone in their deliberations on an accounting matter is ill qualified to make a recommendation on surplus funds without needed help. In my view, that apparent belief is absurd.

So, what’s really going on? It’s evident to me the Board is attempting to stack the odds in their favor by compromise the integrity of the FC. Is there any evidence to support that conclusion? I believe there is. When the 2015 Board sought and received similar advice on this surplus funds issue, Treasurer Tom Nissen made this incredible announcement at the August Board meeting: The Association had no surplus funds. Tom Nissen made this announcement despite a reported $1.1 million in surplus funds that had been carried over to 2015 from 2014.

Given that questionable and unsupported outcome in 2015, can we trust the Board to tell members the truth about surplus funds? We had been led to believe that “interested parties” had led Tom Nissen to conclude that the Association had no surplus funds in 2015 when there was evidence that that conclusion was demonstrably false. I gather from the below announcement that the Board would like members to believe that the FC and the Board should rely on those same “interested parties” in making a determination of what “surplus funds” means under NRS and our governing documents.   

Lastly, the Board’s announcement appears to go to great lengths to warn, if not threaten, members who are categorized as purveyors of “outside efforts” who may be attempting to influence the FC’s recommendation on surplus funds. Might some of those “outside efforts” be coming from former chairpersons of the Finance Committee, persons who happen to have an expertise in accounting?  

If I were a FC member, I would be more concerned about the Board’s overt efforts to control the outcome of the committee’s recommendation on surplus funds.

Ron Johnson      

Dear Resident,

The Finance Committee will be conducting a Community Workshop on August 10 at 1 pm in the Delaware Room. The committee has been tasked by the Board to develop and propose policies and related suggestions directed at defining surplus and or surplus funds in order to better comply with NRS 116. Many issues are integrally related to this important [matter] and the members of the committee need resident input as well as that of SCA’s legal and accounting firms, both of which will be in attendance. The Finance Committee is entering into this workshop with no illusions that it will be an easy task, nor does it have preconceived conclusions. We have some ideas as to the documents we must interpret to reach definitive positions, but the matter is of such importance, that input from all interested parties, most especially the residents, is critical to reach the appropriate results to minimize further conflict with residents and NRED on this matter. 

The committee is of the view that this task has been presented to us and input from all interested parties is needed; however, outside efforts designed to “urge” the committee to adopt certain positions are uncalled for and any such efforts will be called out.

Please participate in this important workshop.

The August Finance Committee meeting has been moved to August 17 at 1 pm in the Bristol Room.

OTHER NEWS

The Community Service Group invites SCA residents to the following monthly meetings:

• Cancer Support Group – Monday, August 8 in the Greene Room of Anthem Center at 10:30 AM. The intention of this group is to provide a safe and accepting place to share experiences, gain and impart knowledge, hope, and strength. Partners, friends, and caregivers are especially welcome.
• Prostate Cancer Support Group – Monday, August 8 in the Greene Room of Anthem Center at 2 PM. Since prostate cancer strikes one of every 6 or 7 men sometime in their life, it is wise to have your blood PSA level checked annually or semi-annually to see if you may be affected.

All men and their significant others are invited to attend our meeting.  It is most helpful to men recently diagnosed with prostate cancer, or with an increasing PSA level.  Learn from the experience of others.

If you know men who are affected, please tell them of our meeting.

See Life Extension Magazine for lots of information on prostate cancer June 2016:

http://www.lifeextension.com/Magazine/2016/6

AND THEN,

ANOTHER CHALLENGE FOR YOUR BUCKET LIST

          Just having a look around (#12).

Today’s Anthem View

The July 28^th Board Meeting

You can read Sandy Seddon’s detailed July Report to the Board here.

The Planned Restaurant Workshop. One highlight from Sandy’s report is the planned Restaurant Workshop on Tuesday, September 27, 2016 at 9 am in the Delaware room. GM Seddon writes that “this workshop is an opportunity for residents to share feedback to Management and the Board regarding the restaurant space. The Board has instructed me that securing a restaurant is a management task. I think we can all agree that a restaurant is needed; it’s just a matter of what kind and how we go about it. To that end, we hope that this scheduled workshop is productive and meaningful. There is no specific timeline or process that has been outlined yet related to the restaurant. This is just the beginning.”

On the 28 July Board of Director’s Meeting

Did President Rex Weddle attack the integrity and motives of Director Jim Mayfield?  Yes! Rex did so when he questioned Mayfield’s Surplus Funds presentation on his decision to omit any reference to the Board’s discretion to disburse surplus funds as supposedly permitted by our CC&Rs.

I believe that Rex’ effort to discredit Mayfield was but one clog in the Board’s attempt to justify their past and current practice of operating outside of the budget restrictions that apply to common interest communities. I expect such efforts will continue at the August 10^th Finance Committee’s Workshop as well as on the Committee’s members in making their collective recommendation on this topic to the Board.   

Mr. Mayfield had completed his updated slide presentation and was responding to questions when Rex addressed Jim about his presentation.

Stepping back a bit, Jim’s presentation had provided a historical perspective, analysis and commentary that laid out a rather compelling argument that the association needed to clean up its act if it was going to comply with the law governing SCA and our own regulations on surplus funds. According to Jim, the best guidance on surplus funds is from our own CC&Rs, Sec. 8.1(e), which you can read here. In very general terms, if the association took in more revenue than it disbursed, that difference is surplus funds. While there are different accounting approaches to calculating surplus funds in existence at the end of the budget year, both methods put that figure just over one million dollars at the end of 2015.

Following the guidance provided by Sec. 8.1(e), below is a chart that explains what should happen in the event there is a surplus in the case of the Regular Operating Budget and in the case of a Revised Budget. You will note that the surplus options available to the Board are materially different depending on the particular budgetary circumstance.

Since decisions regarding the disposition of surplus funds occur after the ratification of the regular annual budget, the surplus funds options that are available to the Board are limited by SCA’s CC&Rs. In other words, the ratified budget had by law established the budget authority of the Board to disburse funds only for those purposes identified in the budget. Once the regular budget was ratified, and absent emergency conditions, the Board lacks discretion to disburse surplus funds for any other purpose than those listed in “A” above.

However, the Board does have the authority to revise the regular budget and in doing so may identify “in its discretion” alternative disbursement purposes for available surplus funds., as listed in “B” above. A revised budget must be ratified by the members.

Now, getting back to Wendell’s verbal attack on Mayfield. Rex wanted Jim to explain why he failed to mention the apparent fact under Sec. 8.1(e) that the Board had the authority to allocate surplus funds for any purpose “in its discretion.” The impression being conveyed was that if the Board had such authority, then Mayfield’s presentation was irrelevant and superfluous. As noted by Rex, that “in its discretion” clause was not uttered by Mayfield, which was true. In disclosing Jim’s apparent omission, Rex was attempting to impugn Jim’s integrity and motives by implying that Jim had potentially deceived the Board and the community on this important matter.  

Here is how that last sentence in Sec. 8.1(e) reads: “In the alternative the Board may apply such excess amount to operating or capital reserve accounts or otherwise, in its discretion.” Standing alone, this sentence might be misinterpreted by an uninformed reader as applying to the Board’s overall authority to apply surplus funds “in its discretion.” 

However, Rex’ presumed understanding is contradicted by the clear distinctions that Sec. 8.1(e) makes between the Board’s Operating Budget for the full year and the fact that “The Board may revise the budget and adjust the Base Assessments from time to time during the year, . . .” It’s evident from its placement in the CC&Rs immediately following the revised budget paragraph that the “in its discretion” clause refers only to a revised budget and not to the Board’s Operating Budget.

I believe President Weddle owes Mr. Mayfield an apology.  

Ron Johnson

AND THEN,

ANOTHER CHALLENGE FOR YOUR BUCKET LIST

          Tree camping in Germany (#11).

Today’s Anthem View

The July Agenda Review Meeting

The July Agenda Review meeting, in advance of Thursday’s Board Meeting at 1:30 in Freedom Hall, reached another milestone when it was seemingly over just after it began. At least that’s what Dave Leshefsky and others wanted to know why board President Rex Weddle was seemingly rolling over or ignoring agenda items as if they did not exist. For example, there would be no report from the General Manager, despite GM Sandy Seddon’s presence, and no report on the Association’s financials due to Jim Orlick’s absence for personal reasons. As a result, there was no information provided about the status of Liberty Center’s repairs, how those repairs are being financed and other Liberty Center issues. In the absence Orlick, surely someone could have provided the attendees with credible highlights from SCA’s financials. Without relevant discussion on these agenda items, there was no opportunity for feedback or questions, raising again the relevance of the Agenda Review meetings.

Despite the brevity of the meeting, there was some news to share as well as one hot-topic item.

• Fence Painting.  At Thursday’s meeting, the Board expects to award a contract for wrought iron fence painting. With that announcement, GM Seddon said that the successful bidder has agreed to accommodate homeowners who are interested in having their own fences repainted at the same price per lineal foot that the Association is paying. Details on how homeowners can participate will follow, most likely in the Relay or similar all-member communication.
• Board vs. General Manager Duties. With the passing of another month, there was no sign of any progress in transferring any of the management functions performed by the various committees to the General Manager. Director Carl Weinstein’s effort to elicit recommendations from the GM appeared to fall on deaf ears. We did learn that this has been a topic of discussion in executive session. However, any such discussion should be in an open forum to all interested members and not behind closed doors where it appears the board is prohibited by law from discussing association business that does not qualify under NRS 116.31085.  
• Surplus Funds. Board Director Jim Mayfield will make a presentation Thursday on Surplus Funds. You can view Mayfield’s presentation here. While Jim appeared hopeful that this long-standing, controversial issue will be finally resolved in compliance with existing law at NRS 116.3114, that outcome was less clear. Why less clear? Successive boards have a long history of not being deterred by the existence of legal impediments to its unfettered use of surplus funds.

Jim explained that compliance with existing law will mean that the Board will no longer be able to accumulate and use surplus funds as working capital from one year to the next. According to Mr. Mayfield, the Board will have only three options: 1) rebate to homeowners the surplus that accumulated through 31 December; 2) credit the accumulated surplus to the homeowners next year’s assessments; or 3) transfer the surplus to the reserve fund up to 100% of the fully-funded amount.

As Jim noted, the Board will no longer have the option of generating a smooth assessment stream from year to year. If the available funds in the current budget year are not used, those unused, i.e., surplus, funds will be lost insofar as being available to meet the operating needs of the association.

Others are of the opinion that the more restrictive provisions of our CC&Rs at Section 8.1(e) on the disposition of surplus funds will apply to SCA.

• Deferred maintenance. The current and future boards over the next 10 or so years are faced with the real prospect of funding roughly $16 million in deferred maintenance. That’s on top of the funds that are currently set aside to meet ongoing reserve requirements.

Other News

• The Community Service Group invites SCA residents to the following monthly meeting:

Caregivers Support Group – Wednesday, August 3 in the Arlington Room of Anthem Center at 10 AM. Caregivers can develop specific coping strategies to stay healthy. One such strategy is talking with other caregivers and providing support to one another. Our goal is to provide caregivers a safe and confidential setting in which to share concerns, challenges, and successes. No one should face the caregiving challenge alone.

• The Diabetes Education and Support Group is looking for a co-facilitator. This group is a self-help group that focuses on education about Diabetes and simple life style adjustments to help lower blood sugar scores which may reduce the need for medication. If you’re interested in helping to facilitate this group, please contact Carole Rothberg at crothberg@aol.com or 702-837-0630.

• The Finance Committee is seeking new members. We are especially seeking members that hold or have held CPA licenses, as our only CPA will soon be leaving the committee. The committee selects volunteers from qualified applicants, taking into consideration background, relevant experience, skills and enthusiasm. Candidates must meet certain minimum requirements for consideration, including:

Be willing to serve for a minimum of two years and be able to attend two-thirds of the committee’s regularly scheduled meetings;

Be an Association member/owner in good standing for at least one year;

Have sound financial training and/or experience;

Be computer literate;

Exhibit good oral and written communications skills; and

Be a team player.

While the exact responsibilities of the Finance Committee have yet to be determined following the transition to self-management, it is expected that the committee will serve both a management function, working closely with the self-management team, and a policy function working with the Board of Directors. In the management area, the Finance Committee will assist the CFO in the analysis and/or preparation of financial reports, projections and budgets. In the policy area, the committee will provide two members to serve on the Audit Committee (along with two members of the Board) and auditing the financial activities of Clubs. It is expected that the CFO and the Board may, from time-to-time, request the committee to assist in other financial projects as needed.

To apply, please forward a volunteer application, which may be obtained at the Volunteers tab on the SCA website or from the Anthem Center front desk, to volunteer@scacai.com, or place the completed application in the Volunteers Coordinator mailbox in the Anthem Fitness Center.

Commentary

What’s the definition of a Finance Committee CPA “Team Player?” If you are creative, have ideas for improvement and, or wish to preserve your professional integrity, volunteering to be “Team Player” may be a challenge you did not anticipate.   

AND THEN,

ANOTHER CHALLENGE FOR YOUR BUCKET LIST

          Skywalking on Mount Nimbus in Canada (#10).