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Sinclair: Resident has mixed feelings about board in Sun City

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Many of the members who attended wanted to observe and speak into the debate about just two baskets of items 1) the Mountain View project and 2) the disposition of the agenda points brought forward by the membership at the annual membership meeting last month.

When the latter finally came to the floor, all of a sudden we were notified that one board member had to leave for a medical procedure and all debate was thus cut off and the vote postponed.

Really? We waited for three hours to get to what really mattered to us, and the departure of one single member completely incapacitated the RCSC board? Have we never conducted a board meeting with just eight board members in attendance? Check out the 8-member meetings of Dec. 6 and Dec. 16.

Allan Lenefsky, you are new to the board, and this was your first public meeting. I’m trying to parse your position that your departure incapacitated your colleagues. Are you really that important? Is your presence the determining factor in whether the board can proceed with its business? How did you come to the conclusion that the board could not possibly continue with debate and a vote in your absence?

President Dale Lehrer, I’m curious about your answer to the same questions. On other matters that came to a vote, I believe you did not cast a vote, which is a proper procedure for the board president to follow. But on the vote to postpone, you cast the deciding vote to break a 4-4 tie vote regarding continuing on or postponing the discussion and vote. Do you have so little confidence in the other eight board members that you could not trust them to continue on in the absence of Director Lenefsky? Or was this simply a political calculation that allowed you to avert a vote going the “wrong way,” i.e., in favor of the membership position?

As much as I’d like to believe that you really did want to “get off on the right foot” and to commit to “participate and get involved,” stiffing the membership is an odd way to lend credence to that wish.

I’d love to hear back from both of you and discover that a less sinister explanation exists. For now, though, for me and dozens of other Sun City residents, the suspicion meter is ticking madly.

Editor’s Note: In a previous RCSC board meeting it was announced the board would follow Robert’s Rules of Order. which states the president does not vote on motions unless in the event of a tie vote.