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The Recreation Centers of Sun City West governing board members finalized penalties to make it easier for staff to enforce rules uniformly.
One area of concern had been enforcement and fines for residents who were not in compliance with covenants, conditions and restrictions for an extended period. The previous policy was not clear when fines and other penalties should be applied.
Bill Schwind, RCSCW general manager, said after receiving a CC&R complaint, if the staff finds the homeowner not in compliance, a courtesy notice is sent with a deadline of 21 days to correct the situation. If the situation is not yet corrected, a second notice with a 21-day deadline is given. If the property is still not in compliance a $50 fine is assessed and the owner is given 24 days to correct the situation. After that, the owner is assessed a fine of $100 for every 14 days the property is not in compliance.
Additionally, the new policy calls for the homeowner to not be in good standing with the RCSCW after the third notice.
“This essentially is a 49-day process before the RCSCW card is made inactive,” Mr. Schwind said.
If a homeowner appeals the CC&R decision, the counting of days stops until a hearing takes place.
The RCSCW staff began enforcing CC&R complaints July 1. James Riley, RCSCW Clubs, Programs and CC&R manager, said the staff has handled more than 300 complaints and only four have travelled into the fine status.
Another issue is members and guests.
This issue became a major problem in the past few years, some staff members said, with the advent of short-term property rentals through firms such as VRBO and AirBnB. Some homeowners would leave their rec cards in the homes for renters to use the facilities.
To counteract this a new policy was put into place that requires a recent photo of every owner resident on their membership card. All guests must be personally checked in by a valid card holder and the daily guest fee paid. The host will not be required to stay with the guest, but the guest must have a photo ID and receipt to use the facilities.
“As I understand it these rules were already in place we just didn’t use it before,” said Jim Young, governing board member.
Jim Sloan, RCSCW board president, agreed.
“We are not re-writing things, just implementing these policies uniformly,” he said.
Bill Schwind, RCSCW general manager, said the policy provides fairness.
“The over-use of transferring membership cards to non-members is what we’re trying to combat,” Mr. Schwind said.
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