During the course of our day-to-day lives, so many organizations and laws come to be known by an acronym or some catch phrase.
The Affordable Care Act became Obama Care. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization became NATO…and so on.
Here in Sun City, the governing Board schedules two regular meetings per month. One is the general board meeting typically meeting on the third Wednesday of the month and the other is the COTW [Committee Of The Whole] meeting, generally pronounced as the COW meeting. Try to pronounce C O T W with the “T” in it. Pronouncing COW is a lot easier.
More importantly, what is the purpose of COTW? Originally the COTW was a closed Board meeting devoted to discussions about whatever issues needed to be considered and ultimately voted upon at the general Board meeting.
Along came new Board legal representation which pointed out to the Board that the Sun City governing documents required that any meeting of the Board was required to be open to the residents, except when the Board met in executive session to discuss legal matters as well as contract and personnel issues. With the change to the COTW becoming an open meeting, the Board could also vote upon issues, which was not previously the practice.
Back to the COTW meeting. If you haven’t attended a COTW meeting, it’s worth your time to attend at least one session. The COTW meets on the first Wednesday of the month, typically at 9 a.m. in various meeting rooms.
The real discussions and expressions of opinions by Board members and the Executive Director about old and new topics are covered. The real business of the community is considered at the COTW, not the general Board meeting. For example: when and how much would it cost to stabilize and make the Wildflower shoreline accessible for fishing? Or can the community afford a quarter of a million dollar expenditure for rooftop heating and air conditioning? This is heavy-duty stuff. Big bucks.
The meeting also exposes the lengthy delays with some projects that are presented meeting after meeting and that have lingered for years. That’s hard to believe but it is the downside of moving forward in Sun City’s governance and management.
That is not to ignore the hundreds of great accomplishments in a timely fashion by the Board involving Lifestyle activities, facility maintenance and fiscal stability.
Mark your calendar for the next COTW meeting, February 3.
Jim Darow
N5
