Hang Your Hat: February 11, 2016

The Mystery of the Sun City “None Meeting”

Every January the President of the United States and The Governor of Illinois have traditionally presented their “State of the Union” addresses to the legislative bodies and to the citizens they serve via TV, the internet, radio and later in printed publications.

Typically, the presenters review what was achieved the previous year and what their expectations were for the coming year,

Here in Sun City, the law authorizing Sun City as a not-for-profit corporation doesn’t require a State of the Union address but it does requires an Annual Meeting. It’s a different name, but the same purpose. The law doesn’t dictate what the agenda should be or what the purpose is other than to conduct a meeting. Typically, past Sun City annual meetings reviewed the previous year’s goals and whether those goals were achieved. Following that, a list of goals for the new year were presented. This year’s meeting did not include either.

The meeting was over in minutes. It did fulfill the requirement of the law, which is that a meeting be conducted, but beyond that it was a “none meeting,” void of any substance.

If you bent down to tie a shoe, or stopped to take a sip of water, you may have missed the meeting (Admittedly, that’s a bit of a stretch, but it does paint a picture about the meeting’s content).

None of the current Board issues, such as those discussed at the last COTW meeting, none of 2015‘s goals and none of the 2016 plans were discussed.

So, what’s the point?

On the other hand, the Quarterly Board meeting that followed was full of information from and about the various advisory committees. That was a worthwhile and informative activity, but when do we hear from the Board?

Expectations for realizing the mystery of Board and management transparency have been ongoing for years.

But, never say never. One day, we may see transparency no longer be a mystery.

Jim Darow N5

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