In recent months, the Sun City board of directors and its advisory committees have taken on some large and complicated maintenance projects. Some bumps in the road have occurred when the process of decision-making became complex and financially challenging.
In late July and early August, discussions about the rear waterfall issue on the Facility Advisory Committee (FAC) led to a series of unprecedented actions. The newest member of the committee, Bill Clanton, was dismissed from the group after an alleged verbal altercation at the July 28 meeting. He responded by “going public” with an email to his friends and neighbors denying charges that he was disruptive. His wife, Diane, made a public statement criticizing the board for the dismissal at the September 21 meeting.
Clanton, a 14-year resident of the community, was appointed to the committee in January of this year. He served on the marketing committee for a few years before that. He has been an active leader in Neighborhood 9, and has been a member of the Prairie Voices barnstorming choral group since 2011. He has been the group’s business manager for the past two years.
He joined the FAC because he said it would be an excellent fit with his work experience.
“My last experience in working life was with a construction management firm where I started in the trenches as a project manager and retired 27 years later as a senior vice-president and 18-year member of the board of directors,” he said.
But his short, seven-month tenure on the committee did not go as he anticipated.
At its June meeting, the FAC was asked by the board to assist in developing information on the scope and cost of fixing the collapsed rear waterfall behind Prairie Lodge. The committee visited the waterfall site a short time later and conducted a complete inspection of the area.
Attending the July 28 meeting were six members of the seven-member committee – chairman Russ Howard, Rich Wille, Jeff Stipes, Anthony Manzella, John Knoll, and Clanton, plus board liaison Bill Bendick and staff liaison Chris Leuck, who is director of exterior landscape and APN maintenance. Committee member Harry Leopold was absent. The group discussed the waterfall issue briefly, but did not make any decisions.
Two weeks after the meeting, Clanton received a letter from executive director Deanna Loughran, dated August 5, relieving him of his duties on the FAC. Loughran’s letter referenced Section(7.2(A) of the Operating Rules and Regulations, which states, “Actions that jeopardize or interfere with the rights and privileges of others, use of profanity, or otherwise abusive or disruptive behavior directed toward a fellow participant, staff member, or off-site service provider will not be tolerated.”
In an email he sent to friends, Clanton told his side of this story.
“I explored around the waterfalls, taking notes and making sketches. I noticed that, although the proposal before us covered only the failed west waterfall, the east waterfall showed early signs of the same problems that caused the collapse of the western feature – gravel out wash at the base, stress cracks around the large boulders, etc. To address the two issues separately would, I knew, be a shortsighted and more costly undertaking. I also dug further into the GIS maps on file at the Kane County Recorders office, which revealed that both waterfalls were on the Billy Casper Golf side of the property line with Sun City.
“I shared this information with the committee members, and with Board President Dennis O’Leary. I was assured by Dennis that the board indeed wanted options and viable alternatives to total reconstruction. Several committee members and I, in informal conversations, agreed that the best way to do that was to retain the services of an independent consulting engineer, a practice followed in most of our projects.
“I went to the July 28 committee meeting prepared to present my findings and proposal. When I was granted the floor and began presenting my proposal, I was shocked to be interrupted by the FSR (First Service Residential) staff member who claimed he was being called a liar by my statements. I assured him that I meant no such thing and was only presenting my opinion as he would shortly be free to present his. I offered my apology if my statements had been misconstrued.
“At this point the board liaison (Bill Bendick) said that we could forget the engineer, we were throwing good money after bad, and were wasting everyone’s time. His words were a fist-pounding, ‘There will be water,’ and the discussion ceased at this point.
To respond to these claims, Clanton asked to attend an executive session of the board on August 17. At that time, he offered his version of these events and his defense.
“I specifically urged the board to call any or all of the FAC members to find out what really happened at the meeting, which, oddly, they had not yet done. During the entire session no one spoke to me, and no one later called the chairman of the committee (Russ Howard) or anyone else on the FAC to confirm the truth about the accusations. About a week later, I was advised that the board had reaffirmed its earlier decision.
“I am now taking the only action available to defend myself against these false accusations,” Clanton said. “…I never disrupted any meeting and at no time ever did I call a staff member or anyone else a name. I only tried my best to faithfully discharge my responsibilities as a committee member.”
Bendick, Deanna Loughran, and all of the members of the FAC that attended the meeting had widely varied responses.
Bendick sent this statement to the Sun Day: ”All advisory committees are made up of residents. Two liaison reps (staff and board) are appointed to answer committee questions and expedite communications with staff and the board. In this sense, the July FAC meeting was no different. The committee determined when it was time to move to another topic because they felt they had answered the questions the board had given to them.”
Clanton strongly disputes the accuracy of this statement.
Knoll said, “I was sitting next to Bill (Clanton), and at the end of the meeting I heard someone say ‘incompetent idiot’ but it wasn’t uttered by Bill and he wasn’t disruptive with the committee at any time. He isn’t that type of person.”
Loughran told the Sun Day that, “The board has no comment on (this) subject.”
Howard said “I am taking a neutral stance between Clanton and the board. I was focused at the meeting on what the board asked us to do and how we should respond.”
Rich Wille, the committee’s recorder, said, “Bill was not disruptive at any time or harmful to the committee, and he did not call anyone a name.”
Jeff Stipes referred a Sun Day inquiry to Deanna Loughran.
Anthony Manzella was reached by the Sun Day when he was in his car on a vacation. He referred the Sun Day to the board.
“A lie thrives in darkness,” Clanton concluded. “Like a cancer, its cells become immortal and never die. It festers and its roots grow and infect all those who propagated it, those who believed it, and those who were stained by it. A lie, however, cannot survive in the light, truth is the antidote.”
On September 21, the board decided to reconstruct two waterfalls behind the lodge at a cost of $478,000. (See related story).
