Preparation for the common area's seasonal flowers color change is scheduled to begin September 20. Vintage Landscape will remove the summer flowers and prepare the soil for fall flowers. The process consists of turning over the soil for aerification and adding fertilization to prepare the soil for the new flowers. The new seasonal flowers are scheduled to be installed October 18 – October 22.
For questions regarding the annual seasonal flower color change, please contact the Facilities Department at 760-345-4349 ext. 2406.
In this episode, Board President John MacDonnell is back to give us an update about what's happening in our community. President MacDonnell is joined by our Assistant General Manager, Vanessa Ayon and Kathy Lindstrom, chair of the Food & Beverage Advisory Committee.
Fly the United States Flag at Half-Staff on Saturday, September 11, 2021
in Honor of Patriot Day
Saturday, September 11th, 2021 marks the 20 year anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City, the Pentagon, and United Airlines Flight 93 which crashed in suburban Pennsylvania. Patriot Day serves as a remembrance of the lives lost on that September morning.
By a joint resolution approved 12/18/2001, (Public Law 107-89) has designated September 11th of each year as "Patriot Day" which also directs the flags be lowered to half-staff for the entire day on September 11.
A section of the law is below:
''§ 144. Patriot Day''(a) DESIGNATION.-September 11 is Patriot Day.''(b) PROCLAMATION.-The President is requested to issue each year a proclamation calling on-
''(1) State and local governments and the people of the United States to observe Patriot Day with appropriate programs and activities;
''(2) all departments, agencies, and instrumentalities of the United States and interested organizations and individuals to display the flag of the United States at halfstaff on Patriot Day in honor of the individuals who lost their lives as a result of the terrorist attacks against the United States that occurred on September 11, 2001; and'
'(3) the people of the United States to observe a moment of silence on Patriot Day in honor of the individuals who lost their lives as a result of the terrorist attacks against the United States that occurred on September 11, 2001.''.
In this episode, Bob Firring is back with a short PSA about email scams. Tune in to learn more about these scams and how to protect yourself from falling victim to them.
US Flags at Half-Staff Immediately Until
Sunset on Monday, August 30, 2021
HONORING THE VICTIMS OF THE ATTACK IN KABUL, AFGHANISTAN
- - - - - - -
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA A PROCLAMATION
As a mark of respect for the U.S. service members and other victims killed in the terrorist attack on August 26, 2021, in Kabul, Afghanistan, by the authority vested in me as President of the United States by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, I hereby order that the flag of the United States shall be flown at half-staff at the White House and upon all public buildings and grounds, at all military posts and naval stations, and on all naval vessels of the Federal Government in the District of Columbia and throughout the United States and its Territories and possessions until sunset, August 30, 2021. I also direct that the flag shall be flown at half-staff for the same length of time at all United States embassies, legations, consular offices, and other facilities abroad, including all military facilities and naval vessels and stations.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-sixth day of August, in the year of our Lord two thousand twenty-one, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and forty-fifth.
I have asked one of our past Board Presidents to give us some thoughts in this edition of The View. I respect Stu Stryker for all the time he put into this community volunteering and keeping up the joy of living here.
We have all heard the old adage, “You can please some of the people all the time … ”. You know how it goes. Nothing has changed here. No matter what decisions a Board makes, some won’t agree. Good Boards make their decisions, popular or not, based on what is good for the health of the entire community, not for a select group. It’s been my experience, having served on other Boards besides in Sun City Shadow Hills, that Boards do not last if they do not make decisions for the betterment of the whole community. Board members are not perfect, they are human. Don’t judge them by one action but by the body of their work, and that takes time.
In the past, when we as a Board would make a decision, a certain group who wanted to run the community would find fault. No matter which way a decision went, this group was against it. If we spent money outright for long-term savings, it wasn’t the right thing to do. If we saved the community money by lowering dues, it wasn’t the right thing to do. It was a no-win scenario with this small but very vocal group. I am hopeful that our current Board doesn’t have to face this type of opposition.
A brief note on lowering dues. It was once mentioned that lowering dues during inflationary times was not the thing to do. When a Board puts together a budget, it must cover all the needs of the community. If it happens to be lower than the previous year, the dues are lower. A Board cannot just arbitrarily raise dues. For the record, inflation during that period was .02%.
As I walk around the community, I am seeing many things that are being fixed, repairs that had not been done properly are being corrected, and in general things are being cleaned up. This tells me our Board is moving in the right direction. We have also had contract disputes that have been resolved. To me, it appears that our Board is being proactive in solving issues. We have had some community events, and I hear there are more to come. These are the things our community needs to be a desirable place for people to live. These are the things that will make us a successful and well-maintained community.
The best improvement over previous years is the fantastic support we get today from our community volunteers – from staffing the clubhouse, to serving on a committee or as a Board member. Our members are a gold mine of experience, and it’s good to see our community still utilizing their talents.
When our Board started, we only had six Advisory Committees. By the time we left, we had doubled that amount. It’s good to see our current Board is continuing that trend. We still have a wealth of untapped knowledge out there, and I thank all our residents, past and present, for their service.
– Stu Stryker
Thank you, Stu Stryker, for all you did here at Sun City Shadow Hills. I also want to thank your wife, Nikki Stryker, for sharing you with this community during your time as a volunteer.
By Larry Anderson and Larry Helseth
Finance Advisory Committee Co-Chairs
As published in The View, September 2021:
FAC Members
Larry Helseth returns to the FAC with the resignations of Bruce Marley in July and Bill Wethe in August. Larry previously served on FAC in 2016 through 2018. We now have seven members and Board approval for a total of nine members. As of this writing, we are interviewing one candidate. We are always looking for owners who have a financial background including accounting and financial reporting and an interest in serving on the FAC or on its Subcommittee on the Reserve Study. Please contact either of the Co-Chairs if you would like to discuss completing an Advisory Committee Interest Form.
Work Completed
During the month of August 2021, the FAC and its Subcommittee continued their work including:
Review and recommend Board approval, subject to audit, of the unaudited July 2021 financial statements including the:
Combining and combined financial statements and supplemental financial information schedules.
Condensed financial information for The View magazine.
Review of the year-to-date variance analysis on the:
2021 Operating Fund revenues and expenses.
2021 Replacement Fund expenses for the purchase and replacement of common area real property components and inter-fund transfers to the Operating Fund for the purchase and replacement of common area personal property and equipment components.
Review and written recommendations on the 2021 Forecast (7+5) as compared to the 2021 Budget and the 2021 Forecast (6+6).
Preparation of the Management Discussion and Analysis (MD&A) of the 2021 Forecast (7+5) as compared to the 2021 Budget and the 2021 Forecast (6+6) provided to the Board.
Review and written recommendations to the Board on proposed BAFs for the expenditure of funds for the replacement or major repair of real and personal property common area components identified in the Reserve Study.
Review and recommend Board approval of the July 2021 bank statements, bank reconciliations, and investment account statements.
Regular meeting held on August 20, 2021.
Preparation of the monthly written report to the Board for its meeting on August 30, 2021.
Review of Q2 2021 HOA insurance market renewal update from the insurance agent with written recommendations for the 2022 Budget.
Preparation of articles for Finance News on two new members and Replacement Fund investment in equity index funds.
Work in Process
Review and written recommendations to the General Manager and the Board on the drafting of the 2022 Reserve Study.
Review and written recommendations to Troon, the General Manager, and the Board on the drafting of the 2022 Budget.
Mike Nilsson has volunteered to join the new Ad Hoc Advisory Committee studying the possible expansion and renovation of Shadows Restaurant.
Further Information
Additional FAC Members: Bob Jester, Jerry Cavoretto, Mike Whelan, Mike Nilsson, and Todd Murphy. FAC Subcommittee Members on the Replacement Fund and Reserve Study: Chris Stevens, Don Salvatore, Bob Jester, Mike Whelan, and Larry Helseth, Chair.
Tip: Keep a "Go Bag" under your bed and one in your car in case of an emergency evacuation. It should include things like personal items you may need (medications, toiletries, clothing), shoes, socks, flash light, extra batteries, radio, some nonperishable food, water, etc. An example can be found at the following website:
John: I thought it would be important to give you an update on what safety practices we've been following toward COVID-19 and the variants. I've invited Tyler Ingle, our GM, and Mark Dodge, CEO of Desert Resort Management, to share their information with you as well.
We have been working very hard to make sure this community is safe and we've been following the State and County Guidelines. There have been a lot of questions about what exactly are guidelines. The guidelines are coming down from the State government and they go to the local health departments and to the local regional health divisions of each county. In our county we talk quite frequently to Jose to find out what we need to do here at Sun City Shadow Hills. When he advises us, we act on it almost immediately. The Board has already given our management team and DRM the authority to make things happen when something happens in our county. Some people are saying that DRM isn't doing what they can because they won't make their employees get vaccinated or they won't do this or that or that the HOA doesn't care. Well, that's not true. We care so much about this community. When I ran for the Board, I told you that I would always be up front with you and tell you what is happening in this community and I have done that. I live with everything that I tell you folks and I will continue to do that. If I didn't say it, then I will stand up and defend it -- that's for sure.
We've received so many emails that we think it's time for us to tell you directly how things are going.
Tyler Ingle: Effective August 1st, we with DRM went back to a mask mandate indoors for all of our employees. Vintage Landscape, Allied Universal and Troon all agreed to wear masks indoors regardless of their vaccination status. Out of an abundance of caution we wanted to keep everybody safe and show to the community here that we are committed to doing what's right. It is totally voluntary to disclose vaccine status but we've had approximately 73% of our DRM employees attest to the fact that they are fully vaccinated. We expect that number to be up to 85% or higher by the end of September. Riverside County overall is less than 50% fully vaccinated. At this time, DRM hasn't made it a requirement for their employees to be vaccinated but that may change in the future.
Mark Dodge: DRM has employees in a lot of communities like Sun City Shadow Hills and there has been an ongoing effort in all of those locations, and in our corporate office as well, to get our staff fully vaccinated and to have very few exceptions. The property here is indicative of that. We know through conversations with our employees who has been vaccinated and who has not. Our goal is to have our employees fully vaccinated. We know who we are going to be able to get through those obstacles with and who we are not. We are looking at where we could relocate those employees refusing to get vaccinated to where it would fit them and they would not need to have contact with any of our homeowners. That process looks different in any of our communities. We have one community with over 100 employees and they are already at almost 90%.
And that’s amazing because 60 of those are field maintenance workers. The same thing is going on here. We are looking at the remaining population who is left and the decision to get vaccinated or not is a very personal one and usually fits into one or two categories. But we are not at the point of swinging a hammer and hammering employees into getting vaccinated. We may have to get to that point but we are at the decision-making point where we have to see what we have to do to get to 100%. So we're not taking that approach yet. We're approaching the individual employees, we know who they are and we're managing them and their contacts, and approaching the employees to get everyone to make the decision themselves. September is our soft deadline where we would like to be company- wide where we don't need to be having these discussions at the senior management level week after week.
John: I know we have been doing everything we could to be as safe as possible. We've been staying in contact with the employees, staying on top of how they're feeling to make sure we're not having any issues, and if anyone isn't feeling well I know you've been telling them to stay home. We really haven't had any of those issues. I know if we had gone to a mandatory vaccine about a month ago, we would have lost how many of our employees, Tyler -- 50%. So we would have had to shut down different programs, Lifestyles, so that was an incentive for you guys as the management team to see what you could work out with the employees so we didn't get to that position. You've been working really hard to keep our community safe and I personally appreciate that and you guys taking the time to come in here today to get this information out to the community. We are close.
And as Mark Dodge says, if there is an employee here and we have to move them around, we'll do that if they don't want to get their shot. That should be reassurance enough to know that this team here is working hard for this community. I was hoping we could get Jose on the phone today to give us a drop down on what's happening in the county, but he is out of the office. Tyler, you and I had a chance to talk with him last week and he told us that there is still a pattern of recommended masks for people who are not vaccinated, people who are indoors or less than 6 feet apart. That is not mandatory but a suggestion from the State and the County. If that changes, we'll definitely get that out to the community.
So, Sun City, we're here for you. We appreciate your time. Be safe and have a great day.
In this episode, Board President John MacDonnell is back to give us an update about what's happening in our community. President MacDonnell is joined by our General Manager, Tyler Ingle and Mark Dodge, CEO of Desert Resort Management (DRM).
In the Overview of Podcast #289, it was written that a one-time attendance is allowed for Tutta Bella Vino without paying the annual membership fee. Please note this applies to residents who have not previously attended an event; returning members are required to pay their annual membership when they sign up for their first event.
Due to the uptick in cases of COVID-19 in the Coachella Valley, as well as reportedly here in our community, the board of Let's Meet & Eat Club has unanimously voted to cancel our August 15 event.
Out of an abundance of caution for our club members, and because we have been receiving cancellations daily from concerned members, we think that it would be irresponsible for us to hold a large indoor gathering at this time, when social distancing would obviously be impossible. We ask that you reach out to your friends and neighbors who had reservations for this event, and who might not see this post, and please let them know about the cancellation. We will shred your checks for the August event. If you paid cash, please let us know and we'll get that back to you.
We will provide information in the next couple of weeks regarding how and when club members will be able to sign up for the September events. We have our normal club event scheduled for September 12, with a fantastic new dance band called the HoDads, and we have a second event, with The Killer Dueling Pianos, scheduled for September 2. We will most likely have a sign up table closer to the first of September, in the Montecito lobby, like we did for the July event. More details to come.
Please be aware of your landscape irrigation. Be cognizant of broken sprinklers, broken sprinkler heads, and be conservative and avoid excessive watering.
Tip: Fasten shelves and tall floor furniture securely to walls. Avoid hanging pictures or wall decorations over your bed. In an earthquake, they could fall off a strike you in the head. Secure cupboards with children safety latches to keep dishes and glassware secure.
Friendly reminder: all members and guests of Sun City Shadow Hills must check-in at the front desk before using the fitness center or pools. This pertains to both Montecito Fitness Center and Santa Rosa Clubhouse.
For questions or concerns, please contact the Fitness Department at 760-345-4349 ext. 2111 or 2201.
Thank you for your cooperation.
Sincerely, Sun City Shadow Hills Fitness Department
