SUN CITY CENTER – A minority of the community association membership here has returned three veteran directors to their governing board and added one newcomer to the mix.
A total of 1,380 votes were cast during the two-day election conducted November 30 and December 1 – less than 13 percent of the voting- eligible SCC CA membership pegged at 11,200 that week.
The returning directors are: Ed Barnes, current SCC CA president now taking on his second term; David Floyd, appointed a year ago to fill a vacated board seat and now elected for his first term, as well as Bob Black, who sought only one more year as a director and this year completes his first full term.
Black, the current board vice president, in 2011 is to finish the last year of former director John “Woody” Nelson’s term which became available upon his resignation. The other three were elected to the customary three-year terms.
The newcomer tapped by the electors is Marvin “ Sam” Sudman who had tossed his hat in the ring previously as a potential appointee to complete an unfulfilled term. Sudman replaces Don Schings, the one director now leaving the board.
Schings, who has served the maximum two consecutive terms, was particularly involved with transportation issues related both to the community and to the region. In this regard, he functioned as the board’s liaison with the county administration on such issues. Schings also currently is president of the SouthShore Roundtable of community representatives from across the South County.
The most recently elected directors will join sitting directors Ann Marie LeBlanc, Al Alderman, Charles Collett and Martin Hurwitz, making an eight –person board as the new year begins. One of their first tasks will be appointing another director to fill a seat also opened by recent resignation.
The newly reconstituted board of directors will be sworn in during the group’s January 5, 2011, meeting, Barnes, the outgoing president, said this week. The 2011 CA leadership will be formally seated at its January 12 session. It is likely the group will choose its officers for the year at that time, Barnes added.
With that task completed, the new board will have to turn quickly to appointment of a ninth director to fill out the leadership team and take the position opened by the resignation of Anne Cross, until recently the group’s corporate secretary. Applications for the appointment now are available in the SCC CA office on the central campus. Deadline for return of the completed applications is January 5.
Another early issue to be addressed by the new board will be the challenge of improving communications with and within the entire community. The necessity of ensuring a continuing free flow of accurate information between the CA leadership and the 11,000 plus membership was a primary plank in the campaign platforms of several candidates. Barnes said this week that he expected to receive before week’s end a report on this subject from a Public Relations and Public Information committee formed earlier in the year.
In addition, the outgoing president looking ahead to his last term, said that he, personally, would like to see the community website upgraded and enhanced, perhaps with more interactive capability making it more useful, and greater emphasis placed on the CA newsletter, The News of Sun City Center, which is circulated by U.S. Mail through the community.
The SCC CA board elections are held at the end of each year. The board’s primary responsibilities are oversight, support and maintenance of the community’s complex of amenities on three campuses, including dozens of clubs and resident organizations as well as a wide range of meeting rooms and athletic venues such as pools and ball fields. It administers an annual budget of approximately $2.6 million. The position of CA director is voluntary, without any salary compensation.
Copyright 2010 Melody Jameson