By Roger Ball Independent Newsmedia The Property Owners and Residents Association of Sun City West was created 40 years ago, reportedly to protect the residents of Sun City West from what were considered to be unfair school district taxes. PORA was successful in the drive to remove most of the community from the school district and has had significant successful accomplishments since then. The latest examples cited by PORA leaders were the advocacy and Larry Woods rally of support to get the Sheriff’s Posse of Sun City West re-activated sooner. PORA president Larry Woods led a community effort to gather more than 4,100 signatures that were presented to Sheriff Paul Penzone, who promised to reactive the Sun City West posse first. PORA has represented the Sun City West residents in many instances of requested water and electric rate increases. PORA leaders also cite convincing the Maricopa County Department of Transportation to move the alignment of El Mirage Road further from eastern wall of the community and convinced MCDOT to not connect Deer Valley Road to the east to eliminate heavy traffic through the community. But PORA’s recent history is a bit rocky.

Many changes

Ralph Johnson was elected to the PORA governing board in January, and then chosen as the new president in June. Larry Woods, the previous president, ran for re-election but was defeated, and resigned from the board soon thereafter. Mr. Johnson is the fourth president of the PORA board in two years. Observers said each change seemed to start the organization in a different direction. Also, during that same two-year period, there have been an almost complete change of all staff positions, and the third manager was recently hired. Cynthia Young was hired in early August as PORA’s media coordinator, a position that had been vacant for several months. As a result the agency’s social media presence and communication with members was lacking. PORA’s Facebook and web pages went months without any updating. The governing board has also been plagued by multiple resignations. Two board members who resigned earlier, Larry Anderson and Bob Miller, agreed to return to the board to fill vacancies caused by the resignations of members who only served a short period of time. There still is one vacancy to fill the position vacatedwhen John Quinn resigned from the board. Mr. Quinn cited his many hours of working with the Sheriff’s Posse of Sun City West not allowing him the time to spend on the PORA board. Mr. Johnson said the board members are looking for local residents who care about the community to volunteer to serve on the board.

Program changes

One of the primary functions performed by PORA staff was the enforcement of covenants, conditions and restrictions. The Recreation Centers of Sun City West, that paid PORA $60,000 per year to perform those duties, cancelled the contract and began enforcing CC&Rs with its own staff July 1. PORA ran an active adult learning program for years. But that program was unprofitable and abruptly shut down earlier this year. PORA administrative offices, 13815 Camino del Sol. Mr. Johnson said the board had hired a staff person, Karen Williams, to re-institute the learning program, probably on a smaller scale. The program will be known as OASIS, Mr. Johnson said, and classes will begin in late January for the spring term. The official State of Arizona Department of Tourism Visitors Center for Sun City West is located in the PORA building, 13815 Camino del Sol. Originally it displayed information on many interesting sites around Arizona, including all the clubs and organization in Sun City West. When the building was remodeled many clubs complained that information on their organization was removed and put into drawers. The brochures are now on display again. For several years PORA has operated a consumer referral service, where the staff checks the credentials and backgrounds of various vendors and members can call for referrals at no charge. Mr. Johnson said there are currently about 650 vendors registered with that plan. The referral service is available to any PORA member. Annual membership is $10 per person or $20 per household. Persons who live outside Sun City West are associate members and cannot vote but are eligible to join to use the consumer referral and other PORA services.

Outside help

Mr. Johnson said board members hired an outside consultant to suggest the direction the organization should be headed. After a full-day retreat with the board and follow-up meetings with board and staff, the consultant proposed a three-year plan for PORA from 2019 to 2022. Part of the plan was to re-establish some of the programs that were popular.

Advocate with government

In spite of past differences, all parties seem to agree that one of PORA’s current major roles is to be an advocate with other government agencies. “The best kept secret is PORA’s government relations committee devoted to spend days and weeks as necessary with the Arizona Corporation Commission,” Mr. Johnson said. He cited former board member Al Gervenack as an example. To fight rate increase requests Mr. Gervenack drove more than 6,000 miles and spent 66 days related to an EPCOR water rate increase request. “We need to recognize that Sun City West is not like mot cities of 29,000,” said Dave Poling, former PORA president. “We need PORA to do all the things that come under the title of government—traffic, water, utility rate issues and many others,” he added. “The bottom line, the top priority of PORA is and should always be the voice of advocacy for Sun City West residents.” said Larry Woods, PORA past president Jim Sloan Jim Sloan, RCSCW governing board president, agreed. “PORA’s value to our community is one of advocacy, being the voice for Sun City West to public officials including law enforcement, legislators and regulators.” Mr. Sloan said. The top officers of PORA and the RCSCW began having regular monthly meetings to discuss issues of mutual interest. “Based on recent conversations with community members and PORA leadership, advocacy is and should be PORA’s first priority,” Mr. Sloan added.