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Opinion

Linville: Disagreement with others is not conflict

Posted

Okay, they finally got my attention. I have intentionally ignored the Recreation Centers of Sun City board as long as I can.

I paid a huge fee upon joining and paid it again when I moved from a condo in Sun City to a house. I am a widower and live alone but I pay the same annual fee as couple. I have not complained. I knew the rules and I accepted the inequities as the cost of ignoring the board and all their politics. I will no longer ignore them.

The ouster of Karen McAdam is truly uncalled for. I believe that a board member has a conflict of interest when they are a contractor bidding on RCSC projects, or putting their family members to work for the RCSC. When there is a fiduciary conflict then the board has a cause for action.

As I understand it, board member McAdam is a pickleball player and she advocated for pickleball courts in the new Mountain View Center design. That is simply not a conflict of interest. Every board member should be advocating for their own interests as well as those of the community at large. Good board members should be active in the rec centers. Additionally, every board member should have a voice on the design for every project.

For RCSC President Sue Wilson to demand unanimity is crazy. This board has some serious explaining to do. A board member advocating for something the other board members disagree with is not a conflict of interest. It is, in fact, why there is a board instead of a single dictator. Many opinions should be expected. If the board is instead a group of cronies who agree together on everything we are in trouble. McAdam’s ouster looks like trouble.

I do hope Rusty Bradshaw has simply followed the media handbook for getting eyes on his newspaper by exaggerating a minor kerfuffle. Of course, that comes to mind because of my own media bias, and a sincere hope we won’t have to pay for lawyers to defend this ludicrous decision.