Regarding George Carter’s letter about my request to debate the Recreation Centers of Sun City West’s strategic plan with the general manager, I disagree with his statement “the strategic plan was not created in a vacuum. It reflects careful planning, diverse input and a clear focus on long-term community improvement.”
The GM’s statement that the “[plan was] developed with input from the Governing Board and management” doesn’t indicate diverse input to me. In my opinion, they ignored community input. When I wrote asking what comments were received about the plan, he responded, “…there has not been tracking of comments in favor or opposed to this effort (the plan).”
The plan has errors, omissions and unnecessary stuff like Action item 7 on page 14: “Expand wellness programming. Invest in trending health and fitness offerings such as cold plunges.” Imagine persons with heart, circulatory conditions and other health problems in an ice water bath. I believe this and other statements demonstrate the plan does not understand the stakeholders it proposes to serve.
I reviewed it line by line. There are no deliverables defined for most of the action items; most are just project scoping statements. With no direction to include alternatives, financial decision-making criteria and development of evaluation criteria there is no quantitative or qualitative way to measure the success of implementation against objectives.
I don’t believe anyone read this document thoroughly. If they did, it demonstrates a complete lack of understanding of standard planning practices.
A public debate would inform owners footing the bills about deficiencies in the plan. Since these initiatives could cost over $1 million for implementation over five years without any way to measure return, a debate and vote should be mandatory.
The GM has not responded to my proposal for a debate and public vote, and I don’t expect him to do so.
Please send your comments to AzOpinions@iniusa.org. We are committed to publishing a wide variety of reader opinions, as long as they meet our Civility Guidelines.
