Page 8 - August Sun Rays_Flipbook

CA NEWS
Let’s Communicate!
Jim Romine, Executive Director
Lessons learned in 20 years
As many of you know, I have been
working at Sun City Texas since
July 1996. Over these wonderful
years, I have learned a lot about managing
communities, people and infrastructure. It
has been a great 20 years and I have truly
appreciated the community’s support.
My goal for this article is to share a few
lessons I have learned as I have grown
and our community has expanded.
It takes a village: For a community like
ours to be successful, resident involvement job very seriously. At times it has been
is key. No matter the size of the staff, we hard not to take negative comments or
are all in this together. We could not do
the job we do today without the support of
all of our wonderful volunteers, who help
to shape the direction of the community
through their involvement on the Board,
committees, task forces, NRO, library
and many other avenues. The expertise
of these individuals is outstanding and it
is nice to know whenever a specific issue
comes up requiring some expert input,
someone in the community has that
expertise and is willing to help for the
good of all.
We will never please everyone: While
we strive to please everyone, realistically the CA seem like the bad guys. One of
that is impossible. Even when we do
something that we think everyone will
love, we have complaints. Here is one
example: This year we produced a
calendar for the community. I thought the
staff and the printer did a great job, and
it was a great way to celebrate our 20th
anniversary. Unfortunately, we received
complaints on the type of finish on the
calendar, as it was hard to write on. Also, of communications. In the early years our
some residents felt that the CA should not
have spent money on this project. This is
a simple example.
I need to be a good listener: During
my 20 years in Sun City, I have attended
ONLINE: SCTEXAS.ORG
many meetings. For me to be a good
manager and communicator, I must
be a good listener. This goes for all of
my meetings, whether they are with
homeowners or staff. It is imperative
that when trying to help someone or a
group, I must understand all of the facts.
By listening and paying attention, I am in
a much better and more informed position
to respond responsibly and respectfully.
Don’t take it personally: I take my
criticisms personally. Are we perfect?
Absolutely not. Are we good? I think
so. I have visited many other planned
communities over the years and would
stack the Sun City Texas CA up against
all other HOAs. When someone is upset
and they unleash their unhappy words
upon me or my team, it can be difficult
not to go home and feel bad personally
even when we did nothing wrong.
Sometimes the answer is and has
to be no: While we want everyone to be
happy, sometimes we have no choice but
to say no. Unfortunately, this can make
the reasons many people choose Sun
City Texas is our Rules and Regulations.
Everyone likes them until they are told no.
What was good 20 years ago may not
be good today: Things change, as do all
of us, and what may have been satisfactory
20 years ago may not cut it today. For
example, look at the advances in the field
communications were good for our much
smaller audience and community. Our
Sun Rays was 8-12 pages long, we did not
have a robust website like we do today and
we did not have the ability to send out
weekly communicators. Back in the early
years, this was all fine. Many residents
did not do email, did not do websites, did
not purchase items online, etc. Our world
is ever-changing and fortunately for all,
Sun City Texas has also changed to keep
up with the times.
Wrong mail in
your box?
Submitted by Kristen Runde,
Communications Specialist
A nice resident called wanting to
remind residents to check their
mail before opening. At times,
the wrong mail is put in our box.
Please check the name on the en-
velope before opening any letters.
If it is not addressed to you, make
a note on the front side of the en-
velope and put it back in your box
for redelivery, or simply take it to
the correct recipient – probably a
close neighbor.
The resident who called never re-
ceived last month’s Visa bill only
to find that someone else had re-
ceived it and paid it – having never
checked the real recipient’s name!
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