My Two Cents on the Social Club..
In my opinion... ron thomas
As the time for the Social Club meeting approaches we have many items on the agenda that I would like to see considered in a different way. Of course my way of thinking is just that. It is not necessarily the way you should think.
Here is my first thought about the Social Club. It should have a definition of itself written into its bylaws in bold red letters. If I were to make that definition I would put it this way..... The Social Club's sole function at LVH is the entertainment of the residents of LVH.
I think it should not be involved in park political and grievance procedures. When it tries to do that it tries to becomes an Association. It loses site of its goal.. the entertainment of the residents. Meetings become a place of discontent and degenerate into groups backing various factions of arguments. Such an arrangement creates a culture of folks angry with the Social Club. Meeting attendance and activity attendance drop accordingly.
I think the board of the Social Club should decide if an issue is to be brought up before the Social Club is an entertainment or a fund raising issue or an occasional philantropical issue. If it isn't then those that would request time or start speaking on issues not germane to the stated goal of the Social Club (in my opinion the entertainment of residents) should be politely told that the Social Club is not the forum for their issue.
BUT!!!! There is always a but isn't there? Some say there is no other community organization that
exists here at LVH to present these other kinds of issues.... And, that's the problem..... Isn't it?
Until the Social Club starts turning down requests for involvement in other community affairs it will always be embroiled in the turmoil that those issues cause.
The Community created the Social Club.. Why can't the Community call a town hall meeting by putting posters on the bulletin board, articles in the Newsletter and on the website and notices in the mailboxes to discuss issues, form committees and other community organizations? For instance you may be concerned about leases ... Why try to force the people at a Social Club meeting, who have come together to discuss ways to have community entertainment, to take up an unrelated cause? This will just result in lower attendance at Social Club meetings.
I'm not convinced that our community is apathetic at all. I think the root cause in lack of interest in the Social Club lies in the way it good heartedly over reaches itself moving into affairs that it has no business being in. That ends up alienating people who came to have a Social experience and instead find themselves embroiled in an issue that they are not interested in.
If you want your cause to have any teeth you need to call on the community to get those interested together at a meeting about your cause and stay on topic. Don't pull another subject out of the hat and try to interest people in something they didn't come to hear about. If you have folks interested in your cause one of the very things that needs to be discussed before you close out your meeting is how you intend to finance your group. In short you then have a dedicated group with a goal.
Because the Social Club is solvent people have started looking upon its treasury as a means to finance a myriad of issues not even remotely tied to the entertainment of the community. That money was donated and earned over the years for the entertainment of all the folks at LVH. Not as a handy fund to raid for funding whenever a non social Club issue comes up.
That's my two cents... RT
