MONTHLY MEMBERSHIP MEETINGS

Why does the SBRC now meet in the DesertView Theatre

instead of the HOA2 Ballroom?

  Covid changed so many things in our lives.  We all realize that our HOAs have had a difficult time staffing. We also have to realize that SaddleBrooke is a long drive for those employees who live in the surrounding communities and, to be competitive, we must consider the cost of gas and time.  The management of both HOAs were addressing many of these issues before Covid.
 

During the transition from Robson to HOA2, the HOA2 Board and management made some decisions.  One decision that affected the SBRC was the decision to charge a non-sanctioned club a room rental fee. A SaddleBrooke-sanctioned club is a club that does not have outside SaddleBrooke residents as members. The SBRC has members from the Ranch that are lifetime members and members from Eagle Crest, etc. Although some SaddleBrooke clubs have rescinded memberships of those members who were not residents, the SBRC Board has honored all memberships.
 

Today we find ourselves in the position of being a non-sanctioned club and, accordingly, we pay rent.  The HOA2 Board and management will only allow us to meet in the Ballroom if we are having a meal venue. Some of you are thinking back to when we could meet in the ballroom without a meal but with a bar; however, HOA2 has retracted that possibility because of staffing requirements, setup manpower, and so on. Consequently, our only option for meetings is the DesertView Theatre for a facility that can accommodate our numbers. Our fee is like any outside group that would like to rent the facility, and we pay $250 from 3 – 5 pm. We also pay for the microphones, projector, etc.
 

We are examining our memberships. Last year we gained 113 new-member households and all but 6 were from SaddleBrooke: 2 were people running for political office. A few years ago, SBRC was the only Republican club in this area. That is not the case today. The Ranch has its own club, and there is a relatively new club in Oro Valley, the Northwest Republican Club.  The SaddleBrooke Republican Club also has members who are elected officials who do not live in SaddleBrooke.  We always accommodate our elected officials and are honored to have them at our meetings.
 

We wish more members would attend meetings in the theatre for the benefit of our speakers. It tends to look sparse for speakers at the podium when the theatre is light with attendance and spread out over the many rows of seats. For those of you who show up monthly, thank you! We appreciate you.  Please put the 2nd Tuesday on your calendar and come to our meetings; we need you. If you have a suggestion, let us know.  We do our best to bring you informative meetings, and our speakers travel a good distance (mostly from Phoenix) to attend.
 

In conclusion, WEmuch prefer the ballroom, if we had our druthers: it’s just easier to talk to friends and mingle. We appreciate HOA2 and their staff who are always accommodating. We understand their rules and why they have them. Our task is to function within their rules.  

God Bless America

Kathleen Dunbar
520 370 0671
k.dunbar@Reagan.com or Kd757263@gmail.com