Seven compete for four Sun City Anthem board seats

By Becky Bosshart

Published Monday, Feb. 9, 2009 | 5:09 p.m.

Updated Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2009 | 5:06 p.m.

Seven candidates, ranging from a retired criminal prosecutor to the founder of a Washington D.C., think tank, will be vying for four seats on the Sun City Anthem Board of Directors.

Homeowner association officials expect a voter turnout similar to the last May 2008 election, which came out at about 43 percent. Sun City Anthem is a 55-plus community with about 7,000 homes. The seven-member board represents a community of about 12,000 residents.

Board members are elected for two-year terms. The newly elected board members will take office on April 30, said Sandy Howard, elections committee chairwoman. Ballots will be mailed out March 26, and homeowners will have until 4 p.m. April 28 to return them.

Two drop boxes are in the Anthem Center, 2450 Hampton Road, and one at Independence Center, 2460 Hampton Road.

Candidate meet-and-greets are scheduled for March, with three debates set for April.

Board president Roz Berman, a 64-year-old Valley View village resident, said she would like to continue the progress on projects that she has worked on in the last two years.

“We’ve made a lot of improvement in communication, especially improving resident opportunities to speak at public meetings and instituting monthly town hall forums to allow residents to speak to the board and ask questions on any subject,” said Berman, who completed her 35-year business career as a MetLife assistant vice president.

Bob Frank, who is also an incumbent, is focusing his campaign on fiscal management. He is a retired Air Force colonel with an MBA from Auburn University. He is 69 and lives in Black Mountain Village.

Much of the tension felt between him and other board members at meetings isn’t a personality conflict, he said.

Frank said it is because he pushes the issues that other candidates are hesitant to broach.

“I have support in the community because they trust me and I explain what I’m doing and they believe I’m doing what I’m doing for them,” he said. “I have a fair and honest agenda.”

Ron Morse, 70, has a lengthy list of educational and career achievements: a doctorate in Asian studies from Princeton; a 20-year career in the Defense, State and Energy departments; and teaching positions at UCLA and UNLV. He also started a Washington, D.C., think tank called Economic Strategy Institute.

He’s not retired yet. Morse, a Ridgecrest Village resident, is chief information officer for Sangikyo Corp.

He’s campaigning on returning a strong feeling of identity to Sun City Anthem, starting with such things as reopening the welcoming kiosk at the entrance to the community.

“All the things that made Sun City distinctive in terms of its lifestyle have been neglected by a series of elected boards,” he said. “We’ve lost a lot of the things that made us unique. I’m concerned about that and that’s why I’m running.”

Ann Small, a 76-year-old West Ridge Village resident, has a 40-year history in the Las Vegas Valley. She is a retired city of Henderson criminal prosecutor. She also worked as a nurse at University Medical Center in the 1980s. She still serves as a pro tem judge at Henderson Municipal Court.

Small also spent 18 years working in the entertainment industry as an executive secretary and entertainment coordinator for Associated Booking Corporation and booking agent Art Engler.

“Due to my experience on the bench, you have to be courteous and cooperative and express individual views while still reaching a consensus of opinion,” she said.

Barnett Sturm, a 64-year-old Shadow Canyon resident, is a retired New York state school district superintendent who oversaw budgets as large as $115 million with 1,000 employees. He moved to Sun City Anthem in 2006.

“I’ve been attending a number of meetings over the last year and I’ve noticed some dissension,” he said. ”I’ve noticed there is some animosity and defensiveness that occurs. There really doesn’t seem to be some good management processes in place. I’d like to continue to improve communications and transparency. I think the board has taken good steps to improve in that area, and I think I have some ideas to continue to do that.”

Jack Troia, a 62-year-old Tall Mesa resident, is looking to move up to the board from his work with the Sun City Anthem finance committee.

Troia, a retired certified public account, was a partner with Deloitte for 14 years, rounding out a 25-year-career with the international accounting firm. Troia was chief operating officer and chief financial officer for several corporations from 1997 to 2002.

“I have a pretty good understanding of the finances and how it works,” he said. “I can add significant experience to the board, not only from my professional life but because of my involvement over the last four years with Sun City budgeting and finances.”

John Waterhouse, a 63-year-old Golf Mesa resident, moved to the community in September 2001 after teaching high school mathematics, physics and computer science for 33 years in the Chicago area.

He wishes to maintain a conservative financial position if elected to the board.

“The reason I stepped forward is I love the lifestyle here and I’m in complete support of moving forward in the same direction we came from,” he said. ”We have a wonderful lifestyle here and we want to do anything to preserve it.”

He supports well-thought-out, incremental changes, rather than abrupt decision-making, he said.

The election committee is sponsoring two meet-the-candidates’ events in March, the elections committee chairwoman said.

Candidates will introduce their platforms at an ice-cream social at 3 p.m. March 22 at the Anthem Center; and at a 6 p.m. March 25 dinner, both at the Anthem Center. The events are free. Tickets will be given out at the Anthem Center front desk from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. March 11 to 17.

Debates are scheduled for 7 p.m. April 13; 7 p.m. April 15; and 3 p.m. April 19 in Freedom Hall, inside Independence Center.

Becky Bosshart can be reached at 990-7748 or [email protected].