Editorial: Strong candidates line up for GRV board

The services provided by Green Valley Recreation have helped make this place one of the best retirement communities in the world.

For nearly 30 years, GVR has focused on social and recreational opportunities for its 22,000 members, keeping them vibrant and active in their retirement years.

Not many retirement communities can promise and deliver the ability to swim in the morning, go to a concert in the afternoon and participate in unlimited activities for a $385-per-year membership fee.

Such a backdrop creates high standards for governing and operating GVR. Volunteers from the general membership run for election to a 12-member board of directors. The board consists of a president, vice president, secretary, treasurer and eight members at large.

Ballots were mailed out last week for this year’s election. Eight qualified candidates are running for the four open positions. The candidates have had opportunities to talk with the public about GVR and their stances on issues.

GVR is one of the best-run organizations in Green Valley. It has been responsive in the past but needs to keep looking for new ideas to serve its membership. A fresh perspective and the ability to work with the membership are qualities that rise to the top when we’re looking at the candidates for the board.

With those priorities in mind, we endorse four candidates in the election, Chuck Catino, Marge Garneau, Altie Metcalf and Eddie Peabody Jr.

The other four candidates, current GVR President Jim Burt, Jim Molski, Teresa Foley and Joseph Schechter, would do well if elected, but we’re most impressed with the willingness to listen and the enthusiasm expressed by Catino, Garneau, Metcalf and Peabody.

Catino matter of factly says that people who know him will vote for him. We agree. He’s a “roll-up your sleeves guy” who does not have the word “can’t” in his vocabulary. With all of his activities, Catino knows the community as well as any candidate. The lifelong athlete, who lives in San Ignacio Vistas, has played baseball, basketball and football almost all his life. He is a charter member of the local BAJA Sporting Club and serves as treasurer of the Green Valley Men’s Poker Club. The umpire in the Copper Hills Little League also volunteers with the Green Valley Community Coordinating Council on its Community Services and Environmental committees.

The personable Garneau moved to Green Valley in 2006 with her husband, Norm. She belongs to the Computer Club and serves on the Tennis Club board. Before moving to Portillo Hills II in Green Valley, she served on various boards in Colorado, including a special district that provided parks and recreation services in her community. She has an MBA, management and accounting backgrounds and has had mediation training. The newcomer to the area truly would be a new voice on the GVR.

Foley understands people and what motivates them. The California transplant, who moved to Desert Hills V in Green Valley last year, works in psychology. Her business, “Doctor Who Makes House Calls,” has an emphasis on community psychology. One of her strengths is flexibility, having dealt successfully with a chronic illness earlier in her life.

Peabody moved to Green Valley after nearly 30 years in the San Francisco Bay area. The Las Campanas resident has 40 years of experience as a private consultant and manager of community development activities. He helped large and small cities with planning. He has served on the GVCCC’s Architectural Review and Planning and Zoning committees. His experience would be a major asset for GVR.

Candidates who are elected must be responsive to membership. In making endorsements, we put a high priority on candidates’ willingness to listen. GVR has not had a formal needs assessment since 1999. It needs to know scientifically and specifically what its 12,500 households want.

We hope new faces on a reconfigured board will facilitate a broader discussion of current and future issues and keep dues low. If that happens, Green Valley will continue to be high on anyone’s list of places to retire