SUN CITY â The Bags Charter Club finds itself in limbo after receiving a letter from the Sun City Community Association Board saying they could no longer play in the Fountain View Center.
The club, which plays a game of tossing bean bags into wooden boards, has played in the center since this January. Members of other clubs using the center have complained of noise caused by the Bags Club and the club was accused by the board of causing damage to the room’s floor and ceiling.
The Bags Club is accused of causing floor marks like these in the Fountain View Center, but the club denies responsibility, claiming they were made by moving furniture. (Photo provided)
The club contests these claims. Although a member accidentally knocked out a ceiling tile with a beanbag, Club President Gordon Young said it was replaced soon after and the club offered to pay for it.
The club also denies the boardâs claims that they scratched the floors, as many scratches are outside the area in which members play. Members say the scratches were caused by moving chairs and tables for other events.
The Community Association Board wants the Bags Club to take it outside, but the club insists it is not that simple.
They say not all members ÂŹare physically able to play outside. The club also mentioned that most organized bags groups play indoors. Though the board points to the horseshoe fields near Eakin Field as an appropriate space, members of the bags club say it lacks necessary fixtures.
These issues were spoken on during the boardâs open town hall-style meeting on July 17. Several topics were brought up by residents and answered by Board President Jerry Kirschner and Executive Director of the Sun City Community Association of Huntley Bill Pennock.
Discussion of the Bags Club kicked off the meeting and continued after a few residents had spoken on other matters.
Bags Club member Lou Farinella approached the microphone first and asked Kirschner and Pennock to reconsider their position on the club.
âAs leaders we must first try to make always a solution to make everybody happy; sometimes it can’t and sometimes the board then has to make that decision. But you did not even choose to sit down with us,â he said.
Pennock said the board gave the Bags Club an opportunity to contest the decision at a meeting, but Young was unable to attend the meeting and instead wrote a letter to the board explaining his points.
âThis room and none of this part of the building was ever intended for sporting events,â Kirschner said. âYour own charter club bylaws say that you would be playing this outdoors.â
The bylaws do state that the bags club would play outdoors from May to September and indoors from October to April. Young said playing indoors past May was not a breach of the charter, however, because they do not have an adequate place to play outside.
Terms of the charter also call into question the boardâs decision. The board asked the Bags Club to move outside, but did not address whether the club will be able to play indoors again come October.
âNow you’re denying us the chance to play from October to April inside and that’s what the board accepted as a charter that was voted in November 2011â Young said.
Kirschner invited Gordon to file an appeal to the board which would be heard in a private meeting, but did not give an answer as to what happens from October to April.
As of press time, the club had gathered 436 signatures to petition the board’s decision and plans on appealing the decision. They are also looking at potential indoor spots to play, among them is Drendel Ballroom.
