Come to the Anthem Ranch Board Meeting
TUESDAY September 8 at 10am
to tell the Board NO!

FACT CHECK: The $400,000 Aspen Lodge AV Project

What every Anthem Ranch resident needs to know about the largest discretionary contract in our community’s history.

Last update: Sep 3, 2026

Q1: Is the Board really planning to spend up to $400,000 on a new Audio-Visual (AV) system for the Aspen Lodge?
A: Yes. The Aspen Lodge Committee (ALC) has advanced a recommendation for an initial contract of over $304,000, with secondary phases bringing the total close to $400,000. This represents nearly 10% of Anthem Ranch’s entire annual income being spent on a single, discretionary upgrade for the MP rooms in the Aspen Lodge.  Remember when your assessments were increased for 2026 by 7%?  Poof... all gone and more for this misguided project.

Q2: How was the winning vendor chosen? A: This is the most concerning part of the process. The vendor that the committee selected—Equalized Productions—is the exact same vendor that was allowed to write the technical specifications for the RFP (Request for Proposal). In the corporate world, letting a bidder write the requirements for a contract they are bidding on is a textbook conflict of interest. We essentially allowed a commissioned salesman to write his own test, take the test, and grade it himself.  Does that seem to you like a good idea?

Q3: Are we buying standard community center equipment? A: No. Because the vendor wrote the specs, the proposed system is heavily over-engineered. We are being asked to buy "touring-grade" hardware designed for concert arenas. For example, the bid includes a network designed to handle an expanding college-campus, a 48-channel digital audio matrix, $600-a-piece specialty microphones, and over $35,000 in custom software programming labor just to make it all work.

Q4: Why do we need concert-arena equipment at Anthem Ranch? A: We don't. 99% of community use consists of Town Halls, basic presentations at club meetings, volunteer choir practices, and background music. However, this massive system does perfectly mirror the high-end rental equipment required for a very small handful of professional-level entertainment acts brought into the lodge, also known as "The Club". Essentially, community reserve funds are being used to build a permanent, luxury nightclub setup rather than a functional community AV system.  The vendor employed to outfit The Club?  None other than Equalized Productions.

Q5: Was this voted on legally and transparently? A: No. The ALC advanced this $300,000+ recommendation during a "Special Session" on August 25. The community was given exactly 24 hours' notice for this meeting. Under Anthem Ranch Bylaws (Sections 5.13 and 6.5), committee meetings require a minimum of 3 days' notice. Furthermore, the committee members themselves were handed updated, complex pricing data just 75 minutes before they were asked to vote on it. 

Q6: Were more affordable alternatives considered? A: No. A month before the bids closed, technical feedback was provided to the committee demonstrating how a standard, commercial-grade system (e.g. industry-standard 16-channel rack mixers and standard Shure microphones) could achieve the exact same user experience while saving the community over $160,000. This value-engineered alternative was ignored and excluded from the formal committee review.

Q7: I heard the vendor is coming in for an exclusive presentation. Is that true? A: Yes. Despite the glaring conflict of interest, the vendor has been invited to give an exclusive "show-and-tell" presentation to decision-makers, currently scheduled for September 10 at 1:30 pm in MP2. Instead of pausing the process to conduct an independent needs analysis, the Board is allowing a sales team to dazzle them with jet-engine technology and impenetrable tech jargon to justify the bloated price tag.   The ALC has let the proverbial fox guard the henhouse, and now wants to give that same fox a platform to explain why it's OK that he is eating 10% of our chickens.  That is insanity.

Q8: What can residents do to stop this??? A: Email the Board of Directors at board.arca@gmail.com and the CCMC Community Manager at melissa.bennett@ccmcnet.com immediately. Tell them you oppose the $400,000 AV contract. Demand that they hit pause on this procedurally flawed process and commission an objective, independent needs analysis from a consultant who is not allowed to bid on the final project. We need a system that fits our community, not a blank check for a vendor. 

OR COME TO THE ARCA BOARD MEETING TUESDAY SEP 8 at 10am.  Residents may speak at the beginning of the meeting for up to 3 minutes.

Misc Q&A from Residents: Other questions that have arisen from the original transparency outreach to residents 

Deep Dive for Techies: For residents who want to look under the hood at the equipment, the math, and the alternative, includeing how to cut out $160,000 by removing only things we don't need (but still replacing everything)