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::: COMMUNITY NEWS Letters from PTF representative to RMA Published Tuesday, August 16, 2005 The following letters were written by McMorgan & Co., the investment manager for the Pension Trust Fund, in response to disagreements with the Rancho Murieta Association over the bridge planned to link North and South Murieta. The documents were obtained from the Community Services District, a public agency that was copied on the correspondence. McMorgan &
Company July 27, 2005 Mr. Paul Gumbinger,
President RE: Cosumnes Pedestrian Bridge Easement Dear Mr. Gumbinger: Last Friday we
called the RMA to discuss our concerns about the documents that
were being provided because the landowners, in our view, are not
properly protected from the risks associated with construction of
the bridge. Apparently on advice of your counsel, that call was
not accepted. To protect the landowners, we believe a financially
responsible owner developer of the bridge construction project must
be identified to assume the development risks and to hold sufficient
title to the property to be such an owner. We believe most people
in business would expect that level of protection before putting
their own property at similar risk. We are grateful Viking Construction has taken an interest in the project and are confident of its ability to complete construction. However, Viking Construction is not the owner of the project; it is a general contractor. While the bonds and insurance offered by Viking Construction would appear to support the project, the ultimate responsibility to fund all costs of construction (even in the event the current funds and sources for funds prove inadequate), to monitor all payment requests, to obtain lien releases, to pay for cost overruns or increased costs due to change orders, and to indemnify the landowners against personal injury and property damage claims must reside in the project owner and not the general contractor. That role appears to have been accepted by RMA under the 2003 Agreement Affecting Property. In addition, the RMA was to be the easement holder and responsible party in the first draft of the easement agreement prepared by the RMA and sent to us in February for review. However, in the latest easement discussions with us RMA is now refusing to assume the risks of construction and completion. Those risks are normal for development activity and are assumed by project owners and developers. They are not risks to be transferred to non-developer landowners that are attempting to accommodate a project. In any event, the landowners will not assume those risks. The landowners' desire to accommodate bridge construction continues. To that end, we enclose the form of easement agreement that the landowners would execute if RMA is willing to assume the owner and developer risks during construction. If RMA desires to proceed on this basis, please have the Easement and Maintenance Agreement executed and notarized by RMA. The consenting parties will need to execute and notarize the Easement and Maintenance Agreement. In addition, before executing the Easement and Maintenance Agreement we will need to have the additional insured endorsements (and copies of the underlying policies) referred to in paragraphs 4(g) and 9 and the payment and performance bonds and beneficiary (obligee) endorsements referred to paragraph 4(h). Upon receipt of those items, the landowners will execute, notarize and cause to be recorded the Easement and Maintenance Agreement. If you have any questions or comments, please give us a call. Sincerely, cc: Viking Construction McMorgan
& Company August 1, 2005 Mr. Paul Gumbinger,
President RE: Cosumnes Pedestrian Bridge Easement Dear Mr. Gumbinger: As you request, we will have our attorneys forward the returned material to Berding & Weil. We look forward to your response to the draft easement we've provided. Sincerely, cc: Viking Construction
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