When will RMA vote on Mutual Benefit Agreement?

Published Sunday, November 17, 2002

Will the Rancho Murieta Association board vote on the Mutual Benefit Agreement before three new directors join the board in December? Or will the vote await the new board?

Those are questions some in the community are asking as the town hall meeting to discuss the agreement draws near.

That session will be held 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at the RMA Building.

Responding to rumors that there will be a meeting on Nov. 26 for the present board to vote on the agreement, RMA General Manager Greg Vorster said Friday, “There is no meeting agenda for the 26th. … (The board) probably won’t set that as a meeting date unless they decide to take action on the MBA, which would either be after the Nov. 19 (town hall) meeting or after the 21st (the annual members meeting).”

While acknowledging it was possible a meeting could be held on the 26th for the purpose of voting on the MBA, Vorster said, “Right now, there is no 26th meeting or 26th agenda.”

The MBA was made public in outline form at the annual RMA members meeting in November 2000 . At that meeting, there was also a presentation by Murieta Holdings developers Robert J. Cassano and Gerry N. Kamilos. They explained their plans to develop the remaining property belonging to the Pension Trust Fund of the Operating Engineers.

Negotiations between Murieta Holdings and the RMA board began in the spring of 2000. At Cassano’s request, his name and details of the proposed development were not made public. Negotiations were conducted in executive session.

At that point, the developer planned to buy the property outright from the PTF.

By the November meeting, Cassano had been joined by Kamilos, and Murieta Holdings had abandoned plans to purchase the property and instead became the agent for the PTF to carry out its development plan.

Negotiations dragged on among the developers, PTF and RMA. Since November 2000, two RMA elections have occurred, changing the make-up of the board with the additions of Directors Elliot Sevier and Mike Schieberl.

The developers have said on several occasions that the present MBA is basically the same outline that was presented in 2000, when it was referred to simply as the development agreement.

Cassano recently characterized the MBA as a private agreement between the RMA and Murieta Holdings that isn’t necessary for development to proceed. “It’s something that we want to have in place," he said, "but it’s not something the county requires for development."

What is necessary for development is water and the infrastructure that supplies it. That is the province of the Community Services District.

Until recently, the CSD supported the RMA in its negotiations with the developers by declining to negotiate with Murieta Holdings until the MBA was in place. The district is now preparing to move forward with water storage and treatment capacity engineering studies for the proposed development.