RMA
approves airing 1997 meeting on development document
Updated
Friday, January 14, 2005
First published Thursday, January 13, 2005
The
Rancho Murieta Association board of directors voted unanimously
Wednesday to air a videotape of a 1997 board meeting where
terms of a legal agreement were discussed. The terms of
the Letter Agreement later became the basis for the Mutual
Benefit Agreement, the formal settlement of a 1996 lawsuit
between the RMA and Pension Trust Fund of Operating Engineers.
The
board made its decision at a public meeting called for that
purpose. Two members of the public attended.
The
tape began airing on Channel 5 on Friday and and will run
every four hours through Tuesday, Jan. 18. The air times
are midnight, 4 and 8 a.m., noon, and 4 and 8 p.m.
At the suggestion of RMA legal counsel, it carries a disclaimer
stating that the tape is not the official RMA recording
of the meeting. The RMA does not archive recordings of its
board meetings.
The
board was acting on a request Director Dick Cox made after
the tape was brought to the attention of the association
last month. It was said to have been recorded from the broadcast
of the 1997 board meeting.
Cox was not present
at Wednesday’s meeting due to the death of his wife,
Jan. President Paul Gumbinger began the meeting with a moment
of silence in her memory.
Of the
six directors present, four had seen the entire recording,
which is said to be about 80 minutes long. Director Elliot
Sevier said he had watched about three-quarters of it. Director
Jack Cooper, who had been vacationing, had yet to view it.
Director
Elliot Sevier made the first motion for the showing of the
tape. The motion proposed members be provided with a copy
of an article
that appeared in a 1997 RMA newsletter. Sevier said
he believed the videotape and the newsletter “go hand
in hand,” and he suggested members get the article
first and then the RMA could air the tape.
He acknowledged
the newsletter was not a legal document, but, compared to
the tape, “at least it was produced by us and at least
it is further communication of what actually was going on
at that time.” Some critics say the Letter Agreement
was kept secret from the community until its release in
2002.
In the newsletter
article, then-RMA director John Merchant wrote that the
Letter Agreement "ends all litigation between RMA/MTI
and the PTF.” He explained what the litigation was
about in the first place, described the reasoning that led
to the settlement agreement, and listed and explained the
terms of the agreement.
The 1997 RMA
board was unanimous in its decision to settle the lawsuit
with the PTF, but split 5-2 on the terms of settlement.
President Paul
Gumbinger pointed out that Merchant’s article is already
available on RanchoMurieta.com, and described it as “almost
a verbatim recitation of what was said on the tape.”
The article was written after the June 1997 board meeting
and appears in the June 1997 issue of RMA News.
Director Pamela
Haines said she asked RMA staff for a copy of the newsletter
after she heard it referred to on the meeting tape.
Director Mike
Martel opposed the part of the motion concerning Merchant’s
article, which he characterized as “one man’s
opinion.” He argued there was nothing to indicate
it reflected the view of the 1997 board.
Martel said he
“has a whole different opinion” about what the
RMA’s chances were of winning its lawsuit. He said
his opinion is based on his knowledge of litigation the
Country Club was involved in during the same timeframe.
Several times
during the 40-minute meeting Martel mentioned he had 25
hours of audio tapes recorded during the Country Club’s
executive sessions dealing with litigation. He said he intended
to make the tapes public soon.
The motion that
included the newsletter article was defeated 4-2, with Sevier
and Haines voting in favor of it.
Martel made the
next motion, which was to show the meeting tape with the
disclaimer that it was not an official RMA recording of
the meeting. This motion received unanimous approval. Martel
referred to the recording as “a good, educational
tape” and Sevier called it “a very interesting
piece of history of sorts … especially seeing who
the players were and what they were doing.”
Gumbinger
remarked, “Let’s see the tape and get it over
with. I don’t have anything to hide. It’s an
interesting tape.”
