The Rancho Murieta Association continued moving toward stricter enforcement of community rules, with fines for first-time offenders, and the launch of improved cable services at Tuesday night's monthly meeting.

Both Director Mike Martel and neighbor Marcia Reimers questioned plans for a range of new non-architectural rules with higher fines and, according to board President Dick Cox, stricter enforcement.

The rules, still being revised, address graffiti, vandalism, a curfew on teenagers, skateboarding and quiet time.

Some of the rules would take the place of Community Services District ordinances that can no longer be enforced by CSD Security officers because they require police authority.

Marcia Reimers asked what the community's skateboarders are supposed to do.

Martel said he favored rules that address "things that have danger to people, and property and a lifestyle," but he didn't favor everything in the new rules, using a $500 fine for a curfew violation as an example.

"I think we want our children and all the residents to behave ... but some of the stuff just appears to me to be one person's opinion about a lifestyle," Martel said. He added, "I think the message that we're sending is that we don't want young families to move in here. ... And it's going to have an adverse effect on people coming out here and wanting to move here ..."

Reimers asked about the process for adoption of the rules, and Cox explained that the rules will circulate among the board and RMA committees and be reworked before going to the public for a 30-day comment period. "After public comment, then the board takes action on them," Cox said.

Reimers said she was particularly concerned about additional rules for skateboarders. "What are they to do?" Reimers asked. "I think it's our responsibility ... to provide a safe place for these kids."

Cox told of recent encounters with teenage skateboarders. In both instances, the skateboarders were hitching a ride on a vehicle. When Cox drove alongside a pickup truck towing two skateboarders in Murieta North and asked the driver to pull over, "You would not believe the language that was directed at me and my lady friend by an approximately 17-year-old young man," he related.

"I don't call that responsible ... I am asking the parents of these children to be responsible."

In the second instance, he observed an adult driving a golf cart and towing two skateboarders. "The streets are not a place to skateboard," Cox said.

"Exactly. That's why we need to build them a park," Reimers said. "You have made the case, Dick. Thank you."

Cox was direct about his feeling that the community's rules need to be enforced.

At one point in the meeting, he spoke of the need for "a more thorough job" of enforcing the CC&Rs. In the past, he said, some fines were waived because "we want to be good neighbors" and perhaps were too lenient.

"It is my intention to eliminate the (first-offense) warning ... and to start hitting people with fines on the first offense," Cox said.

He said the RMA is looking into hiring additional enforcement staff and concluded, "...We are going to enforce our CC&Rs better than we have in the past."

Cox said the association is also looking at hiring a private security organization.

"CSD cannot provide the type of security that we are accustomed to, and as long as they can just observe and report, then we can do that with a private security organization and get what we have," Cox said.

The Community Services District Security Department provides gate officers and patrol on a round-the-clock basis. Residents pay a tax of $23.89 a month for the service. The CSD hires off-duty sheriff's deputies to supplement its patrol staff. Cox stressed that the deputies have law enforcement powers while they are working in the community.

Cable proxy organizers meet with board in executive session

Neighbors who have worked to end the requirement that members pay for RMA cable TV as part of their dues met with the board during its executive session to discuss the legal opinion that the board says keeps it from calling a general meeting and a vote on the cable issue.

The organizers of the opt-out movement said they have gathered more than 1,300 proxy votes supporting the effort to keep dues from being used for the cable system. The monthly dues include about $31 for cable. It covers basic cable service, operation of the system and a reserves contribution.

Board President Dick Cox said it's the view of RMA counsel that the Mutual Benefit Agreement won't allow the RMA to be involved with the effort to undo the present cable arrangement.

The MBA is a document the RMA signed with developers of Murieta North that includes a requirement that RMA provide cable services.

Wilbur Haines was among those who took part in the board's executive session to discuss the cable issue.

"We are not going to call a special membership meeting," Cox said. "It is my understanding that the (citizens) committee can go ahead and call this meeting themselves, establish the meeting and take a vote. At that point, I'm not sure what we're going to do. ... But the board cannot, with the advice of our counsel, sanction this action. And we do not sanction this action."

Wilbur Haines, one of the neighbors opposing the present cable arrangement, asked the board to help facilitate the election so the voting procedures and outcome aren't challenged and become part of whatever legal action follows.

Director Mike Martel said he didn't take part in the executive session because he didn't understand why some neighbors could be part of the session but the entire community couldn't know what was being said. He asked that the board release a transcript of its recording of that portion of the meeting.

Cox said he would ask the RMA's lawyer, who participated in the meeting, if there are any objections to releasing a transcript. Cox polled the board members and found no objections to the idea.

Haines, who's an attorney and often pushes the board to open up its workings to the membership, said he had no objections to releasing a transcript, but he thought there were sufficient reasons for the closed-door discussions to be a proper executive session, including ongoing negotiations with the Pension Trust Fund over the cable issue.

Push to get cable improvements launched

Board President Dick Cox challenged contractor Justin Jordan about the failure to launch the RMA's new high-definition cable lineup. Cox said Jordan hadn't lived up to a private assurance that the service would be available in a matter of days.

Jordan, who lives in the community and started out as a volunteer on the Communications Committee, countered that not all the promised pieces of the service are in place yet.

"We have been promising this to our membership since November," Cox said, "and it hasn't happened."

He added, "Let's move on it and launch what we've got. ... If we can't market it, this system doesn't have a chance in hell of succeeding. We need to get on the air with what we've got so we can market what we've got."

The board postponed action on a cable survey for the membership, saying it needed additional work.

In brief

• The board approved $290,557 for this year's street paving work. The bid exceeded the reserve amount by $30,000 due to higher fuel and oil costs, Maintenance Manager Rod Hart told the RMA Finance Committee last week.
• The board approved spending $35,000 to replace 3,000 feet of aging, direct-buried cable that serves about 40 households in the area of Puerto Drive on the North. The cable will be replaced with cable that's in conduit. The funds come from 2007 reserves for the cable system because the Maintenance Department brought cable improvement projects the board approved last year in under budget.
• The board voted to spend $4,680 to repaint the exterior of the RMA Building. This cost is $800 over what was reserved.
• General Manager David Stiffler provided an update on the effort to water landscaping at foreclosed homes. To date, the effort has cost $5,400, he said. Maintenance workers began watering 19 properties on the North and South last month. Most of the yards are beginning to green up, Stiffler said, and will need mowing. The association hasn't been able to locate a water truck that can be purchased for $6,000, and it continues to rent one at a cost of about $2,000 in June. The work is being done during the four- to five-month interval before the properties are reclaimed by the bank. Although the association is tracking the costs and adding them to the lien on the property, "our chances of collecting are almost nonexistent," Stiffler said. "Once it gets in the hands of a lender, we may have a chance ... but we're probably the last group ... to receive anything." Three or four properties may be added to the list, Stiffler said.
• The board delayed action on buying a new vehicle for General Manager David Stiffler. Directors asked Stiffler to price-shop for vehicles that would get good gas mileage, and Director Mike Martel questioned whether, given the association's budget worries, a new vehicle needs to be purchased at all.