Rancho Santa Fe Association board briefs: Coffee and Cars speeding enforcement, committee appointments

Committee appointments
At the Aug. 11 board meeting, the Rancho Santa Fe Association board approved President Dan Comstock’s board liaison assignments for the infrastructure and compensation committees. The vote was not unanimous, with Directors Greg Gruzdowich, Lorraine Kent and Scott Thurman opposed.

Traditionally, committee appointments are left to the discretion of the president, after board members submit their top committee preferences. The board then votes to approve the president’s recommendations.

At the meeting, Director Kent made a motion to change the way committee liaison appointments are made, to instead open it up to a secret ballot vote of the board. The motion failed 4-3, with Comstock, LeBeau, Sapp and Phil Trubey opposed and Gruzdowich, Thurman and Kent in support.

Kent’s opposition centered on the selection of the compensation committee members.

Established in 2014, the compensation committee reviews salaries, benefits and other human resources issues and is composed of three members from the board, one of whom is the treasurer.

Kent said her top choice to serve on the comp committee was disregarded. The appointed comp committee members were Comstock, LeBeau and Sapp who currently serve as board president, vice president and treasurer.

“I feel it’s important to divide the powers up because it felt a little bit like three people on the board have more information than the remainder of the board,” Kent said. “I think it’s important to engage all board members.”

Gruzdowich agreed that it would be better to get different members involved as out of all the board’s committees, compensation is the one where not everything is shared with the full board due to the confidential nature of the information. He said it should be opened up to give more directors a chance to deliberate before decisions are made.

“Personally, the duty of care and the fiscal responsibility, we should take a little bit more time and effort as a board to all have a better understanding of compensation in general,” Kent said. “I don’t understand why the pushback of not wanting to elect other directors to the compensation committee.”

As the vote to open up the committee selection process failed, the appointments to the two committees passed 4-3.

Rancho Santa Fe Patrol update
Property crime has dipped in Rancho Santa Fe over the last three months, according to the semi-annual report provided by the Rancho Santa Fe Patrol on Aug. 11. After Rancho Santa Fe had five residential burglaries from January through March, there were none from April to March.

Patrol Sgt. Marty Chapman said those crimes early in the year were considered to be a part of a crime ring known to authorities as the South American theft group. The organized group has burglarized homes in Rancho Santa Fe, La Jolla, Del Mar, 4S Ranch, Poway and other areas across the state. Law enforcement has stepped up efforts in targeted areas, held community meetings to raise awareness and some arrests of crime ring members have been made.

By comparison, the Covenant had 16 total home burglaries in 2021, up from 12 in 2020.

A big area of focus for the Patrol has been Cars and Coffee, the Saturday morning meet-up that brings a variety of vintage and newer sports and luxury cars to the village streets. Residents have shared complaints about excessive speeding and noise. Chapman said the California Highway Patrol has issued 84 moving violations for the first six months of the year, including 15 citations for speeding. The Patrol has positioned radar trailers on Saturdays and continues to patrol the surrounding village areas during the gatherings. Patrol and CHP Senior Volunteers vehicles are parked in various locations with overhead lights flashing to serve as a deterrence.

Per the report, in the last six months, the Patrol responded to 1,804 calls for service and conducted 14,457 vacation checks for Covenant residents.

To report suspicious activity contact the RSF Patrol’s non-emergency line at (858) 756-9966 or San Diego Sheriff’s Encinitas station (760) 966-3500. For emergencies contact the Patrol at (858) 756-9966 or call 911.