RSF Association leases village building to house admin department

The Rancho Santa Fe Association approved a new lease for a village building to accommodate its growing staff. Fifteen members of the administrative department will move into the new office space in the Culver Building located at 6046 El Tordo.

The new space will help free up some room at the Avenida De Acacias building and enhance service for members.

“We’re constrained,” said RSF Association Assistant Manager Dominique Albrecht at the board’s Nov. 3 meeting. “Where we feel that the most is when our members come in to ask us questions or need service or to talk about something confidential and we really just don’t have the space to accommodate them.”

RSF Association Chief Financial Officer Seth Goldman said the initial plans to address the staff’s space needs were to move a small department of five people in January—the expenditure was included in the 2022-23 budget for $11,500 a month.

“This turns out to be a much better plan for us to relocate the entire administrative department,” Goldman said. “It gives us more flexibility…as well as to have some people working together that are currently not able to work together.”

The five-year lease is for $22,900 a month and in addition to the lease, the board also approved an allowance of up to $25,000 for furnishings. As part of the ongoing strategic planning process in which operational efficiency is a top priority, the Association is considering additional revisions to the Association offices to create more meeting space and features such as a library of materials and samples for those going through the Art Jury process.

The lease and office expenditures were reviewed and approved by the finance committee prior to approval by the board.

“The space needs for the Association have changed over the years,” remarked Treasurer Rick Sapp, who serves on the finance committee. He said the committee has urged the Association to develop a process to look at future needs in a more holistic way.

Monthly board meetings used to be held at the Avenida De Acacias office prior to a $200,000 renovation and reconfiguration in 2018, when the former meeting room became the building department. The board and Art Jury now hold public meetings at the RSF Golf Club.