Rancho Santa Fe Association board appoints staff to interim roles

Some staffing changes were recently made at the Rancho Santa Fe Association.

Communications Manager Christy Whalen has been appointed the interim Association manager. President Fred Wasserman said the board and staff will report to Whalen as they look for a permanent Association manager — he said Whalen is not being considered as a candidate for the position.

As Robert Green will retire on Sept. 6, Tom Farrar will become the interim building commissioner as well as overseeing the planning department. A new senior planner is expected to begin soon and Green will stay on as a consultant for the next three to six months.

Don May, formerly the acting manager, will now be the director of accounting, technology and compliance.

“The major project that we have underway is the technology project that requires almost a full-time commitment,” Wasserman said, adding that the accounting department will continue to report to May.

The compliance piece of May’s title is something that the board is adamant about, Wasserman said.

“There is probably no one on this board more interested in compliance than Allen (Finkelson) and myself,” Wasserman said. “We’ve have spent a year and a half looking at bylaws and articles, rules, regulations and compliance. And some of this stuff we found was just unfortunate. This organization was out of compliance on a number of issues for a number of years, not just the two years that is alleged by the Past Presidents Council.”

The new set of bylaws will be mailed on Aug. 25 and members will have until Oct. 5 at 5 p.m. to return the ballots.

“We hope you will approve those as they will help toward further improving the governance of the Association,” Wasserman said.

Ballots will be counted in an open meeting on Oct. 6.