Rancho Santa Fe Association bylaws head to community-wide vote

The Rancho Santa Fe Association governing committee’s revision of the bylaws and articles is now on its 13th and potentially final version. After nearly a year’s worth of work by the committee, a copy of the revised documents with additions and deletions noted as well as rationales for any changes will be sent to homeowners for approval on Aug. 24. Members will have until Oct. 5 at 5 p.m. to return the ballots.

RSF Association President Fred Wasserman, who served on the governing documents committee, said the process has taken a very long time but it has been extremely thorough and he even found the work fun.

He said the committee learned a lot through public comments and town hall meetings, learning what members were concerned about, what they were passionate about — members even pointed out errors. One such error was an article passed in 2014 that created an executive committee of the board that had all of the powers of the board. The new bylaws removed that.

“No set of bylaws has had this much exposure to the members of the community,” Wasserman said. “So this was, I think, a very, very good process.”

Bylaws and articles have been cleaned up and clarified, including sections on voting, committees and special meetings. The nominating committee for new board directors has been eliminated, which Wasserman feels will open up the process. Already six people have submitted their names to fill the board seat vacated by the resignation of Ann Boon. That appointment will be made at the board’s meeting on Aug. 18.

Issues such as condo voting rights are not addressed in this revision and might be addressed by the committee in the future.

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