RANCHO MURIETA, CA (MPG) - A complaint about young gate officers waving visitors through the gates without proper checks surfaced at the Rancho Murieta Community Services Personnel Committee meeting on Feb. 13.

The committee also received an update on a training strategy to address the issue. 

The Personnel Committee consists of two board members, President Steve Booth and Director Linda Butler; General Manager Mimi Morris, currently on leave; Director of Finance and Administration Mark Matulich, and other staff members. The committee reviews personnel issues in detail and reports its findings to the entire board.

Although it wasn’t on the agenda, resident Buth Buderus raised the gate officer issue during public comments. As a social media administrator, Buderus is familiar with topics that spark public interest.

Buderus expressed significant concern about the district hiring younger individuals as part-time gate officers. She noted that incidents of these officers waving visitors through the gates without any contact had been particularly problematic on the two previous Sundays.

Booth indicated he was aware of the problem.

“There has been a lot of communication in around the community. I had some reports shared with me,” he said. “I actually had an experience of my own.” 

Booth told Buderus that he had forwarded all the information to Matulich. He then asked Matulich to explain the training and orientation strategies he and David Labrado, the acting security sergeant, had implemented for new personnel.

Matulich said that he and Labrado rewrote the first two pages of the policy manual and created a one-page summary outlining the proper procedures for gate officers to follow. 

“In the largest font possible, the first page says: ‘No one gets in the gate unless you know they are authorized to be in there,’” he said. “Page 2 says you can take as long as it takes to do No. 1.”

Matulich said he is prepared to defend slower gate processing times.

“What I can’t defend is people getting in there that don’t belong there, so we are hammering that starting on Saturday,” he said.

Matulich said that two of the four Community Service officers currently on patrol were longtime gate officers. He explained that a CSO would be on duty for the next three Saturdays and Sundays, starting each shift by spending an hour and a half with the South Gate officer, followed by the same amount of time with the North Gate officer. After patrolling for several hours, they will return to repeat the process.

Matulich said the CSO evaluates the gate officer at the end of every shift.

“This is going to be a good opportunity to get these people very specific, very targeted training,” he said. “At the end of three weeks, we will either have a group of part-time folks who are able to do that job successfully, or we will be looking for more.”

Matulich also shared some good news from that week: Two residents from behind the gates and one from the village had applied for the part-time gate officer positions. 

“That’s what we want,” he said. “We would love to have community members.”

Matulich also addressed residents’ concerns about gate officers not always appearing to be in uniform. He explained that while officers wear identifiable polo shirts, they sometimes wear a sweatshirt or jacket. Matulich has asked the district secretary to produce large name tags on lanyards for gate officers to wear around their necks to improve visibility.

Butler also had concerns about hiring young gate officers, particularly regarding their maturity levels and their ability to take responsibility. She cited a purported incident in which a young gate officer had company inside the gatehouse.

Matulich said he and Labrado would review the video if they were provided a date and time. 

“If that is happening, we will put a stop to it,” he assured her.

On a related note, Butler said she wants to make it easier for residents to file complaints about security, a concern she initially raised at the Feb. 6 Security Committee meeting, which she chairs. 

“I suggested it might be a dedicated email for people in the community to call in or type what they are saying on Nextdoor so that we could see it ourselves firsthand,” she said. 

Matulich said he would immediately direct IT Supervisor Andy Lee to “set up a security hotline email.” The new email address is [email protected].

In other business, the committee approved a revised job description for an administrative security sergeant that they will forward to the board. Booth said they plan to ask Labrado to continue in the position on an interim basis. 

The committee also discussed performance evaluations for non-represented staff and the need for a salary survey. 

The committee also recommended expanding the district secretary’s job description to designate her as the clerk of the board.