RANCHO MURIETA, CA (MPG) - What to do about barcode stickers, which allow access through automated lanes at the front gates, was a conundrum at both the Rancho Murieta Association Board meeting on May 20 and the Rancho Murieta Community Services District Board meeting on May 21.

At the RMA meeting, the issue was the difficulty of identifying nonmembers with barcode stickers who were speeding or trespassing. Most are current or former members of the Rancho Murieta Country Club. A likely solution is to issue colored barcode stickers to nonmembers, who may also be required to pay a deposit. One director suggested the possibility of RMA taking over the issuance of barcodes.

The RMA board also approved a rule change requiring residents to notify a gate officer when they change license plates.

At the CSD meeting, the barcode issue centered on the board’s second attempt to adopt an ordinance implementing new sticker fees intended to offset the increased cost of 24/7 patrol services. After learning it would be nearly impossible to add the fees to the July utility bills, the board tabled the ordinance for at least six months. Directors also discussed the resulting security budget shortfall, which had already occurred after the board delayed the adoption of the ordinance the first time.

RMA Meeting

Rod Hart brought up the nonmember barcodes as part of his general manager’s report, noting that the Compliance Committee had been discussing the issue for some time. Country club members who don’t live in the community can purchase a $10 barcode sticker as part of their club membership. Murieta Village and Murieta Gardens residents can also pay an annual $300 fee for a barcode sticker.

Hart said that last year’s implementation of the Lidar camera system, which clocks the speeds of passing vehicles, had “opened our eyes to a lot of things, one of those being the speeding of those nonmember barcoded vehicles. So many of those are country club members.”

The solution so far has been to deactivate the barcodes of offenders, especially when the speeds have been excessive. That means that they must use the guest lane to reach the club.

However, it isn’t a complete fix because having barcodes identical to those of members allows nonmembers to trespass beyond Alameda Drive “in areas where they shouldn’t be, for instance, the back lakes or Stonehouse Park,” Hart said.

To address this issue, the committee has discussed issuing colored barcodes and requiring a deposit to cover fines for nonmembers who speed or trespass.

Referring to a violator who was clocked at 85 mph on Murieta Parkway, Director Tom Reimers, who chairs the Compliance Committee, asked if the driver was an active country club member. Hart said he was a current member and “no longer has a barcode.”

“And no brains, either,” Reimers responded.

Reimers also asked how many barcodes belonging to former country club members who have since resigned had been deactivated. Compliance Supervisor Chris Smith told him that the most recent count was 85. Hart said they also have found instances in Murieta Gardens in which a household with one country club membership has five barcodes.

Hart told the board he would discuss the barcode issue with CSD management. Reimers also mentioned that the Compliance Committee has talked about RMA staff taking over the issuing of barcodes from CSD. Hart said that made sense.

“So there is a big problem there, and we certainly aim to fix it,” Hart told the directors.

In a related matter later in the meeting, Director Scott Adams, chair of the Governing Documents Committee, said the Compliance Committee had requested a rule change to improve vehicle identification. It requires residents to report any license plate change to a gate officer within 14 days to enhance vehicle identification. The board voted unanimously to send the proposed change out for a 30-day public review.

CSD Meeting

The barcode sticker issue at the CSD Board meeting related to the second reading of an ordinance to implement new fees to fund the increased cost to security to provide 24/7 patrol coverage. The one-time fee for a new vehicle would increase from $10 to $25, and an annual fee of $10 would be added for each car. The board initially delayed implementing the barcode fee in January due to community pushback.

However, this time, the pushback came from Board Secretary Amelia Wilder, who explained it would be almost impossible for staff to add the barcode fee to the June utility billing.

“The update now is that there are approximately 8,900 barcode stickers in the community,” she said.

The district lacks accurate data on how many of the barcodes are active since residents don’t consistently update their vehicle information when they sell their cars. Wilder said it could take staff several months to accurately implement the proposed fee.

“It is recommended that this ordinance be tabled until staff has had the opportunity to communicate with residents, update the number of active stickers, reconcile the billing system and prepare for the billing adjustments that may be necessary once people receive their first bill,” Wilder said.

Merchant agreed with her suggestion to table the ordinance.

“What really would concern me going forward is that if, if this shows up on a CSD bill, we don’t have the resources inside this building to handle the number of calls, to handle the debits, to handle the credits, to handle the hour-long arguments, everything connected with it,” he said. “There are probably more barcodes at the junkyard than we’ve got (in the community).”

Director Tim Maybee said the shortfall in the security budget remained at approximately $90,000 due to the lack of funding from the barcode fees. He said the board might need to look at a different process.

“Because at the end of the day, we don’t own the barcodes,” he said. “RMA decides who gets a barcode or not.”

Operations Director Eric Houston said some security costs should be assessed against the water, sewage and drainage budgets. He said that officers patrol the plants, reservoirs and other district facilities, and the gate officers monitor the security cameras.

“None of that is going back to water, sewer and drainage,” he said.

District Counsel Patrick Enright agreed that it is common for a city or special district to recapture costs that way.

Board President Steve Booth said he had proposed several times that RMA should start paying for patrol officer enforcement of association rules, which has never been accomplished.

“It sounds like this is an opportunity to evaluate on a broader sense whether or not we can bill against our utilities and our partners to help fund security,” he said.

Maybee made the motion to table the ordinance, recommending at least a six-month delay. The board approved his motion 4:0. Director Randy Jenco was absent.