RANCHO MURIETA, CA (MPG) - A divided Rancho Murieta Community Services District board voted April 15 to declare an emergency and move forward with replacing failing culverts at the Murieta Equestrian Center: a roughly $300,000 project aimed at preventing upstream flooding in Murieta Village and nearby commercial areas if the damaged structures fail during a major storm.

The board approved the emergency declaration and a $69,656 engineering proposal to manage the project on a 4-1 vote, with Director Bill Gere opposed.

The decision followed a contentious April 7 Improvements Committee meeting, during which Gere repeatedly challenged whether the situation met the legal definition of an emergency and objected to bypassing the district’s standard bidding process.

At both meetings, District Engineer Joe Domenichelli and project manager Jeff Pearson described culverts in advanced stages of failure.

Pearson said entire sections of multiple pipes are corroded, missing or collapsed, leaving little structural integrity in places.

“Entire lengths of all three pipes are corroded and missing … the entire section of two pipes in the middle is collapsed,” he said.

Domenichelli told the board the structure has shifted significantly and poses a safety hazard, particularly under storm conditions.

If the culverts fail, both men warned, debris and collapsed material could block the drainage channel, causing water to back up through the system. 

“If that collapses … Laguna Joaquin doesn’t drain,” Pearson said.

Domenichelli said that backup could push water upstream into Murieta Village and, in a larger storm, toward commercial areas, increasing both flood risk and the district’s potential liability.

Pearson said the project was ready to go, with July identified as the safest construction window due to dry conditions and reduced operational conflicts.

At the board meeting, equestrian center manager Maryann Subbotin said she had cleared the facility’s July calendar – at high cost – to make the work possible. 

“We do ask you … to please consider staying on course with July,” she said, noting the center hosts more than 60 events annually and can draw hundreds of horses and nearly 1,000 people on a busy weekend.

Pearson and Domenichelli said delaying the project could push construction into the rainy season or require waiting another year.

Gere continued to press his objections at the board meeting, arguing that the project does not meet the legal threshold under the California Public Contract Code.

“This is a roadway over a culvert that’s been there for 40 years, and it’s rusty,” Gere said. “That does not rise to anyone’s definition of what an emergency is.”

He said declaring an emergency would improperly allow the district to bypass public bidding and potentially avoid environmental review.

“When you call something an emergency, you don’t have to go to public bid … and you’re exempted from things like CEQA and permitting,” he said, calling it “an abuse of the public process.”

District counsel Patrick Enright disagreed, saying the legal standard allows emergency action when delay would increase the risk of damage or harm. 

“That is our legal opinion; it’s an emergency in the sense that it needs to be done before the next rainy season,” Enright said.

Gere had cited state law defining an emergency as a sudden, unexpected occurrence requiring immediate action, arguing the situation did not meet that threshold.

Enright pointed to a different section of state code governing public contracting, which allows public agencies to proceed without full competitive bidding if delay would prevent a timely response to an emergency.

When Gere pressed for a specific code citation, Enright pushed back: “So you just wait until the area is flooded and then declare the emergency?”

Gere rejected that reasoning, arguing the potential impact did not justify bypassing standard procedures. 

“It didn’t flood this year, and if it does, it’s … water running over a bunch of dirt,” he said.

The exchange underscored a core disagreement: Gere framed the issue as a matter of timing and process, while Pearson and Domenichelli described a deteriorating system with potentially significant downstream consequences.

Gere argued the district should expedite a standard bid process rather than waive it. 

“The biggest complaint here … is not a definable emergency where you can just throw all of our rules about bidding out the window,” he said.

Pearson and Domenichelli said a full request-for-proposals process would make it impossible to meet the July deadline.

Interim General Manager Amelia Wilder said she could obtain three bids quickly because Pearson had referred three contractors who had worked for the district before. 

“I can start work on them tomorrow and probably have them by Monday or Tuesday,” she said.

Pearson emphasized that materials and contractor schedules required immediate action. 

“You have to get the thing out tomorrow,” he said.

After extended discussion, the board agreed to amend the resolution to require at least three bids, with authority delegated to Wilder, Interim Operations Manager Travis Bohannon and the district engineer to review proposals and select a contractor without returning to the board.

Domenichelli said declaring an emergency is also key to securing a CEQA exemption and coordinating with regulatory agencies. Without it, he said, permits from agencies such as the Army Corps of Engineers and state water regulators could take months, effectively eliminating the opportunity to complete the project before the next rainy season.

Gere cast the only no vote.

“I vote no. I think it’s a mistake and it’s an abuse of the public process,” he said.

Despite his objections, the board majority concluded that the condition of the culverts – and the risk that failure could back water up through the system during a major storm – justified immediate action.