RANCHO MURIETA, CA (MPG) - Sacramento County Supervisor Rosario Rodriguez honored retiring former Rancho Murieta Association General Manager Rod Hart during her first community meeting in Rancho Murieta on May 4, while Hart – despite officially retiring days earlier – used the occasion to outline major projects and concerns facing the community.

Rodriguez presented Hart with a proclamation recognizing his 45 years of service to Rancho Murieta, tracing his career from maintenance worker in 1981 to general manager and praising his role in shaping many of the community’s major facilities and infrastructure projects.

“I really appreciate your service,” Rodriguez told Hart. “Rancho Murieta is very special.”

Hart thanked Rodriguez for quickly responding when he contacted her office and thanked the community members, board members and committee volunteers he worked with over the decades.

“This is very humbling,” Hart said. “It is an amazing community, and I look across this audience, and I couldn’t have achieved what I have achieved without the members and board members and committee members and people like yourself.”

Transition to New General Manager

The meeting also served as an informal update on major Rancho Murieta Association projects and priorities.

Hart introduced new RMA General Manager Vicky Lentz, noting that she previously lived in Rancho Murieta, served on the RMA board and already has extensive familiarity with the community and governing documents. Lentz stood briefly for recognition but did not address the audience.

Hart said the leadership transition is currently the association’s top priority.

“I no longer speak for the association, but I certainly love this association,” Hart said, adding that he plans to help Lentz during the transition as needed.

Fireworks, Weed Abatement

Hart also discussed wildfire prevention efforts, saying the association’s weed abatement program was already underway across Rancho Murieta’s thousands of acres.

Fireworks enforcement emerged as another major topic during the meeting.

Rodriguez outlined a new county crackdown on illegal fireworks, including increased enforcement, drone surveillance, public reporting through 311 and fines up to $10,000. She said fireworks problems have become especially severe in parts of Antelope and Orangevale.

Hart said Rancho Murieta also has experienced significant problems with illegal fireworks in recent years.

“That has been a huge problem here,” Hart said, noting that local law enforcement and security officers often spend the Fourth of July responding from one incident to another.

South Entrance, Perimeter Security

Hart also provided an update on long-discussed landscaping improvements and security upgrades at the south entrance.

He said some residents mistakenly believed recent work covering the former leaking fountain area with bark represented the final landscaping project.

“So, rest assured, it is not,” Hart said.

Hart said the entrance redesign will include stacked stone replacing the existing blue tile, with the goal of creating a unified appearance between the north and south entrances.

The project also includes new perimeter fencing and controlled pedestrian gates designed to limit unauthorized access into the gated community. The south entrance work is expected first, followed later by similar improvements at the north entrance.

Hart said resident bicyclists eventually will need to use designated pedestrian access gates rather than riding around vehicle gates.

He said the changes are partly being driven by online cycling websites that direct nonresidents to park at Bel Air and enter Rancho Murieta to ride trails within the gated community.

“We have websites that have been brought to us that are actually statewide, and some of them nationwide, about the beautiful bike trails that we have inside the gates of Rancho Murieta,” Hart said.

Hart added that the association also continues working to stop unauthorized vehicle access after incidents involving nonresidents speeding through the community.

“We have had nonmembers clocked 80 miles an hour on the parkway,” Hart said. “That’s just totally unacceptable.”