RANCHO MURIETA, CA (MPG) - The recent Greenfield Communications outage, repairs to the North Gate, plans for improvements at the South Gate and the possibility of Rancho Murieta Association taking on additional security responsibilities were among the topics discussed by the RMA Board of Directors on July 21. Questions also continue to be raised about the board’s new public-comment procedure and member access to board packet materials.

Directors also adopted a rule for stand-up motorized scooters and approved an ADA-accessible ramp at Gazebo Park.

Resident Terrence McNamara asked the board to review Greenfield Communications’ handling of the July 12 internet outage, arguing that RMA has a particular responsibility because of its contractual relationship with the company.

McNamara said the outage lasted about 2½ days and residents received their first communication about 30 hours after it began. His concern, he said, was not that a cyberattack occurred, but how long it took Greenfield to respond, restore service and communicate with customers.

“I run an IT department. I understand that cyberattacks happen, and that no service has 100% uptime,” McNamara said. “My concern isn't the attack that occurred; it’s how long it took to mitigate and recover from it.”

He contrasted Greenfield’s response with Zeta Broadband’s handling of an outage the following weekend. McNamara said Zeta restored service in about 12 hours and communicated repeatedly with customers during the outage.

Because RMA entered into an agreement with Greenfield about nine years ago, McNamara said the association has a responsibility to advocate for residents when service falls short. He asked the board to seek an after-action report addressing the cause of the outage, the length of the recovery, limited communications, and improvements planned for the future.

“Outages happen,” McNamara said. “What differentiates providers is how they prepare for them, communicate during them and recover from them.”

Board President Patrick O’Hern called McNamara’s concerns valid and said it would be prudent to refer them to staff to “maybe get some answers.” 

General Manager Vicky Lentz reported that repairs to the North Gate are continuing through RMA’s insurance carrier. An engineer assigned by the insurer has completed a scope of work, which was sent to three contractors. RMA had received one proposal and was waiting for two others before sending them to the insurer for review.

At the South Gate, staff is continuing work on improvements tentatively approved in May. Maintenance Manager Troy Schaffner said plans include fencing and gates, changes to the wall and planter boxes, the archway, electrical work and piping. A possible water feature also remains under consideration.

O’Hern said the project will be discussed at the Aug. 3 Maintenance Committee meeting and directed Schaffner to present the “entire concept” to the full board at its Aug. 18 meeting.

Security Study

Director Chris Childs said the Security Ad Hoc Committee is making progress in researching what would be involved if RMA were to establish its own security operation.

The committee, chaired by Childs, was reactivated in May after the Rancho Murieta Community Services District requested discussions about the feasibility of RMA assuming security functions inside the gates.

Childs said committee members divided up a long list of research assignments and returned to the July meeting with a substantial amount of work completed. 

“We’ve got superstars on our committee,” Childs said.

But he said evaluating the possibility of “standing up an entire security department under an HOA” involves a large amount of detailed work, and the committee is not yet ready to provide costs.

Childs said the committee plans to hold two community town hall meetings in December, when it expects to be ready to discuss more specific costs. “We definitely want to hear from the membership what they’re interested in, what they’re not interested in, what future costs could look like or not look like,” he said.

During her general manager’s report, Vicky Lentz said she had received comments about the recent change in the board’s member-comment procedure at meetings, but she said the issue had already been addressed and she would not discuss it further.

“Excuse me,” Board President Patrick O’Hern responded. “We’ll get all that hammered out by the next meeting, I assure you.”

Lentz then said she also was getting questions about member access to board packet materials and that a copy of the member packet is now being placed in a binder at the meeting for members to review.

The member-comment procedure, implemented in September 2025, confines comments to an open-forum period at the beginning of the meeting instead of also allowing members to comment on individual agenda items before directors vote on them. Resident Tom Shewchuk criticized the change at the June meeting and also questioned member access to materials provided to directors.

Before Lentz joined the association in May, RMA members who received blast emails with agendas for upcoming board meetings were told they could request copies of the redacted board packets.

The board unanimously approved a rule regulating stand-up motorized scooters after agreeing to align its age and helmet provisions with California law.

Director Scott Adams said he had heard concerns that adopting the license or instruction-permit requirement would mean children who already have scooters “are going to be illegal just like that.” But Adams said he could not recommend that RMA loosen the age restriction in state law, which requires that scooter users either have a learner’s permit or a driver’s license.

The board also changed a provision that would have required helmets for all riders to require them for riders under 18 instead.

Resident Brian Rosebrock praised the Fourth of July celebration but questioned why he was denied permission to ride his motorcycle in the parade on behalf of Playmakers, a nonprofit that provides free sports programs for at-risk children and children with developmental differences, when some commercial vehicles participated. 

“You led the parade off with a commercial vehicle, and then there was actually burnouts at the end of the parade,” Rosebrock said.

Director John Haviland said some participants with commercial vehicles had been told to remove advertising signs and initially complied, but put the signs back on during the parade.

Later, during his Recreation Committee report, Haviland said the committee plans to modify how vehicles are pre-approved for next year’s parade and provide participants with parade instructions and restrictions when they sign up.

Haviland also said the committee received overwhelmingly positive comments about the fireworks and hopes to continue a similarly large show next year. Audience member Bill Gere also praised this year’s celebration.

The board unanimously approved construction of an ADA-accessible ramp at the Gazebo. Childs noted that the project resulted from an issue raised by a member at an earlier meeting.

The board also appointed Director Ernie Cowles as its liaison to the Rancho Murieta Fire Safe Council. Schaffner will also participate in council meetings because of his work on home and landscape hardening to reduce wildfire risk.

The board set Nov. 19 for RMA’s annual meeting and approved other steps required in preparation for the meeting and board election.

The next RMA Board meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 18.