RANCHO SANTA FE — Following a lengthy process of amended and restated articles of incorporation and bylaws, Covenant members will have the opportunity to take part in a community vote to voice their choice on whether or not they are in favor of the revisions.
During an Aug. 4 board meeting, the Rancho Santa Fe Association board of directors approved the revisions and now it’s time for registered Covenant voters to make their decision.
According to Fred Wasserman, RSF Association board president and member of the Governance Committee, the revisions were time consuming, taking roughly more than a year to complete. He estimated that everyone taking part in it clocked in about 2,000 hours. To date, the committee has completed its 13th version.
“I want to thank all the people who have been on this committee,” Wasserman said.
Ballots are scheduled to be mailed on Aug. 24 with a return request date of Oct. 5 by 5 p.m.
Members who are entitled to vote had to have registered with the Association by Aug. 14. For those who missed the timeline, they will be unable to do so.
Wasserman led this portion of the meeting, going through the summaries of each revision. He wanted everyone to know that the committee was very careful, reviewing previous amendments and minutes from past meetings.
Wasserman went over their process such as sending out an initial packet of changes to members including the articles and bylaws last October, receiving member feedback, hosting a town hall meeting, and updating and posting the documents.
To his knowledge, Wasserman said there was no set of articles or bylaws ever approved by the Association that had so much exposure to members of the community.
“So this was, I think, a very, very good process and the committee learned a lot by doing it. We learned about what the members are concerned about and what they were passionate about,” he said.
Wasserman shared that the original bylaws were passed and filed in 1927. The bylaws were then amended in 1950.
“Apparently, they seemed to work up until 1950, or nobody was paying much attention, or there were no major issues. Since then, we’ve amended the bylaws at least 35 times,” he said.
Wasserman wanted to make it quite clear that the revisions had nothing to do with the assessments methodology, protective Covenant, or even changing the multiple property ownership issue.
Wasserman shared that every person who is a member and eligible to vote will receive six items.
“They will receive a summary of both the articles, summary changes of both the articles and bylaws,” he said. Wasserman added, “They will receive a red line copy of both the articles and bylaws. And they will then receive also a clean copy so that you can read it in its entirety without having all of the red lines changes or green line changes to distract you.”
Some highlights to the revisions include voting, removing the nominating committee, and special meetings.
During the course of the presentation, Wasserman shared that while it would have been easier to start over with brand new documents that could not be done.
“We needed to keep the provisions that are in here because they’re a part of the historic basis of this organization,” he said.
