News

The Machinery and Equipment, Facility and Property Maintenance get full passage by RWC Board

By Sam Richards

Staff writer

Wednesday, February 4 (4:00 p.m.): The Board reviewed a $7.94 million 2026 Capital Projects priority list that includes a new Dollar House Master Plan plus ongoing expenditures for construction of the pickleball building ($4.36 million, set to open this spring), scheduled street paving work ($1 million), replacing bridges over Tice Creek on the golf courses ($656,000), golf course water conservation efforts ($150,000), projects related to the Food and Beverage service ($722,000), and replacing the golf course lake bottom liner ($147,493).

This year, instead of voting to approve a capital budget for the entire year, the Board will approve a Capital Projects list, with assigned priority levels for each project, at its February meeting. Then at later meetings the Board will vote to approve the actual funding as each project is set to begin, letting the directors decide in real-time whether there are enough capital funds to pay for the project.

Formally approved by a vote of 9-0 on Thursday were the Machinery and Equipment budget and Facility and Property Maintenance budget for 2026, a combined $1.88 million, including an additional $200,000 for transit vehicles and transportation software. Those budgets were approved immediately because those are set budget needs for this year.

There are a total of 19 projects included on the 2026 Capital Projects list, assigned priority levels based loosely on must-have, should-have, could-have or won’t have; all projects on the 2026 list received either the must-have or should-have ratings.

Capital projects in Rossmoor are funded through Membership Transfer Fees, paid by all first-time homebuyers into Rossmoor. That fee, now $14,000, will go up to $18,000 on April 1. Thanks to increases in that fee, even with 12 fewer fee-qualifying home sales in 2025 than the previous year (387 sales in 2025, down from 399 in 2024), the revenue from those fees went up slightly in 2025, to $5.2 million.

On Thursday, the Board approved a contract for one of the capital projects ‒ no more than $85,000 to replace flooring in the Creekside Clubhouse building. That will include 5,310 square feet of flooring in the hallways and in the Mulligan, Bunker, Fairway and Club Rooms, plus related supplies and labor. That work is separate from ongoing renovations of the former Creekside Grill space by its new owner (see below).

Also part of the Capital Projects list is $30,000 for work on Buckeye tennis courts 7 and 8, which Tennis Club members say are in rough shape. Several Tennis Club members ‒ about a dozen at the Finance Committee meeting, and nine at the Board meeting ‒ sat holding paper signs with various messages related to the need for major work on those two courts.

“Unfortunately, the courts are deteriorating quickly,” Lori Davis, a Tennis Club member, told the RWC Board during Members Forum. The longer it takes for more serious work on those two courts to begin, she said, the more expensive that work will be. She said work has been deferred since 2023; the project is listed as priority 3-B on the list, meaning it’s classified as should-have and economical and long-range cost effective with high impact to RWC members.

‘Golden Pear’ lease

The RWC Board received an update from General Manager Jeff Matheson on a lease agreement between RWC and Rodney Worth, owner of three other restaurants in the area, to operate The Golden Pear in the space occupied for many years by the Creekside Grill and Bar.

The lease, initially for five years with one five-year renewal option, includes an allowance of up to $625,000 for approved tenant improvements over the first 18 months of operation. The lease requires the Golden Pear to be open at least six days a week. The terms of the lease go into effect when the new eatery opens; Matheson didn’t want to predict an opening date, beyond sometime early this year. Renovations to the interior of the restaurant space are now underway.

The selection of Worth, and his Peasant and the Pear, Inc., to partner with RWC on various food-related ventures within Rossmoor was the culmination of a two-year food and beverage study to help determine what food-related services Rossmoor residents want. About 15% of Rossmoor residents took part in various related surveys. Among its conclusions: residents want not only a formal restaurant but also a more casual dining space and more availability of coffee, other drinks, pastries and the like.

Worth said he will also operate a coffee cart, likely near the Golf Shop. Matheson didn’t have a set date for that to open, either, citing several variables that could affect that.

Harassment (and related) policy updates

After several adjustments and modifications over the past few months, and a couple more minor ones Thursday, the Board on Thursday approved changes to three separate but inter-related RWC policies tied to responding to incidents of harassment and to consistent application of the rules.

The affected policies protect residents, staff and vendors from various forms of harassment, and update policies outlining how it’s determined whether a violation of Rossmoor rules occurred, and how disciplinary hearings are called and conducted. Violations of policies, procedures, or rules will be reviewed and acted upon in a manner consistent with the freshly adjusted Policy 100.

These changes were initially taken up by the RWC Policy Committee in September. They were reviewed by RWC’s legal counsel, Jeff Beaumont, and went in October to the RWC Board, which sent those drafts back to the Policy Committee for further clarification. The policies, with their changes, received their first reading at the Board’s December meeting.

Deep Dive: Counseling Services

As part of an ongoing series of departmental presentations to the RWC Board, Counseling Services Manager Penny Reed provided a detailed report about the services her four-person department provides.

Reed and two other clinicians provide individual and group counseling, host various support groups, provide referrals for treatment and do community education. It also hosts eight to 10 special events each year, including covering individual “Optimal Wellness” lecture topics.

Reed received a round of applause for her presentation, which is unusual for these “deep dive” presentations.

Board member Janet Seldon said, “I can’t believe how much you do with four people.”