By Sam Richards

Staff writer

 

 

Thursday, August 1 (2:30 p.m.): Being politically active on issues important to Rossmoor, improving intra-community communication on those and other issues and developing and implementing water-conservation measures were approved on Thursday as GRF Board goals for the 2024-2025 year (fiscal 2025).

The specific goals unanimously approved Thursday (member Carol Lehr was absent) were:

• Maintaining political activism on issues of import to Rossmoor and collaborating with elected officials;
• Investigating additional avenues of communication for issues of community importance, and better demonstrating the value of programs, services, and amenities available to residents; and
• Investigating and implement water conservation measures where possible and practical.

The Board goes on a retreat each summer – this year’s was on July 9 – during which ideas for goals are suggested. Those ideas are not discussed in any detail, however, until the next open Board meeting, which was Thursday’s meeting. The goals are supposed to follow “SMART” guidelines (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, timely) and be achievable during a given “board year, typically June to May.

Board member Dwight Walker didn’t want to add too many goals to that list. Even though no GRF Board can force subsequent years’ Boards to adopt its goals, GRF General Manager Jeff Matheson said the various goals can intertwine over time, so that concepts presented in earlier years may be part of more recent goals or plans.

“There are already a tremendous number of things going on,” Matheson said.

The Board goals adopted for 2023-2024 were community involvement and water conservation.

 

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Also on Thursday, the GRF Board approved spending up to $327,000 from the GRF operating budget for “slurry seal” treatment on parts of Tice Creek Drive and Golden Rain Road, and spending of another $805,000 from the GRF Trust Estate Fund for complete repaving of parts of those two thoroughfares and Rossmoor Parkway.

The Board also approved proceeding with contract agreements with San Jose-based Silicon Valley Paving Inc. to perform all of the above-mentioned work.

The total expected cost for the slurry seal work, including contingency and associated maintenance costs, is $431,050. The total for the repaving, including contingency, is $805,000.

“Slurry seal” is a mixture of water, asphalt emulsion, crushed rock and additives applied to an existing paved surface to extend its life. Plans are to apply slurry seal to Tice Creek Drive between Rossmoor Parkway and Avenida Sevilla and from Stanley Dollar Drive across Golden Rain Road to Comstock Drive (Fitness Center); Golden Rain between Oakmont Way and Lower Golden Rain Road; and the entirety of Singingwood Court.

The money was first set aside for this work in September.

The pavement replacement work, first approved by the Board in May, will cover Tice Creek Drive, between Singingwood Court and Stanley Dollar Drive; Rossmoor Parkway (northbound lanes only) between Golden Rain Road and the entry gate; and Golden Rain Road, between Tice Creek Drive and Oakmont Way.

 

The money came from two different funds, Matheson said, because slurry sealing is viewed as a maintenance cost, and that total repaving is seen as a capital expense.

 

Both projects are expected to be finished by the end of September.

 

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The Board on Thursday also approved a set of basic principles and dates guiding the 2024-2025 (fiscal year 2025) GRF budgeting process – starting with distribution of those principles to the GRF Board and the GRF Finance Committee at this Board meeting, with a planned endpoint of the Board approving the 2024-2025 GRF Budget on Sept. 26.

 

Among the key budgeting principles approved are that the Fiscal 2025 budget will use the 2024 budget as a “baseline” on which to create the new budget. That baseline could change if budgeting conditions are somehow disrupted. The overall budget, which is intended to break even, will include a line-item expenditure summary for each operating department. And as has already been the case, each Mutual’s Management and Landscaping Fee will be determined by the level of service desired, with a focus on long-term sustainability.

 

The budget also will call for employee wages as recommended by the GRF Compensation Committee and approved by the full Board.

 

Board member Mary Hurt and others said they appreciate that the new schedule calls for the separate GRF and Mutual Operations Department (MD) budgets will now be approved on the same schedule.

 

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During the Residents Forum portion of this meeting, four residents asked that GRF staff provide more transparency about changes to Fitness Center class schedule changes and had specific questions about why Saturday fee-based Pilates “reformer” classes were abruptly cancelled recently. Participants in these classes use a “reformer” machine that aids in stretching and balance.

 

 

“No one gave us any notification, no one asked for input from us,” Susan Haigh Bishop told the Board. “To me, this is important not only health-wise, but as a fitness asset.”

 

Steve Messinger added, “It’s already difficult to get into these classes; there’s already a waiting list for these classes.”

 

The subject of Pilates class cancellation was not on the agenda for this meeting, and Board members did not respond to the four residents’ comments.