A Future Vision for RSFA

Author: Phil Trubey

Date: May 19, 2025

Hello, Phil Trubey, RSFA Board member (for 41 more days) sending an occasional email about RSF.

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It's election season in the RSF Association. It's always a fraught time when a new Board takes over. Will they continue the same priorities, or upend years of careful work? With possibly three new Board members coming on (out of 7 total), it's conceivable that long gestating projects get sidelined. It's happened before. 

Both the Covenant Club (whatever you think of it) and a previous incarnation of the Internet fiber network was put on ice when a new Board took over in 2016.

My hope is that this new Board will continue the projects that have had significant money put into them so far. And then to not stop but to continue making Rancho better.

I've been having dinner Wednesday nights at our restaurant after league pickleball games. The restaurant/bar is packed! Last Wednesday it was standing room only in the bar, with no room outdoors either. It will indeed be nice to have an expanded bar/patio seating area (and to not have to walk through the restaurant to get to the bar in my pickleball clothes!). 

And of course, leaving the restaurant at night just emphasizes how pitiful our parking lot is with mismatched grades causing tripping hazards and illumination consisting of lights shining directly into your eyes. The parking lot renovation is critical.

This year's budget allocated $500K to work on expanding/rennovating/rebuilding the Association's offices on Avenida De Acacias. Office staff is split between two buildings right now, the second of which is costing us $25K/month in rent. This project is critical in my view.

In addition, I think the new Board should also look at our recreation facilities and spend more money improving them. 

Our riding trails are decently maintained, but in my opinion, could use more money sent their way to level out ruts, add railings in some areas, and be able to repair them faster after large rains.

The small practice field by the little league diamond has been the forgotten step child, and that's where all our young flag football, lacrosse, soccer and other players practice. It needs more maintenance.

It's nice that Osuna, Tennis and Golf are self sufficient and operate with no assessment money, but the reality is that they improve our property values. A nice deal considering they take no assessment money! 

Tennis is going to struggle to build a much needed expansion. And while management there has done an excellent job making sure playing surfaces are top notch, they obviously don't have enough money to spend on hardscape, which is old, tired, and worn out. 

Golf is in the middle of rebuilding the snack bar, but they've already scaled down their initial concept due to cost. It would be nice for all of us, golfers and non golfers alike, to have a better snack bar experience.

And I won't beat my dead horse ruminations about how Osuna should get capital improvements.

All of these facilities, trails, fields, tennis, golf and Osuna, could use more assessment money to enhance the experience and thus increase the property values for all of us.

Remember that with respect to property values, Rancho is in direct competition with surrounding communities that have far higher HOA dues. Those extra dues they add up over time to produce much higher class amenities than we can afford.

And our HOA dues are indeed low! An average of $408/month/property is ridiculously low for a zip code that is one of the wealthiest in the nation. As I mentioned in my article on Association finances, HOA Boards can increase dues each year by 20% if they choose to. For next year's Board term, a 20% increase would bring our dues to $490/month/property from $408, an average increase of $82/month (some would pay more, some less) which is something all of us should be able to afford. The HOA could even levy a special assessment for a project at $75/month onto each property should they choose to.

It is easier to not spend money, to not raise assessments, and let the place fall further behind relative to the surrounding communities. During my time on the Board we did raise rates beyond the usual once, during my first year (assessments went from $0.14 to $0.15), but even that was a cash increase of only about 13%. We could have been bolder.

In the past we've papered over the need to significantly raise rates by borrowing money from banks. This is becoming harder and more expensive now that rates have risen. 

In summary, I don't know where the new Board will take us, but I offer the above as one possible, hopeful, better vision for the future.

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Courtney LeBeau continues to be unfairly maligned by both anonymous and non-anonymous people. Recently Sharon Ruhnau accused her and the Association of improperly sending out an email communication. Suffice it to say that Sharon is wrong. Courtney availed herself to the same mechanism to communicate with members that Cutter Clotfelter did last month for his email about Osuna. 

Courtney has been an exemplary Board member and I have no hesitation in recommending her re-election. 

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Speaking of exemplars, I realized when speaking with a Member the other day that not a lot of people know who our Association Manager is.

Dominique Albrecht came to us previously serving as the Assistant City Manager for the City of Coronado. 

She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Law and a Master’s degree in Public Administration with a plethora of extra certifications and experience. 

I personally have seen her steer our Board away from several potentially sticky situations based on her years of experience in a much bigger municipal environment. 

I mention all this to recommend that everyone approach Dominique with a degree of humility. She knows far more about running an HOA than you or I. And if I had only one wish for the future of Rancho, it would be that we can retain her as Association Manager for a good long time.

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