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Monday's Internet Edition, January 05, 2009.
Meet three candidates ready to fill RMA board seats
By Wendy Smith
River Valley Times Staff
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The Rancho Murieta Association board of directors has three open seats for the upcoming elections on Nov. 20. Directors Paul Gumbinger and Bonita Jones will be departing at the end of their terms, and Candice Koropp is running for the seat she took over after the early departure of Chris Pedersen.
In addition to Koropp, Candidates Roy Harmon and Andy Keyes have stepped up to fill the three open positions. As a precursor to the RMA’s Candidates’ Night on Oct. 16, the RVT is providing short overviews of the candidate’s qualifications and visions in order for residents to get to know the new directors better.
The statements are presented here in alphabetical order.
Roy Harmon
Resident Roy Harmon believes that serving on the Rancho Murieta Association board is an act of giving back to a community that he loves. “Rancho Murieta is the best place I’ve ever lived, but we can make it even better,” said Harmon.
While this will be Harmon’s first time serving on the RMA board, he has past leadership experience in volunteer organizations. He is a past president of the Manages Information Systems Association at California State University, Sacramento and a former vice president of the 1955-57 Chevy club in Fargo, ND. Harmon is also currently a member of the Experimental Aircraft Association.
A manager of computer system’s engineers, Harmon hopes to bring his leadership skills to the board. “Having worked for the same Fortune 500 Company for the last 10 years has improved my political skills and honed my ability to solve complex problems,” Harmon said. He hopes to evaluate the concerns of residents and organizations in RM and address them methodically and creatively to find the best possible solutions.
“The biggest issue [in RM] is finding a balance between the environmental concerns versus the quest for more development, more water usage and the resultant income stream from more RMA members,” said Harmon.
According to Harmon, the key to finding that balance is slow development over time and understanding the root cause of any problem that the board wants to fix, “It all comes down to clean, pristine water in our Cosumnes River,” Harmon said.
He believes that actions speak louder than words in terms of leadership. “I am the guy who takes the time to clean litter off of the beaches along our beautiful river each week,” said Harmon. While public service is a relatively new arena for Harmon, he hopes that his greatest public achievements will come while serving as a board director.
Andy Keyes
Candidate Andy Keyes hopes to bring a change of direction as an RMA board director. “The RMA board needs clear leadership and better communication with the community by setting pace on issues of concern, pursuing a proactive approach to solutions instead of reacting to the podium,” said Keyes. He hopes to bring a forward-looking approach to the board instead of simply maintaining the status quo. Keyes also hopes to increase community awareness and to engage residents in community involvement.
Keyes’ community service experience has been primarily in grassroots organizations, including a group that worked to save old growth trees in Ashland, WI and as an integral part of the group of RM residents who initially confronted Reynen & Bardis about deficient homes built in RM South.
With over 20 years of experience working with teams of engineers and technicians on both military and commercial industry projects, and as a current manager of a multidiscipline team, Keyes says he will bring to the board his "years of experience in team building using Situational Leadership and Lean management principles in order to forge relationships with employees and associates to meet or exceed organizational goals.”
The greatest issue facing Rancho Murieta, in Keyes’ opinion, is the cost of running the RMA paired with the potential limited growth in this economic downturn. “Our guiding principle as board members should be to respect and represent the membership. While we may not agree on the specifics, we must respect the community and have clear goals that are beneficial to the community as a whole,” said Keyes.
He hopes to “facilitate an era of communication” that would bring together existing clubs, organizations, businesses and individuals together in order to work toward meeting the needs of the future to ensure that RM continues to thrive.
Candice Koropp
Board Director Candice Koropp, who has been serving as an RMA director since August, hopes to continue to contribute new ideas and offer a fresh perspective in order to better serve the community. “I will be a diligent steward of RMA’s assets and will employ my best judgment to keep these assets in good repair and up to date,” said Koropp.
In addition to serving as an RMA director, Koropp is also a member of the Maintenance Committee. In the past she has served as vice president of the Sierra Oaks West Homeowners Association, and she was co-chair of the committee to restructure Hiram Johnson High School in Sacramento, including serving as the Staff Development chair.
Koropp has spent over 34 years as a teacher and counselor, many of those years with lower income students. Her MS School Counseling Credential and years of experience have provided her with useful skills in relation to community organizations. “I have training in how to handle difficult people, how to be an effective listener and communicator and how to facilitate groups,” said Koropp. She has spent her career trading on those lessons and using them effectively, not only with students, but also on previous boards.
Koropp considers security, cable TV and development to be the greatest issues facing RM in the coming years. In regards to security, she hopes to continue on the path of current board discussions in terms of increasing fines for violations, making sure that members abide by the CC&Rs and looking into the possibility of hiring more off-duty sheriffs to provide more of a police presence. While cable TV may be at a current impasse, she hopes that the board will be able to revisit it in the future.
“We need to be proactive about stopping or slowing development,” said Koropp. “Water specifically needs to be a consideration. With our current shortages, where is it going to come from?” Koropp advocates drafting a communiqué so as to include water concerns within the Murieta Gardens development before anything else is done. Overall, Koropp wants to make sure that the board helps to maintain the high quality of life that RM residents have come to expect.
Koropp views her greatest achievement in public service to be the work she has done as a counselor. “Taking students to levels that they might not have thought possible, helping them find vision and acting as a cheerleader so that they could accomplish their goals has been very fulfilling,” said Koropp.
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