Monte Rio Supper Club at the MRRPD

Month two, and SupClub in Monte Rio looks like a winner.
Over a hundred dinners served at each of the fist two events.

Board Meeting 10-08-2012

The monthly Monte Rio Recreation & Park District [MRRPD] Board Meeting of October 8^th, 2012 was captured on video (with Board knowledge), for the public, in four parts {posted to YouTube and Facebook, links available by e-mail from TuesdayPeter@sbcglobal.net}.

 

 

The focus of the meeting was a proposal by the Chamber of Commerce, through Mary Cower-Bacon (MCB), of a massive pay raise for the recently acquired Diane DeMartini (March 1^st 2012), from a part-time hourly position at $15/hour to a {some think} egregiously excessive, salaried exempt position at $45,000 a year, initially with an hourly work allocation of 80% summer / 50% winter.  The MRRPD Board had previously agreed, as had Diane, to work at a rate of $19,500 per year as of March 1^st, 2012. 

 

 

 

This massive raise is being questioned by some on the board across of number of issues:

1)           ?? +145% ?? – Maybe 10%, but these days 5% is huge – 145% ???

2)           A job description change ??  Those familiar with the MRRPD also know that Roberta defined that job these past ten years, and there wasn’t that much variation in how it could be done.

3)           The gist of the reasoning is that a lot of money can be saved by not having the County do our book-keeping, accounts, receivables and payables, and check-writing; but as we all know from recent headlines, having a single person in charge of all financial operations, from front to back, is an invitation to disaster.  Cutting out the County may save some money, but any reputable book-keeper will concur that two or three sets of eyes should be on cash flows like this.  Procedures should be in place to assure that checks and balances are in place by competent professionals, and not just rubber stamps by board members.

4)           Salaried Exempt ?  instead of hourly – give us a break – silk purse out of a sow’s ear ?? – will we see a white shirt and school tie ??  Is it even legal to pay someone less than two times minimum wage for a full week {times 40}, which is $640 a week, and call them a salaried exempt employee?  The Chamber says, “It’s O.K., legally”.  Some Board members say, “No.”

5)           There is the issue of the changed Job Description, which supposedly is to do something radically different.  It wasn’t written down as a new Job Description July 31^st .  In fact, this new Job Description has yet to be approved by the Board.  It hasn’t come up on the Board agenda, even though it’s dated July 31st.  Some saw it for the first time, Oct 8^th.  It’s never been agreed to.  It is not backed up by any new policies and procedures manual to explain how this new process works.

6)           In fact, side issue though it is, there have only been two publically announced meetings of the Personnel Committee these past six months, each on a different day of the week and different times: no published minutes; merely a few “memos” to the Board by its Chair.  Nonetheless, MCB is proposing, through the committee, and based on a revised Job Description [unsupported by any newly documented policies and procedures], which the Board did not have sight of – [not at all for the initial “secret”, special meeting where it was on the agenda for a vote, but dropped], and not until moments before a proposed vote on the subject in a second meeting where it was also an agendized item.  The public will be reminded that this was exactly the same strategy being attempted with the Asbestos Contract, recently, where the contract proposal was presented to the board, 30 seconds before the vote on its acceptance.

7)           Over and above the prior six legal and morally justified reasons for public outrage and rejection of these sort of shenanigans, there is the moral issue of why should the MRRPD, experiencing a slightly favorable turn in its financial situation, dump all the rewards, tens of thousands of dollars [$24,750 extra, over and above what was signed on for 7 months ago], on a recently acquired hourly secretary rather than take time to consider how to properly reap these rewards and redistribute them to the community at large: improved property maintenance; programs at the center; enhanced communications with the public; whatever the public may want - voiced through a public meeting to discuss this windfall.

 

 

 

Asbestos Removal Contract Special Meeting

Part 1 takes us through the first fifteen minutes, where a fresh contract for asbestos cleanup has just come out of a facilities meeting and we the board get our first look at it.

Part 1 ends at the first adjournment.

Part 2 slightly overlaps part 1,

showing the first adjournment and then shows the meeting continuing

on another item of business after adjournment

 

Parts 2 ends with a second adjournment.

PA system for MRRPD Events

Friends of
Monte Rio.  This July 2012, the Community Foundation Sonoma County awarded a Russian River Community Trust grant for $1,100 to the Friends of Monte Rio for the provision of a community outdoor Public Address system.  The PA system will be available to non-profit groups holding events at MR Rec & Park or MR Chamber venues.

Re-Posting of MRRPD Job Opening

Monte Rio Recreation and Park District is looking for a qualified person to carry out the policies, goals and instructions from the Board of Directors; to administer routine matters of the District; and to schedule and prioritize all work to be effective and efficient. Prepare and post agendas for Board meetings: take minutes, prepare Board packets, present monthly staff report to Directors at each regular meeting. Submit, to the Board, information and recommendations relative to matters requiring Board action, together with materials for informed decisions. Manage other operational activities as directed by the Board. Starting rate is $15 per hour. Minimal benefits. Seasonal hours.

Community Breakfast -- Car Show -- Aug 20th

The Easter Egg Hunt this year was a great success. Now the Friends of Monte Rio wants to reestablish the Community Pancake breakfast. It will open the 2011 annual Car Show this August 20th, Saturday, at the Monte Rio Community Center.

Please join in as a Monte Rio friend and help in putting on this event. We need volunteers as cooks, servers, cashiers, and clean up staff. Contact Rhian Miller at 865-9579 or RhianMiller@sbcglobal.net. You can also contribute to our tax-deductable efforts by sending checks to PO Box 465, 95462.

For further information, call Peter at 865-9517 or Peter@mrrpd.org .

Open House at the Monte Rio Community Center - July 1-4

The Friends of Monte Rio, who brought you this year’s Easter Egg Hunt, together with The Monte Rio Recreation & Park District, have been joined by The Russian River Historical Society and The Russian River Photo Club to bring you a July 4th weekend Open House at the MRRPD Community Center. We will be distributing hundreds of maps of the Monte Rio environs, those parts walking distance from the beach.
On the map we give details of guided tours being provided in the weekend afternoons. You can also use the maps to take self-guided tours and find your way to the community gardens: the new creekside garden by the amphitheater and recently refurbished tennis courts; as well as the classic riverside garden.

The Russian River Historical Society will be displaying photographs and memorabilia from along the Russian River in its “hey day,” of hotels, railroads, entertainment venues and fully functioning communities.

The recently formed Russian River Photo Club, led by Tabitha Deering, www.tabithadeeringphotography.com and Domenic Farnocchia (domenic@russianriverphotoclub.com , will be displaying more current day photographs from along the Russian River. This will be the first public showing from this nascent group and they will be looking for a warm reception and hoping to attract new members into this low-key community art group.
Praxis Architects will be displaying the community consensus plans for redevelopment of the Monte Rio “Old School” along the Bohemian Highway a few blocks out of town. These plans will show a skate park for the young; extensive landscaping and community service points for the mature; and a gateway to an extensive trail system for millennials.
The Monte Rio Recreation & Park group will be highlighting its wide-ranging facilities, ideal for small business retreats, family reunions, weddings, and in general any group from 10-100, looking for a quiet, scenic setting, minutes away from ocean, forests, and vineyards.
The Friends of Monte Rio is sponsoring this event: we will be leading the tours and providing docents in the Center. We are always in search of others to help with these events: either financially or with their time during the event &/or thoughts in helping planning the events. Please contact Rhian Miller (865-9579) or Peter Andrews (865-9517), if you can help out. These events are all put on completely though community efforts.