Rainbow CPG vacancies filled

The Rainbow Community Planning Group, whose participation had been reduced to two board members in January, now has board members for each of its 15 seats.

Although one of those members announced plans to resign, a successor has been identified and Rainbow once again has a full Community Planning Group board.

Some vacancies existed prior to the November 2004 election, which included an August 2004 filing deadline. Many incumbents did not file for re-election, including planning group chair James Anderson. When eight of the terms expired in January, the planning group consisted of only two board members: Curtis Nicolaisen and Jeff Scrape.

On January 5 the San Diego County Board of Supervisors appointed four new board members: Mila Bonner, Mike McLeod, Michael Rodrigues, and Dolly Rodrigues. Bonner lives on Rainbow Crest Road, but the other three had residences outside of the planning area boundaries.

Although a sponsor group member does not need to live within the boundaries of the planning area, members of a community planning group must live within those boundaries. The eligibility queries also found that Scrape does not live within the Rainbow planning area; Scrape has a business in Rainbow but lives in Fallbrook.

The ineligibility of the four members once again reduced the number of board members to two: Bonner and Nicolaisen, a past chair of the planning group who lives on Rice Canyon Road. Both of their terms will expire on January 8, 2007.

On January 11 the Board of Supervisors appointed James Beebe to Seat No. 9 for a term expiring on January 5, 2009. Beebe had previously been on the planning board but did not file for re-election in 2004 due to his other commitments, most notably his participation in the Rainbow Volunteer Fire Department.

After the remaining 12 vacancies were filled and his wife agreed to replace him on the planning board if selected, Beebe announced plans to resign so that his planning group duties will not cause conflict with his fire department responsibilities. Kathy Beebe is expected to fill her husband’s seat once her appointment is confirmed by the Board of Supervisors. The Beebe family lives on Camino Rainbow.

On January 19 the planning group held a meeting, and although there was not a quorum to produce any official action Bonner and Nicolaisen served as co-chairs and solicited interested community residents to submit applications for membership on the planning group board. They were successful in obtaining the necessary number of applicants to fill the seats.

The remaining 12 planning group members were appointed by the Board of Supervisors on February 8. Clell “Bud” Swanson, Robert DeRieux, Jim Anderson, Gayle Marrocco, Ron Trotter, Keith Flanagan, and Julio Avila were appointed to terms expiring on January 5, 2009, while Rua Petty, Art Deming, Frederick Rasp, Dean Reade, and Mary Emond were appointed to terms expiring January 2, 2007. Swanson, Petty, and Flanagan live on Rainbow Crest Road, DeRieux and Rasp live on Rainbow Valley Road, Deming, Anderson, and Marrocco live on Rainbow Heights Road, Reade lives on Eighth Street, Trotter lives on Canyon Heights Road, Emond lives on Rice Canyon Road, and Avila lives on Moon Ridge Road.

Swanson worked in the human resources field for four decades before retiring from Laboratory Corporation of America in 2002 as the vice president of human resources for that company’s western operations. His experience also includes serving as co-chair of the Rainbow Municipal Water District’s rate committee.

Petty currently owns RJT Ranch (along with his wife) and grows avocados and proteas. He is active in the California Protea Association and the San Diego County Farm Bureau. The former Colorado resident was a board member of his community association in the early 1980s and spent most of the 1980s and 1990s in the association management profession, including service as the president and chief operating officer of Colorado Management between 1986 and 1997. Petty also taught Community Associations Institute classes for the Rocky Mountain and Utah chapters. Petty is currently a board member of the California Protea Association and an alternate board member of the International Protea Association, and he is also on the board of directors of Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1924 in Fallbrook.

DeRieux is the owner of Park Specialties in Murrieta; the general engineering contractor has been with Park Specialties for 12 years. He was previously the co-owner of Tireless Timbers. DeRieux’s board experience includes the National Playground Contractors Association.

Deming, who has lived in Rainbow since April 1998, is a retired school district administrator who spent 37 years with the Charter Oak Unified School District. His pre-Rainbow public service experience includes a three-year appointment to the City of Glendora’s Historic Preservation Committee. Deming is presently on the board of directors of the Rainbow Property Owners Association and is an elder at Fallbrook Presbyterian Church.

Anderson, who served two four-year terms on the Rainbow Community Planning Group before his previous term expired in January, is currently the owner of RJ Enterprises. He had previously been a plant foreman with the Los Angeles Times, for which he worked for 25 years.

Marrocco is a bookkeeper for Fallbrook Ag-Laboratory, Inc., for which she has worked for 29 years. She is a member of both the San Diego County Farm Bureau and the Fallbrook Chamber of Commerce, and she spent a three-year term on the Fallbrook Chamber of Commerce board which covered 2000 through 2002. She has also been active in the Soroptimist organization.

Rasp has been self-employed for the past 25 years; he is a concrete mason, a tea seller, and an avocado grower. He also has professional firefighting experience; he spent three years with the California Department of Forestry and four years with the US Forest Service.

Reade is currently the owner of West Coast Porcelain in Corona and has been with that company for the past 15 years. He was in the United States Air Force prior to starting his business. Reade was appointed to the board of the Vallecitos School PTA in January 2004.

Trotter is also a past chair of the planning group and previously spent five years as a planning board member. He has been a self-employed boiler inspector for more than 40 years.

Emond, a nine-year Rainbow resident, is currently the office manager of Pork Specialties. She was previously an administrative sales assistant for Creative Nail Designs and has more than 20 years of administrative experience.

Flanagan is employed as a sales representative for Pilot Trading in Escondido, where he has worked for the past six years. He had previously worked in sales for the Vendredi Company. Flanagan is also involved with the Vallecitos School PTA.

Avila has been a teacher with the Val Verde School District for the past six years. He previously spent 18 years as a teacher with the Pomona Unified School District.