RCSD Board re-establishes nonprofit Rosamond Foundation

ROSAMOND — The Rosamond Community Services District Board of Directors unanimously re-established a nonprofit foundation and rescinded a 2015 resolution that prevented directors from sitting on the foundation’s Board.

The nonprofit Rosamond Foundation was originally established in 2007 to provide a means of raising funds to support parks-related projects for the Rosamond Community Services District, which had the responsibility for parks and recreation but no dedicated revenue source for them.

At the time wind and solar energy companies as well as Southern California Edison were interested in contributing to the foundation, General Manager Steve Perez said Tuesday.

“At one point there was an election and a Board change, and that Board decided that they didn’t want anything to do with the foundation,” Perez said. “It was very difficult for the RCSD to further the parks and recreation requirement without any funding.”

The foundation was created to “aid, sponsor, promote, advance and assist in the provision of Rosamond Community Services District water and sewer, public parks, facilities and recreation in the town of Rosamond and to receive, invest and utilize funds acquired through fundraisers, donations, grants, gifts, bequests and other solicitations for said purpose,” according to the foundation bylaws.

From 2007 to 2015 the district directors comprised the foundation’s governing Board, along with other interested members of the community. However, in 2015, the Board chose to remove that direct connection to the foundation, citing concerns that meeting as the

foundation Board could violate the state’s open meeting law, the Ralph M. Brown Act, which precludes a majority of an elected Board from meeting without calling a formal, agendized meeting of the body. At the time, the previous Board moved the foundation off-site and disengaged it from the district.

“Basically the previous Board kicked the foundation out of the district,” Perez said.

The current foundation Board agreed to re-associate with the Rosamond Community Services District. The Rosamond Community Services District Board took unanimous action at its Oct. 14 meeting to establish a foundation at the district.

“It is the thought of the Board that a foundation could assist the community and community functions and receive contributions that would assist in various community functions not solely parks and recreation,” Perez said.

The district no longer has control of Rosamond parks. Without a source of revenue for the parks, and following the defeat of a tax measure to fund parks by more than 77% of the vote in a March 2018 election, the Board chose to turn over the last remaining park in its control to Kern County and divest the responsibility in the summer of 2018.

“The Parks and Recreation charge was eliminated from the district. So this would allow the district to participate on a broader level within the community,” Perez said.

The next steps will be to establish new bylaws for the foundation. The foundation Board will include Rosamond Community Services District and community members. It is not immediately clear how many members will comprise the new Board.

“The subsequent meetings will take place to discuss how we reformulate the foundation,” Perez said.

Perez added the foundation is good for the district. As a nonprofit entity the foundation can accept donations from companies that want to contribute and get a tax break.

Perez grew up in Rosamond. He has lived in the community since 1954. Kern County operates Glendower Park on Glendower Street north of Rosamond Boulevard.

“It’s the only park in the entire community. Although there’s green spaces laying around the community in various places, there is no official park and it has not grown since I was 11 years old. I’m 67, so there’s 56 years that it has not grown one bit. And to provide a small place in the community for the benefit of the community I think is a great thing. I would have to commend the Board for thinking down that line for community use,” Perez said.

Board President Greg Wood first raised the prospect bringing back the nonprofit foundation under the umbrella of the district in March 2019.

“I was not aware this resolution was passed when I first looked at reactivating the foundation. I believe this rule was passed originally for political reasons. The district worked hard to create a foundation that would benefit our community. Our foundation was the only way to receive contributions designated for the betterment of Rosamond. Rescinding this rule would allow us to bring the foundation back to RCSD,” Wood said at the Oct. 14 meeting.