RossmoorNews
Rossmoor voting is underway, with two seats up for grabs
Three candidates are running for two seats on the Rossmoor Community Services District board, one of the seats will go to a newcomer no matter what. Twelve motions to fill a vacancy in August showed where the sitting directors stand, though not as neatly as the tallies suggest.
Rossmoor ballots have been in mailboxes since October 5. Vote centers open Saturday. Two seats on the Rossmoor Community Services District board are on them, and three names: Jo Shade, Jody L. Roubanis and Konya Vivanti, printed in that order.12
One result is already settled. Michael Maynard, who won one of these seats in 2022 with more votes than anyone else on the ballot, did not file, so at least one of the two directors seated in December will be new.3 Maynard explained himself publicly for the first time in August. "I've served for fourteen and one-half years," he told his colleagues. "I think it's time for me to do other things, find time for other passions."4
The clearest preview of this race happened at that same meeting, on a seat voters never got to fill.
Twelve motions for one chair
Mary Ann Remnet resigned in July with two years left on her term. The four remaining directors had 60 days under state law to appoint a replacement, and on August 11 they interviewed six applicants in public. Roubanis and Vivanti were two of them.5
What followed took twelve motions, by the count in the district's approved minutes.5
DeMarco moved to appoint Vivanti and Maynard seconded. It failed 2-2, with Searles and Shade voting no. Shade then moved to appoint Roubanis with Searles seconding, and it failed 2-2 the other way. Maynard moved to appoint Andrew Zinser, an Angels executive, and that failed 2-2 too.54
The board ran the same three names again. Roubanis was nominated three times in all, always by Shade or Searles, and lost each vote 2-2. Vivanti was nominated twice by DeMarco or Maynard and lost both. In between, Searles moved four times to appoint other applicants and none of those motions drew a second.5
The twelfth motion broke it. Searles, who had voted against Zinser twice, moved to appoint him. Maynard seconded, and Zinser was appointed 3-1. Shade was the only no. She swore him in herself, and he took his seat for the rest of the meeting.5
The two challengers on your ballot have each already been voted on by this board, and each was blocked by the same margin. Shade backed Roubanis every time Roubanis came up. DeMarco and Maynard backed Vivanti.
The newest director's first vote
Zinser had been on the board for a few minutes when the next item came up: the 2026-27 budget, on its third hearing and with the September 1 legal deadline three weeks away.5
Searles moved to approve it and Shade seconded. Maynard asked to amend the motion in two ways, cutting $15,000 from the legal budget and suspending deferred compensation payments to every participating employee except the general manager. Searles and Shade accepted the legal cut and left deferred compensation alone. The amended budget passed 3-2. Searles, Zinser and Shade voted yes. DeMarco and Maynard voted no.5
The adopted figures, from the district's own August financial report, are $2,471,500 in revenue against $2,299,030 in spending, which leaves $172,470 for reserves. Administration accounts for $1,402,100 of that spending, or about 61 percent. The district started the year with a fund balance of $2,122,870.6
That vote is the reason not to read August as two fixed camps. On the appointment Zinser was DeMarco and Maynard's candidate before he was anyone else's. On the budget, later that night, he voted with Shade and Searles. The meeting ran from 7:02 p.m. to 10:31 p.m.5
What the candidates say they would do
The Rossmoor Homeowners Association collected residents' questions and published written answers from all three candidates. Roubanis was listed as the association's second vice president when we checked its board roster in August.78
Asked about money, all three said they would put new taxes or fees behind other options. Roubanis wrote, "I would not support increased taxes or assessments simply because costs are rising." Vivanti called higher fees or taxes "a last resort." Shade said she would ask residents for more only after a planning process showed the need, and that this "may call for a resident vote when one is required or when community support is uncertain."7
On parks, Shade proposed paying qualified planners for a comprehensive review of how Rossmoor's limited open space is used. Vivanti suggested quieter paddles and balls, vegetation buffers and limited hours to manage pickleball noise. Roubanis wrote that no single activity should automatically take priority over another.7
The answers differ most on scope. Vivanti listed traffic calming at two-way stops and public safety among her top three priorities, writing that residents "have been told that there is always a deputy in Rossmoor, and some residents feel this is not accurate." Both are county responsibilities. The district has no policing contract and no authority over Rossmoor's roads, and Vivanti said as much in a later answer, writing that residents should know what the district controls and what the county provides.7 The Sheriff's Department does report to this board each quarter. In September it reported 480 calls for service in Rossmoor from April through June, including 4 burglaries and 10 grand thefts.9
Shade framed most answers around work already under way, including deferred maintenance and grant writing, and proposed that the district pursue the Special District Leadership Foundation's transparency certificate. Roubanis emphasized multiyear financial and capital planning and early public input on large projects.7
Decisions waiting for the new board
The board has already started leaving some choices to whoever wins.
In September it took up moving its regular meetings off the second Tuesday, because its general counsel, Tarquin Preziosi, now serves as city attorney for Mission Viejo, whose council meets the same nights. Zinser suggested that directors seated after the election should weigh in before anything is final. The board asked staff to come back with a calendar of third-Tuesday dates and did not vote.9 The item was not on the October 13 agenda.10
October's agenda did carry the second reading of new court rules, which would end walk-on pickleball and tennis for non-residents at any hour and require them to reserve ahead. The first reading passed 4-0 in September.910 It also listed a closed-session performance evaluation of the general manager, Sharon Landers, whose contract the board approved 3-2 last November.1011
Minutes for that meeting are not posted. The next regular meeting is November 10, a week after Election Day, and the new directors' terms begin in December.
How close this can get
Rossmoor's board races are small enough for a few dozen votes to decide them. In 2022, 5,540 of the district's 7,956 registered voters returned a ballot, and Shade won the second seat by 34 votes over sitting director Jeffrey Rips.3 Vivanti finished fourth of four in 2024 with 2,029 votes, in a year when turnout was 87.6 percent.12
You can return your ballot by mail, at any county drop box, or at any vote center. Vote centers are open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily starting October 24, and 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on November 3. You can track yours at ocvote.gov/track.13
The Ledger is not endorsing in this race.
Sources
- Orange County Registrar of Voters, "Contest/Candidate Proof List," General Election 11/3/2026, contest 6021, special district section printed 8/28/2026 at 3:48:21 p.m. ocvote.gov ↩
- California Secretary of State, "Announces Results of Randomized Alphabet Drawing for the November 3, 2026, General Election," release PR26-109, August 13, 2026. ↩
- Orange County Registrar of Voters, certified statement of vote, November 8, 2022, Rossmoor Community Services District Director, pp. 1862-1864. ↩
- The Event News Enterprise, David N. Young, "Rossmoor Board picks baseball exec to fill vacant Board seat," August 20, 2026. event-newsenterprise.com ↩
- Rossmoor Community Services District, board minutes, August 11, 2026, items F and G-1. rossmoor-csd.org ↩
- Rossmoor Community Services District, schedule of revenues, expenditures and changes in fund balance, budget and actual, for the month ended August 31, 2026, in the October 13, 2026 agenda package. rossmoor-csd.org ↩
- Rossmoor Homeowners Association, "RCSD 2026 Candidate Responses," retrieved October 22, 2026. ourrossmoor.com ↩
- Rossmoor Homeowners Association, 2024-2025 RHA board of directors, retrieved August 15, 2026. ↩
- Rossmoor Community Services District, board minutes, September 8, 2026, items A-4, G-6 and G-9. rossmoor-csd.org ↩
- Rossmoor Community Services District, board agenda, October 13, 2026, items G-1 and K-1. rossmoor-csd.org ↩
- Rossmoor Community Services District, board minutes, November 13, 2025, item G-4. ↩
- Orange County Registrar of Voters, certified statement of vote, November 5, 2024, pp. 1249-1252. ↩
- Orange County Registrar of Voters, "Vote Easy. Vote Secure." 2026 General Election voter information sheet. ocvote.gov ↩
- Rossmoor Community Services District, "RCSD Board of Directors Election" and "Board of Directors" pages, retrieved October 22, 2026. ↩
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