In response to a critical report by the Marin County Civil Grand Jury, the Southern Marin Fire Protection District Board of Directors acknowledged it may have erred in its public notice of past pension decisions.
But if so, it certainly wasn’t on purpose, said interim Fire Chief Chris Tubbs.
“The implication that I took from the report is that there was some maliciousness involved,” Tubbs said. “I wanted to make sure that was not at play. Maintaining public trust is paramount to us and we accomplish that in part by being completely transparent to the community.”
The grand jury report, “Pensions Enhancements: A Case of Government Code Violations and A Lack of Transparency,” asserts that the board violated public notice and disclosure rules in pension decisions in 2001, 2005 and 2006. The report also called for responses from the city of San Rafael, the Marin County Board of Supervisors and Novato Fire District, all of which participate in the Marin County Employees Retirement Association.
Of the 107 total violations cited in the report, the Southern Marin district board was responsible for four, according to the grand jury.
In its response, the board “partially disagreed” with allegations that it had broken Government Code Section 7507, which requires a two-week public notice of pension increases through actuarial reports before adoption.
“Did we do the actuary report? Yes we did,” Tubbs said. “Did we make the two-week notice? We can’t say we did. ... We don’t have the documentation that said we did, or did not.”
Tubbs said there was advance notice, though the district couldn’t confirm how much notice was given before meetings. The board and its hired consultant, Richards, Watson & Gershon of San Francisco, therefore “partially disagreed” with the grand jury.
“We are saying look, the memorandum of understanding and the resolutions were all adopted at public notice meetings as new business items,” Tubbs said. “They were not done in secret, they weren’t on the consent calendar ... they had discussion at the meeting.”
As for the recommendations, Tubbs said there have been no pension enhancements since 2006 and the board is in the process of implementing a policy and procedure to prevent future violations. The board is working to utilize social media and its website to publicize meetings, news and financial documents to communicate clearly and effectively, he said.
By Adrian Rodriguez, Marin Independent Journal
No comments:
Post a Comment