The Marin County Civil Grand Jury has a well-earned reputation for having the ability, desire and political courage to dive into important but politically dicey issues.
They’ve just issued their newest report, “Consolidation of Sanitary Districts,” which is a blueprint for the efficient consolidation of a slew of uncoordinated out-of-sight agencies that provide an essential service.
Most California counties are served by a large number of special-purpose districts providing sewage, fire protection, flood control, water and park services. These are historical anomalies that arose a century ago when cow counties, of which Marin was one, became populated.
There was no grand plan. Often a collection of houses outside an incorporated town grew into a neighborhood and there was a pressing need for fire or sewage service. Neighbors, with county permission, created special districts to perform those functions. Boards of directors were elected and the agencies charged fees or received part of the property tax to support itself.
As time passed, the special districts became to be ignored by residents, overlooked by the media and operated with little oversight. They had outlived their time. Having no one looking over an agency’s shoulder is the classic route to self-dealing, inefficiencies and outright corruption.
An example of an opaque system out of control was the scandal-plagued Ross Valley Sanitary District, which is only now emerging into the sunlight. Some, but not all, sanitary directors have taken advantage of their invisibility by paying themselves, and pay and perks that no Marin city council members — all subject to press and public scrutiny — would ever dare take.
Good-government advocates have long sought consolidation not only of the sanitary districts, but also the other special-purpose districts, each with its own board and management staff.
They’ve been thwarted by the only people that really care if the agencies remain: members of the agencies’ boards of directors fearful of losing their perks, their political allies and sanitary district employees who benefit from the status quo. Change is hard, since the issue is so below the radar that most voters tend to be swayed by the directors’ collective scream, “Keep local control.” Why “local control” of toilets and sewage lines is a political issue is mystifying.
The civil grand jury has the guts to tackle the issue. Its conclusion provides for significant but not radical change; it recommends that independent sanitary agencies remain, just fewer of them.
The report’s key recommendations are:
• First, the “Central Marin Sanitation Agency, Sanitary District No. 1 (Ross Valley), Sanitary District No. 2 (Corte Madera), and the San Rafael Sanitary District should reorganize into a single sanitary/sanitation district.”
• Second, the “Sewerage Agency of Southern Marin, Almonte Sanitary District, Alto Sanitary District, Richardson Bay Sanitary District, Homestead Valley Sanitary District, Public Works Department of the City of Mill Valley, and Tamalpais Community Services District should reorganize into a single sanitary/sanitation district.”
More efficiency, less bureaucracy, with as good if not better services at a lower cost. Who could object? Amazingly, the grand jury’s suggestion is a long shot. These agencies, perhaps with the exception of the cities of Mill Valley and San Rafael and Tamalpais Community Services District, will resist the suggestion with their dying breath. No agency ever wants to eliminate itself. The Board of Supervisors will be missing in action and the likelihood of this reform taking place, at best, is in the 20 percent range.
If such a basic reform doesn’t take place within two years, this tells taxpayers all they need to know about the dim prospects of even wider mergers of special-purpose districts that might save even more tax dollars.
April 24, 2018
Marin Independent Journal
By Columnist Dick Spotswood
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