(Marin Co) County rejects grand jury proposal for independent Marin Civic Center watchdog

By Nels Johnson, Marin Independent Journal -

Could an independent analytic eye freed from the politics of the moment have prevented the county of Marin's $30 million computer debacle, bobbling of the Grady Ranch film studio project or its mounting unfunded pension liability?

The county's civil grand jury thought so and proposed an independent watchdog office to oversee the work of Marin supervisors, but the plan landed with a thud in the Civic Center trash can Tuesday.

The Board of Supervisors, embracing Civic Center's work as a model for good governance, cited the county's fiscal health, lauded top staff performance and pledged allegiance to a "transparent" government already advised by numerous committees and commissions, including the civil grand jury. Supervisor Judy Arnold was absent.

The county board, endorsing a report by the county administration that called an independent watchdog a needless "layer of government," did ask top aides to redouble efforts to seek advice from experts in the community about government affairs.

"We're very good at hiring consultants to help us," Supervisor Kate Sears observed. "There may also be an opportunity to reach out in our community" for help on key issues.

Supervisor Susan Adams, noting that "ultimately the voters are our oversight committee," said that staff might be able to use existing advisory panels "more effectively" and added the county does "everything we can at this point to make sure we are inclusive."

Supervisor Katie Rice said staffers take fiscal responsibility "very, very seriously," and board president Steve Kinsey added that "our bond rating, our reserves, are in a place where we can feel confident." Kinsey, noting that even top corporations have "difficulty" on occasion, said "checks and balances are built in" at the Civic Center already.

"We agree with the grand jury's goals," said County Administrator Matthew Hymel. "But we don't agree with their specific solution, which would be to add another layer of government."

Although taxpayer groups were absent, and no one from the grand jury spoke, several residents rose to support the jury proposal.

"We could benefit from an oversight committee of some kind," said Jody Morales of Lucas Valley, head of the Citizens for Sustainable Pension Plans. She called for "a grand jury-type group" of volunteers "serving overlapping terms so there is continuity."

Hymel's report pointed out that the jury itself provides independent oversight, and noted that Marin's comparable counties do not have such independent watchdog agencies.

Last fiscal year's jury, in a stinging report, declared that more independent analysis of Civic Center on behalf of the public is critical. The citizens' panel said its probe indicates the county "lacks careful analysis of alternatives that might make it possible for the county to really do more, with less" and that "currently, it appears that the county is on track to do less, with less."

The jury said an independent watchdog could help avert problems such as a county computer system that has caused continuing problems and spawned litigation; its "enriched" but underfunded pension program; or the abrupt collapse of George Lucas' Grady Ranch film studio development.

The jury urged officials to establish an "office of independent legislative and budget analysis" to lend a helping hand in overseeing good government at Civic Center — and added that if county supervisors refused to do so, citizens should give "serious consideration" to placing the matter on the ballot.

The jury proposal follows the concentration of power in the hands of supervisors who have spearheaded elimination of several elected posts at the Civic Center to cut costs.

"How could our government procedures so provoke a socially-conscious and environmentally friendly local citizen that he felt that, after more than a decade of effort, he had no alternative but to abandon a project that would have brought hundreds of jobs and millions in tax revenue to the county?" the jury asked, referring to filmmaker Lucas.

Independent budget watchdog agencies have worked well at the federal, state and local levels, the panel noted, including San Diego and San Francisco, as well as Santa Clara County, where a private firm monitors and audits county affairs — and was credited with saving several million dollars a year.