Blog note: this article references grand jury reports going back to 2011.
James Holmes was surprised when he saw a legal notice this month that said Central Marin Sanitation Agency’s directors would be voting to more than double their own pay.
He wasn’t surprised to hear that no residents showed up at the Oct. 9 board meeting when that vote passed.
Intrigued by regulators’ suggestions over the years that sanitation districts should consolidate, the Larkspur resident said the pay increase illustrates what some say is the issue with those organizations — “exploiting their obscurity,” Holmes called it. A lack of public participation and community oversight, he argues, allows the agencies to fly largely under the radar.
“This reinforces the narrative that these special districts are unaccountable, out of control and taking unreasonable actions that largely escape notice because of the obscurity of these agencies,” he said.
Roomy, red chairs assembled in neat rows were empty the night of Oct. 9 inside the Central Marin Sanitation Agency’s board room. A plate of oatmeal, chocolate chip and sugar cookies sat out untouched while the five present board members approved their own pay raises without much debate.
“This would put us pretty much in the middle — not the highest, not the lowest,” board President Diane Furst told her fellow directors, whose stipends have now jumped from $100 to $225 per meeting.
The agency operates wastewater treatment infrastructure for four of Marin County’s sanitary districts. Its six-member board meets monthly and, unlike other wastewater agencies whose boards are elected by voters, directors for Central Marin Sanitation are appointed by officials from each of its member agencies.
The board — which discussed an appropriate amount to raise the stipend at a prior meeting — hadn’t altered its pay since 1987, and some officials say the increase was, by all means, justified.
“Over the years, our business has become more involved and heavily regulated and complex, and definitely includes more board member involvement,” said Jason Dow, the agency’s general manager since 2002. “I understood why they were receiving (a raise) and I thought their change was warranted.”
Dow, one of 44 full-time employees, has a base salary this year of $270,227.
“I’d say the board members probably spend a couple hours reviewing our agenda packets before the meetings, they call me and talk about things, their meeting is a couple hours, and then some follow up,” he said. “So it’s a lot of time.”
But Holmes said he thought the board members were, essentially, making the case against their own agency.
“The more exorbitant the benefits, the more compelling the argument for consolidation because of the resulting need to eliminate all of that excessive administrative overhead,” he said.
Other special district directors in Marin make more money for each meeting they attend. At Ross Valley Sanitary, board members are paid $314, the highest of any special district in Marin.
Felicia Newhouse, interim general manager for that district, said the stipend is higher than others because, under a previous policy, it had periodically increased automatically. Directors ended that policy last year.
“There was a recognition by our board of directors last year that we had really a pretty generous meeting compensation rate so we’ve frozen it just recently,” she said. “They decided we were outpacing inflation and other agencies around us and we needed to rethink this.”
At some agencies, including the Bolinas Fire Protection District, board members are volunteers.
Chris Martinelli, a battalion chief with the Marin County Fire Department who serves on the Bolinas fire board, said he serves as a director because it’s a good way to give back to his town.
“I just like helping the community out,” he said.
‘Flush and forget’
The Marin County Civil Grand Jury, which has repeatedly urged sanitation districts to consolidate, said in a 2011 report that the lack of oversight is, in part, a result of the public’s tendency to shy away from the topic of wastewater.
“No one wants to think about sewers or pipes or overflows,” the report states. “They want to flush and forget.”
The grand jury in April recommended immediate consolidation of some of Marin’s smallest wastewater agencies and the eventual creation of a single, countywide sanitation district.
Consolidation, the jury said, would allow the districts to better prepare for the effects of climate change by pooling funds needed to protect infrastructure in areas prone to floods and sea-level rise. It would also benefit taxpayers by reducing administrative overhead.
“One administrative department supporting one board of directors should cost less than several administration offices each with a board of directors,” the report states.
Last year, Marin’s Local Agency Formation Commission, or LAFCo — tasked with regulating the physical development of cities, towns and special districts — released results from a study it conducted of Central Marin wastewater services, which provides a blueprint for the consolidation of some sanitation districts in that area. The 393-page document recommends the agencies reorganize around boundaries defined by watersheds and dissolve districts with especially small service areas, including Murray Park Sewer Maintenance District, a 0.1 square mile residential area between Larkspur and Kent Woodlands, and San Quentin Village Sewer Maintenance District, which is 0.01 square miles.
Jason Fried, who became interim executive director of LAFCo in June after eight years leading the same agency in San Francisco, said he’s perfectly comfortable working with districts that want to consolidate and his commission is prepared to take on those processes. But he doesn’t like the idea of demanding mergers.
“You don’t necessarily want to force it on people,” he said. “It leaves a bad taste in their mouths.”
In its April report, the grand jury recommended county officials allocate more funding toward LAFCo so the agency can get to work on consolidations — not just among sanitation agencies but also the numerous other special districts in Marin, including those that oversee police, water, fire and community services.
Fried is LAFCO’s only active staff member. An additional full-time employee is on disability leave and the agency is currently hiring for an open position.
When fully staffed, Fried said, his commission would be prepared to accomplish what it needs to. But the grand jury fears otherwise.
“Handling an influx of requests for consolidations, annexations and other boundary changes will most likely require additional resources,” the April report states.
LAFCo has just begun the planning process for a merger between Ross Valley Sanitary District and Murray Park Sewer, according to Fried. But the agency hasn’t received any other merger applications, which some say is for the better.
Opponents of the push to consolidate special districts say the smaller agencies provide more local control and that mergers wouldn’t save as much money as some groups tout.
“It’s an easy sell to say you can consolidate, but you’re not saving a whole lot and you’re losing control,” said Ronald Kosciusko, who is on the board of directors for the Richardson Bay Sanitary District. “You can get rid of the boards, sure, but then what happens is you’re dealing with a bureaucracy. … It sounds like roses but it isn’t.”
Kosciusko in 2013 opposed a ballot measure struck down by voters that would have consolidated four Southern Marin sewer districts into one agency.
“At the time, we had a $10 million reserve,” he said. “If I’m one of those other boards, I’d say I’ll agree. But that doesn’t work for our $10 million. … They were talking about taking over our plant and our trucks and everything the district has paid for over the years.”
The director said he’s kept up with the various reports urging consolidation, but hasn’t ever felt the specifics have been addressed.
“If those people who talk about consolidation can come up with a reasonable financial and administrative concept that works, I’d be glad to listen to it,” he said.
District evolution
Marin’s many special districts, some say, weren’t formed with a master plan in mind.
Many who lived in Marin during the late 19th century were opportunists who hadn’t had luck in the California gold industry, according to Marcie Miller, a local historian with the Marin History Museum.
“What they discovered was the valuable range land we had,” Miller said.
According to Miller, dairy ranchers along with cheese and butter makers were able to capitalize off that land and sell their products to consumers in San Francisco, which, prior to the 1937 opening of the Golden Gate Bridge, was only accessible by ferry.
As small, isolated communities sprang up during late 19th century and early 20th century, agencies formed to meet the needs of residents, including fire, sewer and police. Development over the years has connected Marin’s communities, but the special districts have remained — for better or worse.
In a 2014 report titled, “The Scoop on Marin County Sewer Systems,” the grand jury wrote: “In total, there are 17 special districts, 2 municipalities, 2 JPAs, the National Park Service and the California State Park Service providing wastewater services to a population of 256,000 in an area just over 100 square miles.”
Success story
The Central Marin Fire Department hopes it jumped through the last hoops this week in its years-long consolidation process which merged firefighting resources between Corte Madera and Larkspur.
City and town council members from both jurisdictions approved a compromise this week with the California Public Employees’ Retirement System, or CalPERS, in which both parties agreed to share equal responsibility for pensions of Central Marin fire employees in case the agency disbands.
The retirement system is exercising extra caution after it cut the pensions of about 200 former employees of a disbanded job-training agency in Los Angeles County because the four cities that formed that agency denied responsibility for those payments.
The formation of a joint firefighting agency in Central Marin is one of the first consolidation efforts in California since CalPERS began requiring pension liability agreements, and some say the merger will set a precedent throughout the state.
But despite the hiccup, which is preventing the full, legal formation of Central Marin fire, officials say the agency is already successfully operating as one entity.
“If you’re a member of the public, you already think we’re done,” said Dan Schwarz, Larkspur’s city manager. “That, to me, is a testament that it’s going really well.”
Larkspur and Corte Madera aren’t strangers to the concept of sharing emergency response services. The two cities began sharing a police force in the early 1980s and in 2013 formed the Central Marin Police Authority, which also includes San Anselmo.
“I think it’s been a tremendous success,” Schwarz said of the resource-sharing initiatives. “If you look at the police for example, none of the towns could have a full detective bureau on their own, but we now have an investigative bureau in Central Marin. … Our residents are getting a very high level of service at a cost we can manage.”
Scott Shurtz, chief of the Central Marin Fire Department, said the de facto centralized fire agency has already provided its service area with better quality emergency response without raising costs.
“We hope this success encourages other, similar consolidations,” he said.
Marin board pay examples
Almonte Sanitary District: $80/meeting; or $100 for president
Alto Sanitary District: $100/meeting; $125 for chair
Bel Marin Keys Community Services District: $100/meeting
Bolinas Community Public Utility District: $250/month
Bolinas Fire Protection District: none
Homestead Valley Sanitary District: $100/meeting, $125/meeting for president and secretary
Inverness Public Utility District: none
Kentfield Fire Protection District: $100/meeting
Las Gallinas Valley Sanitary District: $252.70/meeting, $200/month health care reimbursement
Marin City Community Services District: $150/meeting
Marin Municipal Water District: $200/meeting
Marinwood Community Services District: none
Muir Beach Community Services District: none
North Marin Water District: $200/meeting
Novato Fire Protection District: $100/meeting
Novato Sanitary District: $225/meeting, $200/month health care reimbursement
Richardson Bay Sanitary District: $125/meeting plus dental insurance
Ross Valley Sanitary District: $314/meeting
Sausalito-Marin City Sanitary District: $160/meeting
Sleepy Hollow Fire Protection District: $150/meeting
Southern Marin Fire Protection District: $100/month
Stinson Beach Water District: $100/meeting
Strawberry Recreation District: $75/meeting
Tamalpais Community Service District: $100/meeting
Tiburon Fire Protection District: $75/meeting
Tiburon Sanitary District No. 5: $100/meeting
Tomales Village Community Service District: $50/meeting
October 20, 2018
Marin Independent Journal
By Matthew Pera
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