Sanitary District Stalls on Voting In New Board Member

Naming a new board member of the did not turn out to be as easy as pressing the lever on a toilet.

The empty seat on the district board, created by the recent retirement of James Fritz, will remain open at least until Monday because the directors couldn’t agree on one of six candidates who interviewed for the position Tuesday.

One candidate, wastewater expert Jean Mariani, received two yes votes — from Board President Bill Long and Mike Di Giorgio — plus a no vote from Dennis Welsh and a “pass” from George Quesada, who wanted more time to review the candidates before voting.

Suzanne Brown Crow, an attorney who helped lead a campaign that fought against the district contracting out for management of its new $90 million water treatment plant, got one vote from Welsh.

Quesada chose not to vote for any of the candidates because he wanted more time — several weeks in the least, he said — to review their qualifications. His statement effectively eliminated the board’s ability to get three votes Monday, resulting in a push to the April 25 agenda. That meeting will start at 4:30 p.m. at the district office.  

If the board cannot muster three votes for one candidate before May 28, a date that marks 60 days since Fritz resigned, the Marin County Board of Supervisors will have 30 days to take a crack at it. No matter who is appointed, the term only runs until the election in November.

Candidates who applied but did not receive a nomination were retired PG&E engineer Donald Brand, retired truck driver John Coleman, retired Chevron engineer Brant Miller and retired property and facilities manager Jerry Peters.

Welsh, who won a seat on the board in 2009 after vehemently protesting the district’s plant management contract with the international firm Veolia Water, was the one who nominated Crow. She had been an organizer of a group that ran a successful referendum campaign in 2010 to place the district’s contract with Veolia before voters. Crow and other No on Measure F campaign backers were narrowly defeated in a June election that required a recount.

Di Giorgio nominated Mariani, an employee of the Sonoma County Water Agency with more than 30 years working in the water world. She is past president of the California Association of Sanitation Agencies and previously served on the Ross Valley Sanitation District and Central Marin Sanitation Agency.

Welsh said he couldn’t vote for her because he had never seen her before at a Novato Sanitary District meeting. He added that Crow has attended almost every meeting in the past two years and was familiar with the district’s challenges.