Contra Costa County needs a few good men and women. Actually, it needs way way more than a few.

The Board of Supervisors must fill 44 slots on the oversight boards that will supervise the dismantling of redevelopment agencies within the county.

The task is horrifically complex and the pay is zilch. But the county has no choice.

The state Supreme Court earlier this year upheld legislation that shut down as of Feb. 1 California’s 400 redevelopment agencies including those in Contra Costa County and 16 of its cities. Lawmakers said redevelopment was siphoning off too much property tax money away from schools and other public services.

The law mandates the formation of an oversight board for every former redevelopment agency. The members will decide how to dispose of the assets, pay off the bills and restore money as quickly as possible to cities, schools, fire and other special districts.

Membership ranges from elected officials to former redevelopment agency employees to representatives of the county board of education and the public.

The Contra Costa Board of Supervisors’ appointment list is massive:

• Two people each to oversight boards in 16 Contra Costa cities.
• One person each to represent the Contra Costa Fire District in eight cities, where the district is the largest special district. (The board of supervisors is the district’s governing board.)
• Four people to the county’s former redevelopment agency oversight board.

Eligibility requirements vary but most of the open posts call for a member of the public who is not an elected official and require residency in the city or district in which the individual seeks to represent.

The time commitment also varies. Some former redevelopment agencies were larger than others and will take longer to unwind.

Supervisors will directly appoint some of the posts while the full board will select others.

Applications should be returned by noon on March 20 to the Clerk of the Board of Supervisors, Room 106, County Administration Building, 651 Pine St., Martinez CA 94553.

A Board of Supervisors’ committee will conduct interviews on March 26 at 9 a.m. at the county administration building.

For questions or to request an application form, call 925-335-1900 or visit www.co.contra-costa.ca.us. Residents may also contact county staffer Tim Ewell at 925-335-1036 or timothy.ewell@cao.cccounty.us.

 

 

One of my adult children asked me the other day, “What do you do at those county supervisor meetings?”

Nothing like hearing from a person with a real life to put your life’s work into perspective.

Nonetheless, I promised to explain the experience.

So, at this moment, I am blogging from the press table at the Board of Supervisors’ chambers in Martinez.

What is going on? I’ll update this list as the day unfolds. But the agenda lacks obvious controversy. I don’t attend if the items don’t look promising but today’s offerings include a discussion about the unfunded liability for the retiree health benefits of county employees and an update on a proposed fire district tax for the November ballot. Government is very often an incremental experience and there are few substitutes for actually hearing the information first-hand.

• Supervisor Gayle Uilkema makes her first appearance at a board meeting since fell ill with pneumonia. She is being treated for cancer and the pneumonia was an unwanted complication. But she looked and sounded good. She joked about the wheelchair, saying she “loved being driven around.”

• Presentation commemorating Girl Scouts week. The young Scouts were adorable in their uniforms and they handed out green re-usable water bottles. (I was hoping for Girl Scout cookies.)

• Honored retired county emergency medical services director Art Lathrop, who was selected state EMS administrator of the year from the California Emergency Services Authority.

• Declared March “Prescription Drug Abuse Prevention Month” and heard a heart-breaking story from a mother whose son died after an overdose.
• Heard the 2011 annual report from the county’s Mental Health Commission.
• The poetry reading was unexpected. Gadfly Ralph Hoffmann complained that a man by the name of Joel Barker stole some lines from one of his copyrighted poems and asked the county attorney to investigate. And yes, he read the poem out loud.
• Ellen Smith (not Wilson, sorry, there are two transportation guru Ellens!) from BART delivers update on planning for eBART out to East Contra Costa County. She may also have a career in stand-up if the transit gig flops.  Staff turned out all the lights when Wilson started her slideshow and when Supervisor Mary Nejedly Piepho asked if Ellen could read her notes in the dark, she didn’t miss a beat. “Yes, my notes are in Braille.” BART is working on right of way but still doesn’t have money for construction.
• A bit of good financial news:  The county has cut its unfunded liability for retiree health care to $968 million. It was $2.6 billion in 2006. The number matters because the higher the figure, the higher the number of dollars the county must contribute each year out of its general purpose funds toward paying it off over a 30-year period. Six year ago, the county’s payment was $216 million. This fiscal year, it was $59.8 million. The drop is the result, among other things, of cuts in county employee benefits.
• The board dealt with a handful of abatements, those pay-up orders to landowners who fail to clean up their properties and the county does it for them. The county has spent quite a bit of time trying to clean up areas in the Delta such as Bethel Island.
• Board goes into closed session — where they also eat lunch — and will return at 1:30 p.m. for a meeting as the Contra Costa Fire District Board and Housing Authority.
• Supervisor Federal Glover is gone today. He’s in Washington, D.C., for conferences including the National Association of Counties.
• Housing Authority meeting cancelled. No quorum.
• Supervisors convene as the Contra Costa Fire Protection District board. They hear that the department is crafting contingency plans in the event the Rodeo-Hercules fire district shuts one of its two stations after April 1 and/or if East Contra Costa Fire Protection District residents fail to pass an annual $197 per parcel tax measure on the June 5 ballot. Fire districts operate under mutual aid agreements and when one agency cuts service, it impacts its neighbors.
• Starting with public comment and continuing with the county supervisors, Confire Chief Daryl Louder is repeatedly asked to provide more back-up documents and meatier staff reports with the agenda. “This is Government Sunshine Week. Let’s have more sunshine,” said Kris Hunt with the Contra Costa Taxpayers Association. Hey, it’s still better than most of the items on the last fire board agenda, which had no staff reports.
• The county’s proposal to provide contract fire and emergency medical services to Pinole failed to include the cost of retiree health care and must be revised, supervisors told Chief Louder. ConFire and the Rodeo-Hercules district are competing for the deal. “We need to tell Pinole as soon as possible because they are relying on these figures to make policy decisions,” Supervisor John Gioia said.
• News happening with the proposed parcel tax for ConFire and the impacts if it doesn’t pass in November …
• I’m off to write dailies.
• And here is what I just filed:  http://www.contracostatimes.com/news/ci_20166759/contra-costa-fire-district-needs-90-parcel-tax

Contra Costa County Supervisor Gayle Uilkema returned to the board chambers for the first time since she became ill with pneumonia in January.

The Lafayette lawmaker has been fighting cancer for the past year and the pneumonia was a complication of her treatment.

No one loves this job more than Gayle, who will retire this year after 15 years on the board.

“I really miss you guys, all of you,” she told me before the meeting started. (Yes, I think she even meant me!)

Gayle says she plans to ramp back up into public life using the slow lane, attending meetings for an hour or two until she works her way back up to a full schedule.

 

 

The 5 p.m. filing deadline today has come and gone and election clerks in the East Bay have delivered their promised preliminary candidate and ballot lists.

Check out the list below for Contra Costa, Alameda and portions of Solano County. There are a few surprises, including a fair number of entirely uncontested races. (The women rule here, as you’ll see.)

My favorite development is the similarity between the name of incumbent Democratic state Sen. Mark DeSaulnier and his Republican challenger Mark Meuser. The Marks might want to hand out reading glasses to voters in the hopes the magnification effect will help them choose the right one.

Voters in a dozen cities, school and fire districts will also find requests for new taxes on their ballots. While no one wants to pay more, residents are far more likely to support local measures because they feel the money will stay closer to home.

The following individuals and ballot measures had qualified for the June 5 ballot as of information available late today. (i) denotes incumbent. (Keep in mind, election clerks may still be processing applications from those who filed at the last minute.)

(Ed. Note: I’ve updated this at 4:30 p.m. Saturday — Josh)

CONGRESS

District 3: John Garamendi, Dem. (i); Kim Vann, Rep.; Eugene Ray, Rep., Rick Tubbs, Rep.

District 5: Mike Thompson, Dem., (i); Randy Loftin, Rep.; John Cilley, Rep.

District 9: Jerry McNerney, Dem., (i); John McDonald, Rep.; Ricky Gill, Rep.

District 11: George Miller, Dem. (i); Cheryl Sudduth, Dem.; John Fitzgerald, Dem.; Virginia Fuller, Rep.

District 13: Barbara Lee, Dem. (i); Marilyn Singleton, nonpartisan; Justin Jelincic, Dem.

District 15: Fortney “Pete” Stark, Dem. (i); Eric Swalwell, Dem.; Christopher Pareja, nonpartisan.

District 17: Mike Honda, Dem. (i); Charles Richardson, Lib.; Evelyn Li, Dem.

STATE SENATE

District 3: Lois Wolk, Dem. (i)

District 7: Mark DeSaulnier, Dem. (i); Mark Meuser, Rep.

District 9: Loni Hancock, Dem. (i)

ASSEMBLY

District 11: (No incumbent) Jim Frazier, Dem.; Patricia Hernandez, Dem.; Gene Gantt, Dem.; Len Augustine, nonpartisan; Mike Hudson, Rep., Charles Kingeter, Dem.

District 14: Susan Bonilla, Dem. (i)

District 15: Nancy Skinner, Dem. (i)

District 16: Joan Buchanan, Dem. (i); Al Phillips, Rep.

District 18: (No incumbent) Rob Bonta, Dem.; Joel Young, Dem.; Abel Guillen, Dem., Rhonda Weber, Rep.

District 20: (No incumbent) Bill Quirk, Dem.; Jennifer Ong, Dem.; Sarabjit Cheema, Dem.; Luis Reynoso, Rep.; Mark Green, nonpartisan

District 25: Bob Wieckowski, Dem. (i)

ALAMEDA COUNTY (nonpartisan races)

Board of Supervisors, District 1: Scott Haggerty (i)

Board of Supervisors, District 4: Nate Miley (i); Tojo Thomas

Board of Supervisors, District 5: Keith Carson (i)

Hayward City Council (four seats): Barbara Halliday (i), Francisco Zermeno (i), Olden Henson, (i), Al Mendall, Greg Jones, Fahim Ajaz Khan, Ralph Farias Jr. and Peter Bufete. (Filing deadline extended to March 14 as one of the incumbents did not seek re-election.)

Board of Education, District 2: None

Board of Education, District 3: Ken Berrick (i)

Board of Education, District 4: None

Board of Education, District 5: Frederick Sims (i)

Board of Education, District 6: Eileen McDonald (i)

Zone 7 (three seats): Sandy Figuers (i); Dick Quigley (i)

Union Sanitary District, Ward 1: Manuel Fernandez (i)

Union Sanitary District, Ward 2: Patricia Kite (i)

Union Sanitary District, Ward 3: Anjali Lathi (i)

CONTRA COSTA COUNTY (nonpartisan)

Board of Supervisors, District 2: Sean White of Lafayette, Candace Andersen of Danville; and Tomi Van de Brooke of Orinda. (Filing deadline extended to March 14 as incumbent Gayle Uilkema did not seek re-election.)

Board of Supervisors, District 3: Mary Nejedly Piepho of Discovery Bay (i)

Board of Supervisors, District 5: Federal Glover of Pittsburg (i)

CONTRA COSTA BALLOT MEASURES

Antioch Unified School District: $59.5 million bond measure for school facility upgrades. Requires 55 percent voter approval.

Antioch: Two measures. One seeks to change city clerk and treasurer from elected to appointed position. The other would convert elected mayor to a rotating position from among members of the City Council. Both require majority approval.

Crockett Community Services District: Increase in the $50 recreation per parcel tax to $110 for maintenance of the area’s parks. Two-thirds vote required.

East Contra Costa Fire Protection District: Annual $197 per parcel tax to maintain fire service. Two-thirds vote required.

Hercules: Two measures. One seeks voter approval to sell the city’s electric company and requires a two-thirds vote. The second is an emergency funding proposal for a four-year, 1/2-cent sales tax to maintain city services in the wake of a deficit. Majority approval required.

Pittsburg: A 10-year sales tax (1/2 cent for first five years, 1/4 cent in the second five years) to raise money for city services. Majority approval required.

San Pablo: A 10-year sales tax (1/2 cent for first five years, 1/4 cent in the second five years) to raise money for city services. Majority approval required.

West Contra Costa Unified School District: Five-year renewal and increase in parcel tax. Requires two-thirds vote.

ALAMEDA COUNTY BALLOT MEASURES

Peralta Community College District: Eight-year annual $48 per parcel tax. The funds would be used to preserve 1,900 classes a year at the college serving students from Oakland, Alameda, Piedmont, Berkeley, Albany and Emeryville. Requires two-thirds vote.

Dublin Unified School District: $99 million school bond measure to build and improve classrooms, buildings and equipment. Requires 55 percent voter approval.

Hayward Unified School District: Annual $58 per parcel tax for school operations. Two-thirds vote required.

New Haven Unified School District (Hayward): Four-year annual $180 per parcel tax to fund school operations. It is similar to a measure that failed last May. Two-thirds vote required.

City of Alameda: A 30-year half-cent sales tax increase to fund library improvements, replace aging police and fire vehicles and construct a new emergency center. Two-thirds vote required.

SOLANO COUNTY

Countywide: Would extend existing one-eighth of 1 percent library tax for 16 years to fund ongoing operations. Majority approval required.

Board of Supervisors, District 1 (no incumbent): Susan Anthony, Erin Hannigan, Tony Intintoli Jr., Lee Simmons.

Board of Supervisors, District 2: Steve Messina, Linda Seifert (i)

Board of Supervisors, District 5: Mike Reagan (i); Skip Thomson

 

Contra Costa County’s top law enforcement leaders have endorsed Danville Mayor Candace Andersen for county supervisor over rival Contra Costa Community College Trustee Tomi Van de Brooke.

District Attorney Mark Peterson and Sheriff David Livingston, along with Deputy Sheriffs Association President Ken Westermann and Deputy District Attorneys Association President Barry Grove, are scheduled to show up at noon today in Martinez at the election office with Andersen as she files her final candidacy paperwork. Friday is the filing deadline.

The four men interviewed Andersen and Van de Brooke at length on Tuesday. Along with most public agencies in the aftermath of the 2008 recession, the sheriff and district attorney’s office have been hit with big budget cuts.

“Both candidates are good people,” Sheriff Livingston said. “But Candace was able to point to a specific record of support for law enforcement in Danville in ways that are quite compelling. With the drastic cuts that public safety has experienced in this county, we have to support a candidate who has a record of supporting public safety.”

Westermann said “the DSA and Candace Anersen share the same values of prioritizing public safety and fiscal responsibility. We are confident she is the best candidate to represent the citizens of District 2.”

Grove said, “After interviewing both candidates, we felt Candace sincerely believes that law enforcement is a priority in the county. We think she understands the issues better than her counterpart. And frankly, I think she brings common sense to the county.”

The deputy sheriffs have settled their labor contract dispute while the district attorneys and the county are still in negotiations.

The same law enforcement coalition endorsed last week incumbent Supervisor Federal Glover of Pittsburg in his re-election bid. Glover’s only potential challenger to surface so far, Martinez Councilman Mike Menesini, has pulled candidacy papers but had not yet filed the final paperwork as of this morning.

Andersen and Van de Brooke, of Orinda, are running for the District 2 seat on the Board of Supervisors in the June 5 election.  Solar energy professor Sean White of Lafayette has also filed for the post. Incumbent Gayle Uilkema is retiring.

If one candidate receives 50 percent plus 1 vote in June, he or she will win outright. If no candidate takes a majority, the top two vote-getters will compete in a run-off in the November general election.

 

The Contra Costa Civil Grand Jury is looking for watchdogs with a strong bite and a willingness to growl at public agencies who stray from the ranch.

And heaven knows the county’s residents need you what with the steady decline in the numbers of the press corps.

The application deadline is April 13. Read below for all the details.

GRAND JURY: The Contra Costa County Superior Court is accepting applications for Civil Grand Jury Service for the fiscal year 2012-2013 term.

The Civil Grand Jury is made up of 19 members who serve for one year, July
through June, to monitor, review and report on city and county governments, special districts and school districts.

“Grand Juries are the citizen watchdogs of civic functions,” says current Grand Jury Foreperson Lloyd Bell. “All county citizens have the authority to call the juries’ attention to issues within their governmental agencies that they think should be reviewed .”

Every effort is made to ensure that the Grand Jury reflects the makeup of the residents of the county. Approximately 60 applicants will be selected to be interviewed by ‘the Grand Jury Selection Committee, which is composed of Superior Court Judges.

After interviews, the judges will nominate approximately 30 applicants to constitute a grand jury pool from which the final panel of 19 will be selected by random drawing.

Individuals selected for service will be expected to be available during the last two weeks of June to meet with outgoing jurors, tour county facilities, meet with department heads, become familiar with their colleagues, learn about juror responsibilities and procedures, and select committees on which they will serve.

Grand jurors must be a United States citizen, 18 years of age or older, who have been a resident of Contra Costa County for at least one year prior to selection.  They cannot currently hold any elected position within the county. Applicants should have reliable transportation to Martinez, and must be prepared to devote at least 20 hours per week to Civil Grand Jury service.

Citizens who work should apply only if they can be released from their jobs to perform the jury duties. Applicants selected as one of the 30 nominees will be fingerprinted before the drawing.

Jurors receive a stipend for attending full jury and committee meetings and are reimbursed for allowable jury travel. Parking permits are provided to park in the City of Martinez while performing Grand Jury duties.

Persons interested in applying may contact the Office of the Civil Grand Jury at (925) 957-5638, or visit the website at www.cc-courts.orq/qrandiury to receive additional information regarding service on the Civil Grand Jury and to obtain an application.

APPLICATION DEADLINE IS FRIDAY, APRIL 13, 2012.

The nearly 30 people who testified Tuesday before the Contra Costa Board of  Supervisors against a proposed new stormwater fee  arrived home later in the day to find an unpleasant surprise: A fold-out mailer promoting the countywide fee election that had been approved just a few hours earlier.

Critics immediately called the public hearing on the Contra Costa Community Clean Water Initiative a sham and started phoning supervisors’ offices.

It looks bad. The mailers were clearly prepared and mailed before the supervisors voted on whether to proceed with the election.

But the county says an outside consulting firm mistakenly and prematurely sent out the mailers during a staff changeover.

Supervisors and County Administrator David Twa are very displeased with SCI Consulting Group, which has a $1.1 million contract to help the county and its 19 cities put together the stormwater fee election.

“We did convey to (SCI) that this did a great deal of harm to the entire process and only adds to the belief that government fails to provide meaningful opportunities for the public to be heard,” Twa told me in an email.

See the mailer below.

 

BART Director Joel Keller will not challenge Contra Costa County Supervisor Mary Nejedly Piepho, saying he wants to stay around to see through the construction of eBART into east Contra Costa County.

“I helped start eBART a number of years ago and I am going to stay at BART and see it through,” said Keller, a former Antioch mayor who was re-elected to BART in 2010.

eBART is a planned extension of the train system into Antioch and points east.

His decision to stay out of the race may well clear the path for Piepho’s easy re-election to a third term. No other challenger has emerged and while the official filing period doesn’t open until Feb. 13, the clock is ticking to set up a campaign structure and raise money.

Three Contra Costa supervisor seats will be on the ballot in June including Piepho’s slot and that of  supervisors Federal Glover and Gayle Uilkema. Glover has one declared challenger, Martinez Councilman Mike Menesini. Uilkema is retiring and two women are vying for her seat — Danville Mayor Candace Andersen and Contra Costa Community College Trustee Tomi Van de Brooke.

 

The cash is beginning to trickle into the into the campaigns of Contra Costa County supervisor candidates and the incumbents seeking re-election.

See below a dollar rundown of the candidates for Contra Costa County supervisor who filed campaign finance disclosures as of Dec. 31, 2011. (Download the full documents for yourself at the Contra Costa Election Division’s campaign finance web site, http://www.cocovote.us/.)

All candidates will compete in the June 5 election. If a candidate receives 50 percent plus one vote, he or she will win the seat outright in June. If not, the top two finishers will advance to a runoff in the November general election.

Keep in mind, the filing date opens on Feb. 13 and more candidates will likely surface.

But cash is king when it comes to winning elections. Folks who arrive late to the party may find those wallets already closed.

District 2 (Incumbent Gayle Uilkema is retiring.)

1. Tomi Van de Brooke, an Orinda resident and trustee on the Contra Costa Community College District: $36,900 in total contributions; $29,766 in the bank; and no personal loans.
2. Candace Andersen, Danville mayor: No filing. (She didn’t declare her candidacy until mid-November.)

District 3 (incumbent has no declared challengers)

1. Incumbent Supervisor Mary Nejedly Piepho of Discovery Bay (sitting supervisors have two accounts, a campaign account and an officeholder account for which she may spend the money only on activities related to serving in office: Campaign account — $27,668 in total contributions, $34,527 in the bank; and no personal loans. Officeholder account: $20,970 in total contributions, $3,611 in the bank; and no personal loans.

District 5

1. Incumbent supervisor Federal Glover of Pittsburg: Campaign account — $8,355 in total contributions; $36,621 in the bank; and no personal loans. Officeholder account — $46,655 in total contributions; $53,447 in the bank; and no personal loans.
2. Michael Menesini, deputy district attorney and Martinez Councilman: $500 in total contributions; $363 in the bank; and no personal loans.

Click here to see supervisor district boundary map.

Watch Zack Feere, son of Contra Costa Building Trades Council chief Greg Feere of Antioch, speak at the Columbia Ministry of Education and World Teach press conference. Proud Dad says it was “was totally unscripted, unplanned with about 3 minutes of preparation. Zack spoke after the Minister of Education before about seven TV cameras and was interviewed afterward, which he did in both English and Spanish.”

www.youtube.com