The MGH Report

Michael G. Haran, Proprietor

MANAGING the PUBLIC SECTOR

Posted by on Oct 26, 2014

MANAGING the PUBLIC SECTOR

Healdsburg Tribune

10/23/2014

With this year’s elections fast approaching both candidates for the 4th Supervisorial District, James Gore and Deb Fudge, have represented that they possess the knowledge and skills necessary to manage Sonoma County’s public sector and its problems, one of which is the gorilla in the room – unfunded pension liabilities.

With annual pension costs having increased from $25 million in 2002 to $117 million and are expected to grow to $200 million by 2020 with the county’s unfunded liability at about $300 million (PD 10/11/14) even considering water related issues, this is the most pressing issue facing the county’s elected officials.

Now I have no squawk about how much public employees are paid. Even the issues I have about too many county managers isn’t about pay. It is critical that public employees get paid a middle class wage as all the support we can give the middle class is important to stave off the ravages of the growing aristocracy in this country. Without a strong middle class we could go the way of the Middle East – yikes!

It’s the retirement system that’s broke and needs to be fixed. This problem got rooted when public pension became guaranteed and tied to a wage and benefit plan that was intended to compete with the private sector. Back then everyone had a pension and it was felt that in order for the public sector to attract talented professionals they had to offer benefits that were as good, or better, then what was being paid in the private sector. The problem is the public sector pensions are guaranteed while the private sector pensions were/are not and those that didn’t get eliminated have gotten decimated as many corporations switched their employee pensions to 401ks.

Now the situation has reversed with the public sector jobs paying more than most private sector jobs and with benefits including retirement at age 50 to 55 with up to 90% salary and the immoral practice of perk “spiking” (Jerry Brown and the legislature has tried to put a stop to this but several unions have sued to restore the practice).

So what can be done to bring the system back into balance? The only way that retirement benefits can be “unguaranteed” so that they will fluctuate with the market like everyone else’s 401k, is for legislators to amend the state’s retirement system. This, however, is problematic since most elected state officials are “in the pockets” of the powerful public employee unions. Even if a ballot initiative were to pass it would be ruled unconstitutional by California’s Supreme Court and then it would have to go to the U.S. Supreme Court – which may very well happen. This is why Mike McGuire was against the initiative and saw that in order to get any reform the unions would have to agree to change. Many have but it hasn’t been enough to impact the long-term liabilities and more concessions have to be made.  As stated in a contemporary economic theory:

“This means that the political, legal, religious and educational systems must be understood dynamically in terms of whether they serve to enhance or to hinder human development. Thus, a system that, at one point in time, may have served a progressive role in society may, because of changes in the possibilities created by new modes of production, come to serve a negative function. Accordingly, it might be quite appropriate and functional for a certain perspective or ideology to dominate the thinking at a given historical moment, while at a later time those same ideas may become unproductive expressions of false consciousness and hegemony.”

The situation is not hopeless if all stakeholders work together and in good faith. This is the problem with politicians signing pledges. They work against good faith and erode the ability to compromise. I do not see how any candidate for elected public office who has pledged allegiance to one party or another could possible take an oath of office without perjuring themselves even before they’ve taken their seat at the dais.

 

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TEACHER EQUALITY

Posted by on Oct 5, 2014

TEACHER EQUALITY

Since the June 10th ruling in the education-equity case, Vergara v. California by Judge Rolf M. Treu, where he essentially agreed with the plaintiffs—nine California students—that the state’s laws governing teacher tenure and dismissal unfairly saddle disadvantaged and minority students with weaker teachers, tenure reform has become a hot-button item.

Ironically, this lawsuit isn’t about teacher tenure per say. It is about teacher equity, or rather teacher quality distribution, a subject that has been a focal point of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2002. NCLB has received a lot of flak regarding its common standards and high-states testing mandate but its greatest achievement, or attempted achievement, has been the program’s Equality of Educational Opportunity of which Teacher Equity Planning is a part.

This lawsuit comes as California is working on its own “Plan for Highly Qualified Teachers” which was written and approved by the State Board of Education in September 2010. It reflects the steps the state is currently taking to ensure that students from low-income families and minority students are not taught at higher rates than other students by inexperienced, unqualified, or out-of-field teachers.

This month the U.S. Department of Education detailed its long-delayed “50-state strategy” for ensuring that poo

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Teacher Equality

r and minority students get access to as many great teachers as their more advantaged peers. But fewer than half of states have separate teacher-equity plans on file with the department.

A national survey of teachers found that core classes in high-poverty schools are twice as likely to be taught by out-of-field teachers as similar classes at schools serving more advantaged students. The difficulty in compliance is reflected in the fact th

at states have a limited authority and capacity to ensure that districts distribute teachers fairly, since decisions like hiring and transfers tend to be made at the local level. In addition, states are also focused on developing new teacher-evaluation systems that take into consideration student outcomes.

The idea of teacher tenure started as part of the labor movement in the late 19th century when teachers demanded protection from parents, administrators and politicians who would try to dictate lesson plans or exclude controversial materials. New Jersey became the first state to pass tenure legislation when, in 1910, it granted fair-dismissal rights to college professors and during the 1920s it was extended to elementary and high school teachers as well. Today about 2.3 million public school teachers in the U.S. have tenure.

Though tenure doesn’t guarantee lifetime employment it does make firing teachers a difficult and costly process, one that involves the union, the school board, the principal, the judicial system and thousands of dollars in legal fees. As a result of union contracts and state-labor law

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Teacher Equality for Minority Students

s in most states, a tenured teacher can’t be dismissed until charges are filed and months of evaluations, hearings and appeals have occurred. Meanwhile, school districts must pay out thousands of dollars for paid leave and substitute instructors. The system is deliberately slow and can take anywhere from ten months to ten years.

Some school districts have resorted to separation or “buy-out” agreements to avoid extensive hearings and costs and in 1997, Oregon abolished tenure and replaced it with 2-year renewable contracts and a rehabilitation program for underachieving instructors. Other states like Connecticut, New York and Michigan have simply eliminated the word “tenure” from teacher contracts while retaining the due-process rights.

Judge Treu stayed his ruling pending appeals and knowing how long that could take, California’s Teacher Equity Plan may be in place way before teacher tenure is reformed.

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Notes from Fitch Mountain ’14

Posted by on Aug 15, 2014

Notes from Fitch Mountain ’14
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Fitch Mountain

It hardly seems like a year ago but we recently had our annual Fitch Mountain Association pot-luck and state of affairs at the villa picnic grounds. Donita Proctor opened the get-together by welcoming everyone and promptly introducing 4th District Supervisor Mike McGuire who spoke to us about several issues. This will be Mike’s last FMA attendance as district supervisor as it looks like he is headed to Sacramento as our next state senator.

He started by stating that the county has thus far made over $120m in budget cuts which included the elimination of 520 county employees. The county will have increased its property taxes assessment by over $12m, which will lead to a $21m budget surplus this year. He also said that the county has put approximately $8m into county road repair and construction and that they are looking to put another $100m into road rehabilitation. Funding for the new stripping and road reflectors on South and North Fitch Mountain Road came from a federal grant which included several county roads.

Of local interest McGuire said the county will be putting about $250m into the county park system which will include raising the Memorial Beach dam eight feet and the remodeling of the bathrooms. The project won’t start until after the Memorial Beach bridge repairs are completed sometime next year. We also now have funding in perpetuity a full-time sheriff deputy to patrol holiday activities at Camp Rose and Del Rio. The deal to buy Fitch Mountain for a Sonoma County Open Space Park now 99.8% done said McGuire but, then again, we have been waiting for this since 1992.

Fitch Mountain #2McGuire was then happy to report on the success of one of his long-time projects. He and the FMWS Advisory committee have work extremely hard to straighten out what was a very inefficient water situation on Fitch Mountain. Three years ago the lack of maintenance reserves prompted a rate increase of 36% over three years. Prior to the rate increase, the system was nearly bankrupt and now there’s a $198,000 reserve, built up in the last 3 years and we won’t see any rate increases over the next two years. In addition, Fitch Mountain will be purchasing water at a wholesale rate from City of Healdsburg which will save users $300-400k over the next several years.                                 The savings are a result of the City removing the operations and maintenance charges that we had been paying for, but for which the City didn’t provide.

McGuire then got into drought related issues when he said that our U.S. Congressional Reprehensive Jarred Huffman is working to get changes through congress that would separate the Lake Mendocino water reserves from the storage levels of the much smaller Lake Pillsbury. As we all know Lake Mendocino was drained by over 30% at the start of the drought in January of 2013 due to outdated Army Corp of Engineer regulations. He also said that one the engineering designs are complete they will be looking to raise Lake Mendocino’s Coyote dam by 30 feet which would double the lakes 100 acre feet capacity. Unfortunately, it looks like this project is still a good six years out. Lake Mendocino currently has a 10 month reserve with Lake Sonoma at 2.5 years.

Mike finished his talk with an announced change in the flight patterns at the Santa Rosa Airport will now be moved away from Healdsburg and Windsor and that as of August of this year we will all be entitled to two free low-flush toilets (1.6 gal to .8 gal) and free installation.Fitch Mountain #3

Donita commented on the fact that Fitch Mountain residences were not saving water. There were 1.240 m gallon used in April and 1.511m gallons used in May. She said this increase is probably due to the seasonal vacation rentals but more needs to be done to conserve water usage. The June figures were not available. There also appears to be an 11.77% water loss somewhere on the mountain. This loss figure is within the EPA guidelines but she suggested that everyone should watch their water bill for over usage and to check their meters. Even though we can’t vote for it an anti-fluoride spokesperson encouraged us to attend a workshop on the matter later in the summer.

Next up were the fire guys. Healdsburg Fire Chief Steve Adams said that by the time you get called on your land-line about a fire on the mountain the situation has probably already gone from containment to evacuation. So he suggest people be vigilant about fire awareness. He also suggested that we sign up with an internet service called NIXEL which automatically notifies subscribers of police and fire announcement in any particular zip code anywhere in the country. The Cal Fire guys said that they have two airplane tankers, a helicopter, five trucks and hand crews available for any fire in their district, which includes Fitch Mountain.

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Don and Marilyn McEnhill at Del Rio 1970

The last item on the agenda was from Al Pucci who said that the seasonal dam structure at Del Rio beach was being removed in August at the cost of $282k. The funds came from Del Rio tax assessments and grants. Since the Del Rio summer lake has such an historic connection to our community it will be sad to see it go.

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Not a Zero Sum Game

Posted by on Jul 1, 2014

Not a Zero Sum Game

Commentary

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Hotel Healdsburg

I had written a response to Sam Naujokas letter “Death of a small town” thinking that Mr. Naujokas was an older man who had grown up in Healdsburg. When I got an email from the Tribune’s editor, Kerrie Lindecker, that Sam is a fifteen year old high school student I was a little stunned. First of all I would like to say that Sam is an excellent writer way beyond his years. If all fifteen-year olds could write like this we wouldn’t be having the debates about how schools are failing our students. That said, since Sam entered this debate about Healdsburg’s future growth writing and thinking like an adult he deserves an adult response.

First of all this isn’t a zero sum game where winner takes all. It’s a matter of degree.  For capitalism to work it requires growth and growth is progressive. Conservatives would like to see things revert to the past or at least stay the same. Whether we like it or not successful business,’ like healthy children, will grow because it’s the nature of things.

Although Healdsburg’s tourism industry has brought changes many locals feel that the positives of those changes far outweigh the negatives. The tourist dollar has upped the town’s tax base which has allowed for improved community services such as infrastructure; and park and rec activities. The vibrant vitality of the shops and services around downtown are the envy of many towns in California and across the nation. And it’s not just the tourists that reap the benefit of the creative merchandise that stocks our stores.

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Healdsburg Plaza

Tourists come and go. They are here to visit the wineries; sip wine at the tasting rooms; visit town shops; eat at local restaurants; and sleep in our hotels, motels and B&Bs. And then they leave. It’s no different than when the town swells for the Tuesday night Plaza concerts and then un-swells. Tourism is a clean industry and if you are into people watching sitting on a sidewalk bench on a weekend is like watching a fashion show go by. With the right outlook it’s a lot of fun.

Although we sometimes wonder our town council is not stupid. They have their finger on the pulse beat of the community and most people pay attention to Healdsburg’s civic activities. They just commissioned a study to see how many more hotel rooms would be required to meet the demand so now they have a benchmark. This study doesn’t mean that the town is going to allow that many new hotel rooms. You see, they too are concerned about the quality of life in Healdsburg.

The reason a lot of people have resented Healdsburg Citizens for Sustainable Solutions is because they have come to town and tried to control the conversation about growth. They have insulted the people in this town who have worked years to shape the quality of our town working hard to include the entire community. To say that a couple of hundred responses to a survey represent a community of 12,000 people is insulting. Nobody disagrees that we need to have controlled growth but with HCSS one just gets feeling that they have a hidden agenda.

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Plaza at Center St. Healdsburg, Ca.

The housing issue is another problem that has no answer but to build more homes which HCSS opposes. The same thing happened to us who grew up in Marin County. We couldn’t afford to buy homes there and had to look north for more affordable housing. This problem is not unique to Healdsburg. Every desirable community on the West Coast of California is experiencing this lack of affordable housing. It has nothing to do with tourism. Healdsburg would be desirable with or without the tourist. Now if HCSS could contribute to finding a solution to the affordable housing problem maybe the community would be more supportive of them.

Sam wrote a wonderful letter. It bodes well for our society having young people as articulate as him. Just as the Common Core Standards requires students to look at math problems in more than one way, so does the planning of a community. And remember the only thing that never changes is the fact that everything changes.

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Mike McGuire – 100,000 Doors and Calls

Posted by on May 28, 2014

Mike McGuire – 100,000 Doors and Calls
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Chris Rogers signs-in volunteers

On the Saturday before the Super Bowl we all met at the Carpenter’s Hall on Lindaro Street in San Rafael. We were there, all 42 of us, volunteers to walk and talk and to introduce Marin voters to Mike McGuire who is running for the 2nd District State Senate. Mike is Sonoma County’s 4th District Supervisor and has this thing for knocking on doors.

First off he treated us to a continental breakfast of pastries and coffee and then we all gathered in the hall’s conference room for roll playing. Mike played himself and one of the experienced “walkers” played a homeowner. Mike’s campaign, www.mikemcquireforsentate.com uses a computer software program that identifies past voters, Democrat, Republican and “Decline to State” (independents), in a neighborhood.

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Mike does volunteer traing

Mike uses a “one to five” system for homeowner response with “one” being “yes, I’m voting for you” to five being “they chased me away with a broom!” The more interesting simulation came from the “two,” “three” and “four” responders. The twos’ were “I like what I hear and I will definite consider voting for you;” the threes’ were “I like what I hear but at this point I’m undecided;” and the fours’ were mostly Republicans. Most Republicans in Marin, a very liberal district, are “moderate” Republicans and not the more extreme tea party types. For the most part they are informed and care about the issues.

Mike then went over the voter talking points. For being so young (he’s 34) Mike has quite impressive resume of accomplishments:

  • Mike united Sonoma County around a jobs plan that made Sonoma County first in California jobs growth;
  • He has made strategic Sonoma County budget decisions which have created a $10 million surplus;
  • Mike, at 19 years-old, was the youngest ever Healdsburg school board president and who built a coalition that helped improve and strengthen local schools in response to state budget cuts;
  • As vice-chair of the Eel-Russian River Commission, Mike has protected and preserved thousands of acres of open space and our pristine coast;
  • Mike is a Democrat who is a pro-jobs and pro-Economic Development and has always been endorsed by the Farm Bureau and the Business Groups in Sonoma County;

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    Mike talks to a voter

  • Mike has been endorsed by Congressman Jared Huffman, Congressman Mike Thompson, State Senator Noreen Evans, State Senator Mark Leno, Novato Mayor Eric Lucan former Assemblywoman Patty Berg, former opponent Chris Lehman, California League of Conservation Voters, as well as the majority of the Eureka City Council.

We all then picked our tote bags which contained water, maps, voter lists, talking points, door hangers and pens. Mike then gave one of his patented “Now let’s all get out there…” pep talks which I think came from is time as Student Body President and Rally Commissioner at Healdsburg High School. Mike has a very ingratiating personality. He always has time to talk to someone. This is why people are attracted to him and why he has so many volunteers. His mom, Sherry, says he’s always been that way even as a little kid.

Everyone then scattered to their assigned neighborhoods some working alone others in teams. I went with Mike and his mother-in-law Carol Fremault (yes, it is all in the family) to a Terra Linda neighborhood. The homes there are Eichlers which were built in the 1950s and 60s. They were very futuristic for their time and most have been updated.  Mike and I took one side of the street and Carol took the other.

Mike knocked on the first door and no-one answered. He wrote a sorry I missed you note and left a door hanger. The next house had a “no solicitor” sign and so Mike again left a note and a door hanger. The third house was the charm. An older woman answer and Mike introduced himself with “Hi, I wanted to introduce myself I’m Mike McGuire and I’m running for 2nd District State Senator.” Mike handed her a door hanger and told her that she could read about his qualifications. She wanted to talk about senior healthcare and Mike got right into it talking about Medicare and what it has meant to the lives of California’s senior citizens. She thanked us and Mike thanked her – I think she was a “two.”

The next person was a “four.” He kind of grumbled and took the campaign literature. The next lady was a campaign worker’s dream. She was so excited to listen to Mike and said that she was glad such a young person was running for office. She was a “one” as she said she was definitely voting for Mike.

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Mike talks to Mark and Kay Woodburn’

After a few more “not homes” Mike knocked on Mark and Kay Woodburn’s door. Kay is a retired librarian and is involved in several non-profit organizations and even worked on a past San Rafael City councilman’s campaign. She was very up on the issues and talked to Mike about education and the environment. After we left I said they were definitely a “one” at which Mike surprised me by saying they were a” three.” He said I mistook their enthusiasm in talking to Mike as a commitment. Having talked to thousands of people, Mike new differently. I still think they’re a “one.”

We moved along knocking on doors and talking to people. Mike talked about pension reform, the drought and the projected state budget surplus. The reason Mike is so up on the issues is that he is a tireless reader getting up at four a.m. to start his day. I think it’s the farmer in him.

The most touching moment came when Mike knocked on a door and several small dogs started to yap. The door was answered by a Downs Syndrome young adult girl. Mike introduced himself and asked her what kind of dogs she had. She lit up talking about her dogs and Mike said that he has a pug. She said she loves pugs. Mike’s affection for animal is not forced as he grew up on a farm where he raised pigs, a turkey (called Gregory Peck), a “million” pigmy goats, 14 cats and four dogs.

She then asked Mike what he is doing to help handicapped people. Mike mentioned the handicap accessibility infrastructure that has been installed in Sonoma County since he has been supervisor and his support for “Mainstreaming” which is the practice of integrating students with special needs in regular classes. She then gave Mike a big hug. This is a trait of Downs’s kids and if we could all be like that the world would be a much more loving place.

Along the way Mike would texted entries to his Mike-for-Senate Facebook page to let everyone know about his morning activities – “Going the extra yard in San Rafael – Super Saturday is off and running! Over 40 are walking neighborhoods this morning (big thank you to all volunteers)!”

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Volunteer tailgate BBQ

So the knocking and walking ended (we only had couple of “fives” and they were family dogs that weren’t too happy so see us walking up their driveways).Back at the Carpenter’s Hall, Mike’s wife Erika and her crew stayed behind to prepare a Super Bowl type BBQ “tailgate” party for the volunteers. Everyone turned in their numbers and over 3,000 doors were knocked on that day. Mike then gave out prizes for homes walked, the most successful volunteer recruiter and the best Super Saturday selfie! The prizes were an “I Like Mike” t-shirt; a Starbucks gift card; and a jar of peanut butter.  The peanut butter was so random but that’s one of the reason we all love Mike.

Mike’s co-campaign manager Chris Rogers said, “Today puts us over 25,000 doors (they have now knocked on over 60,000 doors) and there are still seven more weeks until the June 3th vote. We are moving ahead … right through till November 4th. Others may be saying the race is over, but Mike never takes anything for granted and will always work his hardest, right up until the end.”

With 1,075,000 people in the Seven County 2nd District, and 2.23 people per dwelling, Mike only has about 450,000 doors to knock on. Knowing this man he would knock on every one of them if he could but don’t be surprised if he reaches 100,000 knocks and calls by June 3rd. So if you hear a knock at your door or a call on your phone, answer it, it just might be your next state senator.

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