Marin City CSD campaign sparks concern - Marin IJ- Novmeber 10, 2005

Marin City CSD campaign sparks concern
Marin IJ
10/10/2005
By Don Speich, Marin IJ Reporter



Some local officials are taking a skeptical view of a Sausalito Marin City school board member who also wants a seat on the Marin City Community Services District board.
Robert Fisher, 58, of Marin City, who was appointed Aug. 18 to the board of the Sausalito Marin City School District, is one of four candidates in the Nov. 8 election seeking three seats on the community services district board.

He joins candidates Karen Elaine Ashby, 63, and incumbents Terrie Harris-Greene, 56, and Melvin Atkins, 56, all of Marin City.

But unlike the others, Fisher's position as an elected official in the school district that overlaps the community services district puts him in the position of possibly voting in two different capacities on the same projects.

For example, there is a proposal in Marin City that would join both the school district and the CSD in the development of a new community center and middle school.

In an interview, Fisher gave no indication he would resign from either board if elected.

"This community has been underserved and my interest, on the school board or the CSD, is to serve, adequately, the people of Marin City," he said.

He couldn't be reached for further elaboration, and other members of the CSD board did not return calls seeking their opinions on the matter.

Acting schools Superintendent Mary Buttler and board members George Stratigos and Shirley Thornton said they believe Fisher should not hold the two positions. Buttler said that if for some reason he stayed on both boards, he would have to recuse himself on Marin City issues, such as the proposed community center and middle school.

Stratigos simply said, "he can't," when asked whether he thought Fisher should serve on both boards.

Whether there is in fact a conflict is at issue.

A spokesman for the state Fair Political Practices Commission - while declining to comment on the specifics of the case - said there did not appear to be a conflict of interest, because it was unlikely a financial conflict would arise from the dual roles.

But three opinions of the state attorney general maintain that people holding positions similar to those that Fisher would hold, in the same geographical area, must resign one of the posts because of a potential for conflict of interest.

Madelyn DeJusto, assistant Marin registrar of voters, said she told Fisher when he filed on Aug. 12 - the last day of the candidate filing period - that under normal circumstances, she would have required him to get a legal opinion addressing the issue of whether serving on the two boards could be a conflict.

But given that it was the filing deadline, she said, she took his papers after telling him that if he were appointed to the school board and elected to a seat on the CSD board, he would have to resign from one.

Meanwhile, the race for CSD board - typically low key - turns on services provided by the county for such things as health-care.

Atkins, who is seeking a third term, said the county is taking millions of dollars in property taxes out of Marin City and returning little in terms of services.

Money is needed for youth programs, and there are few available, he said.

High on Atkins' agenda is the proposed community center, which he envisions as including 40 units of workforce housing and a theater, along with a new school.

Atkins, repeating a desire heard often in Marin City, wants sheriff's deputies to renew the practice of cops walking their beats. That way, he said, deputies get to know members of the community better than is possible when patrolling in squad cars.

It would be nice, he said, if a deputy coming across a youth he knows would be able to say, "You need to get home, your parents are looking for you."

He also said it is important for residents and outsiders to realize that Marin City is no longer predominantly black, and that residents come from various religions and ethnic backgrounds. It is not uncommon, for example, to see women in Muslim dress on the street.

Fisher, a retired engineer, also complained about Marin City not receiving more from its property taxes than is now the case.

"We've paid over $8 million in various sundry taxes and the most (Marin City) has ever gotten back from the county since 1990 is $125,000, and this year it was $92,000."

The key to everything, said Fisher, is education.

"If education comes, finances will come," he said. And when Marin City's youth grow up, they will be able to buy homes in Marin City, he said.

"We want the schools to be pushing the things that must happen to be on a par with (other schools) in Marin County."

Ashby said she wants to take Marin City to where it once was and should be again - proud of its heritage and optimistic about its future.

She laments the fact that Marin City is "so isolated." There are problems, she said in an interview - "the drugs are flowing through here, people come from the outside and set up shop."

She said the current board has done nothing to change anything.

"I'm a whistleblower. These people have pimped the people, they are for sale," said Ashby, who said she is a writer and also unemployed.

"I will do everything I can to make sure residents come first; public housing should be a priority."

Ashby, who has lived in the community since 1978, said it is necessary for Marin City to stage entertainment events that will draw people from all over, "so people can come in and see we are not uncivilized."

The current political landscape needs to be altered and soon because "there is nobody in leadership positions that gives a damn about the poor."

Harris-Green was not available for comment.

In her statement to be placed on the ballot, Harris-Green, a human services administrator, said she wants to "continue working, including producing state-of-the-art recreation, cultural, senior and health center (sic) and securing more of our tax dollars to help meet our public service commitment."