Most Marin County government agencies are still failing to be fully transparent on how much they pay their officials and employees, according to a new civil grand jury report.
“The public should be able to access this information easily and quickly rather than having to dig through meeting minutes or policy manuals that may or may not be easy to find on a website,” the watchdog panel said in the report, which was released Wednesday.
The problems persist despite state mandates and previous recommendations made by the grand jury, according to the report.
“The Grand Jury has focused on these issues for more than six years, without satisfactory resolution,” the report states. “Perhaps with this follow-up report, agencies will come to understand the vital importance of public transparency and will be more forthcoming with this information and finally improve their websites.”
The grand jury analyzed the disclosures made by the county, 11 cities and towns, 10 sanitary districts, nine fire districts and three water districts on their websites.
State law requires agencies with websites to post the annual compensation of their employees and elected officials. The websites must also include a link to the State Controller’s Office public pay website in a “conspicuous location.”
Many public agencies are required to report compensation figures annually to the State Controller’s Office. Some agencies were not reporting board member compensation because they had been informed by the state that it was not required “unless a W-2 form for the compensation was issued,” according to the report.
“Some elected officials are paid fees for which W-2 forms are not issued,” the report states. “State officials have now confirmed that the elected officials’ compensation must be reported regardless of how they are paid.”
Some agencies were only posting links to the Transparent California website rather than the controller’s site, according to the grand jury. Transparent California is a website created by the Nevada Policy Research Institute, a nonprofit organization promoting private solutions over government solutions to public issues.
To improve transparency, the grand jury is recommending that agencies place a link to the controller’s database on their websites where it can be found within three clicks of the home page and within five minutes of searching.
The report says the entities not properly disclosing this information are Marin County, Mill Valley, Sausalito, Tiburon, six fire districts and authorities, four sanitary districts and the Stinson Beach Water District.
“We’re always interested in increased transparency,” Dan Eilerman, assistant county administrator, said Wednesday in response to the report. “The county is a large organization and just last year won a national award for its digital infrastructure and information transparency. We’ll review the grand jury’s suggestions to find straightforward ways of best communicating information to the public.”
The county’s Department of Information Services and Technology placed fourth in its county-size category in the Digital Counties Survey Center run by the Center for Digital Government and the National Association of Counties.
The grand jury is calling on agencies to look to the Marin Municipal Water District and the North Marin Water District for examples of detailed compensation data.
That said, the grand jury still sees room for improvement and is recommending these two districts and several other agencies to post a link to the state controller’s website on their board web pages. In addition, the report recommends that agencies publish annual reports listing how much their elected officials were paid in the previous fiscal year.
“We appreciate the grand jury’s recognition of our transparency and attention to detail,” said Ben Horenstein, general manager of the Marin Municipal Water District, “and we were pleased to see our work used as an example of best practices in these areas. We understand the importance of transparency in keeping the public’s trust, and we are carefully reviewing the report and the recommendations.”
COVID-19 changes
State law requires the local governments and agencies to respond to the grand jury recommendations within 90- to 120-day windows. However, the grand jury has expressed concern about whether the COVID-19 pandemic’s strain on staff time will allow them to comply with these laws.
Each grand jury report being issued in the coming weeks will include a statement acknowledging the coronavirus crisis and its potential impact on agencies.
“Whether the deadlines are extended or not, it is our expectation that Marin’s public agencies will eventually be able to return to normal operations and will respond to this report,” the grand jury report states. “In the meantime, however, public health and safety issues are of paramount importance and other matters might need to wait.”
Foreperson Lucy Dilworth said the jury has shifted exclusively to online meetings. Presiding Judge Andrew Sweet has extended members’ terms through Sept. 30, with no plans to impanel a new jury “until matters become clearer,” she said in an email.
