YOUR HOMETOWN WEEKLY NEWSPAPER ward Winning News al A pa
Vol. 7, No. 12
Including Surrounding Communities
www.discoverybaypress.com
Emotion, commotion and the metamorphosis of two local MACs by Rick Lemyre Staff Writer
This is the second of a threepart series on the efforts of two far East County towns to retain their heritage and remain rural and small in the face of regional growth and changing local politics. Part one (last week): Setting the stage (log on to thepress.net); this week: The changes play out; part three: Looking ahead. The East Contra Costa towns of Byron and Knightsen are both more than 100 years old, small, and like it that way. Residents of both feel threatened by nearby development and are alarmed that the area they represent has been recently cut in half and their representative councils replaced. They’re suspicious of county government, of their neighbors in Discovery Bay and of District III Supervisor Mary Nejedly Piepho, who falls into both categories. And they each recently packed a local meeting room, bringing together for
Photo by Stacey Chance/Discovery Bay Studios.com
Residents of the small East County town of Byron are concerned that their town’s heritage and ambience is threatened by future development. the first time some disconcerted residents, their recently displaced representatives, their newly appointed representatives, and Piepho. Back in 2005, Piepho, along with District V Supervisor Federal Glover, had been directed by the full county Board of Supervisors
(BOS) to form an ad hoc committee to “improve consistency” among the county’s 11 municipal advisory councils (MACs). Most were set up in the late 1980s and early 1990s to provide the county supervisor in their district with recommendations on matters of concern in their unincorporated
communities. The MACs were a hodgepodge of roughly similar organizations ranging in size from five to nine members. Some had elected representatives; others were appointed. Some got administrative assistance from the county; others didn’t. And there were no consistent criteria for drawing boundaries. Over the next two and a half years, new policies, procedures and boundary guidelines were created, discussed in public meetings and adopted by the full BOS on Dec. 16, 2008. Most MAC boundaries were untouched, Knightsen and Byron were halved, the Discovery Bay CSD’s referral area grew slightly, and all sitting MAC members would see their terms end in two weeks. Those are the basic facts. The details surrounding them are less clear. Kathy Leighton sits in a red leather sofa cradling a mug of hot coffee. The spacious family
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March 20, 2009
THIS WEEK
Insight and inspiration
A trio of Liberty grads will share their motivational stories with the next generation.
Page 9A
Thumbs up on East Cypress The environmental powers that be have given the go-ahead to a major project.
Page 4A
Basking in Gaelic glow
see MACs page 21A
CSD Board to examine advisory role by Ruth Roberts and Rick Lemyre Staff Writers The Discovery Bay Community Services District (CSD) board will review how some of the town’s business gets done – and how it gets paid for. CSD Treasurer Dave Dove has asked for an agenda item to review the town’s role as an advisory body to the county Board of Supervisors. The CSD is charged primarily with managing sewer, water, landscaping and recreation services, but because the CSD’s formation in 1998 was accompanied by the dissolution of the town’s municipal advisory council (MAC), the CSD was also charged with providing the County Board of Supervisors (BOS) recommendations on other community concerns normally outside the purview of the CSD.
“ It’s the public’s money, and they need to know it’s being spent properly. At the end of the day, I want to make sure it doesn’t turn into something where the CSD has to defend itself in court.
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CSD Treasurer Dave Dove One of the things the board will look at is how to pay for expenses incurred while performing advisory council (AC) duties. The CSD’s funding comes from tax dollars, and according to state law, those dollars can be used only for the services they were origi-
nally intended: sewer, water, landscaping and recreation. The AC duties are therefore an unfunded mandate. Up to this point, the CSD Board has blended its duties with expenses for AC functions being absorbed by the CSD. A sampling of the town’s past CSD meeting agendas plus monthly billing statements from Neumiller & Beardslee, the town’s attorneys, shows that nearly half of a typical CSD meeting is spent on AC business. With legal fees coming in at around $215 per hour, that adds up to about $8,300 per year spent for legal services during AC discussions at board meetings alone. Other AC expenses include attorney fees for outside meetings, such as recent P-6 district discussions and talks about a re-organization of the county’s various advisory bodies.
Save a bundle!
see CSD page 13A
The DB Athletic Club served up a St. Patrick’s Day tennis social to turn the competition green with envy.
Page 5B
INSIDE Business ...........................14A Calendar ..........................23B Classifieds ........................17B Cop Logs ..........................17A Entertainment ................14B Food .................................12B Health & Beauty .............11B Milestones ......................... 9B Opinion ...........................16A Sports ................................. 1B WebExtras! ....................... 1B
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FOR MOVIE TIMES SEE PAGE 5A