Point Reyes Light - August 28, 2003

Tomales sewer & park district's finances good

By Ivan Gale

Tomales Village Community Services District administrator Karl Drexel last week reported the sewer-and-park district is in "the best financial state it has ever been."

State grants, innovative fundraising techniques, penny-pinching, as well as one rate hike (since taking over the sewer system from North Marin Water District in early 2000) have led to the community services district’s much-improved finances, Drexel told The Light last week

In other district news:

• The sewage-treatment system can now be operated with remote controls thanks to a new computer system. The computer monitors and regulates the treatment system and will allow district staff to open and shut valves, as well turn pumps off and on, without being on the scene.

• Both incumbents up for reelection on the district’s board of directors will retain their seats. However, Director Pam Mulvey has left Tomales and had to resign, so the board will appoint someone to fill her seat.

• One-hundred-year-old palm trees in Tomales Community Park will not be cut down, although a few townspeople had discussed having them removed as non-native.

The community services district has steadily whittled down to $138,000 a $178,000 debt it inherited from NMWD when it took over the Tomales sewer system 3.5 years ago.

The debt is left over from the construction of the sewer system in the 1970s. In 2000, the Legislature voted in favor of the State Water Resources Control Board’s forgiving $166,000 of the debt (the full amount due at the time). Gov. Gray Davis, however, vetoed the appropriation.

Origins of district

The small community services district dates to 1996 when Tomales’ 90 sewer customers angrily decided to secede from Novato-based NMWD. They were angry that an underground sewage pipe had burst and spilled a million gallons of treated sewage into Walker Creek, which flows into Tomales Bay.

The bill of sale transferring the public utility was completed in 1999, and the first TVCSD meeting was convened in February 2000.

In the 34 months since then, manager Drexel noted, the district has managed to make needed improvements despite the Davis veto. "It was quite a blow," he said. "We’ve been able to do [the improvements], but it’s been more difficult."

The improvements have included renovating a pumping station and installing a liquid-chlorine disinfection system (which replaced a more dangerous chlorine-gas system).

Pipes and valves that had been installed 30 years ago were replaced, along with the two sewer mains that connect the treatment ponds, storage ponds, and irrigation field.

T-shirts subsidize agency

Unlike most sewer districts that depend on taxes, fees, and grants to operate, TVCSD is so small it has had to finance operations in unconventional ways.

For Tomales Founders’ Days (which this year will be held Sunday, Aug. 31), the district has sold used books, t-shirts, aprons, and historical photographs to raise funds. The district has also solicited direct donations, as any other civic organization might do.

Now, noted Drexel in a district newsletter, "the district is well on the way toward being able to fund all of the necessary improvements and has put away enough for that proverbial ‘rainy day.’"

Remote controls

A major focus of the district’s efforts is its new computerized system, which allows engineers and district administrators to monitor and control the system from remote locations.

Previously, engineers from Phillips and Associates would have to drive from their offices in Napa to inspect and control the system or respond to alarms. Now a computer program monitors the district’s treatment plants, and engineers can control system pumps and valves from their computers in Napa.

Besides providing faster responses, this cuts down on travel expenses. The consulting firm’s radio transmitters and receivers can alter operations at the treatment plant.

A relay station at the plant allows the management firm to control the pumping station and the irrigation fields – in short, every mechanized part of the sewer system.

"We’re probably ahead of most small treatment plants in that we have a system like this," Drexel said.

Board of directors

With nobody filing to challenge them, incumbents Bill Tucker and Margaret Graham will retain their directors’ seats. However, the often-incomplete board will still be short one director, as Pam Mulvey had to resign last month when she moved out of Tomales.

Manager Drexel said he is looking for a Tomales resident interested in being appointed to serve the remainder of Mulvey’s term, which runs until December 2005.

Although the district has existed only 3.5 years, its five-person board has had nine directors, five of which had to resign when they moved out of town.

Palms to stand

Having better luck staying intact are a row of ancient palm trees along Highway 1 in the community park. District directors have agreed to spare the row of palms thought to have been planted in the late 19th Century.

The issue in recent months has been how ancient is ancient. Old photographs confirmed the trees were not planted by the park’s original owner, Tomales town founder Warren Dutton. Since then, Drexel said, the district asked residents whether the trees should be cut down to "maintain the historical aspect of the park."

After receiving several letters and calls asking that the trees be saved, directors decided to leave them standing despite the fact that they are "considered a weed and non-native," Drexel reported.

At the same time, the district has also been in the midst of redesigning the park. The district will replace aging play structures, create new parking, upgrade restrooms, and make paths accessible to wheelchairs.

Landscaping and a drip-irrigation system were installed earlier this year by a group consisting of directors, volunteers, and students.

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