Smarting from complaints by members of the Tomales Sewer Improvement District, staff of North Marin Water District on Monday vowed to speed up the process of contracting a new operator for the town sewer.

District representative and the sewer committee spent a tense three hours in Tomales trying to figure out how to get a private operator hired before the rains begin or by Nov. 1, whichever comes first.

Although North Marin owns the town's treatment facility atop Cerini Road, "we want equal say in the destiny of our system," sewer committee spokesperson Kathleen Crayne said. "We also want equal say as to who gets hired to operate it for us."

North Marin staff have written a hefty bid request during their "off hours" - an uncommon practice, noted North Marin General Manager Chris DeGabriele. "We have to make sure the district is protected, and that there's something in the [bid request] to attract an independent contractor."

To sweeten the package, the district has also offered up the running of the Oceana Marin system in Dillon Beach, either for independent or combined operation with the Tomales system.

When asked by Tomales resident Scott Lawson why the Oceana Marin system was brought into the mix, North Marin director Dennis Rodoni explained that the system there was included merely as option for contractors who might not be enticed by handling only Tomales' 89 hookups.

Besides, Rodoni added, residents of Oceana Marin might find the pairing appealing, since their sewage rates may rise once Tomales leaves North Marin.

"All our travel time from our headquarters in Novato would be allocated to Oceana Marin," DeGabriele explained, whereas now district personnel often handle both systems in the same trip. "We want to give our customers there other options if they wanted them."

Meanwhile, the water district has already contacted several prospective bidders: Phillips & Associates of Napa (selected by the Tomales sewer committee), US Filter of Petaluma, Sonoma County Water Agency of Santa Rosa, Novato Sanitary District of Novato, Russian River Utility of Forestville, and Bracewell Engineering, Inc. of Oakland.

North Marin staff agreed to add comments from committee members to the bid requests before they officially go out next week.

While operation of the Tomales system can be subcontracted to a private operator or another public agency, no one besides North Marin can manage the Tomales system until townspeople create their own sewer district. That's what the sewer committee ultimately wants.

Supervisor Steve Kinsey, who was on hand to "encourage" collaboration between the parties in preparing the bid, offered to prod the county's Local Agency Formation Commission, which handles the creation of special districts.

So far, LAFCO has moved slowly on the matter. Said a disappointed Crayne, "We've been told that the LAFCO reorganization will take between six months to two and a half years."