MENDOCINO — Two new board members have joined the Mendocino City Community Services District. Both Jean Arnold and Jim Sullivan jumped into community service by applying for the open board positions at MCCSD; board positions are voluntary and board members do not receive compensation for the work they do on behalf of the community.
This week The Beacon is featuring an interview with Arnold. (For an interview with Sullivan, please see next week’s paper.) Arnold moved to the City Mendocino in 2019 after retiring from Marin Municipal Water District as a distribution operator. She came on board in January after the unfortunate death of former board president Roger A. Schwartz.
Arnold holds a D-3 water distribution certification and a T-2 water treatment operator certification from the State of California. Prior to her work at MMWD, she was the program director for a literacy program at San Quentin and a copy editor for the SF Chronicle. Arnold holds a B.S. in Marine Engineering from the California Maritime Academy and a B.A. in English from Yale. She was also the first woman licensed by the U.S. Coast Guard as a Chief Engineer.
Why did you apply to join the MCCSD Board?
When my husband and I were looking to buy a house here in Mendocino Village, our then-agent, Mary Cesario Weaver, asked me about my background, then exclaimed, “You must run for the sewer board!” This didn’t sound nearly as exciting to me as she seemed to think it was, but once we had moved here, I saw how critical citizen participation is to the running of the community, and I most definitely want to do my part.
(On a selfish note, I hope to meet new people and to keep my brain stimulated through reading contracts and regulations, dealing with legal and regulatory questions, negotiating solutions to problems with my fellow board members and examining budgets.)
I have a strong interest in environmental solutions to problems, and see many climate-related challenges and disruptions ahead for all service providers. I would add that when I first started attending meetings, last year, the board was short a member and it appeared there was one member under age 40 and the remaining three were over 70. (All were male, incidentally, and I was told there had never been a female board member.)
There also were two key office staff members planning to retire. It was evident that new people needed to step up during this transition period. Since then, one board member died, and another stepped down due to increased responsibilities.
You joined the Board during a tumultuous period. Do you plan to run for your seat when your term is over?
When I applied, I thought I was going to have to run this November if I wanted to keep my seat, but I subsequently found out that due to staggered terms my seat won’t come up for election until 2022, and some people who are far more versed than I in groundwater matters have expressed an interest. It would be fantastic to have a full complement of five board members, and competitive elections. There have been more issues than I anticipated, and more conflict. Two years is a long time from now.
Do you think the majority of customers are happy with MCCSD?
I do think the majority of customers is happy with the MCCSD and the groundwater management program. Back in January, after my first, extremely contentious meeting as a board member, I went door-to-door around my neighborhood and asked my neighbors how they felt about the groundwater metering program; I also asked people I met around town, at the dog park and the store. About 20 people spoke with me and all were in favor but one, and he said he didn’t know enough about it to have an opinion. Although I felt and feel very strongly that groundwater management is essential, I also wanted to make sure I represented the voters here.
What would you like to accomplish as an MCCSD board member?
If the board agrees with the concept, I’d like to provide more information to customers about what we do and what they can do to reduce the community’s impact on the ocean and on our shared water source. Pesticides, herbicides, chemical fertilizers, unaged manure, runoff from pressure-treated wood, fluids leaking from cars — all of these things eventually make their way into the groundwater we’re all drinking. Also, most people have either no idea what the sewage treatment plant does, or they think it removes “everything” from their effluent, and that influences what they put down their drains. More needs to be done to explain the District’s fixed costs; for instance, reduced flows don’t save it money, and conformance with regulations has an inescapable cost. I’d like to help write materials on these topics to be included with consumers’ bills.
You seem to be especially interested in the district’s finances. What do you see is your fiduciary responsibility to the district and its customers?
As a Program Director for a prison literacy project, I had to raise money from private donors, write grants, and develop and implement budgets. That money was just as hard-won as anything else I earned, and should I have failed at raising and managing it, we wouldn’t have gotten paid and the program would have fallen apart. The care with which the district manages its finances is key to the public’s trust, and I’ll do my best to maintain that trust. Following the money also helps me familiarize myself with the operations of the district.
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July 03, 2020 at 02:31AM
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Meet a new MCCSD board member: Jean Arnold - Mendocino Beacon
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