Endorsements by the Pacific Sun and the Marin Independent Journal

By Jerry Peters

• The Pacific Sun, Oct 7, 2011 Novato Sanitary District

There are two seats open. Retired architect George Quesada is running as an incumbent; Jean Mariani, who has served a variety of sanitation-agency boards, is an appointed incumbent after filling the seat of retired member Jim Fritz. Challenging are attorney Suzanne Brown Crow, community volunteer John Coleman and retired facilities manager Jerry Peters.

The current board finds itself at loggerheads frequently, with longtime directors Bill Long and Mike Di Giorgio oftentimes at odds with director Dennis Welsh. During the headhunt to appoint a replacement for Fritz, Di Giorgio favored Mariani, the eventual appointee; Welsh lobbied for NSD watchdog Crow.

John Coleman has run for a variety of boards and councils in the past few years--usually eyeballing a contentious race and positioning himself as the "common sense" candidate. But his campaign literature is invariably short on specifics regarding his knowledge of the issues and he has in the past neglected to respond to questions or to seek out endorsements. In that respect he usually gets his wish.

Quesada has served Novato well in his 36 years on the board, though he's never truly taken a leadership position--it sometimes seems as if he lets others set the agenda, and he'll jump to one side of the fence or the other. It's probably time for someone with more rigor to take his place.

Jerry Peters was Novato's 2007 Citizen of the Year. He served a term on the Planning Commission in the mid-'90s and was president of the Chamber of Commerce in 2005. He's been on numerous town-events committees, while working for 20 years as property manager at the Brayton Purcell building across from Fireman's Fund. He supports the contract with Veolia and says the district's biggest mistake has been in not immediately appointing "the most qualified candidate" to fill Fritz's seat, Jean Mariani. Mariani, as we mentioned above, has served on the boards of two other Marin sanitation agencies, as well as the California Association of Sanitation Agencies and the S.F. Public Utilities Commission.

Brown Crow is an opponent of the Veolia Water contract; she was co-chair of the No on F campaign to reverse the board's decision to hire the French company. We don't question her intelligence, or her passion for the Novato Sanitary District and its customers. But we also feel she would probably further the schism on the board, which is not something the district or the town would benefit from.

Mariani's sanitary credentials are hard to beat; Peters' positive community involvement is quite impressive.

We recommend Jean Mariani and Jerry Peters.

• Editorial: IJ recommendations for fire and sanitary district races

THE NOVATO Sanitary District has been involved in a political power struggle in recent years.

The appointment of Jean Mariani to the district's board has helped calm that storm. She is now seeking election to the board and should be retained. She brings to the post the experience of having served on the Ross Valley Sanitary District board.

Longtime board member George Quesada, who has served Novato on the City Council and on the sewer board, is seeking re-election to a seat he has held since 1974. Local voters should be grateful for Quesada's faithful public service. We have endorsed him before. But his recent political antics in an attempt to block the appointment of Mariani are a sign that it's time he leave the board.

The best candidate to replace him is Gerald Peters, who led last year's campaign to defend the district's contract for a private operator for its new sewer treatment plant. Peters, a retired building manager, knows the district, its contract with Veolia, the community, maintenance and management.

Two other candidates, Suzanne Brown Crow and John Coleman, also have deep local roots.

Crow was one of the leaders of the campaign to rescind the contract. Voters narrowly endorsed the contract and Crow would not ease the political friction on the district board.

John Coleman said he was not interested in the IJ's endorsement.

The IJ recommends voters elect Jean Mariani and Gerald Peters to the two seats on the Novato Sanitary District board.