Tamalpais Union school district hires bond consultant

Despite numerous complaints about a "fancy overpriced wish list" and a consultant's use of the words "neutralize opposition," the Tamalpais Union High School District, Calif., board voted 5-0 to hire a capital campaign strategist for a possible tax measure.

Although the contract won't be presented or signed until the board's next meeting Aug. 8, the firm, Whitehurst/Mosher of San Francisco, got verbal approval Tuesday for a $5,000 per month retainer for the next six months to help board members zero in on the district's needs for facilities, staff and other resources -- and then see if taxpayers would be willing to ante up financing.

The firm's representative, principal Jill Nelson Golub, will work with a pollster to be hired by the district to do a community survey of attitudes toward whatever tax proposals are developed.

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"I believe we need to hire a person to have more outreach in the community," said board member Michael Futterman. "We do not have the in-house expertise to make this happen."

Futterman, citing a 16 percent rise in enrollment in the district's five schools since 2014-15, and a projected 35 percent increase by 2021-22, said the district was already spending down its reserves to the tune of $4 million annually.

If a new source of revenue is not identified soon, the district will need to consider cutbacks or even layoffs, he said.

"This can't go on indefinitely," he said. "We need to deal with the demographic reality."

But numerous residents at Tuesday's board meeting said the district was going about the process in a "cart-before-the-horse" way. That included putting out in June a massive draft Facilities Master Plan that identified scores of suggested improvements -- totaling a $450 million bond price tag if all the suggestions were implemented. The list of improvements was not prioritized and did not indicate emergencies such as potential for flooding or safety hazards.

"I think this is a bad idea and it's not going to fly," said former PTA president Barbara Solomon of Corte Madera, one of about 25 residents in the audience. "I don't think you should sit here with this fancy overpriced wish list and then hire a strategist to help you sell it."

Mimi Willard of Kentfield said the board was going about the process out of sequence. She said it didn't make sense to hire a capital campaign strategist when the board had not yet identified or shared their priorities within the draft Facilities Master Plan -- and had not yet accepted or approved the draft plan as they had originally intended to do Tuesday before it was taken off the agenda.

"I don't think the solution is to just hire a consultant and skip over (the facilities master plan)," she said. "You need to do that first before you spend the money on a strategist, and before you go one more step down a slippery slope -- the whole thing is premature."

Willard pointed to a July 11 letter to the district from Supervisor Kate Sears, who expressed concerns that the county was not contacted about the impact of parking, traffic and safety on Almonte Boulevard -- near Tamalpais High School -- that could arise from a proposal for a parking and drop-off center included in the draft facilities master plan.

"Neither the county of Marin nor the city of Mill Valley were notified of the FMP, nor were they invited to participate in the process which produced it," Sears wrote in the letter.

Board members acknowledged Tuesday they were behind on getting clear about priorities and communicating them to the public.

"If our outreach has been poor before this time, we apologize," Futterman said. "We can do better."

Willard noted later that the board appeared to be uncertain about whether it needed a bond measure, which would cover facilities construction, or a parcel tax to pay for operating expenses.

"It's not clear if they need new teachers or a parking garage," she said.

Adding to the unrest, residents and even board members said they were shocked when Golub, in her PowerPoint presentation, said one of the tasks she would be helping with was to "neutralize opposition" from taxpayers to a bond or parcel tax proposal.

"Words like 'neutralize opposition' suggest that we're trying to manipulate the public," said board member Barbara Owens. "That's not what we are trying to do."

Board president Laura Anderson agreed.

"When I read 'neutralize opposition' I had more dangerous visions in my head," she quipped.

Some residents did not find the phrase humorous.

"We've got $500,000 in the hole every year (paying down future unfunded pension liabilities) and we want to spend more money on a consultant to neutralize opposition?" said Benedetto Cico of San Anselmo. Cico also asked whether residents would be able to access the data in the community survey.

Willard said the 'neutralize opposition' phrase "should have been immediately disqualifying."

Golub, however, said the phrase referred to the firm's process of understanding community members' feelings and wishes and making sure that their concerns were acknowledged and addressed. She told the board she understood that they did not appreciate the words.

Willard also questioned the selection process for Whitehurst/Mosher, who was chosen from a pool of three companies by Superintendent David Yoshihara. She said the action would be taken on Yoshihara's recommendation, but without giving the board or the public a staff report, copy of the contract or a copy of Golub's PowerPoint on the scope of work.

"Instead of hiring a consultant, I think you should hire a financial analyst or a CPA to see where you can cut costs," said Arlene Fox of Larkspur.

Anderson said she did not think moving ahead with hiring Golub was premature.

"We were told in November 2016 it would have been a good idea then, but we elected not to do it," she said. "Instead, we did the facilities master plan first."

Anderson said the delay meant that the earliest a bond measure vote might be possible would be the June 2018 ballot.

"We are feeling pressure to make a decision," she said. "We need to figure out priorities -- and we need to do our homework."

Futterman said the community needs to understand that any return on a bond or parcel tax was in human capital.

"Our substantial return on investment is to turn out quality kids," he said. "That is our mission."

Tamalpais Union High School District, one of the largest school districts in Marin, includes Redwood, Tamalpais, Sir Francis Drake, Tamiscal and San Andreas high schools.

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