Dear Neighbors,
On December 12, MMWD held the Oath of Office ceremony for new Directors. I am proud to serve with two terrific new Directors, Matt Samson and Ranjiv Khush. I’m also super grateful to have the opportunity to work with returning Directors Monty Schmitt and Larry Russell. A sincere thank you goes to outgoing Directors Cynthia Koehler, Larry Bragman and Jack Gibson, who dedicated themselves to decades of service and gave so much to our District.
I want to start by saying how much I appreciate the staff and leadership team at MMWD, who I have been able to get to know and learn from over the past month. What a dedicated and professional crew.
How remarkable is it that we were talking about a prolonged drought a few weeks ago, and we are now dealing with reservoirs releasing excess water. One thing for sure, we will have a more and worse onerous drought and more atmospheric deluges in the future. One-time events seem to be recurring.
Our community has been touched by global issues: the impact of climate change, pandemic confusion, and strident politics. It may be a helpful goal for us all to try to keep an even keel, plan thoughtfully as we secure our future.
As first-time Directors, we were handed a slew of briefings, committee meetings, board meetings, tours, district meetings, and decisions. Although I was elected by the folks in neighborhoods around Marin City, Sausalito and Mill Valley, MMWD is charged with the caretaking of the water supply for ~200,000 people and land stewardship for a 22,000 acre watershed enjoyed by over 400 flora and fauna (many protected, threatened) and ~2 million lucky people. I must say that running a campaign was a challenging and humbling experience; but it served me well to hear the important perspectives of advocates and citizens.
And boom, many decisions are on our desks—from dealing with prolonged droughts and a hopeful Coho salmon rehabilitation, flash floods and finances in need of fine-tuning, dozens of miles of trails and hundreds of miles of old pipes…here we go—and by “we,” I mean that I could sure use your support and participation.
I plan to send out regular updates about the issues and opportunities that confront us. Please feel free to forward this email to like-minded people so they can sign up for my newsletter here, or you may opt-out below. In this note, I hope to give you a window into what I am experiencing and give you an opportunity to provide feedback and advice.
One of the great joys thus far has been meeting our terrific staff. A remarkable, dedicated team. Please reach out to an MMWD worker—as they can fix the leaking pipes in your streets, handle flooding, care for trails, deal with storm damage and seek to serve our community, whether at 2am, 6am, 3pm—and say thank you!
