Election Season Kicks Off

Barely a month after Marin voters cast ballots in the June primary, election season kicks off today with the opening of the filing period for open seats in the Nov. 2 election. And after two consecutive elections that were packed with contentious races, this fall should be a decidedly lighter affair, particularly in Mill Valley.

The election features only a handful of races of local import. They include five seats on the Strawberry Recreation District's board, a Marin Municipal Water District (MMWD) seat that includes Mill Valley, as well as three seats on the Marin Health District board, for which the seats are not divided geographically.

All five members of the Strawberry Rec District board - Jennifer Klopfer, Jeff Francis, Julie Zener, Kelly Reade, and Peter Teese – intend to run for re-election, Klopfer said. The district is responsible for maintaining the community center, athletic facilities and parks of Strawberry.

Four of the five seats on the MMWD board are up for election this fall, including that of Cynthia Koehler, whose District IV includes Mill Valley, Alto, Homestead Valley and a portion of Tam Valley. Koehler said that she intends to run for re-election.

The most contentious race in Marin likely will be that of the Marin Healthcare District board, which ushered in a new era two weeks ago with the termination of Sutter Health as the operator of Marin General Hospital. The move ended the hospital's tumultuous, 5-year relationship with Sutter.

Three seats on the five-member district board are up Nov. 2, and each of the three incumbents intend to run for re-election, they said.

"There's more work to be done," said fellow incumbent Jamie Clever. "The best firewall of all to protect the hospital from the at times crazy politics on the district board is to have a tradition of good people running for office."

Board Chairman Larry Bedard said he anticipates a smooth transition and looks forward to taking to the voters a bond measure needed to finance construction of a new, earthquake-safe hospital building. The district must complete the project by 2015, and intends to take a $250 million general obligation bond to voters in 2011. The bond will have to get two-thirds approval of voters in the healthcare district, which includes all of Marin except Novato.

"The board election and the bond issue will be one in the same in many ways," Clever said.

Upon the June 30 transition from Sutter, the district board appointed 11 people to the Marin General Hospital Corp.'s board of directors, including four Mill Valley residents: David Hill, Ann Kaom Paul Kirincic and Timothy Sowerby.

The deadline to submit paperwork to run on Nov. 2 is Aug. 6 at 5pm. In seats where the incumbent chooses not to run again, the filing period will be extended to Aug. 11. The deadline for voters to register to vote in the Nov. 2 election is Oct. 18.

Prospective candidates can obtain nomination papers at the Marin County Registrar of Voters, Room 121, Civic Center, 3501 Civic Center Drive, San Rafael, CA 94903.