Grand Jury

MARIN COUNTY CIVIL GRAND JURY 2014-2015 • AUGUST 2015 MARIN COUNTY CIVIL GRAND JURY REPORT SUMMARY 8 Report issued June 4, 2015 During the 2014-2015 Marin County Grand Jury investigation leading to its 2015 report, Pension Enhancements: A Case of Government Code Violations and A Lack of Transparency, the Grand Jury learned that negotiations between Marin County, and the cities and towns therein, and their respective unions (herea er collectively referred to as the "Parties") are conducted in private, without transparency, and removed from the scrutiny of the Marin community. Although Marin County residents pay taxes to support decisions made by the Marin County Board of Supervisors (BOS) and the City and Town Councils, (herea er collectively referred to as "Employer(s)"), there are numerous times when no transparency into the background of those decisions is made to the public. e Grand Jury learned that the public is notifi ed of a negotiated tentative labor agreement only when the agenda, which schedules consideration of the agreement, is posted—some three to four days prior to the Employers' public meetings. is is also the meeting at which the Employers vote to approve or disapprove the agreement. Prior to the agenda posting, little or no detailed information is made public about the terms of the tentative agreement or what it will cost. Without this information, there is no full public disclosure of the terms and cost of an agreement during the negotiation process and prior to its being voted upon. With no transparency, the public is excluded from input until it is too late for a reasoned public dialogue. During its investigation, the Grand Jury also learned that various California cities and Orange County adopted a formal negotiation process, Civic Openness in Negotiations (COIN), which allows for community review of not only what is being negotiated, but also what a tentative agreement will cost to implement. One key element of the COIN process is the stipulation that the Employer hire an experienced, independent Lead Negotiator for all negotiations. is requirement precludes any city or county employee from negotiating terms that may benefi t that employee, thus avoiding any confl ict of interest. e common elements of the COIN process are as follows: 1. e Employer hires an experienced, independent Lead Negotiator for all negotiation of wages, hours, and terms and conditions of employ. 2. e Employer hires an independent auditor to assess the fi scal impacts of each provision in the current labor contract. is fi scal impact is made available for public study. 3. A er each proposal is accepted or rejected by either of the Parties, it is publicly disclosed (generally on the Employer's website). e costs for the implementation of the proposal are verifi ed by an independent auditor and also publicly disclosed. 4. Seven days prior to the Employer's public meeting, the fi nal tentative agreement is made public (generally on the Employer's website), including all associated costs, which are independently verifi ed. 5. A er seven days, the fi nal tentative agreement is placed on two consecutive Employer's public meeting agendas: at the fi rst meeting, the agreement is a discussion item; at the second meeting, the Employer votes on the agreement. e Grand Jury recommends that the Employers adopt an ordinance implementing the COIN process to ensure transparency and prior public review of all proposals and fi nal tentative labor agreements. FINDINGS F1. e residents of Marin County pay taxes to support decisions made by the Board of Supervisors and City and Town Councils; however these residents have minimal opportunity to provide input into labor negotiations. THE NEED FOR LABOR NEGOTIATION TRANSPARENCY Continued on page 9

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