Election Results, Single Use Plastic Bags, and Flood Committee

Election Results

The election results are unofficially in and the Marin County Elections Office is reporting the following top vote recipients:

Town Council – Four-year terms:

Kay Coleman, Tom McInerney and John Wright

Town Council – Two year term:

Doug Kelly

The Town’s one-half cent Transaction and Use Tax passed with a nearly 69% majority.   Collection of the sales tax will begin on April 1, 2014, according to the rules set by the State Board of Equalization.  Thanks to San Anselmo voters, our streets and drainage infrastructure will receive badly needed improvements.

Congratulations to our newly-elected officials!  The official canvass of the vote will be on the Town Council agenda of Tuesday, December 10, at 7 p.m.  The newly-elected Councilmembers will be sworn in at that meeting.  In addition, the Council will vote on a new Mayor and Vice Mayor.  The public is invited to attend, as always!

Single Use Plastic Bags

The Town belongs to the Hazardous and Solid Waste Joint Powers Authority (JPA), along with the other ten Marin cities/towns and the County of Marin.  It’s our job to help residents and businesses reduce and recycle their solid waste and safely dispose of hazardous materials. The JPA provides household hazardous waste collection, information on recycling and disposal, and ensures our county’s compliance with state recycling mandates—all while educating the citizens and businesses of Marin.

The JPA is heading up an effort among a number of the cities/towns to enact a Single Use Carryout Bag Reduction Ordinance that would regulate the use of paper and plastic single use carryout bags within the jurisdictional limits of Belvedere, Corte Madera, Larkspur, Mill Valley, Novato, Ross, San Anselmo, San Rafael, Sausalito and Tiburon.  Fairfax already has a plastic bag ban in place that was the subject of a successful voter initiative. The County also has ordinance (for unincorporated areas) that was passed by the Board of Supervisors.

The retail establishments that would be subject to the proposed ordinance, if adopted by an individual jurisdiction within the JPA, would be:

• Full-line, self-service retail stores with gross annual sales of $2 million or more, that sell a line of dry grocery, canned goods, or nonfood items and some perishable items.
• Stores of at least 10,000 square feet of retail space that generate sales or use tax and has a licensed pharmacy.
• Drug stores, pharmacies, supermarkets, grocery stores, convenience food stores, food marts, or other entities engaged in the retail sale of a goods, such as milk, bread, soda and snack foods, as well as liquor.

The proposed ordinance requires an environmental review under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).   As such, the Draft Environmental Impact Report (Draft EIR) will be available for public comment for a 45-day period.  The public comment period for the Draft EIR began on November 1, 2013 and ends on December 15, 2013.  The JPA welcomes agency and public input during this period regarding the scope and content of environmental information that must be included in the Draft Environmental Impact Report.  Responses to the Draft EIR may be submitted, in writing, by 5:00 p.m. on December 15, 2013, to:

Steve Devine, Program Manager

Marin County Hazardous and Solid Waste Management JPA

899 Northgate Drive, Suite 100

San Rafael, CA  94903

Email:  SDevine@marincounty.org

The Draft EIR can be found on the Zero Waste Marin website at:

http://zerowastemarin.org/zero-waste-101/single-use-carryout-bag/

It can also be accessed through the Town’s website at

http://www.townofsananselmo.org/index.aspx?nid=171.

Flood Committee

The next meeting of the Flood Committee will be held on Tuesday, December 3, 2013, in the Town Hall Council Chambers.  Included on the agenda will be a review of winter preparedness policies, including flood readiness and a status report on planning for flood mitigation projects.

San Anselmo News, published weekly on Fridays, is available at the San Anselmo Town Hall, Library, on the Public Notice Bulletin Board. It is also available on the Town’s website, www.townofsananselmo.org, and by email subscription.