San Anselmo Town Council News, Fire Chief Meagor Retires, MMWD Toilet Rebates, and Holiday Parking

Town Council News

 At the meeting of December 10, 2013, the Town Council:

• Administered the oath of office to newly-elected Councilmembers Kay Coleman, Doug Kelly, Tom McInerney and John Wright.  Congratulations on re-election to Kay and Tom and welcome to the Council, Doug and John!

• Elected Tom McInerney to be the Town’s Mayor for 2014 and John Wright as the Vice Mayor. Congratulations Tom and John!

 In other business, the Council took the following actions:

• Appointed Sue McDowell to the Board of Review.
• Cancelled the regular meeting of December 24, 2013 due to the holidays.
• Approved the expenditure of $1200 for Councilmember Kelly to attend the League of California Cities New Councilmember’s Academy January 22-24, 2013 in Sacramento.
• Presented a proclamation to Fire Chief Roger Meagor on the occasion of his retirement (more on this important event below).

 Fire Chief Roger Meagor Retires

 Fire Chief Meagor has announced his retirement effective December 31, 2013.  Chief Meagor began his firefighting career as a volunteer with the San Anselmo Fire Department in 1979.  In 1981 he was hired as a firefighter/engineer, and has the distinction of being the last firefighter hired by the San Anselmo Fire Department before the department consolidated with Fairfax in 1982 as the Ross Valley Fire Department. 

 Roger progressed through the ranks, serving as Captain and Battalion Chief before being appointed Chief in 2005.  Under his leadership, the Department successfully included the Sleepy Hollow Fire Protection District as a full member of the Department in 2010 and consolidated with the Town of Ross in 2012. 

 Roger grew up in San Anselmo and comes from a family with long-time dedication to the fire protection profession. His uncle was a San Anselmo firefighter and his dad was a volunteer with the department for many years.  Now his son, a Drake High School graduate like his dad, is a paramedic firefighter with Marin County Fire.

Chief Meagor is known for his professionalism, dedication, integrity and compassion.  He will be missed by all who work with him and by the Ross Valley community.  Congratulations, Roger, on your retirement and very best wishes to you and your family.

 MMWD Toilet Rebates

 MMWD is offering rebates up to $100 per toilet when you replace your existing high-water-use toilet with a new WaterSense-labeled, high-efficiency model.  You can use the rebate to replace any toilet using 3.5 gallons per flush (GPF) or more.  Since high-efficiency toilets use less than 1.28 gallons, you’ll be saving more than two gallons of water with every flush!

You can also get a rebate to replace a 1.6 GPF toilet if it is model year 2001 or older.  Why replace a 1.6 GPF toilet?  MMWD has found that some older “low-flow” toilets may actually flush as much as three gallons.  Usually this is because the original toilet flapper has worn out over the years and has been replaced with a flapper from a different manufacturer.  So if you have a low-flow toilet that is more than 11 years old, this is a great opportunity to upgrade to a high-efficiency toilet.

For more information about MMWD toilet rebates, go to www.marinwater.org/rebates.

More on Toilets . . .

Starting January 1, 2014, all toilets sold or installed in California must be high-efficiency fixtures.  However, MMWD’s rebate is only for high-efficiency toilets that carry the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s WaterSense label.  When shopping for your new toilet, remember to “look for the label.”

Holiday Parking

The Central Marin Police Authority is pleased to announce that the Town of San Anselmo is providing free parking to holiday shoppers. The free holiday shopping period began on Friday, November 29, 2013 and will continue through Wednesday, January 1, 2014. During this period, the parking meters will not be operating. As always, however, the disabled, red zone and other safety related parking violations will be enforced.

Concern has been expressed about the possibility of commuters or all day employees taking advantage of the free parking in the downtown.  Please be considerate of our shop owners and leave the downtown parking places for our holiday shoppers.

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.