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Sean Reiter
Statement in Support of Demands of Friends of Fields to MVSD Bond Oversight Committee
The following letter has been submitted to the Mill Valley School District's Citizen's Bond Oversight Committee, regarding the use of proceeds from Measure G, by Mark A. Chavez and Christopher C. Kearney, attorneys for Friends of Fields. A PDF of the attachments referenced in this document are posted below.
A "JOINT STATEMENT OF VOTERS CONCERNING MEASURE G," endorsing the substance of this letter, is also attached, below
STATEMENT IN SUPPORT OF DEMAND OF FRIENDS OF FIELDS
INTRODUCTION
In 2022 the Mill Valley School District (“District”) promised voters that Measure G funds would be used to pay for urgent repairs and upgrades at all six of Mill Valley’s public schools at their current locations. In approving Measure G, the voters entrusted the District with $194 million in taxpayer dollars to achieve this purpose. In disregard of the voters’ intent and the express terms of the bond they approved, the District now contends that it is entitled to treat Measure G as authorization to spend $194 million demolishing Friends Field and building an entirely new middle school there. The District has lost sight of its obligation to comply with the “covenant” to “apply the bond funds only to the specific purposes stated in the ballot proposition.” (Resolution No. 12-21/22, section 7(d), emphasis added; the full resolution authorizing Measure G is available on the District’s website and Attachment 1 sets forth section 7(d)).
The core statutory oversight responsibilities of the Citizens’ Bond Oversight Committee (“CBOC”) are “to verify that the funds are being spent only for authorized purposes” (Education Code §15278(b)) and to “promptly alert the public to any waste or improper expenditure” of bond funds. (Education Code §15264(c). In the exercise of its duties, the CBOC must determine whether the intended purposes of Measure G include (a) diverting all of the bond proceeds to reconstruct the middle school (leaving the priority projects at the five elementary schools unfunded), and (b) using bond funds to demolish Friends Field and build a new middle school there. The District is spending funds on these unauthorized purposes even though the controlling provision of Measure G expressly restricts “reconstruction” activities to “the middle school site.” (Measure G, Specific School Facility Project List, 1, emphasis added, available on County of Marin Elections website).
Friends of Fields’ (“FOF”) Demand poses what may be the ultimate test of the CBOC’s oversight authority. As the public’s watchdog, CBOC has a responsibility to inform the community to the improper expenditure of bond funds detailed herein. For the reasons set forth below, there is a compelling need for the CBOC to act now before the District improperly spends $194 million of taxpayer money.
THE PURPOSES OF MEASURE G
In 2019 the District conducted an assessment of the repairs and upgrades necessary at its six schools. This assessment identified needs at every school with the most significant existing at the middle school.
The District quickly recognized that it would have to pass a bond measure to secure the funds to pay for the repairs and upgrades. It retained an outside polling firm, EMC Research, to conduct a survey of likely voters testing whether a potential bond measure question starting "[t]o update all Mill Valley elementary schools and reconstruct and modernize Mill Valley Middle School…” would reach the 55% positive vote threshold required to secure approval. The results were not encouraging. The language making it a significant priority to “reconstruct and modernize Mill Valley Middle School” resulted in a 49% yes vote and, more importantly, a 43% negative vote. (EMC Research of Likely 2020 Voters, available on District’s website).
In 2021 the District continued to assess its facility needs at the six schools and conducted extensive outreach to gather input from “over 500 voices across all stakeholder groups.” (Facility Master Plan p.15, available on District’s website).
According to the District, “[e]ngagement is a critical component to developing strong, long-term plans that reflect the values of users, stakeholders, and the broader community.” (Id.). After all of the assessment, analysis and engagement, the District developed a final list of repair and upgrade projects which were incorporated into its Facility Master Plan.
The projects were categorized into four different priority groups with the Priority 1 and 2 projects constituting the most pressing needs. The District estimated that the total cost of these projects would be slightly in excess of $190 million. Approximately 70% of the costs were for projects at the middle school with the remaining 30% attributable to projects at the five elementary schools. (Facility Master Plan p.104).
The Facility Master Plan identified four options for rebuilding or repairing or reconstructing the middle school. As the District’s site plans reflect, each of these options involved construction on the current middle school site. (Site plans, Facility Master Plan pp. 85-86). The demolition of Friends Field was not included as a project in anywhere in the document. Nor did the Facility Plan envision the possibility that the middle school would be relocated to Friends Field. (Id. pp. 101-103). Tellingly, the District’s maps identifying its school properties did not even include Friends Field.
On January 13, 2022, the District’s board received the results of a second survey of likely voters. This time EMC Research tested voter response to an alternative bond question beginning “[t]o upgrade classrooms, science labs and learning technology in Mill Valley elementary and middle schools….” Instead of prioritizing the middle school, this revised question utilized terminology touting projects that would benefit all six of the District’s schools. (EMC Research Survey of Likely 2020 Voters, available on District’s website).
The elimination of the “reconstruct and modernize Mill Valley Middle School” language in the first clause and the inclusion of language in the second clause of the bond question stating “improve accessibility for students with disabilities, replace outdated and inefficient heating, cooling, electrical and plumbing systems…” produced a strikingly different result in voter sentiment. Although the question used in the second survey referred to $194 million in bonds (as opposed to $120 million in the first version), 62% of the respondents indicated they would vote yes and only 34% would vote no. As EMC observed, voters “prioritize projects that will help fix leaky roofs and windows, upgrade classrooms and labs for current instructional standards, and improve access for students with disabilities.” (EMC Research Survey of Likely 2022 Voters p. 18, Attachment 2).
The survey results presented the District with an apparently winning formula for passing the bond measure. It could convince voters to vote yes by using a bond question eliminating the prioritization of the middle school and, instead, promising to fix leaks, upgrade places of instruction and provide access to disabled students at all of the District’s schools.
On February 2, 2022, the District’s board approved the Facility Master Plan detailing the priorities for the District’s construction projects. The Plan is designed to guide the district’s building improvements for ten years.
A few days later, on February 10, 2022, the board adopted a resolution placing what became known as Measure G on the ballot for the June 7, 2022 election. (Resolution No. 12-21/22). The Resolution included a number of binding commitments called “Covenants” which the District’s board agreed to adhere to if the voters approved Measure G. One of these Covenants provides that “the Board shall…apply the bond proceeds only to the specific purposes stated in the ballot proposition”. (Resolution section 7(d)). This Covenant amounted to a promise to spend bond funds for the “specific purposes” stated in the bond and refrain from engaging in a bait and switch.
The District launched the campaign in favor of Measure G with messaging suggested by its survey results. Board member Emily Uhlhorn publicly assured voters that “[p]assing Measure G will allow us to upgrade, repair and replace our aging facilities—ensuring that our learning spaces are up to date, energy efficient, ADA compliant and well-suited to prepare our students for high school and beyond.” (“Mill Valley School District Seeks $194 Bond Measure'', Marin Independent Journal, April 22, 2022). This statement described laudatory improvements that would purportedly occur at all of the District’s schools and did not suggest that any of the bond funds would be used to demolish Friends Field. Voters were referred to the District’s Facility Master Plan for information on the specifics.
In their subsequent communications, the promoters of Measure G reinforced the message that the bond funds would be used to repair leaks, upgrade learning spaces and improve accessibility for students with disabilities. They explicitly promised that “[a]ll school sites have facilities needs and will receive upgrades from the bond funds.” (April 16, 2022 email from Measure G proponent to Measure G endorser, Attachment 3). The District repeated and amplified the message that Measure G was for repairs and upgrades in all of the District’s schools in its communications with potential voters. (See e.g., Preparing Students for the Future, available on District’s website).
Measure G included the text of the Abbreviated Form of Bond setting forth the exact question presented to voters. The question is what people generally read and assume to be an accurate statement of the purpose of a particular bond measure. The Measure G question explicitly stated that the District was seeking authorization to issue bonds to make upgrades and repairs “in Mill Valley elementary and middle schools.” It did not describe a middle school specific bond measure or projects limited to any one school.
In full, the question presented to voters read:
"To upgrade classrooms, science labs and learning technology in Mill Valley elementary and middle schools; repair/replace leaky roofs/windows, improve accessibility for students with disabilities; add solar and replace outdated/inefficient heating, ventilation, electrical/plumbing systems; shall Mill Valley School District’s measure to issue $194,000,000 in bonds at legal interest rates be adopted, raising approximately $9,300,000 annually while bonds are outstanding averaging 2.6¢ per $100 of assessed value, with oversight, annual audits and all funds improving local schools?" (Measure G, emphasis added).
The intended purpose, to pay for upgrades and repairs at all six schools, is further evidenced by language used elsewhere in Measure G. For example, the Evaluation of Needs section states that the District's board “has identified detailed needs of the District and has determined which projects to finance from a local bond.” The “needs” were those identified in the Facility Master Plan which after extensive community input was expressly intended to guide the District’s building improvements. The board “determined” that the various priority projects listed in the Plan were the ones to be paid for with Measure G bond funds. These projects extended across all of the District’s schools. The “needs” were not confined to the middle school and the board never “determined” that only middle school projects should be paid for with bond funds. There is also nothing in the text of Measure G indicating its intended purposes included financing the demolition of Friends Field, a prominent community asset, or the construction of a new middle school on that site.
The Measure includes a Specific School Facility Project list identifying the projects to be financed through the bond funds. With respect to the middle school project, it provides for “[r]reconfiguration and reconstruction of facilities at the middle school site, including all related demolition, storage and temporary facilities during reconstruction.” (Measure G, emphasis added).
The geographic restriction of this project to the “middle school site” is entirely consistent with the Facility Master Plan. It identified four possible reconstruction or rebuilding projects all situated at the current location of the middle school. (See maps and descriptions at Facility Master Plan pp. 29, 85-86). The Plan, which contains the details of the District’s construction projects, did not include the demolition of Friends Field. It did not propose or even consider an option of relocating the middle school to Friends Field.
The explicit restriction in the middle school project language must also be interpreted with reference to the District’s Covenants. The District board made a binding commitment in the Resolution authorizing Measure G that it would “apply the bond proceeds only to the specific purposes stated in the ballot proposition.” (Resolution section 7(d)). The “at the middle school site” limitation defines a “specific purpose” that the board is obligated to comply with. In plain terms, the board promised to complete any reconstruction project of the middle school on the “middle school site.”
There is no “specific purpose” stated in Measure G to demolish Friends Field. It is not even mentioned. Nor is there a “specific purpose” expressed to relocate the middle school to Friends Field.
The Argument in Favor of Measure G confirms that the intended use of the bond funds was for urgent repairs and upgrades at “local schools.” It repeatedly uses the plural “schools” and does not mention the possibility of diverting all expenditures to reconstruct the middle school. Nor does the Argument contain any reference to the use of Measure G funds to demolish Friends Field or to construct a new middle school on that site.
Understandably, voters assumed that what they were told was accurate and that there were no material omissions. They voted to approve Measure G believing the intended purpose was to finance the priority projects at six schools. Voters had no inkling that the funds could be used to finance the demolition of Friends Field or the construction of a middle school there.
The voters understanding of Measure G is reflected in their response to the District’s recent claim that it has the power to divert all of the bond funds to demolish Friends Field and build an entirely new middle school there. Over one hundred seventy community members who voted in favor of Measure G have confirmed that they would have voted against it if they had “known that any of the bond funds would be used to demolish Friends Field to build a new middle school there or that almost all of the $194 million would be spent on the new middle school.” (Joint Voter Statement Concerning Measure G). If these purposes had been disclosed by the District, every elected official in Mill Valley, eleven of the City’s former Mayors and an expansive array of civic leaders would have opposed Measure G. Their collective disapproval would have doomed Measure G.
THE AUTHORITY AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE CBOC
The CBOC plays a vital oversight role with respect to the expenditure of Measure G funds. Until 2000, measures authorizing the issuance of bonds for school construction required two-thirds voter approval. The Strict Accountability in Local School Construction Bonds Act of 2000 (the “Accountability Act”) lowered the voter approval rate to 55%. As additional safeguards for the taxpayers, once the lower threshold was in place, the Accountability Act imposed stringent requirements on school districts to ensure public oversight and accountability for the expenditure of bond funds.
School districts now are required to list in the bond measure the specific school facilities projects to be funded. (Cal. Const. Art XIIIA §1(b)(3)(B)). And the Accountability Act mandated the creation of citizen’s bond oversight committees for every school bond measure and vested these independent committees with comprehensive oversight authority and responsibilities. The essential duties of this CBOC are to “actively review and report on the proper expenditure of the taxpayers’ money for school construction” and “to verify that the funds are being spent only for authorized purposes.” (Education Code §15278(b)). In simple terms, the role of a CBOC is to ensure that taxpayer funds raised by a bond measure are only used for their intended purpose as specifically disclosed to voters in the bond measure.
“Active” review of the proper expenditure of bond funds necessitates that the CBOC step in now rather than wait for the District to spend further funds evaluating or carrying out the destruction of Friends Field or exhausting all of the Measure G funds on the middle school, neither of which is an intended purpose of the bond measure.Best practice guidelines for CBOCs emphasize that it is essential to identify problems as soon as possible before they become far more difficult and expensive to correct, including instances where bond funds are being spent on projects that were not identified, as required, in the text of the bond measure. (See California Association of Bond Oversight Committees, Bond Oversight Done Right, Frequently Asked Question 13, available on its website).
THE NEED FOR IMMEDIATE ACTION BY THE CBOC
The intended use of the Measure G bond funds was to make repairs and upgrades at all five of Mill Valley’s elementary schools and the middle school. Nevertheless, the District recently decided to divert all of the $194 million in bond proceeds to pay for the construction of an entirely new middle school. (Attachment 4).
At an Emergency Meeting on February 1, 2024, board Trustee Yoo candidly admitted that “we need $194 million plus just to build the middle school.” (Video of February 1, 2024 Meeting starting at 49:42, available on District’s website). This means that the construction of the new middle school will exhaust all of the Measure G bond funds. As a direct result of the District’s decision to proceed exclusively with this project, Trustee Yoo conceded that “we don’t have any money to modernize our elementary schools.” (Id.). The District is “$20 million short” of the funds necessary to undertake the repairs and upgrades that Measure G was supposed to finance. (Id.). The District hopes to make up this shortfall through funds it may receive from a statewide bond measure on the November ballot. It has decided to include this potential revenue in its Measure G budget despite knowing that it will take three to five years before the District receives any of the $20 million even if the state measure passes. And no amount of wave of the hand accounting gimmicks can magically convert this state money into Measure G funds.
On February 8, 2024, the District’s board approved a construction budget for building the new middle school. This budget includes $130 million in hard costs and $60 million in soft costs, which board members recognized could reach $70 million. In approving this budget, the board officially committed the District to spending all of the Measure G bond funds on the middle school. (Attachment 4). It did so despite Trustee Yoo’s explicit warning that “we don’t have any money to modernize our elementary schools.”
On February 1 and 8, 2024 the District’s board also voted to explore building the middle school on Friends Field. It has already begun spending Measure G funds for its consultants to investigate this option. The District will make a final decision on March 7, 2024, as to whether to renovate/rebuild the middle school at its present site or to demolish Friends Field and construct a new middle school there.
The community has reacted with growing dismay and outrage over the possibility of demolishing Friends Field and building the middle school there. The comments of former Mayor John McCauley reflect the views of many:
"I was an endorser of Measure G...As an elected official, I have had a ‘birds eye view’ of many good Marin projects and some less impressive efforts but nothing as bad as this proposal. I have never seen as substantial a proposed change in a project direction as the trustees are being asked to consider so late in a process. It is so full of obvious problems that I am sure others can point out to you and so poorly presented to the public that I believe the idea is dead on arrival." (February 1, 2024 email from John McCauley to District Board of Trustees, Attachment 5).
The public outcry demonstrates that the demolition of Friends Field and the construction of a middle school there were not intended uses of Measure G funds. These items were never even mentioned in Measure G and certainly are not among the “specific purposes stated in the ballot proposition” to which the District has explicitly restricted the expenditure of bond funds.
The Friends Field facilities have been maintained, repaired and upgraded by the City for decades at the cost of millions of taxpayer dollars. The voters never remotely contemplated and did not approve the expenditure of Measure G funds in a manner that would destroy Mill Valley’s premier and largest sports and recreational venue. Quite simply, if the District had informed voters in 2022 that it intended to use Measure G funds to demolish Friends Field and build the middle school there, Measure G would have been resoundingly defeated. It is not credible to contend otherwise.
Moreover, spending bond funds on a doomed project is not an intended purpose of Measure G.As part of its statutory responsibility to “actively review and report on the proper expenditure of the taxpayers’ money for school construction” the CBOC should ensure that the District does not waste substantial bond funds on a project that is not an intended purpose of the bond measure and also has absolutely no chance of being completed.
Here, the District appears intent on building a new middle school on Friends Field despite a litany of legal, regulatory, environmental, budgeting and other problems, any one of which likely dooms this potential project.To begin with, the City has presented documents demonstrating that the District cannot proceed on the site without City approval, and a legal battle over the District’s right to build would be inevitable. Second, the District has performed no soil tests of the Friends Field site that is a former landfill and raises complicated and extremely expensive remediation issues. Third, Friends Field is on land subject to BCDC authority such that any development work on the site cannot occur without a time-consuming and expensive regulatory process. Fourth, CEQA and other environmental regulatory hurdles associated with potentially building on the site would delay the work for years and likely make it cost-prohibitive. Fifth, the District’s consultants base their cost estimates (which already consume virtually every available dollar of bond funds on the middle school) on per-square-foot cost figures from other school construction projects without any consideration of the specific design for the middle school space or the specific challenges of building on either the current middle school or proposed Friends Field sites, thereby greatly underestimating the costs of construction.
Under these circumstances, spending any further Measure G funds going down this rabbit hole would constitute clear waste of bond funds that should not be sanctioned by the CBOC.
FRIENDS OF FIELDS
FOF is an association consisting of three District taxpayers (Dennis Fisco, Rich Robbins and Gary Van Acker) who have collectively volunteered thousands of hours of their time over the past three decades to establish, preserve and maintain athletic and recreational facilities for the use and benefit of the citizens of Mill Valley. They spearheaded the design and construction of Friends Field. Individually and collectively they have a strong interest in ensuring that Measure G bond funds are used for their intended purposes.
CONCLUSION
This community is confronting an extraordinary situation. The District has gone seriously astray in administering the expenditure of $194 million in public funds.
The voters never envisioned and did not approve the expenditure of all Measure G funds on the construction of a new middle school. Nor did they intend that the bond funds would be used to demolish Mill Valley’s premier sports and recreational venue or to construct a school on Friends Field. Simply put, these were not the intended purposes of Measure G and were not among the “specific purposes stated” in the ballot proposition. The use of bond funds for these purposes would be improper.
The CBOC must vigilantly exercise its oversight authority to ensure that bond funds are used as intended. It must act now to prevent an enormous waste of taxpayer dollars.
Mark A. Chavez
Christopher C. Kearney
Attorneys for Friends of Fields
Also, CLICK HERE to read the "JOINT STATEMENT OF VOTERS CONCERNING MEASURE G," which lists the signatories and states,
"We the undersigned voted in favor of Measure G in June 2022, authorizing the Mill Valley School District to issue $194 million in school bonds. We would have voted NO on Measure G if we had known that any of the bond funds would be used to demolish Friends Field to build a new middle school there, or that almost all of the $194 million would be spent on the new middle school. It was not our understanding or intent that the bond would be used in this way." ...more