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JPA Marin Case Study

Liqian Zhang, Poppy Brittingham, & Brooke Hale

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Outline

JPA Background

Project Goals

Marin as a Model

Interviews

Poppy Brittingham

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JPA Background

Project Goals

Marin as a Model

Interviews

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What is Marin’s JPA?

A Joint Power Agreement by a countywide coalition that includes the cooperation of all Marin fire and city/town agencies focusing on wildfire prevention and improvement of wildfire safety.

Poppy Brittingham

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Background of Marin JPA

The building blocks:

Community Wildfire Protection Plan (2016)
Lessons Learned (2018)
Grand Jury Report, JPA (2019)

Key stakeholders:

Fire Departments
Local government
FireSafe Marin
Resident Committees

Poppy Brittingham

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JPA Background

Project Goals

Marin as a Model

Interviews

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Project Goals

Understand the mechanisms behind the Marin Wildfire Prevention Authority (MWPA) JPA
Explore the role of stakeholder opinions through an interview process
Examine the feasibility of the proposal
Determine if a similar JPA structure would be beneficial for other areas

Poppy Brittingham

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JPA Background

Project Goals

Marin as a Model

Interviews

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Interviews

Fire Chief

Jason Weber

Local Government

Jim Schutz, San Rafael City Manager
Katie Rice, Board of Supervisors

Residents

Madeleine Provost, Litza Lallas, Ron

Non-profit

Rich Shortall, FireSafe Marin President

Liqian Zhang

Explore the role of stakeholder opinions through an interview process

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Focus of interviews

Expectations of different interest groups
Obstacles to progress
Funding allocations
Government structure
Advice for other areas hoping to create their own JPA

Liqian Zhang

Explore the role of stakeholder opinions through an interview process

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Expectations

Increasing staff
Public Education
Support for Firewise communities

Quickly implement “shovel ready” projects
Clearing evacuation/ignition zones
Home inspections

JPA funding for Firewise communities
Home inspections/vegetation management
Evacuation routes

Residents

Well-functioning governing board
Support for Firewise Communities
Immediate visible vegetation management

Local government

FireSafe Marin

Fire Department

Liqian Zhang

Explore the role of stakeholder opinions through an interview process

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Obstacles to Progress

Stakeholder’s Support

Intra-agency

Relation

Funding Allocation

JPA

Re-approval

10-year duration compromise

The manager and elected board are essential

80% of funds goes back to its original district

“Success is having nothing happen.”

Liqian Zhang

Explore the role of stakeholder opinions through an interview process

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JPA Background

Project Goals

Marin as a Model

Interviews

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Marin as a Model

Standardization

County-wide Documents

Community Engagement

Science-based research reports
Cross-functional solutions

Public education and interest
Positive relationships with resident groups

Prior experience with functioning JPAs
Uniformity in local government structures

“Work ahead.”

- Fire Chief of Marin, Jason Weber

Liqian Zhang

Determine if a similar JPA structure would be beneficial for other areas

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Funding Allocation of Marin JPA

Parcel tax
~$20 Million per year

Liqian Zhang

Determine if a similar JPA structure would be beneficial for other areas

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Measure C: Pending...

[1]: Marin Wildfire Prevention Authority, California, Measure C, Parcel Tax (March 2020) , https://ballotpedia.org/Marin_Wildfire_Prevention_Authority,_California,_Measure_C,_Parcel_Tax_(March_2020)

“It is expensive to have a tax, but it is more expensive to replace your house”

- Marin resident

The measure needs ⅔ voter approval to pass.

Determine if a similar JPA structure would be beneficial for other areas

Brook Halec

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JPA Feasibility

Concerns over transparency

Funding allocations and usage
Governing board election process

Concerns over how many projects will be possible with 20 million dollars annually

Examine the feasibility of the proposal

Brook Halec

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Lessons Learned: What can we improve?

Include stakeholder citizen groups early in the process

Initial consideration for how each town will individually benefit

JPA task force with a better distributed workload and multiple leaders

Determine if a similar JPA structure would be beneficial for other areas

Brook Halec

-We have isolated some key lessons learned for improving the JPA creation process.

The first is to make sure to include stakeholder citizen groups early in the process. Citizen groups such as the coalition for sensible taxpayers played a dominant role in the shift of the JPA from sustaining on a 10 year tax instead of a tax that would extend indefinitely to protect the interests of the residents. The earlier groups such as this can be involved in the planning process the better

Second, there should be a consideration of how each town with individually benefit from the JPA. Pushback from city managers was the primary reason to make sure that 80% of the tax-payer money would be going back to the town

Lastly, a JPA task force with multiple leaders is necessary. Jason weber, the Fire Chief of Marin County spearheaded the Marin JPA attending countless city meetings to organize the JPA. He went above and beyond in the creation of the JPA, but we feel like a more distributed workload among JPA creators would lead to greater sucess.

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Lessons Learned: Benefit of having a Fire JPA

Grants

FireWise Community

Resource Sharing

Wildfire Management

Distributed Projects

Determine if a similar JPA structure would be beneficial for other areas

Brook Halec

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Thank you for listening

Questions?