One story to watch as the new year unfolds is what will become of Charnel Benner. Ms. Benner is the administrator in exile for the $1.2 billion Marin County Employees’ Retirement Association pension fund. Benner and the pension fund decided in November to take a break from each other—though the fund was quick to point out that Benner’s hiatus had nothing to do with any sort of financial shenanigans.
In Benner’s time off with pay, Tom Ford is pinch hitting. Ford’s background includes a temp assignment honchoing Santa Barbara County Employees’ Retirement Association. Ford may be in office until July.
Benner’s stint in Marin has been interesting. She was hired in 2005 after serving as administrator to the Greenwich, Conn., $300 million pension fund. She’s taken heat for the Marin pension fund buying a San Rafael office building for $17.5 million and spending another $1.3 million on a post-purchase remodel. It’s hard to say whether Benner’s worried about irate pensioners going postal, but the work on the reception area included the installation of bullet-proof glass.
In May 2009, the pension board hired Marty Boyer to consult and coach the board and Benner on how to handle the press. The contract covered up to $15,000 at $150 an hour so board members and Benner could learn how to deal with pesky journalists.
(In my experience, liberal servings of the truth, along with helpings of booze and/or chocolate, can help build a meaningful relationship with ink-stained types.)
But the fun doesn’t end there. Benner is yanking down $226,928 a year, which has ruffled more than a few feathers at a time when the economy has been scraping. Moreover, the pension fund has taken a performance hit. Last summer, the fund reported it had lost 17 percent of its value. And while it isn’t like the Marin fund is the Lone Ranger in terms of seeing negative returns, critics pointed out that Benner picked up a 30 percent salary bump in 2008 and received a $10,000 bonus last year. While it’s true the pension board (and not Benner) votes and makes investment decisions, as administrator, she wields a fair amount of influence.
A parade of employees has left the fund in recent years under Benner’s leadership. County personnel staff has recruited new employees with regularity, in some cases for the same position to cover repeated turnover. Michael Smith sits on the pension board, is the elected tax collector-treasurer and is a player in the building known as “Big Pink,” and has found fault with the performance of the pension fund’s staff in attending to the needs of pensioners. He also publicly opposed awarding the bonus to Benner. A county grand jury last year criticized the fund for excessive delays in delivering retirement benefits.
Pension fund administrators as well as board members are mum about why Benner, a San Rafael resident, now goes to her mailbox rather than the office to collect her $18,910 a month paycheck.
Nice work if you can get it.
Is that a black helicopter?
While there’s no shortage of conspiracy theories aloft in West Marin, the helicopters that have landed next door to restaurateur Pat Kuleto’s Nick’s Cove and Cottages aren’t running black ops for a shadow government. Nor are they working for Kuleto. Operated by Wine Country Helicopters of Napa, the copter tours have dropped off passengers to enjoy a repast at Nick’s—but the chopper activity isn’t found on Kuleto’s menu. The helicopters have given the County of Marin indigestion, and Kuleto has been told to 86 the flights, even though he has nothing to do with them.
There are, however, a few new dishes Kuleto would like to introduce at Nick’s. They include kayak rentals out of the restaurant as well as a charter boat tour operation and live music. While Kuleto has a successful track record in the eatery business (he owns or operates several), he told the county of Marin in a written proposal that selling lunches and dinners to diners in Marshall isn’t enough to sustain Nick’s. The county says any intensification of use at Nick’s could be problematic due to limitations on septic, parking and possible impacts to wildlife in Tomales Bay.
Kuleto’s isn’t the only business with its eye on the prize in the wild west of Marin. Point Reyes resident Tony Magee would like to start a brandy distillery in Marshall. Magee knows a little something about alcohol, since he founded the very successful Lagunitas Brewery in Petaluma.
Magee already grazes sheep on the land he owns and has six acres of hops in production. He’d like to plant five acres of grapes for use in the planned brandy facility. County zoning requirements are tricky when it comes to coastal land, since property falls in the agricultural corridor. County regs require that land must be 95 percent dedicated to agriculture for any building to occur. Magee would like to build a 3,800-square-foot home in addition to a barn that would house the brandy operation, a barn for the hops, an equipment building and a greenhouse.
As a resident of West Marin, Magee is in tune with the eclectic rhythms of Marin’s coastal outpost. He’s pledged to produce just 1,000 bottles a year if he gains permission for the new adventure, and limit visitors to just eight adults per week.
How much is that Kia in the window?
At a time when car dealerships across the country are turning into vacant lots, Barry Lakritz and family have opened a new franchise. Lakritz, who owns Novato Toyota across the street from Vintage Oaks shopping center, has opened Kia Marin next door to his Toyota outlet. The new dealership sits on the property formerly home to Silveira Pontiac Buick GMC.
Kia, a subsidiary of Hyundai, is a South Korean company that’s beginning to grow its brand in the United States. Kia offers 11 models in a sector of the auto market where it doesn’t have to do battle with BMW, Mercedes Benz or Lexus. Kia now has a production facility in Georgia.
