Marin LAFCo hosted a workshop the morning of April 29. The workshop consisted of 2 panels with speakers exploring successful shared services models and how to implement them. The workshop was available to the general public, and anyone who is interested is welcome to attend. Details are evolving, but those interested in ongoing updates can email staff@marinlafco.org to be placed on a disribution list.

Flyer in downloadable PDF can be found below:

Presentations slides can be found below:

Meet the Panelists

Read below for bios about the background and experience with shared services that our panelists have.  

Bob McCaskill - Yellow School Bus JPA

Bob McCaskill is a retired CPA and a former Mayor of Belvedere (2014-2015 and 2018-2019) and Belvedere City Councilman (2012-2020). He is now serving as the chair of the Belvedere Finance Committee, chair of the Tiburon Peninsula Traffic Relief JPA Board, and member of the Belvedere-Tiburon Recreation Finance Committee. Bob also serves as a board member of the Ritter Center in San Rafael.

Michael Frank - Marin General Services Authority

Michael Frank is the contract Executive Officer of the Marin General Services Authority, an agency made up of Marin County and all Marin cities and towns, as well as a public-sector consultant. Recent clients have included the Sonoma County Public Safety Consortium and the cities of Petaluma and Menlo Park. He was the City Manager of the City of Novato (60,000 pop) for 7 years ending in January 2016. Prior to that time, he was Assistant City Manager with the City of Santa Rosa. He has also worked for the cities of Hayward, Palo Alto, Fremont, and San Francisco.

Michael graduated from Wesleyan University with a B.A. and moved to San Francisco for a Coro Fellowship in Civic Leadership. Mr. Frank received his MBA from the Yale School of Management.

Todd Cusimano - Town of Corte Madera & Central Marin Fire Department

Todd Cusimano is the Corte Madera Town Manager, and has 26 years of experience in government. As town manager, he plans, directs, manages and reviews the activities and operations of the Town of Corte Madera. He recommends policy to the Town Council and ensures that Council policies are carried out. Under his direction, highly responsible and complex administrative support is provided to the Town Council. As Town Manager he has strengthened the relationship between Corte Madera and Larkspur and enhanced the efficiency of service sharing between the two organizations. 

Before becoming Town Manager, Todd Cusimano worked as a police chief. Cusimano joined the Twin Cities Police Authority in 1995, where he worked with his father, Gary Cusimano. He served as a patrol officer, detective, investigations supervisor — among a handful of other roles — became chief in 2010. Over the first three years, Cusimano led a merger with the San Anselmo Police Department, consolidating dispatchers and phasing in a crossover of patrol staffs. The merger culminated with the creation of the Central Marin Police Authority in 2013. 

Cathryn Hilliard - Southern Marin Fire Protection District

Cathryn is the immediate past president of the Southern Marin Fire Protection District and was President of the Board when Sausalito merged into the District. LAFCO was an essential part of the final process for the merger to take place. Director Hilliard is the retired Executive Director of the Construction Industry Force Account Council (cifac.org), a non-profit whose members are construction contractors’ associations and their trade unions partners. Before joining CIFAC, Cathryn was Director of Government and Public Affairs for the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) and was directly involved in the development of the region’s first Air Quality, Water Quality, Solid Waste Management, Open Space and Land Use Plans. Her private consultancy clients included the City and County of Los Angeles, the Southern California Association of Governments, Chevron Corporation, McDonalds, Wahl Instruments and the National Education Media Network.

Hilliard set up the one-stop location filming permit center in Hollywood to keep the motion picture business from leaving California.   She worked in both houses of Congress as legislative staff for Senators Vance Hartke and Birch Bayh and for Congressman Winfield Denton.Her professional and charitable affiliations included being President of the Bay Area Public Affairs Council, American Society for Public Administration Bay Area Chapter, and the Auxiliary Board of UCSF/Mount Zion Medical and Cancer Center. Hilliard earned a B.S. degree in Political Science and Public Administration from Cal State East Bay with advanced studies at UC Berkeley School of Management.  In 2019, she was awarded Marquis’ Who’s Who in America’s Lifetime Achievement Award.

Betsy Swenerton - Marin County & Murray Park Sewer Maintenance District

Betsy Swenerton is a Capital Planning & Project Manager at the County of Marin in the Engineering Division of the Department of Public Works.  In addition to managing various Capital and Engineering infrastructure projects, Betsy manages the County’s sewer maintenance district in San Quentin Village.  She also manages capital improvement projects for the Marin Emergency Radio Authority (MERA)’s various mountaintop radio sites.  Prior to working at the County, Betsy worked for a commercial general contractor, Plant Construction Company, where she managed multi-million dollar projects from pre-construction through completion.  Betsy moved to Marin in 2012 - she lives in San Rafael with her husband and two children.

Chief Michael Norton - Central Marin Police Authority 

Chief Michael Norton was raised in San Anselmo and graduated from Sir Francis Drake High School. He received a BA in Political Science form the University of California at San Diego and holds a Juris Doctor from the University of San Francisco School of Law. He was admitted to the California State Bar in 1999. Chief Norton is a 2016 graduate of the Senior Management Institute for Police. He began his law enforcement career when he joined the Twin Cities Police Authority in 2001. The Chief rose through the ranks and served in a variety of assignments, including field training officer, Crisis Negotiations Team Leader, Detective, and later as the Investigations Unit Sergeant. He has had overall responsibility for both the Patrol and Support Services Divisions, first as a Lieutenant and then as a Captain, Chief Norton was sworn in by Ann Morrison, Chair of the Central Marin Police Council.