Sonoma County supervisors appoint pension reform panel

The Sonoma County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday appointed seven people to a new citizens’ group that will have a permanent role advising the county’s long-sought goal of curbing its rising employee pension costs.

The committee was established by supervisors in April to provide a consistent level of citizen oversight on its pension reform goals, which include containing costs, previously estimated at about $112.3 million this fiscal year. The committee’s first meeting is anticipated next month.

Among the committee members are former Democratic Rep. Lynn Woolsey, who represented Sonoma County in Congress for 20 years, and three people who sat on the temporary pension reform group that made recommendations last year: Jack Atkin, Martin Jones and Rebecca Jones.

Also named to the committee were John Hadzess, a housing compliance officer who used to work for the Carpenters Union; Anthony Withington, the former president of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1575 and Sandra Coyle, the former assistant executive officer of the California Public Employees’ Retirement System.