Supe's saga; Hwy 12 delay; conceptual pool; and more
Four out of five Sonoma County Supervisors agree: the fifth, Efren Carillo, should resign. His colleagues bluntly called for his ouster during Tuesday’s meeting, his first after being acquitted on a charge he admits involved a 3:30 a.m. act of drunken voyeurism. Supervisor Susan Gorin, who represents the Sonoma Valley, called his July antics “reprehensible and offensive,” and said the 10-month ordeal has been a major distraction for the board. “I can’t move beyond it to rebuild a relationship with you,” she said. “You’ve let us down.”… Contrite, apologetic and freshly rehabbed – and, it’s worth repeating, acquitted — Carillo said he won’t step down. The supes don’t have the power to kick him off the panel: they can show him the door, but cam’t make him use it. What now?
Another twist in the long and winding road that is the Springs Highway 12 improvement project. Seems that errors in the original bid description for the means the process, already to the point of having received bids from four contractors, at about $5 million per, will have to start over. Redrafting the language should take a few weeks, followed by 30 days for the contractors to resubmit.
The political fate of Carillo or an initiative to hire more County contract proofreaders are not among the choices on the vote-by-mail ballots now available for the June 3 primary election. Registered voters should receive a Sonoma County Sample Ballot/Voter Information Pamphlet prior to the election. The application form on the back of the sample ballot can be used to request a vote-by-mail ballot. Requests can also be made by sending a personally signed letter to the Registrar of Voters, Vote by Mail Division, P.O. Box 11485, Santa Rosa, CA 95406. The last day to request a vote-by-mail ballot is Tuesday, May 27.
As part of a public art project, Creekside High students created a huge wooden sign on campus, spelling the word POOL. “When is a pool not a pool?” asks teacher and conceptual ringleader Walt Williams. “ When it’s a symbol of a small community that should unite to do what is best for students. Complicated? Yes. Impossible? No.” The sign lasted less than a day: a certain principal and a certain head of maintenance were somewhat, but not convincingly, amused. “Apparently a certain teacher forgot that the first amendment does not always apply on the high school campus.”
