Parcel-tax ballots pouring in
As of Tuesday, the Sonoma Registrar of Voters office already had received 5,202 Measure B ballots, the special election for a five-year tax of $195 per parcel to help fund operations at the Sonoma Valley Hospital.
The county mailed 12,294 ballots for the election, including absentee ballots, military-personnel ballots and ballots for people who won’t have a polling place to go to on Tuesday, March 6.
That’s the official date of the election.
To save money, the county won’t open all of the polling places that it ordinarily would in a general election.
Still, the election will cost the hospital an estimated $50,140 to $55,154, said election services supervisor Debra Russotti.
A total of 20,131 voters live inside the hospital district, which encompasses most of the Sonoma Valley.
The Sonoma Valley Sun will have election results in its March 8 edition.
To get up-to-the-minute Measure B results on the night of March 6, check the Sonoma Valley Sun’s Web site at www.sonoma
sun.com
City to fund UGB election
Supporters of Cirrus Health’s proposal to build a privately funded hospital on 22.2 acres on Eighth Street East and Napa Road on Tuesday hadn’t yet submitted the signatures of 914 registered Sonoma voters necessary to hold an election to extend the city’s urban growth boundary to supply water and sewer service to the proposed hospital site.
Architect Michael Ross, of the Boyes Hot Springs firm Ross, Drulis, Cusenbury, declined to say how many signatures have been collected.
“Right now, we’re not going to… issue any information on it,” Ross told the Sun on Monday.
The petition-drive organizers have 180 days from Jan. 9, the date they took out papers, to file the signatures.
Once the city clerk’s office verifies that at least 914 valid signatures have been submitted, the election may be held 88 to 103 days after the verification date.
The petition-drive organizers are hoping for a June election, Ross said.
City clerk Gay Rainsbarger said the city will have to pick up the $11,000 to $15,000 cost of the UGB election. City ordinance doesn’t require petition-gatherers to fund special elections, she said.
“Yeah, the city has to pay for it,” she said, adding, “Of course, that wouldn’t stop someone from (volunteering to) pay for it.”
Hospital board seeks director
Candidates have until noon, Thursday, March 8 to apply for the seat on the Sonoma Valley Health Care District Board of Directors vacated by John MacConaghy.
The district oversees the Sonoma Valley Hospital.
A new director will be appointed by current board to serve until Nov. 2008.
Registered voters residing in the Health Care District may apply for appointment to the Board vacancy by sending a letter explaining why they want to serve and including relevant qualifications to Richard Kirk, M.D., Chair, Sonoma Valley Health Care District Board of Directors, P.O. Box 600, Sonoma, CA 95476. Please include a daytime phone number and e-mail address.
Interviews will be held on March 20 beginning at 6 p.m. in the hospital’s central conference room.
