“He said we should sign…”

“Preposterous,” said council member August Sebastiani, part of the Sonoma City Council’s ad hoc committee. The Rancho de Sonoma residents’ representative had accused him, at the city council meeting Wednesday night, of giving them inappropriate advice.
The issue was a proposed agreement between Preston Cook, owner of the mobile home park, who wants to convert to condominium ownership, and the park residents, who want protection against losing their homes. The two groups had been in acrimonious discussions for months, with the ad hoc committee serving as facilitators of communication. When it was clear the communication had begun to break down, “I reached out for [mobile homeowners’ president] Mr. Warner, to remind him of a deadline that Mr. Cook had set to pull his offer,” said Sebastiani. “The notion that I would have encouraged him to sign a document I’d never seen is preposterous.”
Council member Steve Barbose, the other member of the ad hoc committee, supported Sebastiani, reiterating that the role of the committee was simply to explore the possibilities. He felt that it was working. ”At the last meeting we had, I got the distinct impression that many understood for the first time many of the complexities. We as a committee had no ax to grind, except to get people talking.”
Of the seven members of the public who spoke before the to the council, asking their intervention and help, housing advocate Sam DiGiacomo made a direct request. “I’m asking that the mayor put the condo ordinance back on the agenda.”