Good news for Sonoma’s commuters…sort of
The Golden Gate Bridge District’s board of directors, after months of deliberation, has come to a decision on the question of congestion, the bridge toll, its toll on commuters, and the Doyle Drive refurbishment project, announced Mayor Joanne Sanders at last week’s city council meeting. “This was a great experience for me to witness,” said Sanders. “For a board of 19 people, with all these different counties, for us to be able to come to a solution within three months was pretty remarkable.”
The issue was contentious, she said. Some of the board wanted to use the funds to offset the deficit on the Doyle Drive refurbishment project, a sum that would total between $160 million and $370 million. However, commuters in Sonoma and Marin counties were opposed to having the money used for San Francisco’s Doyle Drive deficit, as a sort of “commuter tax.” After much discussion, the board decided, by a 10-8 vote, to allow the bridge’s funds to remain within the bridge’s purview. “We’re going to be the agency that has legal authority,” said Sanders.
The amount of Bridge toll increase has not been decided, but will be variable, designed to discourage congestion, thus fulfilling requirements of a $158.7 million U.S. Department of Transportation Urban Partnership Agreement grant.
Details of the amount of the toll increase will be worked out over the coming weeks. Suggestions have included dropping the $1 FasTrack discount or raising the cash toll to $6. A decision is expected to be reached by this September but must be reached by September 2009.
The Doyle Drive project, needed for safety reasons, remains a funding challenge.
Sonoma Valley Bancorp announces management changes
Sean Cutting, President and Chief Administrative Officer of Sonoma Valley Bank, wholly owned subsidiary of Sonoma Valley Bancorp, headquartered in Sonoma, announced last Friday the promotion of a senior bank employee and changes in its executive management team.
Cathleen Gorham has been promoted to Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. As COO, Ms. Gorham will be in charge of the SVB branches, bank operations and compliance, technology, human resources and facilities management. Ms. Gorham has been in banking since 1986 and joined Sonoma Valley Bank in 1992 as the Operations Supervisor. She became the Senior Vice President and Operations Officer in 2001 and has held the title of SVP and Branch Administrator since 2006.
Mary Dieter Smith will continue to serve as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer but will no longer serve as the Chief Operating Officer. Her responsibilities will continue to include financial reporting, budgeting and asset and liability management. With the increased reporting requirements imposed upon SEC reporting companies, Ms. Smith will attest to the internal control effectiveness of the organizations financial reporting to comply with Sarbanes-Oxley 404.
Mr. Cutting said Ms. Gorham is a key person within the organization and her promotion is part of a long term growth strategy for the bank, and the realignment of the executive management team will better meet the needs of the company.
Sonoma and Egypt seek city sisters
Mayor Joanne Sanders announced on Monday that His Excellency Ambassador Abderahman Salaheldin, Consul General of the Arab Republic of Egypt will visit the City of Sonoma on April 3, 2008. The Consul General will be accompanied by his wife Dr. Thoraya Mohamed Elkhadrawy.
On behalf of the City of Sonoma, Mayor Sanders will officially receive the honored guests as they place a courtesy call at Sonoma City Hall at noon. Mayor Sanders and the new Sonoma town historian, Mr. George McKale will accompany them for a stroll through the Plaza, and a tour the historic Sonoma Mission and Barracks, and then on to a brief reception at The Swiss Hotel. Following that, Sonoma residents, Sherri Ferris and Carol Blackman, of Protocol Professionals, Inc. will host them for lunch at the girl and the fig.
The purpose of Ambassador Salaheldin’s visit is to propose a possible sister-city relationship between Sonoma and one of Egypt’s major cities. They will explore the importance of the development of the Sonoma region with Mayor Sanders, not only as a major agricultural economy but also the significance the City of Sonoma played in California statehood.
Mayor Sanders stated “It’s important that Sonoma reach out to the international community through our sister cities relationships and by extending invitations to visiting dignitaries. We have an economy that relies on tourism, agriculture and exports and, with our proximity to San Francisco, I want to do what I can to promote cross cultural understanding and goodwill with the international community.”
Archeologist appointed City Historian
The Sonoma City Council has appointed archeologist George McKale to the position of City Historian. McKale, one of two candidates interviewed for the volunteer position out of a field of four applicants, came to Sonoma 12 years ago with his wife, right after graduate school, looking for an ideal place to live, and they stayed.
McKale is currently cultural resources manager/archeologist for LSA Associates, Inc., a diversified environmental, transportation, and community planning firm, with offices throughout California.
Vice-Mayor Ken Brown, whose job it had been to do the background check on the candidates, led the city council’s discussion of him, saying, “Mr. McKale is an expert researcher. In his line of work he has to mediate between many groups with the goal of bringing them all to the table. It’s cool to meet someone new in town and bring them on board.” Council member August Sebastiani said, “I thought Mr. Parmalee would be the guy. I don’t know Mr. McKale from a slide to third, but whoever you are,” he looked around the room, ”I congratulate you.” Alone in the back row, a pleasant-looking man in khakis smiled.
Mayor Joanne Sanders said that Bob Parmalee, who originally proposed the idea and who is very well known in the community, and “for whom we have great respect,” was the other candidate interviewed. With his long background in the city, he seemed a natural for the job. However, when he mentioned during the interview that he’d be out of town from June through September, both he and the interviewers agreed that would be “a stumbling block.” Sanders said that Parmalee agreed he would help whomever the council selected.
McKale, who manages historic and prehistoric projects throughout California, said that as City Historian he is interested in public outreach, “bringing history to schools and children.” He and his wife have four children, three at Flowery and one at Sunshine.
