Record 32 applicants for city commissions

Local residents seem to have answered President Barack Obama’s call to service. A possible all-time high of 32 people applied for seven open positions on local commissions. The commissions advise the City Council on issues including development, planning, public art and the environment.
“I do not have stats on how many applications we have received in the past, but I can tell you this is the best response we have had in many, many years for any commission vacancy,” said City Clerk Gay Rainsbarger.
She said this was the first time ever that anyone applied for the Cultural and Fine Arts Commission Alternate position, with five interested applicants.
“It is so wonderful to have such a large pool of interested citizens to select from. The mayor is going to have a difficult task in selecting just a few from so many talented individuals,” she said, adding that many applicants expressed interest in vacancies for which they weren’t even applying.
Mayor Ken Brown and the councilmember involved with each particular commission will interview the applicants, then the mayor will nominate a person for each position. The City Council is scheduled to ratify the appointments at the next City Council meeting in February. The deadline for applications was Wednesday, Jan. 21.
The applications received broke down as follows:
Planning Commission alternate: six applications.
Sonoma Valley Citizens Advisory Commission  (two positions): seven applications.
Community Services and Environment Commission (three positions): 14 applications.
Cultural and Fine Arts Commission alternate: five applications.