Sonoma City Council meeting report

At it’s February 1, 2016 meeting, the Sonoma City Council agreed to extend the Sonoma County Waste Management  Agency Joint Powers Agreement for one year; confirmed that the Maysonnave Cottage lease allows for ancillary events for fundraising in support of cottage and property maintenance, and moved ahead with changing the terms of the Community Fund Grant Program.

The SCWMA JPA has “a lot of balls in the air”, according to city attorney Jeff Walter, who advised the council to extend the JPA for a year and come back later to address currently unresolved specific issues.

The Sonoma League for Historic Preservation’s request to confirm that the Maysonnave House lease allows for events opened up questions of parking congestion on First Street East. Council member Hundley asked why such parking questions were not being first vetted by the Planning Commission? Planning Director Goodison replied that a previous council already had approved the lease and that museums such as the Maysonnave House customarily had events to support their activities. On that recommendation the council limited weddings to no more than twelve per year and no more than two per month. Some council members also advised the League to charge a lot more than $1000 a wedding.

The Community Fund Grant Program had previously adhered to a system under which “Tier One Non-Profits” received the bulk of city grant funding, in lieu of the city having its own Parks and Recreation Department. Former Tier One non-profits included the Sonoma Ecology Center, the Boys and Girls Club, the Vintage House and the Community Center. The council will put in place a new system, one that opens the applicant field, with a trial period of 18 months to assess impacts to the community.