City to refund assessment revenues
Residents of three maintenance districts recently dissolved by the City Council have a good chance of getting their money back – if they can prove it’s theirs.
The council unanimously approved the idea 4–0 at its July 16 meeting, with Mayor Joanne Sanders absent due to illness. The move frees up $8,370.82 for residents of the former Fryer Creek Village district and $39,708.96 for the now-defunct Sonoma Valley Oaks district. Residents of a third district, El Prado, are no longer eligible since that particular fund has a negative balance of more than $8,600 – a fiscal hole which will be paid by the city’s General Fund.
City Manager Linda Kelly recently announced that residents in these areas should receive informational letters within the next two weeks.
Council postpones fire JPA session
A long-scheduled meeting to discuss Sonoma’s part in a local firefighting agreement was postponed indefinitely July 16 due to the expected absence of Mayor Joanne Sanders.
The item actually arose after the official end of the council’s July 16 session, but the meeting was reconvened in order to hold an official discussion. The council had been scheduled in its capacity for a July 23 special session with the Valley of the Moon Fire Protection District’s board of directors to discuss operating standards for and ongoing participation in the Sonoma Valley Fire and Rescue Authority’s Joint Powers Agreement, or JPA.
However, that date conflicted with a farewell soiree for Ambassador Abderahman Salaheldin of Aswan, Egypt. The ambassador recently announced a sister-cities relationship between Sonoma and Aswan, and Mayor Sanders was invited to the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco to speak on behalf of the city.
Sanders’ colleagues were split 2–2 over whether to reschedule the JPA session, which City Manager Linda Kelly said had been on the calendar since May 16. Mayor Pro Tem Ken Brown and Councilmember Stanley Cohen argued that the session was an important one and its rescheduling didn’t speak well to the city’s JPA partner. Councilmembers Steve Barbose and August Sebastiani said they were unaware of the July 23 JPA session, and countered that while neither one of them were proposing canceling the meeting outright, they didn’t want to proceed without the mayor’s input – with Barbose saying the mayor had told him she also wished to postpone.
City Manager Linda Kelly said she would try to schedule the JPA session sometime before the council’s regular Aug. 20 meeting.
In other actions, the council:
– Approved a two-year continuation of the City-Chamber-County Joint Economic Development Program. The program, which stimulates and supports local business development, will proceed at an annual cost to the city of $69,360 – a savings of $5,640 over the previous agreement, with the county paying a greater share of the program’s assistance to the Springs.
– Awarded a $181,823 bid to Sebastopol-based Pipeline Excavators for parking lot rehabilitations at Sonoma’s City Hall and Police Department.
– Authorized the Sonoma Valley Fire and Rescue Authority’s $25,000 agreement with San Jose-based consultant Management Partners Inc. for developing the SVFRA strategic plan. The document will address organizational and facility development, staffing, financial strategy and support.
– Approved the city’s Community Services and Environment Commission recommendation to co-sponsor with Sonoma County Bicycle Coalition a “bike rally” at Depot Park on Saturday, Sept. 6. The city will waive the usual $400 fee and deposit and contribute a further $500 toward event co-sponsorship.
– Upheld two recent Sonoma Planning Commission appeals. One allows development of a nine-unit condominium complex at the corner of Perkins Street and Second Street West; the other allows a one-story addition on one side of a 300-block Patten Street home but denies a two-story addition on the other. Both appeals were heard by the council on July 2 and each passed then on a 3–2 vote: Mayor Sanders opposed both of them, with Councilmember Sebastiani joining her on the Perkins Street development and Councilmember Cohen doing so on the Patten Street item.
– Approved an amended lease agreement among the city, the Sonoma Sister Cities Association and the Valley of the Moon Petanque Club that would pave the way for bocce ball courts at the VOMPC’s Depot Park petanque courts. Both organizations would pay rent of $1 annually.
– At Councilmember Barbose’s request, and following councilmember discussion, directed city staff to return with an ordinance expanding neighbor- and public-notification requirements for new single family homes and residential additions in the city’s historic district.
