Community Center preservation easement
The council approved an immediate payment of $50,000 to the Sonoma Community Center to help with the maintenance of their building, postponing a decision on a long-term solution. Brown, Gallian and Barbose voted in favor, with councilmembers Joanne Sanders and August Sebastiani recusing themselves from the discussion because of the proximity of their homes to the center.
The upkeep of the community center has become a hardship for the non-profit. When the Presentation School moved out three years ago, the center lost annual lease revenues of $120,000 and hasn’t since been able to compete in the short-term lease market due to its subpar heating and cooling systems, according to the nonprofit’s director, Kathy Swett.
The first option considered was to sell the building to the city, which would then lease it back to the community center, but the board members had agreed that was not ideal. The option recommended to the council was for the city to buy a preservation easement, which would require the building to be maintained in its historic state and be open to the public. The city staff proposed an easement of 5 years, to be paid at $100,000 annually.
Councilmember Steve Barbose protested strongly to the proposal, saying that he was in favor of the easement concept, but didn’t want to rush into a five year deal.
The compromise was for the council to give the community center cash upfront to buy time for a bipartisan committee between community center and council to hammer out the details of the preservation easement over the next several months.
Spousal conflict of interest
The city council chose to take no action after discussing whether there was a conflict of interest with councilmember Laurie Gallian’s husband serving on the planning commission. On occasion, planning commission decisions are appealed to the city council.
The city attorney said that the closest precedent was a similar situation in Woodland. The decision in that case was that the council had the right to remove the committee member, but that it had no requirement to do so. Sanders, who put the item on the agenda, said she was primarily concerned about legal risks to the city and giving the council and public a chance to discuss the issue in open session. The attorney said that unless someone could prove actual unfair bias, legal risk wasn’t a concern.
Councilwoman Gallian said she didn’t want to establish a standard of recusing herself and would do so if there was a particular instance in which it was required. “I feel I have an independent thought process,” she said. “I’ve been a trustee for many years in money, finances and lives. I know where to draw the line.”
Barbose pointed out that the only time this would come up is when a planning commission decision is appealed to the council. “This is a relatively small percentage of the work,” he said. “It might not even come up during the next two years that that would even happen.”
Gina Cuclis, who was on the planning commission for nine years, said she couldn’t imagine what the conflict would be if there’s no direct personal involvement. “Anybody who thinks that councilwoman Gallian is automatically going to vote the way her husband does, I’m sorry, y’all just don’t know this couple,” she said.
Council Briefs
Sonoma International Film Festival sponsorship
The council voted 3-2 for the City of Sonoma to become a major sponsor of the Sonoma Valley Film Festival, April 9-13, putting $25,000 toward the festival.
Gallian and Sebastiani voted against the measure in the concern that the city does not have sufficient funds to put toward something like this.
Community Development
Block Grants
The council approved the city staff recommendation to nominate the 19334 Sonoma Hwy “O’Donnell Property affordable housing project for a federal grant. The total pot this year comes to $580,000 to be split between 5 cities, plus $300,000 that can only be spent for affordable housing programs.
Cemetery
The potential cemetery privatization is dead and buried. But that doesn’t solve the problem – an annual operating deficit of $80,000 to $90,000 to maintain the three city-owned cemeteries.
Councilmember August Sebastiani, who served on the ad-hoc advisory committee with Mayor Ken Brown, requested that the committee investigate options for improving revenues.
Councilmember Joanne Sanders reiterated that she does not think more public funds should be invested in such a risky business which is dependent on considerable marketing. Barbose agreed with her position, stating that spending for an expansion in hopes of building an endowment could go very badly if they fail.
Over 50 community members attended a town hall meeting on the possible privatization, all of whom spoke out against the measure.
2009 Alcalde
Elizabeth Kemp has a gold-headed cane in her future. The council unanimously appointed her Sonoma’s official alcalde in light of her extraordinary volunteer commitments in the community. Kemp has long sat on the board of Vineyard Worker Services.
“At this time of year, it’s reminiscent of a Heismann trophy of sorts for do-gooders,” said councilmember August Sebastiani.
