Diana Rich is Sebastopol's new mayor

An unusually fractious changing of the guard included competing nominations and comments by epithet-spewing zoom bombers during public comment

Mayor Diana Rich and Vice Mayor Stephen Zollman (Photo by Daniel Rich)

Diana Rich is Sebastopol’s new mayor and Stephen Zollman, the new vice mayor, but their election was a bit of a wild ride, marked by competing nominations from Councilmember Jill McLewis and the appearance in public comment of what sounded like Neo-Nazis.

The election of mayor and vice mayor came at the beginning of the council meeting.

When Mayor Neysa Hinton nominated Diana Rich for mayor, McLewis nominated Councilmember Stephen Zollman, who, while he thanked her for the thought, declined and expressed his support for Rich.

Councilmember Rich gave some brief remarks in response to the nomination.

“I love this city council,” she said, “and I will be happy to lead them into this next year…I feel like I've had incredible training being the Vice Mayor—thank you, Mayor—and also feel that it's an opportunity to take the various skills that this city has allowed me to develop in the last four years and before that when I was with the community center. It would be an honor. I would be very, very pleased to work with this amazing staff and the city council and see it through this next year and to be a partner in that.”

Rich won the vote for mayor 4 to 1, with McLewis dissenting.

When the newly-minted Mayor Rich nominated Zollman for vice mayor—a position that usually leads to becoming mayor next year—McLewis nominated Sandra Maurer, arguing for the need for different voices. Maurer likewise thanked her, declined the nomination and expressed her support for Zollman as vice mayor.

Then came public comment period and a string of neo-Nazi-like Zoom bombings. Their comments started off innocently enough, supporting McLewis’s nominations, but quickly devolved into racial epithets and ethnic slurs.

“I haven’t heard words like that since I left the Midwest,” Zollman said later, during the break.

One male commenter, tellingly named “Judy Stroyer” (Jew-destroyer), also seemed to hate baby boomers in general.

Mayor Rich tried to talk over these commenters, and City Clerk Mary Gourley cut their mikes almost as soon as they went off course, but the damage was done.

Maurer said she was shocked and sickened to hear endorsements of her nomination linked to such hateful statements.

“That was very painful,” she said.

Shocked and sickened seemed to be the reaction of almost everyone in the room—though one person opined privately that even hate speech is free speech.

After public comment was over, Zollman won the vote for vice mayor 4 to 1, with McLewis dissenting.

Former Mayor now Councilmember Neysa Hinton, with plaque and flowers, Mayor Diana Rich, Vice Mayor Stephen Zollman, and Councilmember Sandra Maurer. Councilmember Jill McLewis was on Zoom. (Photo by Laura Hagar Rush)

Mayor Hinton’s Parting Remarks

Before all the hoo-ha, Neysa Hinton had some parting remarks as she stepped down from the position of mayor, becoming just a regular councilmember again.

First, let me say I was deeply honored to represent the city this past year as mayor. As always there was much work done and more still to do.

The first order of business in 2023 was welcoming three new council members—I believe the biggest rotation in city council changing of the guard in over a decade. I appreciate the newest members putting their trust in me to serve as mayor this past year.

Each election puts five people together that may not have even met if not for our shared interest of civic duty, and I feel very honored to serve with my colleagues. I felt we rolled quickly into working as a team, while keeping the best interest of the city and our community first and foremost at all times. I respect people who take the step to run for office and then to serve the people in an elected role. It is a lot of work! We run believing we understand the role, but once in it—like any new job—it can be a bit different than expected, and there is always lots to learn.

As I reflect on our time spent just in council meetings (over 100 hours each year)—in addition to special meetings and boards and committees—we forget that we serve more than just the people who attend our council meetings regularly. Approximately 7,500 people live within our borders, and we represent all of them. This is important as we pass policies to guide our community. I do my homework on issues, vote using my life experience and knowledge, and ultimately rely on my heart, always trying to do what is best-for this community.

I feel I would be remiss if I did not take this opportunity to address a few recent events. As many know, I spent a 25-year career in the radio and newspaper business. I started out as a radio announcer reporting the AM news. With that said, I know from experience that what you read in the newspaper (or hear on-air) is only part of the story – the short version delivered in a story or sound bite on radio or TV. 

The most recent topic, our fire department, has been front page news recently, and I feel I must defend this council and all the actions we have taken since I served on the original Fire Sub-Committee in 2017 to solve issues and get the best fire services for our community. My recent comments on this subject did not represent the full council – they were mine alone. Some have described them as critical, but I can assure you – they were not personal but said to explain more of the story and related to job performance. With that said, I continue to pledge my commitment and support to help reach the best long-term solution for fire services for our city. This is a priority of mine, and I plan to continue to use my historical knowledge and the last six years of studying this issue, with guidance from professionals in fire service, to find solutions.

This is the year that after five years on the city’s budget sub-committee, I handed over the reins to two others. The city has recently passed a Fiscal Emergency, and I supported that recommendation and voted for the proclamation. Again, this was not a hasty move. As in prior year report-outs, the budget sub-committee talked about a structural deficit in the budget and cautioned about one-time unanticipated money appearing to mask the bottom line of the city budget, resulting in a false sense of security. I believe in watching our spending and our bottom line to ensure fiscal security. That includes the need to pay for infrastructure and to continue paying down our long-term CalPERS liability. I believe we need to ensure we have money for the future in the saving account for a “rainy day.” And I trust the recommendations by the people doing the work and closest to the situation, which was our hard-working budget sub-committee, who made deep cuts to our 2023-24 budget and spent a record setting more than 40-plus hours in budget meetings, reviewing city finances to create the budget for 2023-24.

Solving our budget challenges will continue to be something we will work on, and I pledge to keep an open mind and continue to work toward coming up with long-term solutions for our city.

While we continue to work on items, the work is never done. To recap other achievements in 2023:

As we know, Sebastopol has aging infrastructure and not great roads. This year, we secured $5 million in federal funding to address repairs including a “Go Sonoma” grant of $2.24 million for Bodega Avenue Phase 2. In addition, we secured a CalTrans Sustainable Transportation Planning Grant for our Main Street State Highway to review and consider redesign. It’s interesting to me to think about what our downtown core might look like in the future.

The council also passed an updated mobile home rent stabilization ordinance amendment in response to our seniors in the Sebastopol community who live in mobile homes to control rent increases for some of these most vulnerable community members who live on a fixed income.

Lastly, much of the year was devoted to department head retiree replacements or interim positions. The council supported hiring Police Chief Ron Nelson, Police Captain James Hickey and Fire Engineer Eric Smith, in addition to our new City Manager Don Schwartz, who is set to take the reins in January. We have had Interim Fire Chief Jack Piccinini for most of this year, until early November, and I thank Jack for his service during that period. An experienced replacement was found upon Jack’s departure; now Interim Fire Chief Bruce Martin is on the job and moving forward.

The people who work for the city make the difference. These are truly the ones who get the work done – who guide us with recommendations, and without the approximately 50 city staff, we could not have this wonderful community we all call home.

Thank you all for a wonderful year!

Councilmember Diana Rich (soon to be the new mayor) looks on as City Clerk Mary Gourley hands departing Mayor Neysa Hinton a plaque and flowers for her service to the city. (Photo by Laura Hagar Rush)