Fight over Sebastopol tax measure dominates council meeting
Sebastopol City Council Recap for July 18
Four councilmembers were present for the July 18 Sebastopol City Council meeting, including Mayor Neysa Hinton, Vice Mayor Diana Rich, Councilmember Sandra Maurer, and Councilmember Stephen Zollman. Councilmember Jill McLewis was absent.
PUBLIC COMMENT
EMF opponent Martha Glaser asked the council to oppose HR 3557, which according to the National League of Cities would “preempt local authority over wireless telecommunications facility siting.”
Patty Hiller, Patty Rainey and Leah Lampley (all from Burbank Heights) asked the city to do something about the piles of dead trees and dry brush at Sebastopol Memorial Lawn Cemetery. (See our article on this issue here. )
Two neighbors complained about inadequate crosswalk lights and protections at the intersection of Bodega Highway and Ragle Road.
CONSENT CALENDAR
In addition to the approval of meeting minutes, the council unanimously approved the following:
Authorized the mayor to sign a letter of Support for SB 252, which would prohibit public employee retirement funds from investing in fossil fuel companies.
Approved amendments for the Parquet Street Water, Sewer, Slurry Seal Improvements Project and the Bodega Avenue Bike Lane Project.
Approved an MOU for a new schedule for the police department.
Renewed contracts with the following consultants: Muchmore Than Consulting, Marin IT, Phillips Seabrook Associates.
Approved amendments to the agreement with GHD Inc. for Engineering and Technical Support Services.
PRESENTATION
Sebastopol’s Public Safety Outreach Coordinator Skip Jirrels gave his biannual presentation on Meet Your Neighbors (MYN—formerly Map Your Neighborhood), which is one of the city’s emergency preparedness initiatives. The centerpiece of the program is the MYN class, which teaches proven preparedness steps and provides a time to discuss information, ideas and concerns about preparing and responding to emergencies in one’s neighborhood. The goal is that people who take the class will go out and organize their neighborhoods.
Councilmember Maurer said she and her neighbors got together regularly and asked how they could become a part of the MYN network. He suggested that one member attend the MYN training, which happens at the fire station at 6:30 pm on the third Wednesday of every month. The next meeting is on August 16.
PUBLIC HEARING: Turning commercial space into residential space at Woodstone Corners
The council passed a resolution to modify zoning for Woodstone Corners (1121-1171 Gravenstein Highway South) so that the ground floor units can also be used for residences. The project was originally conceived of as live-work units with commercial space on the ground floor and living space above. This change allows residents to turn the ground floor units, which had been difficult to rent as commercial property, into small residential apartments. Planning director Kari Svanstrom noted that there were a couple more proposed conversions from commercial space to residential on the docket right now.
“We’re seeing a bit of a trend,” she said.
In public comment, frequent commenter Kyle Falbo noted that the project was being brought forward by former mayor Patrick Slater, who is the project’s architect. He reminded the council of Government Code 18746.3, which forbids former elected officials from presenting items to the council for one year after leaving office. (Slayter retired from the council in December 2022.) Falbo asked where he could file a complaint about this.
City Attorney Larry McLaughlin later told the Sebastopol Times, “We are presently looking into it. We have thus far not heard further from Mr. Falbo. Regardless, we do not believe that the approval will need to be revisited.”
REGULAR CALENDAR AGENDA: Discussion of a ballot measure for November 2023
There was only one item on the regular agenda—discussion of a ballot measure to raise taxes in Sebastopol to help close the city’s approximately $1.67 million budget deficit.
A report on the ballot measure process and taxation options was prepared by Mayor Hinton and Vice Mayor Rich. Their report explored the following questions:
Should the city council pursue a ballot measure in November 2023?
Should the tax measure be a sales tax or a parcel tax?
Should the tax be for a general purpose or special purpose?
Should this measure include a sunset clause?
Who should be chosen as an election consultant?
Should the council create an ad hoc ballot measure committee?
(Hinton and Rich’s report is actually quite fascinating and too detailed to be summarized in a city council recap. Read it here.)
As a part of their analysis, Rich and Hinton also made a recommendation: They recommended putting a ¼ or ½ cent sales tax measure focused around the issue of public safety on the ballot in November 2023.
To get something on the ballot for this November would require that the measure be drafted and turned in to the county registrar of voters by August 11—a rather Herculean task even if the whole council was on board, which it wasn’t.
Councilmember Maurer called this recommendation “premature” and “deceptive.” She objected to the timing – before the fire ad hoc committee had even finished its report on what the fire department needed. She also felt it would compete with a long-planned county-wide fire measure destined for the March 2024 ballot that could bring $1.2 million to Sebastopol. (Several fire fighters from around the region spoke in public comment, asking the city to reconsider running a “public safety” tax measure this November.) Maurer also objected to the idea of raising money for public safety when all the sales tax money would really do is replace general fund money currently going to police and fire, so that the money freed up in the general fund could be used elsewhere.
Hinton defended the proposal by pointing out that the money raised through the sales tax had to, by law, be used for public safety (if that was what the ballot measure said), and that she didn’t see anything deceptive about that.
Councilmember Zollman didn’t object to the timing, but he was adamantly opposed to money going to fund the police, under the guise of public safety. He suggested taking a broader view of public safety and said that a larger library acting as a hub for social services would do more for public safety than more police.
Seeing that consensus on the broader recommendation was a no-go, the majority of the council agreed on a more limited proposal. On a vote of 3 to 1, with Maurer dissenting, they agreed to hire a consultant (Denny Rosatti) to do a poll (not to exceed $10,000) to test the waters for a tax measure on the November ballot. They also voted to create an ad hoc committee, consisting of Neysa Hinton and Stephen Zollman, to steer a ballot measure (whatever it turns out to be) forward.
The next Sebastopol City Council Meeting is on Tuesday, August 1, at 6 pm.