The Consent Calendar Conundrum
Some items that deserved discussion slipped through on the consent calendar at the last city council meeting
This is Part 1 of a multi-part article on the Sept. 2 City Council Meeting.
The last city council meeting on Sept. 2 had an incredibly packed agenda with 27 items, ranging from the prosaic but important (fixing the storm drain in Ives Park) to the purely symbolic (flag policy and land acknowledgement). Because of the large number of items, we are splitting this recap article into two (possibly three) parts.
Part 1 will deal solely with the items on the consent calendar, a first in my 40 years of reporting.
Mayor Stephen Zollman, Vice Mayor Jill McLewis, Councilmember Phill Carter, Councilmember Neysa Hinton, and Councilmember Sandra Maurer were present for the Sept. 2 Sebastopol City Council meeting.
Misuse of the consent calendar?
Typically, the consent calendar is made up of items that are routine in nature or don’t require additional discussion, often because they’ve been discussed extensively at a previous council meeting.
That was not the case at the last city council meeting.
There were a whopping 17 items on the consent calendar. Councilmember Hinton, who has been on the council since 2016, said this was the longest consent calendar she could recall.
Councilmembers pulled three consent items, which then got added to the end of the regular agenda for discussion later in the evening. These included a Letter of Support for St. Vincent de Paul’s application for Measure O funding, which was pulled by Councilmember McLewis. Two other consent items, the flag policy and the Building the Commons Committee, got pulled by Councilmembers Maurer and Hinton.
There were a few other items on the consent calendar that also deserved more discussion, something that was remarked on by both Councilmember Phill Carter and frequent public commenter, Kyle Falbo.
Falbo, who has warned in the past about substantive issues slipping through on the consent calendar, said, “I again encourage council members to regularly examine those consent calendar items and really think through, ‘Does this deserve further discussion?’ when we think through some of the decisions that are being made here.”
Councilmember Carter agreed: “One of the commenters was quite right that there’s a lot on here that probably could use some further elucidation on why they’re there and what’s going on. We’ve done a lot of work in the background that the public isn’t aware of, and sometimes this is a good reason to talk about some of these things. So maybe in the future, there could be some opportunity to just simply go over what they are, so it doesn’t feel like we’re just slipping things in...I don’t know whether that’s feasible or not, given that we only have four hours or something to talk [during a council meeting].”
Consent items that could have used more discussion
Except for the three items that were pulled for later discussion, the council unanimously approved all of the other items on the consent calendar. Some of these items were routine, while others—amendments to the city’s protocols regarding ICE and moving business district funding from the Sebastopol Downtown Association (SDA) to the Chamber of Commerce—clearly warranted more discussion, if only for the sake of transparency. We will briefly outline these items:
The Chamber of Commerce will now be the recipient of Business Improvement District funds
The council approved an agreement between the City of Sebastopol and the Sebastopol Chamber of Commerce, which makes the Chamber the recipient of the money collected by the city from businesses in the Business Improvement Area. In exchange, the Chamber agreed to take over responsibility for the following activities:
Acquisition, construction, and/or maintenance of parking facilities for the benefit of the Business Improvement District;
Decoration of public places within the District;
Promotion of public events in public spaces within the District;
Furnishing of music in public spaces within the District;
Promotion of business activities within the District; and
Any and all other purposes authorized by law, the ordinance establishing the Business Improvement District, and/or the City Council
In addition, the agenda included the following statement: “To ensure continuity, accountability, and representation, the Chamber will be required to form a subcommittee of former SDA-affiliated members. This subcommittee will be responsible for developing and administering an annual budget for the use of BIA [Business Improvement Area] funds. The budget will be submitted to the City Council for review and approval to ensure transparency and alignment with the purposes of the Business Improvement Assessment Area.”
The Sebastopol Times has covered this issue extensively in the past (most recently here). Fortunately, Chamber Director Myriah Volk read this statement during public comment, which provided some clarification.
I'm speaking tonight as the director of Sebastopol Chamber of Commerce in support of the resolution to transfer business improvement district funds to the chamber. For the past three years, I have worked closely with the city and the former Downtown Association to find a path forward for these funds, which have been sitting unused since the Downtown Association became inactive. The Chamber is ready and able to activate these resources for the benefit of our downtown, through events, promotion and improvements that support all businesses, not just Chamber members.
One public commenter suggested that the city, the chamber and the business community need to work together. I'd like to clarify that we are already working together. The Chamber and city staff have collaborated consistently on events, communication and planning, and this agreement is a reflection of that partnership.
The Chamber has grown by over 65% in the past three years, adding 100 new members. As a voluntary membership organization, we strive to provide meaningful services and support to businesses that choose to join. While membership is entirely optional, we welcome all businesses to participate and engage with our efforts to strengthen downtown and the town as a whole.
We recognize that not every business feels represented. That's why this agreement includes a subcommittee of former Downtown Association members to help guide the business improvement district budget and strategy. This ensures broader input and full transparency. We’re committed to bringing a thoughtful plan, partnership and accountability to this important work, and we welcome all businesses to be a part of this.
The council approved amendments to city protocols regarding ICE without any council discussion
According to the staff report, “Interim City Manager [Mary Gourley] and Mayor Zollman met with representatives from the Sebastopol Work Group and community members to discuss ICE activity. During these meetings, the Work Group requested edits to the City’s existing protocols.”
Though it is not clear in the agenda or the staff report, the “Sebastopol Work Group” in question is actually the Sebastopol Work Group of The Sanctuary Coalition.
The Sebastopol Work Group requested certain changes to city protocols regarding ICE and immigration, and the mayor and city manager worked with them to integrate those changes into the city protocols.
The actual agenda item was oddly worded. In the first sentence, it sounds like the council is merely approving the receipt of the recommendations of the Sebastopol Work Group. The second sentence, however, seems to suggest that this item is actually about the approval of the amendments themselves: “City of Sebastopol has current protocols in place and has recommended amendments as listed in protocols.” The third sentence reinforces this impression, noting “Staff will return to a future publicly noticed Council meeting with additional information related to costs for training and purchase and installation of signage.”
The Sebastopol Times reached out to Mary Gourley, who confirmed that the council did in fact approve the amendments to the city protocols.
The Sebastopol Times spoke to two council members who thought they were merely approving the receipt of the item and expected it to come back for discussion at a future meeting.
You can see the changes to how the city deals with ICE in the documents attached to the staff report.
Other items approved on the consent calendar
The council approved the following additional items on consent:
The council gave direction to the City Attorney to prepare “good neighbor policy” ordinances to foster positive relationships between homeless service providers and the communities they serve, mitigating potential negative impacts on neighborhoods and rebuilding trust between residents and service providers. The ordinance will address property maintenance and related community impacts and should address community safety concerns and provide standards for the use of public space. This will then be brought back to the council for discussion. (Councilmember Maurer also considered pulling this item for discussion that night but changed her mind.)
Adoption of Ordinance 1158, amending the Sebastopol Municipal Code to reassign the position of Director of Emergency Services from Fire Chief to Police Chief. (This had been discussed at the previous meeting.)
Approval of Revisions to Purchasing Policy #89, including revisions pertaining to Consultant Master Agreements as approved by the City Attorney and Public Works Construction Contracts under the Uniform Construction Cost Accounting Act, and Credit Cards. The staff report for details.
Approval of a resolution authorizing consultants Fehr & Peers to submit invoices for work on the Caltrans Sustainable Transportation Grant. The City will submit these invoices to Caltrans for processing and reimbursement in accordance with grant requirements. In addition, the council approved an amendment to the contract with Fehr & Peers in an amount not to exceed $24,000. The staff report notes that “There is no additional fiscal impact to the City’s General Fund. All costs associated with consultant services will be reimbursed through the Caltrans Sustainable Transportation Grant.”
Award of Landscape Maintenance Services contract to PJM Yard Maintenance for an amount not to exceed $70,020. for service from October 2025 through June 2026. There is no fiscal impact as the landscape maintenance work is included in the adopted 2025-26 budget for Public Works/Parks.
Approval of a letter of support for West County Community Services’ Homelessness Street Outreach Funding as a part of their application to the Sonoma County Department of Health Services for the ‘Measure O: Behavioral Health & Homelessness Pathways to Sustainability’ Notice of Funding Availability.
Authorized city staff to submit an application to the Sonoma County Department of Health Services to fund the following programs: 1. Extension of HEART Personnel through June 30, 2026. 2. Funding to support dedicated Mobile Support Teams (MST) for Sebastopol to work collaboratively with the Sebastopol Police Department when responding to mental health situations. This request is in response to the Measure O: Behavioral Health & Homelessness Pathways to Sustainability Notice of Funding Availability. The staff report explains it this way: “Several other Sonoma County jurisdictions received funding to support mobile crisis response services. Initially, Sebastopol did not apply for these funds, as the City did not have a formal program in place. However, following a recent discussion with the Department of Health Services, it is now clear that our partnership with the County…makes the City of Sebastopol eligible for funding.”
The council approved removing the requirement for Vimeo (Live Streaming) for the Public Arts Committee, the Climate Action Committee, the Oversight Committee for Enterprise Funds, and the Sebastopol Commons: Building the Commons Committee. According to the staff report, “These specific committees will continue to use both Zoom and in-person formats for public participation, and recordings of the meetings will be posted to the City website as soon as possible after each meeting. This change will not impact Vimeo (Live Streaming) for City Council, Planning Commission, or Design Review Board meetings.”
Approval of an amendment to the budget, transferring funds from the 2024/25 City Budget Police Endowment Fund to the 2025-26 Police Department Operating Budget for purchase of a police vehicle. The estimated total cost for the acquisition and customization of the police vehicle is approximately $90,000, which was previously budgeted and approved. This purchase will have no impact on the General Fund, as it will be fully funded through the Police Endowment Fund.
Approval of a contract with GHD for city engineering services and the assignment of Mario Landeros as the Interim City Engineer through December 2025. Former City Engineer Mark Rincon-Ibarra retired from his position effective August 11, 2025.
Part 2 of this article will address items that were on the regular agenda for the Sept. 2 Sebastopol City Council meeting, including animal control services, economic gardening events, the Building Commons Committee, land acknowledgements and more. To see the agenda and documentation for this meeting, go here.