The last 10 years of City Council members have been as corrupt as anyone in the Trump administration. The fact that they cloak themselves in a hail of virtue signaling only makes it worse in many respects. The continued lying to the public, the autocratic gaslighing of public outrage and continuously voiced concerns from the tax payers is a disgrace. The only thing they seem to know how to do is form "ad hoc committees" and then hire consultants and waste more tax payer money, discovering that all the things they've been doing (and that we told them were going to be a huge problem) are creating the problem. So they "solve" that by ignoring the fundamentals and just blithely stealing money from Rate payers to the tune of millions. As Kyle Falbo humorously illustrated by dawning a pirate costume in last council meeting, they're a bunch of bankrupt pirates. Full Stop.
I have the sense that Seb and other very small city/town supervisors get pulled in so many directions, mostly driven by the demand for more services and subsidies. It's understandable that it's hard to ignore all the real, and some spurious, needs crying for solutions involving more money from taxpayers. But it looks like there aren't clear priorities, like systems for staying on top of fundamental, big ticket services like water/sewer costs and keeping the public in the loop in advance of problems like this one. I fear that many of the well meaning supervisors are mostly not financial people and are probably bored by the process of doing the dirty work that the Grand Jury has done to identify the sewer/water problems. If only we elected people with the qualifications to manage sizable, complex budgets and projects and to nit pick, instead of electing nice popular people.
I hope in the future that issues such as this, elevate to the public in a more timely manner. Folks have been regularly referencing most of this via public comment for years with little to no acknowledgement. Maybe my considering of the press as a 4th branch of government is too lofty an idea, but I sure wish there were more checks and balances occuring.
Water and Sewer Ratepayers are still paying too much for Council, City Manager and Financial Services in the 2026/2027 adopted budget.
The total budget for City Council is $173,115. Water and Sewer Ratepayers are paying $90,613 or 52% of the Council budget. This is not justified with any documentation and not reflected in the agendas or recorded meetings.
The total budget for City Manager is $617,579. Water and Sewer Ratepayers are paying $392,282/ 63% for the City Manager. This is not justified by any documentation and not reflected in agendas or recorded meetings.
The total budget for Finance/ Admin is $1,527,544. Water and Sewer Ratepayers are paying $603,805 or 39.5% of the total budget. This is not justified by any documentation and not reflected in agendas or recorded meetings.
In addition, Water and Sewer Ratepayers are paying $168,593 for the Syserco Loan Repayment for Digital Water Meters which have not increased efficiency and have actually increased costs.
City Manager Time needs to reflect a more standard percentage until time tracking can verify actual time spent on Water and Sewer. City Manager allocation should be reduced to 30% or $185,273 split between the two funds.
Finance/Admin needs to be reduced to 30% or $458,263 until time tracking is set in place or an Request For Proposal for an outside vendor can be issued.
Legal expenses should be $25,000 total split between the Water and Sewer. Historically, both funds used less than $12,500 per year. Legal expenses in the adopted budget for 2026/2027 is $50,000.
No. It means the city has mismanaged the water and sewer enterprises by misappropriating funds from rate payers to pay salary and benefit increases for staff….for 26 years! Money could have gone to infrastructure like the Pleasant Hill loop which was identified in a 2005 water study and in the next water study (2026) 21 years later it is still identified as critical. If the current Pleasant Hill main were to break or fail in some other way more than half the city households would lose water. There are three valves that might help divert water from another system but they don’t work …all this is coming out as the Oversight Committee asks questions.
The last 10 years of City Council members have been as corrupt as anyone in the Trump administration. The fact that they cloak themselves in a hail of virtue signaling only makes it worse in many respects. The continued lying to the public, the autocratic gaslighing of public outrage and continuously voiced concerns from the tax payers is a disgrace. The only thing they seem to know how to do is form "ad hoc committees" and then hire consultants and waste more tax payer money, discovering that all the things they've been doing (and that we told them were going to be a huge problem) are creating the problem. So they "solve" that by ignoring the fundamentals and just blithely stealing money from Rate payers to the tune of millions. As Kyle Falbo humorously illustrated by dawning a pirate costume in last council meeting, they're a bunch of bankrupt pirates. Full Stop.
I have the sense that Seb and other very small city/town supervisors get pulled in so many directions, mostly driven by the demand for more services and subsidies. It's understandable that it's hard to ignore all the real, and some spurious, needs crying for solutions involving more money from taxpayers. But it looks like there aren't clear priorities, like systems for staying on top of fundamental, big ticket services like water/sewer costs and keeping the public in the loop in advance of problems like this one. I fear that many of the well meaning supervisors are mostly not financial people and are probably bored by the process of doing the dirty work that the Grand Jury has done to identify the sewer/water problems. If only we elected people with the qualifications to manage sizable, complex budgets and projects and to nit pick, instead of electing nice popular people.
This wasn't done by county supervisors, it was done by Sebastopol City and City Council members.
and City Manager(s) and, legal council! ; - )
I understand that....
Sorry.
I hope in the future that issues such as this, elevate to the public in a more timely manner. Folks have been regularly referencing most of this via public comment for years with little to no acknowledgement. Maybe my considering of the press as a 4th branch of government is too lofty an idea, but I sure wish there were more checks and balances occuring.
https://youtu.be/jDIa97t56aQ?si=06DcQrlDjI_LZJEJ
Best explanation of all this I have seen.
Fantastic reporting. So thankful for your journalism.
Water and Sewer Ratepayers are still paying too much for Council, City Manager and Financial Services in the 2026/2027 adopted budget.
The total budget for City Council is $173,115. Water and Sewer Ratepayers are paying $90,613 or 52% of the Council budget. This is not justified with any documentation and not reflected in the agendas or recorded meetings.
The total budget for City Manager is $617,579. Water and Sewer Ratepayers are paying $392,282/ 63% for the City Manager. This is not justified by any documentation and not reflected in agendas or recorded meetings.
The total budget for Finance/ Admin is $1,527,544. Water and Sewer Ratepayers are paying $603,805 or 39.5% of the total budget. This is not justified by any documentation and not reflected in agendas or recorded meetings.
In addition, Water and Sewer Ratepayers are paying $168,593 for the Syserco Loan Repayment for Digital Water Meters which have not increased efficiency and have actually increased costs.
City Manager Time needs to reflect a more standard percentage until time tracking can verify actual time spent on Water and Sewer. City Manager allocation should be reduced to 30% or $185,273 split between the two funds.
Finance/Admin needs to be reduced to 30% or $458,263 until time tracking is set in place or an Request For Proposal for an outside vendor can be issued.
Legal expenses should be $25,000 total split between the Water and Sewer. Historically, both funds used less than $12,500 per year. Legal expenses in the adopted budget for 2026/2027 is $50,000.
Is this an indication that Sebastopol is too geographically small to cover the costs of living here?
No. It means the city has mismanaged the water and sewer enterprises by misappropriating funds from rate payers to pay salary and benefit increases for staff….for 26 years! Money could have gone to infrastructure like the Pleasant Hill loop which was identified in a 2005 water study and in the next water study (2026) 21 years later it is still identified as critical. If the current Pleasant Hill main were to break or fail in some other way more than half the city households would lose water. There are three valves that might help divert water from another system but they don’t work …all this is coming out as the Oversight Committee asks questions.