Politics & Government

Live Updates From Tonight's City Council Meeting

The city council meets at 6pm at the Community Meeting Room

We'll be posting live updates from the Sonoma City Council meeting.

6:11 Meeting is called to order. Everyone's here.

6:16 Public Comment: A proponent of a community swimming pool says that people she's polled say they would support a tax increase in order to create a pool. (Really, would you?)

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6:17 Public Comment: Dusty Wroten, who's son is buried in a cemetery in town, asks the council to end the policy of not allowing family members to leave things on the graves. Currently, only the tombstone and a flower is allowed. She's left photos on her son's grave, and had them taken away overnight.

6:21 Public Comment: Celeste Winders, a friend of Dusty, wants to comment on the same issue. "I didn't see anything that seemed unsightly - I saw pinwheels and angels - and it's nice for someone who's walking through the cemetery to get a piece of a person's life....It's the city putting a mandate on how people grieve."

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6:23 Public Comment: Raquel Gomez feels the same way. "For those people who [have lost someone] and then practically being told that their culture is invalid because we make rules...it's freedom of speech, you should be able to honor who has passed away with your culture. I thought this was America where you were able to honor your religion."

6:26 Councilman Steve Barbose wants to mention the 100 birthday of Avis Waltch, a Sonoma resident for 30 years and mother of 12 children. "She has, believe it or not, 68 great grandchildren," said Barbose. "If you can imagine trying to keep track of those birthdays." There will be a celebration next weekend at the .

6:31 Councilman Ken Brown reminds everyone that is coming up this weekend - the parade in on Sunday.

6:32 Mayor Pro Tem Joanne Sanders reminds everyone of the safe she requested. She also wants to point out that two commenters in last week's misrepresented their positions as associated with the city of Pacifica and Petaluma. "In meetings we are not under oath...abusing that trust poisons the process," she said. She also ran into a woman last Friday evening who had been bitten by a dog. "I will get back to you if there had been a difference if the regulations we have with the county had been in place," she said.

6:53 Mayor Laurie Gallian said the chamber of commerce said there were 157 new businesses incorporated in Sonoma this year.

6:57 Brown wants to point out that there are numerous openings on Sonoma commissions.

6:59 Community Meeting: Oct. 23 Foothill Partners will host a community meeting on the .

7:04 Proclamation for childhood obesity prevention week.

7:27 Barbose wants to point out the dedication of the Fryer Creek Bridge and the Fryer Creek Bike Path will be made to Virginia Jones, a swimming advocate in Sonoma, and in memory of the Malone family, who died in a car accident. 

7:32 Public Comment: Greg Montgomery's property backs up on the creek. "No one is more deserving than Ginny Jones to have this section of the bike patch dedicated to her," he said.

7:36 Public hearing on attempts to remove a tree from a property which is covering a property-line.

8:04 We're talking about the Rancho de Sonoma project: for . The city has been working with park owners to apply for a state grant to allow the park, which is in violation of the EPA for its high levels of arsenic found in its well water, to hook up with the city water supply. But, the grant will now be administrated by the state, so the city is looking to close up these issues. The costs of the project to the city have already been reimbursed.

8:13 Dianne Shepard a resident of Rancho de Sonoma wants to thank city staff for their hard work on this issue. "It's been seven years now in the making and it really feels good to have it come almost to the end, where we don't have to buy bottled water," she said.

8:21 Public Comment: The EPA has issued three separate extensions to the park, at the request of the park owner. "It's been ongoing for many years, and I just want to remind you that the residents continue to drink very poor water," he said.

8:25 List B shows the current upgrades allotted by Prop 4. This money is reserved for specific improvements, to assure that the costs are not furthered to residents.

8:34 Sanders motions to authorize the agreement, pending acceptance of a series of contracts between the city and the mobile home park.

8:36 "I think we need to keep an eye on this, but it takes a huge burden off of the city," said Sanders. "It may not seem to members of the public that we've been as hard as we could've been...but we've been pretty steadfast in how we've handled this both in closed session and in open session."

8:43 Motion passes unanimously.

8:42 Public Comment: Superintendent SVUSD Louanne Carlemagno: Because Sonoma is a basic aid school district, the idea of consolidation doesn't apply as much.

8:46 Item passes 5-0

8:46 Onto item 7-C a discussion of busking in Sonoma. For background, . Busking isn't prohibited, but there is no designated business licence for it, which would be required for street performers to perform.

8:47 Public Comment: "I'm all for this, I have a very talented nephew who, if he weren't allowed to sing publicly wouldn't know how to define himself."

8:54 PC: Herb Golenpaul: "Who makes the qualification that this individaul is qualified to do this?"

8:58 Item passes unanimously 5-0.

9:00 Public Comment: David Cook wants to point out that he is a different person than the "Mr. Cook" who owns the Rancho de Sonoma Park.

9:01 PC: Herb Golenpaul: October 6-9 is fleet week in San Francisco. "This is a real nice time for people to go and see where your money is going," he said.

9:05 Meeting Adjourned.


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