What Just Happened? Sonoma City Council Meeting Goes Down a Dark Hole

It was just supposed to be a couple agenda items anticipating the upcoming initiative for Preserving the Sonoma – the Hotel Limitation Initiative, according to the official title and summary.

Instead, the public microphone at the City Council meeting Monday night turned into a platform for support, objection, attacks and defenses about the initiative itself.

Not just former mayor Larry Barnett – sponsor of the initiative - took the mic, but so too did former mayor Joanne Sanders (an avowed opponent) and a host of well-known citizens of Sonoma weighing in on the merit and worthlessness, necessity or obstructionism of the initiative itself.

Mayor Ken Brown eventually had to call an end to the public comments on the section of the meeting that pertained to his request for clarity on what a seating City Council member can say and do during the initiative process. To this end the opinion of the city attorney had greater weight than all the comments from the floor.

The upshot: Members of the council are free to sign the petition, comment on them, even donate funds for or against a petition, as long as they do so as citizens, not council members.

“There’s no law that says you can’t comment on a petition,” said Jeffrey Walter. “There are just implications if you do.”

The meeting also discussed the two vs. three hour parking limitation proposal in the City Plaza, and other matters as well that will be covered in subsequent articles.

But from the response of those in the Community Meeting Room, the initiative process has gotten off to a very loud start.

Tell us: What do you think of Monday's City Council meeting?