Politics & Government

Live Blog From April 12 City Council Meeting

Click through the story for to-the-minute updates.

5:00 p.m. City Council meeting convenes. Mayor Gina Belforte dedicates the meeting to Cotati City Councilmember and Sonoma State English professor Robert Coleman-Senghor, who recently passed away.

5:10: Sonoma County Supervisor David Rabbitt brief City Council about services the county provides to its residents, of which include roads, mental health, water, some fire and crime prevention and garbage.

“I feel like we have a lot of things in common … especially at Sonoma State University,” Rabbitt said.

Find out what's happening in Rohnert Park-Cotatiwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Sonoma County's 2010-11 budget was $1.18 billion, Rabbitt reports, but property tax dollars have been declined significantly because of reassessments. The economy and housing crisis has impacted the loss of home value, he says.

Of this year's property tax revenue, Rabbitt said that it "will probably take us till 2014 to get back to 2008 levels," Rabbitt said. 

Find out what's happening in Rohnert Park-Cotatiwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Rabbitt called the county's financial situation serious. The budget shortfall is $42 million, and he said they're being forced come up with 25 percent reduction plan.

5:25: Rabbitt said priorities for the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors include balanced budget, county economic developemnt, pension and budget reform, energy and water sustainabllity and working together on regional issues

5:28: "You come in front of us in a serious time in terms of all of our budgets," Vice Mayor Jake Mackenzie said. "I'm particularly interested in the possibilities of new service models."

Rabbitt says he'd like to make the council briefings a quarterly thing.

5:35: "I'll be back, and I hope we can keep the communication lines open," Rabbitt said.

"You're welcome any time," Belforte said.

5:40: Jill Vanden Heuvel, the communications and advertising architect from the Sonoma County Tourism Bureau reports to the council about what the bureau is doing to attract business to Rohnert Park. 

5:55 p.m. Belforte proclaims the fourth Friday of April as "Children's Memorial Day in Memory of Children who have Died by Violence."

6:05: Nelle Seidenspinner and Jessica Schieberl who work for and Parks and Recreation present and the Senior Center, respectively, present plans for an Earth Day party this Friday. The program is geared towards upping participation in the city's "adopt-a-park" program, which was adopted last year.

Groups of volunteers will be out at Civic Center Plaza, in J Park, M Park and G Park cleaning up and beautifying the city's parks.

6:17: City Manager Gabe Gonzalez introduces the city's draft social media policy.

We want to improve communication with our residents and create more transparency, Gonzalez said.

6:22: "We have a purpose of trying to communicate with our citizens — it's an opportunity to really engage our citizens," said David Rowley, the city's information technology manager.

6:41: Terri Griffin, deputy city clerk, said she wants to get council feedback and get the Facebook page up by June 1.

6:47: Councilmember Joe Callinan asked what kind of costs would be associated with the social network sites, in terms of staff time spent moderating.

Gonzalez said the benefit to the community will likely outweigh the minimal cost to the city.

7:05: State is mandating all cities reduce water usage by 20 percent by 2020, city engineer Darrin Jenkins reports. 

Jenkins said per capita water usage last year was about 92 gallons, but that includes factoring in city vacancies. Under the mandatory 20 percent reduction by 2020, the water usage would just need to be 119 gallons per person per day. 

7:33: City weighs waiving fees for the Community Voice to throw a Cinco de Mayo celebration in City Center Plaza May 5. The fees are $950 with a $1,000 deposit, that would be refundable. Gonzalez is proposing that the city split the cost with the Community Voice, so the city would pay $450 and the newspaper would pay the other half, plus the deposit.

The council voted 3-1 to give the Community Voice a 50 percent break on renting the City Center Plaza space for the celebration. Callinan voted against it. He wanted to give the paper the whole amount.

7:42: Councilmember Pam Stafford said a new company, Innovative Screen Printing, may rent out 9,000 square feet at Sonoma Mountain Village.

7:47: Belforte said the city might "squeak by maybe one more year" without the state dissolving redevelopment funding.

7:53: Council meeting adjourns.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here