Live Blog From Tuesday's City Council Meeting

5 p.m. About 20 people are present. Councilman Joe Callinan said he was concerned about raising the speed limits on Country Club Drive. He said the City Council voted against raising speeds two years ago.

"If we raise the speed limit, people are just going to drive faster," he said. "The only reason we're raising the limits is so we can write tickets."

Lt. Jeff Taylor, of the Department of Public Safety, said it's not the department that sets speed limits — it's the average speed that drivers travel on the street.

"We enforce the laws that are set. A speed survey is conducted on the roads to see what 85 percent of speed do," Taylor said. "We can't put a car for presence on every single street ... 85 percent of the people go [a speed] — that's how it's set."

"I totally disagree," Callinan said. "Just the presence of being there is going to slow people down. I still feel the only reason we're doing this is so we can give speeding tickets."

Callinan was the sole dissenting vote on . The Council voted the new speed limits in at a meeting in late November.

5:12: Council adopts the labor agreement for Rohnert Park Public Safety Managers' Association, which is the last union to adopt a new contract.

5:20: City Council prepares to adopt its first five-year strategic plan, set for 2012 to 2017. It outlines goal areas, including:

• Economic development, including attracting new business, developing a downtown, creating a clear identity for Rohnert Park and marketing the city.
• Financial stability and developing partnerships with the city of Cotati, local businesses, Sonoma State University and the schools.
• Effective government, including employee trust, use of technology as a tool for delivering services and engaging the public and for communication.

Goals include: Increased leadership, financial stabiltiy, delivery of public service and developing a "vibrant community."

There was a great amount of participation went into drafting this plan, said Councilman Amy Ahanotu. "It is a good starting point." he said.

"This is probably the best integrated effort that's taken place," said incoming mayor Jake Mackenzie. "The real test will be next year ... will in fact we observe integration with budget process."

Budget is the real document, seeing where the money is being applied, Mackenzie said.

Outgoing Mayor Gina Belforte announced public comment. Jeff Nicks, the new Rohnert Park Public Safety Association manager, said that the department is "looking forward to a strong relationship with the City Council and the city manager," Nicks said.

"This year, we want to put it behind us, and look foward to next year," Nicks said.

5:30: City Council starts to usher in the new mayor and vice mayor.

Mayor Gina Belforte, who handed over her position to Mackenzie, said in the past year the council has reduced the deficit to under $500,000, adjusted sewer rates, raised money for road repair ... unemployment dropped to about 9 percent, the city implemented the Friday Night Farmers Market, Tasty Tuesdays, is planning a 50th Anniversary celebration and started thier first annual Arts and Music Festival.

"The council has worked to increase our revenues and reduce our expendutires," Belforte said. "In the greatest recession since the Great Depression, that's huge. It couldn’t have been done without residents, the staff ... residents and the city manager."

"Our city is doing better than ever," said Councilwoman Pam Stafford.

Stafford said among successes include Measure E and the City Council working together.

"It has been a pleasure to serve the city of Rohnert Park this past year," Ahanotu said. "Difficult decisions have been made ... I look forward to serving in the future."

The pride in working for the city is coming back again, Callinan said.

"When I got elected we had a deficit of close to $8 million, that was three years ago," he said. "To sit here knowing we have a deficit of just $500,000 is unbelievelable."

Callinan champoined the city's social media efforts, new code enforcement officers and hiring City Manager Gabe Gonzalez.

5:45: "My gosh did we pick the right person," Callinan said. "We have for the first time addressed unfunded liabilities."

We owe a lot of money that we can't pay, Callinan said.

"We still have a lot of work to do," he added.

5:50: Mackenzie said last year that there are areas to work on, including areas such as salary and benefits not being sustainable, skyrocketing sewer operating costs and development of a strategic plan — all of which have been implemented.

"It was a major step to undo the damage of Measure L," Mackenzie said. "Thank you citizens of Rohnert Park ... staff ... and bargaining units."

5:55: Mackenzie thanked stakeholder groups, city attorneys, the city manager, the council and John Dunn for 2011 accomplishments.

6:05: Belforte announces Mackenzie as Mayor for 2012, for the 4th time, and Pam Stafford as Vice Mayor for 2012, for the 2nd time.

It was my honor in working with all of you, Belforte said.

6:10: Mackenzie said he was excited for this upcoming year to have a senior official from Sonoma State here tonight, becasue this is not only the 50th anniversary of Rohnert Park, it is the 50th year of Sonoma State.

Mackenzie said the Green Music Center will attract attention to the city, as well. Mackenzie said the city's walkability and bikability should be celebrated.

"We have a great community here," he said. He said "we will hear about this Rohnert seed farm ... to the third largest city in Sonoma County."

6:30: Stafford thanked city employee unions again. Ahanotu and Stafford agreed that the city needs to focus on economic development and the city's structural deficit.

"We need to embrace technology," Ahanotu added. And the council said they were excited about the city's 50th anniversary celebration, coming up in September 2012.

6:35: "For the first time in three years, I'm sitting here and I'm very optimistic about next year," Callinan said."We've got so many things to look forward to ... the 50th anniversary, we can look at what we have to look forward to and what we've done."

The city has been through a lot, he said, with the sewer rate increases, Measure E sales tax increases, finishing Highway 101, the SMART train, the Green Music Center and bringing in new businesses.

6:40: Belforte said in 2012, one of the major changes she'd like to see take place is partnership wtih nonprofits within the city and developing a stronger relationship wth Sonoma State University. Belforte said she also would like to do more for the city's homeless and "those that are less fortunate."

Both Mackenzie and Belforte said making the old State Farm property a viable space is a high priority for the City Council and implementing an aggressive economic development plan.