At its meeting on March 24, the Cloverdale City Council is bringing the city’s discussion about water and sewer rates back to the table with a presentation from the city’s rate study consultant, is discussing updating the city’s governance manual and directing the mayor to support appointments made by the Sonoma County Mayors’ and Councilmembers’ Association City Selection Committee and Board of Directors. The meeting will begin its public session at 6 p.m. and the full agenda can be found here.
Additionally, the council will issue a proclamations recognizing March 31 as Cesar Chavez Day and March 24 as Equal Pay Day. It will receive presentations from Managing Partners on the city’s long-term financial forecast model and from the Cloverdale Chamber of Commerce on its activities for the 2020-21 year thus far.
The council will consider the following items as part of its consent calendar:
● Approval of March 20 meeting minutes
● Resolution approving a final map for 639 S. Cloverdale Blvd. and authorizing the city manager or his designee to send the final map to the county
● Accept the 2020 General Plan and Housing Element Annual Progress Report
● Accept the annual AB 1600 report of Development Impact Fee activity for fiscal year 2019-20
● Resolution approving a memorandum of understanding with the Cloverdale Unified School District for the pilot Painted Planter Program
● Approving the second amendment to the at-will employment agreement between the city and David Kelley
Water and sewer rates
Perhaps the most notable piece of new business the council will be discussing is a workshop on the city’s 2021 water and sewer rate study. In November, the city council voted to postpone decisions regarding increasing its water and sewer rates, after extensive public comment against the rates that were proposed. The proposed rates initially involved a 13% increase for water and a 17% increase for wastewater in January 2021, with the same increase happening on July 1, 2021 and on each subsequent July 1 through 2024.
After the outpouring of opposition, the council voted to instead wait until the city could engage more with the community on the issue, including holding workshops.
On Wednesday, the council will be broaching the topic again — this time, it’s recommended that the council receive a presentation from Hildebrand Consulting LLC on the water and sewer rate study update, provide direction to city staff on additional rate scenarios and direct city staff to proceed with a public workshop and return to the council for a final rate recommendation.
As part of its presentation, Hildebrand will be presenting to the council about three different rate adjustment scenarios for both water and wastewater based on plans that change the city’s scheduled capital improvements.
The community workshop on water and wastewater rates is being recommended for April 5, with the recommendation coming to the city council on April 14 and a public hearing for the rates on June 9.
City governance
The council will be reviewing the city’s governance manual and giving feedback on the manual, which was adopted 10 years ago.
The Cloverdale Governance Manual outlines the framework in which the city council and city manager/staff will operate. It has six sections which outline the form of local government, the relationship between the council and the city manager, as well as other procedures and governance matters, according to the council agenda summary.
