At the Feb. 4 meeting of the Windsor town council, commissioners and committee members were selected by recently-elected Councilmember Debora Fudge and Mayor Dominic Foppoli.
Council members generally each appoint a single commissioner, and that commissioner’s term runs concurrent to that of the councilmember who appointed them. For that reason, Fudge’s appointees will serve a four-year term, and Foppoli’s will serve a two-year term, because the mayor seat only has a two-year term.
The recruitment process for filing expiring commission seats started on Jan. 11. The deadline for submittal of applications was Monday, Jan. 25, by 6 p.m. In addition, letters were sent to commissioners whose terms were expiring to inquire whether they were interested in being reappointed to their respective positions.
Because there are only four seated council members at present, at least until the special election in May, the seats that would be appointed by that fifth council member will be filled on an interim basis. Though the board packet originally called for staff to return to the council with interim applicants at the March 3 meeting, Fudge asked if it would be possible to come back earlier, at the Feb. 17 meeting.
Town clerk Maria De La O said it would be tight, but could likely be done if they opened the recruitment process as soon as possible. Applications will likely open Feb. 4 and will likely close Feb. 10 or 11. Stay tuned to the town’s social media and web page for exact information.
Parks & Recreation Commission
Three vacancies exist due to the expiration of terms for Commissioners Sean Harrell (appointed by Foppoli), Joannie Ransom (appointed by Fudge) and Ben Lehr (appointed by former Councilmember Bruce Okrepkie). Harrell and Lehr filed an application and are seeking to be reappointed, while Ransom informed the town that she would not be seeking reappointment. Additional applications were received from Heather Cullen, Angelica Nunez and Tanya Potter for these vacancies.
“I’ve never seen so many great applicants,” Fudge said. “I wish I could pick two. I went through all of them, and thought about them. Some of them I know, some I don’t, but all my decisions are based on applications and getting a little more female diversity in our commissioners. I appoint Tanya Potter to the Parks and Recreation Commission.”
Foppoli acknowledged Potter as a great fit for the role, and echoed Fudge’s praise for the pool of applicants. However, he set the tone for all of his selections by re-nominating his previous appointee.
“I’ve been fortunate to have four commissioners who’ve done a tremendous job and have dedicated themselves to put everything they have into. I’ll be reappointing everybody who has been serving, I’ll be re-appointing Sean Harrell for Parks and Rec.”
Planning Commission
Three vacancies exist due to the expiration of terms for Commissioners Clay Fritz (appointed by Foppoli), Paul Berlant (appointed by Fudge) and Scott Huberts (appointed by former Okrepkie). Berlant, Fritz and Huberts filed applications and are seeking reappointment. Applications were also received from Stephanie Blair, Michael Freedman, Kevin Gonyo, Ben Lehr, Corbett Smith and Gary Stribling for these vacancies.
“Here again we had amazing applicants, and I wish we could have ten people, but I’m going to reappoint Paul Berlant,” Fudge said. “He was our town manager when we started building the downtown without him we would not have a downtown. He’s an excellent commissioner and has a Master’s in city planning and was the planning director in Ventura and Santa Monica.”
Foppoli kept with his these, and reappointed his previous commissioner Fritz. “I will be reappointing Clay Fritz. He’s been my planning commissioner for all six years I’ve been on the council, and he’s done a great job.”
Public Art Advisory Commission
Three vacancies exist due to the expiration of terms for Commissioners Alan Ramey (appointed by Foppoli), Linda Challoner (appointed by Fudge) and Gwen Kinney (appointed by former Okrepkie). Ramey filed an application and is seeking reappointment. Kinney and Challoner informed the town that they are not seeking reappointment. Applications were also received from Cullen, Gonyo and Lehr.
“Here I’d like to appoint someone I’ve never met,” said Fudge. “Kevin Gonyo has got an amazing advertising background in New York city, he’s a really creative person. I had an email chat with him, and I think he will bring something that we haven’t had before.”
“Great choice, I know he’s had a desire to be on a commission for a while now,” Foppoli said. “I will be reappointing Alan Ramey. I’ve known him for a few years now, and the first time I walked into house he had no TV but a cello. He’s definitely got that artistic side and he’s doing a good job and was recently elected vice chair of the commission.
Senior Citizen Advisory Commission
Fudge reappointed her current commissioner Jenny Helman, noting how much Helman does not just for Windsor’s seniors, but for seniors around the county. Foppoli reappointed his commissioner David Kahn, noting he is an institution in Windsor. And stating how lucky the town was to have him serving their interests.
According to the board packet, there are a total of six vacancies. Three vacancies exist due to the expiration of terms for Commissioners David Kahn (appointed by Foppoli), Jenny Helman (appointed by Fudge), and Bill Fallis (appointed by Okrepkie). Two vacancies were created by the expiration of terms for Michael Bertuccelli (Landmark Neighborhood Representative) and Lisa Renee Trumbly (At-large) who were appointed by simple majority of the council. An additional vacancy was created by the resignation of Marilyn Cook from an at-large position that would have expired December of 2022. One Landmark neighborhood vacancy existed which had not been filled. The term of one of the at-large positions would expire December of 2022 and would be for the remainder of the term of the vacancy created by the resignation of Marilyn Cook.
Fallis, Bertuccelli and Trumbly did not file applications. Because not enough applications were received to serve on the Senior Citizen Advisory Commission by the original deadline the council approved staff’s request to extend the deadline to Thursday, Feb. 18.
The only other item on the evenings’ agenda was for the council to provide direction to the mayor on appointments made by the Sonoma County Mayors’ and Councilmembers’ Association, City Selection Committee and Board of Directors at its Feb. 11 meeting.
A few council members from other jurisdictions spoke to the council, pitching themselves for selection, including Healdsburg’s Ariel Kelley, Sebastopol’s Neysa Hinton and Rohnert Park’s Susan Adams.
Some of the necessary appointments only had one applicant, so were straightforward to select. These included: Bay Area Air Quality Management District, (Teresa Barrett of Petaluma); Local Agency Formation Commission, (Mark Landman of Cotati); North Bay Division, League of California Cities, (John Sawyer of Santa Rosa); Sonoma Marin Area Rail Transit Commission (SMART), (Melanie Bagby of Cloverdale); and SMART/non-SCTA member, (Fudge of Windsor). This will make 16 years on the SMART board for Fudge.
A few others didn’t receive any applicants, so Foppoli got the council’s permission to approve whoever got nominated from the floor. These included the Remote Access Network (RAN) Board and the Sonoma County Oversight Board Committee.
This left four appointments that required discussion amongst councilmembers.
Golden Gate Bridge, Highway & Transportation District
This is an appointment made by the Board of Supervisors, one position, to fill expired term (January 2021) of Gina Belforte (Rohnert Park), for a two-year term. There are two applicants: Dominic Foppoli (Windsor) and Gerard Giudice (Rohnert Park). Foppoli received the unanimous vote of the council.
Metropolitan Transportation Commission
This is for one position, to fill the vacated term of Jake Mackenzie (Rohnert Park). Vacated term expires February 2023. Per law, The City Selection Committee submits three names, and the appointment is made by the Board of Supervisors. Each municipality can submit one name or three. There were four applicants: Brian Barnacle (Petaluma), Victoria Fleming (Santa Rosa), Mike Healy (Petaluma) and Neysa Hinton (Sebastopol).
After a brief discussion, it was decided the town would submit one name, and they selected Hinton to put forward, though Foppoli and Sam Salmon also expressed support for Barnacle.
Association of Bay Area Governments Executive Board
There are two positions, a member and an alternate, to fill vacated terms of member Jake Mackenzie (Rohnert Park) and alternate Michael Carnacchi (Sebastopol). The terms would expire June 2021. There were three applicants for the member position: Adams (Rohnert Park), Kelley (Healdsburg) and Dennis Pocekay (Petaluma). Pocekay was the only applicant for the alternate position.
The majority vote went to Kelley though Fudge strongly advocated for Adams.
Sonoma County Agricultural Preservation & Open Space District Citizens Advisory Committee
There are three positions, to fill the vacated terms of John Dell’Osso (June 2021) (Cotati) and Leah Gold (February 2021) (Healdsburg); and the expired term of Neysa Hinton (February 2021) (Sebastopol). The terms expire two years from appointment. There were four applicants: Barnacle (Petaluma), Hinton (Sebastopol), Kelley (Healdsburg) and Skylaer Palacios (Healdsburg). They elected to exclude Kelley and give the nod to the other three.
