Geyserville holds 30th annual town meeting

The 30th annual Geyserville Town Meeting was held last week, and more than 60 attendees heard from local officials on topics ranging from crime to toilets.
“I know everybody is excited about this, am I right?” asked Fourth District Supervisor Mike McGuire, referring to a potential public restroom.
A public restroom for the unincorporated town has been under discussion by the town’s self-appointed “toilet troop” for the better part of a year. By summer, residents can expect to receive a survey about possible public restroom options.
“This all came about from a discussion at the merchants association,” McGuire said. “You’re going to receive a survey later this spring, early summer in — you guessed it — your sewer bill to see if Geyserville residents want a public restroom. We’re going to lay out some options. It could be many choices: it could be working with a preexisting business; it could be bringing in, as Healdsburg has done, some portable restrooms with a nice landscaped wall around it. We’re going to look at all options, but before we invest the time, we’re going to survey all the residents.”
McGuire also noted that the County of Sonoma intends to work with unincorporated communities – including Geyserville, Mark West, and Forestville – to see if they are interested in forming a Business Improvement District (BID). Local businesses will be asked to vote and either approve or disapprove of BID formation.
A BID would allow Geyserville to assess a fee or tax on businesses, garnering money that could then be used for streetscape improvements. The county plans to bring a consultant to work with the chamber of commerce, and will pay for the process of determining whether a BID will form.
Regardless of whether or not local businesses vote to form a BID, Geyserville can expect some improvements to pedestrian accessibility in the near future.
“Long story short, we have some dollars through Indian reservation road funds, that we have lobbied and secured for sidewalks in Geyserville — particularly on the east side of Geyserville Avenue and some improvements on the west side,” McGuire said.
Lieutenant Tim Duke of the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Department noted that crime has increased in Zone 2 — the area that runs from Mark West Springs north to the county’s border and includes the town of Geyserville. The amount of time Zone 2 residents must wait for a response to an emergency call has also increased.
“I was very disappointed to see that in terms of our calls and our responses… one thing I wanted to do was to bring that number down. It’s gone up by two minutes,” Lt. Duke said.
“We’re down approximately 20 bodies right now, which is approximately 15 percent of our force. We routinely run with three deputies in this area, with one assigned to the casino. That causes an increase in the time response.”
Harry Bosworth, owner of Geyserville Water Works, noted that residents should expect a rate increase for water services. He maintained a sense of humor about the increase.
“We are currently working on a rate increase which will make everyone so happy. We haven’t done one of those since 2004… we should have done it back during the drought, but I thought it was poor form to ask people to use less water and then charge them more for it. Now there’s lots of water so you’d better have lots of money,” Bosworth said, to laughter.
Geyserville Fire Chief Paul Pigoni noted that some Geyserville residents would be assessed a $150 per habitable building fee for dwellings located within the State Responsibility Area (SRA). This fee is assessed by the state, not the local fire district, and does not go to support the local district’s operation costs.