Sebastopol City Council preview

Council reorganization, public hearing, appointments on tap for Tuesday meeting
The Sebastopol City Council is slated to have its next meeting this Tuesday, Dec. 1. The meeting will be held virtually starting at 6 p.m.
Here’s what’s on the agenda for Tuesday’s meeting. 
As part of its consent calendar, the council will be considering the following items:
●    Approval of the annual AB 1600 report, related to the enactment of a development impact fee program
●    Approval for purchase and installation mobile data terminals for police vehicles
●    Approval to authorize staff to issue a request for proposals for an electronic permitting system
●    Approval of restructuring of administrative services department and approval of job descriptions and pay rates and ranges 

Reorganizing the council — swearing in council member elects and choosing a mayor and vice mayor

As part of its first December meeting, the city will be swearing in newly-elected council members Neysa Hinton and Diana Rich. The Sonoma County Registrar of Voters certified the election results last week.
Following the city’s confirmation of the election results, Hinton and Rich will be sworn in and the council will reorganize, selecting its mayor and vice mayor. Since Sebastopol doesn’t have an elected mayor, current mayor Patrick Slayter will ask for nominations for the position of mayor and his fellow council members will choose to nominate one of their fellow council members as mayor.
Once a new mayor is nominated, Slayter will open the floor to public comment and council comments, and then the council will vote. From there, the new mayor will call for the same process to occur to choose a vice mayor.
Following the reorganization, the outgoing and incoming mayors both have time to give a presentation or message. 

Public hearing — Updating the user fee schedule for the Tobacco Retail License Ordinance

As part of the passing of its Tobacco Retail License Ordinance, the city is holding a public hearing for the update in city fee schedules to accommodate the new retail license.
According to the agenda item for the public hearing, “The proposed fees will recover the city’s cost of reviewing and processing requests for tobacco retailer licenses. The proposed fees assume regulatory costs for compliance inspections and sting operations will be funded via a regional grant.
“The proposed fees target full (100%) cost recovery for license processing and annual regulatory enforcement,” the agenda item states. “The proposed fees target partial (15%) cost recovery for processing appeals for the denial of a tobacco retailer license. The department applied for a DOJ Tobacco Grant Program that, if received, would offset the retail license fee for the next two years. The department is waiting for final approval of the grant. If received, license fee for 2021 would be $60.00 per business. If not approved, the license fee will be $283 per business.”
As listed, the fees up for hearing can be seen below. 

Other items

In addition to the reorganization and public hearing, the council will be reviewing an application for a Sign Program and Sign Exception for 231 Petaluma Avenue. Since it’s nearing the beginning of the year, the council will also discuss the 2021 appointments to various city committees and will be considering designating Sebastopol’s voting delegate and alternate to the 2021 Sonoma County Mayors and Councilmembers City Selection Committee meetings and the Sonoma County Mayors and Councilmembers Board and General Membership Association Meetings.