The Sebastopol City Council is set to discuss a bevy of items including conservation measures for commercial and industrial water customers, adopting its final budget and discussing whether to have a lottery for its firework event permit, among others at its regular meeting July 20. In addition to regular council business, the council will be viewing a presentation from Sebastopol Police Chief Kevin Kilgore on the status of recommendations set forth in the independent review of the police department performed by Jerry Threet, as well as on the Open Government Policing PILOT Program.
The meeting is being held virtually over Zoom and begins at 6 p.m. Prior to the open session of the meeting, the council is holding a closed session meeting at 5 p.m. To view the full agenda, which includes a Zoom link, click here.
Adopting the Budget
After numerous meetings discussing its budget for the 2021-22 year, the Sebastopol City Council is set to approve its final budget this week. The budget includes funds set aside to prioritize relaunching Sebastopol in response to COVID-19-related economic challenges, funding services for homeless and unhoused people, hiring a consultant for strategic planning and hiring a consultant to look at long-term service options for the Sebastopol Fire Department.
Relating to the budget, last week the city announced that a wire transfer of $1.2 million from the city’s reserve account to a third party was made by the County of Sonoma, which holds the city’s reserve funds. According to a city press release, Sebastopol is working with the county and law enforcement to restore the funds.
Water Conservation for Businesses
At its last meeting, the Sebastopol City Council adopted Stage 2 of its water conservation measures, addressing water use from city residents. However, the council asked city staff to come back with measures to address water use from commercial and industrial businesses in the city.
As part of the request, the council will be deciding whether to recommend that the following language be added to the water restrictions:
• Restaurants may only serve water upon request.
• Restaurants must optimize the use of commercial dishwashers and wash full racks only.
• Hotel and lodging establishments must message about the drought, including laundering of linens only upon request.
• Pressure washing (except for public health and safety purposes is prohibited unless a variance is obtained from the City of Sebastopol Public Works Department.
• Water waste due to breaks, leaks, or excess use is prohibited. This includes leaking faucets, toilets, and appliances, as well as broken irrigation pipes, leaking irrigation valves, broken sprinkler heads, and runoff from properties due to overwatering or misdirected sprinklers.
Fireworks Event Permits
The city council is scheduled to discuss establishing a competitive lottery process for the city’s annual Fourth of July fireworks show, which has historically been organized by the Sebastopol Kiwanis Club each year. The council initially discussed creating a lottery process for the permit to the single annual show to be allowed following its ban of safe and sane fireworks earlier this year.
The City of Sebastopol is responsible for permitting the fireworks show with the licensed and bonded pyrotechnics company approved by the State Fire Marshal’s Office, and the West Sonoma County Unified High School District is responsible for permitting the use of school facilities to host the event.
At its last meeting, the high school board voted to send the city a letter expressing its concern about the possibility of having the event permit held by rotating parties, since running the fireworks show requires a lot of work for both the organizing nonprofit and for the district.
Per the council agenda, “If the city council approves a policy that creates a competitive selection process for annual fireworks, it will have implications on district staff who oversee and manage this event annually.”
Additionally, the city’s fire chief met with all three nonprofits that were impacted by the ban on safe and sane firework sales, all of whom indicated that they would support the Sebastopol Kiwanis Club continuing to host the fireworks show.
As such, city staff is recommending that the council eliminate the lottery policy application process, permanently assigning the fireworks show to the Sebastopol Kiwanis Club.
Other items
Also on its agenda for the evening, the council is considering approving the phasing strategy for the Bodega Avenue pavement rehabilitation and bike lanes project; making Palm Avenue between Petaluma Avenue and South Main Street a one-way, westbound street. It is also considering several liaison and delegate position appointments.
