Anyone thinking of logging on to Zoom for the Dec. 7 Sebastopol City Council meeting is in for a variety of items up for discussion and vote — the selection of the next mayor and vice mayor, inking an agreement for Sonoma Applied Village Services (SAVS) to run an RV park village and an update about the $1.2 million lifted from the city’s budget in a cyber fraud situation.
All that and more at the virtual city council meeting Tuesday at 6 p.m. You can access the agenda and Zoom link information here.
Tag, you’re mayor
The meeting will begin with the reorganization of the council and selection of a new mayor and vice mayor to usher the city through 2022.
Mayor Una Glass is due to deliver her outgoing remarks and call upon the council to nominate her successor. Then the public can give their feedback, followed by a roll call vote of the nominees in order until someone wins a majority vote from the council, the staff report said.
After, the nomination process repeats to select the vice mayor who will step into current Vice Mayor Sarah Glade Gurney’s shoes. Those yet to serve as mayor or vice mayor in recent years are Councilmember Neysa Hinton and Councilmember Diana Rich.
The regular meeting picks up thereafter with the consent calendar that includes a resolution allowing teleconference meetings to continue due to the COVID-19 emergency.
Council to consider securing RV park village for Morris Street long-timers
Once council members receive a presentation prepared by the Climate Action Committee, they will move on to deliberating the recommendations of the Committee for the Unhoused. The committee seeks approval for an operational agreement with SAVS for the RV village pilot program to settle on property at 845 Gravenstein Highway North. The property will soon belong to Saint Vincent de Paul Sonoma County.
At the previous Nov. 30 meeting, the council declared a local homeless emergency and approved the Gravenstein Highway North site as the destination point for Sebastopol community members living on Morris Street in RVs.
With some steadfast advocates in the midst and at the forefront, many locals have expressed frustration and concern regarding both the previously considered site — the public works storage yard — and the second proposed site, particularly related to child safety and the potential for disturbing commerce.
Then the council will consider adopting a resolution to allow City Manager Larry McLaughlin to carry out a “tax-exempt lease purchase agreement (TELPA) and Related Documents for Energy Savings Contract with Signature Public Funding Corp.”
The meeting ends with city council reports, beginning with McLaughlin bringing the council and the community up to date regarding the $1.2 million wire transfer fraud discovered in early June.
