The Windsor Town Council’s Dec. 15 meeting agenda includes items that will bid farewell to outgoing town manager Ken MacNab, receive a presentation on the ongoing development of a code of ethics for town officials and receive and accept the 2021 Annual Residential Growth Report and Five-Year Infrastructure and Service Report. The full agenda can be found here.
Recognizing Outgoing Town Manager Ken MacNab
In a proclamation at the start of the meeting, the town council will recognize the contributions of outgoing town manager Ken MacNab, who will resign effective Dec. 30.
MacNab began working as Windsor’s community development director in July 2016, before being appointed as interim town manager in December 2019 and being appointed as town manager six months later in May 2019.
The proclamation praises MacNab’s leadership, and states he has “earned the respect of the town council and town staff for his immense knowledge, trustworthiness, work ethic, understanding of and dedication to the Windsor community, and his steady hand in challenging times. Ken has also skillfully led the town through times of civil unrest and a number of natural disasters, including the COVID-19 pandemic and Sonoma County wildfires.”
MacNab tendered a letter of resignation in September of this year, citing personal reasons. On Dec. 13, new interim town manager Mark Linder, who has worked for municipalities in the South Bay and Central Coast, began working alongside MacNab in a transitional process.
Code of Ethics
When the Dominic Foppoli scandals brewed public outrage last spring, the Windsor Town Council was left more or less powerless pending a criminal charge against the disgraced former mayor. With Foppoli refusing to resign despite public outcry and insistences that he do so from local public figures including councilmembers, the council directed staff to explore options for censuring town officials when personal misconduct impairs public trust.
Ultimately, staff recommended the council develop a code of ethics, which, while not giving other council members the ability to remove a colleague on the council from office, could give them some ability to provide a disciplinary response should a similar problem manifest itself with an elected official in the future.
“While the council does not have the legal authority to remove an elected council member from
office, it does have the authority to take certain actions as determined to be appropriate to address misconduct by a councilmember. These actions include censure, removal from certain assignments or appointments, and referral of misconduct to the district attorney’s office for possible consideration by the grand jury (which could lead to removal from office),” the agenda report reads.
The ethics code will be “values based,” which means it will create “a set of aspirations, based on values associated with public service held by elected and appointed officials and the communities they serve.” This would give the council the ability to discipline elected officials for behaviors against the values acted on in their personal life, in addition to the laws that govern the ethical aspects of their lives as public servants.
Annual residential growth report and five-year infrastructure and services report
The town council will receive an annual Residential Growth Report as required by the town’s Growth Control Ordinance. While growth control ordinances are generally intended to prevent uncontrolled sprawl and growth, the demands from the State of California that Windsor meet its RHNA numbers mean the town is actually trying to promote development it chooses, or else face ministerial projects that the town has limited control over.
Windsor will be responsible for planning for 994 new units, with the majority low or very-low income for the upcoming 2023-2031 RHNA cycle.
According to the growth report, the Town of Windsor issued 76 new residential building permits for 2021, including 8 new accessory dwelling units (ADUs). The count includes 66 units in the 100% affordable Veteratn’s Village project finished this year. That is up from 22 permits in 2020.
In addition, the Town of Windsor is ready to issue building permits for a 52-unit multi-family affordable project called Redwood Views and the remaining 68 single-family units in the Victoria Oaks subdivision north of the Shiloh Shopping Center on Hembree Lane.
The report looks at submitted and pending applications for development that could be approved for Windsor in the coming years.
The report also looks at the town’s population, finding that between January 2020 and January 2021, the town lost approximately 285 people, for a total current population of 27,855.
The five-year infrastructure and services report, required by the Growth Control Ordinance, looks at projected growth and determines the need for expansion of local infrastructure systems, including storm drainage, water and wastewater, transportation systems, parks, police, fire service and schools.
According to the agenda report, the infrastructure and services report for 2022 through 2026 demonstrates that “with the exception of additional resources needed for both police and fire over the five-year period, infrastructure and services can be provided for the anticipated new residential growth (based on the projected 1.5% annual growth rate). For both police and fire, the town will need to work with the police department and the Sonoma County Fire District to address needs as new residential projects are approved.”
“For each new residential project the town collects development impact fees, which are designed to protect public health, safety, and general welfare by providing for adequate public facilities. The fees fund the construction of certain capital improvements needed to mitigate the impacts of planned development and maintain an acceptable level of public services as Windsor grows,” the report reads.
