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Council may review big-box committee

 

When the Sonoma City Council voted May 16 to create a chain, or "formula store" ad hoc committee for exploring future building code policy options, it sounded like a simple proposition. Create the committee, hold no more than three meetings to explore possible policies, then report back to the council and disband. But that was before things started to unravel.

While there was unanimous support for the committee to be composed of Councilmembers Steve Barbose and Tom Rouse, along with Chamber of Commerce director Jennifer Yankovich, one other chamber board member and two members of the Planning Commission, when Councilmember Ken Brown proposed having two public members the consensus came apart.

After an acrimonious exchange and a 3-to-2 vote, the council chose Ben Boyce and Kelso Barnett as the public members, even though Councilmember Joanne Sanders objected to Boyes' association with the living wage movement.

And within days of the council meeting, it began to appear that the entire agreement for an ad hoc committee might disintegrate over concerns about the process for choosing its members.

Uncertainty and disagreement about the committee, the process for member selection and criteria for membership continued up through this week, as reflected in a revised agenda summary for the Monday, June 6, council meeting that seemed to incorporate an almost bewildering variety of options and intended outcomes. The agenda item reads, in its entirety, as follows:

"7A: Discussion, consideration and possible action regarding rescinding the creation of the City Council Ad Hoc Committee on Formula Stores and rescinding the appointments made to that committee, or in the alternative, reconsideration of the process by which appointments were made to the City Council Ad Hoc Committee on Formula Stores, including consideration of setting requirements for City residency for appointees; and in the event that the Council rescinds or reconsiders said actions, further discussion, consideration and possible action regarding (A) the creation of the City Council Ad Hoc Committee on Formula Stores, (B) establishment of criteria for membership on the committee; (C) establishment of a process for selecting members to the committee; and/or (D) appointing members to the committee, requested by Councilmember Rouse."

Where the discussion will lead and how the internal dissension will be resolved is anyone's guess.

Other agenda items for the Monday council meeting include:

• A proclamation recognizing the volunteers efforts of Lizbeth Cabrera.

• A proclamation recognizing the 100th anniversary of the Bear Flag and commending the Native Sons of the Golden West.

• A presentation of the annual stormwater report.

• Changes in the city's purchasing procedures.

• Adoption of a community water use target for 2020 and adoption of the city's 2010 Urban Water Management Plan.

• Consideration of a request authorizing Mayor Laurie Gallian to sign a letter supporting Senate Bill 568 which would ban Styrofoam food containers by 2014 for restaurants and food vendors and 2015 for schools.

The City Council will meet at 6 p.m. in the Community Meeting Room, 177 First St. W.