Kelso Barnett appointed to Sonoma City Council

The Sonoma City Council has a new face behind the dais – or, for the time being, on the Zoom screen.

The council on Monday appointed Sonoma resident Kelso Barnett, 40, to fill the seat vacated by former member Rachel Hundley, who resigned on Jan. 31, with just under two years left on her term.

Barnett, who’d up until his appointment to the council had been a member of the Sonoma Planning Commission, was sworn in as a council member following the council’s 4-0 vote approving his appointment.

“When I was young I thought one day, if I was lucky enough, I’d run for city council,” said Barnett following the vote. “And it would happen just like this – on Zoom.”

Barnett was one of five applicants for the open council position. The other contenders – residents Jake Hajer, Sandra Lowe, Michael Nugent and Gary Padgett – all received high marks from the sitting council in response to their application packets and interviews by council members at the council’s Feb. 17 meeting.

But it was Barnett’s experience on local city boards and commissions that earned accolades, as well as the votes, of the four council members.

Councilmember Jack Ding spoke to the qualifications of multiple applicants, singling out Michael Nugent and Sandra Lowe for their experience, but voiced his support for Barnett after getting to know him while they both campaigned for the recent vote to extend the city urban growth boundary. “He is really, really serious (about working for the community),” said Ding.

Vice Mayor Madolyn Agrimonti noted Barnett’s support for two issues close to her heart: improving the maintenance of city cemeteries and revising the appeals process in the city development code.

Mayor Logan Harvey, meanwhile, stressed the importance of Barnett’s service on lower city commissions and his regular attendance at city council meetings.

“(Barnett) is one of the few people in the community that may know more about the community than some members of council,” said Harvey.

The top three city priorities Barnett listed in his written application for the seat were to “safeguard” the city finances, update the general plan and development code and to invest in city parks and cemeteries.

When asked in the application to name one thing he would change about how the city operates, Barnett said he would like to see the Springs annexed into Sonoma proper.

“I would expand our city limits to enfranchise most of the developed area in the lower Sonoma Valley,” wrote Barnett in the application, noting that from the Springs to Schellville, “Sonoma Valley functions as one community.”

Yet, he continued, “the vast majority of our Sonoma Valley community has no democratic input on what goes on inside - only residents within our city limits can elect councilmembers, who then set the city’s, and to some extent, (the) Valley’s agenda and priorities.”

He also conceded it would be a “long, complicated and perhaps unrealistic process.”

Barnett also wrote in his application that he has no current plans to run to retain the council seat in the November 2022 election. “When this term expires, I would prefer to hand our city off better than when we found it to a new, elected councilmember.”

After joining the council for the remainder of the March 1 meeting, Barnett said it had been an honor “to be (part of) such an impressive group of applicants.”

“It’s been a very interesting process, it’s been humbling,” said Barnett. “Now, no one’s elected me, so I’ve said enough.”

Email Jason at jason.walsh@sonomanews.com.