Sonoma voters to choose new city councilmembers; hospital, school boards also on the ballot

Sonoma Valley voters will find several competitive races on the Nov. 6 ballot, including school district trustees, the Hospital board and City Council race.|

The initial deadline for filing for elected office in Sonoma County was last Friday – and Sonoma Valley voters will find several competitive races on the ballot come Nov. 6.

The most contested of these will be between seven candidates for three seats on the five-member Sonoma City Council.

Even that race could potentially become more competitive, if anyone else files between now and 5 p.m. tomorrow, Aug. 15. That’s the extended deadline for offices for which an incumbent is not filing, and Councilmember Gary Edwards decided some time ago he would not seek re-election.

Other local races will take place for the Sonoma Valley Health Care District, the Sonoma Valley Unified School District and the Valley of the Moon Water District.

Only the two Valley of the Moon Fire Protection District seats will be filled by the incumbents, both of whom have filed without opposition.

So far, the following candidates have officially filed for Sonoma City Council: Incumbents Madolyn Agrimonti and Rachel Hundley, each seeking a second term, with challenges from Sonoma residents James Cribb, Jack Ding, Logan Harvey, Chris Petlock and Jack Wagner. Although additional candidates may emerge with the extended deadline, as of press time no other potential candidates had drawn papers.

The top three vote-getters will fill the three seats. And, with Edwards’ seat up for grabs, at least one new member of the council is a certainty.

Another election of high interest is the Sonoma Valley Unified School District, where two seats – one for the El Verano Elementary School attendance area, the other for Flowery Elementary – are up for re-election. Neither incumbents Sal Chavez nor Dan Gustafson are running for re-election.

So far the filed candidates for the El Verano seat currently occupied by Chavez are Cathy Coleman, an educational administrator consultant, and Omar Paz Jr., an immigration efforts coordinator.

For the Flowery seat, retired teacher Melanie Blake is the only candidate to replace Gustafson. If no other candidates file for that seat by Aug. 15, she will be appointed in lieu without an election.

In other potential movement on the SVUSD board, current Sassarini trustee John Kelly has filed to run for the Santa Rosa Junior College board of trustees. According to the Sonoma County Registrar’s office, should he be elected to the SRJC board, Kelly would have to step down from the Sonoma Valley Unified School District board.

The Sonoma Valley Health Care District will have two available board seats on the ballot. Incumbent (and current board chair) Joshua Rymer is running for the seat he occupies – though he’s not technically running for re-election as he was appointed to an open seat in 2013. Also on the ballot will be Michael Mainardi, a retired physician, and Douglas Gishelin, a retired engineer. As with the Sonoma City Council, the top two vote-getters will fill the two seats.

Multiple seats are available on the Valley of the Moon Water District board. Applying for a short-term seat to replace the late Ed Kenny, is current director Jennifer Linfante – whose term ends in December. She is the only candidate who has filed so far to fill out the last two years of the board seat.

Four other candidates have filed for the two full-term seats, including both incumbents, C. Mark Heneveld and Jon L. Foreman. They will be opposed by Dale Edward Ingraham and Steve Rogers in November, and again the top two vote-getters will take the two seats.

For the Valley of the Moon Fire Protection District, there are two available seats – and both incumbents, Brian Brady and Nicholas Greben, have field for re-election. They will be appointed in lieu without opposition for their seats.

Email Christian at christian.kallen@sonomanews.com.

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