Bill Lynch: City of Sonoma Valley?

Once upon a time, decades ago, residents of Boyes Hot Springs, El Verano, Fetters Springs, Agua Caliente and even Glen Ellen considered the idea of forming together as a city.

Not too long after that proposal rose -- and fell, for lack of support -- another proposal suggested that those separate villages join with the City of Sonoma to form an incorporated Valley-wide city.

I was reminded of this recently when the Index-Tribune published a story announcing the formation of a Municipal Advisory Council (MAC) that would include residents of the Springs as well as Glen Ellen and Kenwood. First District Supervisor has enlisted volunteers for this seven-member board, which will only be advisory; although it would have Gorin’s ear and theoretically that of Sonoma County Board of Supervisors.

As far back as the mid-20th Century, there have been discussions among Sonoma Valley residents about the issue of representation in local government.

There was then, and still is now, only one incorporated city in Sonoma Valley, Sonoma. Only residents who live inside the city limits get to vote for the five-member city council and other matters related to what goes on in the city.

A five-member board of supervisors that meets in Santa Rosa represents everybody else in the entire Sonoma Valley. The Valley has one vote on that board, and that person doesn’t even have to live in the Valley. In fact, Supervisor Gorin, an Oakmont resident, does not.

At times, residents of our unincorporated area have resented the fact that they not only have no vote in what goes on inside the city of Sonoma, but they also have almost no say in what goes on at the county offices in Santa Rosa from which the rest of our Valley is governed.

That’s why there have been attempts through incorporation to give more Valley residents the benefits of closer, more direct self-government.

The most recent significant push for Valley unification began in 1968 with a Sonoma Valley Chamber of Commerce-sponsored “Congress for Community Progress,” a gathering of community leaders from inside and outside the city discussing civic issues of common concern.

There was agreement among those in attendance that Valley-wide unification was the highest priority.

The late Mel Larson, a longtime Boyes Hot Springs business owner, became chairman and chief proponent of a Valley-wide city in which all residents would have a vote.

Over the next two years, Larson’s unification committee met and studies were commissioned. Those efforts concluded that unification was a sound idea both democratically and economically. During that period also, Larson wrote a lengthy series of articles, published in the Index-Tribune, making the case for unification. He also spoke at local service clubs and got their support, the Chamber of Commerce’s support and the backing of many civic leaders. The Index-Tribune editorially endorsed it.

But after three years of trying, the idea never got onto a local ballot.

But then a Sonoman, Supervisor Ig Vella, the Valley’s representative on the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors, took up the cause and proposed a Valley-unification process.

In 1976, “Reorganization Measures, K and L,” were placed on the June ballot. If passed they would have created a merger between El Verano, Fetters Hot Springs, Agua Caliente and Boyes Hot Springs and the already incorporated City of Sonoma. Certain fire, water and maintenance districts within those areas would be incorporated into this new city.

Local voters soundly rejected both measures.

Inside the city, “no” voters outnumbered “yes” voters 1586 to 568 (3 to 1 against). Outside city limits the “no” votes ran more than three to one against as well (3,148 to 817).

The failed measures marked the end of any organized, community-wide effort to bring the various communities of Sonoma Valley into one governmental body.

Since then, however, the local fire departments have merged into one, and local police services for the Valley basically come from the same agency, the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Department. Our local public schools are in a Valley-wide unified district and our hospital district is Valley wide.

The MAC now being formed is just the latest in a long line of attempts to give Valley residents more control over their local government, but far short of what actual incorporation would have given them.