From: Duane De Witt
To: _CityCouncilListPublic; City Clerk
Subject: [EXTERNAL] Public comments on Agenda Items
Date: Tuesday, November 4, 2025 9:54:13 AM
Dear City Council members,
As I am not able to attend today’s Tuesday 4 Nov 2025 council meeting I submit these written comments for various items listed below in the email. These comments start with the closed session items concerning the outgoing city manager and her temporary replacement.
Closed session Items "3.1 PUBLIC EMPLOYMENT (Government Code Section 54957) Titles: City Manager and Interim City Manager"
"3.3 CONFERENCE WITH LABOR NEGOTIATOR (Government Code Section 54957.6) Agency Designated Representative: Mayor Unrepresented Employee: City Manager" First, thanks to Ms. Smith for beginning a process of more attention to the Roseland area which no other city employee has ever done as much as her. Her helpfulness will be missed, especially if the city bureaucracy returns to the business as usual approach practiced before her arrival on scene.
Eight years have passed since the last portion of Roseland was annexed into the city. The first portions were done decades ago and a county island was formed 30 years ago. Many important improvements to Roseland have still not been made. Prior city staff may not follow up on the needs as they never did well on these matters before she arrived.
In order to save money please do NOT give an increase in pay to whoever will act as “interim city manager”. The assistant city manager may be chosen to fill this temporary position but I stress a new and different person should be hired as city manager. The logic behind this view is the current assistant city manager person is very close to a possible retirement. This will bump his increased pay grade and pension financial demands onto an already financially strapped city budget with NO guarantee he will stay very much longer.
Most of you are too new in your positions to know the truth of this type of process in Santa Rosa City Government. An example to remember is when a director of the city planning department was advanced to an assistant city manager position not long before his retirement. The rationale was he would be overseeing a Roseland Specific Plan process. He did not really do more or better work and the process for a Roseland Specific Plan was a “sham” processwhich shut out many citizens and their concerns. This disappointed many members of the appointed committee who were hamstrung by city staff actions to limit their involvement. By not allowing local citizens onto the technical advisory committee the entire process was flawed from start to finish at a higher cost to the city. But the assistant city manager was bumped up to higher pay and padded his pension before retiring
Please do NOT allow this to happen again. Save the taxpayers’ money and hire a younger current Santa Rosa employee to move up into the position. This will also avoid the waste of money a “search” will entail with “head hunting firms”, etc. Though I would not recommend Ms. Jones from the planning departments as she was part and parcel and reason of the deeply flawed Roseland Specific Plan process.
Next in open session Consent please do NOT approve item 13.6. Continue the matter and allow organizations working with Veterans in need to apply for purchase of the property instead of a "sweetheart deal" to a neighbor. The lot could hod 3 or more tiny homes if you were forward thinking. 17 structurally sound inhabited housing units were destroyed for the misguided road widening project which was way over budget an time delayed due to city staff at the time mistakes and poor planning. (I was on an elected project area committee for redevelopment which was trying to recommend saving the houses by staying in the right of way at the time.) Please do not compound the prior short sighted mistakes and save the land for housing.
"13.6 RESOLUTION - DECLARATION OF 1942 ROSE AVENUE AS EXEMPT SURPLUS RECOMMENDATION: The Transportation and Public Works Department recommends that the Council, by resolution, supersede and replace Resolution No. RES-2023-213 and declare, pursuant to Government Code Section 54221, the City-owned parcel located at 1942 Rose Avenue, APN 125-191- 001 (“Property”) as exempt surplus and authorize the City Manager or their designee to convey the Property to an adjacent property owner by bid procedure as set out in Council Policy 000-10. This item has no impact on current fiscal year budget."
"The Property is a 10,385 square foot unimproved parcel, which is a remnant portion of a larger site, originally acquired in 2010 for a capital improvement project and not all of the property included within the larger site was needed."
"Under the SLA, local agencies must first offer surplus land for affordable housing before selling or leasing it. Parcels are classified as either: Exempt Surplus Land - Typically small, landlocked, or legally restricted parcels unsuitable for housing. Non-Exempt Surplus Land - Generally 21,780 square feet or larger, with potential for housing development."
"Alternatives to this action include: Retain the Property’s non-exempt status and pursue a sale under SLA protocols; however, this may be impractical due to the Property’s development constraints" Jill Scott, Real Estate Manager
Report item: 15.1
Comment: Please change the financial split from the annual assessment on hotel lodging to be shared 50% between the city and the Metro Chamber
16.1 PUBLIC HEARING - GENERAL PLAN 2050 MUNICIPAL CODE AND ZONING MAP
IMPLEMENTATION
"This package includes a Zoning Code text amendment to create the Missing Middle Housing (MMH) Combining District, along with a rezoning action to apply the MMH Combining District to 1,991 parcels." Comment: This is a good proposal and it is especially important to resist NIMBY opposition. Sebastopol Rd is an excellent spot where this housing will do well. Please allow for expanded height allowances to give taller buildings a chance to be built right up along Sebastopol Rd. 7 and 8 story buildings could be a reality.
Thank you for your time and consideration of these proposals. Duane De Witt