April 23, 2024; Agenda Item 1
Dear Council Members and City Manager,
Last year Lee Mathias submitted a public comment describing how a significant portion Sebastopol’s Water and Wastewater service revenue had been used as a generalpurpose slush fund by our city government for many years while critical infrastructure requirements had been neglected.
Earlier this year Clear Source Financial Consulting presented an executive summary to the council that confirmed Lee's findings.
As Sebastopol's government prepares to increase Water and Wastewater service rates to compensate for past mismanagement and opportunism described in the documents cited above, it is imperative that a process be developed and implemented to prevent similar malfeasance going forward.
I'm writing to suggest creation of a standing committee composed of the City Manager, the Director of Public Works, an industry expert not directly employed by Sebastopol, one citizen representative, and one council member. The new committee should be required to present status updates regarding infrastructure projects to the council on a quarterly basis and be directly involved in the annual budget process. In addition to responsibility for management of Water and Wastewater services at the executive level, the committee should function as a budgetary firewall to assure ratepayer revenue is used appropriately.
Thanks and regards,
admin
Sebastopol