City Council
Mayor Jill McLewis
Vice Mayor Sandra Maurer
Councilmember Phill Carter
Councilmember Neysa Hinton
Councilmember Stephen Zollman
Interim City Manager
Mary Gourley
[email protected]
CITY COUNCIL MEETING AGENDA
Regular Meeting of Tuesday, February 3, 2026
6:00 pm Start Time
Revised: January 29, 2026 – 5:10 pm – Addition of Agenda Item Number 16 Meeting to be held in Person and Virtual /Remote Participation In Person Location: 425 Morris Street, Sebastopol, CA 95472 City Council is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Councilmember Hinton will be attending remotely pursuant to Government Code section 54953(b)” Location Teleconferencing From: Hampton Inn and Suites
2901 Campus Way North
Glenarden, MD 20706
Hampton Inn and Suites Conference Room
Topic: City Council Meeting - February 3, 2026
Time: Feb 3, 2026 06:00 PM Pacific Time (US and Canada) Join Zoom Meeting
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Meeting ID: 850 9265 8297
Passcode: 829227
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https://us02web.zoom.us/meetings/85092658297/invitations?signature=6K-O8b47md_27aM375NzEW1qiREXDofJTh4eT6wZdM Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/event/5424042
COUNCIL PROTOCOLS FOR MEETING:
This in person and virtual/remote meeting is compliant with the Governor’s Executive Order allowing for a deviation of teleconference rules required by the Brown Act. Traditional Brown Act and AB 2449 requirements can be utilized for all City Council meetings as long as required notice and posting is conducted per the Brown Act.
Please Note the presiding member of the legislative body conducting a meeting or their designee may remove, or cause the removal of, an individual for disrupting the meeting. “Disrupting” means engaging in behavior during a meeting of a legislative body that actually disrupts, disturbs, impedes, or renders infeasible the orderly conduct of the meeting.
PUBLIC COMMENT
Due to the length of recent City Council Meetings, it is strongly encouraged that written comments be submitted to the City Council by sending them by email to: [email protected] with either General Public Comment Written in the Subject Line or the Specific Agenda Item Number or Title Written in the Subject Line. Emails are distributed to the City Council as well as posted to the City Council meeting as public comment. Public Comment questions may be directed to City staff for a response at a later time.
CALL TO ORDER
ROLL CALL
SALUTE TO THE FLAG
REMOTE PARTICIPATION UNDER AB 2449 (IF NEEDED): To consider and take action on any request from a Council Member to participate in a meeting remotely due to Just Cause or Emergency Circumstances pursuant to AB 2449 (Government Code Section 549539(f)). Assembly Bill 2302 (2024) (“AB 2302”) revises rules for when members of local legislative bodies may participate in meetings remotely. Specifically, it amends the number of meetings that may be attended remotely for just cause and under emergency circumstances and clarifies the definition of the term “meeting,” for purposes of remote attendance. AB 2302 caps the number of remote meetings a member can attend each year based on the frequency of a legislative body’s meetings: Five meetings per year for those meeting twice a month.
LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT: The City of Sebastopol acknowledges that we live and work within the unceded ancestral homelands of the Southern Pomo and the Coast Miwok people. We pay our respect to the past, present, and future generations of these peoples, including the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria.
REMEMBERING THE HISTORY OF SEBASTOPOL
PROCLAMATIONS/PRESENTATIONS/INTRODUCTIONS:
• Proclamation – Black History Month
STATEMENTS OF CONFLICTS OF INTEREST: Conflicts of interest may arise in situations where a public official deliberating towards a decision, has an actual or potential financial interest in the matter before the Council. In accordance with state law, an actual conflict of interest is one that would be to the private financial benefit of a public official, a relative or a business with which the Councilmember is associated. A potential conflict of interest is one that could be to the private financial benefit of a Councilmember, a relative or a business with which the Councilmember is associated. A Councilmember must publicly announce potential and actual conflicts of interest, and, in the case of actual conflict of interest, must refrain from participating in debate on the issue or from voting on the issue and must remove themselves from the dais.
AGENDA ITEM:
1. Interviews for two Openings on the Climate Action Committee: City Council to conduct interviews for two openings on the Climate Action Committee and consider making appointments later in the agenda.
Members with one or more of the following experiences/characteristics:
• Youth Representative
• Climate Change
• Sebastopol Business Owner
• Local Climate Action Group
• Environmental Justice and Equity
• Rights of Nature
• Energy
• Transportation
• Zero Waste
APPLICANTS EXPERIENCE/CHARACTERISTICS:
Kenna Lee Climate Change
Olivia House Youth Representative
Responsible Department: Planning
Fiscal Impact: Staff time required to prepare the minutes is covered within existing budgeted salaries. No additional financial impact is anticipated with approval of this item.
2. Appointments to Openings on the Climate Action Committee Responsible Department: Planning
Fiscal Impact: Staff time required to prepare the minutes is covered within existing budgeted salaries. No additional financial impact is anticipated with approval of this item.
PUBLIC COMMENT FOR ITEMS NOT ON THE AGENDA (FIRST COMMENT PERIOD): Up to Twenty (20) Minute Time Limit (Two Minutes for up to ten speakers). Additional public comment will be held at the end of the discussion and action items for up to an additional twenty (20) minutes. Mayor has discretion to allow for additional time beyond the 20 minutes allocated for public comment dependent upon the subject matter or number of speakers.
Process for calling on Speakers: Mayor or designee shall ask for public comment as follows: Speakers to be called on in an alternate manner (One speaker in person to be called on first; then one speaker remote to be called on second with additional speakers to be called on in the same manner) based upon the time limit.
CONSENT CALENDAR: The consent agenda consists of items that are routine in nature and do not require additional discussion by the City Council or have been reviewed by the City Council previously. These items may be approved by one motion without discussion unless a member of the City Council requests that the item be taken off the consent calendar.
The Mayor will read aloud the title of each consent item (either full agenda title or a simplified version of the agenda title), and ask if a Councilmember wishes to remove one or more items from the consent calendar; and then open public comment to the members of the public in attendance. At this time, a member of the public may speak for up to two (2) minutes on the entire consent calendar and request at that time that an item or items removed for discussion.
If an item or items are removed from the consent calendar, the item shall be placed at the end of the regular agenda items unless otherwise determined by the Mayor. Council Members may comment on Consent Calendar items or ask for minor clarifications without the need for pulling the item for separate consideration. Items requiring deliberation should be pulled for separate consideration and shall be placed at the end of the regular agenda items unless otherwise determined by the Mayor.
3. Approval of City Council Meeting Minutes for Meeting of January 19, 2026 – Special City Council Meeting – Closed Session
Responsible Department: Interim City Manager
Fiscal Impact: Staff time required to prepare the minutes is covered within existing budgeted salaries. No additional financial impact is anticipated with approval of this item.
4. Approval of City Council Meeting Minutes for Meeting of January 20, 2026 – Regular Meeting Responsible Department: Interim City Manager
Fiscal Impact: Staff time required to prepare the minutes is covered within existing budgeted salaries. No additional financial impact is anticipated with approval of this item.
5. Adoption of Resolution authorizing the closure of Main Street during the 2026 Apple Blossom, Saturday, April 25, 2026 the use of the South High Street parking lot for the Apple Blossom Festival and the suspension of street vendors/solicitation licensing Section 201 of Ordinance No. 696 Responsible Department: Police
Fiscal Impact: Staff time required to prepare the agenda report is covered within existing budgeted salaries. No additional financial impact is anticipated with approval of this item. Per past practices, the Chamber of Commerce will be billed for Personnel Overtime and Materials. It is estimated that amount will be $7,500.
6. Acceptance of DOJ Tobacco Program Grant. This item is to approve the Resolution accepting the Tobacco Grant in the amount of $31,704 to be used for costs related to the enforcement of the City of Sebastopol Tobacco Retail Ordinance.
Responsible Department: Police
Fiscal Impact: Staff time required to prepare the agenda report is covered within existing budgeted salaries. No additional financial impact is anticipated with approval of this item.
7. Approval of Notice of Completion for the Americorps Trail Extension Project.
Responsible Department: City Engineer/Department of Public Works Fiscal Impact: Staff time required to prepare the agenda report is covered within existing budgeted salaries. No additional financial impact is anticipated with approval of this item.
8. Proposed FY26-27 Budget Calendar. The FY26–27 Budget Calendar outlines the City’s annual budget development process. It serves as a structured timeline to ensure timely coordination across departments and compliance with required budget adoption deadlines.
Responsible Department: Administrative Services
Fiscal Impact: Staff time required to prepare the agenda report is covered within existing budgeted salaries. No additional financial impact is anticipated with approval of this item.
INFORMATIONAL ITEMS/PRESENTATIONS: Informational Items or Presentations are items that are informational only and do not require action by the City Council. Presentations shall be scheduled as necessary for the promotion of an event or service or general information items to the Council and should be limited to ten (10) minutes total in length of item (total length includes questions of Council to presenter and public comment).
9. Quarterly update from the Building the Commons Committee. Update on progress of the committee since the initial kick off meeting on October 7th.
Responsible Department: Public Works
Fiscal Impact: Staff time required to prepare agenda item report is covered within existing budgeted salaries. No additional financial impact is anticipated with receipt of this item.
10. Q2 Financial Update (Oct-Dec 2025) – General Fund
Responsible Department: Administrative Services
Fiscal Impact: Staff time required to prepare the agenda report is covered within existing budgeted salaries. No additional financial impact is anticipated with receipt of this item.
11. Q2 Financial Update (Oct-Dec 2025) – Enterprise Fund Responsible Department: Administrative Services
Fiscal Impact: Staff time required to prepare the agenda report is covered within existing budgeted salaries. No additional financial impact is anticipated with receipt of this item.
PUBLIC HEARING(s):
12. First Reading and Introduction of Updates to the Formula Business Ordinance.
Responsible Department: City Attorney/Planning
Fiscal Impact: Staff time required to prepare agenda item report is covered within existing budgeted salaries. No additional financial impact is anticipated with approval of this item.
REGULAR CALENDAR AGENDA ITEMS (DISCUSSION AND/OR ACTION):
13. Approval of Contract/ Employment Agreement for Director of Public Works The agreement is for a three-year term ending on February 16, 2029.
The terms and conditions of the proposed agreement are comparable to those of other Director positions in the County of Sonoma. In addition to the standard terms and conditions, the Agreement provides for the following salary and benefits:
• Annual base salary will be $157,408.
• Annually, the cost of living adjustment equal to the CPI percentage change of the San Francisco Area reported in April, not to exceed three (3) percent, effective July of each fiscal year. • City provision of the same health plans (medical, dental, and vision) that are provided to other City management employees and City payment of that portion of the employee and dependent rate or premium as is determined by the City for all management employees. • Director will be eligible to accrue vacation hours in accordance with the rules, caps, and maximums described in the City’s Personnel Rules. Initially that accrual will be 10 working hours per month.
Director will accrue sick leave as laid out in the City’s Personnel Rules which currently provide 120 hours per year or 10 hours a month (4.6154 hours a pay period). • In fiscal year (“FY”) 25-26, the Director will be granted 33 hours of Administrative Leave. Beginning in FY 26-27, the Director will be granted a total of 100 hours Administrative Leave with pay during each fiscal year (50 hours accrued on July 1st and 50 hours accrued on January 1st.) • Termination without cause and severance. Termination of the Director’s employment without cause may be effected by the City Manager giving thirty (30) days’ prior written notice to the Director. Upon such termination, the Director shall be entitled to additional salary equal to that which would accrue during thirty (30) calendar days following the Director’s termination date, plus the cash equivalent of all accumulated vacation as of the day of termination. The Director’s acceptance of said severance pay shall constitute a final settlement and satisfaction of all claims of the Director against the City arising out of his employment.
Responsible Department: Human Services Consultant/Administrative Services Fiscal Impact: Staff time required to prepare the agenda report is covered within existing budgeted salaries.
No additional financial impact is anticipated with approval of this item as the salary and benefits in the amount of $242,700 are budgeted and allocated within the existing FY 25-26 City Budget. Additionally, insurance premiums of 8.92% in Workers’ Compensation (approximately $14,041) and a 7.87% in General Liability (approximately $12,388), totaling $26,429—are also already included in the Public Works budget.
14. FY25-26 Mid-Year Budget Amendment:
Responsible Department: Administrative Services
Fiscal Impact: Staff time required to prepare the agenda report is covered within existing budgeted salaries. Mid-year adjustments improve the General Fund position by $466,500, increasing the originally budgeted surplus from $3,945 to a significantly higher level due to onetime salary savings from vacancies. Revenues increase by $10,635, and expenditure adjustments across departments produce reduction in expenditures reductions. The Water Fund gains a $10,040 surplus, and the Wastewater Fund gains a $6,400 surplus. Overall, the City’s fiscal position remain stable but cautious.
15. Sebastopol Women Led Business Owners Celebration & Networking Evening Requestor: Councilmember Carter
Responsible Department: Planning
Fiscal Impact: Staff time required to prepare the agenda report is covered within existing budgeted salaries. Agenda requestor has requested $500 - $700 for this event. There is no fiscal impact as $3000 has been budgeted for this program (Economic Gardening) in the Planning Department budget for FY 25 26.
Added Agenda Item:
16. Direction to the Mayor, or their alternate, to support appointments to be made by the Sonoma County Mayors’ and Councilmembers’ Association’s Board of Directors at its February 12, 2026, meeting.
Responsible Department: City Attorney/Planning
Fiscal Impact: Staff time required to prepare agenda item report is covered within existing budgeted salaries. No additional financial impact is anticipated with approval of this item.
ADDITIONAL PUBLIC COMMENT FOR ITEMS NOT ON THE AGENDA: Two minutes per speaker for up to twenty (20) minutes total for public comments but can be reduced at Mayor’s discretion depending upon the number of speakers or Mayor has discretion to allow for additional time beyond the 20 minutes allocated for public comment dependent upon the subject matter or number of speakers.
COUNCILMEMBER(S) REQUESTS FOR FUTURE CITY COUNCIL AGENDA ITEMS
CITY COUNCIL/CITY STAFF REPORTS/COMMUNICATIONS/ANNOUNCEMENTS/FUTURE MEETINGS:
17. City Manager and/or City Clerk Reports: (This will be either verbal reports at the meeting, or written reports provided at or prior to the meeting)
18. City Council Reports/Committee/Sub-Committee Meeting Reports: (Reports by Mayor/City Councilmembers Regarding Various Agency Meetings/Committee Meetings/Sub-Committee Meeting /Conferences Attended and Possible Direction to its Representatives (If Needed) on Pending issues before such Boards. ((This will be either verbal reports at the meeting, or written reports provided at or prior to the meeting)
19. Council Communications Received (Information/Meetings/Correspondence Received from the General Public to Councilmembers)
CLOSED SESSION: NONE
ADJOURNMENT OF CITY COUNCIL MEETING
February 3, 2025 City Council Regular Meeting will be adjourned to the next Regular City Council Meeting of Tuesday, February 17, 2026 at 6:00 pm, Sebastopol Youth Annex, 425 Morris Street, Sebastopol, CA.
American Disability Act Accommodations/Accessibility: A request can be made orally or in writing, and submitted to the ADA Coordinator by email: [email protected] or to the City Clerk’s Office so as to avoid delay in reviewing and processing the request. Requests can be made by contacting the ADA Coordinator’s Office at (707) 823-8597, via email at [email protected] or by mailing such a request to the ADA Coordinator’s Office located at 7425 Bodega Avenue, Sebastopol, CA. Note that if you contact the ADA Coordinators Office, via mail, you need to make the request early enough that a response can be timely provided.
NOTICE: All Resolutions and Ordinances introduced and/or adopted under this agenda are waived of all reading of entire resolution(s) and ordinance(s). The City of Sebastopol is a general law city formed under the laws of the State of California. With respect to adoption of ordinances and resolutions, the City adheres to the requirements set forth in the Government Code. Unless otherwise required, the full reading of the text of standard ordinances and resolutions is waived.
SB 751 Legislative bodies of local agencies must publicly report: (1) any action taken and (2) the vote or abstention on each action taken by each member present for the action at a meeting.
If you have any questions regarding this meeting, please contact the City at Email: [email protected] or [email protected] or please call: 707-823-1153. The public is advised that pursuant to Government Code section 54957.5 all writings submitted to the City Council are public records and will be made available for review at City Hall during normal business hours. The Sebastopol City Council welcomes you in person or remotely to its meetings that are generally scheduled for the 1st and 3rd Tuesday of every month. Your interest and participation are encouraged and appreciated.
Government Code Section 54953.
(a) All meetings of the legislative body of a local agency shall be open and public, and all persons shall be permitted to attend any meeting of the legislative body of a local agency, except as otherwise provided in this chapter.
(b)
(1) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the legislative body of a local agency may use teleconferencing for the benefit of the public and the legislative body of a local agency in connection with any meeting or proceeding authorized by law. The teleconferenced meeting or proceeding shall comply with all requirements of this chapter and all otherwise applicable provisions of law relating to a specific type of meeting or proceeding. (2) Teleconferencing, as authorized by this section, may be used for all purposes in connection with any meeting within the subject matter jurisdiction of the legislative body. All votes taken during a teleconferenced meeting shall be by rollcall.
There are times that the City Council open meetings may not be live streamed due to technical issues; if that is the case, the meeting will be video-taped and uploaded as soon as possible to the City Web Site. In the event of a disruption that prevents the legislative body from broadcasting the meeting to members of the public using the call-in option or internet-based service option, or in the event of a disruption within the local agency’s control that prevents members of the public from offering public comments using the call-in option or internet-based service option, the legislative body shall take no further action on items appearing on the meeting agenda until public access to the meeting via the call-in option or internet-based service option is restored. Actions taken on agenda items during a disruption that prevents the legislative body from broadcasting the meeting may be challenged pursuant to Section 54960.1.
COUNCIL PROTOCOLS FOR MEETING RESTATED:
This in person and virtual/remote meeting is compliant with the Governor’s Executive Order allowing for a deviation of teleconference rules required by the Brown Act. Traditional Brown Act and AB 2449 requirements can be utilized for all City Council meetings as long as required notice and posting is conducted per the Brown Act.
Please Note the presiding member of the legislative body conducting a meeting or their designee may remove, or cause the removal of, an individual for disrupting the meeting.
Prior to removing an individual, the presiding member or their designee shall warn the individual that their behavior is disrupting the meeting and that their failure to cease their behavior may result in their removal. The presiding member or their designee may then remove the individual if they do not promptly cease their disruptive behavior. This paragraph does not apply to any behavior described in subparagraph (B) of paragraph (1) of subdivision (b).
(b) As used in this section:
(1) “Disrupting” means engaging in behavior during a meeting of a legislative body that actually disrupts, disturbs, impedes, or renders infeasible the orderly conduct of the meeting and includes, but is not limited to, one of the following:
(A) A failure to comply with reasonable and lawful regulations adopted by a legislative body pursuant to Section 54954.3 or any other law.
(B) Engaging in behavior that constitutes use of force or a true threat of force. (2) “True threat of force” means a threat that has sufficient indicia of intent and seriousness, that a reasonable observer would perceive it to be an actual threat to use force by the person making the threat.
How can I provide Public Comment on Zoom?
The Mayor will request public comment during the Public Comment period on the agenda and during each Public Hearing and Regular Calendar Item. Once the Mayor has announced the public comment period, please do one of the following.
USING A COMPUTER OR SMART PHONE:
• Click on the “Raise Hand” feature in the webinar controls. This will notify City staff that you have raised your hand and you would like to speak.
• City staff will unmute your microphone when it is your turn to provide public comment. • A prompt will appear to confirm you would like to be unmuted. Once you accept the prompt, you will have two minutes to provide public comment.
• Once your public comment has ended, you will be muted again.
USING A REGULAR PHONE:
• Dial *9 (star 9), this will notify City staff that you have “raised your hand” for public comment. • City staff will unmute your microphone when it is your turn to provide public comment. *6 (star 6) is used to mute/unmute.
• You will hear “you are unmuted” and then you will have two minutes to provide public comment. • Once your public comment has ended, you will be muted again