Petaluma considers deal with ousted commissioners

<p>Petaluma City Council members will discuss a settlement today with three former planning commissioners who sued when they were ousted from their volunteer positions this summer.</p><p>Ex-commissioners Kathleen Miller, Spence Burton, and Jack Rittenhouse challenged the council's actions on several grounds. A settlement offer involving their suit is on the council's closed-session agenda tonight.</p><p>The three were ousted when the council, on a series of 4-3 votes, did away with two planning boards -- the planning commission and the architectural review board -- and reconstituted a new, seven-member planning commission. The council then removed all but three of the 12 sitting members, who were appointed by prior council members.</p><p>Members of the council's slow-growth majority said the move would increase efficiency in the city's development review process. Those in the minority -- generally considered more business friendly -- called the moves politically motivated, designed to create a planning commission that moves in lockstep with the existing majority.</p><p>After the changes, and the suit from ousted members, the council rewrote the rules that govern how such boards can be reconfigured.</p><p>The new planning commission was appointed along the same ideological split, with the exception of the chair, Chris Arras, who was chosen unanimously.</p><p>Tonight's closed session begins at 5 p.m. and meets in open session at 7 p.m. Any council action taken in closed session must be announced to the public.</p><p>A case management conference in the case is scheduled for Thursday in Sonoma County Superior Court.</p><p>You can reach Staff Writer Lori A. Carter at 762-7297 or lori.carter@</p><p>pressdemocrat.com</p>