Sonoma council takes on three contentious issues

It’s going to be a grueling meeting. The Sonoma City Council is set to take on several “weighty” topics Monday night that have previously stirred much debate in the otherwise quiet town of 11,000.

Leaf blowers, rent control and water fluoridation are on the agenda.

With budget season around the corner, Mayor David Cook said there’s no better time to tackle some of these contentious issues, particularly leaf blowers, a topic that’s come up repeatedly in the city.

“These are neighborly issues,” Cook said. “We are at an exciting time in Sonoma, where we can make Sonoma a place where visitors want to come and people want to live. That’s a hard balance.”

There was a dust-up more than a year ago when council members were on track to ban gas-powered leaf blowers and then-Mayor Ken Brown reversed his vote at the eleventh hour, calling it a “class issue.” Residents raised concerns over the pollutants the noisy devices emit and the allergens, pollen and other potentially harmful particles they stir up, while landscapers argued they were necessary to do their jobs.

City Councilwoman Laurie Gallian, who supported the ban at the time, recently asked to bring the discussion before the current council, hoping the three newly elected council members could breathe life into the matter. Brown’s last-minute vote against a ban angered residents, and several of them have asked Gallian to continue to push for a ban.

It will be the first time council members Madolyn Agrimonti, Gary Edwards and Rachel Hundley will deal with leaf blowers since they were sworn in this past December. It’s unclear where discussions will go, but they’re not expected to make a final decision on the matter.

City staff will fill them in on the existing regulations. They’ll also seek direction from the council on whether to tighten further the rules or outright restrict leaf blowers and come back with a proposed ordinance at a later date, Cook said.

“We just don’t know how the council is going to react with leaf blowers,” Cook said.

He added, “I assume there will be some direction back to staff.”

Some residents also want the city to look at making changes to its existing mobile-home park rent-control ordinance, which has been talked about for years.

“Some residents are frustrated it’s not moved forward. But it’s a very complicated process,” City Manager Carol Giovanatto said.

For example, some residents want to reduce the amount that the park owners currently are allowed to increase rent by each year based on inflation. They also want the ability to petition for rent decreases in the cases where the park owner has reduced amenities and services.

Park owners obviously aren’t on the same page, Giovanatto said. The matter requires further vetting, she said.

No decision is expected to be made on the ordinance. However, city staff is requesting council members set a future study session and consider forming a task force made up of park owners and residents.

Like leaf blowers, water fluoridation should cause some stir.

After they voted 3-2 on Feb. 18 to redraft a letter of protest regarding a county proposal to add fluoride to drinking water supplied by the Sonoma County Water Agency, council members will decide Monday whether the city should publicly oppose the plan.

County health officials are pushing to add fluoride to the water, saying it is one of the most effective ways to prevent tooth decay and reduce dental care costs. But critics argue the science is faulty and the chemical is dangerous.

City officials heard from numerous anti-fluoridation activists, dentists and residents who stood on both sides of the debate at the previous meeting. After nearly an hour of public comment, the council decided to make the letter more “Sonoma-centric,” a request from Hundley.

She wanted the city to outline more specifically its concerns, including those raised by Edwards. He didn’t want fluoridated water in the wine or food and argued that water fluoridation doesn’t resolve the real problem: the excessive consumption of sugary drinks.

“We’re not taking care of the real issue, which is this particular product,” he said at the last meeting, placing in front of him a glass bottle of Coca Cola.

You can reach Staff Writer Eloísa Ruano González at 521-5458 or eloisa.gonzalez@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @eloisanews.