Candidates for Petaluma City Council can file starting Monday

It’s safe to say that today is the very first day of Petaluma’s official election season.

At 8 a.m., the doors to the City Clerk’s office will open, and for the next month, anyone interested in running for City Council can walk right in and pick up the required paperwork.

So far, four people have signaled intentions to run, in the Nov. 8 election.

Incumbents Mike Healy, Gabe Kearney and Kathy Miller have begun the fundraising process, kicking off their allied campaign with a June 29 fundraising event at Mario & John’s tavern. Respectively, the three have held office since 1998, 2011 and 2012.

Former Mayor Pam Torliatt submitted a candidate intention statement in January, but has since declined to say if she is planning on throwing her hat in the ring. She did not return a call for comment. All four have active campaign bank accounts.

Petaluma Mayor David Glass said he had a “reasonable expectation” that one or two people would be picking up filing papers over the course of the next month. Glass said he views the three incumbents up for re-election as too pro-development. Glass and Councilmember Teresa Barrett are viewed as more skeptical of development.

“I want to see a balanced ship on the City Council that is more in tune with this community rather than more in tune with the developers,” he said.

“Instead of seeming to go carte blanche on a developers’ terms, a change in one vote would make a City Council deliberate, listen to public comment and be reactionary to that - rather than there being a predetermined outcome that seems to be irrelevant to whatever the staff recommendations are.”

Councilmember Chris Albertson, who was first elected to the council in 2010, disagreed with Glass’s characterization of the current council.

“To say that we’re completely in the developers’ pocket is a complete misrepresentation, I think,” Albertson said. “Before 2010, we had a council that was divided 4-3 on almost every vote. The same four and the same three. And from 2010 forward, we seemed to be a little more congenial … We’re a mixed vote now.”

The nomination period closes Aug. 12.

You can reach Staff Writer Christi Warren at 521-5205 or christi.warren@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter ?@SeaWarren.