Petaluma will create oversight board

The Petaluma City Council is taking its first steps in the new world without redevelopment agencies.

One of the first is creating an oversight board, which will supervise the activities of the "successor agency" - in Petaluma's case, the City Council - in the dissolution of the redevelopment agency and its ongoing obligations.

The council will appoint seven members to the oversight board, which will include two county representatives, one each from the county water agency, the office of education and the community college chancellor's office and two from the city.

The council on Monday is to vote on recommendations by Mayor David Glass that he be named the city representative and senior planner Scott Duiven as the employee representative from the redevelopment agency.

Since the state Supreme Court eliminated redevelopment agencies effective Feb. 1, cities and counties have had to plan for concluding projects already in the pipeline that were to be funded with redevelopment dollars.

Last year, Petaluma dedicated more than $41 million for eight redevelopment projects, two affordable housing programs and administrative costs over the next five years.

Also Monday, the council will appoint replacement members on four city committees: animal services, historic and cultural preservation, technology and the tree committee.

Christina Slager and Eileen Hallock are both seeking a spot on the animal services committee.

Hallock, in customer service and sales at Oberon Design in Santa Rosa, previously served on the animal services committee from 2008 to 2010, but resigned early due to a family illness. She said in her application that she wants to increase fund-raising and improve conditions for animals at the city shelter.

Slager is the director of animal care and aquatic exhibits at the Aquarium of the Bay in San Francisco and on the board of Friends of the Petaluma Animal Shelter. She said she wants to become more involved in her community and that her expertise could be of use at the shelter.

Controversy developed last year over the shelter after its director proposed turning it over to a nonprofit agency. That would have replaced the city's union employees with unpaid volunteers under a few paid managers.

You can reach Staff Writer

Lori Carter at 762-7297 or lori.carter@pressdemocrat.com.