New Santa Rosa council members hope to avoid discord

Santa Rosa’s political landscape may not have shifted much as a consequence of Tuesday’s election of three new faces to the City Council.

When the new members join their four colleagues Dec. 2, deep philosophical divisions will remain between them over issues as varied as public safety funding, reunification of Old Courthouse Square and business development.

But optimism is high around City Hall that even if the political divides remain, the council will carry out its business in a more respectful and collegial tone.

Newly elected council members Chris Coursey and Tom Schwedhelm, who clearly differ on issues such as revising the public safety sales tax Measure O, sought to drive that point home early with an Election Day bike ride to Geyserville.

“The message that I wanted to send was, ‘We’re going to be working to together and I would like to do that as friends and colleagues,’?” said Coursey, who suggested the ride about a week before the election. “I don’t expect that Tom and I will agree on everything, but I would like to have a good relationship with everyone on the council.”

Schwedhelm said the ride was “a blast” and it helped the men take their minds off the Election Day waiting game and get to know each other on a personal level.

He said he firmly believes voters want to see a change in tone on the council and each council member has a responsibility to do their part to bring about that change.

“We have the opportunity to totally remove this whole conversation about the dysfunction on the council,” Schwedhelm said.

The city’s retired police chief said he’s going to do that by remembering that other council members have views that reflect the values of the voters who put them in office, and even if he disagrees with those views or comes out on the losing end of votes, he’ll be respectful of them.

“We’re just seven people, and ultimately all seven of us want what’s in the best interests of Santa Rosa,” he said.

It was clear to all the candidates this year that voters are fed up with the acrimony on the council and want a change, said John Sawyer, who served on the council from 2004 to 2012 and was elected to serve a third term.

The result was candidates running clean, positive campaigns free of personal attacks, he said.

“Without ever mentioning it to each other, there was basically an understanding that we would conduct ourselves respectfully,” Sawyer said.

Unlike supervisorial races, where only one candidate wins the seat, in city elections, candidates who were once rivals can find themselves serving alongside one another just a few weeks after the campaigns are over. That can prove to be a major barrier to building collegial and collaborative relationships, Sawyer said.

“It’s really important that newly elected council members can sit at the dais without bruised knuckles and black eyes,” Sawyer said. “I think that should be a real goal of candidates for our most local elections.”

Whether a new day really is at hand will be put to the test soon after the Dec. 2 ceremony where the new members take their seats.

The first decision they’ll have to make is who will be mayor for the next two years. Because Mayor Scott Bartley and Vice Mayor Robin Swinth are stepping down, it won’t even be clear at that point who will be running the meeting for the mayor vote, said Councilwoman Erin Carlstrom .

She said she’s confident the new city manager, Sean McGlynn, will find a way to help the council work through that first procedural wrinkle smoothly.

Carlstrom, an attorney who is midway through her first term on the council, is being mentioned privately by council watchers as likely to be tapped as the city’s next mayor. She said she hasn’t discussed the issue with anyone outside her family.

“Certainly, if my colleagues are willing to elect me, I would be honored,” Carlstrom said. “I would certainly work very hard to be a good mayor.”

Sawyer’s name also has been mentioned as someone whose experience positions him well for the post. He served as mayor only for a few months after Mayor Bob Blanchard died in 2008. He said he’s “mused about it” since the election but hasn’t given the matter much serious thought. He’s given more consideration to what committees he might like to serve on to give the city some continuity given the loss of Bartley, Swinth and Jake Ours, all of whom had heavy committee assignments.

“There are plenty of people who have said to me, ‘I wonder who is going to be the next mayor, and my response has been, ‘I don’t know,’?” Sawyer said.

He said it would be unusual for a new council member to be immediately elected mayor, and even though he served two terms on the council, a lot has happened since he stepped down to run for supervisor in 2012, he said.

As such, he said he’s trying to come to the role with fresh eyes and no expectation that his past service positions him for mayor, he said.

Councilman Gary Wysocky said he’s optimistic the new council will work together better.

“It certainly couldn’t be any worse,” said Wysocky, who was censured - he says unfairly - by his colleagues earlier this year.

He said he is hopeful council members won’t shy away from robust and comprehensive debates about city policy just for appearances’ sake.

“I think any elected official should stand up for their belief and their values,” he said.

Councilwoman Julie Combs, a key but inconsistent ally of Wysocky, said she is “looking forward to that new change in tone.”

“We aren’t all going to be perfect, but we can behave toward each other much more civilly than we have done,” Combs said, “and I’m really hoping the new council members will help the rest of us.”

Carlstrom said she is under no illusions that the rivalries or resentments that have flared on the council in recent years will disappear overnight. The four remaining members “have all kind of been through fire together” and getting past some of that history “will remain a challenge,” she said.

Santa Rosa is a big city with big issues facing it, so it’s only natural that there will be strong political differences expressed on the council, she said. But she hopes future debate can remain focused on policies and not personalities.

“Obviously, there are going to be policy differences,” she said, “but it’s all about can you look at someone and say, ‘They are doing the best they can for the city.’?”

You can reach Staff Writer Kevin McCallum at ?521-5207 or kevin.?mccallum@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter?@srcitybeat.