Guerneville meeting set to consider additional representation

West County Supervisor Lynda Hopkins is hoping to bring a little more democracy to the unincorporated river town of Guerneville and neighboring communities.

But what form that might take remains up in the air as Hopkins prepares for a Saturday forum to discuss new ways to give residents greater voice in government decision making through a citizen advisory board or another mechanism.

It’s part of a countywide effort to provide constituents of populated, unincorporated communities a defined channel for relaying concerns and recommendations on regional land-use and development issues, road repair and infrastructure needs, homeless solutions or other topics directly affecting them.

Supervisors last year embraced creating new municipal advisory councils, or MACs, to achieve this. Such five-member councils already exist for the Dry Creek and Mark West Springs areas of north Sonoma County, and are expected to be expanded into the Sonoma Valley, as well.

Hopkins hopes to develop them for the Guerneville area and the coastal region based on what she said was overwhelming support during her 2016 election campaign for increased local representation in those areas.

“I think there’s a general frustration in unincorporated communities about lack of voice,” Hopkins said this week. “They have only me. Essentially, there’s a structural disempowerment of rural communities.”

In addition to Saturday’s meeting from 1 to 3 p.m. at the Veterans Memorial Building in Guerneville, a similar town hall discussion will be held for coastal residents March 24, from 1 to 3 p.m., at the Jenner Community Center.

The thrust of the meetings is to survey interest in creating advisory councils and take input on their makeup and scope of authority.

“The biggest questions is, How do you choose these people? How many do you have?” Hopkins said.

But given what she called “buzz” about incorporation among some constituents, particularly in Bodega Bay, and, to some degree, Guerneville, she expects to address “the full spectrum” of governance choices, including municipal incorporation.

Though drastic, incorporation allows communities to maintain control over tax revenue generated within their boundaries - at a cost. Self-governance through incorporation comes with the burden of funding community services that might quickly outstrip available revenue.

Hopkins has been gathering data on property and transit occupancy tax revenue for communities in her district interested in incorporation.

For instance, Bodega Bay generates more than $4 million a year through such taxes but struggles to pay for fire and emergency services because that revenue goes to county government.

In Guerneville, where residents are grappling with a disproportionately large homeless population and other basic needs such as trash service, many feel they need more representation and have filled the void with a proliferation of neighborhood and community groups.

Creating something more formal “is a good conversation to have,” said Herman J. Hernandez, a longtime community volunteer and real estate agent in Guerneville, a town of about 4,100.

The community briefly had an advisory council in the late 1970s, and it provided a voice for those living in the community, he said. Later, before the state eliminated local redevelopment agencies, a local river area oversight committee served to provide community input on development and other issues.

Monte Rio resident Chuck Ramsey, president of the nonprofit Russian River Alliance made up of representatives from area community groups, said he was interested in seeing how an advisory council might work, but only if the appointment process were satisfactory and the council results-oriented, and empowered to address immediate community needs.

He also favors a large membership “so that more voices can be part of the process and, hence, the resulting consensus will be stronger.”

Jeniffer Wertz, secretary for the Russian River Alliance and a representative for the Guerneville Community Alliance, said the main issue “is how do we find the right people that are going to represent everyone fairly and work together well in a constructive way?”

She also said many in Guerneville have strong opinions on incorporation, but too little is known for anyone to know if it would work.?“Let’s see what the math is,” she said.

You can reach Staff Writer Mary Callahan at 707-521-5249 or mary.callahan@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @MaryCallahanB.