John Sawyer to retire from Santa Rosa City Council at end of term this year

Santa Rosa City Councilman John Sawyer, a mainstay at City Hall for nearly two decades and one of the longest serving sitting lawmakers across Sonoma County, is retiring.

Sawyer was first elected in 2004 and served two, four-year terms before unsuccessfully running for Sonoma County supervisor in 2012. He was reelected to an at-large City Council seat in 2014 and ran again to represent the city’s southeast District 2 in 2018 when Santa Rosa moved to district-based elections.

The 66-year-old will not seek reelection to a fifth term when his current term ends at the end of the year. Just two people have served longer than him in city history, he said.

During his time on the council, Sawyer was appointed mayor twice and oversaw work to reunify Old Courthouse Square and negotiations on annexation of Roseland. Both longstanding projects came to fruition in 2017 but were quickly eclipsed by the firestorm — a disaster that Sawyer said prompted him to seek a fourth term in 2018.

“I couldn’t abandon my colleagues,” he said.

He tended to be a more moderate voice on the council but was known to reach across the political aisle to work with colleagues despite ideological differences.

Sawyer said he’s ready to move on from public office and give others a chance to serve.

“It has been incredibly rewarding to serve the city that has given my family so much,” he said and added that it will be hard to say goodbye to staff and colleagues who have become like family. “It’s an experience that has changed my life and one I will always look at fondly.”

Sawyer’s decision means at least two council seats are up for grabs in this year’s election where four of seven seats are on the ballot. Councilman Tom Schwedhelm also isn’t running for another term in District 6, which spans the city’s northwest.

Prospective candidates can file signatures to qualify for the ballot beginning July 18 and the deadline is Aug. 12.

A fourth-generation Santa Rosa native, Sawyer first ran for City Council in 2002 at the encouragement of a then-county supervisor.

At the time, Sawyer was active in efforts to revive the city’s core, involved in city commissions and was a familiar face at City Hall. He had name recognition, too — his family’s business, Sawyer’s News, a newsstand and bookstore, was a downtown fixture before it closed in 2010.

Policymaking wasn’t something he’d done before but it was a natural step up from his involvement in the community, he said.

He came up short that year in his bid for one of three seats but tried again two years later, this time armed with more experience.

Sawyer coasted through, coming within 450 votes of being the top vote-getter to become the first openly gay man elected to the council.

“Everyone worked very hard and their hard work paid off,” he said of those who helped get him elected.

Lee Pierce, who was elected to the City Council in 2004 with Sawyer described the longtime downtown merchant as a champion for the business and development community. He also provided a wealth of institutional knowledge and background on how certain issues were viewed in the past when they came before council, Pierce said.

After serving eight years, Sawyer said he was asked in 2012 to run for a supervisorial seat in District 1, which includes eastern Santa Rosa, Sonoma and Sonoma Valley.

It was a tight race that pitted him against council colleague Susan Gorin. He lost by fewer than 1,800 votes.

“I really felt like I let people down and it was the first time I had really felt like a failure,” he said. “It was a hard pill to swallow because so many people were supporting me and I was looking forward to a whole new adventure.”

Sawyer licked his wounds and ran for City Council two years later because he said there was more work to do on many of the same issues the city faced when he was first elected, such as reviving downtown and housing.

Voters returned him to office and his colleagues named him mayor, a move seen by some as a council commitment to a fresh start following political turmoil after the council, in a historic move, censured one of its own.

“I believe I was looked at as a good communicator, a diplomat, and it worked. We brought council back together and refocused on city work,” he said.

That ability to work well with others stretched beyond repairing relationships on the council.

It helped the council make more informed decisions, Lee said, when they served together in the mid-2000s.

Councilwoman Victoria Fleming, who represents northeast Santa Rosa’s District 4, said Sawyer has always been open to having earnest discussions and listening to other viewpoints though they don’t agree politically.

“He’s a good example and a testament to how people can work together with different ideological viewpoints in this hyperpartisan political era,” Fleming said and added that she didn’t expect to become friends with him. “I’m really going to miss him.”

Sawyer weighed retiring in 2018 at the end of his last term but felt he would be abandoning his community and colleagues at a time when the city was reeling from the 2017 firestorm.

He worried that after 12 years he wouldn’t have the energy to help carry the city forward amid one of its biggest challenges. But those challenges were also what pushed him to run in the end, he said.

“I thought how hard is it going to be for me to stay fresh and energetic over the next four years based on the challenges we had before us, and they were numerous,” he said. “It was not an easy time, but that’s also why I ran because … I felt like I just couldn’t leave.”

Four years later though, Sawyer said he’s ready to step away and let someone younger and with a fresh perspective step into the role.

He already has someone in mind to represent District 2.

Mark Stapp, Sawyer’s appointee to the city’s Design Review Board and member of various nonprofit boards, said running for office is a natural progression to the work he’s already doing. His campaign is just getting off the ground after having conversations with family and friends over the last year about whether to run.

“I’m looking forward to being part of the conversation and working with community members to solve problems in a new capacity,” said Stapp, who has lived in Santa Rosa for about 11 years and works in external relations at Sonoma State University.

Sawyer has endorsed the political newcomer.

Sawyer said Stapp has shown a desire to become involved at a higher level, has a good understanding of the job, is familiar with city challenges and can work well with others. He described him as a commonsense decision maker similar to himself.

“My desire was to leave my seat in the hands of someone who could carry that mantle and I believe that he can and I think that he will serve the district and the community well,” he said.

For his part, Sawyer said he doesn’t know what comes next but he’s looking forward to having more time to travel, explore new hobbies and spend time with family.

You can reach Staff Writer Paulina Pineda at 707-521-5268 or paulina.pineda@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @paulinapineda22.