Santa Rosa City Council meeting canceled for lack of quorum

The Santa Rosa City Council meeting was unexpectedly canceled Tuesday afternoon when only three of the seven members showed up.

Two council members, Mayor John Sawyer and Vice Mayor Tom Schwedhelm, are out of the country visiting Santa Rosa’s sister city of Jeju, South Korea.

And two other council members, Julie Combs and Chris Coursey, called in sick Tuesday afternoon.

Coursey said by email he was unaware his absence would contribute to the cancellation. He said he had an unknown ailment and planned to see a doctor in the morning.

“I apologize to members of the public who expected a meeting tonight, and to staff who prepared for it,” he said.

Combs said she was suffering from a migraine and also apologized to anyone who may have been inconvenienced.

The South Korea trip, which also includes City Attorney Caroline Fowler and former city manager Jeff Kolin, had been planned for some time.

The absences left just Ernesto Olivares, Erin Carlstrom and Gary Wysocky available to conduct the meeting, which was not enough for a quorum. That forced what was not technically a cancellation but an adjournment before any items were taken up. The evening’s agenda was fairly light compared to other meetings, but still included several substantive issues, including an appeal of the Planning Commission’s approval of a pickleball court project in Oakmont, the expansion of a clean energy financing program, and a rewrite of the city’s policy on art in public places.

Because of the last-minute nature of the cancellation, a number of Oakmont residents showed up hoping to hear the pickleball item only to find a locked council chambers with a notice announcing the adjournment. The pickleball item was moved to March 29.

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