Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Committee Administration topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Sebastopol climate committee prioritizes website overhaul and recruitment as council weighs changes
Summary
The Sebastopol Climate Action Committee agreed to focus on website revisions and recruitment while tabling work-plan changes. Members set a two-week deadline for website edit submissions and discussed pausing the January meeting until new members are seated; council will consider committee reorganization on Dec. 17.
Despite an initial lack of quorum, the acting chair moved the meeting forward to hear a presentation and address remaining agenda items. After the RCPA presentation, committee members shifted to internal business and set priorities for website updates and recruitment.
"Given the time and, a few other items, what I would like to do is just we're gonna plan to table the work plan revision discussion, and have a brief discussion, no action on the website revisions, and devote most of the rest of the time to recruitment planning," the acting chair said when re-focusing the agenda.
Committee members reviewed a packet of proposed website revisions and identified high-priority updates: consolidating outdated archived pages, linking to active programs (for example, BayREN’s Water Upgrade Save), making the volunteer/working-group information more evergreen, and improving accessibility for applicants (an editable application form). Volunteers signed up to draft or edit specific sections including EV charging, energy conservation content, graywater guidance and the "what you can do" resident guidance.
Members set an aggressive deadline for contributions: two weeks from the meeting date to send text and suggested priorities for the website lead to integrate. Staff said they would attempt to post an editable application PDF as soon as possible so prospective volunteers can apply without printing and handwriting forms.
On recruitment and scheduling, staff explained applications were posted and that the initial recruitment window would close around Dec. 26. The committee discussed whether to meet in January amid staff transitions and expiring member terms; the acting chair and most members favored cancelling January and reconvening in February so newly appointed members could attend. Staff noted the city council will discuss potential reorganization of the committee at a Dec. 17 meeting; the committee asked members to prepare public comment emphasizing the committee’s value should council request input.
The acting chair noted the city’s fiscal constraints and repeated an estimate presented to council that the committee’s support costs could be approximately $15,000 a year under a reduced-staff-hours model; members discussed how to present the committee’s accomplishments and value to counter proposals to reduce or dissolve it.
The meeting ended with plans to integrate website edits, a recruitment push over the next two weeks and an intention to bring community outreach events or targeted presentations (county resiliency staff, Sonoma Clean Power) to broader public forums in early spring.
