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Sebastopol staff propose capped planning-hours option to shore up Climate Action Committee amid fiscal emergency
Summary
City Manager Don Schwartz and interim planning director Jane Riley presented options to reduce staff time supporting the Climate Action Committee — including ending Brown Act status, self-administering Brown Act duties, a capped monthly staff-hours budget, or fewer meetings — and staff said they will verify cost figures before sending recommendations to the City Council by early October.
City Manager Don Schwartz and interim Community Development Director Jane Riley urged the Sebastopol Climate Action Committee on Thursday to weigh options that would reduce planning staff time devoted to the committee as part of a response to a declared fiscal emergency.
"I apologize that that conversations have not been done in that spirit," Don Schwartz said as he opened the presentation, framing the discussion around the city's constrained finances and a proposed sales-tax measure on the November ballot that staff called the "foundational piece" of addressing the shortfall.
Jane Riley, the interim planning and community development director, presented a menu of preliminary options staff has drafted to lower annual staff costs tied to committee…
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