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Newscast: Fort Bragg City Council Elects Officers, Advances Pro-Housing Initiatives, Grapples with Councilperson Performance

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City of Fort Bragg website.
Fort Bragg City Hall

Note: This story was originally published with the wrong audio link. This was fixed at 10:20 a.m.

Division at the Fort Bragg City Council became apparent during the election of officers on December 9th. Officers are elected by a majority vote of the council. Councilmember Tess Albin-Smith proposed changing the format to a rotation process initially based on seniority. It would have meant that council members would likely have to serve at least two terms before becoming mayor. The motion failed 3 to 2 with Albin-Smith and Peters voting yes.

Vice Mayor Jason Godeke who is in his first term was nominated for mayor and approved with a five-zero vote. Godeke then nominated first-term Councilmember Marcia Rafanan as Vice Mayor. During her comments, Albin-Smith expressed her opinion that Rafanan was not qualified to be mayor. Peters had previously suggested that he was the best candidate for mayor because he’s retired and does not have kids.

Rafanan defended herself refuting both Albin-Smith’s claims and Peters’ comments. Rafanan pointed out that she was elected to represent the poor working class in Fort Bragg and said that she can do a good job.

Rafanan was voted in four to one with Albin-Smith voting no. During public comment, several members of the audience objected to Albin-Smith’s treatment of Rafanan, who is a member of the local Sherwood band of Pomo, and the first to serve as vice mayor. The statements and arguments can be viewed in their entirety on the City of Fort Bragg website. Mayor Godeke immediately called a recess after public comment.

The council returned and continued the City’s business. Newly elected Councilmember Scott Hockett nominated Ryan Bushnell to fill an empty seat on the planning commission, which passed 3 to 2, with Albin-Smith and Peters voting no. Rich Neils was reappointed to serve another term on the planning commission.

Two public hearings were held that passed and established the option to recover fees for code enforcement and costs related to building permit inspection services. The council also decided to run a pilot program that would use the outside consultant Four Leaf for inspection services in place of the county for large projects to reduce delays. Smaller projects and standard permits will still go through the county process.

A pro-housing initiative that was briefly discussed in November came back before the council with more detail. The initiative is still preliminary, but as it stands now it could eliminate planning commission review for multi-family housing and place the onus on city staff. City planning consultant, Marie Jones explained that the City’s current program adds months to the review plan and does not meet current state law which does not allow for subjective design review.

The City has to choose between selecting an administrative review based on objective criteria — which still need to be specified — or eliminating the review of large projects. Per Jones, eliminating review could lead to multifamily housing that is ugly and detracts from the city's efforts to make Fort Bragg more visually appealing, while administrative review will create more challenges for City staff.

The council then approved a small increase in garbage rates. The average homeowner will see their bill go from $38.11 to $38.84.

City Manager Isaac Whippy provided a budget report that shows the City is currently below budget and provided data on the CV Starr Center's efforts to increase membership and expand programs. Since the City took over CV Starr memberships have climbed steadily. A chronic issue with staffing lifeguard positions has kept the center closed on Sundays. CV Starr recently held additional lifeguard classes and the discussion of opening on Sundays is ongoing.

Finally, local contractor Akeff Construction was awarded the contract to install EV Fleet Charging stations at the Fort Bragg Police Department. The council approved a contract with Telcion for network equipment, confirmed pay rates for the city manager, and approved a pump repair for the Noyo River Intake.

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