Is incorporation in the cards for Guerneville?

Many lower Russian River residents feel that their communities, which generate a large percentage of the county’s revenue, get short shrift when it comes to services. Now the county is looking into what’s possible to make local governance work better.

On May 4, Sonoma County issued a request for proposals for a “Lower Russian River Local Governance Study.” It’s a clearly-written document, by County standards, aimed at improving the delivery of government services in the lower Russian River. The RFP calls for a consultant to “conduct a baseline analysis of current services, engage the community to identify alternatives, and develop a community-supported strategic plan for local governance solutions.”

Those solutions could include “establishing satellite county offices, expansion or consolidation of local service districts, and possible municipal incorporation for some or all of the region.”

“I am excited to work with the community and the consultant team on addressing systemic challenges along the lower Russian River. With a shared vision and solid financial plan we can make great strides in improving the quality of life for River communities,” says 5th District Supervisor Lynda Hopkins. The study has support from other supervisors too, who want to do similar research for their unincorporated residents.

This study results from a convergence of efforts by residents and Hopkins’ office. “This project aims to answer questions we’ve all been asking. Where does all our TOT funding go? How can we do better in basic services from trash to permit support? What governance tools are possible solutions? Even within the team working on this project we have widely varying opinions,” says District 5 Field Representative Elise Weiland. “We will take the time needed to have a community-driven process backed up by rigorous data analysis.”

The project timeline includes

A. Proposal/interview/selection of consultant

B. Discovery/Research/Community input

C. Analysis and research on possible options – community discussion

D. Report and community discussion on possible solutions

E. Finalize path forward

The incorporation option

One possible scenario, says Monte Rio resident Bryan Hughes, is creating an incorporated city with a population of just under 7,000. The incorporated area Hughes envisions would span about 16 square miles from Korbel to Duncans Mills, including Rio Nido, Guerneville, and Monte Rio.

Together with community leader Herman J. Hernandez, Hughes has helped provide information and input to Supervisor Hopkins’ office on these issues. Hughes is also a Russian River Chamber board member and an officer of the local nonprofit Russian River Alliance, but this is not a Chamber or Alliance project.

Why incorporate? Hughes says, “We lack services. Our services are primarily provided through a patchwork of special districts, and include fire, recreation and parks, limited water, and sewage. We lack police, public works, trash cleanup, building inspection and permits, and other services.”

Another scenario would be to work within the Community Service District structure. Community Services Districts are a form of independent local government used to provide services in unincorporated areas of a county. We have a number of such districts throughout West County. One example is the fire service districts. Others include the Parks and Rec districts, lighting, sewage and water districts.

Lastly, the River communities could look at satellite county services offices. Currently, problems with trash or roads or permits go to offices in Santa Rosa. That process creates a gap between the problems on the streets and the needed solutions.

Why a city? What’s the benefit?

Hughes is passionate about incorporation as an option and has done quite a bit of research.

“As a city, we could have our own police department that works for us. Windsor pays for dedicated sheriff’s deputies who work for Windsor. We would also be able to have our own permitting and planning.”

Hughes believes the community can do this without raising taxes. “On incorporation, by law, we can capture 100% of transient occupancy tax receipts (TOT bed tax) generated within the city’s limits. Other revenue will come from a portion of the sales tax, existing property taxes, and service fees that our city will be able to create.”

Is that enough money to run a city? Hughes believes so. “We used sophisticated GIS mapping software called ZoomProspector and publicly available data to identify hotel rooms and rates in the footprint of our potential city.” He estimates TOT revenue from the potential city could be 5.5 million dollars annually. “When we look at comparable cities, we estimate other revenue streams of approximately two million dollars. Add the TOT and the other revenue streams I’ve described, and we can fund a flourishing city.” The county’s Weiland can’t confirm those numbers but says one of the upcoming study goals will be to do a reality check on available funding.

Hughes stresses that making this project work will require a lot of community feedback and participation. Bob Pullum, President of the Russian River Chamber of Commerce, says, “We look forward to participating and providing input once a consultant team is in place and the study is underway.”

Didn’t we try this before?

A prior attempt at incorporation failed in 1977 in part because locals were concerned their communities would lose their unique identities. An incorporation FAQ provided by Hughes says, “Each town will retain their existing identity and name, so Rio Nido will still be Rio Nido. Instead of each being a hamlet, they will become a borough of the newly incorporated area (yet to be named), much like how Queens, the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Manhattan are separate but part of New York City. Each town will become a district or borough and will still go by its name.”

To incorporate as a city, a community must have approval from Sonoma LAFCO. The Local Agency Formation Commission regulates the boundaries of cities and special districts. There is a LAFCO in each of the 58 counties of California. Each LAFCO is an independent public agency. Their job is to make sure proposed cities and agencies won’t fail. Mark Bramfitt, Executive Officer of LAFCO, is skeptical that incorporation would be approved. But, Bramfitt says, “that doesn’t mean it won’t happen, and that doesn’t mean that the people don’t want it to happen.” The LAFCO process for incorporation is a stringent and lengthy process. It is rare for a new incorporation to pass the process. Bramfitt says, “there hasn’t been a city formed in California in, I think, eleven or twelve years.”

What’s the path to incorporation?

Incorporation needs at least 25% of the voters within the proposed incorporated area to sign a petition to initiate the action. The next step is placing the incorporation on the ballot. A simple majority of those voting in the proposed area is required to approve the incorporation.

Hughes credits Sonoma LAFCO Executive Officer Mark Bramfitt for teaching him a lot about the incorporation process. “Mark keeps bringing up potential obstacles to our goals, says Hughes, “and I take each of those as an opportunity to improve our plans. Mark and I, Supervisor Hopkins, and Elise Weiland from the District 5 office have a very productive collaboration.”

A similar fact-finding process is underway in the Springs area of Sonoma Valley.