Sonoma County officials appear close to enlisting another city into the fold of its clean power agency — albeit one of the smaller ones.
Sonoma County’s two largest cities appeared headed down divergent energy paths Tuesday, with Santa Rosa vowing to move swiftly toward a decision on whether to join the Sonoma Clean Power Authority the day after Petaluma delayed a decision until at least September.
Jim Leddy, Sonoma County’s community and government affairs manager, has been hired by Mono County as its top administrative officer.
With four cities down and four to go, Sonoma County officials this week enter the second half of their roadshow to convince cities to take part in the county’s planned public power agency.
The presentations are intended to tout benefits and answer questions about the effort to displace Pacific Gas and Electric Co. with an alternative that offers a higher share of energy from renewable sources.
Windsor on Wednesday became the first city to join the Sonoma Clean Power Authority, created as an alternative to PG&E to provide a greener product at competitive, if not cheaper rates.
Third District Supervisor Shirlee Zane aimed high at the Rohnert Park City Council on Tuesday, as the political campaign to convince cities to join the county’s public power agency continued.
Sonoma County supervisors were told Tuesday that they could have $24.4 million in property tax revenue available through mid-2017 to complete former county redevelopment projects and programs.
Plans for a public power agency and the renewable energy projects that could sprout with it appear to have scrambled politics in Sonoma County.
Sonoma County officials made their first pitch for a public power agency on Tuesday night to the Sebastopol City Council, with seven more stops to go in a campaign to enroll eight cities in a plan to supplant PG&E as their sole source of electricity.
Sonoma County supervisors hailed a landmark conservation deal Tuesday as they unanimously approved $4 million in open space dollars to help with the $24.5 million purchase of Preservation Ranch in the county’s northwest corner.