The Cloverdale City Council has said it’s premature to join a public power agency intended to supplant PG&E as the city’s primary source of electricity.

A crowd of more than 100 filled the Cloverdale City Council chamber Wednesday night, mostly to register objections to hefty water and sewer rate increases. The City Council was able to lessen the sting by approving new rates that are a little less than what originally was proposed for the first year, but utility bills still will spike.

Cloverdale residents are on the verge of seeing steep jumps in their water and sewer bills, the result of a combination of forces, including the recession and the postponing of previous rate hikes.

Cloverdale residents enjoy the lowest water and sewer rates in Sonoma County, but it won’t last much longer. City consultants are recommending a 67 percent increase in water rates and 25 percent for wastewater.

Nina Regor, Cloverdale’s city manager for the past five years, is leaving to take a job as top administrator of a city in Washington state. Regor announced she has accepted the job as the city administrator in Camas, Wash.

With barely $60,000 in reserves, Cloverdale needs to get its fiscal house in order, according to newly-named Mayor Joe Palla. In the coming year, he said the top priority should be the city’s budget.

Joe Palla, a longtime Sonoma County police chief who was re-elected to a second term on the Cloverdale City Council in November, is coming out of retirement. He will serve as interim police chief at Santa Rosa Junior College following the abrupt departure of its former chief.

UPDATE 7 AM: Two incumbents and a newcomer were elected to the Cloverdale City Council. Incumbents Joe Palla and Carol Russell won their re-election bids while former police officer Mike Maacks defeated two other challengers. Voters also approved Measure Q, the city’s first urban growth boundary.

Six candidates in Healdsburg have raised $40,000, while in Cloverdale, only one of the five candidates plans to spend more than $1,000 – and he’s raised almost $9,700 for his campaign. A look at the money race in the county’s two northern-most cities.

Cloverdale has struggled since the decline of the timber industry and the construction of a Highway 101 bypass around the outskirts of town. Economic growth and a healthy city budget remain top priorities for the five City Council candidates. Today, we turn the WSC spotlight on Cloverdale