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.

Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit officials Wednesday approved spending $6.6 million on an additional two-car train, improving service and raising the possibility of extending service to Airport Boulevard near Windsor. With the extra cars, SMART officials said they will have enough trains to run passenger trains at 30-minute intervals to the Guerneville Road station in Santa Rosa, a station that will serve the most riders.

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.

Sonoma County transit officials Monday agreed to give $6.6 million that would have gone for bicycle and pedestrian projects to the Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit District to buy additional cars.

Plans for a casino-hotel resort in Cloverdale are back on track with an application by the Cloverdale Rancheria of Pomo Indians to take land into federal trust and clear the way for gambling. The Bureau of Indian Affairs sent out formal notice last week of the tribe’s trust application for the 65 acres on the southern edge of Cloverdale, adjacent to Highway 101.

North Coast politicians and transit supporters gathered Friday in Petaluma for a ceremonial ground-breaking for the commute train that will run between Sonoma and Marin counties. “This is a historic moment. It has been a long time coming,” said Rep. Lynn Woolsey.

Alarmed by statistics that show a high level of underage alcohol consumption in the community, Cloverdale City Council members are crafting an ordinance that targets adults who allow teen drinking parties. The “Social Host Ordinance,” a tool already used in three other cities in Sonoma County, allows officers to impose criminal and civil penalties on adults if there are repeat instances of underage drinking in their homes.

Plans for a casino in Cloverdale became murkier Wednesday when a portion of the land proposed for the controversial project was reclaimed at a foreclosure auction. With the flat economy and new gambling ventures on hold, Cloverdale officials were divided on whether the foreclosure and auction signaled trouble for the casino project.