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The Healdsburg City Council will consider a contract agreement with Dave Kiff — who grew up in Healdsburg and who later served as city manager of the city of Newport Beach — to serve as interim city manager of Healdsburg. If approved, he would take the reins on July 5, after current City Manager David Mickaelian steps down to become the general manager of the Tahoe Donner Association in Truckee.

While the decrease in human activity due to COVID-19 hasn’t made a significant difference in Sonoma County’s air quality, it has triggered increased activity in local habitats.

Usually the secret to success is to think outside of the box, or so the saying goes. But for Sebastopol businesses, the first step to successfully pivoting from shelter-in-place to business-as-usual came in a cardboard box. The Sebastobox, to be specific. The box’s tagline, “All...

The SebastoMASK program is about to double in size, thanks to the fast fundraising of Councilmember Sarah Gurney, who raised nearly  $4,000 so that the city could order another 500 masks.

To take advantage of the reduced traffic in downtown Sebastopol due to shelter-in-place orders, and in order to minimize disruptions, Caltrans began Americans with Disablities (ADA) curb rehab work on May 4. The project is supposed to be completed by fall of this year. The concrete work will take an estimated six weeks and the work on the signals and poles will start after that.

The Sebastopol City Council has been talking about hiring an economic development director/community vitality specialist for more than a year and slated $40,000 for the half-time position. At the last city council meeting on May 5, it was announced that rather than hiring an individual, city staff opted to engage a company called CoMission, headed by former Sebastopol Mayor Craig Litwin.

Loving new History Matters column

While the decrease in human activity due to COVID-19 hasn’t made a significant difference in Sonoma County’s air quality, it has triggered increased activity in local habitats.

In a special meeting on Tuesday, May 12, the Palm Drive Health District board voted unanimously in favor of a resolution to dissolve the health care district by July 1. They will now submit their dissolution application to LAFCO (Local Agency Formation Commission), which oversees the creation and dissolution of special districts. LAFCO is expected to unanimously approve the dissolution.

Local recreational fishermen received good news last week when Sonoma County officials authorized the reopening of the Westside Boat Launch, Mason’s Marina and Spud Point Marina in Bodega Bay.