Activism is a popular hobby in Cotati. On March 13, one new member will be chosen out of nine applicants for an open seat on the city council of Cotati, a city of 7,330. Contrast that with last year’s Santa Rosa City Council race, which featured nine candidates for four spots on the city council of a city of 169,292.
The new appointee will serve until December 2014 in replacement of longtime council member Pat Gilardi, who left in January to take a position on newly elected Sonoma County Supervisor Susan Gorin’s staff. The four-member council will interview applicants and make the appointment at its regular meeting this evening.
The group includes some familiar names and some new faces: George Barich, Isaac Freed, Linell Hardy, Ed Hirsch, Sky Matula, John Moore, Ashley Veach, Eris Weaver and Alan Wintermeyer. Former council member Barich was recalled in a special election in 2009, one year after being elected. He had run for council previously and has run for council every opportunity since then. Hardy, a former Cotati planning commissioner, was fined by the Fair Political Practices Commission for her role as former council member John Guardino’s treasurer in a 2010 campaign finance scandal. And John Moore’s wife Lisa served on the council from 2002 to 2006, holding the position as mayor in 2005.
Two of the current council members, Mayor Mark Landman and Vice Mayor John Dell’osso, originally found their seats by special appointment.
