The Council consists of three caucuses of 18 members each, representing economic, environmental, and public interests in Sonoma and Mendocino counties, along with three members from the local conservation districts. The Council had decided during its formation to require 60% approval of any decision. Early in the meeting, the Economic Interests caucus proposed that the approval requirement be raised to 70%, which would have given any one caucus effective veto power. When the proposal was defeated, all but one member of the caucus walked out, leaving the substantive business of the day to be decided by the Environmental and Public caucuses.
The primary work at the Cloverdale meeting was consideration of a budget of about $1.2 million per year for use in watershed restoration, dam operations, information gathering and assessment, public outreach and assessment, and operation of the Council itself. Although workgroups were set up to make recommendations, the proposal as submitted by the steering committee seemed to excessively accommodate the wishes of the Corps and other government officials to "get something done now before funding dries up," without adequate study by Council members (it had not been made available prior to the meeting).
The Council was already suspicious of the Corps' motives and procedures. A month earlier, the Corps had used the Council's name and existence to support its report in favor of allowing 1120 feet of riprap to be built along the Russian River north of Healdsburg. Members were worried that the Corps was trying to "paint itself green" or otherwise abuse a consensus-building process to its own benefit.
It was thus no surprise that the budget proposal failed to muster the 60% necessary for approval. The matter will instead be revisited at the November meeting, after allowing an opportunity for analysis and community input. Ironically, had the Economic caucus been present, the budget proposal likely would have passed.
The most revealing moment for many Council members came just after the vote, when Sonoma Supervisor Mike Reilly announced that there actually was no rush, that agreeing to a budget in November would still give all levels of government enough time to arrange funding. There was a collective gasp from the members, some wondering aloud why they had just been put through hours of unnecessary hell. Realizing that the various government agencies had assumed it would not dare refuse money offered, regardless of how flawed the process, the Council called their bluff. These agencies must now accept the reality that like-minded people, acting in concert from shared principles, are not so easily swayed, and will serve as stewards to protect the land.
The Council then took a further step toward independence, hiring its own co-ordinator to assure access to information and reduce dependence on the Corps of Engineers. After hours of frustration, the Council left feeling that it had accomplished its primary task, the creation of an organization that would allow the local community to speak on behalf of the Russian River and its watershed.
Copyright Mendocino Environmental Center 1999
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