An editorial examines an unforeseen consequence of Sonoma's shift to district-based City Council elections, adopted amid the threat of litigation. Because state conflict-of-interest law requires a council member to recuse when their home sits within 1,000 feet of a matter under consideration, the member representing District 4, where all the city's mobile home parks lie, must step aside from votes affecting them. As the city moves to align its 1990s mobile home rules with state law, residents, many of them elderly, must now rely on council members from other districts.
Read the full story: Editorial: The Law of Unintended Consequences — Sonoma Valley Sun, Jul 21.
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