Sandra MaurerIncumbent

Candidate for City Council (At-Large), Sebastopol · Incumbent

Sandra Maurer has lived in Sebastopol for 38 years and describes herself as a mother, grandmother, gardener, and artist. She is the former founding director of the EMF Safety Network, a nonprofit focused on electromagnetic-field safety issues, and has also worked as a California Public Utilities Commission intervenor and small business owner. She was elected to the Sebastopol City Council in 2022 and currently serves as Vice Mayor. On the council she serves on the Budget Committee and Climate Action Committee, and represents the city on the Zero Waste Sonoma and Russian River Watershed boards. She points to preserving public comment time at the start of council meetings, restoring an annual council goal-setting process, adopting a land acknowledgment, and helping restore the Labyrinth of Life Teen Memorial as accomplishments during her time on the council.

Maurer's platform centers on preserving Sebastopol's small-town character and community vitality while supporting a thriving business community. She describes herself as a watchdog on environmental issues, citing concerns about corporate "greenwashing" and specifically criticizing smart-meter technology she says is falsely marketed as ecological. On housing, she has pointed to Burbank Heights and Orchards as models for affordable housing and has engaged closely with the city's state-mandated housing element update. On public safety, she has referenced an independent police department audit and has advocated for mental health workers to respond to mental health crises. She says she values a wide range of viewpoints and believes inclusivity of public opinion is essential to solving community problems, alongside commitments to fiscal responsibility, improving parks, roads, and water/sewer infrastructure, and supporting the arts.

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