Please sign this petition to tell the Petaluma City Council to terminate the M-Group contract and bring our Planning Department back inhouse!

In June 2023, the Sonoma County Grand Jury released a report in which they took issue with Petaluma's longtime outsourcing of our entire Planning Department to the M-Group and the City's lack of transparency and accountability in doing so.  The M-Group was hired during the 2009 economic downturn but, in that 14-year relationship, the City has failed to conduct a single cost-benefit analysis, performance review, or request for proposals (RFP) to prove that outsourcing is needed, an efficient use of our taxpayer dollars, or could be performed better and cheaper with another firm.

The M-Group is a for-profit company that earns 40% extra for every hour spent on development projects.  This has led to questionable projects being approved or considered, such as the building of homes in the floodway and collaborating with a hotel developer to create an "overlay" (zoning amendment) to help all future developers bypass existing zoning laws that protect our historic downtown with height and other limitations.  This has also led to the disparate treatment of small business owners, as many of those applications are dismissed outright without any proper review from the city, presumably because they don't generate the high development fees sought by the M-Group.  

The City responded to the Grand Jury report in a dismissive manner by insisting that the Grand Jury is wrong and failing to conduct the recommended proper cost-benefit analysis.  Instead, the City released a cost comparison that is riddled with inaccuracies, overstatements, and bad data.  Compare the size and cost of our outsourced Planning Department to any surrounding city, and you will find that cities larger in both population and square mileage have much smaller teams and spend much less money on their planning services.  Any argument that Petaluma saves money by outsourcing because we don't pay consultants a pension is misleading, as the high hourly fees we pay cover their salary, bonuses, healthcare, retirement, and profit-sharing benefits with enough left over for high profits to the company officers.  Petaluma taxpayers will absolutely save money by bringing our Planning Department back inhouse!

In addition to wasting taxpayer dollars on consultants, the high fees charged by the M-Group lead to increased development fees, increased property taxes, and higher rents.  This issue impacts every resident of Petaluma!  Put an end to this financial burden on our community, the disparate treatment of small business owners, the questionable projects being approved or considered, and bring our Planning Department back inhouse!

Petalumans for Accountability