Sebastopol City Council · Sonoma County

Phill Carter

Council Member, City of Sebastopol

Government works best when the people it serves can actually follow what it's doing. I'm here to make that happen.

What I'm working on

Happening now

I'm forming three working groups on racial and social equity.

The Council made me its Racial and Social Equity Liaison. The assignment comes with no budget, no staff and no authority to make anyone do anything — what it comes with is the ability to get people in a room and put things on an agenda. I need neighborhood advisors and community leaders to make that worth doing.

Three groups, by who people are rather than where they live: families and schools, workers and employers, faith and neighbors.
Sign up in two minutes — tell me when you could actually meet and I'll set the first date from real availability.
A space to talk between meetings, private to your group, where I post City news and updates as they come.

Join a working group What this is and what's happened

Phill Carter, Sebastopol City Council Member

About Phill

Neighbor. Energy policy nerd. Coach.

Sebastopol City Council

I've lived and worked in Sebastopol for years. Before the council, I spent most of my career in energy and sustainability policy — working to make sure utilities and local governments were actually accountable to the communities they serve, not just technically compliant.

I'm an entrepreneur, a Sonoma County Zero Waste board member, and I coach youth soccer. That last one matters because it keeps me anchored. You hear a lot more about what's actually broken in a city when you're standing on the sideline with other parents than when you're at a council meeting.

I ran for council because I was tired of government that's technically transparent but practically illegible. Agendas that require a law degree to parse. Budgets that don't explain what they mean. Decisions that feel inevitable when they weren't. I think the people being governed deserve better than that — and I mean to provide it.

Sonoma Clean Power Board

Climate Action Committee

Racial and Social Equity Liaison

Budget Committee

Enterprise Fund Oversight Committee · Founding Chair

Economic Gardening (and Business District Liaison)

Library and Senior Center Alternate · Former Commons Committee Member

Youth Soccer Coach · Sebastopol

How to Reach Me

Direct access. No gatekeeping.

phill@philist.org

Instagram

@pcarterseb
Scan or tap to follow

Committees & Meetings

Sonoma Clean Power Board · Climate Action · Racial and Social Equity Liaison · Budget
Enterprise Fund Oversight (founding chair) · Economic Gardening (and business district liaison) · Library and Senior Center alternate · former Commons Committee member
City meeting calendar →

Stay in the loop

I'll send you a note when a vote is coming up that could affect your street, your water bill, or something your kids care about.

This isn't a newsletter. No regular emails, no campaign pitches. Just a heads-up when it actually matters — when there's a decision coming and you should know about it before it's made.

What I'm working on

On the agenda right now

Racial and Social Equity

Three working groups forming now, and the full public record of what has happened since the graffiti behind Safeway in April — what the City found it can and cannot do, and what Safeway and Analy have put in writing.

Join a group →

Pedestrian Safety and Downtown Transportation

Sebastopol's one-way couplet was built in a different era for a different purpose. I've been deep in the research on converting to two-way — what it does to traffic, to property values, to downtown vitality. Twenty-plus cities have done this. Here's what happened.

Read the case →

Sebastopol's Fiscal Health

It's budget season. FY 2026–27 is proposed — $15.6M in revenue, reserves at 25.8%, and $613K going into roads. I built an interactive dashboard so you can explore it yourself.

Explore the budget dashboard →

The Senior Center and the Library

Helping the Senior Center grow and improving our Library. Both have outgrown their buildings, and the Commons work is where the options are being laid out.

See the Commons work →

An Improved Downtown Economy

A downtown people can walk, shop and linger in is a stronger downtown for local businesses. The transportation plan and the economic gardening work are part of the same effort.