North Bay Business Journal

Visitors to Sonoma County spent $1.47 billion in 2011, a more than 9 percent increase over 2010, according to the latest figures released by Visit California.

A number of new regulations related to dirt, air, water and energy are facing the North Coast wine business. In Napa County, vintners and growers trade groups are concerned about a coalescing county climate action plan (countyofnapa.org/CAP) that includes specific numerical targets for greenhouse gas reduction. The county Board of Supervisors sent the draft plan [...]

Unemployment rates across the North Coast continued to fall, with every county improving its jobless rate over both the last month and over the year, according to figures released by the Economic Development Department.

PETALUMA — The nonprofit organization Committee on the Shelterless, better known as COTS, today announced a shift in leadership, with Mike Johnson, the agency’s chief operating officer, assuming the role of chief executive officer.

A Sonoma County-based nonprofit and several others with ties in the North Bay are among 48 organizations across the state to share in $37 million in outreach and education grants from Covered California, the state’s online health exchange developed under health care reform.

Petaluma-based Redwood Community Health Coalition received $830,000. Catholic Charities of California, which has a presence in Solano, Napa, Sonoma, Lake and Mendocino counties, received $859,000. California Rural Indian Health Board, which has a presence in Sonoma and Mendocino counties, was given $300,000. The California NAACP, which has locations in Sonoma and Solono counties, received $600,000 and the Asian Pacific American Legal Center in Solano County received $100,00.

NORTH BAY — Legislation has been introduced that could significantly help grape growers and other farmers in the region utilize an additional resource for securing water during the dry season.

Assembly Bill 1200, introduced by Mark Levine (D-San Rafael) and sponsored by the Sonoma County Water Agency, would establish a pilot project that would permit the agency to study the impacts of using recycled rain water for use in watering crops.

A bill recently signed by Gov. Jerry Brown seeks to eliminate a two-month long delay on the state level in processing business applications. Assembly Bill 113, authored by John Pérez, D-Los Angeles, grants $2 million to the Secretary of State’s office in attempt to eliminate a backlog of 122,000 business entity filings that currently take 65 calendar days to be processed, causing businesses to wait months to hire and finalize plans, according to the California Chamber of Commerce, which supported the bill.

HEALDSBURG — The California Lottery, one of the fastest growing lotteries in the United States, announced today their partnership with project portfolio management (PPM) firm, Métier based in Healdsburg. California Lottery selected Métier’s PPM-as-a-Service and PMO-as-a-Service offerings to enhance visibility and drive PPM maturity within the organization.

NAPA COUNTY — Founded five years ago with a startup grant from the Peter A. and Vernice H. Gasser Foundation and support from other partners, Sustainable Napa County helps local nonprofits conserve energy and water. But this is just the beginning.

Bob Glover oversees local-governmental affairs as part of his duties as executive officer of the Building Industry Association of the Bay Area.

He is set to be the keynote speaker at the Business Journal’s 2013 Construction Conference in Santa Rosa on May 15.

He spoke with the Business Journal about economic indicators that point to continued strengthening of homebuilding in the North Bay and the rest of the Bay Area as well as well as the headwinds builders continue to face seven years after the housing industry started a steep dive locally in shrinking sales, stalled and failed projects, and employment decline.

As Sonoma County’s political leaders continue to move forward with the process of setting up a county-wide public power agency, many in the business community are examining what the renewable energy-focused proposal would mean to their operations.

One of the catalysts for investigating Sonoma Clean Power is the potential for economic development benefits of developing locally owned and controlled electricity generation assets. With its goal to purchase 33 percent renewable energy at program launch and ramping up to 50 percent renewable energy by 2018, Sonoma Clean Power would provide a stable market for sellers of renewable energy. This market and ability to sign long-term contracts for the purchase of renewable electricity will stimulate local development of clean power projects. Projects could include solar systems on warehouse roofs, small wind farms or biogas digesters using waste from food processors and wineries.

Marin County’s largest city and civic hub, San Rafael, wants to boost its appeal as a commercial center, and a number of interrelated local government and business group efforts are in motion with the goal of making that happen.

The Sonoma County Board of Supervisors appointed Susan Klassen transportation and public works director. …

Sonoma County Supervisor Shirlee Zane was elected to the board of directors for the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare Foundation. …

Fireman’s Fund Insurance Co. named Jay Dipasupil vice president of programs and Dan Reed vice president of professional liability. …

SONOMA — California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones, in Sonoma for a speaking engagement, continued to apply public pressure on Blue Shield of California and other large insurers for recent rate hikes, saying the increases will negatively impact individuals and small businesses disproportionally and that the increases aren’t in tune with national medical inflation rates.

First Community Bank in January hired April Hines as chief financial officer and Jonathan Graves as vice president and commercial loan officer. …

Santa Rosa Chamber of Commerce’s board of directors elected Rolf Nelson, senior vice president of Exchange Bank, as 2013 chairman-elect. …

Brent Ainsworth, editor of the Novato Patch community news website and a former Marin Independent Journal reporter and editor, will join the county of Marin as public information officer. …

To Celebrate Life Breast Cancer Foundation, a volunteer-based organization whose goal is to ensure that no one faces breast cancer alone, appointed Jeanne Capurro the new president of its board of directors, and Rebecca Spencer and Gerard Bourguignon, Ph.D., as new board members. …

W Property Management hired Donna Nordby as North Bay director of management and leasing. …

Luann Scally joined 5th Street Financial in July as the sales manager as well as a mortgage loan office. …

Joe Scaramella joined Santa Rosa-based 5th Street Financial and W Real Estate as business development officer. …

Cline Cellars and Jacuzzi Family Vineyards hired Robert Hawk as regional manager for the Great Lakes territory. …

Summit State Bank appointed Kim August vice president and commercial loan officer. …

Jodi Shubin, director of client and community relations at Pisenti & Brinker, was named the Santa Rosa Chamber of Commerce 2012 Ambassador of the Year. …

The Democratic Caucus selected Rep. John Garemendi, D-Fairfield, for the House Agriculture Committee. …

Nick Hansen, CPA, of Moss Adams, LLP, was appointed vice president to the 2013 board of directors for Santa Rosa Wednesday Night Market. …

Pacific Coast Air Museum announced that Julia Hochberg of Sonoma Jet Center was elected to the 2013 board of directors. …

Sonoma Clean Power is a community choice aggregation program being developed by the Sonoma County Water Agency to purchase electricity for Sonoma County customers. This program has multiple benefits and risks, is complex and not well understood by Sonoma County residents and businesses. In order to help the North Bay Business Journal readers understand the various aspects of Sonoma Clean Power, the Journal is partnering with the Sonoma County Water Agency to publish a series of articles discussing the various aspects of this effort. This article, the sixth in the series, discusses the potential risks and benefits of developing a community choice aggregation program in Sonoma County.

Patsy Van Ouwerkerk, president and CEO of Travis Credit Union in Vacaville, was named chairman of the Solano Economic Development Corp. board of directors. …

Santa Rosa Chamber of Commerce announced its 2013 board of directors. …

Jonathan Eldridge was named vice president of student services for College of Marin. …

Jerry Dunn will become the new human services director for the county of Sonoma. …

James Keller has been hired by the Napa Sanitation District to fill the vacancy left by former plant manager Sharleen Maglione, who retired in December after 28 years with the district. …

Tom Kemper joined Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage as a sales associate and technology consultant in its Santa Rosa office. …

The battle between local and state governments over redevelopment funds earmarked for construction projects is intensifying as Santa Rosa, Petaluma and the county of Sonoma take legal action after state finance officials repeatedly rejected claims that the funds are legitimately committed to projects in advanced stages of progress.