State Sen. Bill Dodd to host public forum on wildfire safety Monday night in Sonoma

Nov. 23--Chris Godley, Sonoma County's emergency management director, will be one of the panelists at a town hall meeting on wildfire safety and PG&E power shut-offs hosted by state Sen. Bill Dodd Monday night in Sonoma.

Chief Steve Akre of the Sonoma Valley Fire & Rescue Authority; Jane Whang, staff counsel on public policy, law and security at Verizon and Anthony Noll, a program manager in the California Public Utilities Commission's wildfire safety and enforcement branch, will round out the panel.

David Rabbitt, chairman of the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors, will join Dodd, a Napa Democrat, in hosting the forum, which is free and open to the public from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Monday at Sonoma Veterans Hall, 126 First St., Sonoma.

"We must keep our communities safe, and the way PG&E has responded is unacceptable," Dodd said in a press release. "I'm calling for fundamental change to the governance, control and oversight of the troubled utility."

Gov. Gavin Newsom and other state officials have advocated overhauling California's largest power provider, including the possibility of converting it from an investor-owned company to a public utility.

Panelists will discuss the actions already underway to protect the public, necessary improvements and next steps, followed by questions from the audience.

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