City Signals Annexation Strategy While Public Is Kept in the Dark

Ukiah, CA – February 9, 2026 — At last week’s City Council meeting, the City of Ukiah passed the Right to Industry ordinance with little pushback, but with an important comment from City staff. During the meeting, the City’s Chief Planning Manager Jesse Davis stated that the ordinance “aligns us very much so with the policies that are just outside of our borders as we seek to progress annexation in the coming years.”

For residents who were told annexation would move forward only after a transparent, public process, the comment confirmed what many have suspected: the City is quietly laying the groundwork for future annexation while avoiding an open community conversation.

The statement is especially notable given that the City’s most recent annexation efforts were withdrawn last year following overwhelming public opposition. Since then, there has been no substantive public discussion on annexation, yet City policies are now being explicitly justified as tools to support it. Rather than restarting the conversation with residents and regional partners, the City appears to be moving incrementally, advancing ordinances now and deferring accountability until later.

That disconnect was seen later in the meeting as annexation-related items returned to the agenda following concerns raised by the Mendocino Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCo). LAFCo previously flagged the City’s application as incomplete due to unresolved tax-sharing issues with the County, an issue that remains unsettled.

Ukiah City Manager Sage Sangiacomo acknowledged during the meeting that the County has still not agreed to the proposed terms, despite City staff characterizing the situation as “continued discussion with our county counterparts.” The item moved forward anyway.

During public comment, Supervisor Madeline Cline, who represents much of the area the City has discussed annexing, directly challenged that. “What hasn’t taken place is a conversation,” Cline said, stressing that discussions between the City and County should happen before annexation-related actions appear on a City agenda, particularly with more controversial proposals likely ahead.

While the County is signaling that the process is running ahead of the conversation, the City continues to move annexation-related policies and applications forward. There has been no public discussion on annexation since No Ukiah Annexation reached out to the City in October, and none before that since July. Despite that silence, annexation groundwork continues behind the scenes.

While the City has previously committed to a transparent public process that invites broad community participation and ensures residents have opportunities to weigh in, last week’s meeting suggests a growing gap between that promise and reality. With City staff openly acknowledging that new ordinances are designed to support future annexation, and County leaders stating that the conversation hasn’t occurred and the public is kept in the dark, residents are left to question who this process is really for.

If annexation is truly on the horizon, the City should say so clearly, pause policy moves designed to pre-shape the outcome, and engage the public and the County honestly, before more decisions are made behind closed doors.