Kevin McDonnell has lived in Petaluma since 1985 and has served as Mayor since 2022, following four years on City Council. A civil engineer by profession, Kevin has spent his career managing infrastructure projects for North Bay cities, bringing hands-on technical expertise to Petaluma’s civic priorities — including affordable housing, homelessness, and street and infrastructure repair, work he helped fund through his leadership on the successful Measure U campaign.
Kevin’s civic engagement started with a simple frustration: public meetings about new development never focused on the bigger questions of how Petaluma should grow. That instinct led him to co-found Know Before You Grow, a citizen education effort on responsible development, and eventually to run for City Council in 2018.
Kevin has been a vocal supporter of the Trestle Promenade project from its earliest days, speaking at PTPN’s first community meeting to champion the vision of transforming the historic railroad trestle into a connected, welcoming public space for Petaluma.