Sonoma County Grand Jury
• 2006-2007
• Agency Response
Response to:
City of Cloverdale
Incompatible Activities List*
⚠️ Translation Notice: This content has been automatically translated. The original English text is the official version. Translation may contain errors.
⚠️ Este contenido ha sido traducido automáticamente. El texto original en inglés es la versión oficial. La traducción puede contener errores.
Note: Missing finding numbers detected: F5, F6, F7, F8, F11, F12
Findings and Recommendations 6 findings
F2
Page 6
Sonoma County invests money and time into the training of officers. The goal is to retain these trained officers long term and have all law enforcement sworn officers live with the county boundaries, not only for safety reasons but to be an integral part of the community. Cloverdale's Response -- Agree, with explanation. The Cloverdale Police Department concurs with this Finding and the Cloverdale Police Chief has provided a written response to this Finding (A copy of the written response of Chief Stephen M Willis is attached hereto for your reference.) Cloverdale has a strong desire to retain trained police officers and have them reside within our community. Nine of its sworn officers live within the city limits.
Related Recommendations (1)
R2
Page 7
By February 2006, the governing bodies of the county and each city will have established qualification criteria for each program, and the nature of the investment protection. Cloverdale's Response -- This recommendation will be implemented by February 2006. As noted above the City has retained a consultant to implement its housing programs, including development of an essential employees housing program.
F3
Page 6
In some law enforcement agencies, more than 10% of the sworn officers live outside of Sonoma County due to the high cost of housing. Cloverdale's Response -- Agree. As indicated in Chief Willis's response, attached, two of the City's twelve sworn police officers live outside the County. This is due, in part, to the City's geographic proximity to Mendocino County providing commute convenience and more affordable housing.
Related Recommendations (1)
R3
Page 7
By December 2006, an evaluation instrument will have been designed and used to determine the effectiveness of the new program(s). Cloverdale's Response -- This recommendation will be implemented by December 2006. The City conducts an annual review of the General Plan implementation, including a review of meeting Housing Element goals and fair share. The essential employees housing program will include an evaluation and monitoring program for annual evaluation Thank you for the opportunity to respond to the Grand Jury's report. If you have additional questions, please let us know. Sincerely, Heis C. Pardini - Plass<br>Gail Pardini-Plass, Mayor Stephen A Holsinger, leterin-City Manager<br>City of Cloverdale City of Cloverdale Melinda Cabral, Grand Jury Foreperson<br>Cloverdale City Councilmembers<br>Cloverdale Department Heads CC: 8
F4
Page 4
– Where plans and checklists do exist, they are not always stored in multiple safe places for guaranteed access in the event of a disaster. The most common place is the office, notwithstanding that a disaster does not limit itself to regular work hours, and office buildings may not be accessible. Cloverdale's Response -- Disagree partially. Copies of the City's Emergency Plan will be stored at City Hall, the police/fire facility and the City's Corporation Yard offices. This disbursement of the various Emergency Plans provides assurance that copies of these Plans should be available at all times, regardless of the type of emergency that may occur.
Related Recommendations (1)
R4
Page 2
Institute Regular, Mandatory Training Cloverdale's Response – This recommendation has been implemented. As indicated above, the decision making officials of the City are provided manuals which include papers and information on related conflict of interest issues as well as periodic memoranda with updates reflecting modifications, interpretations or changes in existing laws related to the general topics of conflict of interest. In addition, there are a number of pamphlets from time to time that are provided to the decision making officials of the City. The City Attorney meets with each elected official shortly after that official takes office to discuss aspects of ethical obligations, including conflict of interest and reporting issues. In the recent past there have been presentations at Council meetings and Planning Commission meetings on Conflicts of Interest and the Brown Act by the City Attorney. In addition, the City Attorney and other members of his law firm provide periodic seminars throughout Northern California and Sonoma County on such topics. Public officials of the City are always invited to attend and at the most recent seminar on these topics all of Cloverdale's elected Council members did attend. It is anticipated that formal presentations will continue to be made to the City Council and Planning Commission meetings regarding conflicts of interest. All other public officials for the City will be invited to attend. The City Attorney's office and the City Clerk's office will continue to advise City officials of any changes, interpretations or new laws relative to the general topic of conflicts of interest. City officials will continue to be invited to the seminars offered by the City Attorney's law firm. In addition, the City Clerk in January of each year provides elected and appointed officials a letter indicating requirements for filing in accordance with FPPC regulation. The City Clerk routinely provides to Councilmembers and members of boards and commissions, pamphlets and articles published by the Institute for Local Self Government and the League of California Cities. Re-file Form 700 on a Material Change
F9
Page 4
- All county employees are listed as disaster recovery resources, as indeed are members of the grand jury, but there is no clear plan on how they will report in for duty, or how they will be used. Cloverdale's Response -- Uncertain as to how to respond. It is unclear how the Grand Jury anticipated that the City of Cloverdale should respond to this Finding, inasmuch as it describes the reporting duties and utilization of county employees and members of the Grand Jury. The City has no control over these resources.
No recommendations for this finding
F10
Page 4
– The city plans are not consistent in scope and detail. The City of Santa Rosa has a well structured but dated plan. Cotati's plan is literally a copy of the county plan. Cloverdale is still using the 1989 two volume door-stopper plan that existed before the adoption of SEMS, and Cloverdale's plan is dated 1987. Cloverdale's Response -- Partially Agree, with explanation. Please see the City's response to item F3 above. Cloverdale participates in the Sonoma County/Operational Area Emergency Coordinators Forum and Emergency Council. This City/County partnership is consistent with SEMS.
No recommendations for this finding
F13
Page 4
-- There is an agreement dated 1997, between the cities and the county, promising help from the county for the construction of, training in, and testing of city based disaster plans. This assistance is not provided, nor sought on a continually consistent basis, despite the payment of a $2,000 annual fee by the cities. Cloverdale's Response -- Agree, with explanation. The City of Cloverdale is satisfied with the support and assistance we receive from the County Office of Emergency Services. The $2,000 annual fee pays for services, plans, and programs by the County that impact and serve the entire operational area, including the individual cities. This $2,000 annual fee paid by the City goes, in part, to pay for a staff position which provides, among other things, grant-writing services. Cloverdale is an in-direct beneficiary of emergency equipment available through the Sonoma County Sheriff's Office, which was obtained through grants. The applications for those grants were prepared, in large part, by County staff.
No recommendations for this finding
No Responses Found 2
Government entities assigned to respond to this report. No response documents have been linked in our database.
Cloverdale
City
Sonoma County Board of Supervisors
Elected County Office
* This report's PDF did not contain easily extractable text and required Optical Character Recognition (OCR) for analysis. There may be minor errors in the extracted findings and recommendations due to OCR limitations with scanned documents.