Score: +3 (3/3/0)

Sonoma County Grand Jury • 2006-2007 • Agency Response

Response to: City of Healdsburg

City of Healdsburg Administration*

Published: September 06, 2005 11 pages

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⚠️ 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. Healdsburg's Response – Agree, with explanation. The Healdsburg Police Department concurs with this Finding and the Healdsburg Police Chief has provided a written response to this Finding to Grand Jury Foreperson Cabral, echoing that sentiment. (A copy of the written response of Chief Susan Jones is attached hereto for your reference.) Healdsburg 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. The Healdsburg City Council adopted a "First Time Homebuyers Program" which provides financial assistance to first-time homebuyers who provide "essential community services". Included in the category of "essential community services" is police protection and two of our sworn police officers were recently able to purchase home within Healdsburg as a result of this program. Notably, Grand Jury Finding #5 for this category acknowledges that "only the City of Healdsburg program is being used by the sworn officer workforce." The City expects to continue this program and fully intends to support its use by sworn police officers.

Related Recommendations (1)

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. Healdsburg's Response — This recommendation has been implemented. The City of Healdsburg has adopted qualification criteria for its First-Time Homebuyers program, which includes restrictive covenants on the re-sale of these homes. The restrictive covenants serve to protect the investment that the City has made in providing affordable housing to its public safety employees.

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. Healdsburg's Response – Agree. As indicated in Chief Jones' response, attached, none of the City's eighteen sworn police officers live outside the County. This is due, in part, to the City's efforts to locate and provide affordable housing within the city limits, through its First-Time Homebuyers program.

No recommendations for this finding

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. Healdsburg's Response – Disagree partially. Copies of the City's Emergency Plan, as well as the County and State Emergency Plans, are stored in the fire department, the police department (physically separate facilities) and the City's Mobile Command Van. 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)

Page 2

Institute Regular, Mandatory Training Healdsburg'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 one of Healdsburg's newly 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 provides to all City Council candidates and incumbents a Municipal Election Handbook, which includes information regarding the Statement of Economic Interests filing requirements for candidates and elected officials. Honorable Allan D. Hardcastle September 6, 2005

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. Healdsburg's Response — Uncertain as to how to respond. It is unclear how the Grand Jury anticipated that the City of Healdsburg 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 Healdsburg's plan is dated 1987. Healdsburg's Response – Agree, with explanation. Please see the City's response to item F3 above. The City of Healdsburg's Emergency Operations Plan and Recovery Manual was adopted on July 18 2005. That Plan 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. Healdsburg's Response – Agree, with explanation. The City of Healdsburg 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. As outlined in the report prepared by Chief Collins, the $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. Healdsburg was the beneficiary of emergency rescue equipment valued at more than $85,000 which was obtained through grants. The applications for those grants were prepared, in large part, by County staff. Honorable Allan D. Hardcastle September 6, 2005

No recommendations for this finding

Agency Responses 3

Government agencies' official responses to this report's findings and recommendations. Click on a response to see the structured breakdown.

City of Healdsburg

September 17, 2007 • 2 pages • 2 responses • Score: +1 (+1, 0, 0) View Details ▾

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2 responses to findings and recommendations

By December 2005, the governing bodies of the county and each city should have: Evaluated the housing needs for sworn officers, targeting the entry-level officer Appointed a liaison to local banks and lending institutions to begin dialogues outlining Ħ possible solutions Healdsburg's Response — This recommendation has been implemented. The City of Healdsburg Planning Department recently completed a survey of the housing needs of the City's low and moderate income residents, including publ...

Response: Will Implement

Score: +1

: The Recommendation has been partially implemented. City of Healdsburg has completed several components of its long-term plan for water and wastewater infrastructures, including the adoption of an Urban Water Management Plan which was adopted by the City Council in January of 2007. The recently completed potable water filtration plant combined with the City's senior water rights from the Russian River and Dry Creek will provide water to the City for the next thirty years and will be sufficient to handle anticipated growth. The advanced wastewater treatment plant that will be completed in ...

Re-file Form 700 on a Material Change Healdsburg's Response – This particular recommendation will require further analysis and consideration, taking into account some of the practical problems that may arise which could lead to innocent and unintentional violations of such a requirement. It is anticipated that this additional analysis will be completed by the end of this year and a formal recommendation will be brought forward to the City Council for its consideration within that timeframe. It a...

Response: Unknown

Score: 0

: The City of Healdsburg has implemented and completed this recommendation, which included the identification of three critical and major capital infrastructure needs: the potable water filtration plant; the AWT Wastewater Treatment Plant; and the recycled water distribution system. To date the City has funded and financed the two plants and is in the process of identifying funding sources for the recycled water distribution system estimated to be in the $12 million range. Healdsburg's

City of Healdsburg

September 17, 2007 • 1 pages View Details ▾

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City of Healdsburg

September 06, 2005 • 11 pages • 5 responses • Score: +2 (+2, 3, 0) View Details ▾

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5 responses to findings and recommendations

Response: Implemented

Score: 0

By December 2005, the governing bodies of the county and each city should have: Evaluated the housing needs for sworn officers, targeting the entry-level officer Appointed a liaison to local banks and lending institutions to begin dialogues outlining Ħ possible solutions Healdsburg's Response - This recommendation has been implemented. The City of Healdsburg Planning Department recently completed a survey of the housing needs of the City's low and moderate income residents, including public safety employees. The City's Planning Director conducted community outreach efforts to inform res...

Response: Agree Score: +1

and Finding #3 in the 2004-2005 Grand Jury's Final Report entitled Housing Assistance for Sworn Officers. Finding #2 states, "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 within the county boundaries, not only for safety reasons but to be an integral part of the community." I concur with this finding. Thankfully, all of the Healdsburg Police Department's eighteen sworn officers live within Sonoma County. Nine of our sworn officers live within the City limits, three liv...

Response: Implemented

Score: 0

. 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. Healdsburg's Response - This recommendation has been implemented. The City of Healdsburg has adopted qualification criteria for its First-Time Homebuyers program, which includes restrictive covenants on the re-sale of these homes. The restrictive covenants serve to protect the investment that the City has made in providing affordable housing to its public safety employees. R3. By December 2006, an evaluation i...

Response: Agree Score: +1

In some law enforcement agencies, more than 10% of the sworn officers live outside of Sonoma County due to the high cost of housing. Healdsburg's Response - Agree. As indicated in Chief Jones' response, attached, none of the City's eighteen sworn police officers live outside the County. This is due, in part, to the City's efforts to locate and provide affordable housing within the city limits, through its First-Time Homebuyers program.

By December 2006, an evaluation instrument will have been designed and used to determine the effectiveness of the new program(s). This recommendation has not yet been implemented, but will be Healdsburg's Response - implemented in the future. An evaluation instrument will be developed and presented to the City Council by December 2005 for Council consideration and possible adoption. Thank you for the opportunity to respond to the Grand Jury's report. If you have additional questions, please let ...

Response: Implemented

Score: 0

. By December 2006, an evaluation instrument will have been designed and used to determine the effectiveness of the new program(s). This recommendation has not yet been implemented, but will be Healdsburg's Response - implemented in the future. An evaluation instrument will be developed and presented to the City Council by December 2005 for Council consideration and possible adoption. Thank you for the opportunity to respond to the Grand Jury's report. If you have additional questions, please let us know. Sincerely, Jason Liles, Mayor Chet Wysterek. ity Manager City of Healdsburg City of Heal...

* 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.