(2023-1gR) Your Required Response to the Grand Jury Honoring Commitments Report is past due

The 2022-2023 Grand Jury reviewed responses to five of the 2019-2020 reports and found that, in general, commitments were kept. _X_ AGREE __ PARTIALLY DISAGREE __ DISAGREE Response explanation (required for a response other than Agree):

The evident coordination of responses from agencies leaves the public without independent contributions across agencies. __ AGREE __ PARTIALLY DISAGREE _X_ DISAGREE Response explanation (required for a response other than Agree): All responses provided by the City of Watsonville are independent responses and contributions to the findings and recommendations. The finding that agencies may at times coordinate responses is not a negative, but in fact, positive in that the Grand Jury and public should be pleased that agencies are learning from each other and working together on how best to address findings that many times are similar. In addition, all responses to findings are prepared by staff and then forwarded to the City Council for approval via the City Manager’s Office. Required Response from the Watsonville City Council

Although the Cities of Capitola, Scotts Valley, and Watsonville agreed that there appear to be unused or underutilized parcels of land that could possibly be used for homeless services, it is not clear how this could be done. __ AGREE _X_ PARTIALLY DISAGREE __ DISAGREE Response explanation (required for a response other than Agree): As identified in the 2019-2020 Grand Jury Response from the City of Watsonville, the City developed an Emergency Shelter Ordinance in 2018 that provides direction in the development of emergency shelters with supportive services and identified emergency shelters in the N/PF (Institutional/Public Facilities) Zoning district as allowed by-right. These two modifications provide clear directions on how to develop a homeless shelter in the City. Required Response from the Watsonville City Council