The city of Healdsburg held its first Coffee with the City event in over a year on Wednesday, April 7, and although the event was virtual, several residents welcomed the return of the interactive informational meeting.
Coffee with the City was a program started by the city in an effort to provide residents with updates on city news, projects and developments and to give folks a chance to ask questions and interact with department heads in a casual meeting setting.
Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the regularly occurring event was put on hold, but now the event is making a virtual comeback.
The meeting consisted of a short update from each city department head — police, fire, finance, community services, planning, public works and utility — and concluded with a live Q&A.
Healdsburg City Manager Jeff Kay kicked off the morning event by giving a brief overview of what the city is working on.
This was Kay’s first Coffee with City as he’s only been with Healdsburg for a few months since joining the city in late 2020.
“We’ve got a ton going on, so that’s exciting and also challenging. Our team is very busy with all sorts of exciting things going on,” Kay said. “We are of course in the midst of a pandemic that really upended everything we do, so I do want to ensure you that our top priority right now as an organization has to be responding to the pandemic and recovery.”
He said even though they still get the regular day to day work done, responding to the pandemic and working on recovery is an incredibly important priority, especially when considering the drastic toll the pandemic has taken on local businesses.
He said supporting organizations that help facilitate equitable vaccine distribution is also a key priority.
“The equitable deployment of vaccines is absolutely critical to us getting open,” he said.
With that in mind he said city staff is looking at how Healdsburg can get back to some of its regular events such as the Future Farmers of American parade and auction, the Fourth of July celebration and Tuesdays in the Plaza.
“I don’t think those things will look normal this year, I think they have to be reduced, but I can promise you that our team is looking at things as quickly as we can to get back to some normal fun stuff in Healdsburg,” Kay said.
With that, he passed the presentation over to Mark Themig, the director of the Healdsburg Community Services Department.
Community Services
Despite the pandemic, the community services department has been hard at work with several projects, such as the Badger Park master plan, the arts and culture master plan and the 3 North Street farmers market pavilion, that were pushed back due to fires and the pandemic.
“The master plans for Badger and Montage Park are close to being completed to be presented to the public. We expect to do that in late April or May, then there will be a significant public engagement process and then it will go to the parks and recreation commission in July and to city council for final approval in August,” Themig said.
At that point the city will then move right into construction and planning.
“Similarly, the arts and culture master planning process is also coming to completion. It’s expected to go to the parks and recreation commission in either April or May and then to city council in June. That will really be a visionary document for the community to guide its focus as we move forward in arts and culture,” Themig said.
He noted that the department has also been working on the downtown business support program such as the parklet program, which was recently extended by the city council to expire in January 2023 instead of this year, and the open streets program.
The parklet program allows businesses to apply for a temporary outdoor activities permit. With the permit, businesses can use a public right of way, such as a sidewalk or a parking spot, to build a parklet for outdoor dining, retail or outdoor exercise.
The open streets program was less popular among some businesses since it involved the closure of Plaza Street between Healdsburg Avenue and Center Street and from Center to the senior center parking lot. Plaza Street is currently only closed between Center Street and the senior center parking lot.
The council is set to discuss the future of the open streets program sometime this May.
Themig said the highly anticipated 3 North Street farmers market pavilion project is starting to come along.
“In March 2020 right before COVID hit the city council approved moving forward with the Foley family pledge (to fund the project) and we’re bringing forward the naming rights agreement and the final phase of design work to city council at their meeting on April 19,” Themig said.
The design will also be brought to community members, the farmers market and the parks and recreation commission followed by a formal city council and planning commission design review process.
Healdsburg Fire Department
Healdsburg Fire Chief Jason Boaz said it already feels like the next fire season is going to come on quickly, plus the growing drought will also make for a tough fire season.
“I feel fire season coming on pretty quickly here and we really just didn’t get a lot of rain this winter. We’re expecting another bad fire season this year. Hopefully we don’t have another large fire near our city again,” Boaz said.
Boaz stressed that now is the time to prepare for wildfire. It’s a good idea to have an emergency go-bag on hand with essentials such as clothes, non-perishable food and snacks, water first aid, medications, toiletries, important documents, phone chargers or a radio and pet food if needed.
Now is also a good time to create defensible space around your home and to make sure gutters are clean and to have a family evacuation plan.
“Please don’t wait until the fire is approaching to get your stuff together. Do anything you can now so if a fire does approach your house will be safe,” Boaz said.
For emergency preparedness tips, people can visit the CalFire website, or check out the city of Healdsburg’s emergency preparedness brochure, which is available in both English and Spanish.
Resident Tania Hernandez asked about what the police and fire department are doing to work on emergency preparedness and outreach with the Latinx community
Healdsburg Police Chief Kevin Burke said the city is redoing its emergency operations plan and one of the key components of that plan is reaching out to communities that don’t speak English, largely with the Latinx community.
He said they’re also planning some Latinx preparedness events.
Boaz also encouraged folks to sign up for Nixle and SoCo Alert, the city and county’s emergency notification system.
Finance
The city’s administrative services and finance department has a brand new director, Andrew Sturmfels, who took over for the department’s long time director Heather Ippoliti on the occasion of her retirement.
Sturmfels is still getting up to speed as the new director but gave a brief outlook on the city’s finances.
“It’s day three for me on the job as the administrative services director. At the Feb. 16 city council meeting, Director Ippoliti at the time did a budget update to the city council that was approved with a lot of fiscal management techniques to get us in the right place we need to be on the budget front,” Sturmfels said. “The overall message is that while we’ve seen a very significant decline in Transit Occupancy Tax (TOT) and sales tax, the city is overall in a good position to manage those declines. The good news is we’re on our way out and we’re seeing a lot of trends in the right direction as sales tax and TOT tax start to recover. This month is an important month I think for TOT so we’ll be watching that closely.”
He said he’ll have a third quarter budget update sometime in May.
Planning department
In terms of planning and development, Luke Sims, the city’s interim planning director, said there are several projects on tap such as the Mill District, Enzo Village Senior Living, mixed-use and custom homes with the Montage development, which recently opened its luxury hotel.
He said the planning department is open virtually and welcomes plan submissions.
“We’re open virtually and welcome you. If you have a plan to maybe add a room addition, if you’re considering a second unit or a granny flat on your property, or if you’re a business and you’re expanding your dining area, we’re here to help you through that process and make it as simple and smooth as possible,” Sims said.
Police department
At the police department, the department is working on hiring a certified clinical social worker who will work with a police officer as sort of a community liaison. The social worker will also work with officers when responding to homeless, drug addiction and any kind of equity issue.
Healdsburg Police Chief Kevin Burke said the department is in the middle of the recruitment process for that position and they hope to hire someone for the position soon.
In terms of crime, Burke said, “We do have crimes here in Healdsburg and typically they are property-related crimes, theft and vandalism. We do also have serious crime here in Healdsburg. Even though we’re a safe community we’re not immune from problems and we do have a gang presence here in the community. It’s not huge, but sometimes it does result in some significant crimes.”
Last year there was a gang-related drive-by shooting, however, Healdsburg detectives were able to identify the suspects who were prosecuted. In another recent gang-related shooting an individual was shot in the arm. The suspects in that case were also prosecuted.
Public works
Public works director Larry Zimmer said there are several road and sewer projects around town that are wrapping up. The College Street sewer and water line replacement project is almost complete and the extensive PG&E pipeline project is slated to end this summer.
Public works has also started construction on the extension of the Foss Creek trail and they’re also planning crosswalk improvements for Healdsburg Avenue at Healdsburg Veteran’s Memorial Beach.
The Foss Creek trail will be extended to the intersection of Grove Street and Healdsburg Avenue from the flood control detention basin at the skatepark. Construction is expected to take about eight months depending on weather conditions and when completed, the trail will have been extended another mile and will have a dedicated pedestrian and cyclist connection from the northern area of the city near Dry Creek Road to the southern area, beyond downtown.
According to a city statement, “The pathway will include lighting and a prefabricated steel truss bridge where the path will cross over Foss Creek. At Dry Creek Road, a signalized pedestrian crossing will be installed so cyclists and pedestrians can activate a signal to stop traffic.”
Utility department
Last but not least, utility department director Terry Crowley, gave a brief update on his department.
With the approaching fire season the utility department is working on tree trimming and inspections and with oncoming drought conditions, Crowley said now is a good time to start conserving water.
“Customers should start planning for the summer now. Planting sod and water intensive features this year isn’t (a) good idea, but drought tolerant landscaping and replacing toilets with high flush values (is a good idea). We will very likely have mandatory conservation measures before the summer starts,” Crowley warned.
Resident Geroge Lawson asked if the utility department has any plans to underground city utilities.
Crowley said there are areas of town identified in the general plan to explore that option, but that it’s a very expensive endeavor.
“What we’ve looked at is strengthening the lines, especially in the wildland urban interface, replacing poles and tree trimming that exceeds state mandated clearance,” Crowley said.
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Coffee with the City returns with several city project, fire department and public works updates - Sonoma West
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