As 2020 winds down, the Reveille will be taking time to reflect on the past year and everything that’s happened — from fires to a pandemic, Cloverdale has persevered. Despite barriers, the town came together for socially distanced or virtual events, supporting local businesses and more.
Over the coming two weeks, we’ll be sharing with you some of the highlights of the year.
Homelessness
At the start of 2020, some Cloverdale city council members began participating in a north county task force set up to address homelessness. While the regular meetings were put on hold at the start of the pandemic, the first task force meetings of the year led to north county collaboration when it came to discussing homelessness.
January’s annual homeless point-in-time count was postponed to February, as county officials continued to wrestle with homelessness on the Joe Rodota Trail.
According to an early January 2020 report from the county to Cloverdale’s city council, there were 59 homeless people counted in Cloverdale during the 2019 point-in-time count (data was released in mid-2019) which was a decrease from 80 in 2018.
At the same meeting, it was reported that Cloverdale’s Homeless Community Advisory Group (CAG) had met twice since forming in 2019.
In February, a mobile shower unit from the Redwood Empire Gospel Mission began parking outside of Living Water Church one day a week to help provide showers to those who need them. The mobile shower ministry was organized by Shirley Davis and Councilmember Marta Cruz. Davis told the Reveille in February that she was inspired to try and get shower services to Cloverdale after overhearing a conversation while at the St. Peter Church food and clothing giveaway about someone having to head to Healdsburg for shower facilities.
An August article from the Reveille broke down the Sonoma County Civil Grand Jury’s annual report, which indicated that the coronavirus pandemic shifted county focus away from its homelessness crisis.
Its annual report included two investigations into the county’s homeless issue, which they labeled a “crisis,” Rollie Atkinson reported. While saluting county officials’ response to the crisis, the grand jury found numerous faults in cohesive leadership, tracking of expenditures and the lack of a “countywide plan to address future homeless needs and issues.”
A second report dwelled on the more troubling cases of homeless youth associated with persistent drug use, sexual abuse and lack of age-based mental health and social services for the extra-vulnerable population.
Approximately 3,000 county residents are without permanent housing, the grand jury reported, based on 2019 official counts. Of this total, two-thirds must sleep in cars, RVs, doorways and outdoor encampments. The county has less than 1,000 temporary or emergency shelter beds, the grand jury found.
There is a lack of urgency or effective response to providing for the shelter and support programs needed to decrease the county’s chronic and emergency homeless population, the grand jury reported. It cited the “immediate and overwhelming” response after the 2017 wildfires that housed fire victims in emergency shelters at the county fairgrounds and elsewhere.
The civil body also found a similar positive response following the 2019 wildfires and floods that resulted in “large-scale evacuations.” And, again, there was a similar response to shelter needs at the outset of the COVID-19 shelter-in-place orders, prompting the jury’s challenge that “the approximately 3,000 homeless residents require a crisis response as well.”
“Multiple plans and policies to ‘solve’ the homelessness crisis have been adopted, with little change in the numbers of people sleeping on the street,” the jury concluded. The Board of Supervisors has responded to the crisis with a “hastily developed plan that committed $12 million” (but) “still lacks a countywide plan to address future needs,” the jury found.
Developments
On Jan. 22, the Cloverdale City Council once again discussed the possible development of a skate park in Cloverdale. Following feedback during a November 2019 meeting between the school district and the city where district trustees expressed concerns about the location of the proposed park’s proximity to Washington School, the council gave direction in January to move the design of the skate park to the subcommittee level, which would ideally allow more time for the city and school district to reach an agreement.
In February, the city council adopted a master plan for City Park. The plan, which had been in the works for awhile, was unanimously approved. It included changes to the park such as reconfiguring the park’s existing programming areas to maximize park space, putting in a formal parking area, updating pathways to make the park ADA compliant, replacing the existing multi-purpose building, along with other changes.
In June, construction began on the Sonoma County Vintners Co-Op at the sound end of town. The 4.7-acre parcel is set to house warehouse operations for the co-op and, as of July reporting, is expected to be completed by April 2021.
Three years after a February storm wrecked a piece of Vista View Drive, causing damage to the road and city infrastructure, work started at the end of August to make permanent repairs.
According to information released by the city of Cloverdale a notice to proceed was issued to Piazza Construction on Aug. 17 and work on the road had to be started within 10 calendar days. From the start of the project, Piazza had 50 days to complete the work and was anticipating that the project would be done by the end of October.
This fall the Cloverdale City Council approved the design review, development plan and map for the 28.42-acre Baumgardner Ranch development on the south end of town. The development was initially brought forward as having 304 units, with 79 single-family homes, 59 row homes and 166 multi-family units. However, after further discussion with the city council, eight single-family lots will be removed to allow for a 1.3-acre park. Additionally, the project includes infrastructure to the undeveloped area, as well as open space.
Budgets, funds and bills
For the first time, Cloverdale began issuing neighborhood improvement grants for people looking to hold events or kickstart improvement projects in their neighborhoods. The program was approved by the city council in March and opened up for applications in April. Later in the year, it was announced that the Cloverdale Community Garden and the Cloverdale Senior Multipurpose Center applied for and received grants.
In June, the city council voted to reallocate $3,000 of unspent neighborhood grant funds to instead go toward utility bill relief for community members who were impacted by COVID-19. The water bill relief program allowed households to apply for a maximum one-time credit of $100.
When it came time to assess the city’s budget in May, a preliminary budget showed the city pulling from its reserves to help with a decrease in revenue caused by shelter-in-place orders, primarily stemming from a decline in revenue due to less sales tax and Transient Occupancy Tax, which impacted the city’s revenue projections.
City Manager David Kelley said during a June 10 council meeting that the impact that COVID-19 has on the budget means that the city is planning on utilizing funds from its reserve balance to help with the city’s general fund. Of the $938,319 general fund shortfall, Kelley said that around $600,000 can be attributed to an anticipated decrease in COVID-19-related revenue. Additionally, the city’s declining fund balance can be attributed to planned maintenance on city water and sewer operations.
The city is planned on transferring $930,000 from its reserve to help make up the difference in funds, which will still keep the balance 6% over the council-set minimum of having a 25% reserve.
In July, the city moved forward with putting a utility tax renewal measure on the November ballot. The measure, which was approved by voters in November, renewed the city’s existing user utility tax without a sunset date, meaning voters will have to petition to have the tax ended in the future.
