Dear Council Members and City Staff,
I am writing in regard to the new Police Chief.
As a resident, I hope that the new Police Chief is able to work with Ron Nelson to solve a few issues which are of immediate concern.
1) Stopping and reducing the flow of drugs in Sebastopol. As everyone is aware, there were recently two teen deaths and two teen overdoses in Santa Rosa caused by drugs that appear to be laced with fentanyl. This is obviously tragic and horrible. Sonoma County has a lot of drug traffic. It is clear that there are drugs present in Sebastopol, especially within the homeless population. https://www.sebastopoltimes.com/p/keeping-track-ofthe-transients As a City, we need to work with the schools and with community members to slow and minimize the flow of drugs within Sebastopol. 2) Directing chronically homeless individuals to Care Court and to County services.
Sebastopol has a disproportionately high amount of homeless people. Sebastopol does not have facilities to address mental health and drug addiction, which most chronically homeless people have. Sebastopol is in a fiscal crisis. The County has a health department and a huge budget. Sebastopol needs to direct homeless individual to County services.
3) Preparing for the occupation of the Sebastopol Inn, which will house formerly homeless people. The Sebastopol Inn is set to be occupied within the next few months. It is in a crucial downtown location. Permanent Supportive housing is statistically high resource intensive. Many are still using drugs (see articles below) so it will be crucial to make sure there is no spillover into the general community.
https://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/news/st-vincent-de-paul-sonoma-countyhomeless-housing/?ref=related https://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/news/santa-rosa-apartment-fire-2/ https://www.northbaybusinessjournal.com/article/news/st-vincent-de-paul-homelesshousing/ 4) Preparing for large events such as Analy 4th of July, Halloween and Apple Blossom. There needs to be clear exit routes for large, scale public events. Last year, traffic direction needed to be implemented for the 4th of July as emergency vehicles would not have made it through the downtown area.
5) Preparing and coordinating with County, local Emergency Response and local nonprofits for fire, flood and other emergency situations.
Sebastopol has a large student population. Sebastopol has a large elderly population. It is crucial that the new Police Chief become familiar with the local schools and local housing which is geared toward older people. Sebastopol has many large community areas such as the Community Cultural Center, the Arts Center and Analy High School which could be utilized in emergency situations.
I welcome the new Police Chief and hope he has success in this new endeavor.
Thank you,
Kate Haug