The City of Sonoma: Partnerships sustain us

I recently submitted the following for consideration of publication in the Sonoma Valley Sun:

As anyone who lives in or visits Sonoma knows, there are many things that make Sonoma a special place. As we reach the end of 2008, and as I near the conclusion of my first year as your City Manager, I’d like to share what makes Sonoma special from my perspective – our ability to form and sustain successful and mutually-beneficial partnerships. Indeed, in Sonoma more so than in some other locations, partnerships sustain our economy, our community, and increasingly, our environment.

In these challenging financial times, the City needs to strengthen and rely on its partnerships more than ever. No city is an island nor does a city operate in a vacuum. And gone are the days when the government could determine the destiny of a community through its actions. The power of local taxation has been limited by voter initiatives, and thus cities need to make the most of existing revenue sources by leveraging relationships in the community to our collective advantage. In Sonoma, we need to take pride in and support those key economic and community partnerships that have made us strong and will keep us strong into the future.

The City-County-Chamber Economic Partnership has brought benefits within and beyond our borders. The City’s redevelopment agency and the County’s redevelopment agency have committed resources which help keep our local economy strong. Numerous local businesses have benefitted from façade facelifts and business improvement loans available from our locally-generated City redevelopment tax. In addition, the Partnership supports local businesses by providing business education, resources, and networking opportunities.

The City partners with the Sonoma Valley Visitors Bureau to support the mission of keeping Sonoma Valley an attractive place and a desirable destination. The Visitors Bureau answers questions, provides resources, and is a welcoming presence offering guidance to visitors that the City could not provide on its own.

The City enjoys beneficial public safety partnerships with the Valley of the Moon Fire District and with the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Department, relationships that take advantage of economies of scale to deliver essential services to our residents. Through the Sonoma Valley Fire and Rescue Joint Powers Authority, we have been able to garner more grant funding than either fire agency could separately. Further, our partnership with Infineon Raceway for fire and medical services at the track provides benefits to the racing community as well as to the greater local community.

To address the gang problem, our Police Department has a partnership with the Sonoma County District Attorney’s Office and the Valley of the Moon Boys and Girls Club, called the Gang Resistance Education and Training program, a school-based, law enforcement officer-instructed classroom curriculum of gang prevention. In addition, our Police have further partnered with the Sonoma Valley Unified School District and Sunny Hills Services to provide community engagement and youth development courses at the high school, also to focus on the gang issue.

The City has partnered to provide Sonoma Valley Hospital community development funding for some of its necessary infrastructure repairs. The City has partnered with many local agencies and organizations on the new Sonoma Disaster Council, exchanging resources and information to work toward improved communications and coordination in the event of disasters and wide-scale emergencies.

Recreational and cultural services are provided through non-profit partnerships that the City enjoys with such worthy organizations as the Boys and Girls Club, Sonoma Community Center, the Vintage House and the Sonoma Ecology Center. The City has chosen to support existing established social and recreational programming networks rather than incur the expense of creating its own department to fulfill these essential community needs.

For the future, tackling the issue of global warming locally is going to take new partnerships to effectively address and create lasting environmental benefits. Ecological issues are complex and do not stop at city borders, and in Sonoma Valley, we all breathe the same air and drink the same water. The potential for changing weather patterns affects us all and we need to work together to address its effects, both from an environmental and a disaster preparedness perspective.

We have already proven the success of working together in several partnerships. No organization can tackle the overwhelming issues of our time – sustainability in our economy and our environment – by working alone. I know that whatever economic or environmental challenges lie ahead, we can handle them as a community sustained by active and mutually-beneficial partnerships.

The sum is greater than its parts. I look forward to spending more time focusing on the sustainable partnerships that support our community. There is nothing we cannot accomplish by continuing to work together for the benefit of all of us.

Linda Kelly can be reached at 933-2215 or lkelly@sonomacity.org.