Santa Rosa council OKs creation of community engagement post

Santa Rosa City Council approved the creation of a community engagement director position Tuesday night, part of its broader effort to create a more open and transparent City Hall.

The position, which will pay $125,521 to $157,039 annually, is seen by many as crucial to helping the city avoid some of the missteps in the wake of the Andy Lopez shooting.

“Community engagement is vital, whether it be when times are good, or community tragedy or natural disaster,” Mayor John Sawyer said. “That’s why I think moving forward with this is so important.”

The creation of the post was one of the key recommendations of the city’s Open Government Task Force, which was formed following criticism that the city’s response to the 13-year-old Lopez’s shooting by a sheriff’s deputy lacked openness.

City Manager Sean McGlynn said the director-level position was needed to ensure openness, transparency and community engagement were valued throughout the 1,200-employee city government.

“We need someone to help us build this musculature within the organization, that this is actually a default approach to how we tackle problems,” McGlynn said.

Not everyone agreed. Councilman Gary Wysocky questioned whether such a high-paying position was necessary and whether it would allow city staff to assume public engagement and openness was someone else’s responsibility.

“I just feel that it should be citywide, it should be inherent in everybody,” Wysocky said. “Otherwise (they) shouldn’t be working for a public entity.”

Wysocky was the sole vote against the creation of the job, which passed 6-1.

He asked how the new director would be able to ensure the city didn’t have a repeat of the decision-making that led to the cancellation of a City Council meeting in October 2013 because of a Lopez protest march and the scheduling of what he called a “public meeting behind a locked door.”

That’s a reference to a plan city officials had, in an effort to strike a balance between openness and safety concerns raised by the downtown march, to close City Hall to the public at noon on the day of the march but have city employees continue working behind locked doors.

A noon meeting of a financial subcommittee, on which Wysocky served, in the city manager’s office was scheduled to go forward with a staff member at the door able to unlock it for meeting participants.

Attorney Caroline Fowler, as she has before, took issue with Wysocky’s characterization of those plans. She pointed out that the meeting never took place.

“Was there ever a meeting scheduled behind a locked door?” Wysocky asked. “No, there was not,” Fowler said.

“Wow. You might want to check the record on that,” he replied.

Even supportive council members acknowledged the position was uncharted territory for the city. Sawyer called it “a bit of an experiment” and a “very unique position” that most other cities do not have. Councilwoman Erin Carlstrom said the person who is hired would likely have a “Herculean” task.

But overall, the majority of council members backed the creation of the post.

Councilman Tom Schwedhelm said the responsibility to run the city rests with McGlynn, and he supported giving him the tools he needs to do his job.

“The change in the culture of this organization doesn’t rest with this position, it rests with you,” Schwedhelm said. “I appreciate the track that you’re on, because I think this will help us get where we need to go.”

You can reach Staff Writer Kevin McCallum at 521-5207 or kevin.mccallum@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @srcitybeat.