County supervisors approve funding for Sonoma Valley community resource officer

The Sonoma County Board of Supervisors unanimously agreed on Tuesday for the Sheriff’s Office to provide 25% of the funding for a community resource officer (CRO) at Sonoma Valley Unified School District campuses and in unincorporated areas adjacent to Sonoma.

At the board meeting on Tuesday, Sonoma Police Chief Brandon Cutting said that the officer is needed to better serve the school district’s two high schools and two middle schools as well as provide additional resources to the community.

“We at the Sonoma Police Department feel that the schools of the Sonoma Valley Unified School District are safe, but as we are dealing with our growing up, situations will occur that law enforcement will have to be engaged with,” Cutting said before the meeting. “Having a deputy assigned to respond and address those situations will provide a better outcome for students who get caught up in them.”

The county will pay $31,931 in the 2023-24 fiscal year and $63,861 during the 2024-25 fiscal year. The city of Sonoma previously agreed to provide 75% of the funding for the salary and benefits, not to exceed $95,792 for part of the 2023-24 fiscal year and $201,140 in the 2024-25 fiscal year.

Total available funding for the position is $127,723 in 2023-24 and $265,001 in 2024-25.

When the city of Sonoma funding was approved, the police department hired Ed Esponda to serve as a community resource officer beginning Dec. 27. Since the county funding had not been approved, the department used overtime and direct funds to pay the additional 25% for the position.

The Sonoma County Board of Supervisors’ approval of the county’s share of the funding states that it will provide it from Jan. 1 to June 30, 2025, when the funding will be reassessed.

Cutting said that he doesn’t know if this means that his department will be reimbursed for the overtime and direct funds it provided.

“Because the Sonoma Police Department is contracted by the city with the Sheriff’s Office, this now-approved agenda item gave authority for the city and schools to move forward with developing an MOU (Memorandum of Understanding),” said Susan Gorin, who represents the 1st District on the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors.

Cutting expects that the Sonoma Valley Unified School District Board of Trustees will be presented with the MOU — stipulating the responsibilities of the community resource officer at Sonoma Valley and Creekside high schools and Adele Harrison and Altimira middle schools — at its meeting on April 11.

“The school board will have to discuss and either approve, table or deny the MOU,” Cutting said.

City Manager David Guhin will also need to approve the MOU.

Cutting said that the community resource officer will not be involved with school discipline and will have a different role than school resource officers, which the police department previously provided for Sonoma Valley Unified School District.

Reach the reporter, Dan Johnson, at daniel.johnson@sonomanews.com.