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July 15, 2022

Coffee With The City Manager

This week, the City hosted a coffee with Q& A with City Manager Jeff Kay at Little Saint. Healdsburg residents had an opportunity to get their questions answered concerning fire safety, safe streets, the Reach Code, water conservation efforts, and much more! We look forward to hosting more of these informal coffee meetings at different sites around the City to engage with our diverse community!

The Healdsburg Fire Station Adds A New Ladder Truck!

After much anticipation, the City of Healdsburg was able to add a new ladder truck this year! The new tuck offers a tighter turn radius and the ability to reach higher locations than the vehicle it will be replacing, resulting in enhanced ability for our team to keep the community safe. It is a tradition for firefighters to push the new truck into the station. We are happy to maintain the tradition and add this one to our lineup. In addition, we will be working hard to engage the community in fire prevention efforts this year.

New Fire Marshal/ Division Chief Lance Macdonald

Lance Macdonald grew up in a fire service family with his dad serving as Fire Chief and his mom on the Auxiliary Board of the Volunteer Fire Department for his hometown of Comptche. Lance is an experienced manager in the finance and wine industries and has a marketing background. Yet after many years as a manager he rediscovered his love for the fire service and joined the Healdsburg Fire Department as a Reserve Firefighter. In 2018 he was honored to be selected “Firefighter of the Year”. Lance’s spent the last 3 years with Novato Fire District. Since Lance has lived in Healdsburg for the past 17 years with his wife Emily and their 8-year-old twins Emmett and Elenora, he wanted to be able to provide service in the community where his family resides. When not at work or working at home as the resident handyman, Lance loves to travel and spend time with his family.
As Fire Marshal/Division Chief, Lance will now play a key role in the management of our Fire Department, with special emphasis on fire prevention activities.

Welcome Two New Employees: Terra Sampson and Kelsey Carreiro!

Terra Sampson (pictured left) is serving as the Utility Conservation Analyst in the Utility Services Department. Terra has over ten years of experience in natural resources conservation and sustainability and has previously worked on energy and water efficiency programs. She is excited to work with Healdsburg residents on conservation programs.

Kelsey Carreiro (pictured right) is serving as the City of Healdsburg’s Emergency Response Coordinator. She has six years of experience as an Emergency Manager in the Air Force and holds a bachelor’s degree in Disaster and Emergency Management.

New Recycle Zone

The City of Healdsburg is pleased to announce our new Recycling Zone kiosk is open and accepting recyclable beverage containers for redemption. Several years ago, most of the locations accepting the California Redemption Value (CRV) beverage containers were shut down. Recognizing this shortage, The California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle) offered grant funding to fill this need. In partnership with Zero Waste Sonoma and the United Cerebral Palsy of the North Bay’s Petaluma Recycling Center the City successfully received funding for a two-year pilot program.

2021 Annual Water Quality Report

The 2021 Water Quality Report is now available. This report contains important information about the City's drinking water and summarizes testing results from many water quality samples collected throughout the year. Key takeaways include:

The City continues to provide a safe and drinkable water source for the community.
Healdsburg’s drinking water met all U.S. EPA and State health standards.
There were no water system violations, and the report provides testing results for substances and contaminants in 2021.

Access the full report at bit.ly/CoHWaterQuality.

Upper Russian River Voluntary Water Sharing Agreement in the News

The City of Healdsburg is part of the Upper Russian River Voluntary Water Sharing Agreement, which was highlighted in a recent CNN news story here: https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/10/us/west-water-crisis-property-rights-climate/index.html. The Agreement provides a diverse group of water users in the Russian River watershed a more flexible alternative to mandatory cutbacks of their water rights. The program went into effect this month and the City of Healdsburg is excited to be part of this locally driven approach to managing water demand and addressing water shortages.

Water Conservation Update

Thank you for your continued efforts to save water during the ongoing drought. As a community, our water consumption was 32% less for the month of June compared to the 2017-2019 average! This is thanks in large part to residents cutting back on outdoor irrigation. We are currently in Stage 2 water restrictions, which allows for three days a week of irrigation (Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday) during the early morning before 7 am and in the late evening after 8 pm. Find out more about the current water restrictions and resources available here: bit.ly/CoHWaterFAQ

Automated License Plate Readers

The Police Department will be hosting a community meeting about Automated License Plate Readers systems on Monday, July 18^th at 5:30 PM. Learn about what the technology is, what it isn’t, how the City can use the technology to combat crime in Healdsburg and have any questions answered by the Police Department administrative staff. A Spanish language meeting will also be held and start at 6:30 pm.

Come Work For The City of Healdsburg

The City of Healdsburg is hiring for the positions of Assistant Engineer- Associate Civil Engineer, Information Technology Support Internship, Parking Enforcement Officer, Reserve Firefighter, Senior Building Inspector and Utility Worker II. You can apply online at www.governmentjobs.com/careers/healdsburgca/.