The basics of city government
The outside of Santa Rosa City Hall (Photo courtesy of Santa Rosa city)
By Sloane Crocker, staff writer
While coverage of national and state government is prominently featured in news and media, local city government isn’t quite as accessible. Sure, you could attend a Santa Rosa City Council meeting or read the Press Democrat, but the average person probably doesn’t know much about the inner workings of our city’s government. So what goes on behind City Hall’s doors? Who makes the decisions, and what are they doing to better our community?
The City Council is crucial to the workings of Santa Rosa’s government, with seven members, each elected to represent a different district. Two of these members, Natalie Rogers and Dianna MacDonald, also serve as mayor and vice mayor, respectively. A large network of city employees supports the Council, including the city manager, two assistant city managers, and more than 1,000 others. According to councilmember Mark Stapp, “The City Council provides the overall vision for the city,” setting the city’s priorities and working with the city manager to implement the city’s goals. MacDonald described current City Manager Maraskeshia Smith as “the one we go to for everything,” and added that Smith is “fantastic” and very respected by the Council.
Stapp also explained that the mayor plays a “really important” role in the City. Stapp says Natalie Rogers, who the Council elected as mayor, works with the city manager to create every Council meeting’s agenda. Additionally, Rogers picks which council members sit on the subcommittees that deal with particular issues in the city, such as public safety and budget. MacDonald assists with Rogers’ responsibilities, and says that she is “there to support the mayor.”
Though the roles and responsibilities of different city officials may seem vastly dissimilar, MacDonald emphasizes that “we’re all obligated to make sure we are prepared for our meetings; we’re all obligated to make sure we are listening to the constituents and community members; we’re all obligated to make sure we are fiscally responsible.” Most of all, MacDonald says every city leader is responsible for “making the right decisions for the community.”
Though this provides a glimpse into the workings of Santa Rosa’s government, the question remains: who really are the leaders of our city, and what motivates them to serve our residents? Stapp says he is interested in public policy and has been involved with the city “in a couple of local boards, including one . . . dealing with violence prevention.” When the opportunity arose to run for council, he found it a perfect way to further his interest in local government. Similarly, MacDonald says she had worked in policy and government, mostly around education, for about sixteen years, and was the California Parent-Teacher Association president. She “felt it was time to bring all those skills local,” and “city council felt like a natural step, and something [she] could do to get connected and support [her] hometown community.”
Now that they serve Santa Rosa, both Stapp and MacDonald see many positives of their jobs. “The most rewarding part is getting to participate in discussions around all of the important issues of the city,” said Stapp. MacDonald finds it incredibly fulfilling to “meet the leaders in the community, who want to make a difference.” Further, Assistant City Manager Daryel Dunston describes “the creative problem-solving [that occurs] as a result of having scarce resources” to be most rewarding. And these scarce resources are certainly an issue, as Duston finds the most challenging part of his job to be the lack of sufficient funding to execute his goals for the city. He described that “the need will always outweigh the available resources. For example, knowing there aren’t enough available resources to build enough homes to eliminate homelessness can be a challenging problem to tackle.” Yet, no matter the challenge, Dunston wants to assure citizens that he and his fellow city leaders will continue to employ “innovation and outside-the-box thinking” to better the city.
So how, specifically, are they working to improve the city? And how will their efforts benefit the youth of Santa Rosa? In the words of Stapp, “I’m very supportive of all the efforts around establishing key corridors for biking and walking, and making sure that those benefit students.” He is focused on the planned development of a large new park in the Southeast Greenway open space extending from Highway 12 to Annadel, which he feels will be a “great new amenity for students and families in the area.” In short, he says parks are a main focus of his; specifically, he advocates for “newer, better, and cleaner parks.”
MacDonald feels proud of the city’s inRESPONSE mental health support team. Made up of mental health professionals, paramedics, and homeless services coordinators, these teams are dispatched to treat people having mental health issues who need support. The program “has diverted those in crisis [away from fire and police response teams] to people trained to better care for those who are in that need… and we’ve seen an extremely positive response,” said MacDonald. As part of the city manager’s office, Dunston oversees Santa Rosa’s Violence Prevention Partnership, a partnership committed to building safe communities for youth and families, which gives him “an opportunity to work closely with school leaders to address the biggest community concern at the moment—school safety.” He feels that although school districts function separately from city government, city and school district officials must collaborate to collectively address students’ needs.
The efforts of MacDonald, Stapp, and Duston are certainly admirable, yet their positions in City government aren’t a prerequisite to engaging in governmental affairs. Instead, they encourage students to use their voices to create change. “By all means, get involved,” said Stapp, who appreciates how students have spoken up about current school safety issues through attending school board meetings or school listening sessions. He feels this is “a great way for students to become engaged in key issues and make their voices heard.” And though he encourages students interested in politics to get involved in campaigns or study city policies and regulations, even the smallest actions can help make the change you want to see in Santa Rosa. So look up your City Council member, attend a Council meeting, visit City Hall, or get involved in the city’s many volunteer opportunities. Our city will benefit immensely from hearing your voices..