May is a great month to take advantage of the many outdoor opportunities Sonoma County has to offer. This edition of the SoCo Correspondent offers some great tips on how to connect with County parks, ride your bike to work and take advantage of the mild weather to get your property ready for wildfire season. Plus, we have updates on the County’s efforts to regulate vacation rentals, build affordable housing in Roseland, and expand access to mental health services.

If you have a friend or family member who lives in the area – or you know of a former Sonoma County resident who might be interested in receiving these updates – urge them to sign up for the SoCo Correspondent so they can receive it directly, normally on the first and third week of each month.

¿Está interesado en leer sobre lo que hace el Condado de Sonoma dos veces al mes? Este boletín estará disponible en español. Regístrese aquí para suscribirse a nuestro boletín, el SoCo Correspondent.

A map of vacation rentals in unincorporated areas of Sonoma County.

This time of year, tourists from around the world flock to Sonoma County’s rugged beaches, scenic wine country and secluded Russian River. With summer vacation season fast approaching, many visitors are looking for accommodations on vacation rental sites like AirBnB and VRBO. But did you know that owners of vacation rental properties in Sonoma County will soon need a business license to operate?

Sonoma County has regulated vacation rentals for more than a decade, requiring zoning permits, designating where proprietors can operate and setting limits in certain areas. Last year, the Board of Supervisors required vacation rental owners to get a business license and set a deadline of June 15 for everyone to come into compliance.

As of last week, only a quarter of the 2,000 known vacation rental operators in inland Sonoma County had applied for licenses, although Permit Sonoma is expecting a surge of applications over the next five weeks as the deadline nears. The figure excludes roughly 600 vacation rentals in the coastal area, which have until April 2025 to obtain a license. Vacation rental licenses must be renewed each year, and non-compliance will result in penalties that the Board of Supervisors last week set at between three and 10 times the $1,415 application fee.

To report problems with a vacation rental property, call Permit Sonoma’s 24-hour complaint hotline at (707) 875-6619. The department received 140 complaints in the first three months of 2024, up from 100 complaints in all of 2023. Most have been about noise. The vacation rental ordinance includes noise limits, and all outdoor amplified music is prohibited.

A year ago, the County’s dream of creating a community hub and housing in the heart of Roseland was $18 million short. Some people thought it might never happen, despite more than a decade of work.

The doubters were wrong.

“Instead of giving up, we stepped up,” District 3 Supervisor Chris Coursey said last Friday at a ceremony to thank partners for their assistance and celebrate the start of construction work on sewer lines, utilities, streets and other infrastructure for the mixed-use development.

The hole was significant, accounting for nearly half of the $40 million needed to build a public plaza and the infrastructure needed to support housing. To move the project forward, the Board of Supervisors committed $7.7 million last summer and Supervisor Coursey provided another $2 million from Third District infrastructure funds. State Sen. Mike McGuire and Assemblymember Damon Connolly secured $3 million in state funds. Sonoma Ag + Open Space pledged $2 million to help create the plaza, and the City of Santa Rosa provided $1.4 million in savings by reducing fees and other construction costs.

“It takes a village to create a village,” Supervisor Coursey noted.

Construction on infrastructure will begin later this month. The project will create 75 units of affordable housing, 100 units of market-rate housing, a one-acre public plaza, a Mercado Food Hall and a civic-use building in southwest Santa Rosa’s Roseland neighborhood.

“This project will soon be the heart of Roseland, home to hundreds of families for generations to come,” Sen. McGuire told the audience. “This project will truly be transformational for Roseland.”

This summer, nearly 30 miles of pavement across 45 separate County-maintained roads will be resurfaced, an unprecedented investment in local roadways.

In addition, the Sonoma County Department of Public Infrastructure will cut down grass, weeds and hazardous trees along roads across the county; repair damage caused by six landslides; replace a bridge on Geysers Road over Big Sulphur Creek; begin a seismic retrofit of Wohler Road Bridge over the Russian River; and perform preventive maintenance coating on 24 additional County bridges.

“The 2024 season represents the largest amount of construction projects ever delivered by the County in a single year,” said Supervisor David Rabbitt, chair of the Board of Supervisors. “This investment in local roads is essential to our regional economic vitality as our road system is used by the majority of our population. This monumental investment is a visible reminder that County government has prioritized this work and remains committed to improving our County road network.”

In all, the County will spend $67 million on improving roads this summer. The Board of Supervisors proactively contributes more discretionary dollars to road repairs than any of the other 57 counties in California. Since 2012, the Board has invested more than $270 million to improve 546 miles of roads totaling 40 percent of the county-maintained network, the largest county-maintained road network in the San Francisco Bay Area. 

Avoid delays and detours by checking out a map of upcoming road projects. Want to see a County-maintained road repaved? Send your suggestions to SPI@Sonoma-County.org.

People gather at Pleasant Hills Memorial Park and Mortuary in Sebastopol to pay their respects to 44 Sonoma County residents whose bodies were unclaimed.

Every year, the bodies of approximately 150 Sonoma County residents are left unclaimed at the coroner, local hospitals and funeral homes. Their names are sent to the Sonoma County Public Administrator’s Office, which attempts to find estate planning documents, family or friends to make final arrangements.

If nobody is located, or if the individual’s estate cannot afford the cost, the Sonoma County coroner will cremate the remains. Since 2010, the program has interred the cremated remains of approximately 550 people in the rose garden at Pleasant Hills Memorial Park in Sebastopol.

Last week, the County held its second-annual memorial service to ensure that people whose unclaimed bodies are cremated by the coroner – approximately 45 individuals a year – receive a proper funeral. Some outlived their families. Others were estranged from their next-of-kin. Still others had families or friends who could not afford to pay for the disposition of their remains. But none should be forgotten.

“Each individual who was laid to rest has a unique story, and they deserve to be remembered,” said Angela Struckmann, director of the Sonoma County Human Services Department, which organized the memorial. “We honor the lives they led, the contributions they made, and the impact they had on the lives of those around them.”

Name: Claire Ernst

Title: Senior water/wastewater treatment plant operator, Sonoma Water

Years with County: Five (two as a full-fledged operator, three as a student intern during college).

Personal side: I recently moved out of my self-restored 1969 Airstream trailer and into what used to be an old Texaco gas station in Windsor. I’m 26 and got into the water and wastewater industry at 18 when I started as a clerical intern at Sonoma Water.

Education and/or certifications: I have an associate’s degree in Wastewater Treatment Operations from Santa Rosa Junior College, a bachelor’s degree in Business Management from Sonoma State University, and a handful of water and wastewater certifications from the state.

What do you do? Sonoma Water provides drinking water for more than 600,000 residents in Sonoma and Marin counties and operates eight different sanitation districts and zones throughout Sonoma County. I help run and maintain the equipment that treats the wastewater that arrives at those plants, and I ensure that the treated water being produced is the best it can be to protect our residents and the environment. Operators like me work 24/7, every day of the year, making sure that our communities and the water environment are in good hands.

What gives you fulfillment? I like to spend my summers along the banks of the Russian River, so it gives me a lot of pride to be able to say my job helps keep it clean. Contrary to popular belief, wastewater treatment isn’t all that dirty of a job, but I do particularly enjoy the dirty jobs – nothing gives me satisfaction like cleaning the screw press or collecting sludge depth readings.

What is one of the biggest misconceptions about Sonoma Water? I find that the vast majority of the public has no idea what happens before they turn on the tap or after they flush the toilet. I love talking about what I do and demystifying the processes when I can. The bulk of the treatment that we do for our drinking water in Sonoma County is done by nature through riverbed filtration, and the pH adjustment and chlorination we do is for distribution purposes. A couple of our wastewater systems discharge high-quality, treated recycled water to the environment, but the water we discharge is cleaner than the rivers they’re entering. The recycled water is also used beneficially to restore salt ponds, provide habitat for migrating birds and to irrigate agricultural lands.

Passions outside of work? I like to keep myself busy outside of work with a variety of pastimes. I coach high school speech and debate for Analy High (Go Tigers!), and I chair the local students and young professionals division of a wastewater nonprofit. I enjoy archery and dabble in hunting and fishing, and I spend many of my weekends tending to my pasture of project cars.

A garden will soon rise from a weed-covered lot in Healdsburg, thanks to a new partnership between the Sonoma County Department of Public Infrastructure and Farm to Pantry, a Healdsburg nonprofit that distributes fruits and vegetables to marginalized communities.

The Board of Supervisors last week agreed to let Farm to Pantry create a garden and food distribution hub on a vacant parcel of County-owned land at 310 Mason St. in Healdsburg, located across the street from the site of a future Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit station.

Under the five-year lease, Farm to Pantry will pay the County $151 annually to rent the 16,920 square-foot parcel and will obtain all necessary permits. The County acquired the property for $10 in the early 1920s, likely for use as a County corporation yard when there was an active train station across the street.

“This is an important opportunity to repurpose unused, vacant public land for community need and benefit,” said District 4 Supervisor James Gore, who represents the area. “The County has no plans for this property, and I can’t think of a better use than to allow a proven community-based organization to grow fresh and healthy food for those who need it most.” 

Founded in 2008, Farm to Pantry collects excess produce from local farms and farmers markets and distributes it to people in need. It has delivered more than 7.5 million servings of fruits and vegetables since its inception.

Droughts can be tough on our parks. At Helen Putnam Regional Park, for example, Sonoma County Regional Parks shut down the bathrooms, replaced them with portable toilets and began trucking in water to keep the park open during the drought. A search for more sustainable alternatives quickly followed.

A promising solution will be constructed this year. Last week, the Board of Supervisors approved a $459,000 contract with Coastside Concrete and Construction Inc. to build a rainwater catchment system at the southeast Petaluma park.

The system will collect rainwater during winter, reducing erosion and flooding during the rainy season. Up to 46,000 gallons of water can be stored in two tanks for use in summer, relieving stress on local streams and aquifers during the dry months while providing water for bathrooms, grazing animals, irrigation and wildfire response.

“Water scarcity in California is exacerbated by our limited ability to store water between the rainy season and the dry season,” said District 2 Supervisor David Rabbitt, who represents the Petaluma area. “This pilot project provides a potential model for other local parks by capturing rainwater when it is plentiful and saving it for times when it is needed the most.”

The project is supported by the County Climate Resilience Fund, District 2 Infrastructure Fund, the Measure M “Parks for All” sales tax approved by Sonoma County voters in 2018, and generous donations to the Sonoma County Parks Foundation.

District Attorney Carla Rodriguez, right, and Miranda, a comfort dog in the victims’ service office, appear on SoCo Chat with Senior Communications Specialist Matt Brown.

Where can you go to hear directly from County leaders, get updates on local news and hear discussions about all things related to Sonoma County? The answer is at your fingertips. Subscribe to SoCo Chat, the County’s new podcast series on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music and YouTube. Recent guests and topics of discussion have included:

• Melissa Ladrech, Mental Health Services Act coordinator for the Sonoma County Department of Health Services, talks about services available in the county’s mental health care system. 
• Erika Thibault, director of the Sonoma County Library, talks about the agency’s 12 regional libraries, two community libraries, three special collections and a growing array of digital resources.
• Carla Rodriguez, Sonoma County’s district attorney, discusses the criminal justice system in Sonoma County (and a very special guest joins the set).
• Tara Thompson, director of Creative Sonoma, discusses the forthcoming Sonoma County Fire Memorial to be installed at Nagasawa Community Park in Santa Rosa.
• Bryan Albee, transit systems manager with Sonoma County Transit, discusses the history of the county’s transit agency, its transition to all-electric buses, and the future of public transportation in Sonoma County.
• Supervisor Susan Gorin, who represents the 1st District on the Board of Supervisors, talks about fire dangers, Los Guilicos Village in Sonoma Valley, the future of Sonoma Developmental Center and other key issues facing her district.
• Supervisor David Rabbitt discusses the year ahead and his new role as chair of the Board of Supervisors for 2024.

Upcoming SoCo Chat episodes will feature discussions with District 3 Supervisor Chris Coursey and Jennifer Hainstock, who oversees the County’s Office of the Public Administrator, Guardian and Conservator.

Listen for a chance to win a SoCo Chat coffee mug by answering the trivia question of the week.

It’s not too early to start getting ready for the threat of wildfires. Now that the rainy season has ended, Sonoma County’s green hills will soon turn brown as temperatures rise and vegetation dries out.

Here are four steps you can take right now to protect yourself from wildfires:

• Unite with your neighbors and learn how to create a Firewise Community through your neighborhood or homeowner’s association.
• Defend your home by hardening your house, creating defensible space and utilizing fire-resilient landscaping.
• Know your evacuation zone and be ready to evacuate by creating a Ready, Set, Go plan.
• Know the outdoor burning rules. Don’t burn outdoors until you know the rules. 

“This community knows firsthand the destructive power of wildfires,” said David

Rabbitt, chair of the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors. “That we have not had

a major wildfire since 2020 is in part, due to the collective county work on

preparation, mitigation and education that we have done since the historic 2017

fire season.”

Permit Sonoma’s Wildfire Adapted Sonoma County Project is actively helping communities across the county become more resilient to wildfire. Visit the Fire Prevention Grants website to learn more and see if your property is eligible.

It’s just as important to care for our mental health as our physical health. But how can we do that?

To mark Mental Health Awareness Month, the Sonoma County Department of Health Services and numerous community partners are hosting more than 30 free events during the month of May that will provide practical ways to improve our mental health. They include a forum on how the world affects our mental health; presentations on how to build a mental health toolbox and the science of artful aging; a mindful guided art session; discussions about self-care and youth depression; and much more. The activities are open to everyone – and several will be presented in both English and Spanish. Register in advance to reserve a seat.

Let’s all do our part to take better care of ourselves and end the stigma associated with mental health.

From its origins in 1862 to mark Mexico’s victory over French forces at the Battle of Puebla, Cinco de Mayo has evolved into a celebration of Mexican-American culture. After a four-year hiatus caused in part by the pandemic, a popular community festival that draws thousands to Santa Rosa’s Roseland neighborhood returned last weekend for the first time since 2019. No way the County was going to miss this party!

A little bit of planning in advance can pay big dividends during a wildfire or earthquake. Learn how – and have fun while doing it – at the annual Fire and Earthquake Safety Expo in Cloverdale.

The free event, which takes place from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. May 19 at the Cloverdale Citrus Fairgrounds, is the largest in-person emergency preparedness event in Sonoma County. It features 60 exhibits, including opportunities to experience a simulated earthquake in the Shake Trailer, view a disaster rescue exercise by first responders, and see the Henry 1 and Sonoma County 1 helicopters in action. Children can run an obstacle course, sit in a fire engine and visit with animals. Education and training will be provided in both English and Spanish. Enjoy free giveaways and lunch while supplies last.

County Administrator M. Christina Rivera, right, serves County employees at the Public Service Recognition Week lunch.

County workers keep our communities healthy and safe. They maintain our roads, help people facing economic hardship, and protect vulnerable children, seniors and people with disabilities. They maintain our parks, make sure we have clean water to drink, and ensure that construction projects are legal and safe. They are the first to respond when disaster strikes, and the last to leave during the ensuing recovery.

Yesterday, members of the Board of Supervisors and County department heads marked Public Service Recognition Week by serving lunch to more than 2,000 County workers and thanking them for their efforts.

“Today isn’t just a lunch, but a time to appreciate the champions – all of you - who make our community thrive,” County Administrator M. Christina Rivera said. “Whether you are working behind the scenes, or on the front lines, your contributions are the backbone of our county.”

The County currently has more than 50 job openings posted on its website, but how can you improve your chances of landing one?

Sign up for the next Start Here! class, which provides an overview of the County of Sonoma’s job application, examination and selection processes. The two-hour virtual class will be held at 10 a.m. on May 29.

The free class is intended for the public, whether you are looking for a new position now or planning for a future employment opportunity. Participants will learn how to submit a thorough application, best practices for the interview and examination, and much more.

Contact us at careers@sonoma-county.org to register for the May 29 class or sign up for our mailing list to be notified of future classes.

Get involved with local government

Make a difference in Sonoma County! Local government thrives when passionate individuals like you step up to serve. There are countless opportunities for you to get involved and play a crucial role in shaping the future of our beloved Sonoma County. Check out the current vacancies:



• Child Care Planning Council of Sonoma County: Advocate for comprehensive child care planning and coordination in our county.
• Community Action Partnership of Sonoma County: Partner with low-income families to achieve economic and social stability.
• Emergency Medical Care Council: Improve emergency medical care, oversee and maintain the system, and coordinate long-term planning for public education and injury prevention.
• Maternal, Child and Adolescent Health Advisory Board: Promote the health of families, children and adolescents in our community.

Your involvement can make a significant impact. Take the first step and explore how you can contribute to a brighter future for Sonoma County.

Volunteer opportunities

Make a difference in your community. Find out how you can give back here.

Employment opportunities

Take your next career step with the County of Sonoma. Explore employment opportunities here.

(stories may require subscriptions)

• Avelo’s expanded presence at the Sonoma County airport could mean future destinations to places such as Denver (May 7)
• Sonoma County Economic Development Board releases demographic study (May 4)
• State and local officials break ground at Roseland’s long-awaited Tierra de Rosas project (May 3)
• What happens if you die in Sonoma County and no one claims your body? (May 3)
• DEMA employees vacate 2 Sonoma County homeless housing sites, leaving the health department suddenly in charge (May 2)
• May declared Wildfire Awareness Month in Sonoma County (May 2)
• Avelo Airlines celebrates new milestone at Sonoma County airport (May 1)
• Sonoma County’s population declines again while Napa’s grows slightly amid statewide growth (April 30)
• Sonoma County’s Office of Equity at a critical juncture amid leadership change (April 29)
• New Sonoma County Juvenile Hall music studio provides positive outlet for incarcerated youth (April 27)
• Close to Home: Safety is top priority at Sonoma County airport (April 26)
• New rehab center in Santa Rosa will bolster local options for drug and alcohol treatment (April 26)
• What military grade equipment does the Sonoma County Sheriff's Office have? Annual report offers details (April 26)
• Starkly different numbers show Sonoma County’s struggle to track public records response data (April 26)
• Sonoma County initiates extensive $67 million road resurfacing program for summer (April 26) 

Upcoming events

May 9 - Lower Russian River Municipal Advisory Council

May 9 - Commission on the Status of Women

May 14 - Board of Supervisors

May 15 - Community Development Committee

May 15 - Measure O Citizens Oversight Committee

May 15 - Parks and Recreation Advisory Commission

May 16 - Planning Commission

May 16 - Coast Municipal Advisory Council

May 16 - Dry Creek Valley Citizens Advisory Council

May 16 - Fish and Wildlife Commission

May 17 - Board of Supervisors special meeting

May 21 - Board of Supervisors

May 21 - Parks Measure M Citizens Oversight Committee

May 22 - Sonoma Valley Community Advisory Commission

May 22 - Economic Development Board

May 22 - Homeless Coalition Board

May 27 - Memorial Day (most County offices closed)

May 28 - Human Rights Commission

June 4 - Board of Supervisors

June 5 - IOLERO Community Advisory Council

June 6 - Planning Commission

June 11-21 - Board of Supervisors budget hearings

June 12 - Mark West Area Municipal Advisory Council

June 13 - Lower Russian River Municipal Advisory Council

June 18 - North Sonoma Valley Municipal Advisory Council Meeting

Getting outside and enjoying the county

May 11 - Saturday Walk in the Park - Gualala Point Regional Park

May 18 - Asanas Outside Yoga - Ragle Ranch Regional Park

May 18 - Castles & Kites - Doran Regional Park

View and sign up for the county's SoCo Chat podcast

Interested in what's going on at the County of Sonoma?

Sign up for the SoCo Correspondent here.

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A publication of the County Administrator’s Office – Communications Staff