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OPENPUBLICA · PUBLIC MEETING RECORD

Record of Proceedings

Santa Rosa Public Safety Subcommittee Regular Meeting - April 23, 2024

City Council — Tuesday, April 23, 2024

BodySanta Rosa, California

SessionCity Council

DateTuesday, April 23, 2024

StatusFILED

Video Record

0:00 / 2:27:33

Transcript — VerbatimClick a timed line to jump · ⧉ to share it

1:05

Good morning, this is Cher.

1:07

Sounds check.

1:14

Good morning.

1:19

Rhonda, are you able to hear me?

3:25

I can hear you.

3:26

Can you please do a mic check?

3:28

I'm doing a mic check now.

3:30

Can you hear me?

3:53

Can I ask a question before we start with the who's going to start in the Spanish channel?

6:20

Cher, can you please do a mic check?

6:23

Good morning, this is Cher Mic check.

6:29

Thank you, Cher.

6:30

Pedro, can you please do a mic check?

6:34

Hello, this is Pedro.

6:35

Good morning.

6:36

Check.

6:37

Can I turn the video?

6:39

Thank you.

7:12

I'd like to ask the interpreter currently on the Spanish channel to commence translation of this meeting.

7:19

For those of you joining the meeting, live translation in Spanish is available.

7:25

And members of the public or staff wishing to listen in Spanish can join a Spanish channel by clicking on the interpretation icon in the Zoom toolbar.

7:36

It looks like a globe.

9:28

Uh Mayor Rogers is absent.

9:30

Councilmember Alvarez.

9:32

Chair O'Krupki?

9:34

Here.

9:35

Let the record reflect all subcommittee members are present with the exception of Mayor Rogers.

9:41

Thank you very much.

9:42

Uh item two announcements.

9:43

Do we have any announcements from city staff?

9:46

All right.

9:55

We will adopt those as presented.

9:57

We'll move on to item four, which is public comment on non-agenda matters.

10:01

This is your time to make public comment on anything that is not agendized but is still within the purview of the Santa Rosa Public Safety Subcommittee's duties.

10:11

All you have to do is go ahead and go up and go to one of the lecterns.

10:21

Item 5.1 illicit massage establishments.

11:21

Good morning, Council members, members of the committee.

11:23

My name is Dan Morensic.

11:24

I'm a captain with the Santa Rosa Police Department.

11:26

I'm here with code enforcement, and we're here to Real quick, Captain.

11:29

Can you move the microphone a little bit closer to you?

11:31

Uncomfortably closed.

11:32

Really quick.

11:33

There we go.

11:33

Thank you.

11:34

It's really close.

11:36

We are here to provide a overview of the illicit massage establishments in Santa Rosa and just really give some historical context of what the police department's done in the past, what code enforcement's done in the past, and sort of some of the things we're looking towards in the future.

11:53

So just a brief history about illicit massage establishments, right?

11:58

They're commercial businesses, businesses that really they put on that facade or that front that they're offering a legitimate massage business, but in reality they're facilitating commercial uh sex services.

12:12

And so over the years we've we've changed, we've had a shift as to how we sort of deal with these.

12:18

Um in the past, our police department, we would focus on conducting undercover enforcement operations.

12:24

So these were often very resource intensive.

12:27

Um we'd establish a sort of a task force, a group of people that would go there.

12:32

Um we'd have people in an undercover capacity, they would go into the business, and then they would see if those people working at that business would um solicit or offer to provide uh sex services for money.

12:44

And then after that would happen, usually it would result in an arrest, um, you a citation or getting booked in jail would occur, and then it would work its way through the criminal justice um system.

12:54

So one of the things that we realized is what this predominantly did is it wrapped up those front-end users or those front-end workers, and it wasn't necessarily getting to the root of some of the issues that we had.

13:07

So oftentimes these workers would be arrested, they'd be booked in jail, like I said, or they'd receive a citation, but an additional worker would take their place, or they'd be back there doing this, and our ultimate goal of really getting this type of uh establishment to stop um continue to occur.

13:26

So this, and really along with just some sociological um or ideological changes as to how we view um sex services or sex trafficking, it uh it it changed kind of the ways we do things, right?

13:38

One of the things we see with some of these businesses is you know, commercial sex services or illicit um massage establishments and human trafficking.

13:46

Um there's a lot of victims of human trafficking that get caught up in this.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting

Human Trafficking Prevention████████████████████████████28%

Public Safety████████████████████████24%

Fire Department Funding██████████████14%

Procedural█████████9%

Massage Regulation███████7%

Public Engagement█████5%

Technology and Innovation██2%

Community Engagement██2%

Personnel Matters██2%

Summary of Proceedings

Santa Rosa Public Safety Subcommittee Regular Meeting - April 23, 2024

The Public Safety Subcommittee of the Santa Rosa City Council met on Tuesday, April 23, 2024 at 9:02 a.m. in the City Council Chamber. Chair Jeff Okrepkie and Councilmember Eddie Alvarez were present; Mayor Natalie Rogers was absent. The meeting adjourned at 11:21 a.m. The subcommittee discussed illicit massage establishments, the Fire Department’s 2024-2029 Strategic Plan, and received operational updates from both the Police and Fire Departments.

Consent Calendar

3.1 Approval of Minutes: The January 23, 2024 regular meeting minutes were approved as submitted.

Public Comments & Testimony

On Item 5.1 – Illicit Massage Establishments:

Rick McElroy (Director of Law and Code Enforcement Relations, California Massage Therapy Council, CAMTC) spoke in support of providing more tools for Police and Code Enforcement to shut down illicit establishments; reported that a network review identified 30-37 illicit massage businesses in Santa Rosa; offered monthly training for officers.
Gina Perine (massage therapist, new resident) urged finding a balance to protect legitimate therapists while addressing human trafficking and prostitution.
Mark Dixon (Chairman, CAMTC Board) expressed support for eliminating illicit businesses and offered CAMTC’s readiness to implement staffing support; asked the city to contact their CEO.
Patrick Murray (resident) spoke in favor of applying federal, state, and local laws to address the problem.
Kurtis Bennett (resident) asked about adequate funding for SRPD and Code Enforcement, how success will be measured, and the timeline; urged collaboration with other stakeholders and taking up CAMTC’s offer.
Katerina Plskova (massage therapist) stated illicit businesses harm legitimate massage businesses and requested protection for those that meet legal requirements.
Kristina Sundulage noted 30 businesses in the area, 14 within a two-mile loop; questioned why the city allows uncertified businesses to continue and asked for progress notifications.
Grace Cheung (resident) raised concerns about illicit massage linked to human trafficking, located in residential areas, and potential backlash against Asian community; requested language and cultural support for victims.
Terry Funday (resident, spouse of massage therapist) commended CAMTC’s improvements to the process and encouraged using CAMTC resources.
Brad Childs (resident) noted expired fictitious business name permits and lack of follow-up; requested the city budget for inspections.
Beverly May (Director of Governmental Affairs and Human Trafficking, CAMTC) clarified CAMTC is a public benefit regulatory agency, not a membership association; offered free assistance to cities and counties, including model ordinance provisions.

No public comments were made on Items 5.2, 7.1, or 7.2.

Discussion Items

5.1 Illicit Massage Establishments

Presentation: Police Captain Dan Marincik, Senior Code Enforcement Officer Daniela DeBaca, and Assistant Chief Building Official Lou Kirk provided an overview. The police department shifted from undercover enforcement (which often victimized front-line workers) to administrative actions through Code Enforcement, emphasizing partnership with Verity (a sexual assault resource center) to offer victims support. In February 2024, compliance checks were conducted at eight establishments; seven cases remain open. The current city ordinance is about 14 years old and needs updating. Staff indicated a new ordinance could be developed in 3-4 weeks by researching best practices from other cities.
Discussion: Subcommittee members asked about buffer zones, correlation with sexual crime levels, language support, and how success would be measured. Chair Okrepkie gave direction to the city manager to work with departments to update the ordinance and strengthen enforcement, while avoiding overburdening legitimate businesses. Councilmember Alvarez concurred and urged collaboration with CAMTC.

5.2 Fire Department Strategic Plan (2024-2029)

Presentation: Fire Chief Scott Westrope presented the strategic planning process, which included internal, external stakeholder, and community input (three in-person meetings, two virtual, bilingual services). The new mission, vision, and values were revised for clarity. Five strategic goals were outlined: (1) Revitalize workforce through innovative recruitment; (2) Improve physical resources (facilities, fleet); (3) Enhance technological readiness and communication infrastructure; (4) Enhance service delivery (staffing, response models); (5) Strengthen community engagement, safety, and preparedness.
Discussion: The plan aligns with the city’s infill development goals and emerging technologies. Chief Westrope noted that Measure H (sales tax for fire services, passed March 2024) will provide funding for 35 new positions, three new fire stations, and other resources, but implementation is pending the outcome of a state business roundtable initiative that could affect revenue.

7.2 Fire Department Update

Presentation: Chief Westrope reported staffing of 169 positions (13 vacancies); 12 new hires via SAFER grant; Station 5 construction underway; Station 8 in design phase; fleet updates including two engines on assembly line and two squad vehicles (quick attack) funded by Santa Rosa Fire Foundation, expected in service July 1, 2024; and Measure H implementation planning (tax effective October 2024, first revenue early 2025).
Discussion: The department is working with labor and city departments on a multi-year implementation plan for Measure H resources. Councilmember Alvarez requested public outreach on squad vehicles and a potential study session on the business roundtable initiative’s impacts.

7.1 Police Department Update

Presentation: Police Chief John Cregan provided updates on three initiatives:
- inRESPONSE Mental Health Support Team: In 2023, the team responded to 4,759 calls (3,568 of which would have required a police officer); system navigators made 4,418 contacts. The program is limited by term-limited paramedic positions; sustainability discussion needed.
- Traffic Enforcement and Safety: Traffic stops increased 60% (from under 14,000 in 2022 to over 22,000 in 2023); citations increased 139% (from 3,400 to 8,200). Fatal collisions dropped 75% (from 8 in 2022 to 2 in 2023). Injury collisions decreased 3%. The department added one motorcycle officer, now 10 full-time traffic officers.
- Violence Reduction Efforts: Homicides decreased from 12 in 2022 to 10 in 2023; zero homicides in 2024 as of the meeting. Juvenile arrests with illegal firearms increased 321% (from 5 to 21). Illegal firearms seized: 255 in 2023; on pace for over 400 in 2024. Shots-fired calls decreased from 420 to 361.
Discussion: The chief noted a direct correlation between increased enforcement and reduced violence. Subcommittee members praised the results and asked about cross-departmental coordination with Transportation and Public Works on traffic safety.

Key Outcomes

Approved the January 23, 2024 regular meeting minutes.
Direction given to the city manager to update the city’s ordinance on illicit massage establishments, strengthening enforcement while protecting legitimate businesses, and to collaborate with CAMTC and other partners.
Noted the need for a future discussion on sustainable funding for the inRESPONSE program (to be addressed during upcoming budget study sessions).
No formal votes were taken on other items; feedback and direction provided to staff.
Next regular meeting scheduled for July 23, 2024 at 9:00 a.m.

Meeting Transcript

Good morning, this is Cher. Sounds check. Good morning. Rhonda, are you able to hear me? I can hear you. Can you please do a mic check? I'm doing a mic check now. Can you hear me? Can I ask a question before we start with the who's going to start in the Spanish channel? Cher, can you please do a mic check? Good morning, this is Cher Mic check. Thank you, Cher. Pedro, can you please do a mic check? Hello, this is Pedro. Good morning. Check. Can I turn the video? Thank you. I'd like to ask the interpreter currently on the Spanish channel to commence translation of this meeting. For those of you joining the meeting, live translation in Spanish is available. And members of the public or staff wishing to listen in Spanish can join a Spanish channel by clicking on the interpretation icon in the Zoom toolbar. It looks like a globe. Uh Mayor Rogers is absent. Councilmember Alvarez. Chair O'Krupki? Here. Let the record reflect all subcommittee members are present with the exception of Mayor Rogers. Thank you very much. Uh item two announcements. Do we have any announcements from city staff? All right. We will adopt those as presented. We'll move on to item four, which is public comment on non-agenda matters. This is your time to make public comment on anything that is not agendized but is still within the purview of the Santa Rosa Public Safety Subcommittee's duties. All you have to do is go ahead and go up and go to one of the lecterns. Item 5.1 illicit massage establishments. Good morning, Council members, members of the committee. My name is Dan Morensic. I'm a captain with the Santa Rosa Police Department. I'm here with code enforcement, and we're here to Real quick, Captain. Can you move the microphone a little bit closer to you? Uncomfortably closed. Really quick. There we go. Thank you. It's really close. We are here to provide a overview of the illicit massage establishments in Santa Rosa and just really give some historical context of what the police department's done in the past, what code enforcement's done in the past, and sort of some of the things we're looking towards in the future. So just a brief history about illicit massage establishments, right? They're commercial businesses, businesses that really they put on that facade or that front that they're offering a legitimate massage business, but in reality they're facilitating commercial uh sex services. And so over the years we've we've changed, we've had a shift as to how we sort of deal with these.

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