To: Board of Supervisors
Department or Agency Name(s): County Executive’s Office
Staff Name and Phone Number: Todd Hunsdorfer, (707) 565-3747; David Guhin, (707) 565-2431,
Vote Requirement: 4/5th
Supervisorial District(s): Countywide
Title:
Title
Russian River Ad Hoc Committee Recommendations
End
Recommended Action:
Recommended action
A) Review and approve Russian River Ad Hoc Committee Recommendations
B) Authorize $75,000 in FY 2026-27 General Fund Contingencies to support Russian River Headwaters 2 Ocean watershed conference planning efforts.
end
Executive Summary:
The Board of Supervisors established the Russian River Ad Hoc Committee (Ad Hoc), consisting of Supervisors Gore and Hopkins, on January 13, 2026, to provide direction to staff on exploring a framework for improving collaboration across County departments/agencies working on infrastructure and ecosystem enhancements in the Russian River. The Ad Hoc was tasked with improving internal County communication, promoting healthy working relationships with other entities engaged in watershed issues, and establishing a clear and unified vision for the County’s role in supporting a healthy Russian River Watershed.
Discussion:
The Board of Supervisors established the Ad Hoc January 13, 2026, and approved the charter (attached) on March 24, 2026. In April, the Ad Hoc began to meet monthly to discuss a strategy for achieving the charter’s intended objectives. Across the entire meeting series, the Ad Hoc had participation from Sonoma Water, Agricultural Preservation and Open Space District, Regional Parks, Permit Sonoma, Sonoma Public Infrastructure, and Department of Health Services. In addition, the Ad Hoc hosted a meeting with external watershed partners including Russian River Watershed Association, Russian River Regional Monitoring Program, the Russian River Confluence, and the North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board.
The areas of focus for the Ad Hoc included the following:
1. Inventory mapping: Creating a comprehensive directory of programs occurring in the watershed being led, supported, or tracked by the County.
2. Opportunities for collaboration: Identify essential projects and programs that lack ownership to ensure they are addressed.
3. Unified messaging: Support more consistent information sharing that can facilitate County policy and decision making.
Throughout the meeting series, it became clear that efforts to strengthen collaboration within the County must also account for existing relationships with external partners. While enhancing internal coordination remains essential, its impact is limited when pursued in isolation. The Ad Hoc agreed that coupling internal collaboration with strengthened external partnerships could generate more durable, watershed-wide benefits.
To support this internal and external collaboration enhancement, the Ad Hoc is recommending the Water Analyst and Ombudsperson in the County Executive’s Office function as the lead in watershed coordination among County Departments and Agencies, to ensure a unified and integrated planning approach, and assist County Departments and Agencies with project concept development, grant-readiness, and positioning for state, federal and philanthropic funding opportunities. This will include convening and facilitating a bi-monthly meeting of County Department/Agency representatives to create an internal watershed-wide directory of programs and begin developing solutions to other relevant watershed issues as they arise.
The Ad Hoc also recommends the development of the 2027 Russian River Headwaters 2 Ocean Watershed Conference. The Conference is designed to bring together all key stakeholders in watershed and river management, and function as an educational event for the public and stakeholders, to further enhance and inspire collaboration and long-term planning around the river’s resources.
To support the Conference, the Ad Hoc requests a one-time allocation of $75,000 from General Fund Contingencies to initiate planning for the Conference that both commemorates the accomplishments of the past decade and unites County agencies and departments around a shared vision for the next ten years. Planning efforts will prioritize the use of external resources to maximize shared ownership and leverage County funding. By supporting efforts in monitoring, governance exploration, convening, and on-the-ground stewardship, the strategy helps advance the Ad Hoc’s vision of a unified, well-coordinated County role in the Russian River watershed and ensures that staff have timely, consistent information to guide decision-making.
The stated objectives of the Russian River Ad Hoc were to establish a comprehensive understanding of actions occurring in the Watershed and support existing relationships with regional partners to accomplish common goals. By completing a comprehensive directory of County led efforts, establishing a regularly occurring convening, and providing seed funding for the Russian River Headwaters 2 Ocean conference to support broad scale coordination, the Ad Hoc recommendations will ensure the County is efficiently making use of limited resources to amplify watershed scale efforts.
This staff report and recommendations are the conclusion of the Ad Hoc’s work and following this report, the Ad Hoc be concluded.
Strategic Plan:
This item is intended to support internal communication, planning, and information sharing that is essential to improving collaboration across the County.
This item directly supports the County’s Five-year Strategic Plan and is aligned with the following pillar, goal, and objective.
Pillar: Organizational Excellence
Goal: Goal 2: Increase information sharing and transparency and improve County and community engagement
Objective: Objective 5: Develop strategies that improve information and knowledge sharing within and between County departments.
Racial Equity:
Was this item identified as an opportunity to apply the Racial Equity Toolkit?
No
Prior Board Actions:
March 24, 2026: Approved Russian River Ad Hoc Committee Charter
Fiscal Summary
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Expenditures |
FY26-27 Adopted |
FY27-28 Projected |
FY28-29 Projected |
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Budgeted Expenses |
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Additional Appropriation Requested |
$75,000 |
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Total Expenditures |
$75,000 |
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Funding Sources |
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General Fund/WA GF |
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State/Federal |
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Fees/Other |
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Use of Fund Balance |
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General Fund Contingencies |
$75,000 |
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Total Sources |
$75,000 |
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Narrative Explanation of Fiscal Impacts:
This item requests a one-time allocation of $75,000 from FY 2026-27 General Fund Contingencies to initiate planning for a conference.
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Staffing Impacts: |
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Position Title (Payroll Classification) |
Monthly Salary Range (A-I Step) |
Additions (Number) |
Deletions (Number) |
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Narrative Explanation of Staffing Impacts (If Required):
N/A
Attachments:
Russian River Ad Hoc Committee Charter
Russian River Ad Hoc Recommendations
Budget Resolution
Related Items “On File” with the Clerk of the Board:N/A