Daily Republic: Wednesday, March 30, 2022

Page 1

Solano’s Covid trend continues to decline A3

Rubalcaba named SEC co-Player of the Week B1

WEDNESDAY | March 30, 2022 | $1.00

DAILYREPUBLIC.COM | Well said. Well read.

UKRAINE | RUSSIA CRISIS

Relief for Kyiv? Offer by Russia to reduce attacks is met with skepticism Tribune Content Agency LVIV, Ukraine — Russian negotiators Tuesday offered to pull back attacks on the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv in a step toward ending the war between the two nations, but U.S. and Western officials remained skeptical of Moscow’s true intentions. The offer came as Russian and Ukrainian officials held a new round of talks and Ukrainian forces continued to mount fierce resistance in northern parts of the country against a relentless campaign of Russian shelling and missile attacks that has destroyed residential neighborhoods, hospitals and fuel storage depots. But rather than ending the war, it seemed more likely that Russian President Vladimir Putin was merely shifting focus to the eastern and southern parts of Ukraine, where his forces have moved deeper into the separatist Donbas region and battered the coastal town of Mariupol. “There is what Russia says and there is what Russia does,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken said. “We’re focused on the latter, and what Russia is doing is the continued brutalization of Ukraine and its people, and that continues as we speak.” In Tuesday’s talks, held in Istanbul, Ukraine also suggested it would accept a position of “neutrality” – giving up its aspiration to join NATO – as long as other outside entities, such as the European Union, guarantee its security. The negotiations also raised the prospect of a face-to-face meeting between Putin and Ukraine See Kyiv, Page A8

Bulent Kilic/AFP via Getty Images/TNS

A worker watches an excavator clearing the rubble of a government building hit by Russian rockets in Mykolaiv, Ukraine, Tuesday.

Supes applaud Corsello for 33 years of work, accomplishments

Aaron Rosenblatt/Daily Republic

Fairfield Police Lt. Josh Kresha speaks during the Fairfield City Council 2022 Homeless Retreat, Tuesday.

Fairfield council moves toward

‘ZERO TOLERANCE’ POLICY FOR HOMELESS

Todd R. Hansen

THANSEN@DAILYREPUBLIC.NET

FAIRFIELD — The City Council on Tuesday made it clear it wants the homeless population gone. Buoyed by staff reports that indicated the city has access to enough shelter beds – and other options – to house all the houseless and at-risk residents in the city, the council wants to target those individuals who refuse help. That staff report on available shelter space was based largely on a point-in-time homeless count that many believe is woefully low. In 2019, that count for the entire county was 1,151. Fairfield’s share was 277. School officials, however, put the number of homeless students, alone, at over 1,500. A new point-in-time count was recently completed. The results are

Todd R. Hansen

THANSEN@DAILYREPUBLIC.NET

THANSEN@DAILYREPUBLIC.NET

See Supes, Page A8

By having policymakers on a board that controls more than $15 million for homeless services, the belief is there will be better collaboration among the various jurisdictions, centralized funding and other resources available and improved service response. Dixon is the only city that is not part of CAP Solano. The county is a member as well. The Tuesday special meeting was labeled as a 2022 Homeless Retreat, the goal of which was to take information about what the city has been doing about the homeless issues since 2014, to build on successes, and to find new ways to deliver services. The city’s efforts started in 2014 with the Quality of Life Task Force, which has essentially become

Aaron Rosenblatt/Daily Republic file

Birgitta Corsello speaks during a Solano Count y Board of Supervisors meeting at the Council Chambers in Fairfield, March 22.

FAIRFIELD — Birgitta Corsello remembers a conversation with a colleague some years back during which the two women – mostly, but not completely, in jest – suggested one or the other could end up being the county administrator some day. But the possibility had to seem a bit abstract. After all, Solano County had never hired a woman as its top executive. The conversation proved to be prophetic when Corsello was hired as Solano’s first woman county administrator in May 2011. Eleven years later, on the doorstep of her retirement at the end of April, Corsello said the distinction as the first woman CAO meant more to her mother and others around her than it did for her.

She told the Board of Supervisors following its recognition of her work and accomplishments, that she never thought of her role in that perspective. “What I thought about is what can I bring to make all of you successful; what can I help solve in terms of problems,” Corsello said. Still, she noted that she had always had been around women in leadership roles while at

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Solano County, whether within the county departments or on the Board of Supervisors. Her last working day was Saturday. Corsello, in a phone interview on Friday, said she takes more pride in the accomplishments during her tenure, overcoming challenges, navigating through economic storms and disasters and a See Corsello, Page A8

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INDEX Arts B4 | Classifieds B6 | Comics A7, B5 Crossword A6, B4 | Obituaries A4 Opinion B3 | Sports B1 | TV Daily A7, B5

See Policy, Page A8

Corsello ascended to top of Solano government, but stayed rooted in family

Todd R. Hansen

FAIRFIELD — Saturday was Birgitta Corsello’s last working day in Solano County, ending a 33-year career with the county – the last 11 as county administrator, and the first woman to serve as the county’s top executive – and 36 years in public service. The Board of Supervisors last week recognized her with a resolution that outlined her accomplishments since being hired in September 1989 as an analyst in the County Administrator’s Office. “Ms. Corsello was appointed to several department leadership positions within the Solano County organization from 1993-2004, including serving as assistant director of General Services/ Office of Emergency Services director, director of the General Services Department, director of Environmental Management Department, and Director of Resource Management Department that resulted from the merging of the Departments of Transportation and Environmental Management, and in 2010, she returned to the

expected in May. “Success for me looks like a feasible zero tolerance policy,” said Councilwoman Pam Bertani, who called on the City Attorney’s Office to explore legal ways of enforcing such a policy. One avenue the city is already working on, police Lt. Josh Kresha outlined, is leveraging the criminal justice center to get the kind of mental health and substance diversion services individuals need. He said the city is not looking to incarcerate people, but to get them the help they need whether they realize they need it or even want it. The council also voted unanimously to send council members to serve on the Community Action Partnership of Solano, Joint Powers Authority board of directors, part of an initiative offered up during a recent homeless summit.

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