Bernie Sanders campaign pays Cloverdale debt

Cloverdale is no longer feeling burned by the Bernie Sanders campaign.

The city announced Wednesday it was paid in full for the $23,014.42 it spent in overtime costs on the June 3 Democratic presidential campaign event that drew an estimated 6,000 people to hear Sanders speak at the Cloverdale Municipal Airport.

In fact, the city says it may have to refund the campaign for unintentionally overpaying it.

The campaign had originally declined to reimburse the city for the expenses nine different county public safety departments racked up staffing the last-minute campaign rally on a sweltering evening.

City officials said they received a check from the Sanders campaign Monday.

“We’re happy that everybody acted in good faith,” City Manager Paul Cayler said. “We want to move forward and put this behind us.”

City officials billed the Sanders campaign June 23 for overtime incurred by 50 police officers and dispatchers, sheriff’s deputies, firefighters and paramedics who helped protect the public at the event, which came together with just 48 hours’ notice.

Officers from four law enforcement agencies, including Cloverdale, Sebastopol, Healdsburg and the Sheriff’s Department, as well as four fire departments, directed traffic, assisted in crowd control and responded to dozens of reports of people suffering from the heat, Cayler said. The city was praised for how well the event was executed, he said.

So city officials were surprised when the Sanders campaign on July 23 declined the city’s bill by claiming the Secret Service shoulders such costs. Cayler determined this was not the case but had difficulty getting the Sanders campaign to respond further.

The story gained nationwide media attention, and Cayler was quoted asking why the Sanders’ campaign’s wasn’t willing to pay police and firefighters for their work, suggesting a disconnect between the campaign’s actions and Sanders’ populist rhetoric.

He heard little from the campaign in the interim, but on Monday morning the city received a check from the Bernie Sanders for President 2016 account. Cayler said he spoke to a different campaign staffer than the one who had rejected the invoice and thanked him for the payment.

“I wasn’t seeking an apology and none was given,” Cayler said. “It was a professional business deal.”

There’s just one glitch.

The Sanders campaign for some reason previously paid the city $2,200 for ambulance services, and then paid that amount again Monday, Cayler said.

After some additional costs are billed to the campaign, such as a broken window and pizza for first responders, the city will refund the balance, he said.

Cayler said he had no idea why the campaign initially declined the bill. He noted other communities had reported similar problems, including Vallejo, which last week, according to press reports, was still owed $30,000 by the campaign.

Cayler said he didn’t know if the campaign felt it was overcharged for public safety response, which was closely coordinated with the Secret Service.

He noted in addition to the 50 personnel who staffed the event, eight others — seven deputies and one Healdsburg police officer — didn’t bill the campaign at all.

“It was not an overreaction. It was a well-calibrated response,” he said.

You can reach Staff Writer Kevin McCallum at 707-521-5207 or kevin.mccallum@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @srcitybeat.