Santa Maria is honoring a city park ranger who has been working to relieve the homeless issue in the city.
Casey Stone was presented with the "Going the Extra Mile" award at Tuesday’s city council meeting.
City officials say Stone has cleaned up more than five homeless encampments around the city, removing drugs, bio-hazards and garbage. He also works to help people experiencing homelessness get off the streets.
"Just am very honored but really I just want to acknowledge my team, it’s really a team effort," Stone said. "I’m one of the group and I really couldn’t do all of this without my team, including all of the other people we work with in the city, whether it’s the police department, city attorney’s office, code compliance, really are a lot of people involved and I just really appreciate them."
Stone was given a certificate and special recognition at the city council meeting.
