07/22/2022 City Manager’s Update

City Manager’s Update (pdf)
July 22, 2022

Greetings, all. Tonight is Fourth Friday downtown beginning at 6 p.m. Live music by Mike Blanchard and the Californios begins at 7 p.m. Thank you, Downtown Business Association and Discover Winters, for coordinating. And don’t forget Thursday nights in Rotary Park ~ live music begins at 7 p.m. Bring your chairs and snackies and let the kids run free. Next Thursday is Latin rhythms with Afincao, sponsored by Winters Friends of the Library.

Don’t Miss Out!

Shakespeare returns beginning August 5^th with Midsummer Night’s Dream at the amphitheater behind the Community Center. Produced by the Winters Theater Company, tickets are $10 for 13 and older. The actors and producers are buzzing as they get ready for show day!

The 4^th annual Winters Healthcare Dinner on the bridge will be held Saturday, September 10 on the historic trestle bridge. Come and mingle with your neighbors and community members while enjoying a beautiful late summer three-course plated dinner, live music, local beer and wine, and a raffle!  Tickets are on sale and can be purchased online here. Early bird pricing ends July 31^st. For questions, please contact Lilly Steward at lsteward@wintershealth.org or by calling 530-795-4377, ext.1057.

Did You Know?

• Visit Yolo is a regional partnership funded by a special tax paid by guests at local hotels. The funds help promote tourism bringing people into town, which not only helps the hotel but local businesses as well and the City. Sales tax and Transient Occupancy Taxes are critical general fund revenue sources for the City of Winters. Through Visit Yolo, Winters was recently highlighted in a Bay Area newspaper. https://www.mercurynews.com/2022/07/19/wine-tasting-itinerary-wine-hikes-and-bites-in-winters/. So if you’re looking for a great weekend already planned out for you, or are not sure what to do with those out of town weekend guests, Visit Yolo has great experiences at the ready.
• The summer season has been relatively -uiet locally (we’re not allowed to say the Q word in public safety). However, it’s always best to be prepared for potential power outages due to weather or fire that can interfere with transmission lines. To sign up for outage alerts, please click here. PG&E weather monitoring and fire information is here. Live feed for wildfire cameras in the area is available through Alert Wildfire here.

Please Note:

• Work is on hold with Newt’s Expressway until at least Tuesday. Several members of the construction crew have COVID. We wish them a speedy recovery.
• The nomination period has opened for local elections. As candidates pull papers, we will post that information here. Information about running for office is provide on the City’s landing page here.  The nomination period closes on August 12^th, if no incumbents pull papers, the nomination period is extended to August 18^th. If you are interested in running for Council, please contact cityclerk@cityofwinters.org to schedule an appointment. If you are interested in signing a nomination form for a candidate, please note the following:
  • You must be a registered voter within the City limits.
  • You may only sign once per candidate.
  • With three seats open you may not sign for more than three candidates.
• The Winters Unified School District has kicked off its search for our next superintendent. More information about the process is here. The target start date is November 1.
• The Sacramento Yolo Mosquito & Vector Control District (SYMVCD) continues to collect an invasive mosquito Aedes aegypti in Winters. This mosquito causes yellow fever. An effective way to control the spread of this mosquito is through aerial spraying, which has begun in the Winters area. To receive notifications, click here. For updates, here.

COVID-19

• Healthy Yolo Together (HYT) has stopped providing local genome testing of COVID-19 and instead has pivoted to a wastewater testing program to monitor levels of COVID-19 variants in the waste stream. The City of Winters participates in this sampling program along with several other facilities in the County. Testing data for Yolo County, including Winters, is available at https://healthycvtogether.org/. The data looks a bit like the Swiss Alps with ups and downs.

 Upcoming Council Meeting

Our next Council meeting is August 2^nd. Please note there will be no meeting on August 16 so Council and staff can take a summer break.

Woot Woot!

At Tuesday’s Council meeting, we ceremonially swore in new officers and a community services officer who have joined us in recent months; a big shout out to them and all the staff that have recently joined the City of Winters. We have a number of new employees as the organization has transitioned in recent years; and each of them works hard every day to serve the community.

If you would like to get to know our police staff, please swing by Pizza Factory on August 6 between 6 – 8 p.m. for a slice of pizza and a root beer float.