Friday Update on June 8 2018
All,
A bunch of items:
Here are the items on the June 19, 2018 Preliminary City Council Agenda:
June 19, 2018 City Council Meeting
- Irrevocable Offer of Dedication of Right of Way and Public Utility Easement for Winters Highlands (Stone’s Throw) Phase 1 Subdivision
- Final Map #4507 for Winters Highlands (Stone’s Throw) Phase 1 Subdivision
- Adoption of the Ordinance for Implementation of the Yolo HCP/NCCP
- American Tower Lease Extension
- Certification of Election Results & Swearing in of New Council Members
- Proclamation Recognizing Rebecca Fridae for Serving 30 Years on the Yolo County Library Advisory Board on Behalf of the Winters Friends of the Library
- Public Hearing and Approval of the Engineer’s Report and Ordering the Levy & Collection of Assessments for the City-Wide Maintenance Assessment District, FY 2018/2019
- Public Hearing for Weed Abatement
- Public Hearing and Approval of Newt’s Expressway Rule 20A Utility Underground District
- Consideration of Ordinance Regarding the Expansion of a Non-Conforming Building or Structure
- Callahan Estates First Amendment to the Restated and Amended Development Agreement, the Tentative Map Amendment, and the Phase 1 Final Map
- Waste Water Master Plan
- Water & Sewer Rates
- Refunding of Water & Sewer Bonds
- Adoption of the 2018-2019/2019-2020 Budget
- Full and Part-Time Salary Schedules
Items from a couple of the City Departments:
Public Works:
- Rehabbing the North field spray heads – one line that hasn’t been operational has been finished and underground lines are being repaired.
- Well #2 rehab is on video and the efficiency test will be next.
- A new electric car charger has been installed and bricks are being replaced around the flowerbeds at the Community Center
- Landfill has raised tipping fees due to State regulations and Waste Management wants to raise rates but will be required to go through the Prop 218 notification requirements.
- Met with Cal Trans to discuss the Active Transportation Program and the funding of overpass improvements and the potential funding of projects along Grant Ave, including a second roundabout.
- Planning: Received an e-mail of interest from Dutch Bros.
Building:
- Posted three stop-work notices over the weekend.
- Will be doing the first under floor inspection at Chevron and will schedule a pre-construction meeting with the general contractor.
- Winters Healthcare re-submitted their plans yesterday.
- Received complaints regarding an on-going yard sale on Emery Street.
Police:
- Chief Miller is at Command College this week.
- Cueto is attending critical incident training.
- The department will be undergoing range qualifications.
- There was a good police presence at graduation last week.
- Gonzalez, McCoy & Ferguson attended a report writing demo.
- New YECA dispatchers recently toured the facility.
- Winters and Woodland Police Departments are two of the first agencies in the State to have dispatchers go on a ride-along with officers. The officers will also sit in with the dispatchers.
- Structure on Wolfskill has been red-tagged, which gives City representatives the right to go in unannounced.
- There is a homeless population down in the creek. While walking the creek from Wolfskill to I-505, 6 camps were found with multiple people in each camp. Advised those folks to pack up and move elsewhere.
Fire:
- An 83-year old hiker was rescued in Cold Canyon via helicopter. There is currently signage on the trail about fatigue, and the question of establishing a rescue fee for these types of rescues came up again. The trail is technically on the Solano County side and falls under the Vacaville Fire Agency, but Winters F.D. is normally called because we are more familiar with the trail and its terrain. It was 96 degrees up on the trail and none of the hikers had water with them!
- Received paperwork for fireworks on July 3rd and will put together a plan to cover the event.
- Will be conducting two training burns, one being on the Hwy. 128 corridor.
- Ignitions class burned off 15 acres on Wednesday.’
- Putting together job description for seasonal firefighters as we are expected to lose 12-15 firefighters to Cal Fire.
Monday will begin the City’s 2018 Intern Program with three graduate level students in the program. Lot’s of assignments will be worked on over the summer, including:
- Comprehensive Affordable Housing Report-This will include an inventory of all affordable housing in the City, mapping, an issues review of housing issues both within the City and throughout the State and finally an opportunities/constraints analysis which will evaluate both Federal and State legislation, financing and initiatives.
- General Plan Sustainability Element-Working on the development of a new “General Plan Element” on sustainability topics and policies including energy, air quality, recycling, transportation and housing. This will include both policy and implementation program development. (Group Project)
- Economic Development issues including our Ag Economy, Economic Contacts and Programs in the regions and a summary of the Brookings Report Study on the Sacramento Regions strengths and weaknesses.
- Police projects will include a Creek Nuisance ordinance and dealing with property owners, False Alarm Ordinance, Parking fines update, Emergency Business Contacts Update and a grant proposal for a mobile field force grant.
- Planning projects will include Air BnB regulations, Food Trucks and a review of transit alternatives through YCTD in Winters.
- Public Works will include inventory and GIS coordination of City assets, Wastewater System Maintenance Program, Climate Action Plan and new State Water Conservation Regulations which will limit water consumption starting in 2020.
- Emergency Services basic training for both Federal and State programs.
- Fire will include an update to the Active 911 Program, Pre Plan Survey’s of Commercial structures and Lexipol Policy implementation.
- In Financial Management, Interns will be generating Pension Rate Sheet Analysis, doing a business license survey of the region and the development of a template for our Annual Impact Fee Report.
Finally, our local elections are completed with the retention of the three incumbent Council Members and the passage of Measure G which makes the City Clerk and City Treasurer appointed position.
A common question asked by a lot of folks is “what does it entail being on the City Council?” The answer is revealed each City Council Meeting during the Council Comments section.
About 7 years ago, the City Council began going through their calendars and announcing their appointments and meetings which have occurred between each City Council Meeting. They report out their attendance at City events, Board and Commission Meetings, State-wide events, educational seminars and even their individual meetings with Staff and the City Manager. Each will recite the number of commitments required often without any explanation of their need for preparation, exhaustive reading and follow up with the staff from the outside agencies for which they represent the City. The typical member probably describes a minimum of 12-20 meetings and obligations each month, depending on the season. This is done for transparency and disclosure.
In a small town, the participation and due diligence of the City Council is a critical role. On major issues like the Yolo Conservancy Plan, they are often required to read thousands of pages of narrative and technical reports before attending 3-4 hour meetings with more homework following that meeting. Representation is critical, because their votes and attention to detail can represent thousands and at times, millions of dollars to the City.
The reporting out also understates their own personal knowledge which is required to be on the City Council. “Getting up to speed” on issues, especially land use can take years! “Routine” items like understanding the City-wide assessment district, the City’s debt limit report (Gann Limit), Weed Abatement Ordinance are no simple tasks. These folks work hard at what they do.
Mostly, being on the Council takes a pretty firm commitment to becoming a knowledgeable representative of the entire community and making votes and decisions which represent a very long view for City residents. When the Council votes, we often remind them that they don’t represent just the folks who show up at the meeting, they represent every resident and business member not in the room, which can make for a very unpleasant evening on controversial issues.
Winters has been blessed with City Council members who really care and take their roles seriously. They evolve into visionaries, seeking to make an impact both within and beyond the City’s borders. They have made Winters a regional “leader” on many issues, taking the local community interests and values and translating those regionally. They “represent” and extend the reputation of Winters in how they conduct themselves and ultimately, they are the one’s “at the table” when it is time for allocations of funding for City needs with their influence making the difference in how monies are distributed.
The City Council are developing and cultivating future leaders in a very unselfish manner. They develop opportunities for folks to “engage” with the City on committees like the Parking , Hispanic Advisory and Economic Development Committee’s. Eventually folks rise to appointments on the Planning Commission which is a strong foundation for moving to higher levels.
I genuinely feel blessed with those I have worked with. Dedicated folks, who generously commit themselves (hundreds if not thousands of hours annually) to representing our community and take on leadership roles which eventually evolves into becoming mentors and cultivators of future leaders.
Have a nice weekend.
John