Friday Update on November 1 2018
All,
A day early so you can plan your weekend!
City Council Agenda:
- Amendment to Waste Management Contract for Contamination and Overage Charges
- Yolo Mosquito and Vector Update
- Budget Adjustments for Recycling Funds
- HOME Program Subcontractor- Blue Mountain Terrace Senior Apartments
- Claim Against the City
- Fire Department Records Management System
- Utility Easement- Olive Grove Subdivision
- Public Improvements Dedication- Callahan Estates
- Parcel Coneyance- Senior Center property.
Discussion Items:
- Development Impact Fee Public Hearing
- Circulation Master Plan
- Waste Management Rate Increase- Tipping Fees
- Parking Fines and Adjudication.
Events:
- A Dia de los Muertos Celebration will be held at the Winters Cemetery on Friday November 2, 2018 starting at 4:00. This is sponsored by the Hispanic Advisory Committee and will be followed by a screening of the movie “Coco” at the Winters Middle School.
- The 3rd Annual Salmon Festival– 2018 will be on Saturday, November 3 from 11:00 to 4:00 p.m. at Rotary Park. Displays, food and creek tours with a chance of seeing some salmon coming up the creek. Fun for the entire family!
A couple items of interest:
- A signing ceremony for the Yolo Conservancy Habitat Conservation Program was held in West Sacramento. This was a big day for both Yolo and the environment. The ceremony was the culmination of over 25 years of effort and collaboration to streamline the mitigation process of government while helping in the preservation and sustainability of hawks, owls, snakes and invertibrates. Kudos to the many who have participated in an important program.
- Permit issuance on the freeway hotel is looking imminent. Staff went through our checklists and are about to notify the developer to come in a pick up the permit.
- On Monday, November 5 at the City of Davis, Staff and Mayor Pro Tem Wade Cowan will be attending a critical meeting on Animal Services for Yolo County. This will be the first of two meetings in November where the formation of a new governance structure will be discussed to improve overall animal services for all of Yolo County.
- Follow the adventures of Woody and Rebecca Fridae as they travel across Europe in their blog. This week they are in Romania, but you can catch up on France, Belgium, Germany and soon to be in Greece. Go to https://fridae.blog/ .
Finally, file this under “damned if you do damned don’t” in regards to the City of Winters App. Since going to the City Council for approval, social media and email has brought lots of comments which shows that there are lots of opinions on lots of things! The goal of the App is to put in place an avenue available to folks to dynamically report issues and gain information from the City. Apps have become a common avenue for these types of functions in the modern era and something many cities are turning to as one of the tools to achieve a higher level of responsiveness.
A key reason Staff looked into the App was to quell the issues and answer folks on social media who don’t report issues to the City but can broadcast issues over the various social media platforms instead of calling City Hall to report the problem. An easy link via Facebook or our website for active folks to quickly access the app, report the need and facilitate a response was seen as a means to an end! Uh, not so easy. Part of the budget was to print signs to include in key City locations for easy download and access to the App, including for visitors in the Downtown and future hotels.
An interesting phenomenon are the comments and emails from tech folks who all seem to essentially attack the tech option. The comments on “assessment of citizen engagement needs” from the tech folks essentially recommends steering off the tech option and “exploring” other alternatives than the City App OR waiting for something new to come along. Some experts suggest we assign people to monitor the numerous social media platforms, which is simply not going to happen.
We are working on an implementation plan for the App. If in the end, we can establish another tool for our residents and visitors to communicate issues to us, we will call it a success. We currently have phone, email, snail mail and our City website. One more options should not hurt.
So, damned if we do, damned if we don’t!
Have a nice weekend.
John