All,

 Crazy busy at City Hall on a number of fronts:

 ·         Tomorrow is a day of service for a variety of volunteer projects in town. Things start at X and you can go to Y to help in a variety of projects including creek planting, work with the red cross and painting. Contact Mark Tippetts who is coordinating the volunteer day by clicking HERE.

·         The BIG news is that we should start seeing construction and movement on the Downtown Winters Hotel in the next few weeks. The developer was in City Hall with final paperwork to get things going. The Winters Hotel has been an extremely high priority for the City and it is nice to see things beginning to move.

·         The City Council Meeting has a couple key items including discussion on the City Budget, a presentation on an update to the City’s Wastewater Treatment Facility Master Plan, a revision to the Callahan Sudbdivision Development Agreement and selection of City Councilmembers to sit on the interview panel for the new police chief.

·         The Police Chief Interviews will be held the week of June 6 and will consist of a panel made up of key City Staff and a panel made up of community members. Both panels will interview the candidates and make recommendations of the top 2-3 for me to interview and select. We have narrowed the search to 6 candidates and I can tell you we have some really good one’s!

·         Our Design Review Committee met to do a preliminary review of a project at the freeway which will include a new Chevron (replacing the current one), Starbucks and a Marriot Fairfield Inn. The plans look nice and we expect to see the projects before the Planning Commission this summer.

·         Staff, members of the Parking Committee and a number of Downtown property owners met to talk about funding for a parking consultant. The meeting was really good and we are moving a couple things forward.

 The Friday Update will be on a hiatus for the next two Fridays!

 Have a nice weekend,

 John

All,

A couple items:

 ·         The City Council Meeting went through a review of the City Budget. Overall an interesting meeting and we will continue some of the discussion on May 17.

One of the big stories on the budget is the fact that we are forecasting substantially less revenue for the next fiscal year, thus spending is actually being reduced. Even though the City has the most building activity in its history, most permits for the big projects have already been paid and the benefits to the tax base will not be seen for almost two years. Things are lean for next year, but we have anticipated that and have adjusted spending accordingly. Other impacts on revenues include reduced gas prices which have hit our budget hard.

Our budgeting and fiscal management policies mandate that structural spending only be increased when recurring (tax base) revenues increase over a foreseeable future. One time revenues (permits and fees) can spike during any one year and provide a false sense of prosperity. The cities who find themselves in trouble are the ones who forecast that one time (non-recurring) revenues will go for a duration, they increase certain fixed costs (adding personnel or facilities) and then when the revenues decline, they have a huge structural problem.

 The proposed budget has delayed hires in both Police and Fire until the second half of the 2017-18 fiscal year. This will keep our fiscal outlook solid and reduce deficit spending!

 ·         This Saturday is the Winters Garage Sale! This year’s theme is “The best stuff ever”!! Come out and buy merchandise from other peoples garages to be taken to be stored in your garage! Sales  will be at City Park and many houses throughout town.

·         The dedication of the Putah Creek Car Bridge is Friday at 3:00 behind the Community Center. This is an amazing project and come and see history in the making. The next replacement/dedication is scheduled for May 2216!

·         This year’s Big Day of Giving had a number of technical glitches which slowed some of the fundraising. From my sources, the Winters Friends of the Library raised $28K, Winters Theatre $2,500, Putah Creek Council $7K, Center for Land Based Learning $58K and Yolo Housing $2k. If you got caught in the computer mess and could not donate, drop a check in the mail to these critical Winters organizations. They really are what helps make Winters the wonderful place it is!

·         The Winters Citizens Academy continues on Monday, May 9 with the topics covering Internet Crime and DUI Enforcement. All are welcome to this really good program!

 Tonight is Cinco de Mayo and I am heading to Berryessa Brewing where Chris, Lori and their crew will highlight “La Fuerza” a  Mexican style lager. A classic style beer and a couple of taco’s will take me back to my East LA roots on this important national holiday!

 Caution on your beer consumption tonight or get a designated driver!

 Feliz  Cinco de Mayo

 John

All,

We made the news last night on Channel 13. They did a great job on this segment and it was a really nice piece.

Click HERE to watch the segment.

John