03/01/16 City Council Meeting

Friday Update on February 19 2016

All,

Lot’s going on this week.

• The Fish Fry is tonight at the Fire Station starting at 5:00. My best recommendation is to get there early (5) or after 6:30. This event is a Winters institution and something not to be missed!
• The Winters Joint Unified School District is doing an important survey for the Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP), an extensive survey process to all stakeholders on how the WJUSD is meeting the needs of students and community.  Online surveys are be available to all community members at wintersjusd.org beginning Tuesday, February 16, 2016 and ending Monday, February 22, 2016. Take 5 minutes and do the survey!
• City staff is kicking in efforts on addressing the new State mandates on Chromium 6. The City Council approved a $128,000 contract for consulting services (about $60 per customer) and meetings will begin next week.
• The City is looking at other water options, including finding surface water and even the possibility of building reservoirs in the area for storage and use. The insanity of the State of California on this issue is monumental and expensive!
• On Thursday, a group including the Chamber, Solano Water, Bureau of Reclamation representing Lake Berryessa, Putah Creek Council and Solano RCD convened a meeting on creating a Winters Salmon Festival. The tentative dates will be November 1-5. Stay tuned!!
• City Staff is working with the WJUSD on replacing sidewalks near Wolfskill/Clayton School on third street.
• The City Staff is beginning draft departmental budgets for the coming 2 fiscal years.
• The City currently has four websites we maintain including the City website, Winters Police, Winters Fire and Discover Winters. We also have Facebook pages for City, Police and Fire as well as Twitter for the City. We are working on coordinating strategies for additional outreach and continuity for our internet and social media programs to enhance information and transparency. This is a work in progress with many issues to deal with.
• Staff will be meeting with Urban Community Partners regarding the Downtown Railroad Property and potential development.
• A new Police Officer will be sworn in at the March 1 City Council Meeting. The persons name is AJ Whipple who has local family and roots.
• Winters Fire and regional response agencies held a series of training drills at the Monticello Dam. From confined space to rappelling exercises and helicopter rescues, the agencies trained with a wide variety of resources and issues. It is nice to see our department taking the lead in these types of activities.
• Fourth Friday events in Downtown will start on March 25. City Staff will be working with the Chamber on the expansion of lighting across Main Street and better coordination on electrical use and trash. These events have become a real signature for our community and a win for all who participate.

Finally, a couple more reminders:

• Winters Friends of the Library Quiz Show is Friday, February 26. If you are interested in entering a team, contact Citizen of the Year Rebecca Fridae at 795-4600 to enter a team.
• The WFoL Fruit Tree sale is on March 5 starting at 9:00 on Railroad Ave. The trees go fast so get there early!!

Have a nice weekend.

John

Friday Update on President’s Day February 15 2016

All,

I have been in Mexico for the past two weeks but have some dates to try to get out to everyone as reminders.

• Winters Music Boosters are sponsoring Harmony from the Heart, an a cappella performance with appetizers, drinks, desserts and a silent auction. The event will be this Saturday, February 20^th from 7010 at the Community Center. Tickets are $25 pre sale (available at Ace) or $35 at the door.
• Winters Fire is holding the Fish Fry this Friday, February 19. Tickets available at the PSF Police Department reception window.  The Fish Fry is Friday, February 19^th, 5:00 pm to 8:00 pm.  Tickets are $15/Adult and $6/Child (under 6 years free).  If you plan to attend, buy your tickets before the event!  Adult prices will be $20 at the door.
• This year’s Quiz Show, the Winters Friends of the Library trivia-contest fundraiser, is set for Friday evening, February 26^th at 7:00 pm at the Community Center. Teams compete in answering questions from a variety of categories ranging from science and nature to geography, to Winters trivia. The winning team earns a $200 prize and the team members’ names included on the Quiz Show trophy. Contact Rebecca at 795-4600 to reserve a team space.

Thanks,

John

Friday Update on Tuesday February 2 2016

All,

I am in meetings the rest of the week, so a couple really quick but important items.

• A big congratulations to some of our Police Officers who have received acting promotions to work with Chief Joe Kriens in the transition as we bring in a new Chief. Albert Ramos and Jeremy Warren received acting promotions to the rank of sergeant and Jose Hermosillo and Gordon Brown received acting promotions to Corporal. These officers will be working with Chief Kriens to move a number of key initiatives forward in laying the groundwork for the next Chief. They were selected based on the interest and leadership potential as we begin a new era for the Winters Police Department. A big congratulations to these officers!
• The Planning Commission and City Council held a workshop to consider an update of City ordinances related to commercial cultivation of marijuana in town. The update affects commercial cultivation only and will move to the City Council for consideration on February 16.

This week I am plugging for two of our really great organizations in town- the Winters Friends of the Library and the Winters Senior Foundation.

• Another great reason to join the Winters Friends of the Library. Jenna Moser from our Planning Division is the new Secretary to WFoL and is promoting these new discount cards. New benefits to membership in WFoL with the cards in 2016 include some really cool stuff. Members are now entitled to exclusive discounts and promotions thanks to the Winters business community. Discounts will revolve and currently include 10% off a purchase of $20 or more of regular priced merchandise at Pacific Ace Hardware, special discounts at Anytime Fitness, 15% off your total bill at the Buckhorn, discounts at Preserve Public House, double stamp at the Scoop on your frequent buyer card, 10% off 1 panini or wrap at Steady Eddy’s Coffeehouse, 10% off your purchase at Turkovich Family Wines, and $5 off the Winters Healthcare Foundation Cookbook by Ana Kormos. These local businesses have shown their commitment to Winters and community literacy by supporting the Winters Friends of the Library. You’ll need to show your membership card in order to receive the discounts.

Join WFoL today at: https://wfol.org/join/ Online registration is available, or contact Karla Knabke, chair of the membership committee at 530-795-2042. WFol has donated over $200,000 to the Winters Library, provided over 800 books to families with the Books for Babies program, presented 80 free summer concerts with more than 60 bands, 19 years of Family Holiday Festivals, supported thousands of extended library hours, and soon the Winters Library will become a 10GB library with improved high speed internet access. 79% of Winters residents have library cards, the Winters library clocks in over 100,000 visits annually, and over 17,000 internet sessions have been logged on 14 public terminals

• WFOL Tree Sale The Winters Friends of the Library will hold the annual Fruit Tree Sale on Saturday, March 5th from 9 am until the trees are sold out. WFOL members will be allowed early entrance at 8:30, bring your new membership card or you can join at the door. The sale will be held in the parking lot on Railroad Avenue in downtown Winters between Baker and Edwards Streets. Bare root trees are $10 each and citrus trees are $25 each. The bare root trees are donated by Sierra Gold Nursery, and the citrus trees are donated by Four Winds Growers, Winters. Proceeds will be used to benefit programs of the Winters Library and to expand the library collections. For more information please call 530-795-3617.
• Quiz Show Friday Feb 26th Come and join the fun, if you like trivia, or enjoy the excitement of a good competition, save the date, and gather a group together to compete in this exciting fund-raising event for the library. Teams of five will pay a $100 entrance fee and will compete in three rounds of trivia questions to claim the trophy with the title of Trivia Quiz Champion of Winters, and a $200 cash prize. Teams may be sponsored by civic organizations such as Soroptomists, businesses such as Main Street Cellars, or formed from a group of friends with eclectic minds. WFoL will be sponsoring student-only teams. People not part of a ready-made team may sign up for a fee of $20, and form teams of interested individuals.
• Those wishing to be a part of the excitement, but not be on a team are welcome to come watch the fun for an entrance donation. Refreshments will be sold.
• Entrance forms and a list of rules and procedures are available at the library. All entries and fees are due by Wednesday, February 18th. Teams may also register at the door for an extra charge of $20, if all tables are not filled. There is a ten team limit due to space. If you would like more information about the Quiz Show, please call Rebecca Fridae at 795-4600.

Seniors:

• There is still room on the Seniors Reno Train Trip and Harrahs Casino: Winters Senior Foundation are planning a Reno gambling and party trip for March 16/17. The trip will include a train trip from Davis and a nights stay at Harrah’s Reno. The train trip will be $79.90 pp and the hotel room (double occupancy) is $81.96. This sounds like a really fun trip! If you are interested in going, Click HERE to email Joe Tramontana and let him know your interest. They need a minimum of 10 rooms to make the deal happen, so contact him soon.

Have a good week.

John

Friday Update on January 29 2016

All,

This week, the Department Heads and key personnel for each division met to begin discussions on the development of the upcoming City Budget. We will put together a two fiscal year spending plan beginning in late February. My direction to the staff is a very cautious message that revenues will not see significant increases until early 2018, so the theme of these budgets will be “meat and potatoes” (let’s stick to basics)!

Here is a listing of the key items which came from the meeting and will be happening over the next two years.

• Hexavalent Chromium 6: Changes in State Guidelines on acceptable levels of naturally occurring Chromium 6 will put the City on course to the largest capital expenditure and operations expansion in the City’s history. Essentially, we will be required to re-engineer our drinking water system to add a treatment operation which will include the re-routing of lines, development of storage and treatment. The impacts to water bills will be significant and costly, hitting low income and seniors really hard. Our battle cry as mobs show up at the City Council meetings will be “no the water quality has not changed, just the State of California regulation”. Stay tuned, it is going to get really ugly at some point! L
• General Plan Update: The City’s General Plan sunsets in 2018 and we will need to do some updating of various “elements” to remain compliant with State planning guidelines. The overall plan is not in bad shape, with most of our key “elements” (Housing, Water, Sewer, Wastewater, Circulation) having been updated in the past few years and they are current. The City most likely will be considering an annexation request for acreage to the north which may soften the blow. In the meantime, we may need to dig up $500k which we do not really have at this point.
• Community Center Planning: The next BIG project for the City will include looking toward a new Community Center and Theatre for Downtown (probably in the same location). It probably will not be build by 2018, but we need to start moving towards a project.
• Well 8: Where does water come from???? From the tap, right!!!! Not really, it is pumped out of the ground and the need for additional well capacity may require a new well in the north area of the City. Watch for this!
• Hotels: Yes, there is an s on the end of that. Look for the Downtown Hotel (which has begun) and a proposal for something out by the freeway. Timing will put the Downtown project way ahead of the freeway, but look for the City to go from zero to two during the next two years. Not a bad thing!!
• PERS: Pension obligations will play an important role in our budget and financial planning. This is a reality of City business and something we will plan for and begin funding.
• Fiscal Sustainability. The reality is that most of the current projects which are occurring will not bring revenue up ticks for the City until the first quarter of 2018. We will be re-working our fiscal and financial forecasting models and how we project revenues into the future. Nerds of the world can unite on this, we will be pulling out our notes from grad school and beginning to update our regression analysis and spreadsheet formula’s. It is going to get exciting around the computer, so stay tuned!!
• Economic Development: The PG&E Project, hotels and infrastructure work will be catalysts to future economic activity on many levels. Look for a combination of staff, City Council and the business community to begin attracting job producing development to town.

The City will begin budget workshops with the City Council and the community beginning in March, so stay tuned.

Some good news on the Senior front!!

• Key funding approvals for the Blue Mountain Terrace Senior Affordable Apartments was approved this morning!! The project is a go and we should see movement, if not construction beginning in 2016. This is HUGE!! A big congratulations to our team on this led by Domus Development and our Economic Development and Housing Manager, Dan Maguire.
• Winters Senior Foundation are planning a Reno gambling and party trip for March 16/17. The trip will include a train trip from Davis and a nights stay at Harrah’s Reno. The train trip will be $79.90 pp and the hotel room (double occupancy) is $81.96. This sounds like a really fun trip! If you are interested in going, Click HERE to email Joe Tramontana and let him know your interest. They need a minimum of 10 rooms to make the deal happen, so contact him soon.

Finally, congratulations to those being honored with the Year in Review dinner this weekend:

• Rebecca and Woody Fridae- Citizens of the Year
• Jill Aguiar- Theodore Winters Award
• Barbara Greenwood- Senior Citizen of the Year
• Rootstock- Chamber Business of the Year.

Have a nice weekend.

John

Friday Update on January 22 2016

All,

Just a few items on a really rainy week.

• The Planning Commission will have two items, including an extension of the design review for the Downtown Hotel and design review for a home remodel on Almond Drive. The original design review on the hotel expires in the next 30 days and requires an extension.
• Lot’s of downed trees this week and our Public Works Crew did an awesome job. Tuesday morning saw 3 enormous trees fall on Grant Ave., Main St and Russell St. It is clear that some of the effects of the drought are catching up with these trees and causing them to fail. This is the third consecutive year where we have seen drought impacts on trees and it is tragic. Some of these are absolutely beautiful and tall. To see them just collapse is sad.
• Putah Creek is seeing some incredible surges of water and Dry Creek is not so dry. This is great news for the restoration work we have been doing. Saturation of the flood planes, the pushing of gravel into the river bottom and the cleaning of the banks is all good for the biology and ecology.

A quick bio on our interim Police Chief Joseph Kriens. Chief is a “retired chief” who has never really retired!

In total, Chief Kriens has about 37 years in law enforcement. He began his career and Concord as a police officer and moved to Sausalito PD where he eventually became its chief. He was later recruited to Novato where he was the Chief. In 2014, he “retired”, but he was immediately asked to take on the herculean task of being the Interim Chief in Vallejo during the bankruptcy and some pretty chaotic times. After 2 years, Vallejo recruited the Police Chief from neighboring Benicia and Joe was asked to be the Interim Chief there while they searched for a new Chief. He took about 6 months off and is now in Winters, where we are blessed with his extensive experience and perspective.

Chief Kriens brings not only an impressive background in law enforcement, but also some incredible credentials in fostering leadership and team building within organizations. His references call him a “cops cop” and you can tell that he loves what he does and is very good at it.

Have a nice weekend!

John