Friday Update 10/02/2020
Tags : 2020 California city manager update City of Winters Friday October 2 Yolo County
Wow, it is already October. I would say Fall is in the air, but, it isn’t. It is still hot outside, and the nice clean air from last Friday has been replaced with smoky air this week.
This week our fire crew that was deployed to OES in Fresno has returned home safely and are back staffing the Fire Station. Our Fire Chief is deployed to the Zogg Fire up around Redding helping with the strike teams up there.
We moved from the Purple Tier to the Red Tier on the Covid-19 scale this Tuesday. This is the State of California’s way of letting us know what rules we have to follow for dealing with Covid-19. This is some encouraging news, although still frustrating for all our businesses and residents. What does this mean?
- Restaurants can open indoors with 25% occupancy
- retail can open with 50% occupancy
- fitness and gyms can open with 10% occupancy
- places of worship can open with 25% occupancy.
- Playgrounds have new guidelines that were released by the State of California last week, and the guidelines are posted at our playground areas now.
- Still no events
- Still no gatherings
- Masks are still required
You can go to the link below to see a more exhaustive list of what is allowed and not-allowed in the Red Tier in Yolo County: https://www.yolocounty.org/health-human-services/adults/communicable-disease-investigation-and-control/novel-coronavirus-2019/roadmap-to-recovery
A new fire started in the Napa County this week, and Napa County let everyone from Napa, Solano, Yolo and Sacramento Counties know that there was an extreme fire danger. Unfortunately, this is what happens when a WEA alert goes out instead of using the more targeted Alert systems. My understanding is that there is very little control over who gets the WEA type alerts and so it can be pretty widespread and inaccurate.
Yolo and Solano County both had to send out an Alert to all those enrolled in their particular programs that the Napa County Alert was not meant for anyone outside of Napa County. Lucky me, I got all the alerts from everyone, because, since I am so close to Solano County here in Winters, I signed up for Alert-Solano after the LNU complex fire and I was already signed up for the Alert-Yolo system. Yolo County doesn’t usually send out the “not Yolo” alert, but the Napa County Alert was so wide spread, that Yolo County OES made the decision that it was needed in this case.
Don’t forget, if you are a small business in the City of Winters there is a Small Business Grant Program in place funded by CARES Act Funding. Applications for Small Business Grants from Yolo County are open until October 4, 2020 at 5pm (yes I know that is a Sunday, but, that is what Yolo County said). Find all the information about the program and how to apply here https://www.yolocounty.org/health-human-services/adults/communicable-disease-investigation-and-control/novel-coronavirus-2019/small-business-grant-program
On the City Manager search front, interviews were held today for the first round. I don’t know much more than there were 2 panels of interviewers.
The October 6, 2020 City Council meeting items include:
- Amendment to Contract with BBK for City Attorney Services
- Irrevocable Offer of Dedication of Road Right of Way
- Project Budget Sheet and Amendment to West Yost Agreement for WWTF Influent Screen Phase 2
- Public Sidewalk Easement for Blue Mountain Terrace
- WasteWater Treatment Facility Monitoring Services Contract
- Climate Action Plan Extension of Term
- Contract with James George Designs
- Introduction of new Permit Tech, Kelsey Bean
- Update on Invasive Mosquito Found in Winters by Gary Goodman
- Update on Finance and HR software implementation
- Update on Building Permit Software Implementation
- Creation of a fundraising Commission for Furniture and Fixtures for the soon to be constructed Senior Center.
- Authorization for Agenda Management and Video Streaming Services Software
- Proposal to Cancel the November 3, 2020 City Council Meeting.
A lot of things are going on in Winters, and hopefully we can remain strong and get through this pandemic successfully together. If we (Yolo County) can continue the good work of the past few weeks and months, hopefully we can look at the Red Tier in the rearview mirror in about 3 weeks and move into the Orange Tier which will be much better for our businesses and our residents.
Shelly Gunby
Interim City Manager
Director of Financial Management