Memorandum – August 7, 2009

City of Willits
MEMORANDUM

Date: August 7, 2009
To: Honorable Mayor and City Council
From: Paul Cayler, City Manager
Subject: Administrative Progress Report

The following developments may be of interest to you and the community-at-large. Please contact me at (707) 459-4601, if you have any questions.

MEASURE B

The special election called by the Willits City Council to determine whether the City Clerk and City Treasurer should become appointed positions, or remain elected positions, has been assigned Measure B by the Mendocino County Assessor/Clerk-Recorder. The City voters will be able to vote on the matter at the Combined Special District election on November 4, 2009. The City Attorney has prepared an impartial analysis, and a notice for ballot measure arguments has been published. The deadline for arguments is Monday, August 17, 2009.

WEST COMMERCIAL STREET PROJECT

City staff and citizen stakeholders, known as the West Commercial Street Implementation Committee, conducted a very positive meeting on July 30th. The emphasis of the meeting was to come to decisions on the design of the West Commercial Street project. Of especial interest has been how the project will improve pedestrian and bicycle circulation. The City Council in June 2009 directed that City staff work toward a conceptual design called “Plan E”. Since the City Council direction, City staff has been working on implementing the design elements in Plan E. The crux of the design issues came down to how to incorporate diagonal parking and bicycling lanes into the project. A consensus between interested parties developed at the meeting on July 30th wherein a bicycle lane would be inserted into the project by having parallel parking on the northside of West Commercial Street and diagonal parking on the southside. There was also consensus agreement on a number of other important design element. The plan is now undergoing finalization and review by the traffic engineer.

FEDERAL RECOVERY ACT FUNDS FOR THE POLICE DEPARTMENT

The Willits Police Department was recently notified that it will receive $17,592 in grant under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) through the E. Byrne Memorial Program. ARRA is commonly known as the “stimulus funding”. The grant is to be used for a radio repeater to improve reception in a degrade area of the City, and extra funding for community foot patrols.

WATER

There are three notable events regarding water in the City of Willits:

1) A commendation for the Water Department was received from Fort Bragg City Manager Linda Ruffing. Linda Ruffing noted the assistance of Willits city employee Denny Caine, Bennie England, Tom Bond and Steve Anderson during a recent incident with the water treatment plant’s control system. Linda Ruffing wrote, “The City of Fort Bragg’s treatment operators’ ongoing professional relationship with you and your staff at the City of Willits water plant is an invaluable resource.”;

2) The water meters authorized for purchase by the City Council on August 22nd have been received, and as of this week the meter replacement project is underway;

3) The proposed revised water ordinance that was presented to the City Council on July 29th for input is posted on the City’s website. Interested parties should review the proposed draft ordinance and send comments to me by the end of August 2009. The draft is written in strike out and underline so that you can easily identify the proposed changes.