Memorandum – November 6, 2009

City of Willits
MEMORANDUM
Date: November 6, 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.

PLANNED POWER OUTAGE

The planned power outage on the night of October 24, 2009, went off without major problems. I rode around the City with Police Chief Gonzalez for a couple of hours immediately after the lights went out. Important installations such as the hospital, the Safeway market, the Sewer Treatment Plant Headworks and the Police Station had emergency back up power and were operational. PG&E is stating that there will be a second planned outage on the night of November 14th in order that work on the Willits substation may continue.

THANKS TOM WOODHOUSE AND SHERIFF ALLMAN

Tom Woodhouse has been working with Sheriff Tom Allman to coordinate court ordered community service work to do clean up work within the community. Recently, one of the community service workers trimmed weeds, picked up garbage and painted over the graffiti on the fence that runs along the Skunk tracks between the depot and East Valley Street. The cleanup effort transformed this stretch of railroad right of way. Thanks Tom and Tom!

MEASURE B IS APPROVED BY WILLITS CITY VOTERS

The results from November 3rd special election shows that Measure B is approved by City voters. The vote count published on the Mendocino County website as of the writing of this report says that there are 442 “yes” votes and 356 “no” votes. The Mendocino County Clerk has 28 days from Election Day to certify the vote count. I expect that the final count may vary some depending on the County Clerk’s canvass of ballots, however I don’t think that the outcome will be reversed. Measure B is a special election called by the Willits City Council for the purpose of asking City voters to permit the City Clerk and City Treasurer positions to be appointed rather than elected. The concept behind Measure B is to streamline and save money in City bureaucracy by eliminating two separate elected positions.

WATER

I am writing this report and looking out the window to the scene of a light rain falling on Willits. I am hoping that the moderate early season rains continue. The latest report on City water storage is as follows: there are a total of 645 acre feet (AF) of water in storage. Centennial Reservoir is at 103 AF. The remainder of the City’s water storage is in Morris Reservoir. The City will be turning the flow from Centennial down substantially in the very near future. This is done to preserve the aquatic life in Centennial from being too concentrated and removing the dissolved oxygen. 

CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL MEETING ON NOVEMBER 12TH

The City Council meeting in November will be a special meeting on November 12, 2009, because the regular meeting date, which is November 11th, is a National Holiday (Veterans’ Day).

CITY MANAGER’S BROWN BAG LUNCH

The City Manager’s Brown Bag Lunch will be on November 12th at Noon in the City Council Chambers. Usually the lunches are the same day as the regular City Council meetings, which are the second and fourth Wednesday of the month. The date has been changed in November, since the City Council is conducting a Special Meeting on November 12th. The Brown Bag Lunch is a way for City employees to have an opportunity to communicate directly with the City Manager in an informal setting. Employees pack their sack lunches, and there is no set program or agenda at the lunch. The following Brown Bag Lunch will be December 9, 2009. Since there is only one regular City Council meeting scheduled for December 2009, there will be only one Brown Bag Lunch. The lunch will go back to the twice monthly schedule in January 2010.

CITY MANAGER’S BLOG

Similar to the above two items… I will only be writing one blog per month in November and December 2009. I have been asked about my blog on several occasions by citizens and employees, so I know that people are following it and are interested. No worries though. I plan to return to twice per month blogging in January 2010.

CALTRANS MEETING WITH DOWNTOWN MERCHANTS

Mayor Larry Stranske has been working hard to have a representative from Caltrans speak to Downtown Merchants regarding signage and merchandise display regulations on Main Street. Tentatively, a workshop is set for Wednesday, December 2, 2009, at 5:30pm in the City Council Chambers.

ACTION TO CLEAN UP FORECLOSED PROPERTIES

The system to deal with abandoned, foreclosure properties is starting to work. The City received a $2300 check for the fines and administrative costs from a lender on a foreclosed property that the Code Enforcement Officer had taken action to clean up. This is the first lender that has stepped forward and taken responsibility for their property without being threatened. Hopefully clean up of foreclosure properties will take less effort to monitor in the upcoming months as improved working relationships are developed with the various asset management groups.

FIXING UP THE COMMUNITY CENTER

A group of local citizens and City staff worked to spruce up the Community Center a couple of weeks ago in advance of the Howard Hospital Gala. Cathy Sanders took the initiative to organize and direct in the cleaning and painting, including efforts after normal working hours and weekends. John Sherman stepped up with his personal power sprayer and spent a weekend painting the Community Center Hall. Mayor Larry Stranske, Lynn Kennelly and Ron Moorhead chipped in with paint brushes. These are just some of the people that put forward the extra volunteer effort to the benefit of the entire community. Thank you!

SEWER

Late breaking news… I was going through my mail while wrapping up my blog, and I am happy to report that the Section 404 Clean Water Act Permit Public Notice was published by the United States Army Corps of Engineers on November 2, 2009. Response to the notice is required by November 17, 2009. This is a big step forward in the environmental permitting process for the Willits Wastewater Treatment Plant Project.