In an article this weekend, City Manager Jason Behrmann said one of his priorities is to start talks with employee bargaining groups to re-negotiate their contracts.
The contract for the Galt Police Officers Association ends Dec. 31. The contracts for all other city employees, including the Galt Public Service Unit and non-union employees also ends at the end of the year.
Planning Commission alternate Gene Davenport directly asked Behrmann at Wednesday’s meeting if he plans on “leading by example” by cutting his own salary.
“Whatever we ask our employees to do, I will do as well,” Behrman said at the meeting.
November 18th, 2009 in
General by
Maggie |
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With the Lodi City Council planning to decide whether it wants to consider redevelopment again at its Wednesday meeting, I made some calls to many of the councilmembers and community activists who had been involved in the last redevelopment campaign.
When I talked with Councilwoman JoAnne Mounce, the only councilmember to oppose forming an agency in March, she referred me to her column that she wrote in the News-Sentinel before the March 3 election. She said it describes her concerns with redevelopment and details the requirements she would need to approve of an agency.
While looking though the archives, I also found this column signed by former mayors, including Larry Hansen, Bob Johnson and Susan Hitchcock.
Hope this can provide some additional reading. I’m sure we will have more stories on not only this topic, but also the other story I wrote for today’s paper on city employee retirement benefits.
Throughout the state, people are debating what to do about the rising costs of pensions. I’m sure we will be doing many more stories looking into what type of situation Lodi is in and comparing it with other cities. I want to know your questions and will make every effort to get them answered in follow-up stories. Comment, e-mail at maggiec@lodinews.com or call at 369-7035.
On Nov. 6, I wrote a story about Sharon Boyd, who was struck by a car while she was in her electric wheelchair at the corner of Ham Lane and Walnut Street. She was taken to Lodi Memorial Hospital before being transferred to UC-Davis.
Today I spoke with her sister, Peggy Baumbach. She said Boyd is still at the hospital but will be released in the next day or two. Because she has broken ribs, she will not be able to return home immediately. Instead she will spend several weeks in a rehabilitation facility, Baumbach said.
November 16th, 2009 in
General by
Maggie |
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The city is searching to find a new Electric Utility director after George Morrow left earlier this year. We previously wrote a story on the decision to search or not to search.
City Manager Blair King hired Avery & Associates of Los Gatos, California to search for the new director. The firm’s costs for services is not to exceed $14,400, and expenses will not exceed $4,500. Funds from the Electric Utility will be used to pay for the search. It will take four months to complete recruitment and selection of a candidate.
Councilman Bob Johnson and Mayor Larry Hansen will participate in the selection process.
Lodi does have an internal candidate interested in the position. Ken Weisel is currently serving as interim Electric Utility director.
Morrow, who had been director for three-and-a-half years, was recruited in a national search from Missouri to Lodi. He then recruited and hired Ken Weisel, also from Missouri, to become assistant utility director in 2007.
And in other news:
This week has been slow meeting wise, but we will have a story in Friday’s paper on Mayor Larry Hansen’s State of the City address at a Lodi Chamber of Commerce event.
His main message was that Lodi’s glass is not half empty. Hansen cited public and private investments around the city that have created jobs, spurred spending and created international interest in the city.
Also, for Saturday’s paper, I’ll have a Question and Answer session with Galt’s new City Manager Jason Behrmann. Have any questions for Galt’s top employee? Send them to me at maggiec@lodinews.com, and I’ll make sure to include them.
David Diskin, founder of Lodi United, gave the first invocation or Call to Responsibility since the council approved its new policy allowing anyone to participate.
Below is a copy of the Call to Civic Responsibilty he gave before the meeting:
Thank you for giving me the honor of offering our city’s first secular invocation. What I hope to “invoke” tonight is the sense of community that ties us all together — the brotherhood or fellowship that allows individuals to look beyond their personal gain, beyond their beliefs, beyond their past, and to take action that supports the greater good.
This evening, our elected officials have assembled to govern our livable, lovable city. And we, the public, have assembled to give them our wisdom, guidance, passion, and support.
But our commitment to Lodi should not stop at the adjournment of tonight’s meeting.
Tonight I challenge all those here — myself included — to ask ourselves: What can we do to support the greater good? I challenge us all to put aside our differences, our religions, our ethnicities, our genders, and to work together to improve the standard of living that the people of Lodi deserve.
Over the last decade-and-a-half I’ve had the pleasure of working with a number of non-profit organizations, and I know you all have, too. What I ask of you now is to reaffirm your commitment to find time. Lend — not just your wallet — but your talent. Plant a tree. Adopt a cat. Teach someone to read. Build something. And inspire others to do the same.
For the next few hours, let us give our council the respect and support they need to fulfill their elected duty. And when we return home tonight, may we give our community the respect and support it needs, to make it the most livable, lovable city we possibly can.
In case you missed it…
In today’s paper, Councilman Bob Johnson wrote a guest column about all the projects the council is working on. Johnson was firing back after our columnist John Johnson wrote a column Oct. 26 saying the council has a “simply keep the ship afloat” mentality. I’m sure this won’t be the end of the debate and wonder if there will be a discussion at tonight Lodi City Council meeting. (Note: The two are not related despite the shared last name).
Speaking of tonight’s meeting, here are some of the things on the agenda:
• Prayer: Tonight will be the first invocation given under the council’s new policy. (In the story, scroll down the prayer policy at a glance to read what the new policy is).
Here’s what it says at the top of the agenda:
6:55 p.m. Invocation/Call to Civic Responsibility. Invocations may be offered by any of the various religious and non-religious organizations within and around the City of Lodi. Invocations are voluntary offerings of private citizens, to and for the benefit of the Council. The views or beliefs expressed by the Invocation Speaker have not been previously reviewed or approved by the Council, and the Council does not endorse the beliefs or views of any speaker.
It does not list who will give the invocation, but I will blog it or include it in one of my stories about the council in Thursday’s News-Sentinel.
• Transit cuts: See past blog or today’s story.
• Cable ordinance: The Lodi City Council will consider a cable ordinance to raise money to repair and replace as needed the video system in Carnegie Forum or do other improvements to expand public access capabilities. The 1 percent fee to cable uses would generate $80,000 a year for the city that can only be spent on video-related equipment and technology.
For a customer subscribing to Comcast’s 100-channel “Digital Starter” service, they would see $0.58 a month added to their bill. (Previously, the city estimated it would be $0.51). This comes on the heels of Comcast raising rates on Oct. 15. The average entry customers started paying an additional $2 per month.
• Interstate 5 widening: The council will receive a report tonight on an environmental impact report for a freeway interchange on Interstate 5 that could signal substantial growth toward Lodi from North Stockton. The proposed project is part of a plan to widen I-5 from Stockton to the southern limits of Lodi’s White Slough Water Pollution Control Facility.
City planners are concerned because they say the project’s environmental reports appear to be grossly incomplete. The proposed expansion is within Stockton’s city limits, but very close to the White Slough Wastewater Treatment Facility.
In the 253-page California Department of Transportation report, there is no mention of the White Slough wastewater treatment plant. The Lodi Energy Center, a 280-megawatt natural gas power plant planned to be built next to White Slough, is absent from the Caltrans report as well.
In the wake of cuts to the city’s bus system, the Lodi City Council will discuss at its meeting Wednesday a proposal that would increase fares to restore some of the city’s weekend service.
To deal with a $373,000 shortfall in state funding, the council made cuts to the transit system that included decreasing the hours of service Saturday and eliminating all service Sunday. The cuts started Nov. 2.
With the fare increase, the city would be able to restore service Sunday from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and extend Saturday service from 9:15 a.m. to 3:09 p.m. to an earlier start of 7:45 a.m. to 3:09 p.m, according to a city staff report.
Under the city’s proposal, here are the rate increases:
Fixed routes:
• Tickets for the general public will increase from $1 to $1.25.
• Tickets for seniors, people with disabilities and people on Medicare will increase from $0.50 to $0.65.
Dial-a-Ride and VineLine (which is the equivalent of Dial-a-Ride for people with disabilities):
• Tickets for the general public will increase from $5 to $7.
• Tickets for seniors, people with disabilities and people on Medicare will increase from $1.50 to $2.
The council will not be deciding Wednesday night whether or not to increase fares/expand hours. But they will discuss it and tell staff whether they want to consider the matter further at a future council meeting.
Read more in Wednesday’s paper.
November 3rd, 2009 in
General | tags:
Transit by
Maggie |
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It’s a busy week in both of the cities, so here is a brief rundown of what I’ll be covering at tonight’s Galt meeting. (I’ll update later tonight on what’s happening at Lodi’s meeting).
GALT
• Jason Behrmann is almost guaranteed to become Galt’s new city manager tonight. The council already decided in closed session to not do a search because it could promote Behrmann, who has been the city’s assistant city manager since 2006. Behrmann will replace Ted Anderson, who will be done with work at the end of December. The Galt City Council meeting is 7 p.m. at Galt City Hall, 380 Civic Drive.
• The Galt City Council is scheduled to adopt a list of policies that in part are an attempt to rein-in decorum at the council’s meeting.
• Councilman Andrew Meredith will propose an ordinance at tonight’s meeting to require city contractors to hire Galt residents.
To read more on tonight’s meeting, go to http://www.ci.galt.ca.us.
• Furlough Friday in full swing
Those who need to start or restart utility service or pay a bill should do it today, because most city of Lodi offices will be closed on Friday for a staff furlough day.
The two exceptions are all emergency services and Hutchins Street Square.
City offices that will be closed include the Finance Department, City Hall, Lodi Public Library, Parks and Recreation, Lodi Animal Shelter, code enforcement, police records and property divisions.
Court proceedings at the Lodi branch of the San Joaquin County Superior Court will continue to take place because the county operates the court.
• You won’t be taking the bus to Sunday brunch (in the future)
CORRECTION: The cuts to transit service do not start until Monday, Nov. 2.
This Monday will begin the new cuts for the transit system.
Lodi slashed its transit schedule to deal with $373,000 in cuts. When the state legislature passed its budget, it included 20 percent less in transportation funding.
Here is the new schedule starting Sunday:
• Monday through Friday, fixed routes, Dial-a-Ride and VineLine will operate from 7:45 a.m. to 6:10 p.m. Express routes will continue from 6:10 a.m. to 7:40 a.m. and 2:15 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.
• On Saturdays, fixed routes, Dial-a-Ride and VineLine will run from 9:15 a.m. to 3:08 p.m.
• All service on Sundays will be eliminated.
• Service on nine holidays will be eliminated. The holidays include New Year’s Day, President’s Day, Memorial Day, July 4, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Christmas Eve and Nov. 27, the day after Thanksgiving.
It is indeed windy outside. I woke up this morning at 3:30 a.m. from a deep sleep briefly thinking someone was trying to knock on my door as my screen door rattled and slammed open and shut.
A story in today’s paper discussed not only the wind but also the city’s plan to ramp up tree trimming around power lines. What are your thoughts? Is this needed?
in other news, the Lodi Planning Commission will have another update on the General Plan. I’m working on a story highlighting some aspects of the General Plan that might be of widespread interests. If you have happened to look through the document and have any suggestions on topics to cover, let me know. Comment, e-mail at maggiec@lodinews.com or 369-7035.
Also, make sure to check out the library’s new Web site here.
