This document is the City of Turlock Activity Update for the week of November 1 – 7, 2008. The activity update is meant to keep the Turlock City Council and all areas of the government organization on the same page. The community may also view the complete document here at TurlockCityNews.com as it was sent out by the City of Turlock.
TO: Mayor and Council
FROM: Executive Team
DATE: November 8, 2008
RE: ACTIVITY UPDATE – WEEK OF November 1-7, 2008
ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES
· The Assistant City Manager attended a stakeholder workshop in Merced on the state allocation of federal Neighborhood Stabilization Funds. On November 14, the state will announce which cities and counties are eligible to apply for this special CDBG allocation to purchase and rehabilitate foreclosed properties.
Economic Development/Redevelopment:
· Economic Development /Redevelopment Manager provided WISP information and a site tour to a representative of a capital investment and development company.
Housing Program Services:
· Staff attended a meeting in Merced to discuss the issues surrounding the State allocation of Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) funds. HCD has determined that it will be providing direct allocations to jurisdictions. Jurisdictions that will receive priorities are cities with:
ü highest percentage of foreclosures
ü highest percentage of sub prime loans
ü significant rise in foreclosure rate.
· A list of the jurisdictions that will receive funding will be provided on the 14th of December. For jurisdictions not receiving a direct allocation, a NOFA will be available in January of 2009.
· Staff is currently reviewing potential uses and distribution of the funds.
DEVELOPMENT SERVICES
Planning Division:
· The predevelopment team met with David Slinkard and DJ Fransen regarding the possibility of using an existing 2,400 square foot warehouse at 213 C Street as a venue to host youth music concerts. The possibilities of a permanent use as well as a one time temporary use were discussed. Staff had a number of specific comments pertaining to the various code requirements which applied to entertainment venues. A conditional use permit would be required for any permanent entertainment venue related use. The Building Division noted that significant building upgrades would be required to allow for this type of use in the current structure.
· Members of the Planning Division met with members of Stanislaus County Environmental Resources to discuss the growing issue of mobile food vendor commissaries. Planning staff has received multiple inquiries in recent weeks requesting approval of specific sites as “approved” commissaries. Upon more careful review in coordination with Municipal Services staff determined that most of the sites being proposed as commissaries were ill-equipped to service this type of use. The meeting was called to discuss how the concurrent commissary reviews (by city and county) can be coordinated. Staff relayed information on the types of zoning districts which would be appropriate for this type of use. Both groups agreed to continue working together to develop a more refined process for reviewing and approving this unique use.
· Planning and Housing staff attended a Housing Element Workshop, put on by the California Dept. of Housing and Community Development here at City Hall. The workshop was very comprehensive, providing abundant information about the state’s requirements for updating the General Plan Housing Element. Topics of discussion included Recent Statutory Changes, including SB2, which requires jurisdictions to ensure that zoning provides areas where emergency shelters and transitional housing projects are a permitted use, not requiring a CUP or other discretionary review. Another topic was the importance of including a detailed “Special Needs Analysis” in the update, which must quantify housing needs for disabled, seniors, farm-workers, female headed households, homeless, and large families. The analysis must include strategies leading to policies in order to meet those needs. Much discussion also took place in reference to the “Regional Housing Need Allocation” (RHNA) for each community, and what it is (and isn’t). It is “a projection of additional housing units needed to accommodate projected household growth of all income levels by the end of the housing element’s statutory planning period.” (Turlock has met or exceeded the RHNA numbers for above moderate and moderate income levels historically, but has fallen substantially short in the low and very low income categories.) A “Land Inventory Analysis” is required to show that Turlock has sufficient land zoned to accommodate residential growth in all income categories. This proved to be a very timely workshop in that the City has recently begun the process of updating its Housing Element, which will be accomplished in conjunction with the General Plan update.
Capital Improvement Projects
Projects in Construction
· Golden State and Tuolumne Road Signal: The railroad construction crew will begin work on Monday, November 10th. Construction materials have already arrived on site.
· Water Reservoirs and Pump Stations: The contractor is installing the roof at the Kilroy site and the one two rings have been installed at the B Street site.
· CNG Slow Fill Station: A pre-construction meeting will be held November 13th.
· Fire Station #1 Parking Lot: The forms have been laid out and pouring of the concrete will begin next week.
· Fairgrounds Sidewalk: The contractor has started work. Broadway will be closed to through traffic from Front St to Canal Drive and Canal Drive will be closed at Broadway while the contractor bores a storm pipe under the TID canal. Work at the intersection will last until November 12th.
· Traffic Signal at Orange & South Avenue: In the contract stage.
· Demolition of Existing Structures: In the contract stage.
· Interim Police Evidence Facility: In the contract stage.
· Commercial Water Meters: Utility staff is reviewing the plans.
· Trench Repair 08/09: The apparent low bidder was V. Lopez & Sons out of Santa Maria and is going to council for an award of bid on November 18th.
· Antenna at Fire Station No. 1: An award of bid will go to council on November 18th.
· RFP’s – Landscape/Signage Beautification Project: Bids open November 26th.
Projects in Design
· West Main Street and Fransil Signal: Working on acquiring right of way.
· Colorado and Monte Vista Signal Interconnect: Waiting on FTIP amendment.
· Columbia Park Renovations: The architect should be getting plan check comments back from building department.
· Westside Industrial Specific Plan
· City Hall Projects: These projects include Fire Administration, repair of the sewer line in Engineering, repair of the balcony and City Hall HVAC.
· Water Line Replacement: Working on the topo.
· Sewer Line Replacement: Working on the topo.
· Well #40
Land Development
· Per the direction of the Development Services Director the Senior Civil Engineer has been working with other Development Services staff on a Capital Projects process flow chart to account for step by step processing. The flow chart will outline all steps and phases of a Capital Project from inception to end of warranty period.
Active Submittals in process
√ – 14 – Improvement Plans
√ – 7 – Parcel Maps
√ – 15 – Subdivision Maps
√ – 1 – Lot Line Adjustment
√ – 5 – Road Dedications / Public Utility Easements
√ – 3 – Abandonment
√ – 15- Approved Plans waiting for permits to be issued
Land Surveying
· The survey crew is frequently challenged with establishing the property lines and right-of-way lines for improvement projects. This can be especially challenging in the older areas of town. It is extremely important to establish the lines correctly before something is constructed in the wrong location. They are currently working on resolving the boundaries for Fire Station #4, City Project 0604 and City Project #0764 – Traffic Signal at Orange & South Avenue. They also continue construction staking for City Project #0719, Fire Station #1 parking lot.
Public Works Inspectors
· The Inspectors will be beginning the web cast training on Storm Water Pollution Prevention this week. This will be the first part of four training classes.
MUNICIPAL SERVICES
Regulatory Affairs Division:
TID Fuel Cell at Regional Water Quality Control Facility:
· Met with TID staff in the planning for a “grand opening” event for the TID fuel cell project. The project, constructed and funded by TID, will generate electricity from methane gas produced by Regional Water Quality Control Facility. Once completed approximately $50,000 per year in revenue will be received by the City.
New Air Quality Standards:
· Staff attended free training in Stockton related to new air quality standards for boilers. Fortunately, our existing boilers all have permits and are not subject to the new standards for some time. Further, the TID fuel cell will use waste gas from the RWQCF and return hot water to the city for heating the digesters at the Facility. Therefore, the city’s use of boilers may be curtailed in the future.
Diesel Regulations:
· We are in the early stages of developing compliance documents for the city’s off-road diesel vehicles and also its portable equipment (generators, pumps, and the like). The regulations for diesel-operated equipment are becoming increasingly more stringent. Ultimately, the city may be forced to accelerate the turnover of its older fleet and equipment and purchase new equipment with engines that meet the new emission standards.
Surface Water Project:
· Pursuant to council direction, staff continues to develop a report analyzing alternatives to purchasing surface water from TID. Further, we continue to negotiate with consultants on preparing CEQA documents and a rate and fee analysis for the project.
Preliminary Draft of Waste Water Permit:
· Staff received a preliminary draft of its Permit for the Regional Water Quality Control Facility. The 156-page document is being reviewed by staff and our contract attorneys.
Utility Maintenance Division:
Water System Projects:
· Fire hydrant maint. at 300 S Center, 1000 East Ave, 1100 Est Ave and 1301 Oak St
· Delinquent turn offs: 192 turned off, 135 turned on same day , 56 immediate turn ons.
· Flushed 30 dead end blow offs
· We are approx 30 % complete with the annual flushing
· Replaced G-5 street box at Donnelly Park and also at Tuolumne & Oxford
· Repaired a leaking water service for the median in 2300 block of Geer Rd
· Repaired water leak in the meter box at 2323 Silverleaf
· Repaired the water service at 2080 Carrigan, this was damaged while repairing the sewer service
· Repaired a fire hydrant at 719 S. First St that was hit by a car, also pumped out flooded area in property
· Installed a 4” meter and RP at 1619 E. Monte Vista
Sewer and Storm System Projects:
· Replaced the wye on the mainline and 15 ft. of 4” pipe on the sewer service at 2080 Carrigan
· Replaced 8ft of 4” sewer line at 600 N. Broadway
· Repaired 3 ft. of sewer service at 2345 Seattle. and replaced wye at the mainline
· Repaired 1 ft. of sewer service at 2360 Mira Flores
· Installed a sewer cleanout at 120 S. Beech
· Cut 2295 ft. of roots & grease with Rodder in Grid F-10
· Clean 4469 ft. of existing sewer mains in Grids F-10, D-6 and C-8
· Clean 505 Ft of storm line
· Televise 2687 ft of existing sewer main Grid D-6
· Televised the sewer lateral at 120 Beech, 920 Pedras and 2345 Seattle
· Clean 12 catch basins and 1 sewer lift stations
Misc. and Special Projects:
· Replaced broken valve box at W.Q.C.
Water Quality Control Division:
· The Regional Water Quality Control Facility is operating well. Preventative maintenance activities during this period were conducted by staff.
· On Tuesday October 28, 2008 the RWQCF Lab water supply was sent out for the testing required for ELAP certification. On Wednesday October 29, 2008 staff collected the required weekly R1, R2, R3, R4 and R5 samples.
· The RWQCF Lab recently received the results of DMR QA 28 which is annually required quality control testing. The results were for the analyses performed by the RWQCF Lab and our contract lab. All results from both Labs were in the acceptable range. Good job Lab staff.
· The Environmental Quality Inspector has been attending meetings with the Planning Department and Stanislaus County regarding regulation of mobile food vendors.
· The maintenance staff completed the necessary repairs on Primary Flotator # 2. The Operations staff restarted the Flotator on Tuesday October 28, 2008.
· Staff continued working on the yearly Nutrilock production.
· Contractors continued working on the fuel cell. The Acid Phase Digester gas line project was completed on Friday October 31, 2008.
· The RWQC Facility has encountered 322 days without a lost time accident.
Electrical/Mechanical Projects:
· Repaired 6 lights on Golden State overpass.
· Installed temporary outlets at Central Park and powered up the tree well and antique light circuits for the Halloween corn maze.
· Switched to City water from recycled water at Summerfaire Pond. Switched from nuisance water pump to 15 hp submersible at Sunny view Park.
· Commenced storm station megger checks.
· Replaced float at sewer 49.
· Reset programming of hycor’s. All hycor’s set to same values for number of reverse cycles and forward run times.
· Installed omni directional antennae at well 38 for Itron CCU.
· Repaired bad splice in wire to pump 3 at storm 8. Megs good now.
· Completed weekly sewer lift checks. Pulled pumps at sewer 54, 9, 56.
· Completed weekly WQC cleaning and calibrations.
· Completed USA’s and street light work orders.
· Reinstalled street light #67774-1 on Countryside Drive in front of Washington Mutual Bank due to knock down.
Telemetry
· Ongoing SCADA System Management.
· Completed updating master SCADA point list that contains 6020 Points, definitions, slide locations and other information.
· Some additional work to be completed prior to printing this 163 Page Document.
· 22 daily reports for Operations and Laboratory.
Instrumentation:
· Tested, cleaned and calibrated 24 WQC analyzers
· Security for Wells and Municipal Services building at Walnut Road:
· Reviewed eight buildings at the Walnut road location for the change from the Protection One Security Company to a function of the City of Turlock.
· Preparing a proposal to take on this new responsibility.
· Researched technology for perimeter fence security alarm system.
· Contacted Vendor and requested quote (pricey) for Corp Yard – Phase One.
· Quote received and presented to Engineering.
Fleet Maintenance Division:
Diagnosed and repaired vehicles/equipment for the following divisions and departments:
· Police – 4 work requests
· Transit bus-14 work requests
· Public Facilities-27 work requests
· Utility Maintenance-14 work requests
· Neigh/Preservation-1 work requests
· Operations-2 work requests
· PM’s Preventive Maintenance work requests-24
· Which include, A’s, B’s, CHP’s, Mini’s, etc.
Water Conservation:
· Issued 20 level X’s, 3 level 1’s and 1 level 2
· Responded to 4 water leaks
· 2 sprinkler set ups
· Recorded 160 street light locations
· Surveyed 3 high water use locations
Recreation Division:
· The National Softball Association hosted a twelve team adult slow-pitch tournament at Pedretti Park on Saturday, November 1st. This tournament was scheduled as a one day tournament only. The teams were primarily local teams from Tracy to Sacramento down to Fresno, no out of state teams for this particular tournament.
· Turlock Regional Sports Complex was utilized heavily over the weekend. The Turlock Youth Soccer Association used all 13 youth size fields in the complex plus two fields located at the adjacent Pitman High School for their weekly rental. Additionally, on Sunday, two competitive soccer groups rented fields at the Complex for games. These were hourly rentals for a total of 5 hours rented.
· 150 families participated in the Family Boot Camp Challenge, held on Saturday morning at Donnelly Park. Recreation staff and families participated for 40 minutes in a series of fitness challenges to bring families together in the park and have fun morning of exercise.
· On Saturday October 25, over 400 people participated in the 4th Annual Fall FunTastic held at Donnelly Park. This was a free program sponsored by the Teen Advisory Council. This program provided the community an opportunity to participate as a family in the great outdoors of Turlock. Many families made a day out of the event by participating in the activities, then playing on the playground and enjoying a picnic lunch in beautiful Donnelly Park.
· Staff attended the meeting of the Beautification Committee on 10/28. The committee reviewed the RFP going out for a consultant to work on designing the beautification and way-finding projects the committee has prioritized.
· The monthly Rings of the Arts newsletter was produced and distributed via e-mail to 165 members. This is a monthly publication about local arts and culture events. This month included information on upcoming City Gallery exhibitions, the holiday craft sale, and a family event coming up at the Walnut Elementary Education Center, “An Evening with Picasso.” Each month there is also a lengthy Calendar of Events and a listing of local art and culture venues.
· Planning is now underway for this year’s Turlock Downtown Christmas Parade, which is scheduled for Friday, December 5 at 7:00 p. m. Applications will be available October 13 – November 21 at the Recreation Division.
Public Facilities Division:
Parks:
· Central Park – Crews prepped the park and put metal stakes in the ground for the Annual Halloween Pumpkin Patch Maze sponsored by the Lyons Club.
· The concrete cap stand for the new John Mitchell statue will be delivered and placed in the park the week of Nov. 10th. Crews have to install the base for the statue prior to delivery of the cap.
· Columbia Pool – Crews do a daily security check and cleanup around the pool and park.
· Cimarron Park – Turlock’s newest neighborhood park has a new playground area. Staff is asking for donations from the community to purchase and plant trees at the park for the 2009 Annual Arbor Day Tree Planting Celebration.
· Crane Park – The new park identification sign will finally arrive on November 10th and be placed on the Berkeley side of the park. Staff has been waiting for the sign for approximately 2 ½ months.
· Donnelly Park – Cleaned, painted and sand blasted graffiti off the picnic tables and walk ways to the restrooms on the west side and numerous locations throughout the park. Crews replaced a broken irrigation valve with a new 2” valve and ball valve on the west side of Donnelly Park.
· Pedretti Sports Complex –Painted and prepared fields for games, pruned trees and shrubs in the parking lot on field #5, planted flowers in the planter by the south entrance, and painted over graffiti on the tables in the picnic area.
· Sunnyview Park – Replaced the heads on 8 sprinklers that were vandalized at the park. The new Dog Park continues to be a very popular spot for the community’s dogs and their owners. The City continues to get great feed back from dog owners.
· Turlock Regional Sports Complex – Painted fields and set goals for games throughout the week and weekend, staked trees, repaired irrigation, fertilized inside the complex, and general maintenance. The City is continuing to have problems with people jumping the fence and moving goals. Staff is working with Police Services to rectify the problem.
· Sprayed Round Up in tree wells, planters, fence lines at all parks, storm ponds, islands and right-of-ways around Turlock. Crews continue to apply gopher bait in all the parks. Crews have completed fertilizing all the parks, landscaped storm basins, and all turf areas.
· Crews continue to do general maintenance, mowing, blowing, edging, weeding, irrigation repairs, cleaning, rake soft fall and playground safety inspections daily at all City Parks and ponds.
Streets:
· Crews are gearing up for Leaf Pickup Season which begins on Monday, Nov. 10th. Flyers went out in last month’s utilities bills with a schedule and explaining the program to the community. This is a very popular program that the City offers to the community at no charge.
· Crews picked up numerous campaign signs in street medians this week.
· The patch truck will be down for approximately 1 month due to a bad conveyor belt that must be replaced.
· Removed/replaced/relocated 17 miscellaneous street signs throughout Turlock, trimmed back branches from 2 street signs, removed branches in roadway on Geer near Pedras, responded to vehicle accident at Tuolumne and Geer, replaced temporary Type III barricade that blew down on northbound Golden State near Atherstone, fixed street name signs turned at Colorado and Delbon.
· Painted stop bars and legends in Zone 3 and Zone 9 and painted red curb on Berkeley and Enclave per Engineering Work Order.
· Mark out trees that are missing or dead for North and North West Area and the North and North East Area.
Assessment District:
· Repaired 11 sprinklers on the Ferreira Ranch Bike Path, moved sprinklers over one foot to put asphalt on bike-path, pruned trees on Walnut and Rose Circle, planted 4 trees in misc. areas, and re-staked trees in the Northeast area.
· Crews continue to do general maintenance, mowing, blowing, edging, weeding, irrigation repairs, etc.
Buildings:
· Touch up painting throughout City Hall and fixed door closure on the magnet in the City Parking lot, fixed leaks on roof at PD, and striped and waxed floors at Recreation.
FIRE SERVICES
Operations Division:
· Fire Services responded to 89 calls for service for the week of 10/31 through 11/6.
ü 52 EMS Calls
ü 11 MVA’S
ü 4 False Alarms
ü 3 No Patient Contact
ü 3 Canceled Enroute
ü 2 Police Assists
ü 2 Car Fires
ü 2 Electrical Shorts
ü 1 Gas Leak
ü 1 Unauthorized Burn
ü 1 Brush Fire
ü 1 Fire Other
ü 1 Assist Invalid
ü 1 Dumpster Fire
ü 1 Chimney Fire
ü 1 Wrong Location
ü 1 Structure Fire *
* The structure fire was located in a single family dwelling at 2151 Branding Iron. There were no injures involved with this fire. There was an estimated $8150.00 dollars in structure damage, and $5000.00 dollars in contents damage. The fire is under investigation.
Training Division:
· In training we completed our new Rescue Strut training for all personnel. We also completed 4 month Engineer testing for 4 of our probationary Engineers.
Administration Division:
· Staff worked on a grant proposal for the ‘Office of Traffic Safety” which includes equipment or training for roadway/highway emergencies.
· Staff hosted several station tours during this past week, including a Rotary Meeting at our new Fire Station 1.
POLICE SERVICES
Service Demands:
Calls for Service 2202
Criminal Investigations 251
Arrests 86
Staffing Levels:
Sworn Personnel- 87
Deployed 77 (11 Officers: Field Training)
Vacancies 3
Non-Sworn Personnel- 47
Deployed 42
Vacancies 3
Special Operations Division:
Investigations
· Investigators spent the majority of the week conducting follow-up of the arrest of the “Band-Aid Bandit”, armed robbery suspect. They attended a joint-agency meeting hosted by the Tracy Police Department, and shared information that had been obtained during the search warrant and subsequent arrest of the suspect. Many agencies have been able to solve their cases thanks to the efforts of our investigators and additional charges have been added against the suspect by those jurisdictions.
· Investigators were called out this week to assist patrol with a homicide that occurred in the 1100 Block of W. Canal. The victim had been stabbed in the chest and expired at Emanuel Medical Center. The incident does not appear to be gang related, however it may be drug related. Investigators are conducting on-going interviews with potential witnesses in order to identify a suspect.
Field Operations Division:
Significant Events and Trends
Traffic Unit
· Special enforcement was conducted for red light violations at Countryside and Monte Vista and at Monte Vista at Geer this week. Thirty-seven citations were issued for red light, cell phone, and right-of-way violations.
· The Traffic Unit Sergeant spent nearly every afternoon this week at a school crossing (TJHS/Walnut Elementary) watching for crossing guard violations. Several citations were issued, but only a few for failure to obey a crossing guard. The reduction in violations was noticeable. An unknown woman apparently felt it was inappropriate for the officer to be parked on the sidewalk. She stopped and snapped pictures of the officer, but refused to speak with him, only saying that she would be complaining to City Council.
Patrol Unit
· Residential Burglary – Victims are in the process of fixing up a home and rebuilding a fence in the 500 block of Vermont. They had placed the fence boards in a locked shed and left to go to the store. Upon their return to the home, they located two subjects who were loading the fence boards into a truck. The subjects had pried open the shed to gain access. Officers arrived just in time to catch the subjects driving away. The suspects were taken into custody.
· Assault – A call was received of a subject holding a gun to a woman’s head at a bar in the 400 block of East Main Street. The bouncer informed officers who the victim was. While the officers started to talk to the victim, the bouncer came out of the bar and said the guy with the gun was inside. Officers went into the bar and engaged the suspect, who failed to comply, so he was taken down. Once on the ground, an officer noticed the gun sticking out of the suspect’s waist and seized it. The suspect still refused to comply and was engaged with a taser, before being taken into custody. The gun was loaded and chambered. It is learned that the suspect put the gun to the woman’s forehead for no reason. When the male subject accompanying the woman spoke up, the suspect pistol whipped the man. The incident actually occurred about a block away from the bar.
· Pursuit – An officer was in a pursuit of a Toyota Camry. He looses the car for just a second and finds it again in the 2100 block of Angelus Court running and abandoned. It does not appear to be stolen. Two names came up as being associated with the car and both had felony warrants. Officers started an apartment to apartment search with consent of the occupants who were very cooperative. At the second location, officers found a mother and her children who said that there was someone hiding in the locked bedroom. Officers forced entry into the bedroom and located one of the suspects hiding in the bedroom. He had a felony warrant.
· Attempted Suicide – A subject was lying in between the rails of the RR Tracks approx. 280ft. North of W. Monte Vista, waiting to die. As the N/B train approached, it appears that he changed his mind. He sat up and a spun off the tracks to the east (his right). Unfortunately, he wasn’t fast enough and the cow catcher caught him and caused some serious bodily harm. He was taken via Medi-Flight to Memorial Hospital. He will likely survive, but not without some serious physical issues. This subject is one of Turlock P.D.’s Top 5 Habitual Offenders who has consistently refused all efforts at rehabilitation, choosing custody instead.