This document is the City of Turlock Activity Update for the week of November 8 - 14, 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 20, 2008
RE: ACTIVITY UPDATE – WEEK OF November 8-14, 2008
ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES
· The City of Turlock’s Central Safety Committee distributed posters announcing a Safety Reporting Hotline where City employees can report safety concerns anonymously. The Hotline was developed as part of the City’s Injury and Illness Prevention Program with assistance from the City’s Risk Management Authority. The voice mailbox will be monitored by the Central Safety Committee and every effort will be made to protect the callers’ anonymity.
Economic Development/Redevelopment:
· City Manager and Economic Development/Redevelopment Manager attended a Chamber Government Relations Committee meeting.
Housing Program Services:
· Staff has begun the lengthy process of updating the Community Resource Handbook. The resource handbook has proven to be an invaluable tool to residents and agencies throughout the county. Resource handbook should be completed by early 2009.
· Staff attended the CalHome operations training in Sacramento to discuss the requirements of the CalHome funding that were granted to the Housing Division. Funding for the program will be made available as soon as the program policies and procedures are reviewed and approved by HCD.
DEVELOPMENT SERVICES
Capital Improvement Projects:
Projects in Construction
· Golden State and Tuolumne Road Signal: The railroad construction crew has been working diligently this week on site.
· Water Reservoirs and Pump Stations: The contractor is installing the roof of the tank and the building at the Kilroy site. The second of two rings is being installed at the B Street site.
· CNG Slow Fill Station: A pre-construction meeting was held and work is scheduled to begin January 26. Equipment will be delivered in February with anticipated completion by February 27th.
· Fire Station #1 Parking Lot: The contractor has been pouring vertical concrete for the curb.
· Fairgrounds Sidewalk: The contractor is now working on forming the sidewalk, curb and gutter.
· Traffic Signal at Orange & South Avenue: Contractor has ordered the signal poles and construction will start in January 2009.
· Demolition of Existing Structures: Asbestos abatement was completed this week at the house on High Street. Abatement will commence at the North Olive home on Friday, November 14th.
· Interim Police Evidence Facility: Construction started this week with the removal of two large trees.
· Commercial Water Meters: This project is scheduled to open bids on December 18th.
· 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.
· Prop 1B Homeland Security-Transit: Staff applied for and received a $91,000 grant to install security cameras and lighting around the transit area at the corporation yard. Work should begin early next year.
Projects in Design
· West Main Street and Fransil Signal: Working on acquiring right of way
· Colorado and Monte Vista Signal Interconnect: Working on right of way and applied for federal funding
· Columbia Park Renovations
· Westside Industrial Specific Plan
· City Hall Projects: Staff is creating a Request for Proposal
· Water Line Replacement: Working on the topo
· Sewer Line Replacement: Working on the topo
· Well #40
· Prop 1B Overlays: Staff is reviewing which streets will be overlaid
· Columbia Park Tennis Courts
· Kilroy and N Walnut Road Pump Stations
Land Development:
Active Submittals in process
· 12 – Improvement Plans
· 7 – Parcel Maps
· 15 – Subdivision Maps
· 1 – Lot Line Adjustment
· 6 – Road Dedications / Public Utility Easements
· 3 – Abandonment
· 15 – Approved Plans waiting for permits to be issued
Land Surveying
· The survey crew has completed construction staking for City Project#0719, Fire Station #1 parking lot. They have begun construction staking on City Project #0803, Interim Police Evidence Facility and continue staking for City Project #0604, Fairgrounds Sidewalk on N. Broadway.
Public Works Inspectors
· The Inspectors have completed the first part of 4 training sessions via web cast on Storm Water Pollution Prevention this week.
Building & Safety:
· Among the 15 building permits applied for this week:
ü 405 E Main St – Tenant improvement retail bakery
· Among the 25 building permits issued this week:
ü 880 E Tuolumne Rd – Tenant improvement clinic
ü 880 E Tuolumne Rd – Tenant improvement “Emanuel Medical Center”
ü 3301 Countryside Dr – Commercial swimming pool & spa “Fairfield Inn & Suites”
ü 310 E Main St., Ste J – Tenant improvement “The Studio” (Pilates studio)
Traffic/Transit
· Transit staff met with other transit operators to discuss the Governor’s proposed mid-year budget which eliminates STA funds. This will have an indirect affect on the amount of LTF available for streets and roads.
· Rear destination signage is being installed on the BLAST buses.
MUNICIPAL SERVICES
Public Facilities Maintenance Division:
· The Public Facilities Manager is working with the AD Hoc Teen Center Committee gathering information from other agencies regarding teen centers, such as size, programs, costs, funding, etc.
Parks
· Central Park – On Nov. 19th, staff will be planting the new 72” box Deodar Cedar tree to replace the old Christmas tree at the park. The annual Lighting of the Turlock Christmas Tree will be Nov. 28th at 7:00 p.m. Staff is working on the installation of the new John Mitchell statue. The plan is to have the statue installed by the first week of December.
· Cimarron Park – The neighborhood children and their families are enjoying the new playground equipment in the park. Crews placed picnic tables, benches and receptacles for the neighborhood to enjoy while watching their children play.
· Columbia Park – Staff is working with Engineering on the demolition of the residence at 609 High St., which will now be a part of the park. The PFM Manager will start the playground design once the house has been removed. The new Marty Yerby Recreational Facility sign is scheduled to arrive by the end of this week.
· Crane Park – Installed the new park identification sign on the northeast side of the park, at the corner of Berkeley and Yosemite.
· Donnelly Park – The grassy meadow at the park was vandalized when a vehicle drove up on the grass.
· Four Seasons Park – The Park was tagged with graffiti.
· 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 kicked off the Leaf Pickup program this week. The patch truck will be down for about 1 month due to a conveyor belt that needs to be replaced. Crews used 1 ton of cold mix to fill in potholes in various locations around the City, painted in Zones 3, 4 and 9, removed, replaced and relocated 19 miscellaneous street signs throughout Turlock, responded to glass in the roadway at Monte Vista near Walnut, trash and car battery in the gutter on Berkeley near Monte Vista, shopping cart full of trash on N. First and Julian, debris in road on N. Olive near Delbon, removed limbs from roadway on Fifth and Lander, repainted end-of-the road wooden barricade, replaced 2 red warning signs at the end of Wyndfair, and re-wrapped 4 island nose markers with yellow/amber reflective strips on Monte Vista between Four Seasons and Golden State. Crews cleaned and removed graffiti from miscellaneous locations and parks around the City.
Assessment District
· Re-staked trees along the bike path that runs along Taylor Rd. and on Berkeley Ave., repaired sprinklers and irrigation line, dumped dogipots along all bike paths, general maintenance, mowing, blowing, edging, weeding, and irrigation repairs throughout the Assessment Dist.
Buildings
· Crews are rerouting the sprinkler system at the Police Dept. for the portable building being installed in the lawn area.
Recreation Division:
· Adult Softball completed the fall season over this last week. This was the final league play for the year at Pedretti Park. There are still two tournaments scheduled in November, and then the fields will be closed until the first part of February when we start tournaments and league play all over again.
· The youth baseball tournament was canceled over the weekend by the tournament director due to a shortage of teams.
· Registrations are currently being accepted for the upcoming youth basketball league. This league will begin in January with games being played at both Turlock and Pitman High Schools. This program is coached by the high school coaches and basketball players.
Arts
· The Yosemite Renaissance exhibition opened to the public on November 10 in the City Gallery at City Hall. This annual traveling exhibition features more than 35 works of art inspired by the landscape of Yosemite National Park and the Sierra region. Artists from around the country are featured with entries in painting, photography, printmaking, digital media and textiles.
· Preparations are underway for the annual holiday fine art and craft exhibition and sale, taking place again this year at the Community Art Gallery inside the office of Rex Klein Insurance on Center Street. The exhibition will open on November 28th during the Downtown Festival of Lights
Upcoming Special Event:
· Turlock Downtown Christmas Parade, scheduled for Friday, December 5 at 7:00 p. m.
Utility Maintenance Division:
Telemetry
· Ongoing SCADA System Management.
· Printed 5 books of master SCADA point list that contains 6009 points – 137 pages.
· Intense testing of Exceed software for SCADA and pinpointed the problem, entered my handwritten testing data into excel spreadsheet, made graphs of data and sent to HSQ. Worked with HSQ and problem was solved.
· HSQ made correction to XviewNT.exe file on Del’s test PC.
· Continuing in depth evaluation with complete success.
· Updated slides: 240, 255, 267, 230 and 215.
· Created additional requested Trends for analysis of Chlorine System.
· 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
· Wrote draft proposal after researching complete facilities hardware.
· Draft proposal presented to Larry Gilley for consideration.
Collections TV Inspection Truck Video System
· Converted 92 video files from Windows Media Video *.WMV format to MPEG format *.MPG which is required for playback. Updated POSM software in TV inspection truck that now does this function automatically.
· Backed up entire POSM (Pipeline Observation System Management) database.
· Webcast: Stormwater 101 the basics – For Engineering and Environmental Staff.
· Facilitated class with online Archived Webcast, requested by Rich Fultz.
Water System Projects
· Read commercial meters
· Installed a 1” Double Check backflow device at Columbia Park
· Poured the concrete pad for the 4’ RP device at 1619 E. Monte Vista, this is now complete.
· Repaired a water leak in the meter box at 2500 Walnut.
· Collected 3 bacti samples at 3108 N Tegner.
· Made a 6” hot tap for contractor at 532 N. First.
· Made a 2” hot tap for contractor at 215 West Ave. South.
· Raised 2 meter boxes to grade in Carrigan Alley.
· Replaced B-36 meter box lid at 1251 La Sombra.
· Tested 3 backflow devices at 1200 W. Main St.
· Flushed dead end blow offs
· Replaced the fire hydrant in front of 1377 Lander Ave. and at 555 E. Main St.
· Replaced the B-16 meter box at 1078 Kenwood.
· Excavated and gathered material in preparation for meter and backflow installation at 305 S. Soderquist.
· Installed a new replacement 2” water service with meter at 701 S. Golden State and abandoned the old existing service.
Sewer and Storm System Projects
· Repaired 4’ of 8” sewer main and the service at 900 Edwards Dr.
· Replaced 7’ of the sewer service, installed a clean out and replaced the sidewalk at 120 Beech St,
· Cleared a sewer stoppage in the service at 266 Berkeley.
· Installed a sewer clean out at 223 Burgenland.
· Cleaned existing sewer mains 9554 FT., grids D-6, G-7 and G-9, this also includes monthly cleaning runs.
· Televised 2,588 ft of existing sewer main Grid D-6 and G-7.
· Cleaned 14 catch basins at various Storm Basins.
Miscellaneous and Special Projects
· Abandoned the storm lines at the pond on Burman west of Colorado
· Cleaned and televise the sewer line, for Engineering dept., in the alley between E. Olive and Florence between Lexington and Orange
· This is the summary for this week’s projects, along with the normal USA’S, well pump and sewer pump maint, city bacti samples, water complaints & employee training hours.
Water Conservation
· Gave 13 watering schedules
· Responded to 3 water leaks
· Set up 4 sprinkler/timers
· Gave 2 first time warnings
· Gave 1 second time warning
· Recorded 160 street lights
Electrical/Mechanical Projects
· Completed annual storm station megger checks.
· Replaced 5 hp Gould pump with spare at Volk storm pond.
· Replaced sub-cap cable on spare 5 hp Flygt pump to be installed at sewer 61.
· Installed antennae and cable at well 38 for Itron water meter project. Powered up CCU.
· Replaced motor starter for air compressor at new cng maintenance building.
· Installed hold down clips on all grates at Walnut storm pond.
· Completed weekly WQC instrumentation cleaning and calibrations.
· Completed weekly sewer lift checks. Pulled pumps at sewer 54, 9, 61.
· Completed USA’s and streetlight work orders.
Fleet Maintenance
· Diagnosed and repaired vehicles/equipment for the following divisions and departments:
ü Police – 11 work requests
ü Transit bus -13 work requests
ü Public Facilities – 23 work requests
ü Utility Maintenance -15 work requests (Electrical, Collections and Water)
ü Fire – 3 work requests
ü Neighborhood/Preservation – 2 work requests
ü Housing – 1work request
ü PM’s Preventive Maintenance work requests – 25 which include, A’s, B’s, CHP’s, Mini’s, etc.
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, November 4, 2008 RWQC Facility quarterly ground water limitation samples were taken. Analysis was performed by our contract lab and included the annual mineral standard testing. On Wednesday November 5, 2008 staff collected the required weekly R1, R2, R3, R4 and R5 samples.
· The maintenance staff installed a new Dissolved Oxygen meter at Aeration Basin # 1. The Dissolved Oxygen meter is used to measure and control the amount of oxygen present in the Aeration Basins. The Aeration Basins are a major part of the Secondary Activated Sludge Process and maintaining adequate oxygen levels is essential for the health of the process.
· Staff began screening the yearly Nutrilock production.
· Contractors continued working on the Fuel Cell Project. A team of representatives from TID toured the Project site and Water Resources Building. The group was gathering information and will be participating in the planning of a reception party for the Fuel Cell grand opening which will take place once the Project is completed, possibly in December.
· The WQC Facility has encountered 329 days without a lost time accident.
· The WQC Division Manager and WQC Supervisor attended an Ethics Training Workshop sponsored by the California Water Environment Association and hosted by Sacramento Regional WWTP.
· Operations and Lab. staff worked on “factual comments” relative to the preliminary draft permit.
Regulatory Affairs Division:
· Solar Power: We met with the Turlock Irrigation District to discuss ideas for using solar power at the Regional Water Quality Control Facility. As TID does not allow third party contracting for power, the city would have to fund the entire cost of the project up front. Most likely, as a government (non-tax) agency, there would be no state and federal tax assistance available to reduce the substantial capital investment. A one-half megawatt system could reduce the city’s power cost by 9%, or approximately $100,000 per year. These relatively modest savings are due to the fact that the city already receives an excellent power rate and because the RWQCF is a 24/7 operation with a continual high demand for power. Although it appears that the use of solar is not really financially feasible at this time, but we discussed options for other joint efforts in energy: the city provides recycled water for cooling at the Walnut Energy Center we will soon be providing methane gas for the fuel cell project.
· General Plan Update: We have provided a number of studies and reports to Dyett Bhatia related to the groundwater basin in Turlock.
· Go Green Newsletter: The second edition of the City of Turlock’s Go Green Newsletter has been published and distributed to subscribers. The online version can be viewed at http://ci.turlock.ca.us/citydepartments/municipalservices/gogreen/newsletters.asp If you would like to receive the Go Green Newsletter via email or any of the other Municipal Services electronic communications, please sign up online at http://ci.turlock.ca.us/aboutturlock/emailupdates/.
· 100 Things to Go Green Publication: The end of the City of Turlock’s Centennial year is coming to a close, and will conclude the “100 Things to Go Green” program which consists of weekly E-tips on how residents and business owners can step up their conservation and waste management practices. All of the 100 “tips” will be published in a booklet and will be made available at the beginning of the 2009 year.
FIRE SERVICES
Operations Division:
· Fire Services responded to 84 calls for service for the week of 11/7 through 11/13.
ü 59 EMS Calls
ü 5 MVA’S
ü 2 False Alarms
ü 4 No Patient Contact
ü 3 Canceled Enroute
ü 2 Dumpster Fire
ü 1 Good Intent
ü 4 Smoke Detector Check
ü 1 Steam/Vapor
ü 1 Service call
ü 1 Public Service
ü 1 Deceased Baby in Dumpster
Training Division:
· All engines conducted large area search training at Liberty Market.
Fire Prevention:
· Hotels (3)
· Nelson-Jameson warehouse
· US cold storage (plan review)
· Large apartment complex (Christoffersen)
· Misc. other smaller projects
POLICE SERVICES
Service Demands:
Calls for Service 2032
Criminal Investigations 236
Arrests 83
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 responded to a call out regarding a new-born infant being found in a dumpster behind the SaveMart on Lander Avenue. We have been unsuccessful in locating the mother and have very few leads. At this point we have been able to determine if the infant was alive when it was left in the dumpster. There were no signs of foul play. An account has been set up for donations, through “HELP” of Stanislaus County. These donations can be sent to, “Baby Jane Doe” at the Valley First Credit Union. Investigators continue to be extremely busy with open cases, including the Homicide on November 5th, near the Fair Grounds, in the 1000 block of West Canal Drive from last week. They are also in the process of preparing the “Band-Aid Bandit” case for court.
Neighborhood Services
· Staff from Neighborhood Services has continued to work with stores in the city regarding the Shopping Cart Ordinance. They also contacted four people with carts of the property of the business. At this point staff is informing the public of the new ordinance, issuing verbal warnings, and also providing a flyer that explains the ordinance.
Field Operations Division:
Significant Events and Trends
· Assault on Officer – While an officer is investigating a disturbance in the 4000 block of Fosberg, a 20 year old male impedes the officer’s investigation and, at one point, tries to hit the officer. The subject was arrested for assaulting an officer and obstruction.
· Chain Reaction – Police and EMS responded to a four car accident at the intersection of Monte Vista and Countryside. One driver rear-ended a Toyota Camry, knocking it into another car, which was knocked into a fourth car. The Camry (the second car) sustained major damage, with the driver being transported to the hospital with minor injuries. Three lanes of Monte Vista were shut down until the roadway was cleared. The driver of the first vehicle was arrested for DUI.
· Quick Response – Wal-Mart employees called about some suspicious people within the store. Officers arrived as one of the suspects ran out the door with stolen property. A 38-year old female was booked for a felony; theft with prior theft convictions.