City Administrator Friday Letter
November 3, 2023
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In Today's Vlog:
- THANK YOU for an amazing Halloween/Birthday week!
- Highlights of upcoming City Council agenda
- 90-Day comment letter received from State on Housing Element Draft
- Housing Ad Hoc Committee meeting - Nov. 13th, 3pm
- Outdoor Wine Tasting Ad Hoc Committee meeting - Nov. 14th, 4pm
- Upcoming holidays and events - Veterans Day & Homecrafters
- Forest Management Plan Survey still active
- New format for City Zoom meetings begins next week at Council
- Get well soon Chip!
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City Staff Pumpkin Carving Contest! |
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After a Pandemic hiatus, the City staff pumpkin carving contest returned. Check out the entries and congratulations to the winners. |
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1ST Prize
Renee @ the Library
(Carmel Cottage #1)
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2nd Prize
City Clerk Nova
(Carmel Cottage #2)
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Your copy should address 3 key questions: Who am I writing for? (Audience) Why should they care? (Benefit) What do I want them to do here? (Call-to-Action)
Create a great offer by adding words like "free" "personalized" "complimentary" or "customized." A sense of urgency often helps readers take an action, so think about inserting phrases like "for a limited time only" or "only 7 remaining!"
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3rd Prize
Afza @ the Library
(baby pumpkin snack)
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On Saturday, October 28, our Carmel CERT Team came together at the Sunset Center for a Winter Storm Training Drill. They practiced response to three different scenarios, all under the dramatic of a simulated bomb cyclone. It was a fantastic morning of teamwork, learning and growth. They are now better equipped and ready for whatever winter has in store for us. Huge thanks to the Sunset Center for their generous support in providing the perfect location. Check out this short video. |
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All City offices, except Public Safety, will be closed on Friday, November 10th in observance of Veterans Day. All offices will reopen on Monday, November 13. |
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Celebrate Excellence: Nominate Your Favorites!
It's that time of year when we honor the very best in our community!
The 2023 Awards of Excellence are just around the corner, and nominations are now OPEN. But we need your help to shine a light on the businesses and organizations that have truly excelled in 2023.
Cast Your Vote: The first round of voting is open to the public until Friday, November 10th. It's your chance to make a difference and support your local favorites. The top three businesses and organizations in each category, chosen by public vote, will advance to the final round—open exclusively to Chamber members.
Click on the button to cast your vote!
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Hybrid Meeting Update!
The City is making a move from Zoom Meetings to Zoom Webinar format for our hybrid public meetings. The debut webinar meeting is set for Monday and Tuesday's hybrid Council meetings. As always, the Zoom link and instructions on how to participate in the meeting remotely are included on the first page of each agenda. You can find the agendas for the November 6 & 7th City Council meetings on our Meetings page: https://ci.carmel.ca.us/meetings.
This transition aims to enhance meeting security and streamline public comment management. Recent disruptive "zoom bombs" during government meetings have motivated us to make this change.
Curious about the differences between Zoom Meetings and Webinars? Check out our "Zoom Webinar Q and A" HERE. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to [email protected]. We're here to help!
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What's Happening at the Library & Community Activities? |
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Thank you to everyone who came out on Saturday for the 8th Annual Pumpkin Roll. We appreciate your patience during our dumpster delay. But once that dumpster arrived your enthusiasm and pumpkin rolling were in high gear.
A Great Pumpkin shout-out to Triple F Farms and John Given for the pumpkins. There were certainly some good throwing and rolling pumpkins in those 600+ pumpkins!
Thank you also to our Public Works staff who set up the course and made sure the pumpkins made it into the dumpster. Community Activities couldn't do our events without them.
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Another thank you to all the witches, Spidermans, Batmans, aliens, princesses, firefighters, and all the other costumed (and non-costumed) Halloween paraders. Your enthusiasm was contagious and it was a fun way to celebrate the City's 107th birthday!
Thank you again to the City staff and the VIPs who helped us with street closures and handing out candy in the park. Again, we couldn't do it without your help.
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VIPs Deanna & Carolyne, Community Services Officer/Animal Control Cindi Mitchell |
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VIPs Deanna, Diana, Lee, Paul, |
Click on the button and see a Halloween Parade slideshow! (Thank you Nancy) |
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Your Halloween Library Staff! |
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This Week in Public Works |
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Public Works staff are still recuperating from all the help they gave to the Community Activities Department this week - Pumpkin Roll, Halloween Parade, and taking down Halloween lights to put up Holiday lights. They also managed to take down some trees, plant some trees, and generally keep the City going.
They will return next week with some photos!
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Community Planning & Building News |
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Housing Element Update - 90-Day State Comment Letter Received
This week, we received the official comment letter from the State Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) on our first draft Housing Element Update that was submitted to them 90-days ago. The comment section of the letter is only nine (9) pages long, which is pretty remarkable compared to many jurisdictions who have seen letters upwards of 25 pages! Kudos to the entire Housing Element Team for their excellent work on this project!
Staff is working to review these comments, and will be discussing responses and next steps with the City's Housing Ad Hoc Committee at a public meeting on November 13th at 4:00pm in City Hall Council Chambers.
Please come and join the conversation, and provide your thoughts on this next important step in the process. If you would like to review the comments received from the State, click the button below.
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Don't forget to turn your clocks back one hour before you go to bed Saturday night so you can take advantage of that extra hour of sleep! |
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Rolling our clocks back always brings up thoughts about time, and how precious it is. What would you do if you really got one extra hour in a day? How would you "spend" it?
Make the most of the time you have, be kind to each other, and of course, take good care!
-Brandon
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