City of Benicia This Week
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In this edition: Input on Parks, Trails & Opens Spaces Plan; Input on Short-term Rental Draft Ordinances; More Than Just Roads Maintenance; Save Water Today for a Greener Tomorrow; City Receives Over $700K for Infrastructure and Operations; Vegetation Management; Free Seismic Safety and Rehabilitation Series for Historic Homes; City Employee Spotlight
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Message from the City Manager |
June 20, 2022
Hello Everyone,
I'll start by saying, a day belated Happy Father’s Day to all the dads out there. As a father of four (Stephen, Erika, Ariana, and Grayson) it is one of my favorite days! It’s interesting as it almost always serves as a reminder to me of how fortunate I am, and in watching them grow and spread their wings, how truly important it is to enjoy every moment. And good reminder to all of us to hit pause and reflect on the many wonders in the world we have to be thankful for…even with all of the challenges that surround us.
As most everyone should be aware, we have begun our annual streets project with a major micro-surfacing project. We rotate every two years between a major roads rehabilitation/replacement program and micro-surfacing. The Micro-surfacing is much more cost effective in covering a large swath of the City, but only serves to preserve our higher-condition roads…preventing costly rehabilitation or replacement. This year we are able to cover even more ground as last year we came in under budget by about $300,000 and rolled that money over into this year’s project. That said, due to over a decade of underfunding, we have at least a decade of ground to make up. In order to improve & maintain our road system we need to make an investment of approximately $5.8 million each year. Unfortunately, we only receive about $1.1 from the State of California which includes our share of the state gas tax. This leaves a funding gap of approximately $4.7 million each year. The good news is we have a path to get our roads to good condition over the next ten years, with your help. There are those who would argue that we could find that money within our existing budget. That we should use Measure C to cover these costs. It is true that we could do that. That said, it would leave no funding left in Measure C for the purpose of Measure C…which is to maintain City services. It would also mean there would be no funding left for any of our other City infrastructure that is also massively underfunded…or not funded at all, such as our parks infrastructure, facilities, and other critical projects. More to come on that in next week's City of Benicia This Week.
The other important infrastructure we continue to try and make up ground with is our staffing. All of the funds in the world do no good if we don’t have the staff to get the work done. We’ve finally started to see that turn around. One of the things that gives is the ability to locate, apply for, and manage grant funding. A great example of this can be seen in the work of our Public Works Department. As we have been missing 5 out of 6 managers (unable to recruit or hire, in some cases for more than two years, as we are so uncompetitive) we have been only able to manage to obtain a fairly small amount of grant funds. Now as we have been able to recruit more competitively (now up to 4 out of 6 manager positions filled), we are beginning to see increased grant funds coming in. And next year looks even more promising! This is a force multiplier for our community, but we have to keep and maintain quality staff to accomplish this…and we just have not been able to do that over the last decade or more. We have made some real progress, but we need to keep our focus on this as well, at it is foundational to our future success.
I’d like to close by saying we all continue to be disheartened by acts of hate across our nation and the world. Here in Benicia, we are not immune from this. Local leaders and elected officials are making a genuine effort to understand the challenges of the community that we serve and model active engagement. However, incidents locally, nationally and around the world show us that as a community and as a nation, we need to do much more to move forward.
This month, as flags of pride and freedom fly over City Hall, Benicia is taking steps to promote inclusion through the integration of equity into the policy, planning, and programming of local government, and by supporting initiatives that create space to celebrate, congregate, and educate the community about the benefits diversity and inclusion bring – we are stronger together.
Thank you for your interest in the City of Benicia This Week!
Erik Upson
City Manager
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Input on Parks, Trails & Opens Spaces Plan |
The Parks & Community Services Department is hosting an interactive public input meeting on Wednesday, June 22 at 6 p.m. at Benicia Community Center, as a means to get feedback on the Parks, Trails and Open Space Master Plan. Details on the plan are available at www.lovebeniciaparks.com. |
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Input on Short-term Rental Draft Ordinances |
Tell us what you think! The City of Benicia is seeking public comment on a draft ordinance which would regulate the operation of short-term rentals in Benicia. “Short-term Rentals” refers to the rental of either bedrooms or whole housing units for a period of fewer than 30 days, typically on platforms such as AirBNB, VRBO and HomeAway. This ordinance, along with an alternative ordinance prohibiting short-term rentals, is expected to go to Benicia’s Planning Commission for review and possible recommendation to the City Council on Thursday, June 30 at 7 p.m. in the City Council Chamber.
You can review the draft that could change the way short-term rentals are regulated in Benicia here and feel free to send in your feedback to comdev@ci.benicia.ca.us.
If you have questions or would like to receive future updates on this project, please contact Associate Planner Evan Gorman at 707.746.4276 or egorman@ci.benicia.ca.us.
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More Than Just Roads Maintenance |
Road maintenance includes sidewalks, stormwater drains, bike lanes, accessibility and more! All of these should be routinely maintained in order to keep our community cruising smoothly.
Benicia needs about $5.8 million annually to maintain the quality of roads. Over the last five years, the City has only received an average of $1.1 million annually, leaving the City with a deficit of $4.7 million for road repairs, services and maintenance.
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Save Water Today for a Greener Tomorrow |
Check out this water conservation tips flyer. Find out how you can use water efficiently at home and conserve even more. More info on water conservation is available at www.ci.benicia.ca.us/beniciasaveswater.
Thank you for doing your part to help conserve water!
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City Receives Over $700K for Infrastructure and Operations |
At Tuesday’s City Council meeting, staff will recommend that Council make necessary budget adjustments to accept six grants totaling $765,123! These grants will help keep utility operations going and improve safety on our streets. Below is a summary of the grant awards:
- $152,842 from the State Water Board for lost water utility revenue due to COVID
- $303,044 from the State Water Board for lost wastewater utility revenue due to COVID
- $30,000 from Safe Routes to School Program to make pedestrian safety improvements on East Second Street near Riverhill Drive
- $200,000 from Metropolitan Transportation Commission for pedestrian and bike safety improvements at West Military near West 5th Street
- $39,237 from CalRecycle for public outreach and education about organics recycling
- $40,000 from Caltrans to develop a roadway safety plan
The grants do not cover the full cost of these projects or activities, but the money saved enables staff to do more in other areas of the city. Way to go Public Works and Finance Departments. Thanks for continuing to work on grant opportunities for the City!
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Reducing fire risk is the top priority of the City of Benicia and Benicia Fire Department. The City works to limit the impact of wildfire in our community through the vegetation management program, which employs fire breaks to control risk and spread of wildfires.
In preparation for wildfire season, the City is applying resources for fire breaks, including goat grazing, which was implemented in March 2022. Goats R Us, the company that provides the goats, is behind schedule and struggling to catch up due to this year's late rain causing vegetation re-growth. Therefore, the City is applying additional resources including additional goat herds, mechanical disking, and operational changes for the fire suppression division.
Starting this week, disking and goats will be in Benicia’s open spaces to create additional defensible space buffers.
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Free Seismic Safety and Rehabilitation Series for Historic Homes |
The Community Development Department shares that the California Preservation Foundation is offering a free webinar series to provide easily understandable and applicable information about seismic retrofit of older homes. The online series is offered by the California Office of Historic Preservation (OHP) through a grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
OHP staff, a team of architects, engineers, and architectural historians will guide you on upgrading and retrofitting your home without compromising its historic character. Case studies explain the process and identify programs and incentives useful for project planning, including the Earthquake Brace + Bolt Program and the California Historic Building Code.
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The Parks & Community Services department would like to recognize the talented and caring teachers of its Tiny Tots Pre-school program. They feel fortunate to have had Debbie Hoppe teaching for them for the past 28 years. Kathleen Lugliani has taught for the past 9 years. They have both taught hundreds of children in our community and are valued by the department, parents, and students. The success of this program is a direct reflection of both of their talents and passion. Tiny Tots Preschool is located at the Benicia Community Center. They offer four classes during the school year. Check out their webpage or online activity guide for more information.
Kathleen Lugliani has loved living in Benicia for the past 17 years with her family. She has been married to her husband for 30 years and has 2 kids who have attended school in Benicia. Grant is 21 years old and is transferring to San Diego State next fall and Gianna is 19 years old and attends the University of Washington. Kathleen has been a teacher for the Tiny Tots program for 9 years and taught kindergarten prior to Tiny Tots. Kathleen received her multiple subject Teaching Credential at Dominican University. She has really enjoyed teaching the Monday/Wednesday/Friday class at Tiny Tots for the last 9 years, her daughter attended the pre-school when they first moved to Benicia.
Debbie Hoppe and her husband of 40 years, Tim, have lived in Benicia for 31 years. She and Tim raised their two sons Jeff and Scott in Benicia, both attending schools in town as well. Debbie’s son Jeff is an attorney and he and his wife Erika reside in Reno. Her other son Scott and wife Charlette are CPA’s and reside here in Benicia. Debbie is a grandma of 5 littles ones all under the age of 4. Debbie received her bachelor’s degree in Early Childhood Education from Sacramento State. Debbie has been the Tuesday/Thursday Tiny Tots pre-school teacher for 28 years and prior to teaching her son attended the program. Debbie loves having the second generation of children in her class, remembering teaching their parents when she first started her career at Tiny Tots Preschool.
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Save the Date
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Jun 20 - Arts and Culture Commission meeting, 6:30 p.m. in the Edna Clyne Room, Benicia Public Library. See the Full Agenda for more information.
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Jun 21 - City Council meeting, 6 p.m. in the Council Chambers, City Hall. Watch live at https://www.ci.benicia.ca.us/agendas. See the Full Agenda for more information.
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Jun 23 - Historic Preservation Review Commission meeting, 6:30 p.m. in the Council Chambers, City Hall. See the Full Agenda for more information.
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Jun 24 - City Offices closed for Alternate Friday.
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City of Benicia This Week is published each Monday morning. Previous editions are available here. We also communicate on Nextdoor.com and AlertSolano.com. Sign up now!
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