City of Benicia This Week
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In this edition: Holiday Closure, Library Reopening Wednesday, Citywide Street Resurfacing Begins Tuesday, New Online Application Center and Customer Service Check-in, City Cemetery Clean Up, Community Air Monitoring Site Selection Meeting, Earth Day Recap, City Employee Spotlight, COVID Resources

Message from the City Manager
Month Day, 2021

Hello Everyone,
On this important day I wanted to take a moment to honor those who have fallen in defense of our great nation. My heart goes out to those family members who have had to live on with that void in their lives. I would also like us to remember those we continue to lose to post-traumatic stress-related suicide. Our understanding of the damage our combat veterans often suffer with has grown a great deal in the last decade, but we have much more work to do.
 
A little-known fact about Memorial Day is that it actually started as Decoration Day as early as 1865. Various communities would gather to decorate the graves of some of the 600,00 – 800,000 Union and Confederate dead. In my reading on this, I learned that perhaps the first Decoration Day event likely took place in 1865 at a racetrack in Charleston, South Carolina. The racetrack had been a Confederate prison camp, where many Union soldiers had died of disease and were buried in mass graves. When Charleston fell, a group of recently emancipated black slaves, went in and gave the Union soldiers a proper burial. Then, on May 1, 1865, nearly 10,000 people (mostly freed black slaves) staged a parade in honor of the Union dead at the track. This remarkable moment may have been the true first Memorial Day event in the United States. If you are interested in reading more on this, you can find it in Yale Professor David Blight’s book Race and Reunion.
 
I’d like to close with some important City business I’m very proud of. Below you will read about the endeavor’s of our Community Development Department’s efforts to become more customer service-focused and transparent. I’m very proud of the work of the Department Director, Brad Misner, and his amazing team. They are doing great things and will help drive our City staff’s new vision of being the very best at what we do and focusing our work on providing the highest level of community service.

Thank you for your interest in the City of Benicia This Week!

Erik Upson
City Manager
City News
Holiday Closure
Benicia City Offices, Benicia Community Center and other admistrative offices will be closed on Monday, May 31 in observance of Memorial Day.
 
Requests for emergency water and sewer service may be made at the Benicia Police Department, 200 East L Street or by calling 707.745.3411.
Library Reopening Wednesday
Library staff are excited to welcome you back to the Benicia Public Library! Beginning Wednesday, June 2, they will have limited hours for in-person services, including holds pickup, browsing, printing, and computer use.
 
The library is calling this “BPL Lite,” and for the month of June, the library’s hours will be Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, noon to 5 p.m. No appointments are necessary, limited to 25 people at a time for a maximum of one hour. The library will continue to offer curbside pickup by appointment on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.
 
Library staff are following county and state public health guidelines to ensure your visit is as safe and pleasant as possible. They will continue to adapt and modify services in accordance with state and local guidance.
 
During limited visiting hours, the following in-person services will be available:
  • Browse the collection 
  • Pick up holds
  • Use public computers for 45-minute sessions (limit one per day, per person) 
  • Make photocopies 

Visiting Guidelines:
 
All patrons must follow the Library’s health and safety rules:
  • Patrons two years and older are required to wear a properly fitting face covering 
  • Patrons inside and outside the libraries must follow social distancing guidelines 
  • Patrons are expected to follow the posted signage and verbal directions of staff 
  • Patrons will be provided with hand sanitizer upon entry 
  • Eating and drinking inside the library is not permitted at this time 
  • Stay home if you are sick or have COVID-19 symptoms 
  • No donations of books and other materials accepted at this time 

In addition to the visiting guidelines above, the library’s also doing the following to protect the safety of patrons and staff: 
  • Limiting occupancy inside the library 
  • Disinfecting high-touch surfaces regularly
  • Staff conduct daily health checks 
  • Installing plexiglass at service desks 
  • Placing social distancing markers and signs throughout the library 
  • Providing hand sanitation stations throughout the library 
  • Letting returned items sit for at least 24 hours before being circulated  

Benicia Public Library will continue to offer services online and by phone. For more information about limited visiting hours, please visit benicialibrary.org/news/welcome-back.
Benicia Public Library staff excited to reopen to the public.
Citywide Street Resurfacing Begins Tuesday
The City of Benicia Public Works Department announces work on the FY20-21 Citywide Street Resurfacing Project will start on Tuesday, June 1. The project will rehabilitate portions of 45 city streets mostly on the east side, and in the Southampton and southwest areas of Benicia using a grind and overlay process, also known as “mill and fill.”
 
The contractor, Ghilotti Brothers, Inc., will begin work on Tuesday and is scheduled to complete the project in September 2021. The first order of work includes pot-holing, trimming vegetation, lowering manholes and other utility boxes, and preparing for installation of curb ramps. Work is scheduled between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Notification of residents and businesses was made last week. Effort will be made to minimize impacts to residents, businesses and the traveling public.
 
“This street resurfacing project will bring needed improvements to our roadway network” said Public Works Director William Tarbox. “Partially funded by a CalRecycle Rubberized Pavement Grant and Benicia’s Measure C, the one-cent on the dollar local sales tax measure, we want to thank Benicia residents for their continued support in funding important infrastructure projects.”
 
The resurfacing process removes the top layer of asphalt by a grinding operation and replaces it with rubberized asphalt concrete (RAC) to provide a smooth driving surface. RAC has been selected instead of conventional asphalt concrete (hot mix asphalt or HMA) for following benefits:
 
  • RAC’s material properties allow the use of a thinner layer of rubberized asphalt, 2.4 inches, that meets or exceeds the performance of HMA’s 3- to 4-inch layer of conventional asphalt; accordingly, less asphalt will be used, which means more streets can be rehabilitated within the same budget.
  • RAC is more flexible than HMA, so it performs better in resistance to cracking and rutting; however, HMA will be used in cul-de-sacs since HMA resists the tires of turning heavy trucks better than RAC.
  • Improved safety due to better long-term color contrast with pavement markings, e.g., crosswalks, striping, etc., because carbon black in the rubber acts as a pigment that keeps the pavement darker for a longer period than HMA.
  • Lower maintenance costs due to improved durability and performance.
  • Reduced traffic noise due to the flexible nature of RAC.
  • Using RAC diverts several thousand tires destined for landfills to other beneficial uses (e.g., paving projects).
 
Background
On February 18, 2020, the Benicia City Council approved funding for the FY20-21 Citywide Street Resurfacing Project (Project) from Solid Waste Franchise Fees, Senate Bill 1, and Benicia Measure C funds.
 
On October 20, 2020, the City Council approved additional funding for the Project from the General Fund.
 
On May 18, 2021, the City Council approved a $4.39 Million construction contract with Ghilotti Brothers, Inc. of San Rafael, CA, for the FY20-21 project. To maximize the success of the project, the City Council also approved a $163,965 contract with Coastland Civil Engineers of Fairfield, CA to provide construction management and inspection services.
 
The City's Pavement Management Program (PMP) evaluates and applies cost- effective pavement treatments to the 200 lane-miles of city streets and was prepared by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission's consulting engineer. The PMP specifies grind and overlay as a recommended treatment for the streets in this project. The PMP web page will provide a construction schedule, currently being finalized, and updates during construction. Click here for a list of streets to be resurfaced in this project.

Lake Herman Road Repaving Complete
The City of Benicia Public Works Department announces the Lake Herman Road paving project has been completed. Last summer, the Citywide Street Resurfacing Project completed the rehabilitation of 11 city streets mostly on the east side and in the industrial area of Benicia. The Lake Herman Road portion of the project was started in fall of 2020, then put on hold in mid-November as the weather cooled. It was restarted this past April.
 
The Lake Herman Road pavement, between the westen city limit and Reservoir Road, was rehabilitated by a process called Full-Depth Reclamation (FDR). FDR is a recycling method for reconstruction of existing pavements using the existing pavement as the base for the new roadway surface. The treatment of the base layer and recycled asphalt provides a stronger foundation for present and future traffic. This process produces a cost-effective solution that maximizes limited budgets.
 
The Lake Herman Road pavement, between Reservoir Road and East 2nd Street, was rehabilitated by a process called cape seal, which is an application of a chip seal followed by an application of micro-surfacing. The chip seal bonds and seals the cracks in the existing pavement by an application of an asphalt emulsion that is immediately covered by ¼-inch to ¾-inch chip aggregate (rock). The micro-surfacing, an application of asphalt emulsion and very small, crushed aggregate, improves the chip aggregate retention and smoothness of the driving surface.

The work on Lake Herman Road is a joint effort between the City of Benicia and Solano County, with the county including Benicia’s portion of Lake Herman Road within their paving project for cost savings.
New Online Application Center and Customer Service Check-in
The City of Benicia is excited to announce a new plan review, permit, and payment website for the public effective Tuesday, June 8. The Community Development and Public Works Departments and Code Compliance Division are switching to a new application center for all planning, building, permitting and compliance issues at https://beniciaca.viewpointcloud.com, which can also be reached from each division’s web page.
 
This new portal will be the hub for all permit application submissions to these divisions, allowing members of the public to submit and track applications, as well as pay permit and licensing fees all online.
 
For greater convenience, the new streamlined process enables applicants to see live status updates on their applications, improves communication and access to City staff, reduces the use of paper applications, and eliminates the need to wait in line at City Hall. In-person visitation to City Hall is still welcomed, however all applications will be processed through the new website, allowing applicants to transfer between online and in-person processing as needed.
 
“The new permit system is a wonderful customer service enhancement to automate the City’s services. The development and implementation have been occurring for the past six months and is now ready for public use,” said Brad Misner, Community Development Director. “As we switch over and use the new application center, the City welcomes feedback on the website to help us continue the work towards our goal of providing excellent customer service to the public.”
 
Users will need to create a free account on the application center page. The account allows easy tracking for ongoing submissions, communication with City staff and facilitates online payments.
 
All open applications and work currently being processed will be transferred to the new portal through the month of June. Until an application has been fully transferred over, the applicant will need to check in with the corresponding department on its status and next steps. Once an application has been fully transferred over, the applicant will be notified and able to access it via their new login. Previous work done and any fees paid will be transferred over as well. Starting June 8, all applications will be done entirely through the new application center website. City staff look forward to working with the public to make this a successful transition for everyone.
 
New online customer service check-in for Community Development
For residents, businesses and contractors looking to connect with Community Development Department staff, the department is launching a convenient, accessible and easier way to get in touch with the department via a new check-in at www.tinyurl.com/BeniciaCDDcheckin.
 
From planning, permitting and building questions, to paying fees and checking on project statuses, it’s now easier than ever to get in touch with the right person by filling out a short electronic form. 
 
After electronically checking in during posted business hours, a staff member will be in touch via the preferred method of contact, including phone call, text message, email or in person. If after hours, on weekends or holidays, a response will be received during the next available business hours. 
 
During the pandemic, Community Development staff found working virtually had its merits. The virtual check-in process is the safest and most efficient way to continue to meet the needs of the public without queuing in the lobby. Clients can safely skip waiting in line to talk to the correct person by checking in from their smartphone, computer, tablet or they can come to City Hall and check in at the Front Desk.
City Cemetery Clean Up
Special thanks goes to the Benicia Community Foundation for organizing and recruiting volunteers for the Community Clean Up Day at the City Cemetery on May 1. There was an excellent turn out of approximately 50 volunteers who worked with City staff on a wide variety of tasks.

Karen Burns, a longtime volunteer and advocate of the City Cemetery gave everyone in attendance a little background on the history of the cemetery. The Benicia Community Foundation also gave special recognition to retired Parks and Community Services parks employee Ernest Meyers for his years of service to the City and the cemetery.

Volunteers were treated to lunch from Sandoval’s and Sprankle’s Deli. The event was a huge success and the beginning of a great partnership on future projects.

Benicia Community Foundation is an advocacy group of “Benicians Adopting Benicia”; they provide volunteers and supplement funding to help with light upkeep and simple enrichments around Benicia.

Restored Marker
Joey Harvey was a young teenager when he visited his family vault at the Benicia City Cemetery with his father. Their family noticed that their family vault was vandalized in the late ‘40’s or early ‘50’s. When young Joel and his father arrived, they found that the vault door had been welded shut and the family name plate torn off the door and left on the ground. Joel’s father put the Hooper name plate in his trunk where it remained for many years. Eventually the name plaque ended up with Joel and he was unsure what he was going to do with it. 

Joel recently saw an article in the paper about the City Cemetery being named on the National Register of Historic Places and saw that the Parks & Community Services Department currently operates and maintains the area. He called and spoke to Ann Dunleavy, Superintendent of Parks & Community Services, about the possibility of having city staff re-install his family name plaque. 

Theron Jones (Parks & Building Maintenance Superintendent) and Mike Rodacker (Building Maintenance Worker III) met Joel Harvey at the City Cemetery where they inspected the current condition of the vault door and reattached the name plaque. It took almost 70 years, but the original family name plate is finally back where it belongs for future generations to visit and pay their respects. 

Parks & Community Service staff grateful to the Harvey family for keeping the name plate in excellent condition all these years and working with the department to restore to its original location. 

If you'd like to visit the historic Benicia City Cemetery, you can find it on Riverhill Drive off of East Second Street.
Community Air Monitoring Site Selection Meeting
Bay Area Air Quality Management District invites community members to attend a virtual community meeting to learn about air quality monitoring and help shape the future of community air monitoring in the Benicia area:

Wednesday, June 30, 2021
6 - 8 p.m.
Via Zoom (login info available soon)

In a joint effort with the City of Benicia, the Air District identified candidate locations in Benicia for a new community air monitoring station. At this meeting, Air District staff will share the sites under consideration and information about how the sites were selected. Community members and stakeholders will have the opportunity to inform final site selection.

The Air District monitors air quality as part of ongoing efforts to inform and protect public health. One of the ways the Air District does this is by collecting fees to install, operate, and maintain air monitoring stations in communities near refineries. These air monitoring stations will provide additional information about the levels of pollution experienced by these communities.

The Air District invites you to participate in this community meeting to discuss and review the site selection process and provide feedback on a community air monitoring station within the Benicia community.

Air District staff want to ensure a fair and equitable virtual workshop experience and provide opportunities for all interested parties to participate. Workshop materials will be available on the Air District’s Special Air Monitoring Projects web page beginning June 7, 2021.

Simultaneous language interpretation can be provided upon request at least 72 hours before the event. Contact Brian Butler at bbutler@baaqmd.gov or 415.603.7721 to request interpretation.

Questions may be sent by e-mail to iperkins@baaqmd.gov.
Earth Day Recap
This year's global Earth Day theme was Restore Our Earth, and Solano County residents took local action in the week-long event. Due to the ongoing pandemic, the event was virtual and trash cleanups were self-directed and completed on an individual basis.

Between April 19 and 24, CleanupSolano highlighted local cleanup groups and offered simple tips any person can bring into their everyday lives to #KeepSolanoClean.

Throughout the month of April, over 3,000 pounds of litter and illegally dumped debris was collected by the 230 or more volunteers who cleaned up Solano County's cities for Earth Day. (Shown are volunteers from Benicia's Valley Fine Foods.)

According to the event organizer, Solano Resource Conservation District, and data reported on the CleanSwell mobile app or on social media, trash cleanups occurred in Dixon, Vacaville, Fairfield, Suisun City, Vallejo, and Benicia. 1,081 pounds of debris was collected in Benicia, second only to Vallejo's 1,300 lbs! Much of the success in Benicia was due to the efforts and organization by Benicia Litter Pickers. The City of Benicia was happy to assist by donating bags for recycling and glove as well as disposing of trash collected locally. You may view the report on the clean up by clicking here.

As a reminder, our freeways are Caltrans property and have been recently restricted to Caltrans only maintenance. We encourage residents and business owners to contact Caltrans each and every time you see something that needs to be cleaned or maintained on the freeway, on-ramps and off-ramps that run through Benicia. Visit csr.dot.ca.gov to report any issues. The more often Caltrans receives reports from Benicia, the more likely we are to see continued results.
City Employee Spotlight
Shelsie Rishell started her career with the City of Benicia as a Human Resources Analyst I in April 2013 bringing with her a wealth of prior knowledge and experience. In May 2017, she was promoted to HR Analyst II. As a creative thinker and true collaborator, Shelsie continues to be instrumental in a variety of aspects of City functionality but most importantly recruitment efforts for all departments. Shelsie takes pride in making sure that the recruitment process runs smoothly and takes great care in bringing new employees on board as quickly and efficiently as possible.
 
Shelsie also maintains and oversees many of the safety programs implemented in the city and plays a lead role in BENSAC (Benicia Safety Advisory Committee), which meets monthly to review employees safety training. Shelsie’s well-rounded knowledge and desire to constantly grow and improve makes her someone who many City employees seek out for assistance or even a friendly smile.

Her positive attitude, kind spirit and dedicated work ethic bring so much to the Human Resources Division and the City of Benicia as a whole. There is no task or challenge too great in Shelsie’s eyes and she consistently espouses the HR divisions’s motto “one team, one dream.”

Away from work, Shelsie enjoys spending time with Bill, her husband of 15 years, and their 12-year old daughter, Gabriella.
COVID Assistance
Find resources and information for seniors, local food access, basic needs and rental assistance, mental health, stress and coping, and more courtesy of Solano County Public Health. Benicia residents in need of help during these difficult times may find assistance through these local resources:
Press Releases


Recent City of Benicia Press Releases are available on the City of Benicia website under Main/Announcements.
Save the Date
Modified service due to COVID-19
City Hall is open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. If you require entrance to City Hall offices outside of these hours, please make arrangements with staff from the department that you will be visiting.

All visitors shall be required to enter City Hall from East L street through the door located on the left (East) side of the building closest to the Post Office. Please check in with the staff person at the designated Welcome Window.

You will be required to wear a face covering over both your nose and mouth for the duration of your visit to City Hall. Please maintain 6 feet of social distancing between other visitors and staff. Do not visit City Hall if you are experiencing symptoms of COVID-19. Appointments can always be rescheduled.
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