Street talks

LINDSAY — Council members spent a part of Tuesday night’s meeting prioritizing streets most in need of repair in their city.

City Services Director Mike Camarena went over the list of streets, that includes Apia Street Overlay which includes Olive Avenue to Mt. Vernon Avenue, Honolulu Street Overlay which includes Ashland Avenue to Mt. Vernon Avenue, Samoa Street Overlay which includes Ashland Avenue to Mt. Vernon Avenue, Mirage Avenue Overlay from Samoa Street to Hermosa Street and intersection rehabilitations from Hickory/Parkside, Honolulu/Harvard, Lindmore/Mirage.

Council member Pam Kimball asked about the intersection rehabilitations.

“The intent would be to go out and grind out rough surface and even go deeper and come in with new asphalt. The base impact would be Hickory and Parkside that’s the one that’s rippling the worst right now,” answered Camarena.

“How long before we can do all five of them, a one-year plan, a five-year plan?” asked Kimball.

“The expectation is we put estimates together and then put that into our budget and see how much we can spend at one particular time. So for instance, we can do Apia, Honolulu and Samoa, all within blocks of each other in that aerial hub,” added Camarena, who pointed out that the intent was to complete all projects immediately if funding was available.

“On the list that we started eight years ago where are these items on that list?” asked Council member Danny Salinas.

“The streets program list is a fluid list and these there are some that are listed. For example the Mirage project and Samoa, but others like Apia and Honolulu have been identified by our citizens saying we’re having trouble crossing the streets and so while they’re still a priority those are immediately recognized by our citizens as problems. Something we’d listen to and bring in council,” explained Camarena.

Councilmember Ramona Villarreal-Padilla thought it was important to listen to the people.

“The ones that citizens have mentioned that have been a problem, I would say that would be a huge priority. They’ve spoken about it and have expressed their concerns, so maybe that’s something  that we could look at,” said Padilla.

After hearing everyone’s input Mayor Ed Murray wanted to know what the council wanted to do.

“Do you want to make the decision a priority or do you want to see what the bids are first?”

Council elected to wait to see what the bids were before making a decision.

Budget Update

The council also got a financial update that showed the city in the black for the year.
Finance Director Tamara Laken said $13,364,401 was spent in 2011-2012 and in that same year revenue was reported as $14,637,926. However, a net total of amendment to the expense budget for 2011-2012 was a $566,098.

“I’m not asking to increase the budget,” said Laken.

Other business included:

-Approved the income waiver for use of up to $100,000 in C.D.B.G. Program income money to be used for a school resource officer for the Lindsay Unified School District.

-Heard tentative waste discharge requirements for three parcels of land which would require additional monitoring and reporting to the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board. If adopted by the agency, the new requirements would take effect in January 2013.

-Heard informational items regarding a refuse increase at county landfills which could impact single residents bills from $ 1.55 to $1.75 per month to make up for a projected shortfall of $5 million in the Solid Waste Enterprise Fund for Tulare County. Staff will continue to analyze cost and present findings to council.  

-Heard reports that the irrigation system trenching at the park has begun with the installation of the 5-inch line.