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Santa Paula staff and officials outline grants, hiring, and property updates
Summary
City staff and an official reported federal and state grant awards, ongoing recruitments, and the city's recent acquisition of the Union Oil Building; staff also noted tree-planting, meal-service totals and upcoming RFPs for the historic building.
City staff and a city official provided a series of informational updates at the Planning Commission meeting, reporting recent grant awards, recruitment activity, and other program highlights.
Staff said the department is interviewing for two positions: a community development technician and an administrative analyst focused on contracts and budget. Staff reported roughly 25 and 22 applications for the two recruitments and said candidate turnout at interviews has improved compared with prior cycles.
A city official reported several grant and funding items. The official said the city received $1 million through Congresswoman Julia Brownley and Senator Alex Padilla for replacement work on the Mesa water tanks. The city official said the city received funding toward repairs and enhancements at the Spirit homeless shelter, including showers and casework offices (the official referenced $1.5 million), and said the city received $1 million toward a sports park. The official also said the city received a VCTC grant of $1.5 million for community bike-trail expansion and $400,000 in matching funds to support the Spirit shelter.
The official thanked partnering organizations and agencies that helped enroll residents in water-assistance programs and to distribute arrearage funds, including Community Action Ventura County and local promotores groups. The official also said the city served 16,434 meals in the fiscal year (nearly 10,000 to homebound seniors and about 7,150 served at the senior center), and said summer and after-school programs now serve hundreds of children.
On property and facilities, the official said the city completed acquisition of the historic Union Oil Building from Chevron and is soliciting proposals (RFPs) for reuse of the building. A short video segment featuring Carlos Juarez of the Santa Paula Historical Society introduced the site and encouraged future visits to the California Oil Museum building at 1001 E. Main St.; Juarez identified himself as a Santa Paula City Council member and Historical Society member in the clip.
Staff also noted the city has been named a Tree City USA and has planted about 125 trees over the last two years. The official said the city is starting the two-year budget process with department meetings and upcoming council goal-setting sessions and reminded the public that two noticed items (municipal code updates and redevelopment of the former Kmart site) were continued to the April 22 Planning Commission meeting.
These remarks were informational; no formal votes were taken on these updates during the Planning Commission meeting.
