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Camarillo presents FY25–26 strategic plan progress; staff highlights grants, homelessness work and AMI meter rollout
Summary
Assistant City Manager Carmen Nichols told the City Council on Jan. 28 that staff have advanced the FY25–26 strategic plan across 11 goals, reported grant awards and homelessness placements, and said the AMI water‑meter project is 64.4% complete; a retail alcohol zoning ordinance was noted as scheduled for second reading.
Camarillo — Assistant City Manager Carmen Nichols briefed the City Council and Camarillo Sanitary District on Jan. 28 on progress implementing the FY2025–26 strategic plan, outlining accomplishments across fiscal management, community enrichment, public safety, technology and infrastructure ahead of the FY2026–27 budget process.
Nichols said the current strategic plan includes 11 goals, roughly 67 objectives and about 125 action strategies, and stressed many actions require months or years to implement. "We want to make sure that what we are doing is aligned with the City Council's priorities," Nichols said, noting staff would prepare a comprehensive grants status list at council request.
The presentation included specific program updates and funding figures. Nichols said the city awarded $181,000 in community service grants to 19 organizations that staff estimate benefited about 18,000 residents, and $167,000 in community event grants to six organizations (benefiting approximately 57,000 residents). She also noted a $70,000 City Council contribution to a local food‑share effort and reported $504,000 in Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds available to support nonprofit services.
On homelessness, Nichols credited Project Hope's data systems and partnerships with measurable outcomes: "The program achieved 14 permanent housing placements and assisted nine additional individuals in transitioning to emergency shelter, transitional housing or family reunification, resulting in an 11.3% reduction in active unsheltered homelessness," she said, while noting that 14 newly identified individuals also entered the system during the period.
Nichols highlighted infrastructure and technology initiatives including the advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) project launched in 2025 to replace roughly 14,000 water meters. "The AMI project provides real‑time automated reading and usage data to city and customers and we're currently at 64.4% complete," Nichols said.
On public safety, Nichols said staff developed updates to zoning rules governing retail alcohol sales and that the "retail alcohol sales zoning ordinance is scheduled for second reading tonight" and is anticipated to take effect on March 1. She also said the city adopted an updated safety element on Sept. 10 to align with recent state law changes and that staff are implementing hazard‑reduction strategies and evacuation planning outreach.
Council members exchanged questions and suggestions on sustaining funding amid rising construction costs, improving evacuation planning in single‑access neighborhoods, and strengthening community trust with law enforcement. Vice Mayor Martinez Bravo requested council consider embedding language and actions to "strengthen trust and cooperation between residents and local law enforcement," including exploring partnerships such as the Center for Policing Equity.
Nichols closed by saying staff will continue work on existing action strategies, incorporate council direction into FY2026–27 goal setting, and return with additional budget development materials and a mid‑year report in February.
Next steps: staff will provide the grants status list requested by council and return project and budget proposals to the council through the standard budget study sessions.
