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This blog is going to be highlights from my notes of the meeting... if you ever want to chat about what transpired at a city council meeting, let's set something up. jmorabito@wildomar.gov
Meeting Recap
Public Comments of note:
Andy Morris of EVMWD spoke about the bids for the Septic to Sewer project in Sedco came in lower than expected which frees up some funding for additional participants who may now be interested.
If you're in the area of the project, and didn't opt in already, please contact EVMWD as soon as possible to see if you can be included.
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This was a longish and somewhat dry presentation but one that I appreciated being that it was in the open part of the council meeting.
In years past, this was usually part of the city manager review process, which is a closed session thing. To get the full information on the seven bullet points above, please check out the video of the meeting.
I had a couple of comments on the list above.
Historic Downtown
Call me old fashioned, but I like using real terms for things. If you're building something new, it's not historic... unless, maybe, it's supposed to be a replica of something that's being updated, not being created out of whole cloth.
If you're not certain, item 2 (historic old town specific plan) is the general area where Wildomar Elementary School is.
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Though I like the idea of having a themed commercial development in that area, I suggested we consider different terminology than "historic" since it's counterintuitive.
Reminds me of the "Miracle Mile" designation that a past city manager used to describe Clinton Keith from Albertsons to The Hive. Something that was grating to most people who actually live in Wildomar.
Permitting Software was mentioned as a goal
I seemed to be the only council member who was even curious about costs associated with a new software.
The cost to buy in was ballparked at "between $200k and $300K" with a yearly licensing fee that wasn't guessed at.
If you watch the video of the meeting, you'll see that my concern was about any additional costs being passed onto the person pulling a permit.
Raising Taxes?
The idea of revenue increases through tax increases was touched on at the 51:00 mark of the meeting the high costs of public safety was brought up by the city manager.
"We have to grow economically. We can do that by raising taxes, we can also do that by bringing in responsible business growth."
My response to the suggestion went this way, "I know that you were just mentioning as ways that cities can get revenue, but my "Spidey senses" went up at even the suggestion of raising taxes. It's always good to bring in additional revenues by bringing in additional businesses, but changing the [tax] rate to bring in additional taxes would be hard sell for me, much less the residents."
No other members of the council commented on the issue.
Walmart Update
The city manager mentioned that Walmart was moving forward (their final EOT expires before the end of March), but still wasn't ready to say they're going to build yet.
I'm not in the inner circle of Walmart's expansion team, nor part of the furthest outer circle either, but I can't see why they would be monkeying around with the city, at this eleventh hour, if they weren't intent on using their approved plans
Notes On Business Registration
We're moving in the direction of less regulation, less burden on the businesses. Our "registration" was already a lesser burden that cities who use the "business license" method.
The goal will be to make this more of a voluntary arrangement. If you want (need) a business license (many business need them for their landlords, banks or insurance companies), then come down and get one. Check with the city if you're unclear where your business may stand when it comes to city business registration.
Public Works Updates
Bundy Canyon road improvement has been on the books since before cityhood in 2008. In short, once we became a city the county said, "Here, this is now your problem... good luck!"
I've been on city council for seven years now and I'm glad that phase one is in the books, but I predict that it'll be a very long time before Segment 3 is funded.
Back to Segment 2 (begins where Phase 1 ends (about 1,400-1,600 feet east of Oak Canyon Drive) and extends eastward to just before Harvest Way), I anticipate it beginning before the end of the year, and the construction window for that will be two years.
The good news is that the major Clinton Keith road widening will not be going on concurrently with the Bundy Canyon, which had long been anticipated.
Also, there are plans to keep the rehab the road surface on Bundy Canyon all the way from Mission Trail to Menifee. Menifee is looking at Scott Road
Additional Lane Wildomar Trail/I15
No word from Caltrans about Wildomar Trail widening at the freeway. Councilwoman Bridgette Moore and I are always asking staff about this.
Future Agenda Items
Though it's a drop in the bucket, I suggested we discuss the idea of crediting the businesses in the Palomar Road work zone their cost for business registration.
There were lots of other things in this meeting. It lasted nearly three hours. Below is a link to the YouTube video if you'd like to take a look.
Here is a link to the video at the city's website. This will allow you to quickly access each agenda item without having to fish around for it.
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