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Harvest Fest details News, Page 2
Community event honors diversity Features, Page 1
Volume 140, Number 37 — Locally-owned since 1884
The hometown paper of Rich Marovich
Winters, Yolo County, California, Wednesday, October 11, 2023
City selects new city manager, hears financial audit By Amelia Biscardi Express staff writer
New city manager
Crystal Apilado/Winters Express
Kate Laddish, Winters resident, adds her memories of Putah Creek alongside other attendees to the Winters area of the map. The activity was part of the first Putah Creek Water Management initiave efforts.
Water management initiative tackles Putah Creek concerns By Crystal Apilado Editor-in-Chief
EXPRESS
Community members jotted down memories on postit notes and placed them along a 10-foot map of Putah Creek on a wall of the Winters Community Center at the first public gathering to gain feedback regarding creek water concerns and questions. The Oct. 5, Putah Creek Community Gathering was the first public workshop in part of the Putah Creek Water Management (PCWM) initiative. The exercise was to see where along Putah Creek — from the Putah Diversion Dam at Lake Berryessa to the Yolo Bypass in West Sacramento — the attendees accessed the water and what types of activities they used the creek for. Juliana Birkhoff, managing facilitator with Ag Innovations (contracted by the Lower Putah Creek Coordination Committee (LPCCC) to facilitate the initiative), said the goals of the community gathering were: to
Crystal Apilado/Winters Express
Max Stevenson, Solano County Water Agency streamkeeper, points out portions of Putah Creek on a map at the first Community Gathering in Winters on Oct. 5 introduce emerging Putah Creek water concerns, to educate about the history of the creek water use and conditions, to share more information about the goals and purpose of the PCWM initiative and to gather questions and creek-water concerns from the public. Birkhoff said the focus of the workshop was to discuss Putah Creek water management and find out what ideas and values regarding creek water were important to attendees. The initiative has already met with stakeholders in different areas of creek usage including agriculture, natural resources, wild-
life, recreation and land owners. “It’s really important that we have all of you here and it’s really important that we have more of you in the future,” Birkhoff said. “All of your ideas have value.”
Creek history Max Stevenson, LPCCC Solano County Water Agency streamkeeper, shared a brief history of the landmark lawsuit that resulted in the creation of the Putah Creek Accord and the LPCCC. In 1989, the majority of Putah Creek went dry after several drought years. This served as a catalyst in the 1990s when the Putah Creek Council
Index Features ........................ B-1
We at he r Date
Rain
High
Low
Oct. 04
.00
82˚
62˚
Oct. 05
.00
88˚
55˚
Oct. 06
.00
93˚
58˚
Oct. 07
.00
93˚
55˚
Eventos hispanos ....... A-2
Oct. 08
.00
93˚
58˚
Oct. 09
.00
92˚
55˚
Opinion ......................... B-3
Oct. 10
TRACE
74˚
55˚
Real Estate ................... B-2
Rain for week: TRACE Season’s total: 0.08 in. Last sn. to date: 0.99 in.
Classifieds ................... B-4 Community .................. A-2
Sports ........................... B-5
Winters rainfall season began 7/1/23. Weather readings are taken at 9 a.m. daily by local weatherman Joe Bristow.
filed a lawsuit against the Solano County Water Agency and Solano Irrigation District to obtain more water for the creek. Stevenson said the 10-year-long lawsuit resulted in the signing of the Putah Creek Accord in 2000, securing that additional water flows and drought water release schedules were established for native fish and salmon, as well as cities and farmers who depend on creek water. It also created the streamkeeper position and program, as well as the LPCCC which was tasked with monitoring and managing
See CREEK, Page 3
The Winters City Council chose a new city manager in Jeremy Craig, who officially starts in the beginning of November. The vote to accept his employment was passed unanimously. Former city manager Kathleen Salguero Trepa retires at the end of October and currently Joe Gordon is filling in as acting city manager while Trepa is doing behindthe-scenes work. Jeremy Craig previously served as city manager in Vacaville from July 2017 until April 2020 when he was terminated unanimously by the Vacaville City Council. He was let go because of “a personal matter” according to a media release on the city of Vacaville website. Craig was in the audience at the Oct. 3 city council meeting and addressed both the community as well as council members displaying his excitement. “I’m looking forward to moving forward quickly to getting to know the community, getting to work with all of you,” Craig said. “I’ve got a lot of people to meet and a lot of listening to do. So I’m really excited to get started.”
Breast cancer awareness Council members issued a proclomation recognizing October as National Breast Cancer Awareness Month with members from local nonprofit Thriving Pink in attendance. Gayle Barry, vice chair of Thriving Pink’s board of directors, came to share her appreciation of the city council as well as explain what the organization does. “We always say that
McNaughton file photo
Jeremy Craig will step into the role of the new city manager this November.
the doctors heal the body and take care of us,” Barry said. “Thriving Pink is here for those things that the medical profession can’t take care of. The emotional, the educational, the wellness that comes in the journey of recovery.” Alongside Barry was Patricia Cisneros, breast cancer survivor and Winters High School teacher. Cisneros explained that coming and sharing a bit of her story was out of her comfort zone but that she was glad to share nevertheless. “If two or three minutes of me being uncomfortable gets one woman to get early screening,” Cisneros said. “Do the self exam, bug their friends, hey we need to do this once a year. I’m here thanks to early detection.” Cisneros continued, praising the Thriving Pink community and what they are able to do for those who are facing breast cancer. “No one has to go through breast cancer alone,” Cisneros said. “There is support in your community and we’re here for you.” One of the many things that Thriving Pink provides is comfort bags for those diagnosed with breast cancer at the Winters Healthcare clinic.
See CITY, Page 6
Committee announces Youth Day theme contest, seek volunteers Express staff The Winters Youth Day committee launched its annual contest for the 2024 Youth Day theme. The theme should be family-friendly as it helps to inspire parade floats, marketing and merchandise artwork. They prefer that the word “youth”
be reflected as part of the theme. Past examples of chosen themes include “May the Youth Be With You” and “Youthfully Ever After.” Theme ideas should be submitted by Nov. 1 online at https:// tinyurl.com/3tjve9bu. The person who submits the winning theme will receive a
$100 prize.
Planning help
The next Youth Day committee meeting is at Round Table Pizza on Wednesday, Oct. 25 at 6:30 p.m. The committee encourages the community to bring ideas and Youth Day visions to the public
See YOUTH, Page 5
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