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Yolo Fire Safe Council community workshop Sept. 15 News, Page 2
including tax
Senior yoga class supporting older adults Features, Page 1
Volume 139, Number 31 — Locally-owned since 1884
The hometown paper of Sally Brown
Winters, Yolo County, California, Wednesday, August 31, 2022
City resumes water disconnection policy following expiration of state water shutoff moratorium By Angela Underwood Express staff writer
Courtesy graphic
The project design plans show the proposed view of what the Grocery Outlet store would look like from the E. Grant Avenue viewpoint.
Planning Commission postpones to further discuss Grocery Outlet plans By Angela Underwood Express staff writer The Winters Planning Commission made a unanimous motion to continue a meeting to approve the location, usage, and design of a 16,000 square foot box-store on the corner of Grant Avenue and East Main Street. More questions than answers over a proposed Grocery Outlet had Senior Planner Kirk Skierski fielding questions from commissioners and the public at the regularly scheduled Aug. 24 meeting for nearly an hour and a half, lead-
ing Chair Gregory Conteras to take a roll call vote to postpone. The biggest question was asked by Commissioner Judith Arce “Is there any way to ask the community if this is what they want,” she asked. “This grocery store that will be here for a while, how do we know it is serving the needs of this community?” Among community interests, other notable concerns included aesthetics and landscaping. Skierski detailed all proposed building materials, including stucco, hor-
izontal wood cladding, brick veneer, and galvanized corrugated metal siding, as well as metal canopy and awnings for window treatment. “The proposed building design includes elements of the Blue Mountain Terrace Senior apartments, the Yolo Federal Credit Union building, and the Winters Healthcare building,” Skierski said, noting the aesthetics reflect the downtown history and the city’s agricultural heritage. The lack of a three-dimensional
See PLANS, Page 3
RISE Inc. offering youth programs for the 2022-23 school year By Crystal Apilado Editor-in-Chief
EXPRESS
The Winters RISE, Inc. office is launching new after school programs to foster connectivity, homework help, and life skills to Winters youth. Starting next week, RISE will begin its Girls and Boys Clubs for students at Winters Middle School. Girls Club is exclusively for eighth grade girls and runs as a two-part session
two days a week. The Girls Club program is on Mondays from 3–5 p.m. On Wednesdays, The Girls Club Homework Help sessions are from 1:30–3 p.m. Both sessions take place on the WMS campus. Maira Galvan, RISE Youth Coordinator, said the Girls Club program gives eighth grade girls an opportunity to meet and connect others in their grade, provides a positive role model to help empower and uplift them, and on Wednesdays they receive homework help. Galvan said the Girls Group focuses on their wellness and
Features ........................ B-1
See RISE, Page 3
We at he r Date
Rain
High
Aug. 24
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100˚
61˚
Aug. 25
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102˚
58˚
Aug. 26
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97˚
56˚
Aug. 27
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97˚
56˚
Eventos hispanos ....... A-2
Aug. 28
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95˚
56˚
Aug. 29
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95˚
60˚
Opinion ......................... B-3
Aug. 30
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96˚
60˚
Classifieds ................... B-4 Community .................. A-2
Real Estate ................... B-2 Sports ........................... A-5
Low
Rain for week: 0.00 in. Season’s total: TRACE Last sn. to date: TRACE Winters rainfall season began 7/1/22. Weather readings are taken at 9 a.m.
By Angela Underwood Express staff writer The Winters City Council and Winters Joint Unified School District (Winters JUSD) 2x2 Meeting agenda had only a few topics, but they were of great importance. Winters City Manager Kathleen Salguero Trepa hosted the short session on Aug. 24, beginning with student and public safety. She discussed the upcoming high school pep rally Friday, Oct. 7, and how Winters JUSD Acting Superintendent Phoebe Girimonte and her are working closely together to plan. Trepa said the city supports the pep rally location on Main and First Street with the school’s agreement to cover all costs and maintain event approval regulations set by the city’s Special Event Team, which includes the police, fire, and public works department. “Given the sheer numbers of students in the street, we are concerned enough and want to make sure we apply our standard road closure protocols,” she said. “If you have people turning from Railroad down to Main Street and they
are dead-ending into a group of students, that is a safety concern.” The request and the special event team’s recommendations will officially go before the City Council at the Sept. 6 meeting, Trepa said, adding officials have already decided to shut down the street earlier than usual. “Instead of closing Main Street and Railroad at the half-block crossing at 3:30 (p.m.), we will implement that closure at 10 a.m.,” she said. The proposed closure will go past Main and First, allowing motorists to pull into the Anytime Fitness parking lot to increase traffic circulation. “As the traffic comes down the road, they have an opportunity to turn left or right down an alley and not dead end into a group of people in the street,” Trepa said. Mayor Wade Cowan stressed the importance of all road closures going before the City Council promptly, bringing up the cancellation of one of last year’s Winter High School events due to special event application requirements. “I want to make sure we got ahead of things
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will receive a water shutoff notice, including the overdue balance amount. In addition, the city requires a resolved payment deadline to avoid service interruption. Any resident unable to pay the past due account balance in full can arrange a deferred payment plan with the City of Winters Utility Billing Department. “This must be done before the shutoff date listed in the notice to prevent water shutoff,” she said. The state-wide water moratorium lift follows the California resident eviction moratorium at the end of June, a year after Gov. Newsom announced a 5.2 billion rent relief program in July 2021. When the governor forgave past due and prospective rent payments then, he added $2 billion for past utility and water bills. Residents with utility billing concerns or questions are encouraged to call 530794-6711.
City, Winters JUSD officials discuss WHS downtown pep rally
development as they get ready to transition into high school. Some of the activities include outings around town and the participants have opportunities to meet with high school seniors to learn tips and about their experiences in classes. The Boys Club is for any boy in sixth through eighth grade to attend on Tuesdays from 3–5 p.m at the WMS campus. Brandon Villegas, Mental Wellness Specialist, said the program’s mission is to provide an opportunity for boys to get together throughout
Index
Post-pandemic financial leniency ends Sept. 1 with the budget trailer bill, SB 155. The water shutoff moratorium executed by Gov. Gavin Newsom on Oct. 1, 2021, was extended till “at least” Dec. 31, 2021, so customers could set up payment with the Arrearage Payment Program for unpaid water bills. SB155 applied to every California water system, whether residential or commercial. All delinquent payments were put on hold, no matter how high. Now that the moratorium officially lifted, Winters’ residents are again fully responsible for their water bills. But further assistance is available for locals, according to, Winters Administrative Services Director Cathy Matthews. “City staff and the customer will work cooperatively to keep water service
on and collect payments necessary to maintain and deliver water service to the Winters community,” Matthews said. She added that a deferred payment date, understood by the resident and City, will be noted in the customer file. “If payment is not received by that date, the disconnection notification process restarts,” Matthews said. The city is reaching out to customers in all ways to give them a heads up, with a revolving resident reminder on the city website encouraging residents to pay attention to the deadline in order to set up a timely re-payment plan with Winters. “When a resident contacts billing before the disconnection date and requests to make payment after the disconnection date, we work to accommodate that request and stop the disconnection process,” Matthew said. Residents with a delinquent account
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because of the experience last year,” Cowan said. “I want to get on it before it’s too late.” Trepa said along with supplying mandated water barricades, which the city will fill free of cost, the school district is responsible for having an assigned adult monitor the closure area from 10 a.m. Additionally, the city requests students be released as groups or by class, according to Trepa, who said it will help “avoid some of the gaggling that historically has happened as the kid leave the campus and are excused all at once and sometimes they end up in the street.” Girimonte agreed, stating that the lengthy event-planning process keeps safety at the forefront. The acting superintendent met with Trepa and Winters Police Chief John P. Miller in June to better understand the historical practice the large gathering. “It really is a priority for the Winters High School team to sustain it because we view it as a community event,” Girimonte said, adding returning
See RALLY, Page 3
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