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Trustee Area Two candidates share insights News, Page 3
Winters FFA sees first all-female leadership Features, Page 1
Volume 139, Number 39 — Locally-owned since 1884
8th Nov TE VO
The hometown paper of Addie Casavecchia
Winters, Yolo County, California, Wednesday, October 26, 2022
Richard Casavecchia for Winters City Council Experienced Leader. Community Focused. Real World Experience. Endorsed by
Winters Downtown Business Association
Angela Stone Brock Neil David and Kelly Lowrie Gar House John Rodriguez, 2020 Citizen of the Year Rudolph Muldong, Former School Board Member
Betty Biasi Corinne Martinez Don Jordan Jenny Ramos Judith Arce Steve Brown
Paid for by Richard Casavecchia for Winters City Council 2022 | FPPC # 1454483
Kona Ice re-evaluating business vision By Aaron Geerts Express staff writer The Kona Ice Shop may have shut its doors recently, but is not permanently closed. While dealing with the staffing issues plaguing other businesses, owner Teddy Rojas is taking time to re-evaluate his vision for the shop so he can reopen it better than ever, and find dedicated staff. It’s no mystery that in the wake of the pandemic there is a massive staffing shortage. Although Kona Ice has suffered a setback due to this staffing drought, giving in to defeat was never part of Rojas’ vision for this oasis of sweets. Rojas recently shared the details in an Oct. 17 transparent social media post. “As some of you may have noticed, we have recently had to close our doors due to staffing issues,” Rojas posted. “This is the second time we have struggled getting the necessary staffing
Crystal Apilado/Winters Express
A closed sign has hung in the Kona Ice Shop’s door for the past few weeks. Owner Teddy Rojas hopes to reopen the shop’s door to the public by the annual Tractor Parade. needed to operate our shop.” Rojas told the Express he wants to finetune and make decisions on what offerings the shop will provide to the community. “We’ve been dealing with a lot of things and
trying to overcome them and stay positive about it all. I didn’t want people to think we’re giving up and I told my sister when I made that post, we need to be honest with the community and tell them our vision
County undersheriff retires; Lopez names new second-in-command By Lauren Keene McNaughton Media
EXPRESS
The Yolo County Sheriff’s Office announced changes to its command-staff ranks last week. Dale Johnson, un-
dersheriff to Sheriff-Coroner Tom Lopez since 2019, retired Oct. 1 after more than 30 years with the agency. During that time he worked in all divisions of the office, serving in every sworn rank. Lopez said he selected Johnson as his undersheriff due to his superior leadership skills, along with the respect he’d
Features ........................ B-1
See COUNTY, Page 3
We at he r Date
Rain
High
Low
Oct. 19
.00
85˚
52˚
Oct. 20
.00
92˚
51˚
Oct. 21
.00
87˚
51˚
Oct. 22
.00
86˚
59˚
Eventos hispanos ....... A-6
Oct. 23
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75˚
55˚
Oct. 24
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70˚
50˚
Opinion ......................... B-3
Oct. 25
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78˚
48˚
Classifieds ................... B-4 Community .................. A-7
Real Estate ................... B-2 Sports ........................... A-2
See KONA, Page 2
Council approves $100K of expiring grant funds for park improvements By Jacob Hoffman Express staff writer The Winters City Council is moving forward with a plan to expend at least $100,000 in Community Design grant funds from the Sacramento Area Council of Governments (SACOG) set to expire at the end of this year. The funds will go to some improvements to the Paseo Park, including an ADA path and electrical infrastructure improvements for lighting, The grant was initially approved in January as funds for a reworking of Winters’ growth in the General Plan, but city staff concluded it was an insufficient amount to fully update the plan. Instead, the City Council agreed
Rain for week: 0.00 in. Season’s total: 0.99 in. Last sn. to date: 6.85 in. Winters rainfall season began 7/1/22. Weather readings are taken at 9 a.m.
By Jacob Hoffman Express staff writer The five City Council candidates had an opportunity to respond to questions submitted by community members at Winters City Council Candidates Forum hosted by the Winters Express and Democracy Winters on Thursday, Oct. 13. The five candidates running for three open seats in the November election to represent Winters residents include Albert Vallecillo, Lisa Baker, Carol Scianna, Michael Olivas and Richard Casavecchia. The forum was livestreamed, and a video recording is available on YouTube via the Express channel (https://youtu.be/ AjuFhHYfdeY) and the DW channel (https://youtu.be/ okVNnxszaag). The forum was divided into two sessions. The first ses-
sion’s featured questions can be viewed at https://tinyurl.com/ ycknyudm. During the forum’s second session, Winters residents submitted questions to ask all five candidates.
Candidates responses How can City Council better serve the Hispanic/Latino community in Winters? Richard Casavecchia suggested the City Council partner with the Hispanic Advisory Council to better understand the needs and desires of the Hispanic community in Winters. Albert Vallecillo said the city needs to publish more of its news and plans in Spanish, and proposed a Spanish-language text message service to reach those who primarily speak Spanish. Lisa Baker noted that certain funding from the government requires translation,
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to reallocate the funds, with the proposed project being what was decided upon for using the money after a supplementary rural recreation grant submitted in January wasn’t awarded to Winters. City Manager Kathleen Salguero Trepa said she is, “asking for an increase in (her) procurement authority to be able to do a focused effort on doing some initial improvements to the park so we can take advantage of this $100,000 grant.” Trepa also recommended that Mayor Wade Cowan and the City Council approve the creation of an ad hoc committee made up of two of its members to work with the
See CITY, Page 3
Council candidates respond to community questions
earned both within the Sheriff’s Office and countywide. “Dale helped usher in the changes that my administration has made within the Sheriff’s Office over the last three years and kept our agency safe from COVID-19,” Lopez said. “Dale will be missed, but has earned his retirement and I wish him
Index
didn’t work in the beginning. It’s not a fully realized idea, and we want to know what people are thinking so far and what can we do to make things better,” Rojas said. Part of this includes securing staff for vital roles to help market the shop and engage the community with its products. “I think now where we lacked last time was showing people the vision. So, when I do reopen, I want to get someone to make videos highlighting what we offer,” Rojas said. “I also want to do more TikTok videos so I’m trying to find some people who want to work and have fun with the shop. Not just goofing around, but I want people to express themselves with our desserts and have fun with it.” Filling that managerial position is a key component for Rojas and Kona Ice moving forward. Not only are
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but that Winters can still do more, speaking in support of a text service in Spanish. Michael Olivas described a two-way street, with the City Council needing to do outreach as well as asking the Hispanic community to participate more in civic involvement. Carol Scianna also spoke in favor of more translation, suggesting the City Manager’s update should be in Spanish, and that the City Council should focus on going where people already are. In what ways is Winters vulnerable to Climate Change, and what is a specific way it can be helped? Vallecillo noted the risk of wildfires in the west and south of the city, and said the City Council could implement more policing of vulnerable areas to prevent them.
See FORUM, Page 5
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