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Youth Day Parade entries deadline April 15 News, Page 5
A toast to Winters’ top citizens, business Features, Page 1
Volume 140, Number 10 — Locally-owned since 1884
Winters, Yolo County, California, Wednesday, April 5, 2023
City budget in black, Council approves keeping extra revenue in reserve By Jacob Hoffman Express staff writer During its March 21 meeting, the Winters City Council heard a mid-year budget report from the City Manager Kathleen Salguero Trepa regarding the closing of the 2021–2022 fiscal year and the current 2022–2023 operating budgets, including a rare positive balance for the former. Trepa presented to the council several tables and findings about the budgets for the 2021–22 fiscal year, which staff recently completed, as well as projections for the remaining fiscal year of 2022– 23. The item on the table was approving the extra $168,000
General Fund revenue remaining in the accumulated fund balance as part of the operating reserve. Referring to the 2021–22 positive budget, Trepa said “We’ve been able to close this last fiscal year in a positive balance primarily due to some staff vacancies that we had on the books… that was partly due to just difficulty recruiting staff” as well as the repurposing of grants for covering expenses. Trepa noted some early difficulties with inflation as well as the departure of some employees that the city cashed out leading to the city not filling its HR technician
opening and limiting its building tech employees to one. Inflation also led to some developers on city projects “not building at the rate they were previously” and “not having the same amount of discretionary spending.” For 2022–23, the staff report said “This year has proven to be another year of significant transition for the organization” owing to staff changes and economic difficulties from lingering pandemic-related issues like inflation and personnel shortage. One of the means the City is looking to maintain the budget
See BUDGET, Page 3
The hometown paper of Bob Johnson
School district hosting ‘Community Engagement’ meetings next week By Crystal Apilado Editor-in-Chief Winters Joint Unified School District invites Winters residents to attend one of two Winters JUSD Community Engagement Meetings planned for next week. There are two opportunities for community members to attend and share feedback on April 11 or April 12 from 6–8 p.m. Both meetings will be held in the Margaret Parsons Room at the Winters Community Library, 708 Railroad Ave. A translator will be available at both meetings. The purpose of the meetings is to discuss the facility improvement needs in Winters JUSD. The Board of Trustees ap-
proved a process to review and revise the outdated existing Facilities Master Plan (FMP) at the Feb. 16 meeting. Since then, the Superintendent’s Advisory Committee has worked to identify pressing facility needs and explore additional state funding sources to augment Measure W proceeds. The goal is to create a plan that will address long-term facility needs for Winters JUSD students, while responsibly utilizing taxpayer dollars through Measure W funds. Part of the approved process is to gather input from the Winters community about what they believe is vital to address and what they think will impact the success of students. “These meetings
are an opportunity for the community to advocate and provide ideas or suggestions on how we use bond dollars to improve our facilities. We will use these insights to make sure we’re meeting the needs of our students, now and into the future,” said Superintendent Rody Boonchouy. The City of Winters is currently growing through the addition of housing developments and has approved other projects in various stages of production. Trustees and Winters JUSD staff have expressed it is essential to create a plan that accounts for the future growth of the city and that provides a learning environment in which students will thrive.
Three Oak Park officially made City property By Jacob Hoffman Express staff writer
EXPRESS
The Winters City Council adopted a resolution to accept irrevocable offers of dedication for Phases One and Two of Three Oaks Park, and authorized the City to officially accept the property at its March 21 meeting. The staff report attached to the meeting agenda provided some background on the park project, saying the city and developer Homes By Towne (HBT) agreed to a Development Agreement, entered into in 2006 and restated in 2007, which “identifies HBT’s requirement to improve and construct the linear park within the development, to be called Three
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Oaks Park.” “There are three phases to the park, identified as Lots X, W and V in the approved subdivision map,” the report continues “This acceptance relates to the first two phases of the park, identified as Lots X and W.” Construction began in 2020, and in 2022 staff worked with HBT and their contractor to remedy some “landscape deficiencies,” before entering the 90-day maintenance period on Dec. 16, which expired on March 13. With this process completed, staff recommended the council “accept the Irrevocable Offers of Dedication for the park property and accept the land and associated improvements for ownership by the City of Winters.” Following a presentation by City
Crystal Apilado/Winters Express
In December, the Fairfield Inn and Suites Sacramento Winters by Marriott opened its doors to the public.
Fairfield Inn celebrates ribbon cutting ceremony By Crystal Apilado and Jacob Hoffman Express staff
See PARK, Page 3
The Fairfield Inn and Suites Sacramento Winters by Marriott had its ribbon-cutting ceremony, officially opening the hotel to the public on March 16. The event followed the soft opening of the hotel in December. The Winters District Chamber of Commerce hosted the event. Mayor Bill Biasi joined Winters Fairfield Inn and Suites General Man-
Index
We at he r
Features ........................ B-1
Date
Rain
High
Low
Mar. 29
.72”
52˚
42˚
Mar. 30 1.24”
48˚
35˚
Mar. 31
.01”
63˚
40˚
Apr. 01
.00
64˚
44˚
Eventos hispanos ....... A-5
Apr. 02
.00
69˚
45˚
Apr. 03
.00
68˚
37˚
Opinion ......................... B-3
Apr. 04 TRACE
60˚
32˚
Real Estate ................... B-2
Rain for week: 1.97 in. Season’s total: 36.90 in. Last sn. to date: 17.73 in.
Classifieds ................... B-4 Community .................. A-5
Sports ........................... A-2
Winters rainfall season began 7/1/22. Weather readings are taken at 9 a.m. daily by local weatherman Joe Bristow.
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See HOTEL, Page 3
Crystal Apilado/Winters Express
Mayor Bill Biasi joins Winters Fairfield Inn and Suites General Manager Jay Mohan and co-owner Mike Ali to cut the official red ribbon at a ceremony on March 16.
Winters JUSD, State announces COVID recommendation changes By Anne Ternus-Bellamy McNaughton Media The California Department of Public Health has announced changes to COVID-19 recommendations and requirements, with varying effective dates. Yolo County previously rescinded all local orders related to COVID-19 and
aligns with the updated CDPH guidance. The changes include: Isolation: As of March 13, individuals with COVID-19 infections are no longer asked to test negative before leaving isolation and returning to normal activities. Instead, they can return to normal activity af-
ter five days of isolation if their symptoms have improved and they have not had a fever for 24 hours. This change applies to the general public; more stringent requirements are in place in healthcare and long-term care settings. Those with
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ager Jay Mohan and Mike Ali (one of the owners) to cut the official red ribbon. Ali also owns the Chevron gas station adjacent to the hotel property. Mohan gave attendees a tour of the hotel’s amenities, and conference rooms and showed the inside of some of the types of rooms the hotel offers. Plans to begin building the facility began in 2018, but ran into various issues following the pandemic and the supply-chain
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See CHANGES, Page 3
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