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City manager addresses downtown vision plan News, Page 2
Floral art exhibit benefits scholarship Features, Page 1
Volume 140, Number 45 — Locally-owned since 1884
Winters, Yolo County, California, Wednesday, December 6, 2023
School district hosts special board meeting Dec. 7
Community invited to public meeting on I-505 overpass improvements Thursday Express staff The pubic is encouraged to attend a public informational meeting on Thursday, Dec. 7 at 6 p.m. at the Winters City Hall downstairs meeting room (318 First St.) to learn more about a proposal to to construct the Grant Avenue/ State Route 128/Russell Boulevard Bike and Pedestrian Improvements Project in the city of Winters and unincorporated Yolo County. Staff and project managers representing the city of Winters staff, CalTrans and Yolo County will be present at the informational meeting that will be conducted in an open house format and includes a brief presenta-
tion introducing the project at the beginning of the meeting. The project includes bicycle and pedestrian improvements from the intersection of Morgan Street and Grant Avenue/SR 128 in Winters to Russell Blvd/County Road 32 and Fredericks Drive in unincorporated Yolo County. The project would construct a Class I multiuse trail along Grant Avenue and Russell Boulevard including bridge improvements over Interstate 505 to accommodate pedestrians and bicyclists and minimize conflicts with vehicles. The Project Team is preparing preliminary design plans, as well as studying how this project
The hometown paper of Gary Pitek
could result in potential impacts to the local environment and community. As part of the preliminary design and environmental review process, the city aims to inform the public about the project and solicit comments from local stakeholders and the public in general. The goal of the Dec. 7 public information meeting is to give residents an opportunity to learn more about the project, discuss the project with city staff and to provide written comments of any ideas they would like to have considered in part of the preliminary design and environmental review process.
Trustees will take action on Emergency Operations Plan proposal By Amelia Biscardi Express staff writer Winters Joint Unified School District has a plan for emergencies, and their Emergency Operations Plan will be publicly rolled out for approval on Dec. 7 at a special Board of Trustees meeting. The special board meeting is being held on Dec. 7 at 6 p.m. at the City Hall council chamber to present job descriptions and other agenda items in regards to the school districts efforts to obtain the after school program from the city
of Winters. Trustees will also take action on the Emergency Operations Plan proposal. For emergency situations like lockdowns, fires, earthquakes and other emergencies, the school district wants to ensure that everyone is on the same page. This allows for staff to know their roles and responsibilities and who has authority in these given situations. Superintendent Rody Boonchouy noted that with the recent fire at the Winters JUSD office building
that the EOP guided the way that they were able to respond to that emergency situation. Boonchouy said that they were able to activate the district Emergency Operations Committee to guide. The EOC is basically a “hub for all coordination during an incident to facilitating and directing recovery/clean-up.” Raena Lavelle, Director of Technology Services, said the number one priority is the safety of students and staff and this plan is created with that
See EOP, Page 5
10K line Main Street for Tractor Parade festivity By Crystal Apilado Editor-in-Chief
EXPRESS
Thousands came to town to partake in cocoa sipping, elf hunting and to ooh and awe at the local tradition of stringling light on tractors and parading them down Main Street. The city of Winters hired Bay Area Pop Up Events for a second year to plan and organize the annual Winters Holiday Tractor Parade and Festival events. The twoday event featured family-fun activities on Friday, Dec. 1 and Saturday, Dec. 2. On Friday, a Holiday Marketplace took
Scott Wallace/Courtesy photo
Crystal Apilado/Winters Express
Ramos Orchards and Steady Eddy’s Coffee House teamed up to create a giant Rudolph pulling fellow reindeer. place in Rotary Park. with care around the The Winters Down- tree on the corner of town Business Asso- Main Street and Railciation organized the road Avenue. third annual Elf Hunt On Saturday, multiand Cocoa Crawl. Win- ple events occurred. ters Middle School The Winters Friends and High School of the Library hostbands gave a perfor- ed its annual Family mance at the Gazebo Holiday Festival in paying holiday favor- the Winters Commuites songs. Mayor Bill nity Center, including Biasi counted down festive crafts and visto the Winters Tree its with Santa. WagLighting Ceremo- goner Elementary ny where over 6,000 lights were wrapped See PARADE, Page 6
Index Features ........................ B-1 Classifieds ................... B-4 Community .................. A-2 Eventos hispanos ....... A-2 Opinion ......................... B-3 Real Estate ................... B-2 Sports ........................... B-7
We at he r Date
Rain
High
Nov. 29
.25”
62˚
Low 37˚
Nov. 30
.00
62˚
39˚
Dec. 01
.00
64˚
36˚
Dec. 02 TRACE
64˚
48˚
Dec. 03 TRACE
62˚
50˚
Dec. 04
.00
65˚
43˚
Dec. 05
.00
67˚
42˚
Rain for week: 0.25 in. Season’s total: 1.94 in. Last sn. to date: 3.57 in. Winters rainfall season began 7/1/23. Weather readings are taken at 9 a.m. daily by local weatherman Joe Bristow.
Newt Wallace, past publisher/owner of the Winters Express, was inducted into the California Newspaper Hall of Fame on Friday, December 1. The induction took place during the annual California Press Foundation’s 146th meeting in Berkeley. Newt was active in the association, serving as president of the California Newspaper Publisher’s Association in 1964. The Express was one of the smallest newspapers to ever have a president serve CNPA. Doing the introduction and presenting a plaque, Tom Newton, center, (general manager of CNPA), Charley Wallace, left, past publisher/owner of the Winters Express, and John Wallace, right. Newt Wallace passed away in 2018.
City rolls out city manager goals, high-priority projects Gorton gives ‘how government works’ informational session to council, public By Amelia Biscardi Express staff writer The City Council had a roles-and-goalssession at its meeting on Nov. 21, doing the legwork to ensure that new city manager Jeremy Craig and the community know the game plan for the coming six months. With a number of items deemed “hair on fire,” alongside other items considered “near-term priorities,” the community got to see more details on how these decisions are made. Joe Gorton, former Interim City Manag-
er, brought with him a wealth of knowledge to convey to the community on the inner workings of city government. “I can’t tell you, being a recovering city manager myself,” Gorton said. “I can’t tell you how many times a community member would come up and go, ‘what is it you do?’ and I mean, they know (what) the police chief and the fire chief (do) way better than they know the city manager.” Gorton explained that the role of a city manager is rather complicated. In the
meeting, he broke down the roles, responsibilities and who the city manager takes instruction from. He described the role as one that takes direction from the city council as a whole. The city manager takes direction from there and directs the other city departments accordingly. Craig as well added that there are more items that just must be managed on a daily basis. “One of the limitations as the manager,
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