Council: New City Manager, SPUHSD/SPESD unification on Monday agenda

October 30, 2009
Santa Paula City Council

The City Council will be talking behind closed doors at Monday’s meeting to discuss their top choice for new City Manager, and back in open session hear about the unification effort to merge the Santa Paula Union High and Santa Paula Elementary school districts.

By Peggy KellySanta Paula TimesThe City Council will be talking behind closed doors at Monday’s meeting to discuss their top choice for new City Manager, and back in open session hear about the unification effort to merge the Santa Paula Union High and Santa Paula Elementary school districts. The November 2 meeting will start at 5:30 p.m. when the Council goes into closed session to discuss the City Manager issue.The discussion comes more than a week after the Council - as well as a separate panel of department heads, union representatives and citizens - interviewed three finalists for the job vacated by Wally Bobkiewicz in July when he was hired to lead Evanston, Illinois. The agenda includes a request for out of state travel for two Council members to Arizona, a trip related to the City Manager recruitment.The open Council session will begin at 6:30 p.m. and be televised live on Time Warner Cable Channel 10. The meeting will be rebroadcast according to schedule.Abrisa Glass CEO Jim Veler will offer a presentation to the Council on the unique, high-tech international glass company based in Santa Paula.
The Council will also hear a report on the unification study of the city’s two largest school districts. The Chamber of Commerce sponsored the report, and a committee of mostly non-Chamber members - which studied various educational issues - released a standalone report that the districts must merge to better serve students.In other business, the Council will hear an update on the solid waste local implementation plan and programs, learn about the FEMA flood plain update, and receive a report on the Santa Paula Community Healthcare Authority.According to Interim City Manager Cliff Finley, there are no changes noted in the flood plain update. “It’s not better, not worse... and there are no surprises” similar to those in other cities that Finley said found themselves with new maps that required residents to obtain pricey flood insurance.The Council will also hold a public hearing on COPS grant expenditures - the grant is about $61,000, an almost 40 percent drop from previous years - for the 2009-1010 fiscal year.The Council will also hear about changes to the city’s phone system, as well as a plan for a temporary closure of public counters between Christmas and New Year’s, both of which this year fall on a Friday. Due to City Hall New Year’s holiday scheduling, the closure would be for three days, a time period Finley said many employees have opted to take as vacation time.



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