Following Mayor Amy Bublak’s State of the City address, Pastor Ron Eivaz of Harvest Church said he felt he’d been “informed, encouraged and challenged.” The annual event, which drew almost 300 people to the church’s sanctuary on Friday was more than just a speech, it was also a call to action.
If Bublak’s second annual State of the City address had a theme it was ‘Stepping up for Turlock.’ The Mayor, city council members, city staff and many visiting dignitaries donned specially decorated high-top sneakers to raise awareness for local nonprofits. Bublak’s speech was a recap of how the city has ‘stepped up’ its efforts to increase economic development, support existing small businesses, implement new public safety measures and secure future water needs, among other actions.
Before Bublak’s speech, Congressman Tom McClintock (R), who represents California’s new 5th District, shared a few words.
“…the mayor's emphasis on volunteers reaches right to the heart of what makes our country great, what makes Turlock one of the most successful towns in California. Turlock is (Alexis de) Tocqueville's kind of town, that voluntary society of free people coming together on their own for their mutual better. Not waiting for permission from some central authority, but rather, acting as responsible and free citizens really is the heart of America and the source of success. It's manifesting capitalism itself, which if you think about it, this the strongest incentive there is in a human civilization, for people to help each other,” said McClintock.
The Congressman’s message of local residents making the most impact in their communities was reflected in Bublak’s speech and her footwear. The snazzy sneakers weren’t just for show, they signified a campaign to encourage Turlockers to volunteer their time and talents at local nonprofits — a message that was emphasized by Pastor Dave Larson during Friday’s event.
“These shoes represent for us a time to step up for Turlock…These shoes don't really change anything. But these shoes are representative of something so much bigger. They're representative of something so much more. You see each of these creative shoes highlights a nonprofit organization or a charity that serves and loves and makes a difference right here in our town. This is our community. This is our home. So I'm going to challenge you today. First, if you lead or you're connected to or you just even support a local nonprofit, get some creative people together and make a pair of high tops that celebrate and highlight that particular group…Let's highlight these different organizations and nonprofits in our community. Then I want to challenge you to bring those to a council meeting. And our city council is going to highlight that group and put some social media and some marketing towards letting the community know here's what's going on there. And we can showcase the different ways that people are giving back right here at home, from our local police and firefighter groups, to helping with the homeless to those working to provide medical care and those serving our kids, our youth from foster care to adoption to youth sports; let's celebrate that,” Larson said.
Along with recapping some of the City’s successes over the past year, Bublak also outlined her goals for the future.
“Last year with the help of our residents, city staff accomplished many things, but there's way more to do. Our goals for the next coming year are to be sure that all of the city services are delivered with high quality, in the most efficient way of meeting the needs of the Turlock residents, which starts with communication. We will continue to improve the Turlock roads, continue to enhance our fire and police services, thereby keeping Turlock one the safest cities in California, and we will reopen the Columbia Pool even better,” said Bublak.
Here are a few of the highlights of Bublak’s State of the City address:
Changes at City Hall; city efficiencies
“City Manager Wilson has continued to build his team including the following new appointments since last year: Eric Schulze, public works director; Dale Goodman, municipal services director; Anthony Sims, economic development director, Nick Showalter, information technology director; and Paul Loehr, risk management director. We're honored that the City of Turlock was recognized as one of the best places in Stanislaus County to work by Opportunity Stanislaus at their April 12 annual Celebrate Central Valley event.
“City Manager Wilson and his team continue to deliver city services efficiently, within budget while meeting the needs of Turlock residents, businesses and visitors. Thanks to the outstanding fiscal leadership of Director of Finances Isaac Moreno and staff, the City of Turlock is not only operating with a balanced budget, we have also increased city reserves. Increasing our reserves will support the city during the inevitable economic cycle fluctuations. It provides greater long term stability and safeguards public welfare.
“We're always challenging the norm to find innovative new ways to increase efficiencies. For example, the new IT department will not only implement a new user-friendly city website with improved cybersecurity, it will also reduce the annual operating expenditures for computer services by over $80,000 on an annual basis. To assist future sewer rate stabilization, the city refinanced its 2012 Sewer Revenue Bond at a rate of 2.9%, saving approximately $1.3 million over the next 12 years.
“We're pleased that a pilot program is underway with Community Health Centers of America to provide affordable medical and behavioral health care services for many of the city’s residents, including families, caring for a disabled adult or child, socially isolated seniors and the unsheltered population among our residents. Finally, I am pleased that after long and sometimes painful negotiations, we now have a more equitable annual property tax share of 17% or $700,000 from Stanislaus County.”
Economic Development
“In terms of economic development, our top priority is creating a close relationship with our business community. We have implemented a visitation program with goals of meeting 100 plus businesses each year, which most certainly we will surpass. Vice Mayor Franco, Councilmember Montez and I will continue to personally visit our local businesses and see what our city can do to make it easier to do business in Turlock.
“Last year, the City of Turlock conducted 25 business workshops, seminars and events for the business community. These workshops covered topics such as funding, marketing, capturing fourth quarter customers, state grant opportunities, and various other business topics. These are at no cost and it is our intention to continue this way. It's crucial providing ongoing support to our entrepreneurs, startup businesses, and small businesses in our community. The city has been a vital partner in fostering growth and incubation of small businesses for our community. When they thrive, city government thrives.
“Our Development Service Department conducted 65 predevelopment meetings in 2022. The Westside Industrial Specific Plan continues to be the place to be in the county for advanced manufacturing and agriculture. With the expansion announcements of local companies such as Valley Milk LLC, Divert Inc. and with the grand openings of Amazon and Texas (Road) House, Turlock continues to flourish. A quarter million dollars has been secured in new business sales tax revenue in the fourth quarter as a result of the several new business openings…Turlock is open for business.”
Filling those potholes!
“Last year, the Public Works Department filled over 160 potholes on a daily basis. They increased services and decreased fares on our local buses, posting a 25% increase in ridership making public transportation a more affordable, accessible transportation option for our residents and visitors. They held Adopt A Park events with communities groups including TID, Rotary Clubs and more. And installed cameras at Central, Denair and Broadway parks to enhance security, which has a very positive effect on the parks environment.
“During the last year 1,365 tons of leaf materials have been removed from the roadways; 57 new signs were installed; and 222 tons of asphalt was used to fill 12,353 potholes. We have a pothole problem. Finally, the Columbia Pool facility demolition is moving that project forward for completion, bonus service.”
Water
“Insuring Turlock is able to provide safe, affordable water for all residents, businesses and visitors continues to be a top priority for us. While groundwater has been Turlock’s main water source since the city's founding, new regulations and the failure of our current wells required a new source of water. To meet this water need the Stanislaus Regional Water Authority was created. The joint venture between Turlock and Ceres provides 15 million gallons of new filtered water from the Tuolumne River to residents of both cities starting this December on a daily basis.
“Concerning the plant daily operations costs, Turlock will now assume all daily operations thereby reducing annual plant operations costs by almost $1 million annually. With the construction of the SRWA plant and continuing to use groundwater for up-to-code wells, both Turlock and Ceres will provide all residents, businesses and visitors safe, reliable drinking water for the foreseeable future.”
Public safety
“We are very pleased that we increased the number of city issued Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) by 200% from 20 AEDs to 60 AEDs. Now, 30 police department patrol vehicles have an AED and 10 AEDs have been assigned to Parks and Recreation supervisory staff, Petretti Park, and the Turlock Senior Center to enhance public safety with the City of Turlock.
“Our efforts to enhance and improve the Turlock Fire Department continue with the full implementation of the Administrative contract for services between the City of Modesto and City of Turlock, which allow Turlock to share fire resources with its sister departments.
“Under this agreement Chiefs Ernst and Jelinek have fully staffed the Turlock Fire Department Administrative Team with much more depth than our current fire department funding and structure would allow. We received authorization by the council to fully staff all positions within Fire, including nine positions in the relief pool and we hired 12 new firefighters.
“…protecting the health and safety of all Turlock residents, businesses and visitors is a major priority for our government. Since his appointment as police chief last year, Jason Hedden has reorganized the Turlock Police Department into three divisions to be more efficient and more effective keeping our residents, businesses and visitors safe…These new divisions have implemented new law enforcement techniques to keep our community safe, including a joint agreement with the Stanislaus County Sheriff to purchase and implement a license plate reader program to identify potential criminals and solve problems; using drones donated by the church, resulting in the apprehension of 19 criminal suspects; implementing the latest computer software update to create efficiencies and solve crimes; and establishing new city ordinances including fines of up to $1,000 for spectators of illegal sideshows and for social hosts who provide marijuana to juveniles at parties or gatherings.”
“…Because of our law enforcement initiatives, violent crimes are down 3.9% while the overall crime rate in Turlock is down 8.9%. Finally, despite handling over 107,000 calls for service, Turlock Police use of force complaints are less than 1%, making Turlock PD one of the nation's lowest in use of force complaints.”
Roads
“Let's get back to that asphalt. Improving the quality of all 520 miles of our roads in the city of Turlock is priority and it's our expectation that we will do it. We have 15 streets designed in 2022 including Wayside and Hedstrom. Our goal is to repair at least 20 streets per year until all roads in need have been repaired and replaced. We have three master agreements that were approved by the city council on the 25th of April to secure design services as part of the Roads Capital Improvement Program. The council will soon be asked to approve an amendment to the Master Agreement, which will be a design of 2023 and 24.
“With the approval of council selections, we will design the (20)24 and be ready for 25 (road improvement list). We will do this in two different fashions. The proposed financing is pay as you go. We have for financing a wide range of tools that provide upfront cash to accelerate expenditures in exchange for making financing payments for future funding over time. The first 15 streets identified were funded primarily through Measure A. Thank you for everyone who voted for that. All future road projects will be paid for by a combination of Measure A and L roads funds, federal, state and local grants and financing.”
