Council ends local state of emergency, discusses water management plan
Paso Robles City Council meeting highlights
-With the reopening of California and removal of meeting capacity restrictions, the City of Paso Robles has returned to in-person meetings for city council. Residents now have the option to attend the meeting in person or to participate remotely. To participate remotely, residents can listen to the meeting live on the radio at 1230AM or livestream the meeting at www.prcity.com/youtube, and call (805) 865-7276 to provide public comment via phone. The phone line will open just prior to the start of the closed session meeting and again prior to the start of the meeting.
Highlights from the Regular City Council meeting, held on Thursday July 8, are as follows. The recording is available at www.prcity.com/youtube.
Council did the following:
- Ended the local emergency regarding COVID-19 – The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) announced the state will move beyond the Blueprint for a Safer Economy, allowing businesses to return to usual operations (with limited exceptions for Mega Events), effective June 15, 2021. Additionally, on June 15, 2021, the State of California retired the majority of its COVID-19 restrictions, more fully reopening the state’s economy and ending a series of pandemic requirements such as masking for vaccinated individuals, physical distancing, and capacity restrictions in virtually all settings.
- Awarded a contract for Centennial Park tennis court repair and resurfacing to Trueline Construction & Surfacing, Inc. in the amount of $55,520 and recommended that the local Pickleball club present a proposal to the Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee (PRAC) about adding shadow lines for pickleball to one tennis court at Centennial Park and bring a recommendation from the PRAC back for Council consideration in August.
- Adopted a urban water management plan and a water shortage contingency plan each covering the next five years of water use as required by law. The report and presentation show that Paso Robles has more than adequate water supplies to reach full buildout of 44,000 by 2050, including residential and commercial activities. The Water Shortage Contingency Plan is also required by law and shows what steps the City would take in the event of an extended drought. Read the City’s Frequently Asked Questions about the UWMP.
- Approved a resolution to reinitiate proceedings for annexation of the unincorporated area known as the Paso Robles Gateway Property into the City of Paso Robles with direction that the city will accept the county’s Master Property Tax Sharing agreement with the understanding if the update to the Master Property Tax Sharing Agreement results in a revised tax sharing formula, that it is reasonable that those revisions should apply to this annexation.
- Extended the pause in the Senior Downtown Parking Permit Program with the existing 694 permits sold under the current terms and conditions until they expire March 31, 2022, based on the recommendations of the Downtown Parking Advisory Commission to allow time for the Downtown Parking Advisory Commission to reconvene in November 2021 to discuss future senior permit options. Parking Commissioners will execute a quarterly data collection plan to assist in decision-making going forward.
- Explored options for accelerating road repairs in the Country Club neighborhood by one year due to health and safety concerns. Rather than displace streets already scheduled for repairs, Council elected to borrow $300,000 from General Fund reserves to begin the design phase of street repairs for the neighborhood and repay the general fund for the expenditures in the next budget cycle and/or with J20 funds and reevaluate timing on repairs and funding once the design phase is complete. This decision will move the scheduled repairs up by about 8 months.
- Received a report on funds coming to the city from the American Rescue Plan (ARPA) and discussed the allowed options for using the approximately $5.5 million in funds and directed staff to bring back recommendations for use of the funds. The allowable uses of ARPA monies are summarized into four main categories as follows: 1) Revenue replacement for the provision of government services to the extent of the reduction in revenue due to the COVID-19 public health emergency, relative to the revenues collected in the most recent fiscal year prior to the emergency. 2) COVID-19 expenditures for negative economic impacts of COVID-19, including assistance to small businesses, households, and hard-hit industries, and economic recovery. 3) Premium pay for essential workers. 4) Investments in water, sewer, and broadband infrastructure. Council discussed their individual preferences for use of the ARPA funds, including unfunded roads, streets and bridges; homelessness related services and enforcement, recreation, etc. and directed staff to return with a draft policy for council to adopt prior to the Dec. 2024 federal deadline for allocating funds. Funds must be spent by Dec. 31, 2026.
- Discussed options for audiovisual support for city council meetings, planning commission meetings and other advisory body meetings, and directed staff to supplement live meetings with YouTube livestreaming of City Council and Planning Commission meetings and continue to provide the call-in option for residents to give public comment if they can’t attend in person.
The next regular City Council meeting is on Tuesday, August 3rdat 6:30 pm, in person and via livestream at www.prcity.com/youtube. Public comment can be made during the meeting by calling 805-865-PASO (7276) or provided prior to the meeting by emailing cityclerk@prcity.com.
Written public comments can be submitted via email to cityclerk@prcity.com prior to 12:00 noon on the day of the council meeting to be posted as an addendum to the agenda. If submitting written comments in advance of the meeting, please note the agenda item by number or name. If attending the meeting in person, please submit all speaker cards and correspondence for city council to the city clerk.
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