Reaching our
goals
Wow!!! More than 30 goals identified by the
City Council in January at the Strategic Planning Session have been reached
or are in the process of being achieved, thanks to the work of Council
itself and city employees. Council and department heads reviewed the
progress at a special meeting Tuesday. Here are just some of the
accomplishments:
Exploring possibility of partnership with Coachella Valley Recreation and
Park District. (Subcommittee set up, six
focus groups held to determine community recreational needs and parks master
plan preparation proposal goes to Council-appointed subcommittee and then
Parks and Recreation Commission within a month or so.). Land purchased for
parks.
Business retention
program designed.
Development codes
simplified. (Planning Commission minutes, resolutions streamlined, staff
finishing draft of new Zoning Ordinance, including Sign Ordinance).
Weekly News Briefs
distributed to employees (and others).
City Council holds three
of six neighborhood meetings; next one is July 20 at
Cathedral City Elementary School.
Construction started on
offsite improvements for Sheraton Resort at Desert Cove; critical
environmental Desert Cove Golf Course permits issued.
Recruited for 12
positions; two department head positions filled (Redevelopment Director
recruitment, selection process underway; Community Development Director post
filled by Julie Baumer--also still deputy city
manager.)
MuniFinancial fee study completed (It was
finished, but part of it now being revised because of certain building
industry concerns.)
More Landscaping and
Lighting Districts formed. (Ballots are out now for Cimarron Cove; two more
coming.)
City Council provides
monthly updates at Chamber of Commerce breakfasts.
City updates included in
monthly Chamber of Commerce newsletter.
City, Fire Departments
Websites updated.
Two unity events
planned -- Fountainworks
Festival July 3 and Holiday event Dec. 10.
More businesses opened
downtown.
Coffee and more
Now employees working
downtown, residents and visitors can start their summer days with a cool
Starbucks Frappuccino
(“mint mocha chip” is the latest flavor) from the newest store to open in
the downtown.
Starbucks offers gourmet
coffees and beverages, specialty coffee drinks, tea, non-coffee beverages,
coffee accessories, and a music selection chosen specifically for Starbucks
customers.
The downtown
Cathedral City retail development on East Palm Canyon
across from the Mary Pickford and Desert IMAX
Theatres is owned by Tri-Millennium Properties. Coming
soon … Hi-Lites Salon and Day Spa and
Trilussa Ristorante.
What’s next for
Cove?
Now that Cove property
owners have approved the Improvement District (58% YES; 42% NO), what’s
next? City Engineer Bill Bayne says letters are in the mail, asking property
owners if they want to pay the assessment up front or over time. They have
30 days during this “cash collection period” to respond. Once the total
amount of assessments paid up front and those that will be financed are
calculated, then bonds can be sold to pay for long-term financing. Other
steps are: finish engineering plans (they’re almost done), draw up the bid
package, solicit bids, and award the contract.
Commission
appointments
City Council has reappointed Vicki Oltean and Roger Culbertson to the
Parks and Recreation Commission and Nikki Reisman and Richard Martinez to
the Public Arts Commission. James Navarro has been re-appointed to the
Streets and Transportation Commission and Art Gregory is a new appointee.
Yes, You can
still turn left
The City Council has
approved a test program to ease the flow of traffic along
East Palm Canyon Drive. Within the next 60 days, new
traffic controllers will be ordered and installed (paid for by a Police
Department grant). In addition, the left-turn arrows for east-west traffic
on East Palm Canyon will be eliminated at Allen, West Buddy Rogers and Monty
Hall/Van Fleet. Left-turn arrows will also be eliminated .for north-south
traffic on Cathedral Canyon Drive, reducing the waiting time for drivers
coming in and out of the Cove. Motorists on Palm Canyon and Cathedral Canyon
can still turn left on green; it’s just that there will be no left-turn
green arrows on the signals. Once the changes are made and controllers are
installed to improve signal synchronization, the results will be evaluated
for 90 days and reported back to City Council.
Back to the
employee paycheck issue …
Here are the bottom
lines: 1. The Finance Department has met with employees and is trying to
resolve concerns. 2. Under the plan enclosed with pay checks two weeks ago,
employees will get the same amount of pay between now and the end of the
year that they would have gotten without the change. 3. The change gives
employees, supervisors and the Finance Department an extra two days to
prepare time sheets and payroll. Right now, particularly in the Police and
Fire Departments, the extra time is needed to produce accurate time sheets,
taking into consideration varying work hours, overtime, court appearance
demands, changing assignments, etc.
Lieutenants,
officers recruited
Ten applicants have
passed the first test for two Police Department lieutenant positions. Four
internal and six outside applicants will move on to take the written test
June 16. In the meantime, testing continues for police officer candidates to
fill five open positions.
Fire Department
changes
Manny
Gambino, who worked for the City of
Coachella for four years, has joined the Cathedral City
Fire Department as a Code Enforcement Officer and Rebecca
Winscott has been promoted to fulltime Code
Enforcement Officer (she was on a limited term before). Another Code
Enforcement Officer, Sandra Martinez, is focusing on the sign ordinance to
remove A-frame signs along Perez Road.
