City of Cathedral City
68700 Avenida Lalo Guerrero
Cathedral City, CA 92234
(760) 770-0340

From: Allen Howe
August 7, 2007

Cathedral City Named as Finalist for Municipal Excellence Award

The National League of Cities (NLC) and CH2M Hill have announced that Cathedral City is one of 35 finalists for the 2007 Awards for Municipal Excellence. The awards recognize outstanding programs that have improved the quality of life in their city or town.

“Cathedral City has demonstrated the leadership, creativity and innovation that the Awards for Municipal Excellence promote,” said Donald J. Brout, NLC’s executive Director. “NLC applauds America’s cities and towns for continually striving to find new ways to meet the diverse needs of their citizens.”

Nominated programs are judged on: successful public-private partnership ventures; productive citizen and community collaborations; effective management of municipal resources; innovative government policies; project implementation with tangible results; and/or the ability to replicate the project in other cities.

Cathedral City is being acknowledged for its citizen leadership and community partnership for protecting drinking water by building new sewers and roads in the Cove, Dream Homes and 35th Avenue neighborhoods. “Leaders in these three neighborhoods came together to solve a difficult problem for our community,” said Mayor Kathleen DeRosa. “The whole project is a shining example of neighborhood leadership and community partnership.”

NLC received 168 nominations from cities and towns in 37 states and Puerto Rico.

The panel of judges will meet in September to determine the winners of the awards.

August 15th Planning Commission Cancelled

The August 15th Planning Commission meeting has been cancelled due to the lack of a quorum. All items on the August 15th agenda will be heard at the next regularly-scheduled Planning Commission Meeting to be held on Wednesday, September 5, 2007, at 6:00 P.M. at the City Hall Council Chamber.

System Helps Bidding Process

Our very own Kevin Lockwood in the City’s Engineering Department has developed a web-based system that saves time, trees and helps make the entire bid process more efficient. On July 26, the Engineering department made the system that automates the process for Requests for Proposals, bid solicitations and related documents available to the construction community from the City’s web site.

The user first reaches the City’s web site and navigates to the Public Notices page from links on our home page. From there, the user can read brief descriptions of current projects, view location maps and, if interested, obtain documents.

The user is then taken to a page that collects information which is used to contact the user in the event of an addendum issuance or any other correspondence. This information is automatically added to a database that will be used to store the user’s information, for confirmation and notification about future projects.

The new system saves a considerable amount of time for staff. The savings is not only in manpower. We often print quantities of plans and documents to provide to the potential bidder. With the online system, the end-user receives a PFD file with all the documentation and plans included. They can print these documents if they wish or simply view them on their computer. The City no longer needs to print large quantities of these documents and have extra copies “left over” to recycle.

The automatic bidder’s list (a.k.a. plan holder’s list) is probably the best system feature. We no longer need to hand write this list and spend countless hours updating it and standing at the fax machine. Firms bidding on Engineering projects can simply view the list of other planholders online. The list automatically updates as new plan holders download the documents. When future projects come out, we can use the email addresses collected to notify contractors of the new project.

The system is great example of team work and working smarter. Way to go, Kevin!

New 100’ Aerial Truck to be Featured on Calendar

The fire department was recently notified that the City’s new 100’ aerial truck will be featured in the American LaFrance 2008 calendar. American LaFrance is the manufacturer of the truck. The calendar is circulated around the Country and will provide great exposure for both the Fire Department and City. Cathedral City was chosen from several fire departments around the country that purchase apparatus from this manufacturer. The 100’ truck will be the main feature of the shoot, but the Telesquirt 412 and Engine 413 will also be highlighted.

BOOKS COME ALIVE!

On Wednesday, August 29th at 6 PM Books Come Alive ath the Cathedral City Library. This is a wonderful family program featuring Craig Newton and his wide variety of multicultural music. See and hear musical instruments from around the world, such as the ukulele, mandolin, conga drum, Thai harmonica, fiddle, and more!

This program is the second in the Livrary’s new series of programs called “Books Come Alive!”. Each child will receive a free book! Watch for more programs in this series every month. “Books Come Alive!” is funded by a grant from the Anderson Children’s Foundation.