The Mayor's VIew

City Council Meeting, February 22, 2011

2011-02-24T10:24:00.000-08:00

Tuesday’s council meeting was long with a review of mid-year budget which show that the recovery has not started yet. It looks like we will be able to finish the year with a $500,000 operating reserve at year end June 30, 2011. This is down from $800,000 June 30, 2010, so this next year is a very critical one in stopping the deficit spending.

One item that will help is the City Manager and Police Chief going half-time—a saving of $200,000. They are now going to start this on March 1, 2011. If the council had reach an agreement on this for this year, we would have saved $133,000 in this year. But this did not happen, because of the effort of the Concerned Citizens group—which now after the election has disappeared.

On March 1st at 7 PM, at the council chambers, the council will interview 5 candidates to fill Jesse Lopez’s term on the council.

Gary

City Council Meeting, February 8, 2011

2011-02-09T09:53:00.000-08:00

Tonight Jerry Lequia presented the council with a check for $1450 to place a city seal with "IN GOD WE TRUST" on the wall in the council room. I would like to Thank Jerry for stepping forward and getting this done in such a short time and also to the citizens of Corning for their generosity in helping with this project.

This is our nation's motto, and it belongs on the wall were we make our decisions on the governing of our city.

City Council Meeting, January 25, 2011

2011-01-26T07:50:00.000-08:00

The meeting went fast and smooth, with Jerry Leqia announcing that he has collected $1125 for the project to place the City Seal and "IN GOD WE TRUST" on the wall in the council room. Anyone who would like to donate to this project can leave a check with Lisa Linnet at city hall—made out to Corning Patriots. Note on bottom "for City Seal & Motto."

The big item was the swearing in of Jesse Lopez as a councilman, which the council voted to do—with a 3-to-1 vote, with councilman John Leach voting against seating Lopez. Jesse then resigned. Jesse did this so that the city could move on without this matter dominating everything we did. The council then voted to accept applications for citizens to fill the vacated position, with those due by February 17.

Jesse gave a very good speech giving his reasons for resigning so that the city would not have to continue this past the deadline and face lawsuits. But he said that he was not going away: He is going to pursue all avenues to clear this matter so that he can be a part of the making of Corning a better place. I wish Jesse the best of luck and I’m behind him.

January 12, 2011 - City Council Meeting

2011-01-12T10:11:00.000-08:00

The council meeting went very smoothly, with a large crowd in attendance.

The placement of the city seal and "IN GOD WE TRUST" was well accepted. The only problem was should the city spend the money with the shortage of funds that we have. Jerry Liquia stepped forward and volunteered to help raise the money from private individuals, groups, and businesses. The need is for $1500. The council approved the project with the city providing the labor to install the sign.

Jesse Lopez was not seated, as the matter was postponed to the January 25 meeting, Jesse’s lawyer had asked for a forty-day delay until March 8th to get a court ruling, but election law says the council has 60 days from December 7th (February 5th) to seat him. This is only delaying a decision the council has to make: Either seat him or declare him ineligible. I think the council is hoping Jesse can get a court date set right away.

The stoplight a Marguerite and Solano is moving along quickly, but tonight we learned that PG&E may be two months before it can get power to it.

January 11th, 2011 - News and Tonight's City Council Meeting

2011-01-11T09:25:00.000-08:00

My campaign just donated $200 each to the Second Chance and Corning Christians Assistance Center.

Tonight's meeting has a couple of interesting items on it:

1) The placing of “IN GOD WE TRUST” and the city seal on the wall behind the Council will be discussed. This will very be interesting to see the discussion that this starts.

2) Jesse has asked for a 40-day extension to file a motion that will permit him to be seated as a city councilman. This is going to be very costly to Jesse and that is worrying him. But I think it is what I would support to resolve this issue.

City Council Meeting - Tuesday, December 14

2010-12-15T10:27:00.000-08:00

The City Council meeting went smoothly last evening. A budget was adopted. The proposal for City Manager Steve Kimborough and Chief of Police Tony Cardenas to go to part time was accepted and is anticipated to begin on the first of March, 2011.

City Council Meeting - Tuesday, November 23

2010-11-24T09:11:00.000-08:00

Last evening's City Council meeting had only two items for discussion: Rodgers Theatre and the Corning Community Park Grant.

Rodgers Theatre had a change order for adding a gas pipe. This adds $1955.00 to the project cost, but with this in place the project keeps moving. This project is something that the city needs, so that the downtown area can have a reason for people to come it. This will help business in the downtown area grow.

The Community Park action was that the state wants a purchase agreement showing that the two property owners are willing to sell us the properties. Since the purchase price was negotiated when the grant application was submitted, this can be done very quickly.
With city staff keeping a close eye on these projects we hope that the citizen of Corning will get to enjoy these two project very soon.

During our December 14 meeting, we will look at our City budget. We were not able to get the budget adopted in June, because we did not have a full 5-member Council at that time.

Thank You!

2010-11-19T16:11:00.000-08:00
"Thank you!" - Mayor Strack

(Re-elected!) Mayor Gary Strack is humbled by the support given him by Corning voters. He is very pleased with the local election results and wants to say, "THANK YOU!" to all who supported his re-election.