Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Virtual Tour of San Carlos!
The San Carlos Chamber of Commerce has opened their Virtual Tour of San Carlos. To access the Virtual Tour of San Carlos, you can visit the Chamber of Commerce web site or click on the link below.
The crossed arrows on the picture can give you a 360 degree view at any time of 13 stores in the downtown. Click on the yellow arrow to go down a street or enter a business.
The businesses featured in the Virtual Tour of San Carlos include:
The crossed arrows on the picture can give you a 360 degree view at any time of 13 stores in the downtown. Click on the yellow arrow to go down a street or enter a business.
The businesses featured in the Virtual Tour of San Carlos include:
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
70th Anniversary Chickens Ball Tickets Are Now on Sale
Tickets for the 70th Anniversary edition of the Chickens Ball in San Carlos are now on sale. This year's show is named "One World" and is set around the Pan American Exposition of 1915 to showcase the international aspects of the old world's fair.
Chickens Ball started in 1939 when Howard Demeke, a San Carlos teacher, had an idea - to bring members of the community together and to raise a little "milk money" for children at the school. So he rallied the community and put together a friendly "skit" competition.
70 years later... the Chickens Ball in San Carlos is the oldest PTA fundraiser in the country and one of the longest continuously running shows of all time!
Chickens Ball started in 1939 when Howard Demeke, a San Carlos teacher, had an idea - to bring members of the community together and to raise a little "milk money" for children at the school. So he rallied the community and put together a friendly "skit" competition.
70 years later... the Chickens Ball in San Carlos is the oldest PTA fundraiser in the country and one of the longest continuously running shows of all time!
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Understanding Wood Burning Regulations
The wood-burning regulation includes a mandatory prohibition on wood-burning on days when air quality is forecast to be unhealthy, as well as restrictions on excessive chimney smoke and a prohibition on the burning of garbage, plastics and other unsuitable materials.
The Air District will issue Winter Spare the Air Alerts through the end of February, at which times it will be illegal to use any wood-burning devices such as fireplaces, wood stoves or pellet stoves within the Bay Area. Residents failing to comply with the restrictions will be subject to a $400 fine, which will increase with subsequent violations (unless the resident's ONLY source of heat is from a wood-burning device).
How you can comply with the wood burning regulation:
The Air District will issue Winter Spare the Air Alerts through the end of February, at which times it will be illegal to use any wood-burning devices such as fireplaces, wood stoves or pellet stoves within the Bay Area. Residents failing to comply with the restrictions will be subject to a $400 fine, which will increase with subsequent violations (unless the resident's ONLY source of heat is from a wood-burning device).
How you can comply with the wood burning regulation:
- Check before burning from November - February.
- Do not burn wood, fire logs or pellets if Winter Spare the Air Alerts are issued. Call 1-877-4NOBURN.
- Listen for announcements on radio and television.
- Sign up for email notification at http://www.sparetheair.org/.
- Sign up for automatic phone alerts at http://www.sparetheair.org/or call 800-430-1515.
- These regulations apply to households and businesses with fireplaces or other wood-burning devices, even hotels and restaurants.
- It is okay to use gas-fueled fireplaces and logs, gas inserts or electric fireplaces.
- NEVER burn any garbage, plastics, wrapping paper or other inappropriate materials.
- Burn cleanly when burning is allowed.
- Burn only clean, dry wood in short, hot fires with plenty of air in order to prevent excessive smoke from chimneys or flues.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
City Manager Offers "Two Paths" to Close $3.5 Million Budget Gap
San Carlos City Manager Mark Weiss unveiled his Proposed 2010-11 City Budget today in preparation for City Council Budget Workshops scheduled in March. Copies of the proposed budget staff report are available for review at City Hall and on the City's Web Site.
The budget workshop, to be held on Saturday, March 13th at noon in the Community Rooms of the San Carlos Library, 2nd Floor, 610 Elm Street, will enable the City Council and community to hear a detailed budget presentation, offer public comments and hear City Council thoughts on the proposed budget.
The City Staff has also reserved the Community Rooms at the San Carlos Library for March 22nd starting at 6:00 pm in the likely event that the Council Budget Workshop is continued. Input from the workshop will be used to prepare the 2010-11 Budget to be presented to the City Council for review and approval in early May.
The City’s Proposed Budget for 2010-11 features "two paths" to a balanced budget. The recommended path involves City Council authorization for the City Manager and City Department Heads to prepare service agreements for receiving Police and Fire services from neighboring agencies and to explore contracting for parks maintenance services.
This option is projected to save the City approximately $5 Million or more per year and would cover the City’s budget deficit without necessitating additional cuts to City services. A second path features a series of major service changes in many City service areas. This option will save the City $3.5 Million per year and would close the City’s budget gap for 2010-11. Some of the key service reductions that would occur with the second option include:
Weiss added that “This is the 11th year in a row that the City of San Carlos will be making program and service cuts in the annual budget. Even though there were two rounds of budget cuts last year, the City’s General Fund Budget deficit has grown by almost $1 Million (from $2.6 Million last year to $3.5 Million this year) even after all of these cuts were implemented. This confirms the projections made last year that the current approach of making modest budget cuts each year and tapping into reserves is no longer sustainable.”
“What I am proposing in this year’s budget is a paradigm shift in how we view City services in San Carlos. Rather than continue to attempt to provide the full range of City services mostly in-house, I believe it is time to accelerate the use of contract services in several areas in an effort to improve efficiency and take advantage of economies of scale, while embracing a regional service delivery model.”
“With the help of the City Department Heads, we have developed a menu of options for the City Council to consider in the upcoming budget to fully close the $3.5 Million per year budget gap. The recommended path involves contracting out or outsourcing Police and Fire Department services in a more sustainable manner. Additionally, choosing this option would allow the City to preserve all services, including public safety, facilities and community events at their current, albeit already reduced levels. This approach addresses the budget deficit in an aggressive manner and avoids closure of facilities and continued deterioration of all City services.”
“This budget includes tough choices and offers a different view of the City’s future as we move forward. I envision a vigorous discussion as the Council explores and decides the road San Carlos will follow into the future. I invite San Carlos residents to attend and participate in this vital process.”
The budget workshop, to be held on Saturday, March 13th at noon in the Community Rooms of the San Carlos Library, 2nd Floor, 610 Elm Street, will enable the City Council and community to hear a detailed budget presentation, offer public comments and hear City Council thoughts on the proposed budget.
The City Staff has also reserved the Community Rooms at the San Carlos Library for March 22nd starting at 6:00 pm in the likely event that the Council Budget Workshop is continued. Input from the workshop will be used to prepare the 2010-11 Budget to be presented to the City Council for review and approval in early May.
The City’s Proposed Budget for 2010-11 features "two paths" to a balanced budget. The recommended path involves City Council authorization for the City Manager and City Department Heads to prepare service agreements for receiving Police and Fire services from neighboring agencies and to explore contracting for parks maintenance services.
This option is projected to save the City approximately $5 Million or more per year and would cover the City’s budget deficit without necessitating additional cuts to City services. A second path features a series of major service changes in many City service areas. This option will save the City $3.5 Million per year and would close the City’s budget gap for 2010-11. Some of the key service reductions that would occur with the second option include:
- Cutting 9 Full-Time positions including 2 Additional Police positions plus numerous Part-Time support personnel
- Closing the Youth Center and Eliminating Administrative Support for Special Events in San Carlos (including Hometown Days, Art & Wine Festival and Summer Concerts at Burton Park)
- Reducing City Counter Service Hours to 3 Hours Per Day and Closing the City Clerk’s Counter with Service Provided by Appointment Only
- Freezing the City of San Carlos Contribution to the Funding of the Belmont-San Carlos Fire Department at the 2009-10 Budget level
- Discontinuing Funds to Record and Broadcast City Council Meetings on Cable TV and the Internet
Weiss added that “This is the 11th year in a row that the City of San Carlos will be making program and service cuts in the annual budget. Even though there were two rounds of budget cuts last year, the City’s General Fund Budget deficit has grown by almost $1 Million (from $2.6 Million last year to $3.5 Million this year) even after all of these cuts were implemented. This confirms the projections made last year that the current approach of making modest budget cuts each year and tapping into reserves is no longer sustainable.”
“What I am proposing in this year’s budget is a paradigm shift in how we view City services in San Carlos. Rather than continue to attempt to provide the full range of City services mostly in-house, I believe it is time to accelerate the use of contract services in several areas in an effort to improve efficiency and take advantage of economies of scale, while embracing a regional service delivery model.”
“With the help of the City Department Heads, we have developed a menu of options for the City Council to consider in the upcoming budget to fully close the $3.5 Million per year budget gap. The recommended path involves contracting out or outsourcing Police and Fire Department services in a more sustainable manner. Additionally, choosing this option would allow the City to preserve all services, including public safety, facilities and community events at their current, albeit already reduced levels. This approach addresses the budget deficit in an aggressive manner and avoids closure of facilities and continued deterioration of all City services.”
“This budget includes tough choices and offers a different view of the City’s future as we move forward. I envision a vigorous discussion as the Council explores and decides the road San Carlos will follow into the future. I invite San Carlos residents to attend and participate in this vital process.”
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
In-N-Out Burger Files Application for San Carlos Site
On February 24, 2010, representatives from In-N-Out Burger filed their application with the City to open a new In-N-Out Burgerrestaurant on the City-owned surplus parcel located at the northeast corner of Holly Street and Industrial Road.
The City's Planning Division staff will now process the application in preparation for its consideration by the Planning Commission. Staff anticipates bringing the proposal to the commission later this year, likely by this summer.
The City's Planning Division staff will now process the application in preparation for its consideration by the Planning Commission. Staff anticipates bringing the proposal to the commission later this year, likely by this summer.
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
City Council Strategic Plan - New 6 Month Goals & Objectives
On Tuesday, March 2, 2010, the City Council met with the City Manager and Department Directors for the 9th retreat to review and establish the next set of 3 Year Goals for the City as well as objectives in each of these 5 areas.
The strategic objectives are a set of tasks under each of the City's Three Year Strategic Goals that bring the City closer to achieving these goals. Here is a listing of these goals along with when they are slated for completion, who will take the lead on each objective and a description of each objective.
The strategic objectives are a set of tasks under each of the City's Three Year Strategic Goals that bring the City closer to achieving these goals. Here is a listing of these goals along with when they are slated for completion, who will take the lead on each objective and a description of each objective.
, 534 kb)City Council - 2010-11 Budget Study Session - March 13th at Noon
The City Council will hold their annual budget study session on Saturday, March 13, 2010 from Noon to 5:00 pm. in the Community Room, 2nd Floor, San Carlos Library, 610 Elm Street.
This meeting will include a presentation by the City Manager and City Department Heads on the proposed 2010-11 City Budget. The meeting will also provide time for City Council questions and discussion on the proposed budget.
It is also anticipated that there will be time for public comments on the proposed budget. Individuals who are unable to attend this meeting will be able to comment on the proposed budget at the second budget study session to be held on the evening of March 22nd starting at 6:00 pm.
This meeting will include a presentation by the City Manager and City Department Heads on the proposed 2010-11 City Budget. The meeting will also provide time for City Council questions and discussion on the proposed budget.
It is also anticipated that there will be time for public comments on the proposed budget. Individuals who are unable to attend this meeting will be able to comment on the proposed budget at the second budget study session to be held on the evening of March 22nd starting at 6:00 pm.
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