CLEARLAKE >> The City Council approved the budget on Thursday, but not before making some minor changes of its own.
One of which was a suggestion from councilman Bruno Sabatier. He wanted to take $5,000 from a city hall equipment fund and put it toward maintenance of the city’s skate park, basketball courts and tennis courts.
According to vice mayor Gina Fortino Dickson, the money will give staff the ability to address problems as they occur instead of facilities being degraded to the point of closure.
The rest of the council agreed along with the allocation of $25,000 for two part-time employees in the public works department. The money was supposed to be in the original proposal, Fortino Dickson said, but due to a computer error it had to be brought up for the first time at the meeting.
”We need to add staffing and resources so we can address our roads,” she said. “We understand that it is a drop in the bucket … but we really want to give it a real shot this time.”
Further actions were taken on road improvements as the city council also approved the placement of the 1-cent sales tax increase on the November ballot, calling it measure V.
Sabatier wrote a lengthy post on his Facebook page on Friday explaining the measure’s importance.
“The road tax is vital to make real change happen,” he said, adding that the measure will also create an oversight committee. “This year we need to Vote YES on Measure V as it will have a heavy focus on residential roads, something we’ve never attempted to offer as a primary focus.”
Both were passed unanimously, 5-0.
“I’m really proud where we’ve been able to move the city and I’m looking forward to having more resources to make more of the larger and visible improvements,” Fortino Dickson said.
