During the Sept. 10 meeting of the Los Banos City Council, plans for renovating the former police annex building, located across the street from the city hall, moved forward.
In her report to the council, Community and Economic Development Director Stacy Souza Elms said that a request for qualifications to renovate the old police annex building was due the day after the council meeting
An award to a bidder for the project could come as soon as Oct. 13, Elms told the council. The plan is to turn the building into the city’s Development Services Center, moving multiple departments into the building and freeing up space in city hall. Interim City Manager Gary Brizzee said in his report, “It’s basically the doubling of our footprint at city hall.”
Additionally, the council selected Mayor-Pro-Tem Lewis as the primary voting representative from the city at the League of California Cities Expo, which will be held in Long Beach from Oct. 8 to 10. Finance Director Minnie Moreno will be her alternate.
At the beginning of the meeting, Mayor Michael Amabile recognized Teresa Nava as the city’s August employee of the month. She is a part-time Recreation Assistant in the Parks and Recreation Department. “I don’t think anybody has gone through parks and rec without being trained by Teresa,” Parks and Recreator Director Joe Heim said.
Amabile also recognized the 175th anniversary of California statehood, proclaiming the city’s recognition of Sept. 9 as the anniversary. Amabile also mentioned that as part of the state-wide celebration, a special seal will be put on every city document next year.
In other reports to the council, Assistant Fire Chief Brandon Dorenbush reported on the Moraga fire two miles southwest of Volta that occurred on Sept. 2. “It was a simple brush fire that basically burned up some grass,” Dorenbush said. “For the most part, it was contained rather quickly.”
Heim and Brizzee noted an upcoming September 9 Pioneer Road public workshop. Chavez asked Heim when the Ortigalita and Pioneer Roads intersection would be completed. Heim replied that it will open as a four-way stop around November 24, with full signalization around March 10.
Police Sergeant Ivan Mendez reported that multiple cadets are in the police academy and that Manteca’s Police Department will be taking a tour of Los Banos’ new police station.
Amabile reported that he has been trying to encourage Congressman Adam Gray to introduce legislation to change Medicare’s formula for paying doctors.
According to Amabile, doctors in Merced County get paid 6 to 10% less than Stanislaus County by Medicare due to the county having lower-income residents. “I’m on my fourth doctor in five years, Amabile said, “because my previous doctors left. We need to encourage doctors to come to our area. And that is why Kaiser will not come to our area, because they get paid less.”
Amabile ended by congratulating the candidates in the District 1 election for all their work. But he also said the city is “too small for districts.” He mentioned that each vote from District 1 cost the city approximately $100 due to a low turnout and a small district.
