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Exciting Things Are Happening
in
Clovis
By
Robert Woolley,
Clovis
City Manager
Posted on October 18, 2011
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When someone asks me how
things are going in Clovis, I can’t help but get
excited. There are so many good things happening that
oftentimes I don’t know where to begin. New parks are
under construction or in the planning stage, there are
major street repairs about to begin, a new major
community asset – the Miss Winkles Pet Adoption Center –
is about ready to leave the drawing board and Clovis has
a balanced budget.
There are a lot of positive
things happening in Clovis, so it’s no wonder I’m
excited – and you, as a Clovis resident, should be, too.
I’ll begin with the budget.
I know you have been reading about the budget struggles
faced by the state and many of the other local
governments that are being required to make major
service reductions or propose new taxes to balance their
budgets. You haven’t read about Clovis having these
problems and there are good reasons for that.
The $186 million 2011-2012
budget was recently presented to the City Council, one
that is balanced, has adequate reserves and does not
propose service cuts. How has the city been able to
avoid the problems facing other government entities? A
proactive City Council, city employees willing to work
with the city by providing wage and benefit concessions,
and a community that is willing to step forward to
volunteer, assisting the city in meeting the needs of
the community.
As early as 2008, the City
Council began planning for difficult financial times,
making the necessary expenditure reductions needed to
keep the city within its financial means while still
meeting the city’s most critical core services, such as
public safety. This included keeping vacant positions
unfilled, some employee layoffs and cutbacks in spending
for services. Clovis employees need to be commended for
agreeing to wage and benefit concessions over the last
three years that have gone a long way toward balancing
the budget.
The citizens of Clovis also
need to be commended because they have provided
countless hours of volunteer service. There are more
than 300 volunteers working on a regular basis
throughout the city. Their efforts over the last few
years have enabled the city to continue to provide a
level of service to the community that we otherwise
would not have been able to provide. This is truly a
community coming together to solve a problem. This is
what makes Clovis great.
Now for some of the
highlights of the 2011-2012 budget: With the assistance
of federal grant funding, we continue to have five
additional police officers and six firefighters serving
the community. The firefighters, hired earlier this year
have allowed the city to reopen, Fire Station 1, which
had been browned out because of budgetary constraints.
The budget includes more than $16 million in street
repairs. Yes, Clovis Avenue is one of the projects to be
started in the near future. The city will also be
landscaping the Sierra Meadows Park located at
Temperance and Sierra avenues. This will be a great
location for a pick-up game of baseball or soccer or to
spend a quiet afternoon with the family enjoying the
view of the Sierras. If you get a chance, take a drive
and visit Pasa Tiempo Park at Barstow and DeWolf
avenues. Landscaping is almost complete, and this park
will be a great addition to the Loma Vista community.
Plans are moving forward to
build the new Miss Winkles Pet Adoption Center, which
will be located at the new Sierra Meadows Park. The new
pet adoption center is being made possible by a $2
million donation from Dave McDonald and other community
member contributions. This new adoption facility, named
after McDonald’s beloved late companion, Miss Winkles, a
West Highland terrier, will replace the old facility
located on Villa Avenue. Those of you who have visited
our old adoption facility will appreciate the need for a
new facility to serve the community and our animal
friends.
While we are not out of the
woods yet, considering the financial impact of the
recession, Clovis has much to be thankful for and a
bright future ahead of us. With all of us working
together, there is nothing we can’t accomplish or a
problem we can’t solve. Now you know why I’m excited
when I’m asked how things are going in Clovis, and
hopefully you are, too.
This article was originally
published in CUSD Today, June 2011, and is
published on
ExperienceClovis.com Online Independent Community
Magazine with permission. All rights reserved.
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