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Volume 137, Number 49 — Locally owned since 1884
The hometown paper of Vickie Montosa
Winters, Yolo County, California, Wednesday, December 30, 2020
City Council hears options for drain pond
School board welcomes new trustees, approves calendar study sessions By Crystal Apilado Editor-in-Chief Outgoing trustees and the Chief Business Officer were honored, and new trustees were sworn in at the Winters Joint Unified School District organizational meeting on Dec. 17. Superintendent Diana Jiménez administered the Oath of Office virtually to recently elected Board Trustees Kristin Trott (Area 1), Joedy Michael (Area 3) and Everardo Zaragoza (Area 5).
Recognition and Celebration
Trustee Carrie Green, acting as the school board President Pro Tempore, led a recognition of outgoing Trustees Ralph F. Anderson, Rudolph Muldong and Stephanie Chávez. Green said Trustees put in a lot of personal time and sacrifice as
Courtesy photo
McNaughton Media The first two California regions placed under the state’s stay-at-home order will remain under the order for the foreseeable future. Both the San Joaquin Valley and Southern California regions were eligible to exit the order as of Monday (after having been under the order for the minimum three weeks), but with ICU capacity at zero in both regions and the state projecting capacity will remain below 15 percent for the next four weeks, “they will remain under the order for the time being,” Dr. Mark Ghaly, California’s secretary of health
I ndex Features ........................ B-1 Classifieds ................... B-4 Community .................. A-2
Joedy Michael
Everardo Zaragoza
board members, which can be both very rewarding and, at times, very challenging. Both Green and Jiménez gave gratitude and acknowledged the commitment, support, and efforts of each outgoing Trustees’ impact in the school district. “To each of you. I would like to say there are unique opportunities we have as board members. We’re able to collaborate with excellent and professional staff, work with our community
partners, and of course celebrate our students’ successes. All with one common goal of wanting to provide the best education we can for our students,” Green said. Although Chávez recently joined the school board in March 2020, Green said Chávez quickly made her presence known with unwavering involvement and support for the district. Jiménez added that Chávez helped bring focus on equity and ensuring that they
continue to keep their eye on student achievement. Both Anderson and Muldong joined the school board in December 2012, each with eight years of service and support to Winters JUSD students and staff. Green thanked Anderson for always being kind and respectful, and for looking on the positive side of things with a great sense of humor. She thanks Muldong for his contributions to the board as an educator himself, for his gentle nature
and human services, said Tuesday. The greater Sacramento region, of which Yolo County is a part, is eligible to exit the order as soon as Friday. The order bans all gatherings with members of more than one household, requires everyone to stay at home except for essential work and activities, closes hair salons, curtails retail capacity and limits restaurants to take-out and delivery only. Yolo County joined the rest of the greater Sacramento region in being placed under the order on Dec. 11 after regional ICU capacity dropped below 15 percent. In determining
See UPDATE, Page 5
Weather Date
Rain High Low
Dec. 23
.00
Dec. 24
.00
58˚ 31˚
Dec. 25
.00
56˚ 36˚ 55˚ 44˚
61˚ 39˚
Dec. 26
.15”
Eventos hispanos ....... A-3
Dec. 27
.00
61˚ 39˚
Dec. 28
.10”
60˚ 37˚
Opinion ......................... B-2
Dec. 29 TRACE 57˚ 35˚
Real Estate ................... B-7
Rain for week: 0.25 in. Season’s total: 1.79 in. Last sn. to date: 9.18 in.
Athlete of the Week..... B-2
Courtesy photo
Kristin Trott
Yolo County expecting to remain in purple tier By Anne Ternus-Bellamy
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Winters rainfall season began 7/1/20. Weather readings are taken at 9 a.m.
Express staff writer The Winters City Council received an update from staff on Dec. 15 about potential options for accommodating drainage from future development. The update comes after the council rejected a proposal from a developer in November that would’ve resulted in the removal of several oak trees. A revised plan that would install steeper slopes on the Rancho Arroyo Storm Drain Pond, and not cause any impact to the oak trees, was presented to the council by city engineer Alan Mitchell. Previously, at the Nov. 3 Winters City Council meeting, the council was presented a history of the City’s Drainage Master Plan, the Rancho Arroyo Drainage Shed Area, and the approved Subdivisions that drain
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School board moves forward on bond measure By Edward Booth Express staff writer The Winters Joint Unified School District Board of Trustees moved forward on several items related to Measure W, a $20 million school bond measure passed by voters in November at a meeting Dec. 17 The board certified election results, appointed a citizens’ oversight committee and approved an application to the California State Board of Education to waive a code requirement for bonding capacity. Additionally, Meredith Johnson, an attorney at the Dannis Woliver Kelley law firm, gave a presentation on how school bonds work. Johnson defined a
Crystal Apilado/Winters Express
Winters voters have approved four different bonds over the last four years to support updating school facilities. bond as a debt, or obligation, that must be repaid in return for funding that can only be spent on capital improvements, such as brick-and-mortar construction projects. The bonds are repaid by taxpayers, with interest, through an increase in property taxes for local resi-
dents. Bond proceeds are held in a special building fund with the county treasurer, Johnson said, to make sure they’re spent for the proper purposes. Johnson said Measure W, which passed with about 60 percent of the vote in November, is the fourth Winters JUSD bond
By Anne Ternus-Bellamy McNaughton Media Yolo County has received thousands more doses of the COVID-19 vaccine and began vaccinating residents and staff in skilled nursing facilities last week. As of Monday, the county had received 1,950 doses of the Pfizer vaccine and 2,500 doses of the Moderna vaccine, according to county public information officer Jenny Tan. Vaccination of acute-care hospital workers, underway for a week and half now, is drawing to a close and the focus is now on seniors and medically vulnerable individ-
uals in skilled-nursing, assisted-living and other such facilities. No other group of individuals in Yolo County has been more impacted by COVID-19 than residents of skilled nursing facilities. More than half of the county’s 109 deaths have involved residents of eight longterm-care facilities. Under an agreement with the federal government, CVS and Walgreens is assisting with vaccinations in those facilities throughout the country. Both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines require a second dose, three or four weeks after the first, and those second
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doses were automatically reserved when the initial doses were sent out, Tan said Monday. County Health Officer Dr. Aimee Sisson previously said ensuring healthcare workers and skilled-nursing facility staff and residents receive that second dose will not be particularly challenging, but as the county moves further into the vaccination phases and tiers, a system would likely be needed to send reminders to county residents to get that second shot. After skilled-nursing resi-
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measure approved by voters since 2014. Measure R, a $15 million measure, passed in June 2014. It was followed by Measure D, a $17 million measure, in November 2016 and Measure P, a $20 million measure, in November 2018. There are two different voter approval thresholds required for a bond measure to pass, Johnson said. Most districts, including Winters JUSD, use a method created by California Proposition 39, which was approved by voters in 2000, instead of the traditional method. The main reason districts choose the Prop. 39 method is because only 55 percent of voters need to vote to ap-
Skilled nursing facilities receiving COVID vaccine next
WINTERS AGGREGATE
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By Edward Booth
and countless donations to the district throughout his tenure. All three received a plaque to commemorate their time working on the Winters JUSD school board. Green also noted they had not forgotten about Rob Warren who resigned from his Trustee seat on Dec. 14. She said out of respect for his wishes, they would not be recognizing him that night. “It is our hope that we can honor him at a future meeting for his 10 years of service,” Green said. Jiménez led a celebration of the retirement of CBO Kathy Colagrossi who has served Winters JUSD in a variety of roles for 16 years. Colagrossi began her employment with Winters JUSD in Nov 2004 as a business services technician. She also served as a payroll technician in
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