Council approves increase in city towing fees

Make sure to feed those meters - getting towed will become more expensive in Turlock, following Turlock City Council action Tuesday evening.

Federal government looks to restrict child farm labor

The federal government is debating an issue that hits close to home for many Central Valley farm families including Turlock-area almond growers Scott Hunter and Ron Macedo. Hunter grew up on his parents' farm in Livingston, where he said he learned a work ethic that helped develop his character. He hopes to pass on the farm to his own children someday. Local almond grower and Turlock Irrigation District Director Ron Macedo also ...

Jackson takes helm as police chief

New Turlock Police Chief Rob Jackson was sworn in on Tuesday to an uproarious round of applause in the packed Turlock City Council chambers. "I'm proud to be the leader for this organization here," Jackson said, terming the department "one of the most professional departments around" shortly after taking the oath of office. Jackson, formerly a Turlock police captain, was selected from 43 applicants for the Turlock police chief position. Jackson ran ...

City Council begins redevelopment agency shut down

On Feb. 1, the redevelopment era came to an end. On Tuesday, the Turlock City Council will oversee an agenda dominated by preparing for a world without a redevelopment agency, culminating in holding their first-ever meeting as an RDA Successor Agency. During the 2011 state budget negotiations, legislators looked to balance the state budget by forcing redevelopment agencies to either close, or pay large fees to the state each year. The required payments were found ...

Denham’s effort to shrink government building inventory moves forward

A local legislator's effort to sell off under-utilized federal buildings – reducing wasteful spending – is one step closer to law. U.S. Rep. Jeff Denham's (R – Atwater) Civilian Property Realignment Act passed the House of Representatives on Tuesday by a 259-164 vote. The bill has been a cornerstone of Denham's campaign to shrink the size of government. As a California legislator, Denham also worked to reduce the state government's excess building ...

Appeals court finds Prop 8 unconstitutional

Same-sex marriage is one step closer to a return to California, following a Tuesday federal appeals court decision that banning the practice violates the U.S. Constitution. Proposition 8, the 2008 ballot measure which defined marriage as between a man and a woman, unconstitutionally denied same-sex couples of their previously-granted right to marriage, the court found. "Proposition 8 serves no purpose, and has no effect, other than to lessen the status and human ...

Crowell Road church to expand; Morgan Ranch scoping meeting set for Feb. 23

Turlock's Nazareth Evangelical Lutheran Church, located at 4510 Crowell Rd., will expand its youth building, following Planning Commission approval on Thursday.

More hard times ahead for county

When Bill O'Brien last chaired the Stanislaus County Board of Supervisors – in 2007 – the county was surging with growth and "foreclosure" was a rarely-heard word. Though times have been tough since then, the future is once again bright, O'Brien said in his 2012 State of the County address Tuesday. "I tell you today that I believe hope is now returning; that the promise of ...

State ‘on the mend’ says Brown

When Gov. Jerry Brown took the stage Wednesday to deliver his second State of the State address, he wasn't there to talk about the past. Brown's calls for new taxes may have echoed some of the problems facing California – including a projected $9.2 billion budget shortfall which he hopes to bridge with a combination of cuts and new taxes. But the Governor termed the state as "on the mend," calling for large ...

Dairy Campaign hopes to end corn ethanol subsidies

California Dairy Campaign Field Representative Joe Melo testified last week before the California Assembly Transportation Committee calling on lawmakers to pass legislation, AB 523, to end state subsidies for corn ethanol production. AB 523 passed out of the Assembly Transportation Committee and is now on its way to the Assembly Appropriations Committee. "CDC strongly supports AB 523 which would end state funding for corn ethanol programs," testified Melo. "We thank Assembly Member Valadao ...

Survey finds city staff helpful, needing more empathy

Historically, customer service in Turlock's building, planning, and engineering departments has been notorious – for all the wrong reasons. But those departments appear to have turned the corner, according to feedback received from a city-conducted survey. "There is a huge improvement from five or six years ago," said one anonymous respondent to the city survey. The survey, conducted by Turlock Regulatory Affairs Manager Michael Cooke at the bequest of Turlock City ...

Denham wants Uncle Sam to have $15B garage sale

Jeff Denham is pushing for Congress to do what many of his constituents do when they have unneeded property and need to raise cash - conduct a garage sale. The Turlock Republican who seeks to represent Manteca, Ripon, Escalon, Tracy and all of Stanislaus County in the newly created 10th Congressional District is the author of the Civilian Property Realignment Act (House of Representatives Bill 1734). In a nutshell ...

Search for chief down to three

The candidate pool to fill the Chief of Police position in Turlock has been narrowed to three finalists. The three final candidates met with the City Council Thursday night in a closed session. They met separately with the police department's labor group and City Manager Roy Wasden on Friday. An announcement of a new hire could be made in a few weeks, once an employment offer has been given and accepted. It ...

Future of RDA funds up in the air

The fate of Turlock's redevelopment agency is decided – at least for now. The Turlock City Council on Tuesday voted to declare the City of Turlock as a successor agency for the RDA, allowing the city to retain some control over the agency and its funds. But exactly how much control Turlock will retain remains uncertain, according to City Manager Roy Wasden. "At best there are many things that are very, ...

Efforts underway to make sign ordinance easier to understand

When a Turlock business wants to put up a sign, it's time to turn to the city's sign ordinance. The problem is, that document can be a challenge for laymen to understand. "It's very difficult to figure out," said Turlock Planning Manager Debbie Whitmore. "There's a lot of language in the sign ordinance; it's very lengthy." The Turlock Planning Commission is now working to simplify the ordinance, making approval criterion easier ...

Food truck future in downtown looks dismal

Food trucks may not be included in the future of Turlock's downtown, following Thursday's Planning Commission meeting where the general consensus was not in favor of the mobile facilities. During Thursday's meeting, the Planning Commission and City staff held a public workshop on whether or not food trucks should be allowed in the downtown core district, running primarily along Main Street from Palm to Lander. The purpose of the meeting, said planning ...

High Speed Rail faces more setbacks

TID makes progress with Don Pedro Project

The Turlock Irrigation District continues to make significant progress with the Don Pedro Project - a relicensing process that has been moving forward since 2011. Last Tuesday, TID and the Modesto Irrigation District worked together to file their Draft License Application with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. According to TID, the DLA provides an opportunity for public review and comment on the application before the two districts file the Final License Application in ...

Economic development task force reviews City’s accomplishments

Sometimes you cannot know where you are going until you know where you have been. This was the mantra of the Mayor's Economic Development Task Force on Tuesday, as the group reviewed the City's accomplishments over the past 10 years to discuss how Turlock might continue moving forward. Noting the economic development plan of 2003, members of the task force highlighted some significant changes that have occurred in Turlock in the span ...

City seeks community input on food trucks

Denham requests review of high speed rail spending

On Tuesday, Congressman Jeff Denham (R-Turlock) penned a letter requesting that the U.S. Government Accountability Office review the funding agreements between the California High Speed Rail Authority and the federal government. Denham, who has been a strong advocate for fiscal responsibility, sent the letter to Comptroller General Gene Dodaro noting that the Federal Railroad Administration and the Authority's existing grant agreement requires that federal funding is matched with 50 percent state funding. <p ...

Olsen applauds EPA move towards ethanol reduction

Since 2005, the Renewable Fuel Standard has regulated the minimum volume of renewable fuel that must be contained in transportation fuel sold in the United States. Over the past several months, Assemblymember Kristin Olsen has been calling for the reduction of these standards, noting that they are nearly impossible to achieve and negatively affecting dairies in California. The Environmental Protection Agency, who oversees the RFS, has proposed easing the annual RFS requirement ...