Turlock’s City Council handled several items during a brisk and abbreviated meeting Tuesday, with members Kevin Bixel (District 1) and Erika Phillips (District 4) absent. 

Christopher Fisher, the city’s municipal services director, presented an update on the Temporary Industrial Ratepayer Assistance Program, which helps industrial users with sewer rate increases. 

Industrial users face higher costs due to proportional cost-of-service analysis.

“The sewer-rate study completed in 2024 made it clear that industrial customers contributed about 32.8 percent of the sewer revenue, but ultimately are responsible for more than half (52.4) of the system’s total net costs,” said Fisher. “Proposition 218 required that our rates be aligned with the actual costs, which meant industrial users faced a significant increase when the new rates took effect on Jan. 1 of this year. Rather than allow that change to hit all at once, the council took a proactive action to smooth out the transition, providing maximum assistance allowed by law to give our partners time to adjust.”

The program is funded by $2.18 million collected in penalty fees by the city.

• No repayment is required (unless terms of the agreement are violated).
• Participants waive the right to legally challenge sewer rate increases.
• Assistance ends when the allocated funds are depleted.
• The program provides 25 percent of the total bill value, which means the city is covering about 37 percent of the overall increase, on average.

With 15 users enrolled in the program through June — up from eight in March — the city has paid out almost $945,000 to date. It is anticipated that funds will be depleted in October.

The council also approved three construction contracts for the rehabilitation of three city-owned properties, to be paid for with Community Development Block Grants, Permanent Local Housing Allocation funds, and Home Investment Partnership funds.

The city owns five residential properties that were purchased to use for affordable rental housing or to be sold to eligible first-time homebuyers — and three require improvements.

On July 8, four bids were received for each of the three properties.

• 2065 Cody Court — The lowest bid — $134,510 — was made by A&P Construction. City staff requested a 15 percent contingency, bringing the total to $157,686.50.
• 1827 Shadow Park Drive — The low bid, also made by A&P, was $71,850. The contract, plus a standard 10 percent contingency, and estimated permit fees, brings the total to $81,035.
• 573 Birchwood Way — The low bid of $53,195 was made by Zack’s Handyman and Construction. The contract, plus a 10 percent contingency, and estimated permit fees, brings the total to $60,514.50.

Mayor Amy Bublak, and councilmembers Rebecka Monez (District 2) and Cassandra Abram (District 3) voted to approve the contracts.

Also before the council Tuesday was a request to apply for Regional Early Action Plan of 2021 (REAP 2.0) funds for help meeting housing and equity goals, and the reduction of vehicle miles traveled.

The Stanislaus Council of Governments was awarded nearly $7.1 million in REAP 2.0 funds, of which, $3.1 million is available for Transformative Suballocation Funding Program for StanCOG’s member agencies.

Turlock’s available funding is $454,769, just behind Modesto ($787,771), and the city has identified improvements to the Montana West area in southwest Turlock as a priority.

“Right now, anything that’s developed in those county islands goes to the county, until we do some annexation,” said Adrienne Werner, the city’s development services director. “What this document is going to do is help us get to the point where we can start to annex those properties; it supports our housing element and will also support what our general plan is requiring that we look to do.”

The one-time funding would go toward helping the city prepare its master plan in order to begin annexation of the county islands within Montana West.

The council approved the request to begin the application process.

During the public-comment portion of the meeting, supporters of the We Care men’s homeless shelter — now reopened after closing for the month of July — once again voiced support for the shelter, as they have at every council meeting since April 8.