New city manager, ­planning commissioner for City of Clayton

As we begin a new year and a new decade, I want to welcome our new city manager, Ikani Taumoepeau.

He comes to us from the city of Santa Paula in Ventura County. Ikani is full of energy and enthusiasm, and he and his family have discovered what we already know – we all love Clayton. We are enjoying working with him and look forward to meeting new challenges together. See the full story on him on Page 4.

I sincerely thank William Gall for his service on the Planning Commission. I also want to thank the three strong candidates who applied to fill that vacancy. The council appointed Terri Denslow to finish the term ending June 30, at which time three positions will be up for appointment.

Thanks also to the Clayton Business & Community Association (CBCA) for the wonderful holiday decorations and festivities. Every year, they make the holidays special in our downtown. The CBCA provides all the decorations, and its members do the setup and takedown as well as producing the Tree Lighting and Dessert with Mrs. Claus and Santa, all at no expense to the city.

If you were downtown over the holidays, you saw that the planter boxes on Main Street have been removed and are being replaced with larger boxes. We are also replacing the rootbound trees that were too large for the planters with crape myrtles, which will fill in and match some of the other trees we already have.

With the new year, planning has begun for our 13th annual Concerts in the Grove. We have a great lineup of bands to enjoy this summer. The flier with the official schedule will be in the March issue of the Pioneer; until then, mark your calendars for every other Saturday, beginning May 9 and continuing until Sept. 12. Yes, there will be a concert on the 4th of July. Please contact me if you or your company would like to be a major sponsor of the concert series, with your company logo appearing on the large banners during concerts.

Late last year, we launched live video-streaming of all City Council meetings and some Planning Commission meetings. As some of you have observed, it got off to a bumpy start, but our tech folks have worked out the glitches and it’s working now. You can now “virtually” attend a council meeting, live, from the comfort of your home. Or, you can watch the video of the meetings the following day. During the meetings, there will be a link on the home page of the city website (ci.clayton.ca.us) to directly connect.

Over the past two months, 150+ people tuned in to watch each of the Planning Commission hearings on the Olivia project. That project will be coming to the City Council, and the meeting will be streamed live, beginning at 7 p.m. Feb. 4.

We have a busy year ahead. Please feel free to contact me with any questions, comments or concerns. You can email me at julie.p@ci.clayton.ca.us or call 925-673-7320. Leave me a message and a contact number or email, so I can get back to you.

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