Fillmore is moving forward. This was evident at the recent Fillmore City Council Meeting, where a new fire rescue vehicle was approved along with a Mid-Year Financial Report that showed the City on a sound footing.

The meeting began with a presentation of the City's new mobile application. Ventura County Information Technology Services Chief Information Officer Mike Pettit and Deputy CIO Kevin Coe gave a demonstration of the application which includes contact information on City staff in alphabetical order, links for emergencies such as VCAlert and non-emergency contacts such as DialARide, and abandoned shopping cart collections. It is user friendly and is expected to increase speed of City services.

The Fillmore Fire Department (FFD) asked for a new rescue vehicle to replace the present one which is inoperable, and it was approved. The 2000 year Ford F-550 FFD was using had reached the end of its useful life and was no longer reliable, costing more to repair and maintain than its value. FFD is presently responding to rescue calls using a pickup truck which does not have the capacity to hold all the items needed to properly respond to rescues.

The new vehicle is a 2016 Freightliner M2, slightly over 22 feet in length, weighs 25,000 pounds and has a 42 gallon fuel tank. It comes at an estimated cost of $230,000 which will be paid by a combination of Federal Community Development Block Grant Funds of $160,000 which are available July 1, 2015 and General Funds that were part of the 2014-15 FY Budget.

It was proposed there be no bidding process in the purchase of the rescue vehicle due to the time restraints and need for a replacement as soon as possible. It is a "piggyback" agreement with Emergency Vehicles, Inc. (EVI) and the City of Boston (who is also ordering a vehicle), which the city staff feels received a fair and reasonable price. The reasoning for taking such quick action on the purchase is to obtain the vehicle at the earliest possible time, the grant funding timing, and the lead time for ordering the vehicle.

Once the replacement arrives FFD will have eight vehicles; the new rescue vehicle, one ladder truck, one Chief vehicle, two utility pickups, one light and air unit and five months ago they received a new fire engine, adding to the other fire engine still in use.

Another agenda item discussed was the Mid-Year FY 2014-2015 Financial Report presented by Finance Director Gaylynn Brien. The overall financial position of the City continues to improve. Construction development activities continue to improve, both commercial and residential, along with some added funds to place transfers into the General Fund reserve. The goal is to set aside 40% of the General Fund expense budget in a reserve account. The City is about half way there.

Overall revenue exceeds the 2013-2014 budget by almost $360,000 or 5.5%. This is due to the added revenue of just over $400,000 (considered a one time payment) from monies received through the tax sharing agreement with MTS relating to Owens and Minor; monies held back by the Board of Equalization until the courts cleared it and sided with Fillmore in the settlement.

Due to that large jump in revenue the previous year, the following 2014-2015 FY seems to be a decline, but that is not true fact if you remove the additional money received from the agreement. The City is still doing much better and continues to do well.

The one dim spot is the Sewer Fund which still struggles to meet its debt coverage (2007 bond financing). The Sewer Rate Stabilization Fund, which started in 2011 with $4 million, is now down to $1.3 million. There are discussions on how to improve this, but the increases in Development Impact Fees, along with new residents paying into the sewer rate, both should help increase the revenue needed.

Police and fire protection are the highest areas of spending, with the City seeing a good return. Last year Fillmore experienced a 24% reduction in overall crime. While the FFD received $143,000 in grants; $55,000 from private donor, $10,000 from Southern Cal. Edison, $8,000 from Chevron, $15,000 from Homeland Security, $55,000 from the Office of Traffic Safety.

Development projects under construction include the Family Dollar, The Stop, the third and fourth phase of Williams Homes and 146 lots by Suncal that are being graded. Projects under review include the old lemon plant expected to be operational this summer packing avocadoes, County Fire Station to be located just south of The Stop, North Fillmore Specific Plan and other projects slated for the next seven to ten years.

During Public Comments two people addressed the Council. Norma Amaro spoke first asking what could be done about the merchants on Central Avenue who refuse to park in the rear of the stores. She stated, "I've watched them, there are two who park on Central. One watches and waits for the two hours then she goes and just moves her car to another spot on Central. There's plenty of parking in the back." This is a problem for business owners due to limited spaces on Central. Amaro asked if the business contracts with the City could be changed to prevent this.

Marie Wren addressed the Council about the loitering on Central stating, "We need to have something against it, we have a nice park where they can go. I've seen people (tourists) from out of town start to walk down Central and see the men hanging around and turn around to go back to the train." She also asked about the gym equipment donated to Fillmore by the Santa Paula Curves and what they plan to do with it. The Council is not allowed to respond to Public Comments on non-agenda items.

The Council spoke about the joint meeting they had had earlier this month with the Fillmore Unified School Board Representatives/Commissioners and the continuation of the Military Banner Program stating they have no intentions of stopping the program.