At Tuesday night’s City Council meeting Fillmore Chief of Police Garo Kuredjian spoke regarding the addition of a second School Resource Officer for the next 2.5 fiscal years. It was approved by Council.

Council Approves Second School Resource Officer

8-A At the February 11th City Council meeting members of the City Council requested the placement of a discussion regarding the possibility of having the agenda translated into Spanish on a future agenda. Councilwoman Lynn Edmonds stated that she would like the City Council to consider having the agenda translated, not the staff reports or other agenda items, and made available at each City Council meeting.

Three transcription services were contacted to determine costs. The average cost would be about $3,000 per year, not including staff costs.

Following discussion, council failed to pass this motion.

8-B Mid Year Financial/Budget Analysis and Fund Balance by Fund Submitted for review is the 1) Mid-Year Financial Report, which is the fiscal year to date through mid-year financial results, and the Financial Forecast through the remainder of the fiscal year for the General, Water, Sewer, Recreation, Community Pool and Street Funds; 2) a summary of the Fund Balance by Fund (Attachment A) starting with FY 2014-15 plus the forecast for the current fiscal year impact on fund balance and the ending fund balance; and 3) request to approve a Supplemental Budget Request.

It was reported that "The overall financial position of the City is stable. Property taxes are down , and sales tax revenue continues to decline. Fortunately development permit revenue is up and is currently offsetting the reduction in sales tax. However, development permit revenue is considered one-time revenue and therefore not a reliable source of revenue to meet ongoing expenses in future years."

8-C The City Council approved the addition of one (1) deputy sheriff position to the existing police services contract with the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office in order to add a second School Resource Officer (SRO) for fiscal years 2019-20, 2020-21, and 2021-22.

8-E The City Council is being requested to approve a new contract with Owl Tek, LLC, to provide information technology and film permitting services. This contract will cover a two year time period. The City will have the ability to extend the term for two addition alone-year periods. The decision to exercise an option to extend the contract would require a contract amendment approved by the City Council and notice to Owl Tekat least 90 days before expiration.

FISCAL IMPACT: The base cost of this contract is for 32 hours of services for all services other than the film permitting work at $2,000 per month. Additional hours above the 32 base hours will require the approval of the City Manager and will be charged at a rate of $45 per hour.

The City of Fillmore has been utilizing Patrick Maynard to provide IT Consulting Services since August 15, 2015. Since then, Patrick Maynard is now part of a Limited Liability Corporation (LLC), Owl Tek. Owl Tek will continue to provide the City with computer desktop application support; server and work station administrative services; microwave network support; network administration services; assistance with email, security and backup efforts, channel 10 broadcast live streaming, telephone systems, physical security at City Facilities, film permitting, and any additional project that may be added by the discretion of the City Manager as needed for the City’s efficiency and business practice improvement.

Staff is recommending that the City Council: 1. Approve the contract for two years with Owl Tek, LLC, to provide consulting services as stipulated in the scope of work of the contract.

Council unanimously approved the recommendation.

Submitted by Jan Lee.

The Vision 2020 Civic Pride Committee has selected a really fun theme for the Flower Show this year. It is “Fairy Tales and Flowers”. The theme should inspire some beautiful displays of bouquets, arrangements, potted plants and single stem flowers.

Again this year, the Flower Show will be held at the Active Adult Center (533 Santa Clara Street, Fillmore) on May 2nd and 3rd. There will be youth and adult categories. Pull those weeds. Plant those seeds. Nurture those roses and other garden plants. Now is the time to plan to participate in the flower show. Every year, we invite the town to participate and view the flower show. It is so much fun!

The 2020 Civic Pride Committee does numerous things in Fillmore. They plant and maintain many of the planters around town. They also award a Yard of the Month recognition to Fillmore yards. That is how they know many people have gorgeous flowers and plants surrounding their homes. Yes we have many rose entries. But one category is “Any Other Unlisted Flower”. That means anybody could enter at least one bloom to share with the rest of us. You don’t have to be a botanist to grow a flower or plant. Nature does most of the work. Once you take a chance and enter the flower show, you will discover that gardeners are friendly, helpful people. We sincerely hope you will enter something in the flower show this May.

For more information go to fillmoreflowershow.org

Bob Crum

The digital age has infiltrated our lives in many ways--some good, others aggravating. Digital devices from audio recorders, TVs, cameras and of course, cellphones. Ah yes, cellphones, the prolific pocket-size devices that render cognitive-behavioral therapy for the gazillions of people who have a narcissistic personality disorder. And of course, to occasionally make a phone call.

While the plethora of digital devices presents many appealing conveniences, it has also caused yet another photographic demise: The print! Remember prints? We shot some photos on a 36 exposure roll of film, and before we finished the whole roll, we rushed to the one-hour photo facility. After relishing a Starbucks iced dirty chai latte, we dashed back to pick up the prints.

Back at Starbucks, LOOK at Johnny at his first birthday party putting the whole cupcake in his little mouth. OMG, here's a photo of Aunt Julie falling off the picnic table. And one of the cute little puppy, but who is the idiot who named him Wigglebutt? Ah, the wonder of prints!

Photographic prints used to document everything from anniversaries, to birthday parties, to graduations, to family reunions and get-togethers on holidays. Cellphones killed all of that. Phonetographers take snapshots all day to plaster on Instagram and or charm their Facebook (FB) friends and watch to see how many 'likes' their masterpiece collects. What? Only 12 likes? Com'on people. It's a gorgeous photo of my trophy pumpkin! When was the last time you had a print made from a photo you took on your cellphone? Never? I'm not surprised considering that 53% of consumers haven't printed a photo in more than 12 months, 70% don’t have photo albums and 42% no longer print photos at all!

Let's briefly consider technology. You presently back up your photos on hard drives. Good. But did you forget that hard drives crash! Poof, photos all gone. Oh, you are one up on me, eh? You have your photos stashed up in a cloud. Good for you. Wait, are you sure that 'cloud' company is going to be around in 10 years? Or what if they hike the storage price to a point you can't afford? Gotcha! And BTW, have you heard about HEIF? HEIF (High-Efficiency Image File, pronounced 'heef' as in beef) is a new file format. The MPEG group developed it. The HEIF format is used by Apple as a modern replacement for JPEG . But to view a HEIF, you have to first convert it to a jpeg. Egad! Point being that all those great jpegs from your cellphone might not open on state-of-the-art computers of the future. More about this important subject later.

In the meantime, the digital-photography-school.com website sums up the topic perfectly. "While there is joy in taking photos and viewing them digitally, our satisfaction is not properly realized until we have printed our photos. A photo that isn’t printed is like a script that is never performed or a musical composition that is never played. There is still value in the digital photo, just as there is value in a script or musical composition. But the value is mainly the hope that one day the digital photo will be printed and share a bodily life with us – to inspire us, cheer us, and remind us."

If the paper edition is not in color, be sure to check the photo of the week at fillmoregazette.com. The first person who can briefly describe how I made the photo wins one free scoop of Baskin-Robbins ice cream. Happy photoing!

Send comments, suggestions or questions to:focusonphotography@earthlink.net

At last night's school board meeting, Sandy Butts of Mountain Vista Elementary School, presented the foreign exchange students who are attending Fillmore High School this year.

February 18, 2020 Meeting

Second Interim Report Presentation
The Governing Board received a presentation on the Second Interim Report by Andrea McNeill, Assistant
Superintendent of Business Services.

Approve Memorandum of Agreement for School Resource Officers (SRO)
The Governing Board approved the Agreement with the City of Fillmore.

Approve the 2019-2020 Comprehensive School Safety Plans for Fillmore USD Schools
The Governing Board received a presentation and approved of the 2019-2020 Comprehensive School Safety
Plans for Fillmore High School, Sierra High School/Heritage Valley Independent Study, Fillmore Middle School,
Mountain Vista Elementary School, Piru Elementary School, Rio Vista Elementary School, and San Cayetano
Elementary School.

Personnel Recommendations
The Board approved all personnel recommendations including new hires, promotions, resignations, and leaves.

Happy 115th Birthday to Rotary International! Rotary Club of Fillmore and the Interact Club of Fillmore High School will be celebrating the event by doing some community service. Rotary’s motto is: Service Above Self. They will be joining Soroptimist International of Fillmore in cleaning up the bike path. The Soroprtimist will also be hosting the annual treasure hunt for the kids in the community. Both events will take place on Saturday, February 22nd from 9am-10am. We will be meeting in the parking lot of Taco Llama (corner of “A” Street and Old Telegraph Rd.) Please bring a bag for your treasure, wear long pants and closed-toed shoes, cap, gloves and sunscreen. We will provide the trash bags and picker uppers. This FREE event is open to the public. For more information on the Rotary Club of Fillmore and/or Soroptimist International of Fillmore please contact Ari Larson 805.794.7590 or email: petenari55@hotmail.com