Santee City Council Discusses Sustainability and Fire Staffing

Presentation on Santee Sustainability Project and Energy Roadmap:

City staff and a SANDAG representative gave a presentation on the progress of the Santee and the City of Santee Energy Roadmap.

The Santee Sustainability Project was launched three years ago to promote "the most efficient business practices through energy and water conservation, reduced demand and best workplace practices."

The first year, they went after the low hanging fruit, workplace practices, implementing paperless processes, updated reverse osmosis systems that used a lot of water, and Fire Station Four started composting.

Since then, bigger projects and cost savings have been implemented, like the streetlight upgrade, and City Hall lighting upgrade, which will bring $19,000 in savings a year.

A new SDG&E utility rate for outdoor public lighting also caused a 50% reduction in costs.

In the future, the city is looking to use recycled water for street sweeping instead of the potable water they use now. Staff said they have been working on the project for last year to get through the approval process, will set a precedent in region, and will most likely be one of first cities in CA to do this.

opportunities have also been identified at city hall and one of the fire stations.

The two main goals of this project were to conduct energy audits of all city buildings and work on the City of Santee Energy Roadmap, with assistance from and , at no charge to the city.

A more in depth look at this roadmap will be published on Santee Patch soon.

Buena Vista and Railroad Avenues Improvement

After much debate, the City Council passed a resolution approving a CDBG loan from HUD for the Buena Vista and Railroad Avenues improvement projects. City Manager Keith Till said the improvement of this area is top priority and would be done soon either way. $1.5 million of the $7 million city budget reserve will be held in escroe and paid off 10 percent a year through federal CDBG funds.

Councilmember John Minto cast the only no vote.

Random Santee Economic Facts

• are up 4.5 percent in the second quarter of 2011, according to the city. But, city staff added that high fuel prices actually fueled that increase.

• Over last 6-7 years the city spent about $800,000 in legal fees for the , and was recently reimbursed $750,000.

Firefighter Staffing

• Councilmember John Minto initiated a discussion about staffing, based on this year's budget decisions that reduced staffing by three positions. The positions were paid for by a grant, but would be taken from the city's General Fund from here on out.

"We're talking about paving roads, and not necessarily looking at the priority of firefighting," said Minto.

With that opening, the discussion became a grand debate about prioritizing safety, the future of the economy and Santee's budget, property and sales taxes, and how these types of decisions are made.

In the end, the council voted 3-2 to enact a budget amendment to bring the three positions back, with Rob McNelis and John Minto voting no.

Mayor Randy Voepel made it clear the the "budget burrito" would now need to be ajusted, and the money for these positions will have to come from somewhere else in the budget.

New Business

• Council gave the go ahead to apply for up to $1.6 million in funding from the Proposition 84 California Urban Greening Grant Program in order to finance the "installation of drought resistant plants, durable ground cover and water-efficient irrigation systems within 14 administered by the city."

has come up with a way to reduce water use in , while keeping up appearance. There is no application fee for the funds.