Redevelopment Abolished, Staff Laid Off

Although there is some optimism that Redevelopment Agencies statewide will be preserved in some way, serious cuts were made to the Watsonville city program that has been credited with much of the city’s progress over the past 30 years.

“It’s a very sad night,” Watsoville City Manager Carlos Palacios said. “Our Redevelopment Agency has done such great things.”

—a part-time administrative assistant and a student intern—and three other employees will see their hours reduced. Other employees have been reassigned to positions that are funded by grants or within other departments.

“We have worked very hard to try to avoid this,” Palacios said.

If they hadn’t approved the restructuring Tuesday evening, the Redevelopment Agency would be put into deficit and the city’s general fund would absorb the $210,000 debt, according to Palacios.

It will be a whole new story next fiscal year. There will only be $250,000 budgeted to fund all of the responsibilities left behind by the termination of the Redevelopment Agency.

“It’s atrocious what the governor did,” Martinez said.

Palacios said there’s still a lot of uncertainty in what the future of Redevelopment is

“We’re hopeful,” he said. “That will play out in the next months.”

Amid discussions about the process going forward, mild in-fighting broke out among city council members about city employee salaries.

Emilio Martinez criticized the city’s pay structure for city employees, including the $400-a-month car allowances for some administrative staff and stipends for bilingual skills.

“That’s a lot of money every month for a lot of money,” Council Member Nancy Bilicich said. “It’s tough times right now and to lose personnel is hard.”

Manuel Bersamin came to the defense of the city employees, saying the city council shouldn’t “cannibalize” good people.

 “If you don’t compensate talent than you lose the best staff in the county,” Bersamin said. “You get what you pay for.”

The city council approved the restructuring plan with a 6-1 vote. Bilicich voted against it.

After the meeting, Council Member Lowell Hurst called the situation disasterous, putting the decision on par with the impact of the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake.

In other news at the City Council meeting:

• The Community Science Workshop Network gave the Watsonville Environmental Science Workshop an $73,236 18-month grant to fund its programs, a program that had 21,000 student visits last year.
• Four Watsonville families won awards for their holiday home decorating. Best Mobile Home went to Joel, Jaime, & Rocio Lopez 501 S. Green Valley Road #1; Best Indoor Lighted Tree was Janice Streig at 24 Monte Vista Ave.; Best House & Yard Contemporary went to Galdino Medina at 43 Atkinson Ln.; and Best House & Yard Religious Theme was Miguel & Lydia Camargo at 310 Riverside Dr.