New Mayor and Vice Mayor Sworn in at Council Meeting

RANCHO CORDOVA, CA (MPG) - Whatever the name the new civic center ends up being called"'Mills Crossing Civic Center, Mills Station Civic Center, Mills Civic Center 2: Electric Boogaloo"'it continues to be one of the city’s hot buttons.

Actually, the subject itself has many hot buttons as was demonstrated at the December 20 City Council Meeting.

The most incendiary was fallout from the previous meeting where Councilmembers said unsigned, form letter style emails were sent to them from residents unhappy with the civic center proposal as it currently stands.

This, however, was shown to be not true by residents who appeared before the Council on December 20.

“I have to apologize to the public and the members of the public who are in the audience tonight,” stated Councilmember David Sander although he did feel the sender’s personal email was not readily apparent.

Other concerns brought up by residents were not enough civic center specific meetings held by the Council with the public (although a meeting with Council Member Sander was acknowledged), demand for proof that resident ideas like a bowling alley and movie theatre were not financially viable, a condescending tone by Council, a disinterest in any solutions not made by the Council or city staff, and even down to the changing of the name of the project in meeting documents and it’s placement on the meeting agenda document.

“This is not the Council I elected,” said one frustrated resident.

On a happier note, the night also featured the swearing-in of new Mayor Donald Terry and Vice Mayor Linda Budge. Facilities Services Manager Todd Humphrey was also recognized for his many years of service on the eve of his retirement.

The Council also reviewed a series of Municipal Code Amendments including those regarding brewery and distillery tasting rooms, commercial real estate signs and electric vehicle charging stations. For the latter, Vice Mayor Linda Budge championed an amendment requiring new gas stations to feature the new tool. She was outvoted by the rest of the Council who wanted to see instead how the market reacts before forcing businesses to include them.

The Council did decide to go forward with an amendment to allow for breweries and distilleries to not be hampered by how much space they have to allocate to tasting as these businesses have moved outside to serve customers during the pandemic.

They also agreed to proposed amendments to allow commercial real estate signs to only be up during the period a property is being sold or leased and then 30 days afterward. The hope is that the blight of unneeded signs still currently up will be curtailed.

During Council Reports, members detailed the various meetings and events they had attended since the last meeting with a particular spotlight on the city’s holiday events.