In her first Scotts Valley City Council meeting since announcing she was moving on to a job in Coronado, city manager Tina Friend on Aug. 4 brought good news about a couple of local projects.

“First, if you’ve been coming into town on Mt. Hermon (Road), you will have seen that we have a new wall going up,” she said, referring to the barrier meant to conceal a PG&E substation. “What a difference. From a complete eyesore in seeing the industrial, electrical substation complex, to now having a wall screening it, it’s going to be much, much better.”

She thanked Taylor Bateman, the city’s community development director, and former public works director Daryl Jordan, for their work in making it happen.

“It seems simple to put a wall up,” Friend said. “But, it was many meetings and many conversations.”

Ultimately, PG&E volunteered to construct and pay for the wall, she noted.

The second project Friend brought news on was the Skypark renovations.

All the major work—to level the ground, reseed the fields and repair the irrigation system—has been completed, she said.

“We’re in the phase where we’re literally waiting for the grass to grow,” Friend said. “And as soon as the turf is strong enough to sustain the heavy community use … we’re going to take down the fence as soon as possible.”

That will happen no later than Sept. 20, she pledged—adding a full adult softball season is also a go.

Gratitude Chamber

In a presentation, Danny Reber, the executive director of the Scotts Valley Chamber of Commerce, told Scotts Valley Mayor Derek Timm and councilors he was pleased with their responsiveness during a tough year of coronavirus restrictions and other challenges.

That stands in contrast to the plight of other chambers of commerce, which spent a lot of energy petitioning local elected representatives to be responsive to the business community, he explained.

“What I’ve seen is they’re actually writing letters to their local officials, their city council and their county supervisors, trying to get them to understand the needs of the businesses,” he said. “In Scotts Valley, we never had to do any of that, because you guys were a part of the conversation, right from the beginning.”

Reber says there are companies that are still open today that otherwise would have closed their doors, if not for the actions of Scotts Valley city officials.

“Thank you,” he said. “You have our sincere gratitude.”

Timm returned thanks, saying the chamber was a good partner during the last year.

“I know one of the goals of our council is to make sure that our community came out of the pandemic, out of the fires, much the way it went in—a healthy, vibrant community with small businesses,” he said. “I think we achieved that.”

Library Contract Approved

Council unanimously approved deploying $3,002,150 toward library renovations over the next six months—most of which will come from Measure S funds.

The rest will be sourced from library development impact fees (the current balance of the account is $363,127) and excess “maintenance of efforts” dollars (money that comes from property taxes—the balance of that account is currently $592,892). 

The General Fund won’t be impacted.

Council handed a $2,878,450 contract to Patriot Contracting, Inc. to get the job done, and extended a contract with Group 4—up to $100,000, for extra design work. Both motions were approved unanimously.

Councilmember Donna Lind remembers the community effort that allowed a roller rink to morph into a library in the first place.

“We were really proud of that opening, but it has been 10 years,” Lind said, adding she’s excited about the next phase. “I really thank everyone for the work that’s been done on the project.

She added: “Where did 10 years go?”

Friend said a big component of the renovations will be ensuring the structural integrity of the building.

“We’re doing significant seismic upgrades,” she said. “We will know that we have a building that is up to code, that is going to be durable, that is going to be safe for our community.”

But it’s also about boosting visitor experience, she said.

“We’re adding a second set of doors as you enter the library vestibule,” she said. “As you walk in the library now, there’s a single set of doors. And with you, in comes the wind, the leaves, the dirt, and whatever detritus is outside.”

The new automatic doors will make the library accessible to people of all ability levels, she added.

“We’re also reconfiguring the big kids’ and little kids’ areas to freshen it up, to create better separation, to move things like the computers out of the little kids section, and over to a bigger kids section,” Friend said, adding there will also be new carpet and flooring, furnishings, paint and bike racks.

“It really is going to be a wonderful facelift for our library, and also a functional improvement overall,” she said.

Councilmember Randy Johnson said the “curb appeal” of a new building exterior will be an important part of reflecting the interior beauty.

“As great as this is and will be, I think you kind of have to match it with your exterior,” he said. “Because right now, with all due respect to whoever the architect was back 50 years ago or whatever, it is kind of drab.”