Thankful for Team Carlsbad, traffic safety achievements and kudos

Team Carlsbad –

I want to start off by wishing you and your family a safe and happy Thanksgiving. This year has flown by, but Thanksgiving truly is a time to take some moments and recognize all that is good in our lives.

In that spirit, please know how thankful I am for all your hard work, dedication and passion for doing right by our community day in and day out. Team Carlsbad has never lost sight of its mission to protect and serve, so with that in mind let’s get to the updates.

Traffic safety top of mind

The three E’s of traffic safety – enforcement, engineering and education -- were front and center last Tuesday, when City Council approved a series of projects that support the city’s ongoing efforts to balance the needs of bicyclists, walkers and drivers. While the community often only sees the finished product, I know how much these projects entail behind the scenes, and I want to reiterate that your efforts and enthusiasm are not going unnoticed.

And please don’t hesitate to help spread the word. Check out the city’s social channels for traffic safety tips and feel free to share with your network. We’ll all need a little more patience on the roads this week with more people out and about.

New hotline

The City of Carlsbad has earned the trust of our community over many years. Last week we rolled out a new tool to help ensure we retain that trust, which these days can be affected by even the perception of fraud, waste or abuse of taxpayer resources.

If you haven’t already, please take a moment to review the new fraud, waste and abuse hotline website and the Administrative Order about its use.

• This is a resource for city employees only.

• It provides another option for raising questions and concerns when you may not feel comfortable talking to your supervisor or department director.

• It’s specifically geared toward fraud, waste and abuse. Please continue to use other channels for HR-related questions and concerns.

Setting up a resource like this has become a best practice for government organizations, much like our internal audit program, online records portal and other ways we continually demonstrate our commitment to transparency and responsible stewardship of the resources entrusted to our care.

Operating swimmingly

The early morning staff at Alga Norte is getting some big props from a community member who routinely heads to the pool before going to the office. He called Alga Norte a world-class facility, describing the pool as clean and safe, and noted the locker rooms are extremely well maintained. That’s all because of you.

The community member gave a special thanks to the staff and singled out Carol Grayson, a recreation leader who works primarily at the front.

Bottom line – this is about more than providing top quality places for people to visit. The staff who maintain and run these facilities is the real point of pride. After all, none of this would be possible without your hard work and dedication. So, again, thank you!

Driven to success

Congratulations to Officer Jonathon Brodie, who is being named the Carlsbad’s Vehicle Theft Recovery Officer of the Year! A county-based committee made up of law enforcement, insurance and other auto-related companies bestowed the honor to Officer Brodie, who recovered 32 abandoned vehicles, eight vehicles in motion, and arrested nine suspects. That’s just plain awesome. Jonathon, thank you for protecting our community in this unique and meaningful way.

Senior Center staff shines

The Senior Center staff is also getting some kudos from the community for pulling off the Arts & Crafts Fair at the same time as a courtyard concert. It’s the first time they’ve ever done that!

More than 120 community members attended the outdoor event, some even posting pictures online and commenting what a great time they had – one of them even discovered a new passion for the art of pet rocks! These are the impressions we strive to leave, and they are only possible thanks to our Parks & Rec staff putting this together from the planning stages to the finish line. Nice work!

More traction for ACTION

Yet another award has come in for the city’s ACTION asset management platform. The California Stormwater Quality Association honored it as the Most Outstanding Public Outreach and Engagement award. The honor is given to projects that advance sustainable stormwater management and is the highest award given in the state’s storm water industry. Glad to see this still getting kudos. Congrats to the multi-department collaboration on this one.

Latest election results

While we will wait until we get the final word from the Registrar of Voters before making things official, the results of our recent election are coming into focus. Here is what the latest update shows, with all but 11,000 ballots countywide counted. Based on the numbers, we anticipate the results will remain the same and would like to congratulate our newly elected officials:

Mayor Keith Blackburn Council Member, District 1 Melanie Burkholder Council Member, District 3 Priya Bhat-Patel

City Clerk

Sherry Freisinger

City Treasurer

Craig J. Lindholm

Measure J (Monroe Street Pool renovation)

Passed

The Register of Voters has until Dec. 8 to certify the results.

We have planned an oath of office ceremony for all our newly elected officials at the Dec. 13 City Council meeting, starting at 5 p.m. At this same meeting, we will be saying goodbye to Mayor Matt Hall, who is retiring following 28 years on the Carlsbad City Council, and District 1 City Council Member Peder Norby, who was appointed and filled the remainder of the District 1 term since August 2021

Even as we go through these changes and transitions, our role as staff remains the same – we will continue to deliver an excellent level of service to the community we serve and carry out the policy direction of the City Council. Thank you for your professionalism and dedication as we move into this next chapter for the City of Carlsbad.

Thanksgiving hours

Again, thank you for all your hard work and dedication this year. I hope you have a great holiday weekend, no matter how you’re celebrating.

City offices will be closing a couple of hours earlier on Wednesday at 2 p.m. Please make sure your building’s windows have the “offices closed” sign posted today. You can download them on the Intranet page and post.

Otherwise, we are closed all day Thursday and Friday, in observance of Thanksgiving and will finish out November on a strong note starting Monday!

We’ve got a lot to look forward to this December, and I can’t wait for all that is in store.

-Scott