Message from the City Manager

Published on January 17, 2023

Greg Folsom

Happy New Year! Hopefully you all had a wonderful holiday season and are as excited about the New Year as I am. Welcome aboard to new Mayor Alma Hernandez, Mayor Pro Tem Princess Washington, and Councilmember Jenalee Dawson! I’m looking forward to an awesome 2023! We are going to have a tremendous year ahead in Suisun City! Since Mayor Hernandez had to vacate her Council seat to accept the Mayor seat, her seat is now available. As of this writing the application period has closed and the City Council will be going over applications for this open Council seat at the January 17th and January 24th Council meetings. More to come on this next month.

December was a very eventful month for us in Suisun City, but in particular I want to highlight two major new service enhancements that have been implemented at Council direction that should be a great benefit to residents and visitors to Suisun City: Enhancements to the Fire Department and Enhancements to Transit.

Fire Department

For the first time in Suisun City history, our Fire Department is now staffing a second engine at the Advanced Life Support level! Several years ago, Suisun City relied primarily on volunteers to provide the bulk of the staffing for the Fire Department. As such, the Fire Department was only able to provide Basic Life Support (BLS) medical services as a first responder and Advanced Life Support (ALS) relied upon the arrival of the ambulance service provider. BLS is a limited level of emergency medical response that allows first responders at the Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) level to provide cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), use an automated external defibrillator (AED), and relieve airway obstructions. ALS, on the other hand, allows Paramedic level personnel to provide invasive interventions, such as endotracheal intubation for airway management, and intravenous catheters for drug and fluid delivery. Importantly, Paramedics are allowed to administer emergency drugs whereas EMTs cannot.

This is a HUGE enhancement to the service provided to our residents and is the culmination of several years of investment into additional personnel and training for the Fire Department. The ability to go to ALS and to staff a second engine are directly the result of Measure S funds being authorized by Council to improve the staffing level and training at the Fire Department. Congratulations to our Fire Department and thank you to our City Council for the vision to make this accomplishment a reality in Suisun City!

Transit

Our second major service enhancement is our new micro-transit service. We are at the beginning of a new paradigm for transit services in Suisun City. As of January 3, 2023, Suisun City is no longer a participant with Fairfield and Suisun Transit (FAST) fixed route bus service. Instead, we have taken a milestone step in taking hold of our transit dollars and hopefully you will agree that we will be providing a higher level of service to our community through what is called “micro-transit.” Rather than running a fixed route with a big bus that is rarely more than sparsely filled, our new micro-transit service will provide a more personalized door to door service.

The new micro-transit service will offer pick up and drop off to any locations within the Suisun City limits, as well as to and from nine locations in Fairfield. The smaller micro-transit buses are all ADA accessible and are much more efficient to run and maintain. If all runs as we believe it will, we will be able to offer a greater level of service at a substantially reduced overall cost to the City.

There will also be a service called the “School Tripper” that will run a fixed route in the morning and afternoon to ensure that kids are able to get to school. However, this is not a school bus and is available to the general public as well as the funding for this program cannot be restricted to school use only. More information on the specific route and pickup times are available on the Solano Transportation Authority (STA) website at: https://www.solanomobility.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Suisun-Microtransit-School-Tripper-Schedule-12-19-2022_01d_revBT.pdf , on the City’s website (www.suisun.com), and attached at the end of this update.

Fares are free through the month of January and thereafter the general fare within Suisun City will be $2 with discounted fares of $1 for adults age 62 and older, youth/students aged 17 or younger, and anyone who is ADA-eligible. ADA riders will receive priority booking.

The hours of operation for micro-transit will be Monday through Friday 7am until 7pm, except on holidays. For after hours, weekends, and holidays service will be provided through the Lyft Ride program.

A mobile application is in the development stages and should be available soon. For more information on the new micro-transit service, please call Solano Mobility at (800) 535-6883 or (707) 673-2129 to make a phone reservation.

Here are several other things to be aware of this month:

  • Sand and Sand Bags are available at no cost in the parking lot between City Hall and the Yacht Club. You will need to bring a shovel to put the sand into the sand bags.
  • The City is accepting applications for various commissions and committees, including:
    • Planning Commission – 2 vacancies
    • Recreation, Parks, Marina & Arts Commission – 4 vacancies
    • Housing Authority Tenant Commissioner – 2 vacancies
    • Measure S General Tax Oversight Committee – 3 vacancies
    • Solano County Mosquito Abatement District – 1 vacancy

Contact the City Clerk’s Office if you are interested in an appointment to one of these opportunities.

City Council

City Council Meeting Highlights (December – 2 meetings):

  • Accepted the Certified Election results and had swearing in of two new Councilmembers, Princess Washington and Jenalee Dawson, as well as short-term Mayor Larry Brumfield and full-term Mayor Alma Hernandez.
  • Princess Washington was appointed Mayor Pro Tem.
  • Council adopted procedures for filling the vacancy on the City Council created by the election of Alma Hernandez to Mayor.
  • Reaffirmed Development Impact Fees.
  • Approved the Recognized Obligation Payment Schedule (ROPS).
  • Approved a contract for a consultant to prepare a Municipal Services Review.
  • Approved a contract amendment with David Wade who is assisting with reviews on several environmental impact reports.
  • Approved a contract amendment with a consultant who is preparing an environmental impact report.
  • Approved a janitorial contract for city facilities.
  • Approved a process for Brown Act accommodations.
  • Reaffirmed the Downtown Business Improvement District.
  • Approved the budget for the Downtown Business Improvement District.
  • Initial approval of an amendment to the Military Equipment Policy.
  • Initial approval of the annexation of the Caterpillar Clubhouse into CFD #2.
  • Initial approval of the annexation of the Zip Thru Carwash into CFD #2.
  • Approved Safe and Sane Fireworks sales for 2023.
  • Presentation on the implementation of Microtransit in 2023.

Here is the full report:

CM-Report-December-2022.pdf(PDF, 2MB)

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