LINDSAY – The city invited community members to listen and engage with their local officials as they pursue new projects in hopes of making the city of Lindsay a better place.

On Nov. 2, the city hosted its first State of the City meeting at the Lindsay Community Theatre. At the convening, Lindsay Mayor Hipolito Angel Cerros reviewed major city projects including economic development, public safety and the water treatment plan.

In addition to city officials and members of the public, Tulare County Board of Supervisors Vice Chair Larry Mircari was in attendance to the meeting, as well as representatives from Senator Hurtado’s office and Congressman Valadao’s office.

“The city did not have a great reputation … which is something that we’ve worked very hard to help improve and work on our delivery of our message and our outreach,” City Manager Joe Tanner said. “I’m very confident that we are on a solid path forward to make things even better for everybody.”

Tanner was not the only one to bring up how the city is working to change how the city operates. Supervisor Mircari explained how he believes Lindsay is changing for the better.

“In the past, there were a lot of mistakes committed, which put the city in some hardship, to (the point that) the county has to oversee some of the grants that come through,” Mircari said. “We are more than happy to help support the community…there’s been some enormous strides made to getting the city out of positions that it was previously put in.”

In his presentation, Mayor Cerros highlighted the various city projects in the works including the economic development of Lindsay. Part of Lindsay’s economic development efforts include two different housing developments, Palm Terrace, and O’hara’s Ranch. Palm Terrace is a housing development made specifically for low-income people; the development offers a total of 10 single family residential homes.

“The key thing about this project is that it provides stable housing for individuals who are maybe fostering or coming out of the foster system, experienced some sort of abuse and don’t have access to stable housing; individuals who want to get back into their feet,” Cerros said.

The other housing development, O’hara’s Ranch, will construct 145 single-family detached homes along with a mini storage facility. This development is expected to be completed in the summer of 2024.

Other economic development projects underway include the transit center, downtown cleanup, highway projects and retail development.

One of the other ongoing projects the city has been working on is the water treatment plan. This past year the council put together a water ad hoc committee to address the city’s water issues until the nearly $40 million worth of improvements are completely resolved. This includes infrastructure as well as decontaminating Wells 11 and 15 so they can be used for drinking water.

Another major investment the city has made in recent years is into public safety. Lindsay’s chief of police and director of public safety, Rick Carrillo, reviewed the many improvements the city has made to better protect the city, including the expansion of police personnel.

“When I arrived here there were 17 personnel to serve as public safety, which is police/fire for 24-hour service seven days a week – not nearly enough,” Carrillo said.

He continued to explain that their staffing has since increased by 120%, providing them with 40 personnel. According to Carillo, 33% of the staff are volunteers serving the city.

The city will also get its new firetruck soon due to the $2.3 million from Senator Hurtado’s office, on top of the 14 other public safety vehicles the city received thanks to grant funding.