The Record's Lodi Blog

Lodi Unified promoted Dawn Vetica to be Assistant Superintendent of Secondary Education.

Vetica has been in Lodi Unified for 23 years as a teacher, principal and as Director of Elementary Education.

She was principal at Houston School (a K-8), and Lodi Middle School before going into the district office. Currently she is principal of school intervention and after school programs.

She said Wednesday that she feels the upcoming year will be important in implementing “common core standard and a new testing system at high schools that is all online.”

Vetica starts the new gig July 1. She replaced Odie Douglas who requested reassignment, and has been outspoken in his quest to land a superintendent’s job elsewhere.

Gov. Jerry Brown announced his May revision to the state budget. Lodi Unified officials can breathe a sigh of relief that the plan is no worse for the district than previous budgets.

So, as it was before, education funding hinges largely on a November ballot initiative taxing state residents that earn $250,000 a year or more.

Beverages and More will go before the Lodi Planning Commission Wednesday, seeking a liquor license for its pending Kettleman Lane store location.

BevMo! is leasing the former Hollywood Video building at 2418 W. Kettleman Lane. The wine industry is somewhat split on its coming to Lodi. Some like any business that promotes wine. Others would rather see traffic steered away from specialty retail and into their tasting rooms instead.

Here’s the planning commission agenda item:

a. Request for Planning Commission approval of a Use Permit to allow Type 21 Off-Sale General and
Type 42 On-Sale Beer and Wine Alcoholic Beverage Control license at 2418 West Kettleman Lane.
(Applicant: Denise Rowman, on behalf of Beverages and More, Inc. File Number: 12-U-07)

The City Council on Wednesday night conducted two public hearings related to utility bills.

The first public hearing was a proposal to create a flat electricity rate option for large industrial businesses such as General Mills and Lodi Iron Works, instead of the current energy cost adjustment (ECA) that causes Lodi Electric bills to fluctuate from month-to-month. The ECA is in place to help Lodi make sure it’s being reimbursed the price it pays for electricity. It has been a big help to the city’s efforts to get good bond ratings, council members said.

Council approved the idea of offering a flat rate to industrial customers as they admitted the effort was really a way to please Lodi General Mills executives that wants to offer their bosses at company headquarters a balanced expense sheet at quarterly meetings. For a company that spends millions a year on electricity, a six figure difference in month-to-month electricity  bills is significant, City Manager Rad Bartlam said. General Mills is not expanding in Lodi in part because of high costs to do business. Balanced budgets for big employers can help the city retain jobs.

Electric Utility Director Liz Kirkley said the flat rate schedule would require a “true-up” at the end of 11 months, so the companies pay the full price of their electricity. In other words, implementing a flat rate would not cost the city any money, she said.

The item drew some criticism from resident and Electric Utility watchdog John Johnson. Johnson said in a letter that he wants to see a flat rate offered to all of Lodi’s customers, and not preferential treatment to big spenders. He further suggests that the rest of Lodi will essentially be paying for the large customer’s flat rate.

City officials said they don’t see it that way.

Johnson’s entire letter can be read by clicking here.

The Council voted 3-1 in favor of offering the flat  rate. Mayor Joanne Mounce dissented for reasons similar to the concerns Johnson raised.

….

On the waste water side of things, the City Council held a public hearing for proposed raise to waste water rates. The city will hike prices by 3 percent. Public Works Director Wally Sandelin said the city had scheduled a 5 percent increase. Billing differences will be between $1 and $2 for most customers.

Elkhorn School took second place as a team in this past weekend’s Norcal Science Olympiad competition.

Here are some of the individual winners:

Berkley Anderson & Alyssa Witbeck: 5th place medal/Dymanic Planet

Sophie Chen & Grace Lin Cereghino: Silver medal/Forestry

Katie Boswell, Aaron Hood & Annabella Rankin: Silver medal/Mission Possible

Grace Lin-Cereghino & Michelle Oshita: Fourth place medal/Towers

Gianna Chien & Jessica Kaye: Gold medal/ Food science

Michelle Oshita & Brooke Shimasaki: Fifth place medal/Keep the heat

Alyssa Witbeck & Sarah Ahmed: Fifth place medal/Reach for the Stars

Annabelle Rankin & Allysa Witbeck: Bronze medal/Disease detectives

Berkley Anderson, Sophie Chen & Minhsang Dinh: Silver medal/Experimental design

Nicholas Wikert & Katie Boswell: Gold medal/Storm the castle

Brooke Shimasaki & Jasmin Tran: Silver medal/Optics

Katie Boswell & Nicholas Wikert: Fourth place medal/Mousetrap vehicle

Minhsang Dinh & Gianna Chien: Fifth place medal/Meteorology

Grace Lin-Cereghino & Michelle Oshita: Fourth place medal/Road Scholar

Sarah Ahmed & Michelle Oshita: Fourth place medal/Road Scholar

Sarah Ahmed & Annabelle Rankin: Bronze medal/Anatomy

Gianna Chien & Jessica Kaye: Gold medal/Write it-do it

Mayor Joanne Mounce said she is planning to run for re-election to the Lodi City Council in November. She hasn’t made an official announcement – in part because she’s swamped at her day job, a Stockton accounting firm, during tax season – but she said the people that have supported her in the past have asked her to run again.

And she has every intention to do so.

Council member Bob Johnson has announced he will run for re-election as well.

The  City of Lodi’s Parks Department has opened up the Lodi Lake Nature area for its 26th season of guided tours. The tours are guided by docents trained in knowing all aspects of the 58 acre Lodi Lake Nature Area.

To reserve a date contact Kathy Grant at (209) 327-2063 or kgrant@lodi.gov.

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson is announcing a new  Arts Education Task Force. He’s kicking off the campaign to include more arts-based education at an event (click here) tomorrow.

The press release sent out by Torlakson’s staff caught my eye because Lodi Unified has recently rejected two different charter school petitions that focused their educational plans on the arts.

A panel of Lodi Unified administrators, board members, and others interviewed candidates for the Lodi Middle School principal post today.

Assistant Superintendent of Secondary Education Odie Douglas said this was the first round of interviews, and a selection was not made.

Douglas would not say how many candidates were interviewed for the job, calling it a personnel issue.

Lodi Middle School underwent some adversity earlier this year when a years-long struggle between the teaching staff and the administrators there became public, and a teacher placed under citizen’s arrest.

From the Lodi Police Department’s Facebook page early this morning:

“Officers working a burglary suppression detail located a vehicle fleeing the scene of an alarm activation early this morning. Officers gave chase and captured Debra Contreras (5-23-78). Contreras and another male suspect had burglarized Java Stop and stole the cash register. The cash register was recovered and Contreras was booked for burglary and a parole violation. Great work by Officer Lockie.”