CITRUS HEIGHTS, CA (MPG) - On November 8, the City of Citrus Heights hosted the State of the City address, with the theme “Solid roots persevere, new growth thrives.” Mayor Steve Miller said that the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic had a “silver lining” with an increase of residents engaging with their neighborhoods and governments: “In Citrus Heights, we have a history of being a civic-minded community, dating all the way back to our battle for incorporation as a city. I am honored that we carry that spirit on today, and it is truly a pleasure to serve as the mayor of this community.”

At this time last year, Mayor Miller said he and the City Council hoped the pandemic would be “a thing of the past by now.” He said that “while we as a community have done an amazing job banding together to help one another—showing up for volunteer events and supporting our local businesses—I know that we have still some COVID recovery ahead of us.” But despite the challenges, Mayor Miller said that Citrus Heights officials and staff “remain committed to serving the community.”

Mayor Miller provided an overview of some highlights from the past year, such as the many safety improvements completed throughout the city. Staff completed improvements to sidewalks, curbs, and gutters on 13 streets throughout the city as part of the Accessibility and Drainage Project, in addition to major pavement repairs on 18 neighborhood streets under the Residential Street Resurfacing Program. There were also city-wide updates to more than 580 streetlights, which were converted to energy-efficient LED lamps. And traffic safety improvements, such as installing countdown pedestrian signals and replacing outdated traffic signals, were completed under the Multimodal Transportation Safety Program.

The City also finalized the design for the citywide Arcade-Cripple Creek Trail, which will connect eight local parks and provide access to other regional trails. And this summer the Citrus Heights Police Department (CHPD) launched a comprehensive program to educate the public about fireworks safety and the City’s urgency ordinance on illegal fireworks.

Mayor Miller said new developments in the city saw a “huge construction boom,” including the new Mitchell Village neighborhood. And construction commenced on the Sunrise Pointe Supportive Housing apartments and the 46-home Abby’s Gate project on Mariposa Ave. The City also approved a deal with Woodside Homes to purchase and develop the 11-acre New Sylvan site.

This year also saw the retirement of City Manager Chris Boyd, who then agreed to stay on as interim city manager during the recruitment process for his replacement. Boyd was the city’s first Chief of Police, and Mayor Miller said, “Convincing Chris to move from Chief of Police to City Manager is among one of the best things I believe our Council has done for the city. He came into the position with a looming budget shortfall and has met so many of our city’s goals despite that challenge. Thanks to his leadership, we have weathered a pandemic while keeping all our city services open, launched economic development plans to secure a bright future for our city, and he undertook massive efforts to balance our budget and remain committed to fiscal prudence.”

Interim City Manager Chris Boyd said, “We’ve had another robust year, and I continue to be so proud of our City Hall and Police Department staff for pushing through projects and initiatives for this community day in and day out, despite a lean budget and limitations from the pandemic.”

Boyd said some of the most important concerns in the community are economic development and public safety, and he highlighted the most exciting development project that is currently underway—the Sunrise Tomorrow Specific Plan. He said the plan “signifies responsible future stewardship and smart growth planning.” Citrus Heights is 98 percent built out, so Boyd called the 100-acre Sunrise Mall site “the community’s biggest opportunity for growth to secure our future.” After approval, the Specific Plan will introduce new uses for site, streamline future development review, increase flexibility for redevelopment, and triple the development allowed on the site. Boyd said the “end goal” is to “attract and retain diverse and resilient industry sectors with relevant and amenity-rich development potential.”

Throughout the challenges of the pandemic, Boyd said the economic development staff focused on overall business attraction and Covid recovery for local businesses. And he shared numbers that indicate a robust economic recovery in underway in Citrus Heights. The numbers of new and renewed business licenses issued in 2021 was well above the rates in both 2020 and 2019, and the City is issuing an average of 83 new business licenses each month. “This is a testament to our economic development efforts to attract, foster, and retain businesses, both big and small, but also a nod to our streamlined business license process,” said Boyd.

On the topic of public safety, Boyd said that the funding from Phase 1 of the City’s federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) allocation will be used to reinstate 22 police department positions over the next two years, and the department is launching an aggressive recruitment campaign to build staffing back to pre-pandemic levels.

Even with limited staff, Boyd said the CHPD has met the goal of reducing crime, with burglaries down about 60% and stolen vehicles down about 80%. “However, there is an uptick in violent crime as is consistent with the nation at large,” said Boyd.  He said the CHPD’s new chief, Alex Turcotte, who was appointed in August, is focused on keeping residents safe and improving the quality of life for everyone. “I was truly honored to appoint such a hardworking, accountable, community-driven leader to usher the Citrus Heights Police Department into its next era,” said Boyd.

“Our men and women in blue serve alongside our residents, working with the community in a service-oriented, collaborative way,” said Boyd, and he thanked Citrus Heights residents for their support of the CHPD.

As he works on recruiting the next city manager who will “lead the city into a new chapter,” Boyd said, “I look forward to continuing to support this community in an unofficial capacity, and I have no doubt that the future of Citrus Heights is incredibly bright.”