2022 City Council Issues

Housing

 

Vacaville is a family town and that requires affordable housing for young families and seniors. The median housing price sits at $445,000 while the median Vacaville wage is $74,000. There is a huge disconnect between what Vacaville families and seniors can afford and what our city has been producing. I am proud of the progress we have made over the last 3 years. Over the last year in particular the city has embarked on a totally different direction and has approved 3 significant private owner occupied town home projects that local families can afford and we have approved over 200 low income senior units to assist our Vacaville Seniors in maintaining their housing security.

  Some of those projects are being built as you are reading this post. Our work is far from over and we have embarked on completely different direction that focuses on housing Vacaville residents can afford. We don’t need to subsidize housing needs for the bay area, we need to continue to build the housing our local families and seniors need! A healthy housing inventory has to have starter home and senior housing abundance to make sure Vacaville families can continue to raise their families and live in Vacaville. We are not a “bedroom” community.
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Local Jobs

 

Did you know the average Vacaville resident has a 27 mile commute to work.That almost two thirds of Vacaville jobs are also in the retail and service sector with low wages and no benefits? There is nothing wrong with these types of businesses but they often don’t afford their workers a the ability to own a home or to fully support their family. We need good local jobs! Over the last 3 years the council has worked hard to build our Bio-Tech industry and do our best to “COVID-proof” local small business. We landed a new BioTech Manufacturer, one of the largest Bio-Pharm firms on the east coast for a major Vacaville expansion. This deal will produce hundreds of living wage jobs for Vacaville residents.

Throughout the COVID pandemic the city has invested millions in programs to support small business, to shop local and to keep main street doors open. We have assisted in the opening of dozens of new businesses and city programs have helped main street business keep their doors open. When I was elected 3 years ago, we didn’t have a single economic development employee, we now have 3 full time staff, a sizeable budget and a massive bio-tech campaign and non-profit to bring more jobs to Vacaville. We need to continue to attract businesses like Kaiser Permanente, Genentech and Travis Credit union that pay good wages and benefits to their employees. Vacaville should not be a commuter city, our residents should not have to commute to the bay area or Sacramento to earn a living. We need to continue to support our city staff in attracting major employers to provide great jobs at home for our residents. We have the second largest bio-manufacturing facility in the WORLD and one of only two Bio-Engineering Community College four year degrees in the state right here in our own backyard. We should be the “Silicon Valley” of bio-tech and City leaders can do more to make this happen. Good jobs for local residents, no more commutes and good wages here at home!
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Healthy Budget

 

The City of Vacaville has had a rough couple of years financially. When I entered office 3 years ago the city had a structural deficit of almost $5 million dollars, meaning the city was spending roughly $5 million more annually than it was taking in. We were rapidly spending down our reserve and there wasn’t a conscious plan to turn the ship around. At the time you are reading this post the city has a $1.5 surplus, meaning we are making $1.5 million more than we are spending annually. This surplus funding can be spent on staff, parks, new facilities and maintenance of our aging infrastructure. We have paid down close to $20 million in long term debt and are in a significantly better financial position than we were just a few years ago.

This comes from leadership, vision and electeds making our fiscal health a major priority. Vacaville has healthy revenues from local sales taxes and Measure M brings in millions annually to support our city’s ongoing financial health. We had one of the best sales tax years on record in 2021.  Over the last 3 years, our council has led the city into a solid financial future and put lots of time and effort into ensuring our children don’t pay the fiscal burden for decisions we make today. We need to keep city leaders with an eye for red ink, not afraid to bring in outside parties and to work hard to build a budget that doesn’t run deficits, protects the general fund and makes sure we can honor the obligations we have made financially to our citizens and city employees. We cannot continue to deficit spend and pass this burden on to our children. Nolan’s experience with government budgets has clearly been an asset to the city. He has the experience, the ability and dedication to continue to help right our financial ship and make sure our fiscal future is bright.
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Public Safety

 

Did you know Vacaville’s rate of violent crime is 1/2 the State average? Did you know our fire department responds to over 10,000 calls per year or close to 30 per day? Vacaville is a safe community. We can walk the streets at night, take our kids to the park and enjoy a relatively low crime rate because of our amazing city staff. During the entire period of Nolan’s tenure crime has gone down. We braved one of the worst natural disasters; the Lightening Complex Fire with no damage to structures within city limits. 

Our police, fire, first-responder and public works employees are  top notch. We need to continue to ensure that safe streets are a top priority, maintain competitive salaries to attract top talent and make sure our emergency personnel receive the best training and equipment money can buy to continue to keep Vacaville safe. Nolan believes in thoughtful and accountable public safety that makes sure our resident’s get the services they deserve no matter what neighborhood they live in or their backgroun. Nolan values our first-responders and knows they are a vital part to the fabric of what makes Vacaville the safe, responsive and healthy city it is today.

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Development

 

Nolan understands that a city needs to grow to thrive. That growth has to be smart and well planned. Over the last decade Vacaville has continued to build new housing developments that lack parks, schools and recreational facilities for our growing families.  Every child deserves a park they can play in, a school they can walk to, nearby public safety and retail to support their family! Over the last 3 years the city has built two new parks and embarked on several new public recreation projects and significant upgrades. Quality of life matters.

  We are holding developers accountable and ensuring those parks and schools they promised their home buyers are delivered. That housing is built for residents not profit. We have finally reinstated the Vacaville City Council and Vacaville Unified School District 3×3 and are moving forward on very important topics like new schools, reduce traffic and student safety. We have made serious changs to significant housing plans and as stated above built or permitted hundreds of new senir housing projects, projects Vacaville families can afford and low income units for Vacaville residents hard hit by the COVID pandemic. We cannot just continue to build housing tracts with no amenities for our residents. Vacaville also has a vibrant senior community, further development in the leisure town area had been completely halted and restarted with a resident advisory panel at the help. Any development in Leisure Town needs to be what those senior residents need, focused on the needs of that community and done in a way that engages the public. We have done that and are very close to a project we can all be proud of. No more housing tracts, we need communities for Vacaville families to thrive. Nolan is pro in-fill development and is passionate about projects like the “east of main district” and focusing new growth in town, in areas that we have schools, parks or amenities to support these new residents.
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Parks & Rec

 

Vacaville has some of the finest recreational facilities in the region. Whether you are playing a game at Keating Park, hiking through Lagoon Valley Park, swimming at our amazing Aquatic Center, playing with your kids at Great Wonders Park or catching a show at the Vacaville Performing Arts Theater you know we have world class amenities for our residents. Over the last 3 years we have built two new neighborhood parks, sizeably increased recreation budgets and significantly increased parks and recreation offerings even in the face of the COVID pandemic.

If you have visited any of these locations lately you may notice new equipment, upgraded facilities or greener grass. We have been busy reinvesting in our community’s most important asset, our children. Our growing city needs to continue to maintain these treasures and as our city grows we need to continue to upgrade these amenities and expand for a growing population. As a Council member for the last 3 years and City of Vacaville Community Services Commissioner for over 4 years Nolan knows our city is severely behind our parks and recreation goals. We have made a lot of progress but have a long ways to go. Nolan will continue to champion the highest quality of recreational facilities, staffing levels to meet the demand of our residents, adequate amenities for our youth and senior population and unwavering standards of quality for existing facilities. Vacaville is a family town, we need to support our parks and recreation programs and facilities to the standard that our citizens expect and deserve. Great parks make a great community!
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