If Frank Sinatra was here today he might just sing the praises of the City of Manteca.
And the song he’d croon would be, “It Was a Very Good Year.”
At least that is from the perspective of City Manager Toni Lundgren as she offered highlights of city accomplishments during 2025 at the final regular City Council meeting of 2024 on Tuesday.
The highlights she offered ran the gamut from 186 tons of leaves collected to the completion of the city’s fourth interchange on the 120 Bypass — the $30 million plus McKinley Avenue endeavor.
The Manteca list of city accomplishments Lundgren offered included two major election successes.
The first was passage of Measure Q on Nov. 5.
The three-quarter of a cent, 20-year sales tax is the biggest significant annual increase ever in funding to underwrite municipal services.
It is projected to generate $13 million annually — roughly a sixth of the general fund revenue the city currently collects to pay for day-to-day services such as street maintenance and public safety.
The other was the decision by downtown property owners to form an improvement district to create a vehicle they can use to move the central district forward to enhance its ability to draw residents to dine, shop, and gather.
There were big items on list that you can’t see every day per se but are critical to Manteca’s economic vitality.
The list includes being the only city in San Joaquin County to adopt a state-mandated housing element in addition to updating the general plan. Both are essential in bids to guide the city in a bid to grow “right” as well as avoid the state from stepping in and assessing fines or freezing development.
Also in the same vein was the completion of audits covering two fiscal years to bring the city’s financials current and completely untangle the budgetary and bookkeeping mess that confronted Manteca when Lundgren was elevated to interim city manager before becoming the permanent city manager.
Lundgren also highlighted two things that weren’t “physical accomplishments” but addressed ongoing community concerns.
One was hosting 23 community events designed to step up transparency and gather feedback.
The other was launching an internal leadership academy with the goal of avoiding a repeat of the fiasco that happened before she became interim city manager.
That “fiasco” from the fallout of the city going through six city managers in five years that also led to senior management staff fleeing or being pushed out the door with little or no in-house personnel in the wings that were able to step up.
Speaking of personnel, the city also swore in Stephen Schluer as police chief.
In terms of things residents can see, there is a new $2 million tiller truck responding to fires.
There were also two major road projects completed — upgrades of Louise Avenue between Main Street and Highway 99 as well as Lathrop Road between Union Road and Highway 99.
That was in addition to 172 asphalt repair projects that included large scale undertakings in several neighborhoods as well as a stretch of Yosemite Avenue in downtown and parts of Spreckels Avenue.
Such work was on top of 32 tons of asphalt used to fill potholes.
The city also installed two homeless dorms, acquired two new transit buses and issued 4,798 building permits.
That is in addition to 100 street lights being repaired and delivering on day-to-day services such as police and fire protection as well as collecting garbage, making it possible to toilets keep flushing, and water flowing through taps.
To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com
