News from City of Novato

Our Town
An E-Newsletter Connecting City and Community

July 22, 2010

Welcome to "Our Town," the City of Novato's E-Newsletter. We hope that you will find the information in this newsletter to be interesting, helpful and informative - and most importantly - a way for you to connect to the civic side of life in Novato and the overall community.

Why "Our Town"? Though a community of over 53,000, the City of Novato proudly holds on to its small town flavor, friendliness and fortitude. As your City government providing police, maintenance, recreation and planning services, we are thankful to serve a community where a car horn is a wave and where there are many voices actively at the table.

With a proud 50-year heritage, the City of Novato has thrived on a culture of transparency and community engagement. Though at times controversy and conflict arise, even more often passionate people come together to communicate, cooperate, volunteer, and create their vision of a better community. The City Council and staff of the City of Novato believe that we can partner with the community in these ventures.

"Our Town," our City e-newsletter, will be a new tool that the City will be using to provide more information and news about Novato. We hope you will subscribe and encourage your friends and neighbors to sign-up for "Our Town."

"Our Town" will be emailed out to you regularly to distribute special or timely news items. You can reach past issues of Our Town on the City's website. Sign-up is easy, just click the "Join Our Mailing List" button at the right of this page. You can also go to our website and request to receive other information of interest as you wish.

If you have comments or ideas for the "Our Town" E-Newsletter, then please call 899-8900 or write City of Novato, "Our Town E-News", 75 Rowland Way, Room 200, Novato, CA 94945 or email city@cityofnovato.org.

Here's to making connections!

Michael

Michael Frank

City Manager

Summer Recreation Activities

The summer season is just hitting its stride with great warm weather and the City has lots to offer to keep children active, healthy, engaged and not bored for the summer. Come sign-up your kids -- there are still four more fun-filled weeks of summer recreation activities.

All summer programs, day camps, classes, and child care programs have been consolidated at one site. The consolidated program is called "Summer Rec at Rancho", and is located at Rancho Elementary School. Parents will find a wonderful array of programs including, specialty camps, classes such as drama and LEGOS, and sports camps, in addition to child care. Special themed activities are planned weekly, with optional field trips and swim opportunities. Recreation staff escorts children to and from the additional programs if parents select these options. This walking escort service is a great feature that makes it easy for parents to enroll their children in a wide variety of activities at different sites throughout the summer, and know that they will move safely from one activity site to the next.

For more information call 899-8200 or visit www.novatofun.org

Buy a Brick

Brick

On Jan. 20, 2010, the City of Novato celebrated its 50th birthday!

The City, assisted by the Novato 2010 Committee, is selling bricks for $100 each that are placed on the patio at the renovated old City Hall building at 901 Sherman Ave. There is room for 6,000 engraved bricks. Currently, approximately 700 have been sold.

The third batch of bricks (purchased December - February) were installed on July 1. The fourth batch of bricks (purchased March to June) will be ordered during July and installed later in the summer. Brick sales will continue until all 6,000 bricks are sold. Bricks will be installed in batches of 100.

Additional questions? Call 899-8900. Click here for the form to place an order (PDF file). Payments for bricks are being accepted via check, or via Paypal. Please click here for a secured online payment via Paypal.

Discover Hamilton Pool

Splash!
The hot sun was beating down during the Hamilton Pool ribbon cutting, enticing attendees to jump in the water and cool off. Over 20 people joined the City Council to celebrate the successful reopening of this beautiful community facility.

The renovated site features a state-of-the-art pool, great for instruction, deep water exercise, and recreational use. There is also an exciting new water play structure with a slide and lots of water spray. A shallow water pool with depths from 0" - 18" is enjoyed by tots and children and is equipped with an unusual spray tunnel that even a toddler can enjoy. Programs include swim lessons, water exercise, lap and recreation swimming. The pool is open, Noon to 6:30 PM weekdays and 11:00 AM - 7:00 PM weekends. The pool is also available for rental.

A public swimming pool brings the community together in a friendly, healthy way. Neighbors get to know neighbors, and children and adults get good exercise. Learning to swim helps to keeps us all safer, and a clean, safe and well managed pool keeps children, seniors and families engaged in a positive activity.

The Cities of Novato and San Rafael have created a unique partnership to provide a wonderful asset for the community. The City of San Rafael is running the day-to-day operations of the pool, while Novato staff is maintaining and marketing this community asset. This partnership allowed the City of Novato to reopen the Hamilton Pool after investing $4.5 million renovating the facility, bringing it from its weathered 1930's era condition into a 21^st century jewel. If you haven't visited, please come by and take a dip!

For information about entrance fees etc., please call the City of San Rafael, our strategic partner, to learn more about Hamilton Pool opportunities (485-3344).