The Davis City Council held a regular meeting on Tuesday, July 7, 2026, starting at 6:30 p.m. in Community Chambers. The meeting featured a ceremonial proclamation for the 55th anniversary of Davis Community Transit, a lengthy consent calendar, and three major discussion items: the General Plan Update, the Downtown Public Realm Financing Plan, and a 90-day check-in on the Economic Development Strategic Plan. Council also streamlined its long-range calendar and adopted the 2026-2027 meeting schedule. Council Member Chapman was absent.
To the July seventh regular meeting of the Davis City Council. Our first item of bid first, I'll note for the record that four of us are here in chambers. Council Member Chapman is not present this evening. Our first item of business is to approve our agenda. Moved by Council Member Dios. Seconded by Council Member Vice Mayor Partita. All in favor of approval of the agenda say aye. Aye. Aye. Any no's or abstentions. Hearing none and seeing none, the agenda is approved. Excellent. So we're turning now to our first item, which is a ceremonial presentation. It is a proclamation recognizing the fifty-fifth anniversary of Davis Community Transit, and I'm going to turn it to Vice Mayor Partida to present that. So this proclamation is in recognition of the 55th anniversary of Davis Community Transit. Davis Community Transit has provided transportation services to Davis residents since July 1971. Davis Community Transit maintains a cooperative partnership with the fixed route transit systems of YOLA Bus and Unitrans. DC DCT has served as a community's ADA complementary paratransit provider since implementation of the Americans with Disability Act requirements in 1995, providing more than 3.2 million miles of transportation to eligible customers. Approximately 660 people are currently registered with Davis Community Transit, with more than 80% of its customers age 62 or older. Now, therefore, be it proclaimed that the Davis City Council hereby recognizes the 55th anniversary of Davis Community Transit and extends our sincere appreciation for the many years of dedicated service to the Davis community. And I personally wanted to read this because my son rides Davis Community Transit, and the stories he brings home are just amazing. And staff is wonderful. And I think that in addition to providing the transit, you're building community. People get to know each other, they talk to each other, they look for each other. And so thank you so much for facilitating that. Such an important service. So in 1971, paratransit service began in Davis with a Volkswagen van given to the city by Harder Volkswagen. The service was operated with one part-time driver and was fare free. City Council then appropriated funds for the purchase of a 21 passenger vehicle. Unfortunately, the vehicle was plagued with mechanical problems, causing constant breakdowns during service. In 1976, the bus was taken off the road and a suit against the manufacturer was filed. During the interim period, DCT sought and leased a five-passenger station wagon from Caltrans and drew up a contract with UCD Disability Services to provide services to the Davis community. Six months later, we leased a six-passenger van from Harder Volkswagen, and in 1978, City Council again appropriated funds for another vehicle. In addition to the city council funds, we received a grant of $2,000 from Henderson Fund of the Davis Unitarian Church and 2,000 from Senior Citizens of Davis for the first wheelchair lift needed for the vehicle. We then had our first eight-passenger vehicle with two wheelchair stations. Fast forward to today, and DCT has four eight passenger vehicles with a wheelchair station in each vehicle. Through the years, DCT is housed at several locations in town. The first location was City Hall at 3rd and F Street, then the Senior Center, the Greyhound Station, the Amtrak Station, and our home since 2010, the City of Davis Corporation Yard. In 1971, the service began with one part-time driver compared to today, DCT has one full-time supervisor, two full-time coordinators, 17 part-time staff drivers, and two part-time dispatchers. In 1970s, DCT staff worked six hours a day on only weekdays from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. with no radio systems, no cell phones, or wheelchair access, and provided an average of about 15 rides per day. As of today, DCT operates 365 days a year, logging an average of 15.8 driving hours daily, and to date has provided 6,500 654,570 paratransit trips, driving 3.2 million miles within the Davis City limits. As public servants for the city of Davis, it is a privilege to provide paratransit service to the customers that we serve. Thank you. Thank you. Would you like a photo? We can take a moment and do a quick photo if you would like one. Very good. I wasn't sure if you were speaking.