Escalon isn't ready to sell itself. Just yet.
City council members on Monday night decided to delay the city's participation in a 'Today In America' project, which would have seen film crews come in to the city to showcase the community.
"It's a production company that basically does infomercials," City Manager Henry Hesling explained. "They do this to showcase the city, then you put it on your website."
The goal is to attract potential businesses and services, in addition to enticing more residents to settle here and bring in additional consumer traffic.
"The council is enthusiastic but we felt that now just isn't the right time," Hesling said. "I'm also enthusiastic to represent the community but between now and July, we have so many other things to do."
Hesling said the end result would be a roughly 5-minute video production piece that would require many hours of prep work, scripting, filming and follow up. That is time, he said, better spent on budgeting issues, city services and maintaining what is already here. There would be a cost associated with the product and Hesling said while it likely would be a wise investment in the long run, there are better things to spend the city's money on right now.
"When you're looking at budgets and trying to maintain services, maybe it's something we should do later," he said.
His plate, he said, is full and so are those of city staff members trying to work within a framework of holding the line on costs.
"It's a situation where I want to clean the plate first," Hesling said of not adding anything else to the city's agenda at this time.
Meanwhile, the council also accepted the City Hall project as complete, heard an update on the Brennan/Highway 120 intersection project in process with Caltrans and added the San Joaquin County Sheriff Canine Pack to the council's list of 'local non-profits' that will receive a break on rental fees for use of the city's Community Center.
City officials also said the next scheduled e-waste collection has been postponed. Originally scheduled for April 8, that day is Easter Sunday so the collection date has been pushed to Sunday, April 22 at the community center, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Visit the city's website for a list of acceptable e waste items or for more information.
City council members on Monday night decided to delay the city's participation in a 'Today In America' project, which would have seen film crews come in to the city to showcase the community.
"It's a production company that basically does infomercials," City Manager Henry Hesling explained. "They do this to showcase the city, then you put it on your website."
The goal is to attract potential businesses and services, in addition to enticing more residents to settle here and bring in additional consumer traffic.
"The council is enthusiastic but we felt that now just isn't the right time," Hesling said. "I'm also enthusiastic to represent the community but between now and July, we have so many other things to do."
Hesling said the end result would be a roughly 5-minute video production piece that would require many hours of prep work, scripting, filming and follow up. That is time, he said, better spent on budgeting issues, city services and maintaining what is already here. There would be a cost associated with the product and Hesling said while it likely would be a wise investment in the long run, there are better things to spend the city's money on right now.
"When you're looking at budgets and trying to maintain services, maybe it's something we should do later," he said.
His plate, he said, is full and so are those of city staff members trying to work within a framework of holding the line on costs.
"It's a situation where I want to clean the plate first," Hesling said of not adding anything else to the city's agenda at this time.
Meanwhile, the council also accepted the City Hall project as complete, heard an update on the Brennan/Highway 120 intersection project in process with Caltrans and added the San Joaquin County Sheriff Canine Pack to the council's list of 'local non-profits' that will receive a break on rental fees for use of the city's Community Center.
City officials also said the next scheduled e-waste collection has been postponed. Originally scheduled for April 8, that day is Easter Sunday so the collection date has been pushed to Sunday, April 22 at the community center, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Visit the city's website for a list of acceptable e waste items or for more information.
