Castaic council holds first official meeting of ’19

After holding a special meeting last week to discuss Interstate 5 road conditions with county and transportation officials, the Castaic Town Council held its first meeting of 2019 Wednesday night.

Stephanie English, the Santa Clarita field deputy for 5th District County Board Supervisor Kathryn Barger, discussed last week’s special meeting regarding the numerous improvements and construction zones being set up on sections of the I-5 in Castaic.

“I think it was productive ... and it was a good representation of the community,” English said. “It’s a long-term project, but we’re staying on it.”

One such aspect that the council and English discussed at this week’s meeting was the ongoing effort by council members to see about the expansion of the Old Road in the section where it becomes a one lane safety valve for when the I-5 is too congested.

Jessica Chambers, president of the town council, said council members were working with county officials to see if any funds from other districts or the Bridge and Thouroughfare district could be “migrated” to the expansion project.

“We’re going to be writing a letter to Barger’s office to see if that’s a possibility,” Chambers said.

Additionally, county officials, Sacramento office representatives, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department deputies and Los Angeles County Fire Department personnel all gave short presentations to the board about various projects or developments their individual departments were handling in the

Castaic area.

Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station deputy Ryan Rooney said, while most crimes in the area had gone down, theft-related crimes — which include burglaries and robberies — in Castaic had gone up.

“But this is a countywide trend,” Rooney said.

The meeting also

featured the recently elected district representatives being sworn in by English, among whom were two of the town council’s newest members, Eric Larson and Doug Roberts.

The town council meeting concluded by hearing from the individual leaders of the subcommittees the CTC oversees and plans to discuss future events and committee-related projects at their next meeting Feb. 20.