GALT, CA (MPG) - As the city of Galt barrels into the new year, here are a few of the high-water issues that residents might want to keep their eyes on heading into 2025. 

Redistricting on the Horizon 

The Galt City Council has always elected five city council members to four-year terms. A mayor is then picked from the group to serve a one-year term as the de ]facto spokesman for the city. 

That may all change in 2025. 

The city received a letter from the law firm Shenkman & Hughes in August threatening litigation if the city didn’t move away from an at-large voting system. The letter argued that the system, which allows voters anywhere in the city to vote for any candidate for city council, diluted the ability for Latino voters to elect candidates of their choice and influence the election. Furthermore, they argued it violated the California Voting Rights Act, which was passed to protect voters from being disenfranchised. 

While it’s certain that the city will move away from at-large voting – no city has successfully defended itself against similar litigation – the council does have the opportunity to decide whether to split into five districts and keep the current rotating mayor or move to four districts with an at-large mayor. 

The council is undecided on which direction to go. 

Paul Mitchell of Redistricting Partners, a consulting firm hired by the city to help with the process, plans to return to the council Jan. 21 with the first set of six draft maps. Three of the maps will have four districts and an at-large mayor, and the other three will have five councilors.

The council is seeking more public comment to help with the decision-making process. 

After the January meeting, two public meetings will be held before the council votes on new district lines on April 8. 

With a startling 18% increase in homelessness nationwide, local municipalities are looking inward at the state of their unhoused populations. But if you trust the science behind the 2024 Sacramento County homeless count, there shouldn’t be anything to worry about in Galt. 

Or should there? 

The 2024 Sacramento County point-in-time count took place during that same month and found no unhoused people in Galt. That count took place in January 2024. The next county count will take place in January 2026. 

That gives the town of 26,000 and officials all of 2025 to maintain its lower-than-average homeless count, or to watch the numbers tick up. Plenty of factors will impact that data, much of which is completely out of city officials’ hands to control. 

Newly elected City Councilor Tim Reed already noted his desire to connect the homeless population to services, showing a concern for the issue, even with reported homeless rates being as low as they are. 

If you ask most Galt residents, while homelessness isn’t as big an issue in the blue-collar town as it is in some of its larger neighboring cities like Sacramento and Stockton, the belief that there isn’t a single homeless person in the city isn’t the most believable statistic, and if Galt falls in line with the trends nationwide, there will be more residents in perilous housing situations needing assistance. 

Authorities cautioned that the federal data is nearly a year old, and financial constraints have only gotten worse since the count took place. 

Hopefully that take is wrong. 

It’s been a long time coming, but the enhancements to C Street should wrap up in 2025. 

The project, which can almost be looked at as a beautification project, will add concrete medians, additional landscaping, better street lighting and bike and pedestrian safety features between Civic Drive and Sixth Street. 

Phase 1 of the work began in August, cutting traffic down to only westbound traffic. Traffic briefly opened on both lanes from Dec. 24 through Jan. 1 before the final leg of construction required the closure of eastbound traffic. Eastbound traffic is once again rerouted to A Street. 

The project is currently completing Phase 2, which is on pace to be completed by the end of winter 2025. 

The construction has led to minor consternation from business owners who said they saw a small drop in business as the construction has continued. The city launched Shop, Drink and Eat on C Street, where community members can receive prizes by collecting receipts from eligible businesses along C Street. 

California’s wine industry continues to face challenges, and some of those issues will have significant impacts on Galt’s local wineries and vineyards. 

Last year, an estimated 400,000 tons of grapes went unharvested from California’s grapevines,  a portion of which comes from vineyards in Galt and Lodi. 

As demand for local grapes continue to plummet – worldwide wine consumption has dropped to 20-year lows – local farmers have been forced to reduce their vineyard size, leading to a ripple effect that has resulted in a lack of work for farmhands who typically can rely on steady work every season.  

Whether or not that slide continues into 2025 remains to be seen, but as farmers fail to renew contracts for their product, 2025 might reveal whether the trend is here to stay, or if wineries across the state see a bounce back in demand.