Loomis gets residents involved with Citizens Academy, Lunch and Listen

Now in its fifth decade as a municipality, Loomis is offering its residents more involvement in town affairs. Carl Simpson, still in his first few months as Town Manager, spoke about the new Citizens Academy and "Lunch and Listen" events during his presentation at the annual State of the Town program on Sept. 23 at the Blue Goose Event Center. Lunch and Listen started in August and is held on the last Friday of the month at the Train Depot. The inaugural Lunch and Listen drew a crowd of "at least 30," Simpson told Gold Mountain California News Media following State of the Town. "It's an informal opportunity for people to ask me questions about what's going on with the town, information, feedback, or talk about whatever, an opportunity to be more engaging," Simpson said. The Town Manager said the Citizens Academy will roll out at the start of the new year and will be a "deep dive." "For example, finance, we'll be telling people, 'Here's where the buckets of money are coming in, this is what they can be used for, now make us a budget that buys these things,' " Simpson said. "We want to really engage the community in that learning opportunity, whether it's police, fire. I think it will be really good for our residents to be able to get familiar with the directors and also familiar with the challenges of our operations." Simpson said the town hopes for 15 to 30 students per assignment. The process, "because of the modules we have to cover," he said, will probably be "a four-month to six-month journey" with three-hour sessions. "My hope is we garner more support and garner more community engagement by showing people and telling people this is what we're dealing with," Simpson said. "These are our challenges." Mayor Jan Clark-Crets said during her address, the last of seven updates and passionate speeches at State of the Town, that Loomis "is in a good state" financially, "and our outlook for the future is positive." Providing updates were President-Elect Jill Ottaway of the Placer County Association of Realtors and Loomis Union School District Superintendent Erika Sloane. Providing public safety reports were South Placer Fire Chief Darin Snedeker and Placer County Sheriff's Lt. Jason Doolittle.