City of Gonzales
CITY MANAGER DEPARTMENT
STAFF REPORT
TO: Honorable Mayor Rios and City Council
DATE: October 20, 2025
FROM: Carmen Gil, City Manager
THROUGH: Carmen Gil, City Manager
SUBJECT: Community Engagement & Recreation Departments Activity Reports Current Events
Kid Power
• For the month of September, Kid Power had 27 kids. We have been working hard on helping these kids with homework. We also have been doing lots of art and crafts, and playing outside games enjoying the warm weather.
• Kid Power was also given the opportunity to go to the Firehouse and watch them introduce the new Fire Truck. The kids were very excited to see the Firefighters and also to be able to go inside the new engine.
City Sports League
• Youth soccer registration ended on September 12th. Games started on Friday the 12th and Saturday the 13th. We are super excited about this season. This season, we had a record-breaking number of registrations. We had an increase of 23 participants from last season, giving us a total of 201 AGENDA
ITEM
7 registered participants. We have 19 teams, 25 volunteer coaches and 4 referee officials. Three of our coaches are coaching an additional team in a different age division as well. We have four teams in our age division 2 ½ - 3 ½ and in our ages 4 - 5 division. Our ages 6-8 division has the largest number of players and teams. They have 62 participants and 5 teams. Our ages divisions, 9-10 and 11-13, both have three teams each. Our season will end October 24th. • Our Youth Basketball registration opened on September 29th. This year, we will continue with the All-girls and All-boys teams. The girls will continue to be a part of the All-girls South County Travel league and will compete against Soledad, Greenfield and possibly King City. Our boys in the older age division grades 6th- 8
th will travel and compete against Soledad. All other boys’ divisions will not travel. Skills assessments are set for Tuesday the 13th through Thursday the 15th.
Hoping for another great season ahead.
• Our adult Volleyball league registration is moving slowly. We only have three teams and 14 players registrations so far. Registration ends on October 22nd. Our season is scheduled to start November 3rd.
Recreation/ Community Engagement
• In September, we joined our partners at Blue Zones as they hosted their Community Walk to commemorate the City of Gonzales being certified. There were well over 30 community members in attendance!
• The City of Gonzales is now accepting registrations for our Hometown Heroes Program, a way for us to honor Veterans and active-duty service members in our community of Gonzales! Thank you to our partners at the American Legion Post 81 and American Legion Auxiliary Unit 81 for their generous contribution, bringing the total cost to $35 per sign for participants. We will host a ceremony honoring all our Hometown Heroes as we did last year. Stay tuned for a separate announcement with the official event date. If you purchased a sign last year and picked it up, feel free to bring it to City Hall so we can display it with the rest of the signs. • On Saturday, September 20th
, the City of Gonzales came together to raise awareness and joined the fight against Cancer by participating in Relay for Life in downtown Salinas! In total, the City of Gonzales was able to raise $975 in donations.
Gonzales Youth Council
• Gonzales Youth Council hosted their orientation on Saturday, September 13th in the Gonzales Council Chambers. The Commissioners were able to start brainstorming with the rest of the students to decide what types of Action Projects they could potentially work on this year. The students also received an overview of the Gonzales Youth Council and shared why they decided to join.
Activities in the Planning Phase
• With the help of our CSUMB Intern Ivan Caballero, we will begin hosting FREE Senior Circuit Classes at Central Park every Tuesday starting October 7th from 10:30-11:15AM. Class exercises will focus on upper body movement, full body warm-up, cardio and more! • On Saturday, October 25th, the Recreation & Community Engagement Department will be hosting a Free Trunk or Treat and Movie Night at Centennial Park. We are currently accepting registrations for our Trunk or Treat which will be from 3:00PM-5:00PM, followed by a special showing of the movie “Halloweentown.” For questions, please contact City Hall at 675-5000.