July __, 2025
The Honorable Judge Stephanie E. Hulsey
Judge of the Superior Court
c/o Office of the County Counsel
Attention: Sandra Ontiveros
168 W. Alisal Street, 3rd Floor
Salinas, CA 93901
RE: Response to 2024-2025 Monterey County Civil Grand Jury Final Report – Road Safety in Monterey County: Where to Report a Problem” Dear Judge Hulsey:
This letter is the City of Salinas’ response to the Finding F6 and Recommendation R6 in the 2024-2025 Monterey County Civil Grand Jury Final Report entitled “Road Safety in Monterey County: Where to Report a Problem.” In the Final Report, the Civil Grand Jury overall made a total of nine Findings and eight Recommendations, with one Recommendation specific to the City of Salinas (City). As requested by the Civil Grand Jury, the City respectfully submits the following responses to the Findings and Recommendations identified for a response in the Final Report:
Finding F6
The availability of the Salinas, Soledad, and Monterey County uConnect mobile apps are largely unknown to the public, rendering them of little use.
Response to Finding F6
The City Council disagrees with this Finding to the extent it concludes that the “mobile apps are largely unknown to the public.” The City received 19,728 new service requests in the last 12-months through the Salinas Connect app. While this is an average of over 1,600 new requests per month, the City agrees that increased education, access and promotion of SalinasCONNECT would increase community awareness.
Recommendation R6
Monterey County and the cities of Salinas and Soledad promote their service request apps by prominently displaying information regarding their availability on the Public Works webpages, on other relevant pages of their websites, and through social media by 12/31/25.
Response to Recommendation R6
After review of the City’s website, the “Report an Issue” / SalinasCONNECT link is available on the City’s homepage as a quick action button, as well as on some department and division pages. However, it was not on the City’s Public Works Department page and was not consistently on all City Department webpages. Following the recommendations in the Final Report, the City has added a button on each department landing page.
Specific to social media, the City periodically informs residents on the use of SalinasCONNECT to submit service requests as it relates to certain topics or service request types. However, starting July 2025, City staff will include regular posts on the City’s social platforms with information on how to use and where to access SalinasCONNECT.
Thank you for the opportunity to respond to the Civil Grand Jury’s Report.
Respectfully submitted,
Dennis Donohue
Mayor
City of Salinas
cc: City Council
City Manager
City Attorney
The Honorable Judge Stephanie E. Hulsey
July __, 2025