LATHROP – Woodfield Park is one of the most popular open spaces in the City of Lathrop.

And as of right now there is no budget for maintenance, landscaping or upkeep for the next 12 months thanks to an operating deficit and a fractured council vote that left the status of the park’s care in temporary limbo.

On Monday, the three members of the Lathrop City Council that don’t live in Woodfield Estates – Vice Mayor Christopher Mateo, Councilman Omar Ornelas and Councilwoman Martha Salcedo – briefly discussed funding the Woodfield Estates Landscape Maintenance District (LMD) while their colleagues were waiting in seclusion. They stepped out of the meeting due to conflicts as they are property owners within the LMD and would be impacted by the assessment.

Ornelas motioned for approval and got a second from Salcedo, but Mateo’s dissenting vote – cast because he didn’t believe they should approve a budget that is $3,500 upside down – sunk the item.

“Does this literally mean that it’s going to grow weeds and we’re going to have to close it down because we’re not going to have anybody to cut it?” Ornelas asked Finance Director Terry Vigna, getting an affirmative response. “We’re going to close down one of the most used parks in the City of Lathrop?”

According to Vigna, the city is somewhat hamstrung when it comes to finding creative ways to make the current funding situation work out because the assessments on homeowners in the area are already at their ceiling and the budget itself is already stripped down to a bare bones level.

The only other way to close that gap, she said, would be to decrease expenditures.

And that means cutting back on the level of service that residents in the area have come to expect when visiting their neighborhood park.

City Manager Cary Keaton suggested to the three council members that the staff take a look at what they can do to curb some of the expenses, but hinted that it could include some highly visible options like fencing off areas and doing nothing, taking out sections of landscaping, and letting portions of the park grow on their own and responding the same way they would with any other weed abatement situation.

But Mateo was stern in his position and seemed to get agitated by the questions that the other members were continuing to pose to staffers even after the vote had taken place.

“The resolution failed, and there’s no more discussion,” he said. “Come back with a balanced budget and we’ll talk about that.”