The federal government will help keep Tracy’s public transportation users dry, with more than a third of the $1.7 million in grants earmarked to furnish bus stops with bus shelters.

The city is still building a list of bus stops for its Tracer bus service that it will upgrade, according to Rod Buchanan, deputy director of Department of Parks and Community Services, but city employees, Tracy High students and Wal-Mart shoppers are expected to be among the winners.

Buchanan said federal grants and ticket prices cover the cost of the bus service, meaning the buses cost local taxpayers little to subsidize.

Most of the buses run on compressed natural gas, and the city is building more natural gas refueling stations so that it can grow its fleet of clean-running buses over five years, Buchanan said.

Two more natural gas-powered buses will likely be added to the 10 that are already in service by the end of October.

The City Council voted last night to accept $1.1 million of public transportation grants from the Federal Transportation Administration.

Also at last night’s City Council meeting:

• Councilwoman Irene Sundberg asked the council to vote at next month’s meeting to back out of two deals being negotiated with developers, and to spend $25 million of city funds on sports fields and an aquatics center, after council candidate Roger Adakari spoke in support of Sundberg’s proposal. Mother Sandy Taylor criticized the proposal, saying it would delay construction of the facilities.

• The nonprofit San Joaquin Partnership urged the city to support Measure K, the ½-percent sales tax increase passed by San Joaquin County voters in 1990, to create more high-density housing to help workers afford homes in Tracy, build more parks and recreation opportunities, streamline development approvals and concentrate on projects like the Gateway business park that would create more white-collar jobs.

• City Manager Dan Hobbs handed the council a four-sentence report on a four-day trip to the League of California Cities Annual Conference in San Diego two weeks ago.

“The networking was especially satisfying,” wrote Hobbs, whose performance was reviewed earlier in the day in a closed meeting with the council.

• Council agreed to accept an additional $366,000 from the California Department of Transportation to build retaining walls under the Interstate 205 overpass so Corral Hollow can be widened. Bike lanes and sidewalks will be built on both sides of the widened stretch of road from Grant Line Road to the West Valley Mall.

• Council set aside $75,000 to defend the city against a lawsuit that challenges the city’s general growth plan’s environmental impact report.

• Council approved extra spending on the new Civic Center so 15 mature trees can be saved, at a cost of about $11,000 per tree. Mayoral candidate Celeste Garamendi drew a heated response from Councilwoman Suzanne Tucker when she objected to the expensive project. “Our employees deserve a decent place to work,” Tucker said.

City Finance Director Zane Johnston said 83 percent of the Civic Center costs would be covered by developer fees charged over the past 20 years.

• Council agreed to pay Odyssey Design Group $106,000 to help the engineering department manage landscaping over the next 14 months.

• Council agreed to pay Preston Pipelines $622,000 to lay a 12-inch waterline at Berg Avenue between Fabian Road and Byron Road, and an 8-inch sewer line along Fabian Road.

• Council agreed to spend an extra $135,000 on the downtown fire administration building, bringing the cost of the project to nearly $2.4 million.

n Jason Frye was appointed to the Cultural Arts Commission, edging out two other applicants.