Documenter: Ramiro Merino

Summary

• The Water Rate Study indicated how much the project would cost. Mayor Beltran asked Dan Bergman to report on the water bill without including sewage and utility to help clarify the misconception for the residents to be informed. 

• There was a lot of support from the public for the renewal of Chief Garza’s contract with the Police Department, as well as opposition. Members of the Parlier Police Association as well as members of the public expressed their concern with the Council’s vote of 4 to 1 to not renew his contract and the consequences of not doing so. 

• Mayor Beltran stated that the City general funds budget is $3.5 million. In order to pay for the $3.3 million budget of the Police Department, the community needs to support and pass Measure Q to ensure there are funds to pay the Chief and officers. The measure will be on the ballot in June 2021. 

Purpose of Agency

Parlier is a general law City governed by a five-member City Council and operates under the City Council-City Manager form of government. Four council members are elected by their respective district and the Mayor is elected at large. The City Manager is appointed by the City Council. 

Parlier City Council Board Member Duties

Council members are the leaders and policy makers elected to represent various segments of the community and to concentrate on policy issues that are responsive to citizens’ needs and wishes. The City Manager is appointed by the City Council to carry out policy and ensure that the entire community is being served. Parlier City Administrator, Sonia Hall, handles the City’s day-to-day business with an “open-door policy” to community residents and businesses, where comments, concerns and suggestions are always welcome.

Parlier City Council Board Members

• Alma Beltran, Mayor

• Sabrina Rodriguez, Council Member District 1

• Trinidad Pimentel, Mayor Pro Tem and Council Member District 2

• Cathryn “Kathy” Solorio, Council Member District 3

• Diane Maldonado, Council Member District 4

The Scene

The Parlier City Council meeting was called to order at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, April 1st, 2021 by Mayor Alma Beltran. The meeting was streamed live virtually through Facebook and Zoom. The in-person meeting consisted of the five council members, including the Mayor Alma Beltran, Mayor Pro Tem and Council Member for District 2, Trinidad Pimental, Council Members Sabrina Rodriguez, Cathryn “Kathy” Solorio, and Diane Maldonado for Districts 1, 3 and 4. City Clerk Dorothy Garza, Treasurer Michelle Lopez, City Attorney Neal Constanzo, Finance Director Ellie Velicescu and approximately seven community members were also present via Zoom. A couple of those on Zoom had Concerned Citizen as their name. The camera was directed towards the podium, where a TV monitor displayed those on Zoom. Everyone shown at the meeting wore a mask and practiced social distancing as best as they could given the room layout of the meeting. When speaking at the podium, some of the members of the public removed their masks and put it back on once they were done. 

You can find the agenda for the City Council meeting here

Presentations

Dan Bergman provided an update on the Water Rate Study. He stated that the spreadsheet has all of the details regarding the water rate study, which were given to the Council members. The total project will cost $14,234,000. “There is no formal rate study. This is just an introduction for what’s coming. When I come back in about a month, I will bring you rates. At that presentation, you will be asked if you support this rate increase. If so, a notice will be sent to residents to let them know of the new water rate. Afterwards, there will be a rate hearing where it will be approved or not and put into effect that impacts the City of Parlier.”

Mayor Beltan asked Bergman to clarify some of the numbers. He said “when your bill goes up by 12%, the water bill itself went up 4% since for the City of Parlier, the bill is divided into thirds.” She asked if he could provide a breakdown of just the water bill rather than the total bill, which includes water, sewage, and utility, for the next meeting. 

Humberto Gomez, Sr., stated that he did not receive the packet regarding the water study rate, at which Mayor Beltran said that they are at the presentation agenda item, not public comment. He made a comment and then sat back down. Gomez, Sr., stated that he would like for the general funds of $2.9 million to be allocated to cover the costs of the water rate. He said that the Council has been spending money on tacos and burritos, at which Mayor Beltran said she did not know what he was talking about. 

Public Comment

Jesse Ruelas, the President of the Parlier Police Association, spoke on behalf of the sworn members of the Parlier Police Department. He stated that it was voted 4 to 1 that the City Council will not renew the employment of Chief Garza. He stated that the morale of the Police Department has been very low recently. “No matter what I say after I leave, it shows that you do not show support for the police department or chief. There are some things he has done that have had a positive impact, including installing cameras. The police officers are still going to show up and do their job, but the ratio of the police officers will decrease. If you do not want this community to suffer, I ask you to reconsider Chief Garza’s contract.” 

Dan Barcelos, a member of the Parlier Police Association, spoke for himself as an individual. “Since our new leader has come to the City, the agency has changed 180 percent. Now, people wave at us and call us when they need us. I will stand with them every single day. Yes, I heard about the 4 to 1 vote. This cop has brought Cops Building Bridges. He has attended all events. Let him do his job. That man represents this city wholeheartedly. We care about our city, not your city. We are the laughing stock from other communities because of all the arguing on Facebook. I ask you guys to please go back and think about what you are doing because this will impact our city.” 

Elizabeth Tienda, a Parlier citizen, spoke in support of the Police Chief. She asked why was the term dismissal added to the agenda right before the meeting. “I don’t understand why you barely added it now if you already knew 48-72 hours that you were going to let him go. I’m not sure if it’s a lack of transparency; I do not understand why this was not there before. He has brought community policing. We have lost five police officers because they have gone for employment elsewhere. So our students can walk safely to school and back to their homes. The last two months, there have been two shootings down the street from my house. You are awakened by it, and it’s sad. One person was murdered. This is terrible. Yes, we finally have a Starbucks, but if our community is not safe, then no one will move here.” 

Karina Paredes stated she has been at the Council meeting for the third time. “I have to constantly come and discuss the safety issue regarding a home that is an eye sore. The weeds are taller than you are. There is a homeless man or jobless; he goes into that building that is boarded up. He is not causing problems but is trespassing the property. There was a physical fight between another individual and the gentleman that was there, which caused a safety concern. Chief Garza personally gave me his business card to let him know about the safety concern. He came and asked how he could help. I don’t understand how the City can allow the house to look like that. Now it is a dumping ground, with furniture, couches, dining room tables, dumping their unwanted items over the fence. I have been coming here for the last three years and nothing has been done.”

Detective Hernandez also spoke in support of Chief Garza. Garza joined the Police Department a few months after Hernandez started. “This was a man that I was going to work hard for. Being in the marines, you have the type of leader that you want to follow and those that you do not want to follow. For the first time in history, Chief Garza initiated a Detective Unit. We are able to look into cases that are not able to be looked into. He implemented technology, video policing and brought back a canine unit. People are more motivated to serve and protect this area. If he is no longer, the progress that has been made will not stay. A lot of officers are leaving. Please reconsider the decision you are making.” 

Officer Bowling stated that Chief Garza has done an outstanding job. “He is very approachable, he extended the same grace to everyone. He has heard many concerns and has acted on them. He absolutely has the best interest of the City in mind.” 

Humberto Gomez, Sr., stated that he was surprised to hear that they were going to get rid of the chief. “It bothers me that every meeting that you guys praise him but then out of nowhere, you want to fire him and not renew his contract. Remember when you told him to throw me out and he resisted because there was no ground to kick me out? We want a chief for the community, not a chief of the Mayor.” 

Humberto Gomez, Jr., also spoke in support of the chief. He professionally develops the police department, who supports the community. It’s the mayor’s thing. He has high ethical standards that the Mayor does not have. She has a personal vendetta against him. He cares about the officers and it shows.” 

Margaret asked to reconsider their decision. “If you guys do let him go, we will need a sixth chief, but we do not need a sixth chief; we are good with the fifth. He is perfect for the city. It’s always about the community and the citizens. As you can see, all these officers are here because they all have his back. They are here to fight for their chief. Each and every one of you is up there because we put you up there. Who is going to want to come to the City if we do not have a PD or a PD that does not care about the community. Every event that we have, they are the first ones there setting. If children can’t pay for an event, they pay for the children. Kathy, you see firsthand the change he has made. Trinidad, you represent my district. You are there to do what’s for us. I hope you are listening and that you are what you are supposed to be. I respectfully ask you to reconsider. Let’s back them up.” 

Esther Jimenez, a citizen and employee for the Police Department, spoke in support of the chief. “Yea, you may say I work for the City of Parlier, but I assure you my boss is Chief Garza. We are very short staffed in records. I am the last one standing. I will not stand here and be served on a silver platter for the Mayor, I’m sorry, I can’t. You don’t let him make any decisions. Selena left for the same reason. Without records staff, no reports will be turned to the DA, no courts follow ups will be done and we are going to be screwed. Working with him closely, I’ve noticed he is very humble. He actually cares about this community. He makes things work. He finds a way to make the public safe and happy. He even tries to make you happy. But you step all over it. And if you want to retaliate, go for it. I’m here.” 

Norma Nicole, a property manager, stated she is not a public speaker but for the chief, I will. When he became the Chief, he personally went and introduced himself to everyone in the community. He cares about everyone. He has been amazing. If Dan goes, I am going to honestly reconsider being a property manager in Parlier. For my son to say he does not want the chief to go, that hurts. Please reconsider, do not let the Chief go. Her son spoke and expressed his support for the chief. “Don’t do that, that’s so mean.” 

A concerned citizen spoke in support of not renewing the contract for the chief. “I think it is time for a change. There are problems within our department. We filed a complaint against one officer. In the following 10 months, my family has had 12 encounters with various officers for various reasons. Now I ask you, is this a coincidence or retaliation? Not once has the Chief reached out to us regarding the complaint with any questions about the complaint. There are a few bad officers that need to be addressed. He can be fixing the problem rather than just ignoring us. He is here for some citizens, but not all.” 

Mayor Beltran commented on the situation. ““What I wanted to say is that we have not passed Measure Q. The only reason we have all of these officers is because of Measure Q. So what are we going to do? The people did not pass it; I do not vote for everyone. They didn’t feel comfortable voting for the measure. We continue to overspend and drag the city down? Just like you put all of the time and energy to keep the chief, let’s do that for Measure Q in June. That’s what you guys need to do. Now we will be over the budget of $3.3 million. Our general budget is $3.5 million. Let’s put that energy into passing the measure. You always want to blame me, that’s fine. Maybe we will be in a different situation. We have to move this along. That is it. We are not hiding anything. This is a public record posted on our website. That’s what we need to do, pass the measure.” 

After a moment of the Mayor speaking back and forth with some members of the public (the audio was not clear on what was said), the Council went to Closed Session at 7:50 p.m. The Council resumed with the meeting at 9:18 p.m. 

Consent Calendar

The City Council unanimously approved the first item on the consent calendar, which is to approve the Check Reports dated March 13, 2021 to March 25, 2021. The Council voted to remove the second item on the consent calendar, to approve the Minutes dated Regular Meeting March 18, 2021, to the next meeting. 

Regular Business

At this moment, Humberto Gomez, Sr., spoke out loud to the Council but Mayor Beltran said for him to not speak at this time because public comment was over and the Council needed to move to regular business. 

The Council approved the following agenda items: 

• SUBJECT: Consideration and Necessary Action on Resolution of the City Council for City of Parlier Approving the Application for Clean Air Vehicle via the Public Benefit Grant Program Administered by the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District. 

  • RECOMMENDATION: Staff recommends the City Council approve Resolution No. 2021-18 for the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District Public Benefit Grant Program and authorize the City Manager to complete grant agreement and all reporting forms. 

• SUBJECT: Consideration and Necessary Action of Initiating Proceedings for the Annual Levy Assessments for Landscape Maintenance and Lighting District No. 1 for Tax Year 2022. 

  • RECOMMENDATION: Staff recommends the City Council adopt Resolution 2021-19 Initiating Proceedings for the Annual Levy of Assessment for Landscape Maintenance and Lighting District No. 1 and Authorize the City Engineer to file his annual report.

• SUBJECT: Consideration and Necessary action to approve Change Order No. 1 to the contract to Supply of up to nine (9) Granular Activated Carbon Adsorption Systems for TCP Removal Project and authorize the City Manager to sign Change Order No. 1 on behalf of the City of Parlier. 

  • RECOMMENDATION: Staff recommends to approve Change Order No. 1 to the contracts to Supply of up to nine (9) Granular Activated Carbon Adsorption Systems for TCP Removal Project and authorize the City Manager to sign Change Order No. 1 on behalf of the City of Parlier. 

Public Comment on Closed Session

No members of the public commented on the items which were discussed during the Closed Session. 

Brief Comments: Council Communications/Comments:

The City Administrator, City Planner, City Attorney, and City Council had no report. 

Adjournment:

Mayor Beltran adjourned the City Council meeting at 9:32 p.m.