Kerman City Council (11/10/21) AT&T facility lease + commercial business applications — fresnoland

Documenter: Ramiro Merino

Here’s what you need to know:

• The Council voted to adopt the resolution approving the lease of the telecommunication facility space for AT&T Cingular Wireless. AT&T will pay the City a one-time payment of $45,47 for the construction storage building on the park premises. There are no operational costs to the City and the revenues from the license fee will go to the General Funds revenue.

• City staff are reviewing applications from commercial businesses interested in opening in Kerman, including Denny’s, Dutch Bros, and a car wash station. 

• The City Attorney is working closely with City staff to meet the new California legislation that requires every city to enact an organic recycling policy by January 1, 2022.

Purpose of Agency:

The City Council serves as the policy-making board of the City. The Kerman City Council has five members, which includes the Mayor and four Council members. The Mayor is elected for a two-term, and Council members are elected for four-year terms. The City Council meets on the second and fourth Wednesday of each month at 6:00 p.m. at the Kerman City Hall, 850 S. Madera Ave. 

Kerman 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. Kerman 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.

Kerman City Council Board Members

• Gary Yep, Mayor

• Kevin Nehring, Council Member for District 1

• Jennifer Coleman, Council Member for District 2 

• Ismael Herrera, Mayor Pro Tem and Council Member for District 3

• Bill Nijjer, Council Member for District 4

The Scene

The Kerman City Council meeting was held in-person in the Kerman City Chambers on Wednesday, November 10, 2021. Mayor Gary Yep called the meeting to order at 6 p.m. Councilmembers Kevin Nehring, Jennifer Coleman, and Ismael Herrera were in-person in the council chambers. Councilmember Bill Nijjer joined the meeting virtually. There were about eight people present in the Chambers, including Parks and Recreation Director Philip Gallegos, Police Chief John Golden, Police Chief Jeff Dun, City Manager John Johnson, City Clerk Marci Reyes, City Attorney Hilda Montoy, Public Works Director Michael Barajas, and Community Development Director Jesus Orozco. The Council members did not wear masks during the meeting. You can find the agenda for the City Council meeting here

Presentations:

• Recognition of Tom Tucker, City Security Camera Expert 

“He is not able to be here tonight as he is in the process of moving out of state. He was the lead for cameras. He started with the cameras at 180 and 145. Tom provided all of his free time. We couldn’t count the number of hours he had contributed but it was a lot. He was able to source the equipment because of his connections. We got cameras at a really huge discount. We have 25 cameras in the Community Center. We have about 18 cameras at the Animal Shelter. When you look at the scope of his work, we have about 80 cameras in the City of Kerman, which costs thousands of dollars. Tom gave his personal time to work on this. We can’t compare what he has done for this city.” 

Councilmember Nijjer said “Thank you Tom for all of your work on this. He saved this city thousands of dollars.” 

• Introduction of New Employee Harmeen Kaur, Water Conservation Specialist (MB) 

Harmeen Kaur said “It’s an honor to be selected for this community. I am confident I can do a good job. I received my Bachelor’s and Master’s in India. While pursuing my Masters, my family and I moved to the United States in 2016. In 2019, I moved permanently to the states. I moved to Clovis because my brother got a job. I am bilingual and can read, write, and speak in Punjabi so if anyone needs help translating, please let me know. I thrive in going above and beyond so I will work hard in this role.” Concilmembers wished her the best of luck in the role. “Welcome to the team.” 

Request to Address Council

No request. 

Consent Calendar

The City Council unanimously approved five of the six items on the consent calendar. 

• (A): Minutes

• (B): Payroll

  • Report: 09/19/2021 – 10/02/21: $168,118.21; Retro Pay & Other: $5,185.47; Overtime: $8,855.05; Standby: $1,305.09; Comp Time Earned: 38.63

• (C): Warrants 

  • Nos. 22799-22869 $476,208.20 ACH $113,413.31  

• (D): Resolution Approving First Amendment to Consultant Services Agreement with Blais & Associates for Grant Writing and Management Services (JAJ)

• (G): Remote City Council Meetings Under New Brown Act Requirements (AB 361) (MR) 

Council Member Nehring asked to remove agenda item F. 

• (F): Resolution Approving Memorandum of Understanding and Operational Agreement with Fresno County for Electronic Suspected Child Abuse Report System (JG)

With no further discussion, the Council approved the agenda item F. 

Public Hearings

There were no public hearings. 

Department Reports

• Resolution Approving Lease of Telecommunication Facility Space for AT&T Cingular Wireless (PG) 

“”AT&T wants to improve the fixed wireless internet and cellular coverage to the area around South Madera Avenue in the center of town. Currently, this portion of the AT&T network is suffering from poor coverage due to an insufficient amount of telecommunications facilities and the ever-increasing volume of service. AT&T proposed a new wireless communications facility on a new 70’ light standard replacement at the baseball field at Kerckhoff Park. The proposed unmanned telecommunications facility consts of 9 AT&T panel antennas and associated equipment, to be mounted on a 70’ tall light standard replacement. AT&T would replace one of the existing light standards on the third base side of the baseball field at the park with a new pole capable of supporting the existing lights and AT&T’s wireless equipment. AT&T will pay the City a one-time payment of $45,47 for the construction of a Tuff Shed storage building on the park premises. There are no operational costs to the City of Kerman. AT&T is responsible for costs of all utilities associated with operation of its equipment. The City will receive an initial $1,600 for a six month option period. After, the monthly lease fee is $1,600 or $19,200 per year for the first year and the fee will automatically increase by three percent (2%) each year thereafter. The revenues associated with the annual license fee go to General Fund revenues. City municipalities have a due diligence to look into this public good.” Mayor Yep said “The field looks like it needs to be redone. In this year’s budget, we have allocated funds to fix it.” The Council voted to adopt the resolution approving the lease of telecommunication facility space for AT&T Cingular Wireless. 

City Manager/Staff Communications

• City Manager John Johnson: “Thank you to all of the Veterans who have served. There will be a new ordinance regarding organic recycling. We are working diligently with Mid Valley and the City Attorney to get this to you at the December meeting. There is a transient camp that began to grow behind the railroad tracks. The teams were sensitive to the conditions of those living there. They treat them humanely and respectfully. They have tried providing them services to remove them from this location. Another item we wanted to share is that we were well represented at the California Economic Summit by Mayor Pro Tem Ismael Herrera. Our Lady Lions went to State Champions. They won Monday’s game but did not win the state championship. We are looking to address the situation at Sunset Boulevard. Thank you for the quorum for having your meeting in front of the building. Thank you Josie for covering this meeting while Marcie is out for a few days.”

• Community Development Director Jesus Orozco: “We are reviewing the applications from Denny’s and Dutch Bros. We are making sure we work with stakeholders for this. The car wash is a standalone car wash, which can accommodate 30 vacuum stations and is the furthest parking lot from Panda Express.”

• Public Works Director Michael Barajas: “For the Kearney Boulevard reconstruction project, the paving ended today. Should be done the week of Thanksgiving.” 

• City Attorney Hilda Montoy: “There is a new state legislation that requires every city to enact an ordinance on organic recycling, which has to be enacted by January 1st. You are ahead of all of my clients. If approved by the second week of December, then we should only be off by a few days but we should still be good.”

• Parks and Recreation Director Philip Gallegos: “We provided training on the operations of the animal shelter. The contractor should be done by next Friday. The Senior Thanksgiving Dinner-Dance is coming up on November 18th. One of the traditions they started a while back was to have a senior citizen dance with a firefighter or police officer and let me tell you, this is a hit. We typically have about 200 seniors. The Food Drive is coming up where we will be able to serve 200 families. The distribution will be on November 17th. In 2016, we worked with Caltrans to improve the roundabout. Caltrans will work with the City to improve the roundabout and beautify it. The grant will be submitted in Spring of 2022.”

The Council agreed that the organic ordinance needs to be adopted on December 22nd at a regular meeting, not at a special meeting. The Brown Act issue also needs to be addressed so there are two open business items left. 

Closed Session

There was no closed session. 

Adjournment:

With no further discussion, Mayor Yep adjourned the Council meeting at 7:07 p.m. 

If you believe anything in these notes is inaccurate, please email us at Documenters-admin@thefresnoland.com with “Correction Request” in the subject line.