Lindsay City Council (6/27/23)

June 27, 2023 — Lindsay City Council

Documented by Esteban Solis Loya

Here’s what you need to know

• According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, businesses impacted by last year’s floods can qualify for up to $2 million loans for property repairs and homeowners/renters can qualify for up to $40,000 in loans with low interest rates.
• Mayor Hipolito Angel Cerros is focusing on downtown revitalization by considering forming a transportation ad hoc committee to expedite the future Transit Center, street and art sculptures. He also wants to encourage property owners to clean up their unused/blighted properties.
• Cerros is seeking the creation of a city app for $11,520 per year to streamline service requests and accessibility, but the council seems to have reservations.

The Scene

The Lindsay City Council meeting was held on June 12, 2023. The meeting began at 6 p.m. and was adjourned at 7:08 p.m for a closed session. The meeting was made available to the public to live stream and to provide public comments via Zoom. 

Follow-up questions

• What will Lindsay’s downtown revitalization plan look like?
• Will the city create a city app?

Names of Officials and Attendance

• Mayor Hipolito Angel Cerros: Present
• Mayor Pro Tem Yolanda Flores: Present
• Council member Ramiro Serna: Present
• Council member Ramona Caudillo: Present
• Council member Rosaena Sanchez: Present
• City Manager Joe Tanner: Present
• Director of Public Safety Rick Carillo: Present
• City Clerk Francesca Quintana: Present
• City Attorney Megan Dodd: Present
• City Services Director Neyba Amezcua: Present

Mayor Pro Tem Yolanda Flores opened the meeting and Council member Rosaena 

Sanchez led the council, city staff and members of the public in the Pledge of Allegiance. Cerros made a motion to approve the agenda. The agenda was unanimously approved 5-0.

Public Comments

• Zabrina Tipton from the U.S. Small Business Administration informed the council about funds allocated to Tulare County residents affected by last winter’s floods. Tulare County qualifies for low-interest disaster loans to business owners, homeowners and renters. Residents can call 800-659-2955 or email disasterloanassistance.sba.gov.
  • An in-person event at the city’s disaster recovery center opened at 8:30 a.m Wednesday for the first of three days. FEMA and the U.S. Small Business Administration offered other programs.
    • Address: 900 N. Sequoia St., Lindsay, CA 93247
    • Times: Open for three days, June 28-June 30 8:30 a.m. – 4:40 p.m.
    • Businesses can borrow up to $2 million to repair from flooding.
    • Businesses that didn’t receive damage but may have struggled can qualify for economically based loans if the floods impacted their ability to conduct business.
    • Homeowners and renters can borrow up to $40,000 (appliances, vehicles, etc.)
    • Interest rates are as low as 2.375% for homeowners and renters and 4% for businesses.
    • Loan decisions are based on each applicant’s financial condition, as loans are funded by taxpayers and must comply with existing laws and policies.
    • The physical deadline for Tulare County residents is July 20, 2023. The economic deadline is further out on Jan. 3, 2024.
    • Sanchez: Is credit considered for applicants?
      • Tipton: Yes – these federal loans are funded by taxpayers, so credit is taken into account. The loans are good for 30 years with deferments of payment until December 2023 with no interest accrued.
    • Council member Ramona Caudillo: Are applicants supposed to be within a certain credit score range?
      • Tipton: Yes, since these federal loans are backed by taxpayers, but it’s still best for residents with questions to go in person … to get as much clarity as possible.
    • Cerros: Is legal status/citizenship considered since we’re a predominantly agricultural-based community?
      • Tipton: FEMA has its own requirements that could be similar or different to those of the U.S. Small Business Administration She said she would send the city an email with more details and information.

Actions

• Council Report
  • Council member Ramiro Serna
    • Was going to make a presentation on Zabrina’s information and thanked her for her public comment.
  • Cerros
• Provided the council members with a written report he created
  • Remarked on the council chamber’s new chairs
  • Cerros and City Manager Joe Tanner met with Assembly Member Devon Mathis’ chief of staff, Matthew Tuttle. Mathis, R-Visalia, will visit Lindsay to do a walk-through of the city on July 7 from 11:15 a.m. to 12:15 p.m.
  • The Lindsay Police Department received new state-of-the-art vehicles.
  • Cerros and Sanchez had the business sign ordinance ad hoc committee meeting on June 21. They discussed murals in downtown Lindsay and discovered a gap in the request process, and there is no formal process for residents to submit requests for murals, only businesses.
    • Cerros explained that he’d like to expand murals in downtown and provided the council with examples of murals, street art, painted fire hydrants/utility boxes, sculptures and other art to revitalize downtown> Cerros asked the council to please provide feedback by the next council meeting on July 18.
  • Serna asked if murals would be anywhere in the downtown area. Cerros explained that city zoning does not interfere with where a mural can be located.
  • Cerros provided the council with a flier detailing an upcoming event at the Wellness Center. The Fresno Area Hispanic Foundation is partnering with Wells Fargo and with Lindsay to hold an economic development resource fair Thursday, primarily tailored to the Spanish-speaking population and individuals looking to retire, save up for college, own a home, etc. The event is also for small businesses and families.
  • Attended the Tulare County Regional Transit Agency (TCRTA) meeting last week. Cerros and Exeter City Council Member Vicki Riddle both requested an update on the status of their respective transit centers. Riddle created an ad hoc transportation committee composed of some Exeter City Council members and the director of TCRTA, and asked if Cerros wanted to collaborate on the project to expedite the transit centers. Cerros happily agreed, and will be bringing up the creation of a transportation ad hoc committee in the future.
  • Thanked city staff and Director of Recreation Services Armando da Silva for putting on events at the city park.

• Flores
  • Nothing to report.
• Caudillo
  • Nothing to report.
• Sanchez
  • Nothing to report.

• City Manager Report
  • The Sierra Vista neighborhood roundabout and trees are completed, along with a walking path. “We will see if we can add benches, and we will place decorative rocks along the path and in the middle of the roundabout.”
  • Da Silva hosted Drive-In Movie Night and Kid’s Day at the Wellness Center. Attendance was very good. 
  • A few employees have been out sick, some of whom have COVID-19.
• Discussion Items
  • Cerros: Has been working with Kevin Strauss,  vice president of sales for GoGov, for the last three months. “Society is evolving and innovating, and we need to stay up to date without technology services.”
    • GoGov works with 100 cities who use this platform. They would build a city of Lindsay branded app.
    • The app would feature applets/buttons made of existing web pages, shortcuts to contact information, payment methods, city maps, events, etc.
    • The app will be available on Apple Store and Google Play Store.
    • GoGov’s marketing team can help the city with marketing/ troubleshooting, usability and getting the word out about the app.
    • The app can deliver real-time updates to those who have the app such as electricity/water outages, siren testing, events, street repairs, etc.
    • City staff would have access to software and can create content from the back end.
    • Citizen request module
      • Report maintenance and repairs (potholes, streetlights) by submitting pictures, comments and locations of issues. Can apply a boundary over the city map so service requests can only be received from within the boundary.
      • Can track the status of requests.
      • Contains a mobile-responsive iframe, so requests can be made on desktop/mobile websites as well.
      • Requests are received by appropriate city staff with an email containing request numbers and details for tracking.
      • There are only about three screens for the average user/resident to learn.
    • The cost: $11,520 per year, with a one-year commitment at a time. This includes unlimited support/configuration.
    • The company was originally founded in California, so California cities are consistent users of the software.
  • Sanchez: Her concern is that a lot of Hispanic people in the community  aren’t as tech savvy, but the app looks easy to learn. Sanchez and Serna both like the idea and the process of requests.
  • Caudillo: This isn’t where the city should spend its money.
  • Flores: Her concern is for city staff. How much time would it take to address requests being made by residents?
  • Public comment: Resident Esteban Solis explained that he has the FresGo app and uses it when he’s in Fresno. He mentioned that residents his age have expressed that they would like to use technologies like this, and that the FresGo app seems to be used across the city and across all demographics.
• Recognition Items
  • 9.1 Proclamation declaring July as Parks Make Life Better Month
    • Flores issued the proclamation.
• Consent Calendar
  • 10.1 Minutes from June 12 regular meeting (pp. 5-9)
  • 10.22 Warrant list for June 5-18 (pp. 10 – 14)
  • Sanchez made a motion to approve the items. The council unanimously approved the motion 5-0.
• Action Items
  • 11.1 Public hearing to consider the approval of Resolution No. 23-23
    • City Services Director Amezcua: During the last council meeting, three different resolutions were approved. An assessment is placed on every property title in every district every time a subdivision is created. “We prepared an engineer’s report to understand how each district has its own fund where we track expenditures.”
      • There is a $224.50 charge for this assessment
    • Caudillo: Will we need to reevaluate this every year?
      • Yes. If there is damage or extra maintenance in a district, the district pays for the repair, then the city analyzes and increases charges if needed.
    • Sanchez moved to approve. The council voted 5-0 in favor.
  • 11.2 Levy and collection on County of Tulare property tax rolls (pp. 29 – 107) – Presented by Quintana
    • A. Trash
      • City received one protest on this item
      • Cerros  moved to approve; Serna and Caudillo voted no, and the motions carried with an approval of 3-2.
    • B. Delinquencies – past-due bills over 60 days – sent notices to residents
      • Cerros: Will residents see a deduction in their bi-annual property taxes? Quintana: Yes.
      • City received one protest vote.
      • Cerros made a motion to approve. Serna voted no, and the motion was approved 4-1.
• Request for future items
  • Cerros would like to discuss the beautification of roundabouts – especially the roundabout by Jefferson Elementary School. He would like to see a sign of the city on the Jefferson roundabout, as it’s located at the entrance to the city.
  • Cerros would like to revisit the city charter from the 1960s to see if the language needs to be updated.
  • Cerros would also like to look into the municipal process for towing vehicles to see what other cities are doing and to examine provisions within the code.
  • Cerros proposes a downtown feasibility study. He would like to discuss the state of downtown and ideas for a property the city just acquired adjacent to the buildings south of the buildings damaged by fires.
  • Cerros would like to discuss strategies to pressure downtown property owners to act, and either develop their properties or sell them.
  • Cerros would like a potential action item on a future agenda for the GoGov city of Lindsay app.
    • Caudillo abstained. The motion was approved 4-1.
  • Caudillo would like to discuss the property with a grassy area on Aspia Street and Elmwood Avenue. She would like the council to consider making it into a small park. This topic will be incorporated into the downtown discussion.

If you believe anything in these notes is inaccurate, please email us at fresnodocs@fresnoland.org with “Correction Request” in the subject line.