Documented by Kristina Mansfield
Here’s what you need to know
- Council member Jose Rodriguez asked to address the proclamation for ceasefire in the Middle East at an upcoming meeting and said “it would be appropriate.” The proclamation will be on an upcoming agenda.
- The Madera City Council voted to adopt (6-0) a minute order authorizing the city manager to enter into a contract with New Image Pool for the Centennial Park Pool Complex Upgrades and Repairs Project up to an amount not to exceed $210,000.
- Voted to adopt (6-0) a resolution awarding a contract to David J. Boyle Electric Shop for the Lions Town & Country Park restroom renovation for $164,000.
- City staff announced they are in the beginning stages of developing a proposed micro-transit public transit system in Madera, set to launch no later than June 2025. No details are available just yet, and the immediate next steps will be the execution of a feasibility cost-benefit analysis study.
Follow-up questions
- Will the Centennial Park Pool Complex be ready in time for swim season?
- Does Hebert plan to have an official unveiling of the new park bathrooms?
- Will the new micro-transit system connect Rolling Hills to downtown Fresno?
Notes
The regular meeting of the Madera City Council took place Wednesday Jan. 17 2024, at 6 p.m. in the Council Chambers at City Hall (205 W. 4th St.) in Madera. Eight people streamed the meeting live via YouTube, with a handful more participating in person. You can view a recording of the meeting on the city’s YouTube channel.
Regular meetings are held the first and third Wednesday of each month at 6 p.m., with special meetings occasionally scheduled in between. You can see the full 2024 meeting calendar here.
Public participation in City Council meetings is encouraged. If you’d like to check out a meeting, you can either do so electronically via Zoom (check out instructions on how to do so on this week’s meeting agenda here), by dialing 669-900-6833 (enter 815 9455 3057, then press #) from a regular phone, or by emailing your thoughts to citycouncilpubliccomment@madera.gov. You can also just show up in person.
CALL TO ORDER Mayor Santos Garcia called the meeting to order at 6 p.m. and gave a short run-through of the meeting’s policies and protocols. Then, City Clerk Alicia Gonzales called roll.
Council members present were:
Council member Anita Evans, District 4
Mayor Pro Tem Cece Gallegos, District 1
Mayor Santos Garcia
Council member Steve Montes, District 3
Council member Jose Rodriguez, District 2
Council member Artemio Villegas, District 6
Council member Elsa Mejia, District 5, was absent.
INVOCATION and PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE Pastor Tim Echevarria of Remnant Church Madera – who earlier in the week appeared at the Jan. 16 Madera County Board of Supervisors meeting – led the invocation. Rodriguez then led the flag salute.
APPROVAL OF AGENDA Garcia pulled all of the closed session items – G1 and G2, both related to a Public Employee Performance Evaluation of City Manager Arnoldo Rodriguez – from the agenda. Rodriguez made a motion to approve the agenda with edits, which carried 6-0.
PUBLIC COMMENT The first 15 minutes of each meeting are reserved for members of the public to address the City Council on items which are within its jurisdiction but not on the agenda. Each speaker is limited to three minutes.
- Jenna Vasquez, a resident of Madera, spoke out against residents’ ability to keep roosters within residential areas in the city. “Do you guys like to sleep in? I know I do!” Vasquez said, before noting she has to go to sleep three hours earlier these days to accommodate her neighbor’s rooster’s early wake time. Vasquez also said that code enforcement and animal control staff members informed her that roosters had once been banned in Madera, but a city ordinance made them legal again. She requested the council reconsider.
- An unnamed resident of Madera thanked one of the council members for sharing a personal story of loss at the local Walmart before giving a rundown of government structure and saying she plans to use her voice to shine a light on issues that impact her community.
- Omair Javaid, a resident of Madera, commented on behalf of the Madera Islamic Center and the community at-large. He cited the most recent death and injury numbers. “This is a modern-day genocide. We’re all God-fearing people, and God wouldn’t want this to happen to any of his people. For those reasons I’m asking the city of Madera to adopt a proclamation calling for a ceasefire to end the genocide in Palestine. It has to start with our small town of Madera.”
- “The whole global world is watching – we can’t be lied to anymore,” said an unnamed resident. “Many large cities in California have passed a resolution for a ceasefire, I’m sure you know this. As a small city in California, you have the opportunity to stand on the right side of history. I’m urging you to represent a lot of the people here in Madera and show them true leadership. Don’t let these people go unnoticed and unheard.”
- Yasir Amireh, president of the Palestine Freedom Project, said he echoed Javaid’s sentiments and added that the difference today is that now there is social media. “I have yet to meet anyone, from any religion, whose God believes in killing children. We’ve had enough,” said Amireh. “Passing a resolution would mean a lot to the community. Liberty and justice for all.”
- A staff member from Assembly member Esmeralda Soria’s office gave a quick update, noting that six bills have been signed into law, and that they now have offices in Merced and a satellite office in Fresno. “We’re here for you all,” they said.
- Hiyad, a Madera resident who said she is from Yemen, spoke in support of Palestine. “Yemen is also being bombed for the sole purpose of speaking up for Gaza,” she said.
WRITTEN COMMUNICATIONS There were no written communications.
PRESENTATIONS There were three presentations.
- The first was a proclamation recognizing Human Trafficking Prevention Month. CAPMC Executive Director Mattie Mendez introduced Victim Services Program Manager Jennifer Coronado to receive the proclamation from Garcia. “We assisted five individuals this year,” she said.
John Molina, of Olive Madera, said they have two shelters going strong and help well over 40 girls that come in and out of the shelter. “I can confidently say that human trafficking is one of the most horrendous things in our country right now,” Molina said.
- The next presentation was a proclamation recognizing National Mentoring Month. Chris Childers, a board member of Big Brothers Big Sisters, was recognized. Childers also serves as chief probation officer of Madera County.
“In Madera County alone, we have over 140 youth served, and we need more mentors like we have already in play,” Childers said.
- Next, Garcia recognized Jan. 9 as National Law Enforcement Appreciation Day “as a day to recognize officers across the county for the daily sacrifices they make for their communities.”
INTRODUCTIONS Rodriguez introduced Madera’s new director of information technology, Gary Price. Price comes out of retirement to join the team, Rodriguez said, and has previous experience working in IT at a Police Department in Southern California.
WORKSHOPS Director of Financial Services Mike Lima gave two informational workshops. Later in the meeting Director of Parks and Community Services Joseph Hebert said he was “pulling a Lima” when it was his turn to present.
A-1 Lima first presented the Utility Billing Schedule Workshop. New utility bills, with new due dates, will be going out in May-June, he said, in an effort to help even out the long wait times residents are facing when they come into city hall to pay their utility bills each month.
- “Right now, the city of Madera has about 16,000 utility customers, and about 4,500 come to city hall every month to pay their utility bills,” Lima said. “Because of COVID, many people found other methods to pay their bills other than in-person, but now the foot traffic has ramped up again and caused long lines and wait times towards the end of the month when bills are due. This causes issues for residents and staff.”
- Lima presented several due-date options based on geographical breakdowns (there was no written report for the workshop) for the council to consider. Changing the due dates on the bills will smooth out the flow of foot traffic, Lima said, adding that before the due dates change residents will be noticed in the newspaper and on social media, among other ways. Next steps, Lima said, will be coming back to the council next month with a resolution to change the municipal code to match the new payment due dates, as the current code states a bill is delinquent on the 25th of each month.
- One resident, the same unnamed woman from public comment earlier, questioned why the water bills were getting so high, and asked where she could find more information. “It doesn’t matter what zone I’m in, I can barely afford my water bill as it is,” she said. “I’d like to know why the water bills are getting so high and know more about the actual bill.” Lima said water rates are scheduled to increase every year for the next few years. “Do know that in general, the water bills are increasing here in the city.” There were no public comments online.
- Montes had several questions. He asked if they were still doing manual shut-offs for delinquencies. He asked about anticipated growth in the northwest quadrant and asked if there is enough flexibility in the plan. Lima said the folks living in that area of town are paying their bills in ways other than physically coming into the city hall. “That makes a lot of sense,” Montes said. He then asked about the anticipated grace period. Lima said they haven’t defined a specific grace period at this point.
- Rodriguez asked what form of payment the clients physically coming through City Hall were using. “A lot of them are checks,” Lima said, noting that he can provide the specifics after the meeting. Rodriguez suggested looking into installing a payment kiosk in the lobby, and asked about accepting digital currency.
- Evans asked if residents will still be able to pay with cash and checks. Lima confirmed that they will. She clarified whether more seniors come into city hall to pay their bills versus youths; Lima said it’s a broad cross-section.
- Villegas asked what payment options are available, stressing that all payment options should be available for customers. Lima confirmed that they are not taking any payment options away from anyone, and that the goal of changing the utility bill due dates is simply to find ways to make the lines shorter at City Hall.
- Rodriguez then asked if there are any of these payment methods that are cost prohibitive for customers. Lima said if you use the city’s online payment portal, there is a $3 fee. Gonzalez then clarified that if you take it out of your bank account it goes into a clearinghouse and that there is a one-time fee. She also said there is a drop box where residents can drop their payments at no charge.
C-2 Next, Alicia Gonzalez presented Item C-2, a report from staff on the redistricting process and permissible criteria to be considered to redraw district boundaries. The council also conducted a public hearing to receive public input on district boundaries to account for property annexed to the city. There was no public comment.
A-2 Marcella Zuniga then presented the transit workshop, where she discussed some of the potential benefits of a micro-transit system.
- “The city has $412,538 in outstanding Federal Transit Administration (FTA) funding that needs to be repurposed due to bus procurement reevaluation and a remaining balance after project completion,” Zuniga said, adding that there is $11.5 million available for drawdown, and that staff is now planning to begin the process of developing a proposed micro-transit public transit system.
- Next steps will be to perform a feasibility cost/benefit analysis study to gather data including cost per ride, popularity and utilization of service and total miles traveled, most popular days, times and destinations. No members of the public gave comment.
- Garcia asked for a timeline for the rollout of the new transit lines. Zuniga said they are working from the fact that the current transit operating contract expires in June 2025, and are working backwards from that date.
CONSENT CALENDAR, items B1-B9 The consent calendar is a group of administrative, routine items deemed uncontroversial in nature that carry with one motion and one vote unless a staff member, member of the public, or council member requests an item be pulled for further discussion.
- A correction was made on item Item B-9: Fee Waiver for McNally Park Rental. Feb. 18 is the correct date for the fee waiver. Consent calendar passed with edits 6-0.
PUBLIC HEARINGS
C-1 Lima presented the Annual Report on Development Impact Fees (AB 1600) for fiscal year 2022-2023.
- Lima said the report was made available Dec. 22, and is based on June 30 activity, and does not reflect account balances as of the day of the meeting. The council voted to approve (6-0) a resolution adopting the Annual Report on Development Impact Fees. There was no public comment.
PETITIONS, BIDS, RESOLUTIONS, ORDINANCES AND AGREEMENTS, items D1-D8 D-1 Lima presented. Item D-1, action items related to the Successor Agency Annual Budget Reporting to the Department of Finance.
- “The ROPS Recognized Obligation Payment Schedule) is basically a budget,” Lima said. You can read a detailed breakdown of how it works on the administrative side via the staff report here.
- The council then voted to adopt a resolution (6-0) adopting the ROPS representing the period of July 1, 2024, to June 30, 2025, for the city as the successor agency to the former Madera Redevelopment Agency, and voted to adopt a resolution (6-0) approving the administrative budget for the city as the successor agency of the former Madera Redevelopment Agency.
D-2 Lima again presented Item D-2, an update to the city’s investment policy.
- The council voted (6-0) to adopt a resolution updating the city’s investment policy. You can find a detailed breakdown of the updated policy here. The new policy includes new ways the city can invest its money.
D-3 Madera Police Cmdr. Josiah Arnold presented item D-3.
- The City Council voted (6-0) to adopt a resolution accepting a grant subaward from the California Office of Emergency Services for $950,000 and adopted a resolution amending the city’s 2023-24 budget to reflect revenues and expenditures related to the grant. “We are alleviating funds for next fiscal year by accepting the grant subaward,” he said. The motion carried 6-0.
D-4 Arnold again presented Item D-4, acceptance of a $4,500 donation to the Police department from the Sikh community.
- “The City Council must formally accept the money and appropriates the funds,” said Arnold. “Once again, we’d like to thank our Sikh leaders.” Motion passed 6-0.
D-5 Hebert, saying he is going to “pull a Lima,” started his stretch of presentations next with item D-5, related to the Lions Town & Country Park Restroom Renovation Project.
- “This is the city’s most utilized restroom, and it’s in dire need of improvements,” said Hebert. “This project will include fixture replacements, partitions, flooring…ADA accessibility requirements and the surrounding cement walkway.” Three bids were received for the project.
- The council then voted to adopt (6-0) a resolution awarding a contract to David J. Boyle Electric Shop for the Lions Town & Country Park Restroom Renovation for $164,000.
- Gallegos thanked David J. Boyle Electric Shop for bidding on the project and said oftentimes government agencies cannot award a bid when the applications have not been submitted correctly.
D-6 Hebert’s stretch of presentations continued onto item D-6, related to the Centennial Park Pool Complex.
- “The pool has cracked skimmers, peeling tile, ramp and pool rails,” said Hebert. “Parts have been welded a few times, and we definitely need to do something about it.”
- Hebert said the department made the project – which is for a complete replaster and retile of the dive and lap pool – available for bid Dec. 6, Dec. 13, Dec. 20, and again on Jan. 2, and did not receive any submissions. Staff contacted a few contractors to determine why they were not submitting bids and were told CDBG Section 3 was the cause. The program requires that recipients of certain HUD financial assistance provide training, employment, contracting and other opportunities to low- and very low-income people and businesses. Find out when Section 3 is triggered for a CDBG project here. He cited a section of public contract code that allows the city to select a contractor for a project should no bids be received.
- The council voted to adopt (6-0) a minute order authorizing the city manager to enter into a contract with New Image Pool for the Centennial Park Pool Complex Upgrades and Repairs Project not to exceed $210,000. Any remaining balance will be used towards additional improvements like a shade structure or floaties, Hebert said.
D-7 Derek Sanchez presented Item D-7, a purchasing agent agreement with the County of Madera relating to the CalFresh Healthy Living Program.
- The council voted (6-0) to adopt a resolution approving a purchasing agent agreement with Madera County for $27,000, relating to the CalFresh Healthy Living Program and ending Sept. 30. The first two programs, “Whip It Up” Wednesdays and “Karate with Me,” target elementary to high school kids; the third, “Toddler Time,” is aimed at children ages 2-5 years old.
- Gallegos asked what they are partnering with the county on. Sanchez said they have a brown belt on staff. Evans moved to approve. The motion passed 6-0.
D-8 The council voted (6-0) to adopt a resolution accepting Madera Rotary Club’s donation of $1,000.
ADMINISTRATIVE REPORTS
E-1 Gonzalez presented item E-1, a request for the council’s selection of a recipient for the proclamation recognizing February as Black History Month.
- Evans nominated Ella Mae Williams, a teacher with Madera Unified School District and first lady at a church in Fairmead. The motion carried 6-0.
COUNCIL MEMBER REPORTS Gallegos requested an update on Station 56 and 57. Rodriguez asked to address the proclamation for ceasefire in the Middle East at an upcoming meeting, and said “it would be appropriate.” Montes said he planned to use the phrase “pulling a Lima.” Evans said the Christmas Extravaganza was a success, and they were able to give toys to 350 children. Villegas participated in meetings with the League of California Citizen Environmental group and has another one upcoming. “We should have better air to breathe,” he said. Garcia said Fit Nation and In-N-Out opened recently and the prayer march was successful. He also said there is forthcoming news about a new casino.
ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 8:44 p.m.
The next scheduled meetings of the Madera City Council are Feb. 7 and Feb. 21..
If you believe anything in these notes is inaccurate, please email us at fresnodocs@fresnoland.org with “Correction Request” in the subject line.
