Sanger City Council Jan. 18, 2024 meeting

Documented by Artemes Gidram

Here’s what you need to know

• Sanger is having an ongoing wastewater treatment odor problem the council is looking to resolve.
• The public hearing for the redrawing of District 1 will be postponed so that it can air over Zoom.
• The city has voted to extend the agreement with Gregory Garner as interim city manager while they continue to try and fill the role.

Follow-up questions

• Will the next meeting bring back a permanent or temporary Zoom component to the meetings?
• How much longer will it take for the council to hire a new city manager?
• Will there be a solution to the wastewater and sewer treatment smells?

Notes

The Scene

The Sanger City Council meeting took place on Jan. 18, 2024, at 6:04 p.m.

The meeting was held in person at the Sanger Administration building located at 1700 7th St. in Sanger. The agenda can be found online at the Sanger website.

Officials present:

Frank Gonzalez, mayor

Daniel Martinez, mayor pro-tem

Hilda Cantu-Montoy, Sanger city attorney

Gregory Garner, acting city manager

Esmeralda Hurtado, council member

Dolores Melendez, council member

Michael Montelongo, council member

• Closed session
  • The closed session did not conclude, and was recessed for the open meeting at 6:04 p.m.
• The meeting was called to order at 6:04 p.m.
• Opening ceremonies
  • Pastor Paul Canaday performed the opening invocations.
  • Gonzalez led the flag salute.
  • Every member of the council was present during the roll call.
• Agenda
  • Vote
    • Motion to approve the agenda by Montelongo.
    • Motion passed unanimously
• Public Hearing
  • Redrawing of City Council district boundaries as a result of annexation of property
    • This public hearing was rescheduled to the next meeting.
    • The rescheduling was due to new California regulations regarding the redrawing of districts that require the hearing to be available over Zoom.
    • It was not made clear if Zoom would be available for the whole council meeting or council meetings following the redrawing of the district.
• Public forum
  • No members of the audience came forward for public comment.
• Consent calendar
  • Item 8 was removed by Hurtado.
  • Item 8, Authorization for out-of-state travel
    • At the previous meeting the council voted to pay for Gonzalez to go to Washington, D.C. with the Fresno Council of Governments. The money would be collected from the individual travel funds of each council member.
    • Hurtado wanted clarification on where the funding would come from.
      • David Brletic, community development director
        • Brletic clarified that the travel expenses would cover himself, Gonzalez and the city manager through the city management budget. Martinez has earmarked an amount that wasn’t disclosed from his travel expenses, and if his money had been exhausted, then it would come from the economic development budget.
    • Public comment
      • Osvaldo Vera, retired community boxing coach
        • Vera asked the council how much they would be spending on this trip.
          • Hurtado stated it is supposed to be between $7,000 and $9,000 and won’t go over that.
          • Montelongo stated that the report says the estimate is around $8,500.
    • Vote
      • Motion to authorize out-of-state travel made by Martinez
      • The motion carried unanimously.
• Department reports
  • Youth Council update
    • Garner
      • Garner is currently working with Cantu-Montoy to bring some amended language to the ordinance. There are various small issues such as allowing seniors in high school to serve a two-year term on the council even though they wouldn’t be eligible upon graduation.
    • Montelongo
      • Montelongo mentioned that he noticed various documents recorded the beginning of Youth Council as being in 2018. He clarified that the original council was formed in either 1999 or 2000.
  • Extension of interim city manager employment agreement
    • Cantu-Montoy
      • The appointment of a permanent city manager is still ongoing, and in the meantime, Garner will remain as the interim manager.
    • Vote
      • Montelongo made a motion to extend the agreement.
      • The motion passed unanimously.
• City manager/staff communication
  • Garner had no staff communication.
• Matters initiated by City Council members
  • Martinez
    • Martinez brought attention to the bad odors coming from the wastewater treatment plant, stating that he knows there have been odors as far back as October. He noted that he can sometimes smell them at his house on the northwest side of town.
  • Hurtado
    • Hurtado emphasized the wastewater treatment plant smells. Stating that this has been a huge concern for some time. Hurtado said she requested a presentation on the treatment plan and sewer systems last year but a presentation was never scheduled.
  • Montelongo
    • Montelongo noted that the council gave consensus before Garner was the interim city manager. So he hopes Garner will work on making a presentation happen now that he is aware of the issue. Montelongo also wants to schedule a trip to go out and visit the facilities where this is happening.
    • Montelongo brought up that at the last meeting, Hurtado mentioned that she had to pay $1,000 out of pocket for travel expenses. Montelongo stated that this wasn’t right and wanted to be able to fix this and get Hurtado a refund for her money. Montelongo requested that staff look into whether it is possible to refund Hurtado.
    • Montelongo gave praise to a local church, House of Hope, for providing free meals once a month on a Wednesday. Montelongo finished by congratulating Sanger High School for receiving a $5,000 grant to tutor kids. Montelongo reported that the tutoring program said they are close to buying a dedicated building.
  • Melendez
    • Melendez stated that at the last council meeting she requested an update on the alley ordinance regarding cleanup. She wants to know if she can get an update, and stated her emails haven’t been working. Garner stated he would send an email to everyone on this issue.
  • Gonzalez
    • Gonzalez requested that Garner try to communicate with CrisCom to schedule one-on-one time with legislators in Washington, D.C. Gonzalez noted that they were able to schedule appointments the last time he went after his responsibilities with the Fresno Council of Governments were complete.
    • Gonzalez wanted to know if there was any way they could put cameras in problem alleys to track who is dumping trash there. Garner noted that the Police Department was currently looking into mobile cameras they can use to place up at events or locations with increased problems.
• Meeting adjourned at 6:31 p.m.

Actions/discussions/public comment

• There was no public comment during the public forum.

Conversation highlight

• “I know that odors have been (present) as far back as October, September, and I’m still receiving a couple of calls about the odors. And, honestly, there’s sometimes when I step out at night at my own house, you know near Reagan Elementary school, and I’m thinking I’m smelling it,” said Daniel Martinez, mayor pro tem, Sanger City Council.

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

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