Alturas City Council
City Hall Council Chambers
June 25, 2024 at 2:00 p.m.
Alturas City Council Mayor Kelly Crosby called the meeting to order at 2:00 p.m. at the City Council Chambers. Councilmembers present: Paul Minchella, Brian Cox, Cheryl Nelson and Kelly Crosby.
Councilmembers absent: Samantha Wood. Staff present: City Clerk Tacie Wheeler, City Treasurer Dorothy Long, Director of Public Works Warren Farnam, Officer Cody Widby, Officer Frankie Widby, Officer Fernando Alcala, and Fire Chief Jimmy Lloyd. Public attending: 4. All present joined together in the Pledge of Allegiance.
No public comment.
Mayor Crosby states that we need to remove item number 5 on the agenda, as he called and said he will not be able to attend or follow through on the request.
MOTION by Councilmember Minchella, SECONDED by Councilmember Cox to approve the agenda with the removal of item #5. ALL AYES.
MOTION by Councilmember Minchella, SECONDED by Councilmember Nelson to approve Consent Agenda as follows: a.) Approve minutes of May 21, 2024 meeting; b.) Approve minutes of June 13, 2024 special meeting; c.) Approve City Warrants for May 2024 in the amount of $259,377.15; d.) Approve ACH reconciliation report for May 2024 in the amount of $107,119.70; d.) Adopt Resolution #2024-24 amending Resolution #2024-17 removing inactive water & sewer accounts from May from the amount of $539.66 to $447.10. ALL AYES.
Kristen DePaul, from the Modoc County Assessor Recorder’s Office, stood up to explain the issue with the documentary transfer tax. In 2018, they implemented a new software in their office. In 2020, they found an error. There is supposed to be a 50/50 split between the County and the city, but the split was not being applied and it looked like the City was getting 100% of the tax. County worked with the City and the City paid back the amount that was owed to the County. In 2024, another error was found, as it looked like the City was only getting 25% now. Come to find out, it was being split correctly originally, and when the company “fixed” the error they thought they had, it instead only gave the City 25% instead of 50%. So, now the County owes the City for the repayment they gave them originally, and now the for the 25% that has been going on since the original error was corrected. She just wanted to explain to Council what had happened, and let them know that the County will be journaling the amount they now owe to the City in the amount of $21,250.47.
Council members thank her for letting them know and explaining the situation.
Director of Public Works Farnam states that this item was on the last agenda, it is part of the LEAP program, specifically for housing plans.
Councilmember Cox asks if this stems from modifications from the 2020 plan. He states that that was overturned in court recently.
DPW Farnam explains this is different from the ADU that he’s referring to. This is to have plans and be able to save money to encourage house building in Alturas.
Mayor Crosby asks if the County would also accept these.
DPW Farnam says no, because we had asked a designer to come up with plans specifically for city limits.
Councilmember Minchella asks if there are no risks, despite what Councilmember Cox said about the ADU’s in court.
Councilmember Cox says that ADU’s are separate in this case, but it may come back depending on the plans.
MOTION by Councilmember Cox, SECONDED by Councilmember Nelson to allow Public Works Director Farnam to select proposal regarding RFP Planning-01 and execute Personal Services Contract pursuant to Resolution #202-22. ALL AYES.
Director of Public Works Farnam says we need an updated list on the roads due July 1st. West 3rd Street is on that list, as well as several others. That does not mean they are done, it just means that we can use these funds for those roads. If they are not on the list, we cannot use these funds to fix them. It includes streets that are in need of more than just pothole coverage.
Councilmember Cox states that East St is marked all over right now and was wondering about that.
DPW Farnam says that is for the fiber optic project and will not affect the road.
MOTION by Councilmember Minchella, SECONDED by Councilmember Cox to approve Resolution #2024-25 adopting a list of projects for Fiscal Year 2024-2025 funded by SB1: The Road Repair and Accountability Act of 2017. ALL AYES.
Treasurer Long explains that Mr. Kenny, the new City Attorney should his contract be approved today, contacted her about this Workplace Violence Protection Plan, as it is a requirement for SB533. Our current one is very short, and this would void that one and cover all of the requirements. This is a little extensive for us, but it covers everything.
Councilmember Cox states that this is extensively broad. It says that anything that causes stress could be looked at as workplace violence, and that could be something as simple as an evaluation.
Treasurer Long says this is required by the state to be adopted by July 1st.
Fire Chief Lloyd adds that his business also has to have this in place, and it does have to include all of these things.
Mayor Crosby suggests we could adopt it and make revisions after speaking with legal counsel if we need to.
Treasurer Long says that she is hoping, if the contract with Kenny is approved, that he will come up to put on a training and explain all of these things for us.
Councilmember Cox states that because we have this deadline, we need to accept this, with a caveat to review with legal counsel.
MOTION by Councilmember Cox, SECONDED by Councilmember Minchella to adopt Resolution #2024-26 adopting the City of Alturas Workplace Violence Prevention Plan, with a plan to meet with legal counsel for revisions as soon as possible. ALL AYES.
Mayor Crosby says that at our last special meeting, it was decided to extend an offer to Kenny and Norine for the City Attorney position after good discussion. This is to approve their contract.
Councilmember Nelson asks where they are located.
Councilmember Cox replies that they are out of Redding.
Mayor Crosby states that we pay hourly and mileage, and the hourly rate depends on who it is that we speak with or comes up here. She adds that she has worked with him before, and Assistant Director of Public Works Budmark and Director of Public Works Farnam have also both worked with him before, and they have always had good dealings with him.
Councilmember Minchella points out that he already seems to be on top of things with this Workplace Violence Plan.
Treasurer Long adds that he is on vacation right now, but has still responded to all of her questions, so he does seem to be very responsive already.
MOTION by Councilmember Minchella, SECONDED by Councilmember Nelson to approve the Agreement for Legal Services to retain Kenny & Norine for the City Attorney position. ALL AYES.
COMMITTEE REPORTS:
Councilmember Minchella reports that the last LAFCo meeting was about Mr. Benoit’s retirement, and the contract for Jennifer Stephenson who will be his replacement.
Mayor Crosby reports that they are wrapping up the USDA feasibility for SCED, and looking into the meat processing plant. They are still talking with Modoc Harvest and others, showing that we do have interest, we just want to wait for the USDA feasibility before committing.
Duanna Knighton states that she thought the study was already done.
Mayor Crosby says that the study itself is done, this is the next phase of it.
COUNCIL/STAFF REPORTS:
Officer C. Widby, stepping in for Chief Muller who is at an evidence training, introduces the City’s newest officer Fernando, Alcala who is just graduated from the academy and on his 3rd day of work.
Councilmember Cox asks about the radio situation.
Officer F. Widby says that TEACH has ordered the radios and they are in route.
Councilmember Cox asks how much TEACH donated.
Officer F. Widby states that she does not have the number spent, but it was very generous.
Treasurer Long reports that it is coming up on Fiscal Year end, on June 30th. She is working on grant deadlines for Prop 56, and is partnering with the DA’s office. This grant is to fund a new officer, a tobacco task force, to help with the rising issue of kids using tobacco and vapes. We are also receiving a lot of phone calls for the pool for swim lessons and classes, so the girls in the office have been very busy with that. As far as the budget goes, November is our deadline to have our 2024/2025 budget posted, but I like to have it posted in October. In the meantime, we come to Council in July to approve the 2023/2024 be rolled over into 2024/2025 until the new budget is approved. I would like to have an opportunity to sit with all five Council members when the new members take their seat to go over all of the fund numbers and things like that to get everyone on the same page.
Fire Chief Lloyd says that he has been in contact with Day Wireless, who is going to audit our radio systems, but they have not set a date yet. The fire department had their ladder certification, and everything passed.
Last month they only had two fire calls – one utility and one just for smoke. They had 40 medical calls that were all routine.
Director of Public Works Farnam reports that the mill site is ongoing, that he wants to get with the city attorney to go over the contract.
Mayor Crosby states that the letter of support we provided them helped them a lot, and they received almost a million dollars for that.
DPW Farnam says that they are working on getting all of the upgrades completed and seem to be on track.
The new wastewater treatment plant is going good. The project design is about 60% done and on track for construction. For the roads, working on filling potholes, but the guys have been really busy with the pool.
The County paved Water St, it’s looking good. They will also be doing S. East and Riverside starting tomorrow. The new skilled nursing facility is going along, just getting basic permits. For the old wastewater treatment plant we are still getting heavily fined, but we are plugging along with the compliance projects to save us a bit. We had our five-year inspection, the guys are really good at keeping their books and everything so that was good. I had a long talk with the inspector myself. We are working on training, which will be the same training we will need for the new plant – a licensed level II operator. I have been contacted by Jenn Anderson, who has $30,000 for repairs at the dog pound, and we’re looking at what we can do. With everything else going on right now, the dog pound is not at the top of my list right now, but will look into it. If we move forward, we will need to have a licensed contractor to do the work, so I don’t know how far we will be able to get. We have been spraying for mosquitos when the weather cooperates. Everything at the airport is coming along, still looking into replacing the Jet A tank. The pool has been a bear for everyone.
Tom did a great job training the lifeguards and getting them going. Our contract with Guiton’s is closing out, and we have been doing a lot at the pool ourselves with our staff. The roof is on schedule with the McConnell grant, looking to start on it this fall. JLS went well, our guys did a great job cleaning it up and getting it ready for them. Fandango Days is coming to us soon, and the Outdoor Expo will be there this weekend. RV spots are being rented, helping to bring in some revenue. We are also working on the street sign survey to get a list of signs that need repair or replaced.
Clerk Wheeler reports that we are receiving roughly $24,000 for our RMAP (Risk Management Assessment Program) that we worked on in February/March.
With no further business to come before City Council, MOTION by Councilmember Minchella, SECONDED by Councilmember Cox to adjourn the meeting at 3:03 p.m. and to return in regular session on Tuesday, July 16, 2024 at 2:00 pm, City Hall. ALL AYES Respectfully,
Tacie Wheeler
Tacie Wheeler
City Clerk