Alturas City Council
City Hall Council Chambers
July 16, 2024 at 2:00 p.m.
Alturas City Council Mayor Pro-Tem Cheryl Nelson called the meeting to order at 2:00 p.m. at the City Council Chambers. Councilmembers present: Paul Minchella, Brian Cox, Cheryl Nelson and Samantha Wood. Councilmembers absent: Kelly Crosby. Staff present: City Clerk Tacie Wheeler, City Treasurer Dorothy Long, Director of Public Works Warren Farnam, Chief of Police Marc Muller, Officer Frankie Widby, Fire Marshal Eric Hunter and Fire Chief Jimmy Lloyd. Public attending: 9. All present joined together in the Pledge of Allegiance.
No public comment.
MOTION by Councilmember Minchella, SECONDED by Councilmember Wood to approve the agenda.
ALL AYES.
MOTION by Councilmember Wood, SECONDED by Councilmember Cox to approve Consent Agenda as follows: a.) Approve minutes of June 25, 2024 meeting; b.) Approve ACH reconciliation report for June 2024 in the amount of $187,303.64 c.) Adopt Resolution #2024-27 amending the dollar amount of Resolution #2024-27 removing inactive water and sewer accounts from May from the amount of $447.10 to $359.95. ALL AYES.
Councilmember Minchella reads Resolution # 2024-32 in honor of John Benoit’s retirement. He states that he has done a great job for the City. He is asked who is replacing Mr. Benoit, in which Councilmember Minchella replies that Jennifer Stephenson is going to take his place.
MOTION by Councilmember Cox, SECONDED by Councilmember Minchella to adopt Resolution #2024-32 recognizing profound appreciation for John Benoit, Executive Officer of the Modoc Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO). ALL AYES.
City Clerk Wheeler read part of Resolution #2024-28, that stated the results of the election held in March 2024.
MOTION by Councilmember Cox, SECONDED by Councilmember Minchella to approve Resolution #2024-28 declaring the results of the consolidated municipal election of March 5, 2024. ALL AYES.
Treasurer Long administers the Oath of Office to newly elected officials City Clerk Wheeler, Councilmember Larranaga, Councilmember Engel and Councilmember Knighton. The new Councilmembers take their seats to finish the meeting.
City Clerk Wheeler calls for nominations for Mayor.
Councilmember Cox states that he thinks there should be a little discussion before nominations. He explains the duties and responsibilities that come with being Mayor. He says with in experience as Mayor for 18 months he was called to the office at least three times per week, so it takes dedication. He expresses that he is not interested in the position, but wanted them to know what they would be signing on for.
Councilmember Knighton states she is not interested in the position being so new.
MOTION by Councilmember Larranaga, SECONDED by Councilmember Engel to nominate Councilmember Paul Minchella for Mayor. ALL AYES.
Clerk Wheeler calls for nominations for Mayor Pro-Tem.
MOTION by Councilmember Cox, SECONDED by Councilmember Minchella to nominate Jennifer Engel Mayor Pro-Tem. ALL AYES.
MOTION by Councilmember Cox, SECONDED by Councilmember Minchella to appoint Sean Buie and Rosemary Nelson to another four-year term on the Alturas Planning Commission through July 2028, and to fly the new vacant position. ALL AYES.
Councilmember Cox states that this is going to be a big undertaking considering all of the committees.
Cary Baker says that in the past, new members let the Mayor know what they are interested in and go from there. Councilmembers begin discussing and volunteering for committees.
MOTION by Councilmember Cox to appoint Paul Minchella and Jennifer Engel to serve as representatives on the LAFCO Board, and Brian Cox as an alternate; appoint Paul Minchella and Jodie Larranaga to serve on the LTC Board, with Brian Cox as the alternate; to ask for letters of interest to replace Duanna Knighton on the Planning Commission Board; and to appoint Duanna Knighton to the Nor-Cal Continuum of Care Modoc Advisory, SECONDED by Councilmember Minchella. ALL AYES.
Fire marshal Hunter explains the resolution for CalFire and Forest Service. He states that we have one truck from this program already. When they have extra equipment, we can get that through this program.
Councilmember Minchella verifies that we use the equipment, but do not own it.
Fire marshal Hunter confirms that it is a loan, but it is forever. They send someone to inspect the equipment once a year. When we are done with the equipment, we send it back to them.
Councilmember Cox asks how often.
Fire marshal Hunter responds that the truck we got from them we have had for 20 years. We can do anything to the truck, such as painting it or adding our logos, we just have to strip what we’ve done when we send it back.
MOTION by Councilmember Knighton, SECONDED by Councilmember Cox to adopt Resolution #2024-29 authorizing application for the Federal Excess Personal Property (FEPP) Program and delegating authority to the Fire Chief to sign the agreement. ALL AYES.
Treasurer Long states that this is an annual agreement that we do with Modoc County. Chester and Julie from the Administration Office at Modoc County submit this on our behalf.
MOTION by Councilmember Cox, SECONDED by Councilmember Engel to adopt Resolution #2024- 30 authorizing submittal of a Regional Used Oil Payment Program application with Modoc County being the regional lead agency, related authorizations and identification of regional participants. ALL AYES.
Treasurer Long explains that in 2023 we submitted to have the SLFRF funds for a new HVAC system. We are just getting the process going for that.
MOTION by Councilmember Larranaga, SECONDED by Councilmember Cox to adopt Resolution #2024-31 authorizing the Director of Public Works and or the City Treasurer to award bids and execute all documents needed to complete the upgrade of the HVAC unit in City Hall. ALL AYES.
COMMITTEE REPORTS:
Councilmember Minchella reports that they got Jennifer Stephenson started in the last LAFCO meeting to replace John Benoit. Mr. Benoit will stay on for a year to help her. He also attended the regular meeting for MCTC.
COUNCIL/STAFF REPORTS:
Fire Chief Lloyd reports 1 fire call and 19 medical calls received since last meeting. The fire was an illegal burn, just burning after allotted hours, so they were told to put it out and it went well. Day Wireless is supposed to be here this week to do an audit on our radios.
Police Chief Muller reports 23 arrests, and 59 new cases. Him and another officer attended evidence training, so they’ve been working in the evidence room. They made it through the POST audit, and that seems to have went well. Siskiyou requested help, so we have 2 officers going to help on the fire in Siskiyou County. Jimmy Lloyd already touched on the radios, we are just waiting for Day Wireless to come.
Treasurer Long reports that they want to have a long work session to talk about what each department does, and Mr. Kenny, our new City Counsel, wants to do an ethics training and go over the Brown Act.
Councilmember Engel asks about the time requirements for the trainings.
Treasurer Long states that ethics training is about 2 hours, but she is not sure about the Brown Act. Asks councilmembers to send their dates of availability so her and Warren can get everything together and get it set up.
Director of Public Works Farnam reports they are working on the application designs for the wastewater treatment plant. They keep hitting some snags, but they are working through them. SEQUA posted this week, there will be letters going to property owners. 8th and N. Court Streets will be going this week, hoping to be done before school starts. The old generator was put to the test with these recent power outages. We are getting by for now. We need a way to improve the way we can handle these outages. We did several makeshift repairs to help for now. At the airport, we had a CIP meeting with the rep with FAA, they are going to update it to get a new Jet A tank. The pool is going good, the geothermal is working great, attendance is good and haven’t heard any complaints. Fandango Days and the Outdoor Expo, went well and was well attended. We are getting revenue for the RV space rentals.
Councilmember Engel asks about the mosquitos.
DPW Farnam says that it is wind and weather dependent. It is getting done about once a week, sometimes twice if we can. We only have one guy certified, so we’re working on training so we can have more than one person on it.
With no further business to come before City Council, MOTION by Councilmember Minchella, SECONDED by Councilmember Cox to adjourn the meeting at 3:20 p.m. and to return in regular session on Tuesday, August 20, 2024 at 2:00 pm, City Hall. ALL AYES Respectfully,
Tacie Wheeler
Tacie Wheeler
City Clerk