Alturas City Council
City Hall Council Chambers
January 21, 2025 at 2:00 p.m.
City Council Mayor Paul Minchella called the meeting to order at 2:00 p.m. atthe City Council Chambers. Councilmembers present: Paul Minchella, Duanna Knighton, Jennifer Engel and Jodie Larranaga. Councilmembers absent: Brian Cox. Staff present: City Clerk Tacie Wheeler, City Treasurer Dorothy Long,Director ofPublicWorks Warren Farnam, Police ChiefMarcMuller, Attorney JohnKenny, Assistant Public Works Director Dominic Budmark. Public attending: 13. Craig Flournoy presented the invocation. All present joined together in the Pledge of Allegiance.
Public Forum
Larry Flournoy introduces himself. He has a complaint of off-road traffic on Tank Hill in Alturas, causing erosion and pollution. He dispersed his complaint form that included pictures of the damage.
Approval or Additions/Deletions to Agenda
None.
MOTION by Councilmember Engel, SECONDED by Councilmember Larranaga to approve the agenda as written. ALL AYES.
Consent Agenda
MOTION by Councilmember Engel, SECONDED by Councilmember Knighton to approve Consent Agenda as follows: a.) Approve minutes of December 17, 2024 meeting b.) Approve City Warrants for December 2024 in the amount of $786,061.70; c.) Approve ACH reconciliation report for December 2024 in the amount of $154,859.28; e.) Approve Resolution #2025-1 removing inactive water and sewer accounts from December 2024 in the amount of $556.08.
ALL AYES.
MOTION byCouncilmember Engel, SECONDED byCouncilmember Larranaga to go intoclosed session at 2:11 pm.
Reconvened back to open session at 2:27 pm with the following action:
MOTION by Councilmember Knighton, SECONDED by Councilmember Engel to hire Ken Machold, Private investigator, at POST's direction for complaints. ALL AYES.
Treasurer Long states that this policy is a requirement per our auditors.
MOTION by Councilmember Engel, SECONDED by Councilmember Larranaga to adopt Resolution #2025-2 adopting the Lease and Subscription Information Technology Agreement Capitalization Policy as required by the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) Statement No. 87 and Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB 96). ALLAYES.
Treasurer Long says that this encompasses a few things that are not included on the first one. There was a detailed email sent to Council for review.
MOTION by Councilmember Engel, SECONDED by Councilmember Knighton to adopt Resolution #2025-3 approving the first amended budget for Fiscal Year 2024/2025 in the amount of $10,977,330.00.
ALL AYES.
Director of Public Works Farnam explains that this is the new truck for the mosquito abatement program.
MOTION by Councilmember Engel, SECONDED by Councilmember Larranaga to award the bid and authorize the purchase of one (1) 2024 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 from Hall Motor Co. in the amount of $47,139.60. This purchase was approved in the 2024/2025 budget. ALL AYES.
PUBLIC HEARING:
Director of Public Works Farnam reads the Finding and Purpose of Ordinance #531. He explains that this is strictly about the Ordinance itself, and does not include the fees.
Sandra Stevenson states that she represents 50 property owners and says the State already has many laws for rentals and she does not see where the City needs to step in on property management. She says that many things need to be fixed in this Ordinance.
Kacy Geaney explains that she is very open to making our community better and making both landlords and tenants more accountable. She does not see where any responsibility lies for tenants.
Rollie Gilliam states that the City should stay out of private business and not tell landlords what to do.He continuesthatthisis notthe richest community around and a lot of people caimot afford to buy a house, nor are there a lot of houses being built. Thisis not necessary.
Sandra Stevenson reiterates that she would not like to see the city pass this at this time, that it needs work. She says this will only cause hostility from the property owners who choose to rent their properties. Part of property management business is to check on the properties and discuss with the owners what will make it habitable. These prope1iy owners have invested in this community already in purchasing their house and paying their taxes.
Onalea Sweeney states that thisitem picks on landlords only and asks about homeowners who live in their homes and have amess. Why are we only going after rental prope1iies? Chris Murray says that he supports this Ordinance as a code enforcement officer. He says this is a tool to build a fund up to really take care of these places.
Janice Bartram statesthatshe believes we do need a starting pointto make sure our prope1iies are habitable at minimum, and says thisis a good starting point.
Sandra Stevenson says she does not think this Ordinance is workable. Onalea Sweeney states that it should be every property, not just rentals.
DPW Farnam says that there is a list of things the State wants us to do per the 6th section of the Housing Element.
MOTION by Councilmember Engel, SECONDED by Councilmember Larranaga to close the Public Hearing. ALL AYES.
Councilmember Larranaga asks if we could table this for now to research it more.
Councilmember Engel says that for the most part with this, it seems the issues are with the fees and checklists, not the Ordinance itself.
MOTION by Councilmember Larranaga, SECONDED by Councilmember Engel to table the second reading of Ordinance #531 amending the municipal code by adding to Chapter 5, Article VIII Rental Housing Inspection Program. ALL AYES.
Councilmember Engel states that this chart came from the evaluation process. She has discussed it with DPW Farnam, as his department has changed a bit and had some positions missing. There is also a patrol officer who reports directly to Chief Muller, which is why it's written the way it is under the police department.
Police Chief Muller states that there should also be another sergeant slot, as we do have a vacant position.
MOTION by Councilmember Larranaga, SECONDED by Councilmember Engelto approve the updated City Organizational Chart, with the addition of a vacant sergeant position in the police department. ALL AYES.
COMMITTEE REPORTS
None.
COUNCIL/STAFF REPORTS
Director of Public Works Farnam saysthat escrow closed on the property forthe new wastewater treatment plant.
They have winterized the house and locked the gates on the prope1iy. They are still working on the right-of-way issue with fish and wildlife. Potholes are being worked on weekly or every other week. Our guys are working on their licensing for Vector. We are working on the hangar issue at the airpmi. At the pool, we met with Anderson engineering about the splash park, and are hoping to get that going. We are also working with Little League to get DG for the ball fields and clean up the old restrooms for use.
Police Chief Muller says they had 42 new cases, 22 arrests with 7 felonies and 15 misdemeanors. They conducted a search warrant for possession for sale that resulted in two arrests. They are hoping their new hire will be coming on next month. They also got the new truck that was budgeted for.
MOTION byCouncilmember Engel, SECONDED byCouncilmember Larranaga to go into closed session at 4:40 pm.
ALLAYES.
Reconvened to open session at 6:18 pm.
No action taken on items in closed session.
With no further businessto come before City Council, MOTION by Councilmember Engel, SECONDED by Councilmember Larranaga to adjourn the meeting and to return in regularsession on Tuesday, February 18, 2025 at 2:00 pm, City Hall. ALL AYES
Respectfully,
Tacie Wheeler
Tacie Wheeler
City Clerk