Alturas City Council
City Hall Council Chambers
June 17, 2025 at 2:00 p.m.
City Council Mayor Paul Minchella called the meeting to order at 2:00 p.m. at the City Council Chambers.
Councilmembers present: Paul Minchella, Duanna Knighton, Jennifer Engel, Brian Cox and Jodie Larranaga. Councilmembers absent: None. Staff present: City Clerk Tacie Wheeler, City Treasurer Dorothy Long, Director of Public Works Warren Farnam, Police Chief Muller. Public attending: 12. Mr.
Culp provided the invocation. All present joined together in the Pledge of Allegiance.
2. Public Forum
Kristy Sphar, from Modoc County, presented the Community Health Improvement Plan (CHIP). She explains they would like to collaborate with the City, and asks for a representative from the City Council to be part of the program. Their meetings are monthly.
Council advises her to email the Clerk to be added to the July meeting so they can take action on this.
3. Approval or Additions/Deletions to Agenda
MOTION by Councilmember Engel, SECONDED by Councilmember Larranaga to approve agenda as written. ALL AYES.
4. Consent Agenda
MOTION by Councilmember Engel, SECONDED by Councilmember Knighton to approve Consent Agenda as follows: a.) Approve minutes of May 20, 2025 meeting; b.) Approve City Warrants for May 2025 in the amount of $251,058.00; c.) Approve ACH reconciliation report for May 2025 in the amount of $163,743.44; d.) Adopt Resolution #2025-16 removing inactive water & sewer accounts from May from the amount of $599.34. ALL AYES.
5. Discussion/Action Item
Alex Moreo, representing the Alturas Elks Lodge #1756, explains that the Elks will be doing concessions for the Masten Ramsey and would like permission to serve beer, wine and spirits.
MOTION by Councilmember Larranaga, SECONDED by Councilmember Engel to authorize the Alturas Elks Lodge #1756 to sell alcohol at this year’s Masten Ramsey event. ALL AYES.
6. Discussion
Glenn Zane, representing High Desert Lumber, introduces himself. He says the mill is focusing on Ponderosa Pine, as well as some other species. Their primary investor is having trouble funding the fire suppression system with the current lease status. He breaks down the costs of the repairs that have been needed, including the fire suppression system, totaling about $650,000. They are currently employing 10 people, and have spent roughly one million dollars locally. They are purchasing a lot of equipment to effectively mill logs of all sizes. They do not have a hard copy plan, but are asking for a 30-year lease.
Councilmember Cox thanks him for presenting. He says 30 years is an extensive amount of time and the City attorney is advising against 30 years. The City has seen issues with the sewer, fire suppression, business license and rent payments being behind.
Mr. Zane states they thought there would be a leech field going into this lease. They spent about $20,000 putting that in. They have dismantled the old suppression and are ready for the new one.
Councilmember Cox asks for a breakdown in taxes.
Mr. Zane says it is $18,000 per year for property taxes and about $35,000 per year for employees.
Councilmember Cox states that the City wants jobs and to encourage the industry. He asks if there are compromises that Mr. Zane can see so they could come up with a middle ground.
Mr. Zane states the lease could be in six 5-year increments. The critical factors are they have to maintain a certain level of continuity, that could be included in the lease.
Councilmember Cox says he wants to support this, while also representing and protecting the best interests of the City.
Mr. Zane says that he has worked with the City attorney before and would be happy to meet with him and come up with lease terms.
Councilmember Cox says he would like Director of Public Works Farnam to be involved in that as well.
Councilmember Engel suggests that maybe High Desert Lumber and DPW Farnam could come up with something between them, and then send it to the attorney for review.
Mr. Zane states that he is happy to propose a lease and bring it back to Council.
Mayor Minchella asks if they think they could have something ready by the July Council meeting.
Mr. Zane explains he will not be here, but can have a representative bring something to Council on his behalf.
7. Discussion/Action Item
Matthew Digrazia introduces himself. He says he is not coming in a manner in any disrespect or malicious intent. He states he has meticulously documented this incident. He claims that Mrs. Vierria intentionally rerouted phone calls and deliberately did not provide all records. The City attorney denied his request to inspect the dog pound, but he acquired photos from social media. He says that the building cannot be up to code. He submitted a formal complaint to Chief Muller and says the information about the dog conflicts with the information that the vet has. He personally had to notify the health officer, as the City did not. He states that license # 19-234 means that it is the 234th dog licensed in 2019, and he does not think that is possible. He demands an investigation into this – into animal control, Chief Muller and Mrs. Vierria. He also discusses his public records requests and his formal complaint.
Councilmember Larranaga states that the first time Mr. Digrazia came to Council he said that he reached out to the DA’s office but they did not respond. Mrs. Larranaga spoke to the DA’s office and was told that they had contacted Mr. Digrazia and informed him that they chose not to file on this. So they did respond.
She asks Mr. Digrazia if his dog was on a leash.
Mr. Digrazia said the dog was under his control.
Councilmember Cox says that he read the complaint. He explains that Council cannot fact find and investigate themselves. He says that investigations on employee conduct start with the department head. He clarifies that what he hears Mr. Digrazia saying is for Council to initiate an official investigation into the complaint. He says that Council can listen and can decide how to go about investigating it. He asks if it is done professionally and it comes back to Council, would Mr. Digrazia be satisfied in receiving the results of the investigation.
Mr. Digrazia says that he would add it to his evidence. He states that he is trying to resolve this.
Councilmember Cox says that as a Council they can take what has been brought to them and take it to the attorney. He would like to see an investigation into these claims, as they are serious. He asks Mr. Digrazia to provide Council with the material and they have a job to do in seeing how the City handles the complaint.
Mr. Digrazia says that it is very complex and will get it all together and send it to Clerk Wheeler. He says he was attacked by 4 dogs; it is not a small incident.
Councilmember Larranaga states that PD has done their job and looked into this. This incident was the officer’s first time with an incident like this and she believes he did a good job.
Mr. Digrazia states that the officer did a great job and he has no problem with the officer. His problem is with animal control. He hands over his evidence and file with the Grand Jury and says he hopes to hear about the findings.
8. Discussion/Action Item
Councilmember Cox says he thinks that it is important to go to this meeting. The cost is $750 for the conference, so probably $1500 - $2000 to attend in total. He compares it to what we pay to Lafco and SCED reimbursements, which he says provides little resource to this City. He says the California League of Cities is a resource for our staff and the Clerk and Treasurer went to a training before. The resources we gain from them can save the City money. He says he has been on the outside of this Council on many issues, and he can learn and utilize a lot from these trainings, including ethics and litigation. He hasn’t asked to attend a lot of trainings, and finds it disturbing that the Mayor dismisses conferences for California League of Cities.
He states that no other employee or councilmember has been denied a training, and he feels it’s personal at this point.
Mayor Minchella says he doesn’t think that Mr. Cox is the right person to go.
Councilmember Larranaga asks if this is something that he would attend and then come back to train the rest of Council on. She wonders if it would be more beneficial for someone who is more long-term, seeing as Mr. Cox and Mayor Minchella are both up for election next year.
Councilmember Larranaga thinks this conference is something that could be beneficial to the City, especially with everything we have had going on.
Councilmember Cox states that he is on this committee and it makes sense for him to go. He says he would come back and train the rest of Council on what he learns.
Councilmember Engel says that we do not have the money for this. She says this Council did not censor Mr. Cox, and when the new councilmembers came on in July, everyone talked about what committees each member wanted to be on, and Mr. Cox did not volunteer.
Councilmember Cox says that this meeting is for City leadership. Mayors or councilmembers. It is basically the same cost as Lafco stipends or transportation stipends.
Councilmember Knighton asks if it is something that the City could access online. Maybe after the conference they will post the information online that the City could utilize.
Councilmember Cox says that it is not just about the material, but networking and being able to ask questions, and also being able to hear where other cities are at and how they handle certain things.
MOTION by Councilmember Engel, SECONDED by Councilmember Minchella denying the request to attend the California League of Cities Conference in Long Beach, Ca October 8-10, 2025. 3 Ayes, 1 No, 1 abstained.
9. Discussion/Action Item
Director of Public Works Farnam says this is the same project as the one in February. Caltrans has a portion of it, and this one has more detail that will satisfy Caltrans.
MOTION by Councilmember Engel, SECONDED by Councilmember Larranaga to adopt Resolution #2025-17 authorizing the submittal of an application, acceptance of an allocation of funds and execution of a grant agreement with the California Department of Transportation and the Federal Aviation Administration for and Airport Improvement Plan (AIP) Matching Grant. ALL AYES.
10. Discussion/Action Item
Director of Public Works Farnam states that the County takes the lead on this and the City has been doing this for a while now. The City can get about $5,000 for special supplies. The funds have to be used specifically for used oil.
MOTION by Councilmember Knighton, SECONDED by Councilmember Engel to adopt Resolution # 2025-18 authorizing the 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.
COMMITTEE REPORTS
Councilmember Knighton says she met with the people on the meat processing project. They are marketing it now. They were interviewed on camera. She also attended a meeting at the mill. It was determined there is a need for micro mills. At Modoc’s interview, they had representatives for it and they did a great job, but she hasn’t heard the determination yet.
Councilmember Engel reports that she had a meeting at the future wastewater treatment plant/meat processing plant. She also attended the Lafco meeting where they reduced the budget by $13,000, including canceling travel.
Mayor Minchella reports that attended the Lafco meeting. He also attended the MCTC/MTA meeting where they adopted the regional transportation plan for 2 years.
Councilmember Larranaga also attended the MCTC/MTA meeting. She also wants to inform Council she may possibly miss the July Council meeting.
COUNCIL/STAFF REPORTS
Police Chief Muller says they had 35 reports last month with 18 arrests. 14 of those arrests were misdemeanors, 4 felonies. The department has sexual assault and domestic violence training coming up, as well as an active shooter drill. They will be present at the health fair as well. Hall Motors sent a mobile mechanic down who was able to take care of some of the recalls on the vehicles.
Treasurer Long reports that the Prop 56 grant will be submitted Thursday. She says Bill Hall has been a great help on that. She also had a meeting with a woman from Mental Health. Next Thursday the 26th is the career pathways event that we were invited to attend. We are working to see if we’d be able to set something up. It would be from 12-4. She informs Council that the office is closed Thursday the 19th. Also, her employee should return from maternity leave in early July.
Director of Public Works Farnam reports that they have a few less lifeguards than last year, which allows for more hours for each. The STIP projects will begin after JLS for Nagle and West C St. At the Wastewater Treatment Plant, both pumps went down, so the guys were working around the clock on that, going out every 3 hours. They’ve received interest on the roof project, but nothing solid yet. They’ve started spraying for mosquitos around town. At the airport, the Jet A tank is broken, so they have to purchase another one, that will be about $5,000. Also, the arena is about 90% complete. He met with AquaSierra to figure something out for our wells. They are prepping for power outages. They may be worse this year than last year as our local PPL worker will be out, so they will be coming out of Lakeview or Klamath.
Clerk Wheeler reports on the new businesses licenses.
MOTION by Councilmember Engel, SECONDED by Councilmember Larranaga to go into closed session at 3:56 p.m.
Reconvened back to open session at 4:21 p.m.
MOTION by Councilmember Larranaga, SECONDED by Councilmember Engel for Director of Public Works Farnam to continue negotiating on APN #’s 003-080-002-000, 003-260-003-000, 003-260-007-000, 003-260-002-000, 003-260-004-000 and 003-260-001-000. ALL AYES.
With no further business to come before City Council, MOTION by Councilmember Cox, SECONDED by Councilmember Larranaga to adjourn the meeting and to return in regular session on Tuesday, July 15th, 2025 at 2:00 pm, City Hall. ALL AYES
Respectfully,
Tacie Wheeler
Tacie Wheeler
City Clerk