Alturas City Council
City Hall Council Chambers
July 15, 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 and Brian Cox.
Councilmembers absent: Jodie Larranaga. Staff present: City Clerk Tacie Wheeler, City Treasurer Dorothy Long, Director of Public Works Warren Farnam, Police Chief Muller. Public attending: 10. All present joined together in the Pledge of Allegiance.
2. Public Forum
Garrett Ingraham, owner of Blue Water Recycling, explains they have hit a wall with CRV. They have been doing CRV for 4 years now. They used to do towing as well, but had to end that. They opened another location in Susanville that is helping support their Alturas location. They do not get enough volume here to sustain their business. He would like to submit proposals for curbside pickup, like he has done in the past, and would like to work with the City to help the community with the recycling issue.
Councilmember Cox is interested in how or what the City can do to help, be it a support letter for grants, or help with educational aspects for recycling.
Mr. Ingraham states they need to create revenue. He says he has come up with proposals for previous councilmembers and could do that again.
Councilmember Cox asks about the timeline. He says it doesn’t allow Council to come up with something immediately. He states that the City has a contract with Waste Management that has already been renewed this year.
Councilmember Knighton says that she works with RISE and knows that they do not have a recycling program on the reservation and suggests to reach out to them to get something going there.
Councilmember Cox suggests that Mr. Ingraham put some proposals together and maybe get them on the next agenda.
Councilmember Engel states that it is important on multiple levels that the recycling center is able to continue.
3. Approval or Additions/Deletions to Agenda
MOTION by Councilmember Engel, SECONDED by Councilmember Knighton 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 June 17, 2025 meeting; b.) Approve City Warrants for June 2025 in the amount of $85,332.34; c.) Approve ACH reconciliation report for June 2025 in the amount of $162,512.73; d.) Adopt Resolution #2025-19 removing inactive water & sewer accounts from May from the amount of $380.37. ALL AYES.
5. Discussion/Action Item
Aubree Knighton and Maddie Crites, representing the senior class at Modoc High School, ask Council permission to paint parking spots in senior parking on E. 10th Street.
Director of Public Works Farnam asks that they stay within the lines so that it can be easily covered.
Councilmember asks about ideas for the paintings to ensure that they are appropriate.
Ms. Knighton states that they do have to be approved by the school, so they will all be school appropriate.
MOTION by Councilmember Engel, SECONDED by Councilmember Knighton to grant Modoc High School senior class permission to pain senior parking spots on E. 10th Street. ALL AYES.
6. Discussion
Kristy Sphar, from Modoc County Health Services, states that she is looking for 2 councilmembers ideally to join the Community Health Improvement Plan (CHIP) for future communications and committees. She says that there have been 45 invites sent out for community partners. July 22nd at 6 pm will be the next meeting. They are working toward a REC center with a pool in Alturas.
Councilmembers Engel and Minchella volunteer to be the representatives. Councilmember Cox volunteers as the alternate member.
7. Discussion Item
Sean Buie explains that he has been hearing around town about posts on Facebook, so he looked into it. He said in honor of one of his comments on the Facebook post, he would like to start a fundraiser for the City dog pound. He has done some research and will continue to do some more, but he would like to start a social media page for the fundraiser. The page would not allow comments, it would strictly be informational and allow complete transparency about the funds coming both in and out.
Councilmember Cox says that he likes the idea. He states that he was a part of the Facebook post with Mr.
Digrazia. He explains that Mr. Digrazia brought a complaint and was denied access to the dog kennels. The Humane Society got a grant and instead of using it to repair the building, they made an exercise yard. There were steps that were missed in the incident with Mr. Digrazia, which is how this fell into Council’s lap. Mr.
Cox says that he personally supports this.
Council concurs that they are all in support of this idea.
Mr. Buie states that he has some more research to do and hurdles to get over, but he will bring it back to Council when he has everything ready.
8. Discussion/Action Item
Director of Public Works Farnam states that they talked about this at the last meeting. This was by far the cheapest bid. The next smallest offer was #163,000. It is for shingles instead of metal. 30-year shingles, which realistically last about 20-25 years. They will need to move the horn.
Councilmember Cox says he has experience with metal roofs in this climate and there was an issue with the screws.
MOTION by Councilmember Engel, SECONDED by Councilmember Cox approving the Director of Public Works to award the bid for replacing the fire hall roofs, in the amount of $36,150.00 to MCM Roofing Company, Inc. ALL AYES.
9. Discussion/Action Item
Director of Public Works Farnam explains that this is an annual resolution. It outlines some of the worst roads and what can be worked on.
MOTION by Councilmember Engel, SECONDED by Councilmember Cox to adopt Resolution #2025-20 adopting a list of projects for Fiscal Year 2025-2026 funded by SB1: The Road Repair and Accountability Act of 2017. ALL AYES.
COMMITTEE REPORTS
Councilmember Knighton reports that SCED was canceled last month. The funding is in jeopardy and they are asking for support letters. Planning meeting was also canceled.
Councilmember Engel has no meetings to report, but wanted to comment on the Main Street curbs looking great, and that the active shooter training on June 18th went well.
Mayor Minchella reports the CaLafco meeting is on the 24th or 25th that will be on Zoom and will go over a new set of bylaws.
COUNCIL/STAFF REPORTS
Police Chief Muller reports they had 41 new cases with 20 arrests that included 11 felonies and 9 misdemeanors. There is a sexual assault and domestic violence training next week. Also, they are working on an updated fee schedule for municipal codes – such as parking fees, etc.
Treasurer Long reports that she will be bringing the resolution for the existing budget to the next Council meeting. GSRMA presented the City with the $27,000 check earned from RMAP. ExpresScripts will be changing and she will be learning about that. The health insurance plans increased. She has no updates as of now for the grant that was submitted. And Deanna is officially back in office.
Director of Public Works Farnam reports that the mill site sent a lease that has some holes in it. It was sent to the attorney for review. They are working on finance stuff for the new wastewater treatment plant. The paving of Nagle Street will start next week. There are people wanting to build, but they are running into big expenses with Pacific Power for new lines and such. There are constant issues at the old wastewater treatment plant, but they are continuing to work on those as they arise. They are spraying for mosquitos twice a week, weather permitting. They got the Jet A pump fixed at the airport. He says the guys did a great job on the arena getting ready for Masten Ramsey. They put out an RFQ (request for qualifications) for the splash park. He says that Fandango Days went well. They need to have a meeting with the Chamber of Commerce to debrief and improve on a couple of things.
Councilmember Engel says that she has heard nothing but great things about the pool and the pool staff.
Clerk Wheeler reports on the new businesses licenses.
With no further business to come before City Council, MOTION by Councilmember Cox, SECONDED by Councilmember Knighton to adjourn the meeting and to return in regular session on Tuesday, August 19th, 2025 at 2:00 pm, City Hall. ALL AYES
Respectfully,
Tacie Wheeler
Tacie Wheeler
City Clerk