Alturas City Council
City Hall Council Chambers
December 16, 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: Duanna Knighton, Jennifer Engel, Paul Minchella and Jodie Larranaga.
Councilmembers absent: Brian Cox. Staff present: City Clerk Tacie Wheeler, City Treasurer Dorothy Long, Director of Public Works Warren Farnam, Interim Police Chief Simon, Fire Chief Lloyd. Public attending: 3. Lynn Culp provided the invocation. All present joined together in the Pledge of Allegiance.
2. Public Forum
Carol Madison introduces herself. She says she applauds the City for the new Rental Inspection Program, and states she would like to see some sort of owner inspection program or code enforcement. Mrs. Madison provides a letter and pictures to Council of a property in town that is a fire hazard and an eye sore.
Director of Public Works Farnam states that it is an Environmental Health issue and they are on it. The City is also working on getting better about code enforcement and abatement warrants.
3. Approval or Additions/Deletions to Agenda
MOTION by Councilmember Engel, SECONDED by Councilmember Larranaga to approve the 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 November 18, 2025 meeting; b.) Approve City warrants for November in the amount of $453,084.08; c.) Approve ACH reconciliation report for November 2025 in the amount of $167,947.35; e.) Adopt Resolution #2025-35 removing inactive water & sewer accounts from November in the amount of $625.62. ALL AYES.
5. Discussion/Action Item
MOTION by Councilmember Engel, SECONDED by Councilmember Larranaga to adopt Resolution #2035-36 approving the Memorandum of Understanding between the United Public Employees of California Local 792 Alturas General Unit and the City of Alturas. ALL AYES.
6. Discussion/action Item
Director of Public Works Farnam explains that this is a blanket resolution allowing him to apply for these grants that pop up throughout the year. This would be good for 5 years.
MOTION by Councilmember Larranaga, SECONDED by Councilmember Knighton to approve Resolution #2025-37 approving the CalRecycle Grant applications and signature authority. ALL AYES.
7. Discussion Item
Director of Public Works Farnam states that this is just the annual contract the City does with Waste Management.
MOTION by Councilmember Larranaga, SECONDED by Councilmember Engel to adopt Resolution #2025-38 approving the Twelfth Amendment to the Garbage Service Contract. ALL AYES.
8. Discussion/Action Item
Director of Public Works Farnam explains that this is an extension for 6 years, is up to date, and is the best option they have.
MOTION by Councilmember Engel, SECONDED by Councilmember Larranaga approving the Professional Services Agreement with GHD Inc for City engineering services. ALL AYES.
9. Discussion/Action Item
Treasurer Long states that this grant awarded to the City was scaled back a little bit due to our size, but is good for 3 fiscal years.
MOTION by Councilmember Knighton, SECONDED by Councilmember Engel to approve Resolution #2025-39 authorizing the City of Alturas to accept grant funds in the amount of $267,857 from the State of California Department of Justice, Office of the Attorney General, Tobacco Grant Program. ALL AYES.
10. Discussion/Action Item
Councilmember Engel says that she was hoping an Ad Hoc could be appointed to run the search for Chief of Police, for the advertising and such.
Treasurer Long explains that hiring police officers takes some time.
Councilmember Knighton asks when the City could start advertising for the position.
Attorney Kenny states that there is no restriction, they can advertise anytime. He says that he and Treasurer Long could create an example to send out to Council so they can start advertising.
No action taken.
11. Discussion/Action Item
Councilmember Engel explains that Council had previously approved a contract to be sent to Uptegrove, but he is now unable to act as the hearing officer. The same contract will now be sent to Mr. Langford.
MOTION by Councilmember Larranaga, SECONDED by Councilmember Knighton to authorize Mayor Pro-Tem to sign a contract with Don Langford to serve as hearing officer for Chief of Police Termination appeal. 3 AYES, 1 ABSTAINED.
12. Discussion/Action Item
Interim Chief of Police Simon explains that the current status of evidence is pretty antiquated and one of his major concerns. He says that they need to update the way they keep track of inventory and the RIMS has the ability to do that, it just needs to be implemented. He also says that they need dispositions from the DA’s office to legally dispo some of the items, but they have not received those, so there is a backlog of dispositions.
No action taken.
COMMITTEE REPORTS
Councilmember Knighton reports that she attended a SCED meeting and they are working on marketing for a meat processing plant for Modoc. So far, no one has stepped up. Also, they did not get the hospitality grant.
Councilmember Engel reports that she attended the LAFCO meeting, where they moved the MSR for Surprise Valley Health Care District to February. She also thanks Public Works, the Police Department and the Fire Department for the work they did for the light parade. She says it was very nice and they really enjoyed it. She also thanks everyone who helped with and attended the Christmas Party.
Councilmember Minchella states that he attended MCTC and the LAFCO meeting. Nothing to report.
Councilmember Larranaga thanks everyone for the Christmas Party and thanks Councilmember Engel for the game that was brought.
COUNCIL/STAFF REPORTS
Fire Chief Lloyd reports that they had 27 medical calls and 2 fire calls. One was a mutual aid effort in the estates. The other was a flue fire. The City horn assembly is underway, but some of the parts are not working like they want them to. He also extends the invite to Council to Ladies night at the Brass Rail on January 24th.
Interim Police Chief Simon reports that they had 34 new cases, with 19 arrests, of which 7 were felonies and 12 misdemeanors, with no use of force. They are addressing the POST issues. They had updated the roster to be in compliance with POST. The next Chief will be able to find things easily. He says that the City’s officers are not compliant with POST trainings, so they are also working on that. Sergeant Widby found trainings that will work through Zoom, which will reduce travel costs. The department no longer has a range master, so they need to send two officers to train for that. He also hopes to get two people to basic investigator course and sexual assault investigation course.
Councilmember Minchella asks if Mr. Simon is POST certified.
Mr. Simon says that he is not active in POST right now, but he is working on that. He is currently not practicing law enforcement, as he cannot arrest anyone. He is just doing admin work right now. He says that the new vehicle just got a cage and set of lights (the truck). The EVOC company in Redding has another used vehicle there that is already outfitted that they are going to send us a quote for. The fleet they currently have for the City police department is getting old, and a couple of them probably won’t last much longer.
Right now, they have two officers sharing one vehicle. He says that the parade was a success and he thanks Director of Public Works Farnam for all of his help. He is working with Treasurer Long on an NRA grant, for less lethal options, such as bean bag or pepper ball guns. He says it is fairly inexpensive but does require training. The ticket books are also not up to date, but they need to work on a new fee schedule so they can get them updated.
Treasurer Long states that Muller was looking into where our fees came from, but he could not find an ordinance on it. We will need to compare with other departments that are similar to our size and come up with new fees.
Mr. Simon then goes on to evidence. He says there are 3 rooms occupied with evidence and storage, taking up a lot of room and is problematic. It is also taking up room in the interview room. He would like to look into a 20x20 container to store all of this, consolidating it all into one location, which would help track all of it as well. The officers locker room is unusable with it being used as storage. The container would help with that issue as well. He would like to get the RIMS program up and going to track evidence and inventory. There is also a program that the DA uses – isubpoena – that streamlines the subpoena process, which costs about $2,000/year.
Treasurer Long adds that that program is added to officers’ personal phones.
Mr. Simon explains that it could be managed through dispatch.
Councilmember Knighton asks Mr. Simon to put together some costs for everything – the trainings, vehicles, container, software, etc.
Mr. Simon says that he will get those together.
Director of Public Works Farnam reports that the Public Works staffing levels are picking back up, and the new hire has started. They are still going back and forth with the State on the new wastewater treatment plant and waiting on the Fish and Wildlife on the right-of-way. The $171,000 fine issue is still coming up.
They are looking into electronic water meter reading to save some time and costs. They have started working on the pot holes a little bit. The power hookups for building a new house is about $20,000, which is very high and creating obstacles for those who would be interested in building here. Water, planning and recreation are in the same spot as last month, not a lot going on there right now. He doubts that they will get the splash park done by the time the pool opens, but they will be working on it.
Treasurer Long says she doesn’t have much, just that the new hire did start yesterday.
With no further business to come before City Council, MOTION by Councilmember Larranaga, SECONDED by Councilmember Engel to adjourn the meeting and to return in regular session on Tuesday, January 20, 2026 at 2:00 pm, City Hall. ALL AYES
Respectfully,
Tacie Wheeler
Tacie Wheeler
City Clerk