Alturas City Council
City Hall Council Chambers
March 17, 2026 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, Police Chief Morgan, First Assistant Fire Chief Jim Widby. Public attending: 3. All present joined together in the Pledge of Allegiance.
2. Public Forum
Tara Yarberry introduces herself. She explains she was born and raised in Alturas and expresses hope for our community. She brings up the Caltrans project and says she has been part of the public comments on the project, and would like to see more public input on the planning grant, as well as City input.
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 February 17, 2026, updating the job description for Jim Widby to First Assistant Fire Chief; b.) Approve minutes of February 24, 2026 special meeting; c.) Approve minutes of March 5, 2026 special meeting; d.) Approve minutes of March 11, 2026 special meeting; e.) Approve City warrants for February in the amount of $111,395.91; f.) Approve ACH reconciliation report for February 2026 in the amount of $140,660.36; g.) Adopt Resolution #2026-8 removing inactive water & sewer accounts from November in the amount of $466.34. ALL AYES.
5. Discussion/Action Item
Mayor Minchella leads moment of silence for Planning Commissioner Rosemary Nelson.
6. Discussion/action Item
MOTION by Councilmember Larranaga, SECONDED by Councilmember Engel to grant permission to solicit letters on interest for the vacancies on Planning Commission. ALL AYES.
7. Discussion Item
Councilmember Larranaga explains that she feels strongly that Councilmember Engel’s knowledge would really help on the police committee, and would like to have Councilmember Engel take Councilmember Larranaga’s place on that committee. She also wants to point out that Councilmember Cox has not been removed from the committees that he has been on, including the Fire Department committee, general labor negotiations, LTC, etc.
Councilmember Engel says that she is willing to take place on the police committee, and asks Councilmember Larranaga to take her place on the Public Works committee.
MOTION by Councilmember Larranaga, SECONDED by Councilmember Minchella for Councilmember Engel to replace Councilmember Larranaga on the Police committee, and for Councilmember Larranaga to replace Councilmember Engel on the Public Works committee. ALL AYES.
8. Discussion/Action Item
Public Works Director Farnam states that the road department is working on a high visibility crosswalk. They are asking permission to do a presentation of it on opening day of Little League, April 18th. This is part of their Planning Grant project, and will be a one-day presentation to get public input on it.
Councilmember Engel inquires about police department input on it and about it impeding traffic on 4th street.
Police Chief Morgan states that he does not see an issue with the demonstration.
MOTION by Councilmember Larranaga, SECONDED by Councilmember Knighton to grant permission for the Modoc County Road Department to conduct a high visibility crosswalk demonstration project on 4th Street on April 18th. ALL AYES.
COMMITTEE REPORTS
Councilmember Knighton reports there was no planning meeting this month. There is an MEDC meeting tomorrow to discuss bylaws.
Councilmember Engel reports that she attended the nuisance abatement meeting last week. Fire Marshal Hunter brought the first draft that they will be looking at. There was discussion to come up with a broad plan that to the budget meeting. Also, PD has been talking with those who have had issues regarding nuisance abatement.
Councilmember Knighton says that Fire Marshal Hunter did talk to the people who own the old True Value building and did a walk through and said that some of it has been cleaned up. At least the owner is aware now and working on it.
Councilmember Minchella reports that he attended the Sheriff’s Office Emergency management meeting.
Councilmember Larranaga reports that she and Councilmember Engel met with Clerk Wheeler as the Clerk committee, as they do every couple of months. She is working on Council packets for the new Councilmembers to receive when they start their term.
COUNCIL/STAFF REPORTS
Police Chief Morgan states that the police department had 46 cases with 14 arrests of which 8 were felonies and 6 misdemeanors. They are losing an officer in two weeks. He is transferring to Chico, and we wish him luck.
Jim Widby, First Assistant Fire Chief, reports that they had 19 calls, 17 medical and 2 fire calls. One of the fire calls was a heater malfunction and just produced smoke, another was a flue fire that was contained to just the flue.
They had three trainings for a total of six hours. They got the fire horn painted and polished and are working on getting it mounted. They ordered the new air tank for it. Weed abatement is underway and they are working on modernizing the fire department page on the City website.
Treasurer Long states that her and Clerk Wheeler got the RMAP submitted. She explains that they did it in different rounds this year, and were able to provide us feedback on the first round so we could work on any improvements on that to raise our overall score. So she will be bringing a couple of policies to Council to approve updates made based on GSRMA’s recommendations. All City staff got sexual harassment training.
Councilmembers Engel and Larranaga both completed the board compliance training, and seemed to really like it. SB827, which is new as of January 1st, is a financial literacy course for anyone who handles public money.
Council, department heads will all have to take it. Once Golden State makes it available, she is hoping everyone can take it at once. She is also getting the Prop 56 grant up and rolling.
Director of Public Works Farnam reports that their staffing is picking up. Their new guy started this month. Glen Zane, who he was working with at the Mill Site, passed away, which is hard and very sad. So they are trying to work on that now without him. Pot hole repairs are slowly getting done. They are moving E. 4th back a little bit, just waiting to hear back on pavement conditions. The index scores are out, and he is hoping to have a presentation on the conditions of our roads. They have received a few complaints. He gets it, some streets are in bad condition.
They are trying to figure out how they are going to be able to fix them all. The emergency services are plan/hazards plan gives you the procedure and know where to start during any kind of hazard or emergency. The City got a little back from the floods last year. Some of the trees on Main Street need to be taken out, as they are lifting sidewalks. The pool is coming along. Engineers are doing some preliminary work. The splash pad will be started after the pool opens. Need to get the guys trained for mosquito spraying, as he’s noticed they are starting to come out now.
MOTION by Councilmember Engel, SECONDED by Councilmember Larranaga to go into closed session at 2:56 p.m. ALL AYES.
Reconvened to open session at 3:12 p.m.
Report out: MOTION by Councilmember Engel, SECONDED by Councilmember Larranaga to authorize Public Works Director to negotiate professional services related to property acquisitions. ALL AYES.
With no further business to come before City Council, MOTION by Councilmember Engel, SECONDED by Councilmember Larranaga to adjourn the meeting and to return in regular session on Tuesday, April 21, 2026 at 2:00 pm, City Hall. ALL AYES.
Respectfully,
Tacie Wheeler
Tacie Wheeler
City Clerk