Alturas City Council
City Hall Council Chambers
August 18, 2026 at 2:00 p.m.
City Council Mayor Jennifer Engel called the meeting to order at 2:00 p.m. at the City Council Chambers.
Councilmembers present: Duanna Knighton, Jennifer Engel, Sean Buie and Jodie Larranaga. Councilmembers absent: Cam Anderson. Staff present: City Clerk Tacie Wheeler, City Treasurer Dorothy Long, Director of Public Works Warren Farnam, Police Chief Morgan, Fire Chief Lloyd, Attorney Kenny. Public attending: 3. All present joined together in the Pledge of Allegiance.
2. Public Forum
Mike Conrad brings to Council’s attention some of the City’s sewer issues. He states that homeowners are responsible for the line all the way to the middle of the road, which costs $6,000 - $7,000 to repair. He asks Council to try to come up with a shared cost or something that works for both the City and homeowners.
3. Approval or Additions/Deletions to Agenda
Councilmember Buie would like to table item #18.
Councilmember Larranaga would like to move item #15 to item #4.
MOTION by Councilmember Larranaga, SECONDED by Councilmember Knighton to approve the agenda with the mentioned adjustments. ALL AYES.
4. Discussion/action
City Manager Farnam states that the City has had one of these for some time, but they are updating it. It has already gone through the attorney and the unions.
MOTION by Councilmember Buie, SECONDED by Councilmember Larranaga to adopt Resolution #2026-27 approving the Employer-Employee Relations Resolution. ALL AYES.
5. Consent Agenda
MOTION by Councilmember Larranaga, SECONDED by Councilmember Knighton to approve Consent Agenda as follows: a.) Approve minutes of July 21, 2026 meeting; b.) Approve City warrants for July in the amount of $970,412.56; c.) Approve ACH reconciliation report for July 2026 in the amount of $591,103.85.
ALL AYES.
6. Discussion/Action Item
Councilmember Knighton states that she did not attend this meeting and will not require a reimbursement.
7. Discussion/action Item
MOTION by Councilmember Larrnaga, SECONDED by Councilmember Buie to authorize City Mayor to sign a letter of support for the Modoc High School Homecoming Parade on Friday, Octoner 2nd, 2026 from 12:00- 12:45 pm. ALL AYES.
8. Discussion/Action Item
Councilmember Knighton explains that Mr. Starr couldn’t make it to the meeting. She says that this is at no cost to the city.
Councilmember Engel says that she does have some questions and would like to be able to ask before approving this item.
City Manager Farnam states that it is due by the 28th of this month. He does not see that it would hurt to provide a letter of support.
Councilmember Buie says that he would not mind having a special meeting for this so that Council can get their questions answered and have a better understanding of this program.
Councilmember motioned to approve.
Dies for lack of a second.
9. Discussion/Action Item
Treasurer Long explains that this is an annual resolution that we do with the County for Dispatch Services after hours.
MOTION by Councilmember Buie, SECONDED by Councilmember Larranaga to adopt Resolution #2026-20 approving the Memorandum of Understanding between the city of Alturas and Modoc County Sheriff’s Office for 911 Dispatch Services for fiscal year 2026-2027. ALL AYES.
10. Discussion/Action Item
Police Chief Morgan states that there has been no retention schedule that he has found for the police department.
They created this one, that has already been reviewed and approved by the attorney.
MOTION by Councilmember Larranaga, SECONDED by Councilmember Knighton to adopt Resolution #2026-21 adopting the Alturas Police Department Records Retention Schedule and authorizing the destruction of eligible records. ALL AYES.
11. Discussion/Action Item
Police Chief Morgan explains that they are updating the fee schedule based on inflation. The last one was done in 2009. They looked at comparable cities, and added the DUI cost recovery.
MOTION by Councilmember Larranaga, SECONDED by Councilmember Buie to adopt Resolution #2026-22 adopting the Alturas Police Department Fee Schedule. ALL AYES.
12. Discussion/Action Item
Treasurer Long states that the City has had the same policy since 2016. New laws have come through and it needed to be updated. She worked with the HR attorneys to get this up to date and in compliance.
MOTION by Councilmember Larranaga, SECONDED by Councilmember Buie to adopt Resolution #2026-23 updating the City of Alturas Sick Leave Policy. ALL AYES.
13. Discussion/Action Item
Treasurer Long says that following the last budget meeting, she got with City Manager Farnam to go over the numbers. This should be equitable and get the City through until the final budget is adopted.
MOTION by Councilmember Buie, SECONDED by Councilmember Larranaga to adopt Resolution #2026-24 approving the third amended budget for the 2025/2026 Fiscal Year Budget in the amount of $7,686,350. ALL AYES.
14. Discussion/Action Item
Treasurer Long explains that each year the City rolls the previous year’s budget over until we finalize the current budget, to keep operations going.
MOTION by Councilmember Larranaga, SECONDED by Councilmember Knighton to adopt Resolution #2026-25 approving Fiscal Year 2025/2026 budget to roll over to Fiscal Year 2026/2027, until adoption of the new budget. ALL AYES.
15. Discussion/Action Item
Director of Public Works Farnam explains that this is requested by the County and is standard issue. He does mention that the Resolution has a typo – the word “Ricer” should be “River.” MOTION by Councilmember Buie, SECONDED by Councilmember Larranaga to adopt 2026-26 approving the Memorandum of Understanding between the City of Alturas and the County of Modoc for access, installation, operation and maintenance of the Pit River Stream Gages, with the typo correction. ALL AYES.
16. Discussion/Action Item
City Manager Farnam states that one of the commissioners has left, making another vacancy on the Planning Commission.
MOTION by Councilmember Larranaga, SECONDED by Councilmember Knighton to appoint Jordan Rouse to the Planning Commission to fill the vacancy. ALL AYES.
17. Discussion/Action Item
City Manager Farnam explains that the General fund over budgeted. They are trying to close the gap in the budget.
The hiring freeze would help that. All positions and all departments. If need be, they would have to bring it to Council to approve any hire.
MOTION by Councilmember Buie, SECONDED by Councilmember Larranaga to approve a hiring freeze for all City Departments. ALL AYES.
COMMITTEE REPORTS
Councilmember Knighton reports that there are new people coming to the MEDC meeting tomorrow. They are trying to get business owners to attend. She has nothing new on the meat processing plant, though they are advertising more aggressively for it.
Councilmember Buie reports that he attended the Lafco meeting, but there was nothing significant to report from it.
Councilmember Larranaga wishes a happy birthday to Police Chief Morgan. She reports that she attended the MTA/MCTC meeting, with nothing significant to report.
Councilmember Engel reports that she also attended the Lafco meeting. She states that the MSR’s for Likely Water District, Calpines CSD and possible Adin CSD were approved for this fiscal year. She was also part of a SCED interview, and her and Councilmember Buie were requested to meet with the Grand Jury in September.
COUNCIL/STAFF REPORTS
Fire Chief Lloyd reports that they had 2 fire and 25 medical calls last month. There was one false alarm and one vegetation fire in a back yard on N. East St. They just had a new member join the department. They have everything installed on the new horn, but when they did a test run one of the parts failed. It has been ordered and should be here tomorrow.
Police Chief Morgan reports that they had 48 new cases with 10 arrests including 4 felonies and 6 misdemeanors.
They are currently looking for a vehicle to purchase with the DUI grant. They had their first vicious dog case in 15 years. They are just waiting for the results from Judge Harr. He says he will be giving a few people in his department awards after the meeting and invites Council to stay for that.
Treasurer Long gives a formal reminder to everyone to watch their spending until the final budget is adopted. She reports that RMAP will be starting soon. She is looking in to SB827 training for everyone. All entities were very happy with the pool this year. She is also working on policy updates, and reminds everyone that there is a nuisance abatement meeting tomorrow at 3:30 pm.
Director of Public Works Farnam reports that they have one part time employee left, and as one of them left for college. An RFP for the Wastewater Treatment Plant will be posted on the City Website. Mosquito spraying is a hit and miss right now with such windy evenings. They need a new fuel tank at the airport and are qorking with the FAA. The splash Park project is also in progress.
Clerk Wheeler reports that there were a couple of new business licenses that came in last month including the Crescent Crow Boutique and a couple of handyman licenses. She will be submitting the letter of intent for RMAP soon.
MOTION by Councilmember Buie, SECONDED by Councilmember Larranaga to go into closed session at 3:13 pm. ALL AYES.
Reconvened to open session at 3:53 pm.
No action taken.
With no further business to come before City Council, MOTION by Councilmember Bui, SECONDED by Councilmember Larranaga to adjourn the meeting and to return in regular session on Tuesday, September 15, 2026 at 2:00 pm, City Hall. ALL AYES.
Respectfully,
Tacie Wheeler
Tacie Wheeler
City Clerk