MINUTES
GATEWAY City Council Meeting
Council Chamber, Chowchilla City Hall
TO 130 S. 2nd Street, Chowchilla, CA 93610
FEBRUARY PROSPERIT 1923 Tuesday, November 25, 2025
" 7, No Closed Session | Open Session: 4:00 p.m.
CALL TO ORDER/ROLL CALL
Mayor: Kelly Smith
Mayor Pro Tem: Jeff Troost
Council Members: Waseem Ahmed, Ray Barragan, John Chavez (absent) City staff and contract employees present: City Administrator Rod Pruett, City Attorney Michael Prentice, Police Lieutenant Danny Denny, Public Works Deputy Director Joseph Roman, Community & Economic Development Director Denise Munoz, Finance Director Daniel Seeto, Director of Recreation & Community Engagement Stacy Wisener, IT System Administrator Carlos Berrocal, City Clerk Joann McClendon, Deputy City Clerk Vanessa Galvez-Escobar CONSIDERATION OF APPROVAL OF AGENDA Additions and/or Deletions: None.
OPEN SESSION - 4:01 PM
PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
INVOCATION: Mayor Pro Tem Jeff Troost
PRESENTATIONS/WORKSHOP - Section 1
PUBLIC ADDRESS
None.
COUNCIL AND STAFF VERBAL REPORTS - Section 2
2.1 COUNCIL VERBAL REPORTS
Mayor Pro Tem Troost reported, "I met with the Mayor and Congresswoman Soria to discuss the Caltrans projects here in the city. I also attended the Veterans Day ceremony in the park, which was very well attended and a really nice event."
Council Member Ahmed reported, "I attended the State of the County event in Madera County, the MCTC meeting and the ADHOC meeting."
Mayor Smith reported, "I went to the third Cowboy Christmas event. I wasn't able to make it on Saturday to the Veterans Day Memorial, but I heard it was very well attended."
2.2 STAFF VERBAL REPORTS
City Council Meeting MINUTES November 25, 2025
Lt. Denny reported, since we last met, we responded to 1,522 incidents, with 720 officer-initiated activities, two arrests, and several citations issued. We have two academy graduates who will be graduating this Friday.
Fire Chief Gaumnitz, A quick public service announcement: it has been very foggy lately, and automatic vehicle lights do not work well in heavy fog. Please manually turn on your headlights.
This greatly improves visibility for our officers and for other drivers. Our volunteers will be out on December 13th for the Toys for Kids event at Starbucks. Toys and monetary donations will be accepted on behalf of Pastor Walker. I'd like to briefly share the history of this program: Ten years ago, the Police Department, Gospel, and Starbucks began a partnership to collect toys for families in need here in Chowchilla. Each year we added more partners and expanded donations throughout the local area. During the COVID pandemic, we adapted and held drive- through pickups so families could still receive toys safely. Every toy collected stays within our local community. I'm grateful for the opportunity to continue this tradition with so many partners who help make it possible each year. I'm handing out two flyers:
Toy sign-ups: Saturday, December 6th and December 13th, from 11 AM-2 PM at the church Toy & Coat Drive: Saturday, December 13th, from 10 AM-3 PM at Starbucks Thank you, Council, for your continued support.
Deputy Director Roman reported, our team has been very busy catching up this week. We've been completing the Christmas tree assembly at Veterans Park, and we are prepping for next week's Christmas Parade. We look forward to working with PD on traffic control and supporting the entire Chowchilla team. We are continuing the compost giveaway—compost is still available on Colusa Avenue. If you know anyone who signed up and hasn't picked up their compost yet, please remind them. We also met with Caltrans district staff regarding project updates and areas where we can assist one another. We are currently working on the Avenue 24½ and 25 improvement projects, which is underway. If you've been out there recently, they are paving the intersection at Road 15½ and will begin paving the remaining roadway next. Additionally, we held the pre-construction meeting for the Pedestrian Improvement Project at Kings and Riverside. The tentative start date is December 15, weather permitting. This project will install new sidewalk improvements in that area.
Community & Economic Development Director Munoz reported, last week, Junior's Auto held their grand opening and ribbon-cutting ceremony, which was a very nice event. Healthcare Inc., doing business as Main Pharmacies, is opening at 413 W. Robertson Blvd. Mark 4 Metal Products is opening at Fort Kings, where they will operate a warehouse and distribution center for galvanized steel.
Finance Director Seeto reported, Last week we completed negotiations with our credit-card processing company for utility payments. We are expecting to save approximately $25,000 to $30,000 per month moving forward. That's all I have.
Recreation and Community Engagement Director Wisener reported, we are working on Christmas decorations, year-end items, employee appreciation items, and preparations for next Saturday's Christmas event. We are finalizing plans for the Christmas tree and the lighting ceremony. This year's parade float theme is "Red, White, and Blue Christmas Crew." The event will include: Face painting, a bounce house, balloon twister, train ride, Hot chocolate and coffee, Christmas carolers, craft stations, snow play area, a giant snow globe for photos and of course Santa Claus. We are currently seeking donations from businesses to help cover the cost of the City Council Meeting MINUTES November 25, 2025
train so we can offer it for free to the community. We also encourage everyone to register early for the parade so community voting is easier. I'd like to wish the Council a very Happy Thanksgiving, and hope you enjoy time with your families.
City Administrator Pruett reported, we continue to work on the CD with the refunding team, and the latest update is that we've brought MBS on for the outreach portion. We're planning to meet next week to develop a new outreach plan. It will be a bit different from the last round preliminarily, we're looking at creating a video, which we didn't do before, that can be posted on the City's website. We will still continue with the outreach methods we used previously for the residents in the district who will be voting, but we're trying to expand that effort this time around.
I also met with the Rancho Calera engineer and QK to review the proposed restriping at the Robertson intersection and to determine whether it would adequately address traffic for the first four blocks they are planning to build, construction that would go past the current trigger point in the Development Agreement. We advised them that they will need to provide a new traffic study to support that claim, and then our engineers will evaluate it. Right now, we're in a bit of a holding pattern. However, I did ask them to let Rancho Calera know that I still believe the intersection improvements need to move forward regardless. Our current issues at that location aren't going away, and improvements are necessary. I'm waiting to hear back from them on that. This was part of the same series of meetings we held with Caltrans. I also met with MCTA regarding the Measure T implementation guidelines, which we brought to the County.
CONSENT CALENDAR - Section 3
3.1 Approval of the October 28, 2025 Regular City Council Meeting Minutes (McClendon)
3.2 Consideration and Acceptance of the October 2025 Check Register Report (Seeto)
3.3 Consideration and Acceptance of the October 2025 Financials Report (Seeto)
3.4 Consideration and Approval of the 2026 Citywide Calendar (McClendon) Second Reading and Adoption of a City Council Ordinance Amending Municipal Code Section 5.08.030 - Exemptions for Certain Businesses and Occupations, to Provide a Business License Fee Exemption for Veteran and Active Duty Sole Proprietors (Wisener)
3.6 Consideration of the Master Agreement Between the Madera County Transportation Commission and the City of Chowchilla for the Fiscal Year 2024/25 Allocation of SB 125 Transit Program Funding and authorizing the City Administrator to execute the Master Agreement on behalf of the City (McClendon)
Motion by Council Member Ahmed, Seconded by Mayor Pro Tem Troost to Approve the Consent Calendar as Presented. Motion passed by roll call vote with Council Member Chavez absent.
PUBLIC HEARINGS - Section 4
DEFERRED BUSINESS - Section 5
City Council Meeting MINUTES November 25, 2025
NEW BUSINESS - Section 6
6.1 Consideration and Adoption of a City Council Resolution Awarding Contract for the HSIP (Cycle 11) Intersection Improvements Project to Zara Construction, Inc. and Authorizing the City Administrator or Designee to Execute Related Documents, and Amending the Fiscal Year 2025/26 Budget (Roman)
Motion by Mayor Pro Tem Troost, Seconded by Council Member Ahmed to Approve City Council Resolution #93-25, Awarding Contract for the HSIP (Cycle 11) Intersection Improvements Project to Zara Construction, Inc. and Authorizing the City Administrator or Designee to Execute Related Documents, and Amending the Fiscal Year 2025/26 Budget. Motion passed by roll call vote with Council Member Chavez absent.
ANNOUNCEMENTS - Section 7
Nov 27-28 THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY, CITY OFFICES CLOSED
DEC 6 HOMETOWN CHRISTMAS PARADE & TREE LIGHTING, VETERANS PARK, 5:30PM DEC 9 CITY COUNCIL MEETING, COUNCIL CHAMBERS, 4PM
ADJOURNMENT
Mayor Smith Adjourned the November 25, 2025 City Council Meeting at 4:19 p.m.
ATTEST APPROVED:
Alone 11. SullA
Joann McClendon, CMC, City Clerk layor Kelly Smith