MINUTES
CITY OF DELANO
CITY COUNCIL – REGULAR MEETING
September 18, 2023
CALL TO ORDER
Mayor Alindajao called the meeting to order at 5:30 p.m. in the City Hall Council Chambers, 1015 – 11th Avenue.
INVOCATION
Pastor Ari Quismundo form His Vineyard Church offered the invocation.
FLAG SALUTE
Councilmember Nunez led flag salute.
ROLL CALL
Council members present: Mayor Joe Alindajao, Mayor Pro Tem Salvador Solorio-Ruiz, Liz Morris Mario Nunez, Jr., Veronica Vasquez
Council members absent: None.
OFFICIALS PRESENT
City Manager Reyna, City Clerk Garcia, City Attorney Richman, Finance Director Lara Rios, City Engineer Dowling, Interim Chief of Police Nicholson, Human Resources Director Zamudio, Economic Development Specialist Fernandez
PRESENTATIONS AND AWARDS
1. Proclamation for Harvest Holidays Association
Presented by Mayor Alindajao, Accepted by Claribel Gutierrez of behalf of Harvest Holidays Association
ITEMS FROM THE PUBLIC
1) Jose Salvador Oriana from Loud for Tomorrow, Kensington Street – “I am an organizer and codirector of Loud for tomorrow. I'm here along with my group to express our disappointment on last week's special meeting, the vote for general budget. We believe that the city council's decision to approve the city budget have not adequately represent community input. And we wish to make our concerns known. We are disappointed by the city council and the city manager to seek and incorporate meaningful feedback from the community in this decision-making process, the budget, if I read correctly, is over a hundred million for both years. That's an incredible amount of money that could be used to uplift community to make sure that every young person, every resident, every elder has what they need to have a safe home, a good job, and to make sure that they have their basic needs met. And what is very concerning is that there was a 15 minute meeting, special meeting, and then it was voted on. And for us, we heard after the vote, so if loud for tomorrow, who has been organizing for the past five years, who is actively engaged, hasn't heard about this, what about our regular citizen, our working class family, how are they accurately represented in this budget? And we have questions for the city manager that we expect to be answered by tomorrow. Like where's the budget detailed on the city website? I couldn't find it. Where is, when did the development of the budget start? Because that tells us a lot about how much time the city had to include community or to not include them. Who was the key people who were involved in the budget process? And why was the budget approved during a special meeting instead of a regular meeting? And what community engagement was planned for this budget? We're a city that is supposed to be transparent, supposed to be community centered, and we don't see that happening and we're very disappointed because this is a lot of money and this is a way to get regular people, young people involved in the civic process.” 2) Riley Ramos, Primavera Drive – “As someone who is born and raised in Delano and extremely involved with Delano's community, I'm extremely disappointed in the lack of transparency and the lack of community engagement outside of community officials and staff when it comes to the allocation of funds, especially with a yearly budget as large as over 100 million. I also phone bank and hear feedback from current Delano residents frequently. Most Delano residents I speak to ask me why there isn't a larger budget allocated to these specific things. Youth recreation, COVID, 19 resources, mental health resources, housing, fixing our roads, expansion of Delano's er based on responses I hear back from Delano residents, the city's current budget doesn't reflect Delano's needs. Thank you for your time, city council.” 3) Alexis, 10th Avenue – “I lived in Delano my whole life and I saw Delano grow in the past years and Delano being the eighth fastest growing economy in California. This budget, if used correctly, can keep us at this place or bring us to a higher spot and the budget objectives says a goal is to provide highest level of service to the community, but yet sadly, the community had nothing to say. So that brings me to the point of a community engagement plan so that the community deserves to be engaged with and it shows that our government, our council, the people that are supposed to work for the community engages with them and actively, and all we ask is for the city manager to revise the budget and to be more transparent in that budget summary. Thank you all for your service and thank you all for your time.” 4) Nav, San Felice Way – “So I was looking at the approved budget for 2023- 2024 and 2024 -2025. And as I do agree that we need a large budget to be able to sustain the increase in growth of Delano. I believe that we should be investing in current infrastructure such as the roads. Every time I go to school, I'm constantly dodging potholes and having to avoid bumps in the road over on Browning. I also believe that many of our buildings are outdated and slowly falling apart, so we should be investing more into those buildings before we invest in the future infrastructures. Lastly, I just wanted to ask if the community was informed about the special city council meeting in which the budget was approved. If I myself being an engaged member of the city council was not aware of this meeting, was the general public aware of this meeting? And not only that, where is this money coming from and where will the money be utilized? Thank you for your time.” 5) Pastor David Vivas, Delano – “I just wanted to say that there was a senate bill that was passed here this past week, Senate bill 14, which had to do with human and child trafficking and it's very appalling that that bill was stalled in somewhere around July. But thankfully we had strong leadership that was behind this bill. Some of the authors and co-authors, Senator Shannon Grove, our assemblywoman Jasmeet Bains and they were quite persistent. It got stalled of course in July and you would just think that something like this would be pushed forward because we should all be concerned about the wellbeing of children, and we found out that California has a very high rate of human child trafficking than any other state in the United States. And if we should be fighting for anybody, we should be fighting for little children. Councilwoman Vasquez, you work for CPS and I'm sure that you have maybe seen or come across these types of situations and it's obviously you must have to deal with that firsthand. And I know it's probably very disturbing and I know that any of us here today that have children our grandchildren find it equally disturbing. And so, I just thank and commend the representative here tonight. Clarabelle Gutierrez who is with Assemblywoman Bains, I'm so glad that we have a strong leader in Sacramento. That's what we need because we have too many weak leaders in Sacramento and even the governor, Governor Newsom, he was appalled that it got stalled and so anyway, I just thought that this would be something worthwhile mentioning. Also, another issue, I'm very disturbed over the fact of the violence against a couple of officers. One was a deputy sheriff in Palmdale who was shot and killed just a couple of days ago at a signal light. Somebody pulled next to him, younger person and then in Las Vegas a retired police chief was driving his bicycle, and a 17-year-old teenager and passenger were driving right behind, and they recognized the retired chief riding his bicycle and they thought it was funny. They said, let's hit him. And they did and unfortunately, they killed him.
There's an ideology going across our nation, defund the police, lack of respect for law enforcement and one thing that a good police officer cannot stand is a bad police officer, but the majority of officers are to be commended because they put their lives in harm's way every day.” 6) Anahi – “I'm here to also advocate for more transparency with the way the city approves and uses the community's money. You all talk often about a united community, but to get there, you have to build trust first and you do that by taking actions that actually involve the community. This is not the first time that we're here talking about a process that involves budget or decisions that have to do with the community. So once again, very disappointed in that. I would like to urge you all to start changing your habits of not engaging the community in important processes like the city budget loud for tomorrow is here to support the development of youth leaders like all the young people that you all saw speak before me and see them develop as community leaders. So you'll definitely be seeing us more often. Lastly, I want to raise awareness of a process called participatory budgeting process. This is not something new. This is something that more and more cities are participating in and are having success in actually uniting the community by asking for the input intentionally. And I want to share the definition of participatory budgeting, what it is. I Googled it, it sounds great and I feel this is what Delano needs. Every city needs more community input. I am part of a board and we are a tiny town, but we are currently trying to engage the community. I don't get paid to be on that board, but I am trying my best to actually bring community voices to that budget process. So a city manager that gets paid well or other city staff that gets paid well, I expect that they could do a much better job than I can. Anyways, back to the definition, participatory budgeting has emerged as one of the strongest methods of community engagement for governments looking to make their communities more inclusive and participatory. By organizing a participatory budget, you can tap directly into the collective intelligence of your community and align the allocation of public funds with real life community needs. Thank you all for listening and I know that for this year you all might not listen to what the youth are asking for more assessment of what the community actually needs, but I know this process happens yearly, so maybe next year you all will actually involve the community a little bit more.
But that is all. Thank you.”
7) Anthony Cortez, 282 Shell Beach Ct. – “Since I moved back to Delano, I've attended the city council meetings and I want to thank the city for having access to go to the agendas when they come out. I have the app that gives me notification that the agenda is out for the next meeting, so I'm able to go in there and see all that and if I have a question on something or if I want more information, I can scroll down to that agenda and it's got everything on there that I need to see and read and if I have any questions or concerns about anything, then I can ask. So, all the information's there. So that's one thing I just want to point out that we do have access to that and to be engaged and go to the agendas and check out what's going on and come and voice your concern. One thing I want to thank Roman here, city manager also too for the information they gave me regarding over Parkway, I also want to thank the Delano Police Department and the city for putting up a speed sign on Pacio Menino. Okay, I did not know that that was there, but did that happen because I brought this up or what? I don't know, but I was walking my dog in that area, and I noticed that there and I'm like, wow, what a go way to go. So, thank you very much for that. Also too, mayor, I know you have the authority to do this or not, but on the believe it was the fifth when we had our meeting, there was a discussion, excuse me, on the regular agenda. I would ask that maybe you would consider giving the public a 30 second or 15 second rebuttal or comment because when you all of you discuss these agendas up there, it brings up other things, other questions, other ideas that as public as myself have questions or could add to your discussion. So, I'd just like for you to maybe consider that mayor in the future. Okay? Thank you.”
8) Arnold Morrison, 1808 Terrance Drive – “I just wanted to make a correction because I just got a note from the superintendent about the Kiddie parade. The judging is at 1 45 and the parade starts at two because remember they mentioned 2:30.”
CONSENT AGENDA
1) Authorization to waive the reading of any ordinance in its entirety and consenting to the reading of such ordinances by title only.
2) Warrant Register in the amount of $$4,139,774.55
Motion was made by: Solorio-Ruiz to approved items 1-2 on consent items; 2nd by: Morris
Vote: 5-0
Ayes: Alindajao /Solorio-Ruiz / Morris / Nunez / Vasquez Nays: None
Absent: None
Abstentions: None
PUBLIC HEARINGS
No items.
REGULAR AGENDA
3) Request from Delano Chamber of Commerce for a sponsorship of $2,500 for the 2nd Annual State of the City, Board Installation, and Community Awards Night
Sunshine Hernandez, Chamber of Commerce – “Good evening, honorable mayor, city council and city staff. I'm Sunshine Hernandez, president and CEO of the Delano Chamber of Commerce. We are requesting sponsorship from you for our second annual State of the city event, which obviously we started last year. We have incorporated our community awards, which highlights businesses and organizations in our city as well as individuals who give back to our community. So we would like for you to consider a sponsorship. I did speak to staff a few weeks ago regarding your attendance there and that I think you were requesting maybe two tables. So that's part of the package that we are including in that request. Obviously the most expensive part of the event is the food because we are recognizing our awardees as well as providing an opportunity for the city as well as the mayor to address the public and the mayor's address is what it is called. So we would like to include obviously your whole staff there as well. So I'm here more for questions. If anyone has any specific questions” Public Comment opens. – No comments
Public Comment closes.
Morris – “Is this the amount more or less that we sponsored last year?” Sunshine Hernandez, Chamber of Commerce – “I did not request sponsorship from the city last year as it was our very first time doing it. I kind of needed to gauge what our needs were and what our expenses were so that I can ask for sponsorship this year.”
Morris – “Yeah, it is a pretty big deal. I know I went last year, there was a lot of people and the purpose of it is actually to recognize all those businesses that have contributed to the retail of this community. So I can certainly see that it was a costly event with the meal because they do invite all everyone that's been nominated, right?”
Sunshine Hernandez, Chamber of Commerce –“Yeah. All the businesses that have been nominated. So there's a number of people.”
Morris – “Okay. No, and I think that's all I, it's a great event for the community.” Nunez – “ I have a few questions if you want to just write these down or you can take 'em down then you can answer 'em all together at the end. What is the budget for this event? What is the cost to put it totally together and what other sponsors have you put together or do you have for this event? Vasquez – “Was going to say thank you. I went and last and I appreciate the modifications that you're making to involve the city and actually have a couple of tables for the city staff. I think that's something that was missing last year and I think that's a good addition for you to be adding. Thank you.” Solorio-Ruiz – “City manager did we, I know last time we discussed about sponsorships and whatnot, I believe we stated that we were interested in possibly looking more so for a reimbursement process. Is that still in the works?” City Manager Reyna – “That is on the staff report Vice mayor, so it should council decide to provide the monetary sponsorship then it would be at the request of staff to have it on a reimbursement receipt basis.
So, we would reimburse as they bring those receipts.”
Solorio-Ruiz – “Thank you. Just wanted to confirm. Other than that, I think I did not attend last year's event, so I apologize one year later. But overall though, I think it's still a beneficial event to spotlight community leaders who are doing good work and to spotlight the city as a whole for the growth that we have had. I think we oftentimes, I always say that we need to tout our own horns, we need to be able to produce the messaging to our community of the good stuff that's happening and I think if the chamber is more than happy to collaborate in that front, I think that is the best option that we have. So I appreciate it and I'm in support.”
Vasquez – “With that being said, I have a follow up question because on the agenda it doesn't indicate department reports that that's part of it. So how would that process work when they brought this, before that policy passed, would that policy apply to this current situation? I looked at the agenda and on department reports it doesn't indicate that we have anything to be reported. I see something for closed session” City Manager Reyna – “Regarding the sponsorship council member?” Vasquez – “Yeah, you just mentioned about reimbursement” City Manager Reyna – “It's on the staff report.”
Vasquez – “But is that on the agenda? I don't see it on the agenda that there is a staff report unless I'm missing it.”
City Manager Reyna – “It's item number three on the under regular agenda.” Vasquez – “Okay, well would that would apply to this since they came before this was being passed?” City Manager Reyna –“Well that was my response to the vice mayor. Should counsel approve it, staff is requesting that it would be a condition that we would request that it be on a reimbursement receipt basis.
That's on the staff report.”
Solorio-Ruiz – “So it's necessarily together. It's with the approval of tonight's for the chamber, it's together.” City Manager Reyna – “That is what staff is recommending. If it's the pleasure of the council to not include that condition, then that would be up to the council.” Vasquez – “I was just saying that's a regular agenda item. It's not actual staff report. They intertwined it. It sounded like it was a separate issue.”
Sunshine Hernandez, Chamber of Commerce – “Okay, so the estimated cost is around 10,000 and we do have some sponsorships from other organizations as of today, which total 6,500. So what was the other question? That was it. Right? Cost and sponsorships. Was there anything else? Alindajao – “How many sponsorships do you have right now? I'm not sure if you mentioned that.” Sunshine Hernandez, Chamber of Commerce – “$6,500”
Alindajao – “How many sponsors does that represent?”
Sunshine Hernandez, Chamber of Commerce – “5”
Alindajao – “I think that the state of the city I wasn't able to attend as well. I was out of town last year, but I think it's a great idea. I think it's a nice evening to feature good things that are happening in the city.
Future businesses that have been in the city for a long time or maybe a short time, but just celebrating our retail community, our business community I think is important. Part of what makes really the, at least Delano go round because of the impact they have and the influence they have in our city. So I think it's a great event. Does the chamber or do you have any issues with receiving those monies on a reimbursement basis?”
Sunshine Hernandez, Chamber of Commerce – “So my question would be would it be every expense that we have that you would want a receipt for or what exactly?” Alindajao –“The amount that if the city is donated, it sounds like if the city's donated $2,500 then receipts, establishing the expense up to that amount is what the city's looking for in terms of the money that's maybe donated.”
Sunshine Hernandez, Chamber of Commerce – “Definitely do not have an issue with that because it far exceeds that.”
Alindajao – “Okay. Very well.”
City Attorney Richman – “And to make clear that it would be for the reimbursement as well.” Vasquez – “Well that's what I was going to ask Rachel because I'm looking, I have the full packet agenda and I'm trying to see where it says the reimbursement process.” City Attorney Richman – “It doesn't need to be on the agenda, it's just part of the motion and direction from counsel. You're approving the, if you approve the 2,500, it's subject to reimbursement. That's just part of the motion. It doesn't have to be listed on the agenda.” Vasquez – “It sounded like we had a new policy or something. That’s why I was asking.” City Attorney Richman – “I don't believe there was anything about a policy. Okay. It was just that for this they're requesting that the motion include reimbursement.” Vasquez – “Okay. Thanks.”
Motion to approve was made by: Solorio-Ruiz
2nd by: Morris
Vote: 5-0
Ayes: Alindajao / Solorio-Ruiz / Morris / Nunez / Vasquez Nays: None
Absent: None
Abstentions: None
4) Request from R&F Disposal Inc. to assign Agreement No. 1988-29 and all amendments thereto for roll-off refuse collection services to USA Waste of California, Inc.
Staff report provided by City Engineer Dowling.
Lorenzo Irizary from R&F spoke in favor of this agreement.
Josh Mann from USA Waste of California, Inc. spoke in favor if this agreement.
Public comment opens. No comments.
Vasquez – No comment.
Morris – “I'd just like to say congratulations and we wish you much success and surely if you really want to get involved, you see that a lot of things are happening in our community. So we thrive on the partnership that we have with our people who live in this community and who do business in our community. So thank you.” Solorio-Ruiz – “I do have a few questions. I'm not sure who can respond to them, but my two questions that I have is will this have any direct impact? And I apologize for not doing my due diligence beforehand, but will this have any direct impact on our current residence right now as far as any fees or increased fees or et cetera, things like that.
And then the second question is, will any practices change with the new ownership?” Josh Mann from USA Waste of California, Inc – “Great questions. And once I fully expected in acquiring the business and should the council feel compelled to approve the assignment tonight that we are accepting with the exception of the change that was mentioned earlier by Roman, the franchise agreement as is. So that means that none of the current language is changing with the exception of the increased benefit for the city, which we fully understand. Knowing the increased time for staff to be able to make sure they're complying with all of the new state regulations. And that really rolls into the second part of your question. So while the language is not changing and the fees are not changing with the exception of the franchise fee, that we will be working with the city manager and Roman to make sure that we're bringing the agreement up to date with current state regulations, specifically with regards to meeting California Senate Bill 1383 and the diversion of organic materials from the landfill. And so we're fully understanding in terms of that really is the playing field that we're all every jurisdiction in California is dealing with currently and looking forward to that opportunity to sit down and make sure that ultimately we're assisting in the way that the city would like us to assist in complying with those state regulations.” Solorio-Ruiz – “Thank you. And I do want to communicate to Mr. Za that congratulations, I think it is the beauty of this country to be able to own a business and to be able to one day and it fell through your comments, the sentiments that you feel in regards to this change of ownership. And I think there's beauty in that and I congratulate you for that. And thank you for doing business in the city of Delano.” Josh Mann from USA Waste of California, Inc – “As a testament to that that we're acquiring as business lock, stock and barrel. So every piece of equipment and we have invited all of his employees to join us and so again, we're looking for that continuity of the great business that he's built just with a new name on it.”
Alindajao – “I think I just have a few questions, Mr. Man, don't go too far. I have a few questions for you, but first I wanted to say Lorenzo, congratulations. I know it wasn't an easy decision, it was a tough decision. You've had that business in your family for a long time. At the same time I think it also going to allow you to pursue other dreams and passions that you have other than the business. So congratulations if it goes that way. Mr. Mann, can you tell us a little about your company and am I saying your name right? I think the agenda says USA waste of California or is it Waste Management?”
Josh Mann from USA Waste of California, Inc – “Yeah, so Waste Management is the name everybody knows, certainly plastered on the side of our green trucks. And that being said, this is that the WM that we know of today is actually the marriage of the old waste management and USA waste. So they came together here about 25 years ago and that the things that we took, we took the waste management name and the green and gold of USA waste. That being said from a corporate structure standpoint, that a lot of the legacy structures of USA waste still exist and so the acquiring entity is a waste management incorporated subsidiary, wholly owned subsidiary USA Waste of California.” Alindajao – “Can you tell us a little about your company? How long has it been around, what other jurisdictions you service?”
Josh Mann from USA Waste of California, Inc - “Certainly. Yeah, so I've been around servicing in California for decades, both going back on the waste management side as well as on the USA waste side.
The WM that we know today has really been around for about 25 years. As I said, we have a long history in servicing Kern County. We have a facility, McKitrick Landfill that we've owned for many decades. We're also a hauler in Kern County and throughout the Central Valley. So we're servicing on the east side of Kern County, the cities of California City and Ridgecrest and Tehachapi. We're also a franchise hauler to the county of Kern moving north. You'll find us in the city of Fowler where we've had a longstanding history. I think it's 40 some years, right? About 40 years. Very familiar with the circumstances of operating in Kern County, which I know are unique from a lot of other places with regards to the landfill system. And that being said, this is that while we are not as familiar with Delano, we hope to get up to speed and meet with you all. This was kind of a unique situation, but from a standpoint of getting over this assignment, we look very much in becoming a close part of this community, knowing how important that RNF has been. We want to be that same good community partner.”
Alindajao - “Thank you Mr. Man, appreciate that. Yeah, welcome to Delano.” Motion to approve was made by: Nunez
2nd by: Solorio- Ruiz
Vote: 5-0
Ayes: Alindajao / Solorio-Ruiz / Morris / Nunez / Vasquez Nays: None
Absent: None
Abstentions: None
5) Review and selection to award the Request for Proposal to sell Surplus Land (APN: 410-020-04-4) located on County Line and Highway 99
Staff report provided by Economic Development Specialist Fernandez.
Waylon Dunlap – “I'm representing the property owners directly adjacent to the surplus property is being sold.
The comment that our group has is that in the staff report, the Bomar properties was allowed to supplement their bid after the deadline. When you read the staff report, the staff report says that all bids were due on July 12th. Omar Properties updated their bid on August 3rd, so the other three bidders were not allowed to supplement their bid or increase the value of their bid. So I would consider that the bidding process has been tainted. It has not allowed the other bidders the equal opportunity that BOMAR properties was given.” Alindajao – “And what amount was your bid?”
Waylon Dunlap – “Our was 300,000. But had we been given the opportunity after the release of the appraisal, we could have made a change to that bid.”
Jasveer Brar – “We are the owner of Lucky Seven. That is the property right next to us, the surplus land. I'm going to try to make a case that in the long haul, yes, the Beau Mar property has more price at this time, but in long run it will be for the considering the safety ingress egress issue and revenue for the city. We are planning to, since we have adjacent sent land, we are planning to have a multisite retail there at least three of them because we can use the part of our land as a parking. So BOMAR property has presented a small Starbucks, I think 13 or 1500 square foot with we using adjacent land, we will have roughly the size of 2,500. Either Starbucks or Dutch Bros. We are in touch with both of them. Starbuck or Dutch Bros is not related to us or BOMAR. They will go whoever has the proper second. We also want something with the Delano stamp in our center with the small business. Allow that Delino residents to have the opportunity to run their own business. What I'm trying to say, it may seem like that our offer is low now, but if you look at in the long run with the revenue retail tax revenue and property tax revenue, it'll make up roughly dollar calculation within five year. After that, it'll increase, will pay much more in the long run to the city. Also our kids, we are not looking at a box Starbucks where there's no sit down. Our kids can sit down in the 2,500 Starbucks and enjoy free wifi and it will not be using the adjacent property. It'll not be any traffic issue, any ingress egress issue will not be any safety issue. Our offer is also the best because we are closing it in 45 day while BOMAR properties are closing 200 plus days. So we are taking a risk that in 200 plus days, if they change, the mind property will come back to City of Delano. So we are part of the city, we are serving the daily customer at our location right day in and day out. We live pre the same air with the city of Delano. We not know investors that going to run away. We have a long-term plan to revitalize the entire center entire area to make it a beautiful gas station.
Put a couple of more items in that and also bring much, much more.valuable property to our city of Delano. And that's where we are that you consider everything overall. When you look at overall, you will immediately realize that our offer, the best offer that we have.”
Nav – “I'm part of the Lucky Seven ownership group. The ownership party. We successfully closed on that in the last two weeks, so it's a great feeling and privilege to be here. Part of the Delano community. I myself have been here every single day, 12 hour plus days. So it's great to getting to know the residents of the city I'm local to. The Central Valley was born and raised here, so it is a privilege. I wanted to start off with, we also submitted a bid on this adjacent surplus land property quickly after closing escrow. We really got to feel the culture of Delano being able to be a part of Harvest Holiday and having any impact that we can have on that. It just goes to show the culture that Delano is just aside from being a bigger metro city, it is a growing city and it's having that culture and that close knit family ties is what really sets the Central Valley set aside from other cities in California. So we are very excited to be here. Also, just want to express my gratitude and appreciation to all city staff and everyone who works in collaboration to operate the city. I imagine that is a stressful thing. My parents we're both, my dad still is Jesse, who was just here before me, is still a government worker for the past 25 years. My mom was a rural rail carrier for 20 plus years. I understand the obligations and work and necessities that the government work puts you guys in on a daily basis. So I just want to say thank you for the public service that you guys do. I'm here today to just give the best snippet of why our bid is the highest and best case of why the proposal should be awarded to us. Our objective reasoning on this is based on three main points. Those points are going to be that this project that we have submitted is the safest project for the city of Delano. Our project will propose the most amount of revenue and generated dollars back into the economic activity of the city of. And lastly, it will also have a synergistic and a symmetrical approach to how both the Lucky seven, how we plan to redevelop that and bring that image up. It will also have that same symmetrical and synergistic feel to the adjacent property. So I'm going to just elaborate a little bit further on those three main points that I'm giving. Our project is the safest for the city. I don't know if any of y'all have had the opportunity to see exactly where the surplus land is, but it is right before the on-ramp on High Street, excuse me, on County Line Road and the on-ramp, the ingress and egress of the adjacent property is very, very close to the off-ramp for Caltrans onto the 99 freeway. With that being said that we avoid a situation where there's not vehicles stacking on, no matter which way this decision goes, it avoids the situation where this doesn't stack on to County Line Road because I've been there for the last two weeks before that too. But I've been there every single day for the last two weeks and been able to see the traffic on County Line Road and it is quite substantial. So all I ask is just consideration of the safety components, whether whichever way this goes of our residents of the city of Delano, onto the second main point, our project will generate the most amount of revenue and dollars back into the system for the city of Delano. Although yes, there might be a higher bid. And again, if we're given that opportunity of amending that bid based off of what has already been published into the city record, we would definitely take on that opportunity. However, we weren't known of that issue or that availability because the directions in the Surplus Land Act said all bids are due by 2:00 PM and no bids will be taken past that. So simple going along Jesse's point that we're not simply proposing a 1300 square foot drive-through, we're proposing something bigger and much grander that will not only be a utility for freeway traffic, but also be a utility for local residents of the city of Delano. Just as Jesse had said, that we can have a place where our children, our kids, I mean these days everyone can go back to school. So anybody can have free wifi access to free wifi. Me, I had wifi at home, but I used to love to study at Starbucks just because it gave me time away from sometimes family. So this multi retail development will have a big brand anchor that we're offering and also offer small businesses in the city of Delano. They're opportunity to succeed in their own city, whether that's a local nail shop, local franchisees such as Jersey Mike's or Quiznos or Dunking Donuts, Jimmy John's, these are all locally run establishments with local run franchisees. So we're looking to have that opportunity here and put back into the system and not simply just be a corporate Starbucks and that's it.
That's in my, isn't the best use of a city owned land. Given those points, I believe that our proposal will give the city of Delano. I know that in the beginning I just want to hit this point that there might be a higher offer in terms of a hundred thousand dollars, but what's going to submit back into the city and back into the economic activity of the city and long-term revenue for the city is going to be this project that we are proposing through our request for proposal. And lastly, our project is going to put millions of dollars into not only the surplus land where we would be developing, but it would also put it into Lucky seven and have that synergistic approach where all buildings, not all buildings, but they have the same feel and look and touch of it on the same road. That's very important in development in our cities that are very newly developed such as city of Delano, city of Bakersfield, the McFarland, or these places to go on Woollomes. We can see that the city is being built in a specific precise way so that way nothing stands out and it looks great bold, and it's a good look for when our interchange traffic is coming through and enjoying our utilities of our city. So ultimately I believe for these reasons this is why our case would be the best case for this project. Although again, I'm going to say that there's synergy and development and symmetrical appearances off the road and we're Central Valley born and raised. Those are the reasons why I think we're best case. And lastly, I just want to end on a fairness approach. We, as has been mentioned before, we would just like a fair opportunity that if it is possible to amend, we would love that opportunity. I understand that you guys, you all have your own things that you guys have to follow. We just were not aware of those because in the initial instructions allotted, we weren't enough. We weren't known to those things. So again, lastly, I appreciate everyone's time. Thank you. Thank you for hearing that.”
Mr. Rashpal Singh Bains – Submitted a letter for the record, reads as follows, “Dear Honorable City of Delano, my name is Mr. Bains and I owned the Lucky seven on High Street / County Line Road for over 20 years and operated myself. This piece of property on the agenda today was offered to me multiple times without going to the bidding process because the city was aware of the traffic issue and did not want an ingress and egress issue without utilizing my adjacent property. I'm a voting citizen and live in Delano at the address of 2221 Fiori Street. This piece of property on the agenda today was offered to me and a buyer who was buying my station for $250,000 and was an escrow in 2019 and early 2020. At that time, the property did not go through the bidding process because the city council at that time was aware of the ingress and egress and traffic issue and wanted the adjacent property to buy it to avoid any safety issues. With this understanding, I strongly suggest city council work with the new Lucky 7 owners on High Street to avoid any traffic ingress issues. Thank you for your time. Sincerely, Mr. Rashpal Singh Bains.”
Public comment opens.
1. Alec Olivari, Bomar Partners – “We just wanted to thank the council members and the city of Delano for their consideration on our proposal for the land at County Line and Highway 99. If there are any questions from the council, we will try to answer them as appropriately as we can.”
2. Eric Arias – “I am calling in today on this item to speak in support of actually the second highest bid from Jesse Brar and the Brar family. And I just had a couple of thoughts that I wanted to share with you all.
Although I think that Jesse and the team covered many of them. I just wanted to emphasize a couple of pieces. Obviously as a fellow elected, it was interesting to me to see that a request for proposals and a surplus land opportunity were combined because as I understand it, when there is an RFP process in play, typically what that signals to me is that there is not only a competitive process but an opportunity to take things into consideration outside of just the price point. And I think that the bra families has communicated effectively that there's really a pretty big difference between highest price point and the highest value. And I think when you take a look at the holistic approach for all of the projects that have been submitted and bid for by and large, Jesse and his team are prepared to make close to a million dollars worth of investments into that corner. Looking to redevelop obviously the market there and the gas station, but also like Navi may have mentioned, create some synergy, some look and feel and some similarities between the two developments. And I think that there's definitely some value in taking those items into consideration considering Delano has an incredible gateway from the south and this from my perspective, would be that opportunity from the north for everybody who's traveling from the north side into Delano. This is a really important opportunity for you to be able to signal to folks who are traveling through that Delano’s, a place that they may want to stop by. So the other thing that I wanted to mention is that there was a second bid that was submitted by the highest bidder on August 3rd at least that's when it was stated. The deadline to my understanding with the city's process was on July 13th, which is clearly almost a month out from that deadline. And so considering all of those points and the fact that this is such an important opportunity for the city of Delano to get the very best project in this location, I would just make a recommendation to this council to give it some further thought. Let's push the pause button just a little bit. Invite everybody to the table to go through a fair and competitive process and dig a little deeper into the details because I think that the city of Delano deserves that. And I know that this council has made many important decisions by thinking about the broader public good. And I am sure that they'll make the right one in this case as well.
So that concludes my comments. Thank you so much.”
Public comment closes.
Vasquez – “Well first of all, I'd like to thank you all for coming here today and giving us details in regards to the process, what you've experienced and the thorough plan that you want to do to provide to our committee. And I greatly appreciate that. And the public comment that was just given by Mr. Arias to me, that makes sense to me in regards to, I don't know who I would ask with the city, but why something would be asked, I guess taken after the deadline and then that would be the person that we would give it to. I don't know if you can even answer that to today and how that process would be in regards to us. I mean, but the way that you clearly explained it to me, you met the deadline, you meet our community needs and that makes sense to me. I think it's pretty clear cut and that simple, but I don't know if staff can answer that question, but even if you can at this point, it's kind of clear that they didn't meet the deadline. Thank you.”
Nunez – “Based on what I read initially, and I'm going based on the numbers that were provided to us by staff, this is just what they bid for the property based on what they bid on the property, not looking at the second number that came in from one company. All these companies underbid what the property is worth regardless of what the project they want to put on. We can't force them on any project or make 'em do anything. They can pretty much buy this property and tell us they're going to build a Costco on that corner. Once they own the property, they can change their mine and build whatever they want. There's nothing we can legally do to bind them to build anything we want them on or they want on there. This is based on a piece of property that we own and that we're selling. As a property owner, I want to get the most money I can for my property, what you do with the property afterwards, as long as you do everything legally, there's not much I can really say or do as a owner once you own it. My suggestion would be that we reject all the bids based on the initial bids that everybody submitted because the highest bid still was less than what they came back appraised at way less.”
Morris – “Yeah. I have a problem with this one too because you figure all bids were supposed to be submitted by the 13th and everybody made a bid. Everybody, the people that bid on it had no idea what the land was appraised at. The appraisal didn't come in until September, September the 12th to be exact. So all these people went blindly not knowing where the appraisal was or what the land was worth. So how could they really account for how much they were going to put their bid in for? And then for some reason, rather then Omar comes in and he puts a new bid in for 4 35, which is a revised bid, which is quite close to what the city is appraising that property for. So how is it that they know to come that close where the bid is and no, it just sounds kind of weird to me that they would have that information and basically by reading Mr. Bro's project, I really like his project because I really think economic development with the economic development that's going to go out there with his project, and of course we don't ever can't get a problem and say, yeah, that's what I'm going to do, but I'm basing that they're going to do what they say they're going to do. But I think we'll get more sales taxes out of the project that they have out there because they'll have more retail. Not only that, they own the gas station, which is right on the corner, which is I'm sure what I can read, they're going to turn into an am PM arco out there. It would make more sense for it to be one piece of land without having to have a fence in between or to separate the two businesses from the one, the other one that's going to go back and their property. It would look more cohesive if it was all one property and seems to me like it would run way smoother. So for me, I think Delano deserves the best and we care about what's happening in our community. And although it seems like a lot of money that the first bid came in on, I think we have to look at the aesthetics of our community and what goes out there and where it's a little gateway coming into the community from the outside coming in. And I think the project would go perfectly and beautiful on that. So that would be my comments for now. I think that would be the best project for that. Even though you may say that the bid was a lot higher for the person, but that just doesn't seem right to me. So I'm with Mr. Brar’s project.” Solorio-Ruiz – “Yeah, I have a similar question and concern as my colleagues have brought forward to city staff in regards to the fairness of the process of the RFP. But I also, I want to say that as well, that I know that I trust the process and I trust staff and what they provide and the input that they provide to the staff reports. And also thank you for answering my phone call earlier and telling me more about these projects and the pros and cons. Because at the end of the day, and I want all the entities who are here to really understand this, is that today we are making the decision based off on what we have right now in front of us. And this is a business decision, quite frankly, of what is beneficial to our community in terms of the funds that we're going to get. I think Councilman Nunez said it's spot on.
We are trying to get really the more bang for our buck in terms of the land that we have. And that's one thing that I was also advised on is that the fact that you can tell us that you are going to create X, Y, Z, you're going to create Disneyland, but you might not. And that's just the reality of things. It's not whether we agree with it or not. That's just the truth of it. We can't hold you up to that. So at the end of the day, I think we have to base it off of what's going to give us more benefit to the city immediately. And so that's kind of the way that I'm going to navigate my vote tonight if there is one, is to really just look at it based off what we see right now. I appreciate Mr. Barr, I appreciate you entirely. First off, for one to do business in the city of Delano for owning and running Lucky seven. It's an honorable thing and I hope that we can still, regardless of the vote tonight, to still partner in the future. Just because one door closes doesn't mean that future doors close as well. But I do want to get some comments from staff in regards to the RFP process and how the fairness went. But I also agree with Councilwoman Morris in regards to the appraisal and when did the entities, who applied, when did they see the appraisal and then when was the submission afterwards? Is that normally the process that folks usually take? And we can go from there as well. Vice mayor. All right, so I have a few questions. Is that a fact that the Mr. Olivieri and his be Mar partners were allowed to make a bid after the deadline? Is that accurate?”
City Manager Reyna – “Bomar did submit an amendment. However, at the time, none of the packages had been opened, so we were not aware. In other words, because we were trying to prepare for the meeting, we hadn't opened any of the packages. When we received Bo Mar's second submittal, it was just in an envelope. So it was attached. It is in your package. So you guys are aware of the initial submittal, which was 385,000, and then the amendment went up to 435,000. It is not incumbent upon staff to do the work of the applicants. It is in their benefit and it's their due diligence to get the appraisal on any property. They can run comps, they can work with the realtor, they can work with the title company and they can run comps and they can get an appraised value or at least a good estimate of how much a property is worth.
The city did go out and get our own, but it is not our job to do their job. So it was done at different times.
Once we received all four submittals, then the city went out and got their appraisal.” Alindajao – “$385,000. Do you know what date that was received? The amended, if you know? City Manager Reyna – “Yes sir. It should be August 3rd is when we received it.” Alindajao – “But is it fair to say that amended bid shouldn't have been received because it was past the deadline?
City Manager Reyna – “It certainly can. I mean, again, it's included in your packet so you guys are aware. You can take it into consideration as one proposal or you can dissect it and just take the initial, that's your call. It still would be the highest bid or the highest submittal. Again, it's probably not the appraised value as that is $440,000.”
Alindajao – “And does the RFP process make room for amendments even past the deadline as it's written in our city code?
City Manager Reyna – “I wouldn't know the answer to that, mayor.” City Attorney Richman – “Mayor, if I can just say a little bit to that too. We're using the word bid quite a bit and I think it's important to know that there is a difference. So the bid language is when we're talking about projects that are subject to the public contracting code and that does have sort of the requirements of you have to go with the lowest responsive bidder, you have to close those bids. You cannot allow anything to come in afterwards. This was more of the process that city staff decided to use in order to see what kind of interest was out there. And they did this more as a request for proposals. Now, issues of fairness, that's within the council's determination, but as far as we don't have anything in the code for sort of this proposal process that was asked for. I did recommend that they get an appraisal. When I saw these numbers, I did have some concerns that I think to the point that we're hearing some really great projects. But as has been stated by some of the council, there's no ability to bind them to those. And really what is important for the council to consider is that they're selling this at fair market value. So there's no issues with gifts of public funds potentially triggering prevailing wages on the projects if we are selling it at below Fair Market.” Alindajao - Okay, thank you for that. So it looks like the deadline was July 12th. We were in the receipt of the amended valuation or proposal or bid on August 3rd and two, I think Council Member Nunez and the Vice mayor's point, we're not making a value judgment on the project or we can't base our decision on promised future profits or revenues or scope of project. We cannot consider that this is simply the sale of land. The fact that this project might go up or that project might go up is of at least not persuasive to me Here. We're going to sell the land to the highest bidder and the highest bidder has to be, I think at minimum, within 10% of the fair market value of the property, which if you excluded Mr. Ari's bid outside the seven 12 date is still in my calculation well below the 10% threshold. So I guess I'll ask Rachel this question. If we're going outside the 10% of the bid window, then can that be interpreted as a gift of public funds?
City Attorney Richman – “I think you could maybe waiver a little more than that on maybe 15 or so percent. There's no hard and fast rule, but the further you deviate from that, then the more able summit could make that argument.”
Alindajao – “So at 10% of 440,000 we'd be, at $396,000.” City Attorney Richman – “It's still higher than what their initial bid was.” Alindajao – “Now the question is that is outside the 10% window. At 15%, that would be around 374,000.
So that means even Mr. Olivari and the Bomar Group would be within that 15% window, even discounting their amended bid on eight three, according to my math. Now, some folks made an issue of, well, we didn't know what the property was going to cost or we didn't know what the value was. But as the city managers told us, and I completely agree with her, is that valuation of property, that's up to project managers that are in this kind of business to do. It's their responsibility to come up with what they think the fair market value is of that property, compare with whatever the case might be, and then make a bid within that 10 to 15% window. But as I see it, the only person, again, discounting the supplemental bid from Mr. Olivieri and the Bomar Group, they're still above the 15% window of fair market value of $440,000. So it requires us to take the highest bidder. That's what the law says and that's what the project demands and looks like at this point. It's the Bomar Group. Mr. Olivieri, again, I want to remind my colleagues this is not about the best project. This is about the highest bidder for the sale of land.” City Attorney Richman – “And mayor and counsel, if I can make a suggestion, because you do have the offer of the $435,000, but again, with the idea of let's get the highest value that the city can get, you may want to allow the four to come back and see what your highest value is. So you don't have to, I know we have this proposal process, but we're not subject to that. And if there's more money on the table, it might be something the council might want to do.”
Alindajao – “That would be my suggestion to my colleague. Someone wants to make to table this project, reopen it for bids. Now all the proposed bidders now understand what the fair market value of the property is and then rebid the projects. Does anybody have a desire for that?” Nunez – “I have a motion that we reject all the bids and resend it back out.” Motion to reject all bids and resend the RFP back out by: Nunez 2nd by: Vasquez
Vote: 5-0
Ayes: Alindajao / Solorio-Ruiz / Morris / Nunez / Vasquez Nays: None
Absent: None
Abstentions: None
DEPARTMENTAL REPORTS
No Items.
COUNCIL STATEMENTS AND REPORTS
Morris – “I’d just like to invite everybody out to the show, seeing a show on Saturday Mountain support us or support Harbor's holidays. And as you know, Harbor's Holiday has been a long tradition in our community for the last 77, 78 years now, and we are trying to keep that tradition alive in our community. So come out and support us and we appreciate all the help that our community has given us. Thank you.” Nunez – “Nothing other than if I don't mention this kid's birthday. His name's Jacob Rodriguez and he plays football for me. If I don't mention his name, he's going to get on me this week. So happy birthday Jacob.” Vasquez – “I guess they go hand in hand. Once again, I'm going to ask that we hire somebody to do our public relations and do outreach in our community because time and time again, even before I got on the council, that has been an ongoing issue of the community not being notified of major things and major events. The other thing is I still think that we can do the right thing by doing a presentation of the budget and having community input. That's not an end for all just because we voted on it in a special meeting. And I really believe that because we don't have great outreach that continues to hinder us in our community. The other thing is in regards to commercially sexually exploited children. Yes, I was following that bill and I am pleased with the outcome. It does have an impact on my colleagues. And when I started working with the department in 2007, that was not such a thing. And I remember when we had the first person that was exploiting children, and it seems so long ago, but not so long ago because it hasn't made much of an impact in certain matters. And back then, we didn't have a unit. We actually have a unit now that addresses that. So that's a huge deal. And then the other thing is, Alex Alor. He recently passed away. I would like to end this meeting in his honor. He was somebody that was in our community. He talked about the United Farm Workers Movement and the dedication of the Filipino community and he did the tours and I actually had the opportunity to do the tour with them when Bakersfield College hosted it. And never in my wild dreams it, I think that he would pass away so soon. I was actually looking forward to bringing more people to see that tour when it came around next year. I actually brought quite a few people from Bakersfield to see that. So, if we can end this meeting and honor him, I would greatly appreciate it. And those are all my remarks. Thank you.” Mayor Pro Tem Solorio-Ruiz: “I also want to give my condolences to the Alor family, but I want to start off by thinking city staff, our Delano police officers. I believe our McFarland PD was also involved in Kern County Fire for their direct action for the Sunview fire that happened a couple weeks ago. I know that was huge and I know that they greatly appreciate all of our concerns and comments in regards to the work they did. And I know it looked horrible driving down the freeway and people videotaping it. And so I'm glad to see that there was direct action and thank you again city staff for that. I also want to, I know the young folks left, but I want to address their comments in regards the budget. So I wrote some notes down, I appreciate all of their concerns, the young people's concerns who attended tonight, and they've voiced their concerns on the budget. It is important for young people and I think community members to be civically engaged. The city budget is what I say, the people's budget. It is a reflection of our values and I do believe it reflects that it has been a monthly process. And again, like I mentioned in the budget meeting, I think staff for that as well, for meeting with council members and executing that when they were available during our special. And at the time of the special meeting we did, just to clarify, we did open it up to public comments, but there was no public comments as far as the budget concerns goes. But community members were given the opportunity to voice their opinions. But I also want to note to end off three things, is that the budget, it is supposed to be online. I believe there was a comment that it wasn't, perhaps we need to make it more accessible or look into that, but it is available online, it should be. It's also, I believe, available for, to pull from the public as far as requesting through the city clerk. It is a live document as well, meaning that there can be changes that are made through the city council, through city staff that they need to move stuff around, et cetera. And you can also meet with your elected officials. I think that's one thing that I heavily want to express is that you have the ability to reach out to any of us to sit down and say, Hey, I'm really passionate about our public safety or our parks and rec or pickleball or whatever it may be. And we can go from there and we could have discussion and debate and discourse that really matters and engage in meaningful conversations. But I wanted to finish off my comments tonight on that because I know we heard an influx of young people discussing the budget, which is great. I'm glad young people are interested in government and what happens in this room. But those are all my comments.
Mayor Alindajao: No comments.
Motion to go into closed session at 7:18PM by: Solorio-Ruiz 2nd by: Nunez
Vote: 5-0
Ayes: Alindajao / Solorio-Ruiz / Morris / Nunez / Vasquez Nays: None
Absent: None
Abstentions: None
CLOSED SESSION
6) PUBLIC EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE EVALUATION – Govt. Code Section 54957: City Attorney Reportable action: Direction was given to terminate Burke Williams and Sorensen and continue with Liebert Cassidy Whitmore as an Interim for legal services.
Motion to go back into general session at 8:02PM by: Solorio-Ruiz 2nd by: Nunez
Vote: 5-0
Ayes: Alindajao / Solorio-Ruiz / Morris / Nunez / Vasquez Nays: None
Absent: None
Abstentions: None
ADJOURNMENT
Moved by Nunez seconded by Solorio-Ruiz and unanimously carried 5-0 to adjourn the meeting at 8:02p.m. _____________________________________________
Nancy Garcia, City Clerk