MINUTES
CITY OF DELANO
CITY COUNCIL – REGULAR MEETING
November 6, 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 Anthony Cortez offered the invocation.
FLAG SALUTE
Mayor Alindajao led the 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, Interim City Attorney Hensley, Finance Director Lara Rios, City Engineer Dowling, Human Resources Director Zamudio, Interim Chief Nicholson, Interim Community Development Director Monsibais
PRESENTATIONS AND AWARDS
None.
ITEMS FROM THE PUBLIC
1. Anthony Cortez, 282 Shell Beach Court – “I don't know if you all can see this, but I'm wearing an honor flight shirt. On the 15th of last month Sunday, I was called to participate in an honor flight out of the blue.
So I missed the council meeting on the 16th, but I just wanted to share with you a little bit about that experience and just wanted to shout out to the honor flight. This was honor flight number 47 that Kern County has done. I'm sure all of you have heard of honor flights. The blue shirts are the veterans that they're honoring, and the red shirts are what they call guardians. I will ask that I encourage each of you to go as a guardian, you can go to www.honorflightkerncounty.org to get an application and it would be the experience of your life. So as I said, I wasn't able to attend the 16th council meeting and I wanted to share my thoughts about what I had on that day. First, I wanted to thank you all for the parade for Harvest Holiday. That was a great turnout and experience. And mayor also for the Veterans Parade, that was just conducted. I noticed on your application that you put out for the veterans in bold letters it says political entries cannot be, cannot display anything that mentions an election or being elected, no exceptions. I like that and I bring that up because on the Harvest Holiday Parade, the city council float, as you would call it, there was only one member on there and that was the mayor. Now I understand that maybe some of you are on vacation or you have other obligations, but to me I would like to see the council as a whole if possible on that float. Now I know Councilwoman Vasquez, you were in this last parade honoring US veterans.
Honoring us as veterans for serving, but I'd just like to point that out because you're a team and we need to see our city council up there as a team. I know some of you have political ambitions, which is okay, but when we have events like this, I would like to have you all show up as a team. Thank you.”
2. Anibal Garcia, 807 19th Ave. (via zoom) – “I am speaking in support of agenda item number nine, requesting $3,512 in funding to send eight Morningside students to a cross country competition in Florida.
Growing up in Delano, like many other developing cities can be like a bubble for those who do not have the means to travel outside of the area.”
Mayor Alindajao: “Mr. Garcia, Can I interrupt you for just a moment? That item has been pulled, so that request, yes, that request is no longer being considered tonight.”
3. Fernando Bravo, 1417 Belmont St. – “I have a concern for Delano since we don't have a newsletter or know anything about our town, like what's going to be built, what businesses are going to be built like Target, so forth. And also I'd like to address what's going to be done about the building there at the Burger King. Is it going to be abandoned or what? So those are my concerns, but where can I find out what's going to be built over there, there at the Woollomes Avenue? Do you guys have any paperwork or anything that way we can be notified? So that's just my concern. Thank you.”
4. Yolanda Chacon Serna, 1221 Austin St – “I'm here tonight to speak about a concern about who issues out the citations on properties saying that they're not in compliance. And I understand that you're not going to answer me tonight, so I just want to make that question and if somebody can get back to me with the response, because I drive through this town all the time and I see properties that are very out of control.
And the property at 1221 Austin, if any of you go by there is not. And we received a citation where, my aunt has passed away and she was 96, but that home is being kept up. So I want to know who is giving out those citations. And apparently, there was a water bill of $1600 when the bill is paid and nobody is even there using the water. So those are a couple of concerns I have. And when we talk about transparency, I have some concerns about the employee's contract that will be reviewed tonight. I think it's out of compliance as it's a 13 year evergreen contract. And if you are the employer and she's your only employee, her contract should not exceed yours. And each one of you has a four-year term, even if it's staggering. And when do the constituents of Delano vote to pay payroll taxes for executive directors or city managers? The constituents are already paying enough when their water bill and everything else is going up and they're not even alerted about it in a timely manner. But yet we give, we are paying what is the employee's responsibility of their taxes with constituent money. And this employee should not be getting a positive evaluation when she is not doing due diligence in taking care of the resources of this community. There are situations going on in this community where we make no revenue with our interests, community interests or having backroom deals and things that have happened and policy and protocol have not been followed. And the thing is, even when it comes to yard sales or things we say, oh, that policy is outdated and archaic. Why that is part of the job is maintaining policies and protocol, not just to the detriment of the constituents and especially when we don't want to recognize rent control when our farm workers here are barely making it. And especially for some who say they do and then renege on it. This is a hurting community and we have always been farm. We can work in community, but we had compassion for each other.”
5. Gloria Herrera – “I'm here again complaining about the alley between eighth and ninth. They fixed it before, but I already mentioned that they put this cement-looking powder and a tablet of gravel, but they're gone and there's a lot of traffic that goes through and it's really messy. I won't be complaining that it was okay, but it's really messy because the cars go through when they come up through the street, they leave the white stuff sticking and the pavement of the street. And I live right on the corner of the alley. When they turn, all that powder goes at the top of my cars or in the back of my house, there's windows and they get practically every other day I have to go and throw water in there because it gets dusty. So, they need to do something about it. And I mentioned before because they were working on it, the other alleys, they fix 'em a different way, but they need to do something. I can't stand all that dust. I have two people that have asthma in there and that's aggravating. And if you go, I know you probably don't have time to go, but if you go even tomorrow, you can see the street white practically the street, not the alley, the street that is white because the white powder sticks on there. Thank you.”
6. Pastor David Vivas, 925 Jefferson St. – “First of all, I've got a couple of things just like to invite our city council. This coming Sunday, World Harvest International Church will be celebrating its 23rd year church anniversary. And so, I'd like to just publicly invite those of you who are able to join with us. And then afterwards we are going to have a luncheon. So if you could work that into your schedule. The service is at 10:00 AM and we'll have a guest speaker coming from out of town, a good friend of mine, so he'll be speaking. And then also on the third Thursday. And the third Thursday of November 16th at 5:30 PM here in the city council chamber, the community law enforcement liaison and board will be conducting its meeting. That evening the gang unit from the Delano Police Department will be giving a presentation, they haven't given this presentation at one of our meetings in a while. I know they've given it elsewhere. And we'd like to invite the general public to this meeting. One of the concerns that I have as a citizen is the recruitment of young people into these gangs. Here in our area, recruitment starts at a very young age, eight, to 10 years of age. And that should concern every parent grandparent, those of us who have nephews, nieces, cousins, whatever that are young. This should really concern us. And the introduction of illegal drugs on the street. Being a pastor, it definitely is a calling you counsel with people of all walks of life. My counseling is not limited to just my congregation, it's outside the walls of our church. And when me as a pastor am called into emergency situations to counsel people who are on drugs, alcohol, people that have taken drugs where their mind is not even there anymore and parents and grandparents are calling you asking for help, there's only so much that the police department can do. And so we as a community must join together in reaching our young people before they are influenced by one of these gang members. And right now I'm counseling with a lot of gangs, members who want out of a gang, but there's no honorable way out of a gang as I know Councilman Nunez would be able to tell you and our chief. So anyway, I just want to thank this community and everyone who does their part in reaching out to our young people. So I hope you all can join us at that meeting, on the 16th of November. Thank you.”
7. Maria Martinez, 1215 Lexington St. - “I just want to mention something that happened on the parade.
Who works in the street when there's a lot of car parking when the parade starts and there are no signs that you have to move your car? And then, I'm sorry, but the young police said, you guys don't move your car.
I'm going to start doing citations. First, you got to put the sign to move the car because it's going to be a parade. Okay? And then I don't think it's right to say the policeman is a young man who said, if you don't move your car, I'm going to start doing citations. Where's the sign? I have to move it. So whose job is that? You can't answer me. But whose job is to put the sign that you have to park here? Because it's going to be busy the street. So don't get me wrong, it was wonderful. It was very nice. But the things that we have to correct and operate be better. Thank you.”
Public comments closed.
CONSENT AGENDA
1) 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 $4,099,491.81
3) Award of Contract for the "2023 Urgent Schuster Road 16 Inch Water Main Replacement Project" to JM Pipeline from Bakersfield in the amount of $351,544.40.00 and authorization for the City Manager, or her designee, to sign the construction contract and any other documents needed to complete the project
4) Acceptance of the “2022 Albany-Stradley Sump Improvement Project” and authorizing the filing of the Notice of Completion
5) Acceptance of the “2022 Alley Improvements Project” and authorizing the filing of the Notice of Completion
6) Acceptance of the “2023 Corporation Yard Parking Lot and Access Control Improvement Project” and authorizing the filing of the Notice of Completion
7) Approval of Professional Services Agreement with MKN & Associates to provide professional engineering design services for the 2023 Water Mapping, Model, and Master Plan Project in the amount of $102,037.00 and authorization for the City Manager to execute the agreement 8) Appoint City Manager and City Attorney as real property negotiators for Assessor Parcel Number 410-020-04-4, located adjacent to Highway 99 and County Line Road for purposes of negotiating the price and terms of the sale of the property for commercial purposes Motion was made by: Solorio-Ruiz to approve items 1 – 8 on consent; 2nd by: Morris
Vote: 5-0
Ayes: Alindajao / Morris / Solorio-Ruiz / Nunez / Vasquez Nays: None
Absent: None
Abstentions: None
PUBLIC HEARINGS
No items.
REGULAR AGENDA
9) Request from Everardo Pantoja for $3,512.00 to send eight students from Morningside Elementary School to the Cross-Country National competition in Tallahassee, Florida Item was pulled by the applicant.
DEPARTMENTAL REPORTS
No departmental reports.
COUNCIL STATEMENTS AND REPORTS
Council Member Morris: “Yeah, I want to thank the Veterans Committee for a great parade. It was presented last Saturday. I think it was a good showing for our community and to honor our veterans and it is good to see the flags still up there and see the banners that have gone up. So thank you. Thank you all of you for your hard work for putting that on. I also just want to comment that our next parade is a Christmas parade and the Christmas parade is coming up on December 7th and the theme is going to be a cartoon Christmas. So you want to get that word out and everybody get their cartoon characters out and stuff so that we can have a great Christmas parade. And Anthony Cortez, thank you for mentioning that about the council members. I didn't attend the last one. I happened to be out of the country, but I always try to be there when those occasions come up to represent the council or proud to be part of the council with my colleagues here. So thank you. I also want to mention that too he got a Christmas party coming up for the senior citizens in December and that's the great time for a lot of the seniors who come out and get together. They all have a great time. So we're looking forward to that. And any of you that can help out with that would be greatly appreciated. The only other thing I have is I want to also commend Kiwanis for holding the pumpkin patch. A lot of work for two weeks of volunteer work. I want to thank all of you who volunteered to be out there to help all those students and they had such a good time. It's always wonderful to see the students when they go to the pumpkin patch and they pick out their own little pumpkin and get to go home with a pumpkin and take a picture with a pumpkin. They're so proud. And so that's what makes that project so worthwhile. And they get to go home with a craft project that they made there. So thank you all of you who volunteered their time out there and took the time to be there. So I'm so grateful for that. I’m looking forward to all holidays and the things that are coming up. It's going to be a busy schedule, I'm sure. So what a great time to do good things for good people in our community. So don't hesitate to volunteer wherever we can to help out or to be a service and we'll have plenty of those opportunities to do that. Thank you.”
Council Member Nunez: “I have a couple items coming up on November 15th is National Night Out with the City of Delano and the police department. We'll be out at Cecil Park November 15th. And then November 13th and the 21st. We have two food giveaways here and they're going to be really big ones to try to help people out for Thanksgiving. That's all I have. Thank you.”
Council Member Vasquez: “I'm just going to throw this out there, Mayor ,We have crime prevention on the 15th, so let's throw that out there because I'm going to announce that. So maybe tentatively we might not, I don't know.
But on, November 15th we have our crime prevention meeting and then also this week there's Relay for Life at the firehouse, a captain's meeting at 5:30. So hopefully we can get more people out there and more teams. They're trying to make it bigger than it's been the past couple of years because of the pandemic. And then next, I want to thank the staff, even though I wasn't able to make the parade, I know they to take a lot of hard work to decorate and they decorate it for the council and they decorated for the veterans that are staff. So I appreciate that. And that's all on my report. Thank you.”
Mayor Pro-Tem Solorio-Ruiz: “Yes. Tonight is all about gratitude. I want to share some gratitude to Mr. Max, Sam Mohan and also his wife for hosting and coordinating the Dover Point Block Party. I think it was a fantastic hit and I think we're all in favor of anything that brings out the community and brings the community together. I also want to give props of course too, to the Delano Police Department and recreation staff for hosting the Trunk or Treat. It was a huge hit. It's always a huge hit. I think I got folks that were saying that we should have it on Halloween every year. And actually I'm a little disappointed. I didn't get a lot of trick-or-treaters. I think I saw a bunch of videos on social media that it was like a trend that where are the kids? We don't see them anymore. But other than that, it was great to see all the kiddos dressed up on the trunk or Treat Day. And then also of course, gratitude and shout out to Mayor Alindajao and his team for coordinating the Veterans Day parade. It was a beautiful, remarkable event. I think personally, I would love to have the flags there downtown all year round, but I think we should all be in favor of always showing patriotism and showing the beauty of this country. And that is our flag and this is our country. And I think we can all get behind that and we need to be proud of it and we need to teach our young folks about that. I also want to share a reminder for this Wednesday, we're going to have our career and resource fair shout out to Noemi for the assistance in coordinating that. And so,'s going to be right in front of City Hall from 4:30 to 7:30. And so the flyer is on social media. Feel free to share for anyone who's interested in possibly getting a future occupation. There's going to be, I believe like our Kern County Probation. Of course our city entities as well will be present to hopefully fill some spots with good folks. And then I also want to share, we just launched, we're going to be having a holiday toy drive. As some of you may remember, last year we gave out some toys in front of City Hall and it was probably over 200- 300 kiddos. And so this year we're going to start early with the drive and we're going to hopefully get some more donations for the kids. It's going to start now until December 15th. And the drop off locations are going to be here at City Hall on the second floor. The other locations for drop off are going to be at the Kern County Fire Stations. So shout out to Kern County Fire for coordinating that as well. And assisting stations 34 and 37 will be drop-off spots as well at the Athletix sports gym here downtown. So any toy, if they are new and unwrapped, that is preferred. But hopefully we can get some kiddos covered in Christmas time and holiday season. So other than that, that is all on my end, mayor.
Mayor Alindajao: “Alright. Yeah, the Veteran's Day parade was a hit thank to the Kern County Fire. I see them here. I mean, their flag and their help is always a big contribution to a Veterans Day parade. It was such a great parade. I thought I seen all the veterans, especially if you weren't able to make our first annual veteran day breakfast. If you didn't get a chance to come out next time you need to come out. We didn't really know what to expect. So we were at El Rey Restaurant in their patio area, and I think there was probably well over 100 people that came out a mix of that. I think there were over 35-40 veterans and their families and we had a great time and they enjoyed the food and the fellowship and it was a great turnout. The parade went well. I'd love to see all our current county law enforcement folks involved. The new Wasco Police Department that's going to be opening in January, 2024, they were here. And McFarland PD was here, the sheriff's CHP, a big law enforcement presence was at our parade and I appreciated that. And of course, all the other military, I think the young Marines were there. It was nice last year, I don't know if anybody realized, but last year we didn't have any bands this year we had about four or five bands. So I hope in the future we can have more and more bands because listening to those old patriotic songs by these bands really puts chills on your arms. And especially seeing the big flag and hearing Kumba sing the national anthem, it was a really special day for veterans. I want to thank our city staff, street supervisor, and all our staff and the police department. Putting on a parade isn't easy. It's a lot of work. It's a lot of headache, but we appreciate your help and contributions to making it another successful year. I wanted to mention our committee members for Delano Hometown Heroes Committee. Edwin Felix, who's a city employee. Rosa Lugo, who's also a city employee. Michelle Wiggins, Zena Cheney, Thomas Soto, Lori Guzman, Annette Salem Weezer, Mr. Morrison, who many of you know, Susan Villaruz and Clarabelle Gutierrez. Thank you to them. I forgot Sally Garcia as well. Thank you to them for a good team that put a really great parade together. I can't wait till what it might look like or what's going to be like next year. So thank you for that. I want to also announce, I don't know if you know yet, probably not, but we're having a special meeting this Wednesday, November 8th at the Pioneer Middle School campus. It's a special meeting and it's going to be a meeting intended to honor our city employees who are veterans of the military and our first responders, and honor some of our local school district, and elementary school district veterans as well. We're also going to honor our county teacher of the year as well as others like the ASB Presidents of each school. I think there are about 14 of them that are going to be there in attendance. It's going to be a great meeting, a good occasion to honor those that have served our country and not only our country, but our community. So, if you can make time to come out and join us, it's, it's going to be a great night. That's at 5:30. Yes, the trunk or treat as well. I was there, it was a big hit. So many people there and so many people. Does anybody keep count on how many folks showed up? It looks like 3,000 people out there. I mean, yeah, it looked like a lot, lot of people. So that's fantastic to see the community come out. It's such a great event. It reminds me of the old food care events that we used to have back in the day. Very much like that, very well attended. So thank you and congratulations to every one that made that a success. The chief and your staff who planned it. Thank you. It was a great event.”
Moved for Closed Session by: Solorio-Ruiz 2nd by: Morris Time: 6:03PM
Vote: 5-0
Ayes: Alindajao / Morris/ Nunez / Solorio-Ruiz / Vasquez Nays: None
Absent: None
Abstentions: None
The City Clerk was excused. City Manager Reyna was appointed as Acting City Clerk. Interim City Attorney Hensley was present.
CLOSED SESSION
10) REAL PROPERTY NEGOTIATIONS PURSUANT TO GOVERNMENT CODE SECTION 54956.8 (Sale of City Owned Real Property for Commercial Purposes): Property: Located adjacent to Highway 99 and County Line Road.
APN: 410-020-04-4
Agency/City Negotiators: City Manager and City Attorney Negotiating Parties: Currently, Ranbir Bhatti and Bomar Partners have submitted proposals to purchase the property.
Under Negotiation: Sale Price and Terms of Payment(s)
11) PUBLIC EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE EVALUATION - Govt. Code Section 54957: City Manager
Motion to move into general session made by: Solorio-Ruiz, 2nd by: Morris Time: 7:47PM
Vote: 5-0
Ayes: Alindajao / Morris /Nunez / Solorio-Ruiz / Vasquez Nays: None
Absent: None
Abstentions: None
RETURN TO GENERAL SESSION
No reportable action.
ADJOURNMENT
Moved by Council Member Solorio-Ruiz, seconded by Morris, and unanimously carried 5-0 to adjourn the meeting at 7:47 p.m.
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Nancy Garcia, City Clerk