MINUTES
CITY OF DELANO
CITY COUNCIL – REGULAR MEETING
February 18, 2025
CALL TO ORDER
Mayor Morris 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
Bengals Cheerleader Allie led the flag salute.
ROLL CALL
Council members present: Liz Morris, Mario Nunez, Joe Alindajao, Bryan Osorio, Salvador Solorio-Ruiz Council members absent: None
OFFICIALS PRESENT
City Manager Reyna, Economic Development Specialist Fernandez, City Attorney Vasquez, Finance Director Lara Rios, City Engineer Dowling, Chief of Police Nicholson, Human Resources Director Zamudio, Interim Community Development Director Evanson, Associate Engineer Nunez, Fire Chief Crist, and IT Manager Enriquez
PRESENTATIONS AND AWARDS
• Certificate of Congratulations presented to Delano Bengals Cheer Team Presented by Mayor Morris
ITEMS FROM THE PUBLIC
1. Anthony Cortez, 282 Shell Beach Court – “Today I'm here just to represent a couple of organizations that I want to make you aware of. One of them is Honor Flight. I don't know if you've heard of Honor Flight right now, I'm wearing a blue jacket. This represents the veterans that we take to Washington DC to see the respective memorials for them. The flight is free. The red shirt that I'm wearing is for a guardian. Guardian is the individual who assists the veteran on their trip. We have a lot of veterans that are wheelchairs, and it needs some help getting around. For the Guardian, it costs about $1,500 to go. I've been fortunate to go on trip number 47 as a blue shirt and I fell in love with the organization and I've been on two more trips as a guardian and I'm going on the second, my fourth trip in April as a bus lead. So they promoted me for some reason. I have no idea why, but anyways, I'm also representing American Legion Post 1 24. I'm their chaplain as well. And what we do here in Delano at our local post is we raise funds to not only send to veterans from our organization, from our community, not only Delano but Rich Grove, early Mark McFarland. We raised funds to send them, but not only that, but to also pay for the guardian's expenses.
And so I wanted to make you aware that we are having a fundraiser, the Albert Soto, on a flight memorial fund. Now Albert Soto, some of you know who he is. He passed away and he was supposed to go on, I believe it was flight number 50, and he passed away before that happened. And so in honor of him, we're having a fundraiser Friday, February 28th from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM It's dine in or takeout. We're having pork adobo, pancit lumpia rice. It's $20 donation. Tickets may be purchased at the Legion or you can call Rosie if you go to Delano Legion happenings. It has all the information there. If you want more information about Wonder Flight and what we do, you can go to Kern County honor flight.org and it has all the information there. It's a great organization. Kern County Honor flight is one of 128 hubs in the United States. It takes veterans over there and without our veterans, we would not have a country, we would not have the freedoms that we have today. So today I'm here representing them, every single veteran and so I just want to talk to you all tonight. Thank you.”
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 $3,064,363.83
3) Minutes of regular Council meeting of February 3, 2025 4) Minutes of regular Pension Committee meeting of November 12, 2024 5) Minutes of regular Community Law Enforcement Liaison Board meeting of November 21, 2024 6) Acceptance and approval of the City of Delano Quarterly Investment Report for the period ending December 31, 2024
7) Report on the status of the local emergency regarding the failed Well 22 located at 5th Ave. and Randolph St. pursuant to Public Contracts Code § 22050
8) Approval of professional services agreement with MKN & Associates to provide professional engineering services for preparation of the 2025 Sewer Mapping, Model, and Master Plan Project and authorization for the City Manager or her designee to execute the agreement (Agreement No. 2025-08) 9) Approval of professional services agreement with MKN & Associates for preparation of the 2025 Urban Water Management Plan Update and authorization for the City Manager or her designee to sign the agreement (Agreement No. 2025-09)
10) Resolution finding that a local emergency has existed within the city, authorizing contracting without the need for bidding pursuant to public contracts code § 22050, and awarding the project to JM Pipeline Construction Inc. for $350,000.00, and associated actions (Resolution No. 2025-08) (Agreement No. 2025-10)
11) Award of contract for special inspection services for the water tank coating project at Plant 3 & 5 to CSI Services from Santa Clarita, CA, for $84,150.00 and authorization for the City Manager or her designee to sign the contract and any other documents needed to complete the project (Agreement No. 2025-11) 12) Resolution of the City Council of the City of Delano approving the 2025 Edition of the Subdivision Standards as the standard specifications for new subdivisions and new improvements on existing facilities (Resolution No. 2025-09)
13) Award of contract for the installation of a new Ansul Fire Suppression System at the Golf Course Clubhouse to Ortega Concrete Construction Inc. from Orosi, CA, in the amount of $86,000.00, and authorization for the City Manager or her designee to sign the contract and any other documents needed to complete the project (Resolution No. 2025-10)
14) Second and Final Reading to Adopt Development Agreement; Site Plan Review No. SPR-2024-007; Conditional Use Permit Application No. 2024-007, and Exemption under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA); Applicant is requesting approval of an Ordinance of the City Council of the City of Delano approving a Development Agreement and associated land use entitlements for redevelopment of the service station and various retail uses (including a drive through/in restaurant) on the two parcels located at and near the intersection of County Line Road and High Street (Assessor Parcel Numbers: 410-020-03, 04 and 05) (Ordinance No. 2025-1356) Motion was made by: Solorio-Ruiz to approved items 1-14 on consent items; 2nd by: Osorio
Vote: 5-0
Ayes: Morris/Nunez/Alindajao/Osorio/Solorio-Ruiz
Nays: None
Absent: None
Abstentions: None
PUBLIC HEARINGS
15. Delano Area Rapid Transit (DART) public hearing to receive comments related to unmet transit needs that may exist and can be reasonably met
Staff report provided by Transit Manager Alapisco.
Mayor Morris opened public comment.
No public comment.
Mayor Morris closed public comment.
Motion was made by: Solorio-Ruiz to receive and file report; 2nd by: Alindajao
Vote: 5-0
Ayes: Morris/Nunez/Alindajao/Osorio/Solorio-Ruiz
Nays: None
Absent: None
Abstentions: None
REGULAR AGENDA
16) Introduction and first reading regarding an ordinance of the City of Delano amending chapter 6.48 Fireworks and adding Request for Proposal for Firework Show section Staff report provided by Interim Community Development Director Evanson Art Armendariz – “Basically I'm just here to clarify basically what happened last year. I just want to make sure that we are not hurt by the other nonprofits are not taking away their slots or permanent slots. So basically I'm here just to see that they're claiming what they're going to do is to clarify the proposal and leave the nonprofits alone the way they are right now. So hopefully that happens, and I've been doing this for 30 some odd years, so it's a lot of heat and a lot of fire, but again, you guys are doing a fabulous job of trying to separate things and then there was a mass confusion last year which caused a lot of hardship and hopefully this will get it clarified.” Mayor Morris: “And I believe Mr. Armendariz, that the says on your applicant organizations who are exempt from the fireworks lottery, our Babe Ruth Baseball Association and the Delano Chamber of Commerce.” Art Armendariz – “Good. I didn't get that copy, but it's nice to have that copy then I'll make sure we I get a copy of that and go from there. I guess I can get it online. Thank you very much.” Louis Linney- “I work for TNT Fireworks, one of the leading vendors in the community just here for a moment.
Shocked not to see that there's a three-minute time clock, which I won't take up anywhere near that. I wanted to express our appreciation to the council and the residents of the city of Delano. We understand that the ability to sell fireworks is a privilege not a right. It's not something that we take for granted in any of the cities in which we do business and we've been doing business with Delano with Art Armendariz for about 30 or 40 years right now and are very appreciative of that opportunity fully in support of this. I think it just clears up a little bit of a technicality, so thank you very much.”
Mayor Morris closed public comment.
Councilmember Solorio-Ruiz: “No questions. Just so I believe it was clarified of course that this policy does not hinder the grandfathered permit slots for the firework boots, which is great to hear and I know last time it was a little bit on the bumpy road in terms of how this was being done and so I'm glad that hopefully we're clarifying things and it's working out best for all entities and all groups, so those who have been hosting the firework show can potentially continue to do so of course through the request of an RFP process and so I'm in favor of cleaning this up.”
Councilmember Alindajao: “Thank you Mayor. I think the amendments, I just had a quick question on the changes to the ordinance, is that vetted through legal before it's brought to council. Okay. And then no other comment other than it's a welcomed change in the ordinance because of the confusion that we experienced at least in the last year or so. In terms of the RFP process, I think what's new to the ordinance? Correct me if I'm wrong, is the date deadline dates correct? Are those newly added?”
Interim Community Development Director Evanson: “Yes. The amendment in creating a separate category for lack of a better for the request for proposal slots versus the nonprofit slots. They have their own separate timeline set up so it adds that clarity of here's the ones that apply to the RFP process versus here's the ones that apply to the grandfathered in.”
Councilmember Alindajao: “Very well thank you Brad. Appreciate that. I have no other comments. Thanks mayor.” Mayor Morris: “Okay, I think we need some kind of clarity here because I think it's kind of wide open and I think here it's actually just separating both fireworks booth, so those people that are applying for the fireworks booth and those people that are applying for the show. Right. So there's two entities actually right now those that are applying for the booths and those are going to be a lottery except for those two organizations that normally have them, the Chamber and Babe Ruth I believe. Now as far as the others, they do have to get their application in my understanding is by the 1st of May. Is that correct? May or April. What's it say on here? I think it said May 1st for the RFP.”
Mayor Morris: “Right. Okay. And for the show, anyone can apply for the show, is that correct? Right now as far as the city, what do you guys think we should provide for the show in the past, I know last year we provided like 50% of what the cost of the show was.”
Mayor Pro Tem Nunez: “I don't think that's part of the agenda. Correct. So I don't think we can talk about it as far as the dollar amount that the city will provide on top of the RFP? Correct. That would be for a future item potentially.”
City Attorney Vasquez: “I guess I'm and mayor, correct me if I'm wrong, I think you might be referring, so in the new language it talks about the contract with the city for the fireworks show operator to enter into a contract with the city. So this would be a term of that I suppose more specifically that the payment the city would pay to this entity for conducting the show has the show, and I guess you're suggesting maybe there's some kind of cap or limit on the amount of contribution the city would provide.”
Mayor Morris: “Do we want to discuss that at a later time?” City Attorney Vasquez: “I think that can be discussed in the context of this because potentially there could be language in the section added that says the contract shall include. Right now it says at least the proposal says a copy of A, B, C, and D. It could also include terms of the contract or other commitments or information that need to be provided to the city as part of that RFP process.”
Councilmember Alindajao: “My understanding is we don't want to codify an amount in terms of the ordinance. So I think that's an issue that would later be discussed by the council in terms of approving as a council the monies that it's going to share with whoever the RFP winner is for the firework show.” City Attorney Vasquez: “Definitely more than one way to bake a cake. You could bake in a percentage. I mean I definitely don't think an amount would be good because that can change easily over time.” Mayor Pro Tem Nunez: “And we do have an item that will be coming up sometime soon regarding the dollar amounts. The city and all will be donating for all nonprofits, so I think that would be the proper time to cover that with everybody else's.”
Councilmember Solorio Ruiz: “But what you're saying Joaquin, is that it is still within our rights. If we want to discuss a percentage we can do it now. So in this policy.” City Attorney Vasquez: “You could and you could bake it into the policy or if you want to sort of fold it into the budgeting process in lieu of putting it in here, it could be discussed here or discussed as part of that budget.” Councilmember Solorio-Ruiz: “Thank you for clarification. I'd be in favor of not doing that, of just kind of taking this for what it is and then looking into that maybe later on. That's what I think.” Mayor Morris: “Think the problem was last year is that it was assumed that whoever was going to take on the firework show was automatically going to get a booth. Is that still correct?” Mayor Pro Tem Nunez: “That is correct. Now whoever does the RFP for a firework show will get the one booth that's set aside for the to put on the show.”
City Manager Reyna: “And if I'm understanding Mayor, I think the concern was that nonprofit even via the booth may not raise enough funds to pay for the show and so you're wanting to address that gap, right? Is there going to be a percentage that the city is going to assist with or is there going to be a flat dollar amount that the city would be willing to assist with? But council member Nunez is corrected. You guys do have the sponsorship policy that is going to be coming before you. It could be addressed in that sort of sponsorship donation policy or it could certainly be included in the item that you have before you.”
Motion was made by: Solorio-Ruiz to approve given language; 2nd by: Alindajao
Vote: 5-0
Ayes: Morris/Nunez/Alindajao/Osorio/Solorio-Ruiz
Nays: None
Absent: None
Abstentions: None
17) Discussion and direction regarding Food Truck Regulations Staff report provided by Interim Community Development Director Evanson Interim Community Development Director Evanson: “Good evening, mayor Council, I'm Brad Evanson, community development. I think we're getting a PowerPoint set up real quick, but yes, this is a request as was born out of a prior council meeting and out of also planning commission hearing to get some guidance from your GU persons there to help us craft updated regulations to govern food trucks here in the city. Right now, the ordinances in the municipal code, they regulate fairly precisely food trucks, food vending vehicles as they're described to be located on public property or within the public right of way. They do not speak in any detail to those located on private property and that is where we have run into some confusion and some conflict with existing businesses in the town in dealing with applications for food trucks. So what we are here for, as I said, the current regulations regulate public right of way, public property, not really private property. Existing restaurant business owners have expressed concerns over applications where there would be food trucks in close proximity to existing restaurants and what sort of impact would they have to parking in the community, traffic, public safety, that sort of thing. The regulation within the municipal code for public property covers the things you'd expect. Compliance with Kern County Health buffers between other food vendors and other existing restaurants or sensitive uses like schools and parks.
Regulations for private property operations are really just requiring a conditional use permit and that's not even really the correct thing as identified in the municipal code, but for lack of a better, I guess guidance, we've categorized it as a drive-through use for the conditional use permit process to give us some semblance of process in order to follow as we process applications. But with the recent series of applications we've received, it has become clear that we need better guidances on the details of how to regulate these. There are two basic ways that most cities wind up regulating these things. One, they do it administratively where it's considered to be just a generic kind of permitted use that operates within either specified zones or anywhere in the city subject to a special vendor permit or license that is depending on the jurisdiction, it's operated either through finance department, chief of police, city manager, and basically all of the operational criteria are established in that relevant section in municipal code often like the business and profession section or public morals and welfare, things like that. So those are all established in that and it's not really deemed a zoning issue, not a land use issue. Other departments do have input into the application like planning public works as is relevant based on the location and the proposed actual operations, but by and large, the criteria really set forth in the municipal code. There's not much negotiation or discussion that needs to go into it”
Councilmember Alindajao: “And Brad, you're saying that it's not a zoning issue when it comes to the mobile truck vendors?”
Interim Community Development Director Evanson: “Right now, the way the code reads, it's very vague. We do treat it as a land use issue. I'm saying that there are two ways that it can be treated. The first way is administrative where it's not handled through the zoning through community development. It's processed as just like a sidewalk vendor or any number of people that come in and get licenses from finance for whatever type of operation they want to do. Next slide. The other way would be to do it as a land use operation and that's where the regulations are located in the city zoning ordinance and it's treated as an actual use that is identified as being permitted, conditionally, permitted or prohibited in the various zoning districts throughout the city and the regulations specific to the food truck compliance with health standards, et cetera, et cetera, proximity to other uses, those are established in the zoning ordinance and then they follow through with the conditions of approval and it's done as a public hearing through planning commission, city council, that sort of thing. Next slide. In preparing for today, we looked at several other jurisdictions throughout the valley, Bakersfield. They do a kind of a hybrid approach. The primary application permit is run through their finance department. Basic operational criteria are established in the finance business and profession section of their municipal code. The land use establishes them as a permitted use within certain districts and if they're going to do a food truck plaza where there's multiple vendors that requires a conditional use permit from planning before they get their vendor permit from finance McFarland, they do a hybrid approach similar to Bakersfield except the basic application is done through planning. It's still not really a strict conditional use permit, but it's handled through the planning department because it just is a easier process. Shafter they are, their code is practically identical to our code. So Clovis near Fresno, they do a hybrid approach. The operational regulations are in their public welfare and morals code in their municipal code. Private property operations require an administrative use permit, which is an actual permit that they do have as a category in their zoning ordinance and it's like a conditional use permit light I guess for lack of a better, but that's where they have their operational criteria established proximity to other uses, hours of operation, et cetera, et cetera. Fresno, they kind of do a reverse hybrid of all that with all the operational criteria contained in the zoning ordinance as a special use category. But then the vending permits are issued by the city manager and with input review from planning from public works and other relevant departments.”
Councilmember Alindajao: “Brad, any of the other jurisdictions have the sort of the thousand feet buffer that Delano's current ordinance has.”
Interim Community Development Director Evanson: “They do not. I did not see anything close to a thousand feet.
The only one that really identified one, I didn't look closely at the buffers. I was just looking at just kind of the general concepts. But I do know that Fresno, they require 300 feet between a proposed food truck site in an existing restaurant or another food truck, unless it's part of a farmer's market. They don't do actual plazas, but they do farmer's markets and with the farmer's market permit they can establish what amounts to a food truck plaza. So that's how they do that. And basically next slide. I think that was it. Yeah, so basically that's what we're seeking guidance on is how would the city like us to pursue crafting an ordinance, crafting regulations to best regulate these uses to allow for food trucks to actually operate successfully within the city while still preserving and protecting existing restaurants, the existing business community, make sure that they do have a fair shot at continuing to operate given the seeming cost advantage to operating a food truck. One thing we did have a couple of questions that were sent in prior to today's meeting. One of the questions was what was Fresno separation distance, 300 feet between restaurants and food trucks. There was a request for, but the revenue take that the city gets and how many permits we have. We currently have five food truck permits active in the city. We get about 150 to 200 bucks in license permits every year from that. Finance department does not track sales tax revenues from each individual use though, because it's not one of the top 50 sales tax generation. So I wasn't able to get that information and with that STAs available for questions.”
Councilmember Alindajao: “And Brad, you don't know what the buffer zones are on the other jurisdictions? Or only Fresno at this point?”
Interim Community Development Director Evanson: “Right, yes, I'll get that tomorrow.” Mayor Morris opened up public comment.
Unidentified Resident: “Good evening and thank you for letting us speak tonight. We're a little new to this process in the sense of hearing from Delano's perspective, but I want to give you a food truck's perspective and from some of those other zoning areas that you're interested in. I think one of the misnomers about the food trucks is that it's like a side business or the drive-through business, which in reality they're not. There is a huge investment in the cost of going into these businesses. The average truck cost a hundred thousand dollars and the fees for those trucks are just the same as any brick and mortar type of business. We do have sales tax, minimum wage, the supplies, the revenues, all of those things are reported and all of those people get W twos. We have to report our sales tax, which we just did this last quarter. The other part of it is when we talk about the thousand feet, you shared that there's currently a thousand feet buffer between businesses, but you don't have that with your regular brick and mortar businesses, which also seems a little confusing when you might have subway right next door to the pizza parlor and why that business is okay to not have that same kind of thousand feet buffer. They're just another business making money.
Just because it's a mobile business does not take it away from the fairness of those getting involved. I'd like to share that my actual career started here in Delano over 20 some odd years ago when I started as the assistant superintendent of business for Delano High school district. And through that experience and the love that I had for Delano, my children also are RFK graduates of Delano High School and I was even part of building RFK, so that was very interesting for me as well. We talk about investing in our young people in our communities for future growth, but we don't want to stifle them in the process of, because your means of going to a food truck business is the way that you want to make and then certainly hopefully get a brick and mortar building someplace even on your own property that may be zoned for business. And if we have our own property that's business property and we want to put a food truck plaza or even park our own food truck there, as long as we're paying for all the regulations, we're making sure that we're providing jobs for people, we're making sure that we are meeting all the health requirements that that zoning requirement should be no different than any other zoning requirement. They want to raise their family here, and I've shared that with my kids as they've moved forward in their careers. It's a lovely town. They're very supportive of their community, they're supportive of the businesses in this community. You can see how they're growing and then also to purchase homes and things that move on. There's no difference with the property taxes that would have to be paid just because it's in a different location does not make it a business or doesn't make it not a business either way. It is a business with regulations that are just the same. As I said, you have subway right next door to the pizza place. You have Tarbucks right next door to McDonald's. And so I want you to consider going forward that please look at this as a total business buffer zones are not. I know in Bakersfield the buffer zones are the 300 and 600 feet, and so I just hope that this going forward in your discussion and planning that you'll consider this as a true business and enlightening your community so that they can also help with donations and supporting in the future as well. Thank you.” Mayor Morris closed public comment.
Councilmember Osorio: “Yeah, I think based on the examples that we've been given, I'd be in favor of a hybrid approach. I would also be open to hearing what my fellow colleagues have to say. I think the three avenues in which I'm hearing this could be designated to is through the community development department, through the finance department and through the city manager. For me to comfortably make a more specific direction, I'd be interested to see where the capacity is most available because if Ms. Rios is overwhelmed and we don't want to toss these permits towards the finance department, but again, I think just learning a little bit more about where the capacity is within our city staff would make me a bit more reassured. That's it. I do have one question, Brad. When these other cities are establishing zoning districts, the way that I believe we've been doing this over the last few years, the food truck owners or delegates have been asking for permission from the property owners and here if we establish a zone, would they have to also ask for permission from the property owner every time they want to move in separate areas? Again, I'm trying to understand because I believe it's fixed here in Delano the way that we've approved the food trucks that we've had, but if you can provide some more clarification there.” Interim Community Development Director Evanson: “Sure. First of all, to one of your earlier questions, capacity community development, we do permits. That's what we do. So we may as well handle it as much as it's more work for me and my staff that it's a land use because we're looking to regulate it on private property, so it becomes easier for us to be able to manage the process and integrate it into the rest of the zoning ordinance. The rest of the land use fabric of the community. So honestly, that would be where I would make my recommendation for it, but there are other options and that's certainly up for the council to choose as we get into that. From that being said, right now, the regulations in terms of, well, in terms of the thousand foot buffer, that is again for specific to uses that are operating on public city owned property. So that's a unique thing there because we don't have regulations for private property operations. Likewise, getting the permission from the property owner each time that's us. So a new application right now is treated just as a straight conditional use permit, so they do need the permission of the property owner where they're proposing to set up a shop. If they're proposing multiple locations, they do need permission from all the other property owners. That's just kind of how that works. One exemption to the separation from brick and mortar restaurants to food trucks that is consistent through most of the jurisdictions I've seen is if the food truck is operated by the restaurant, then they can locate it out on their property and it can be within that 200 foot, 300 foot, 500 foot buffer, whatever it winds up being. That's just consistent that if they're going to operate a food truck, they're going to do an express shop or something out in the food truck out at the edge of the parking lot.
That's a common practice and that's where we would make that exemption.” Councilmember Osorio: “Just a follow up there for the mention of public right of way, what does that look like?” Interim Community Development Director Evanson: “Well, the public right of way, that is, we have regulations in our ordinance currently in the municipal code that stipulate how long a vehicle can stay in the public right of way, how close it can be to an intersection and with the time period, how far away they have to move after, I forget what the timeframe is, but say every two hours they have to move to a different location at least 500 feet away from where they were. So they can't just move one vehicle length, one parking spot down the block and keep going. They have to actually move somewhere else if they're going to do that.” Councilmember Osorio: “Got it. One thing I do want to bring up is I was very interested in McFarland's proposal.
They announced it last month about how they designated an area where the city accepts applications. I think they were charging a thousand a month or 10,000 for a yearly permit. As we talk about this, it's something I think about, but also I'm aware about how the city is limited in areas to designate certain parts of the city as if that would be a zoning district. If we wanted to allow a section of the city, Hey, if you want to apply for a food truck permit and licensing, we designate you there. What is the viability of that in the city of Delano?” Interim Community Development Director Evanson: “Well, I mean we have the ability to craft whatever regulations best fit will be the collective opinion of you with support of staff and the community have what's decided to be the right move. It can be a case of, and some of the jurisdictions that do these uses process them in the administrative fashion where they're based in the finance department or something like that. They will, instead of necessarily saying that these uses are permitted in all C two or CG districts or something like that, they may say that it's permitted within these blocks of 13th down to ninth between Maine and Jefferson or whatever. Or they may say that it's conditionally permitted in that area or they're prohibited in this area. So doing an identified neighborhood and overlay district, things like that, those are options that can be considered as well. In terms of what would be best for this community, I mean there's a lot of different ways that I could go. I mean obviously there's out on the edge of the town, there's obviously a lot of undeveloped land that could easily serve for food truck clauses, but they obviously want to be located in where the action is. So kind of a conflict right there in terms of what they want versus what we might have to offer. But that's something that can be explored as we look into where are the restaurants clustered, where are the vacant areas clustered, where might an attractive place, a safe place for a food truck plaza go if the city wishes to pursue that and the city doesn't have to pursue that. To be honest, that's something that some cities do, some don't. We have a request for that right now, and so the city can pursue that as a part of this and make it a special use case where it does have to go through the rigmarole of a full conditional use permit, site development permit, public hearing, the whole nine yards. And then we establish the operational criteria to ensure that it's safe for the operators, safe for the customers, safe for the public, and that it does not adversely impact the existing businesses as well.”
Councilmember Osorio: “For that last part, how would we measure whether we're negatively impacting existing businesses?”
Interim Community Development Director Evanson: “Well, that right now, that's a question that the planning commission had in looking at the applications that we currently have in. And they requested economic impact assessments from the applicants that they saw back in January. And the idea would be to look at, I'm basically guessing what sort of business volume they expect to do kind of the ebb and flow of when their peak traffic is going to be, and then figure out based on that, based on their proposed menu types, how might that affect whomever is the closest series of restaurants.”
Councilmember Osorio: “Got it. Thank you for answering my questions. Brad. Just to finish off my comments here, again, I'm in support of a hybrid approach. Based on what you've shared, I'd be comfortable moving the land use approach towards community development or keeping it within community development. And that's it for me, Mayor.”
City Attorney Vasquez: “Mayor, if I may interject from the city attorney's office, just wanted to emphasize some points that Brad was making. So as far as just very high level, what are the needs here? What needs to be addressed? What? So if someone at this moment looks at the food truck regulations, I think it's really a snapshot of regulations. In the old conception of food trucks, there were largely servicing workers, but very street highway oriented types of services. And that's why when you look at the code now, it provides 20 plus regulations, including this a thousand foot buffer for commercial restaurants, 500 foot buffer for other food trucks to each other. Those only apply and we have this 20 plus regulations that apply for food trucks on a street or a highway or an alley. I don't know about a lot of food trucks and alleys, but anyway, that's in there. So I think there is a gap as far as any balance of public property, which gets into entertaining any kind of public property, having a plaza type situation.
So I think that's one gap, the bigger gap that's been more confounding for the city, not that these all can't be addressed at once, is when you look at what happens if it's not on a street or an alley, there are no regulations. It just says, Hey, go talk to Brad and get a land use permit. So I think part of what the direction needs to be determined is what type of review, how intensive review should that land permit have. So on the easy peasy side of things, it's just buy, right, basically it's essentially a straightforward process. There's no public hearing, it's just you can have it within these areas, but specific areas need to be designated private property area zones. On the extreme side of things is what you've heard, the CUP, the conditional use permit right now, it's been a square peg, round hole situation because without the regulations, staff has tried to use the drive-through regulations for A CUP that just aren't a good fit here. So you could on this, again, more extreme level of review, have a CEP process where if someone wants to go on a particular property that's allowed in an area that you determine you want to allow these private property to have food trucks, they apply, there's a hearing before the planning commission, there are certain findings that have to be made the public within a certain 300 foot radius get notices. People can come and speak at the hearing, and then there's a determination whether the permit can be issued and if there's an appeal, it comes to the council. So I think as far as the private property, we need to determine what regulations are in place. I think staff can mainly handle those, but I think direction on where, what zones do we want to see these on private property, and then also how intense a review for this land use permit do we want to have, whether by, right. There was the a UP administrative use permit that Brad brought up, which is a little lighter version in between by right and CUP and then the most extreme being a conditional use permit. So I just wanted to provide some shape to that a bit. I hope that helps. Thank you.”
Interim Community Development Director Evanson: “And if I may to further expand on that, one of the things that we would hope to accomplish with this is to establish a set of common operational criteria that would apply to, all right now, how we have whether or not they're appropriate in this day and age, as what team pointed out with the separation from brick and mortar restaurants, that sort of thing, having a set of standardized criteria that apply to all of them. They have to get county health certification, they have to be registered with the city. If it's an operational vehicle, they have to have the appropriate licensing to operate on the street. Anyone driving it has to have driver's license. All those standard kind of things, basic operational criteria. If we establish that say 300 feet separation from between food truck to food truck is a standard operating criteria, unless it's a food truck plaza, let's say something like that. Establish those standard criteria that apply to everyone. And then particularly if we have something that requires a conditional use permit that gives us the opportunity to additional conditions of approval to it that may go above and beyond those standard criteria. So if we have, ultimately if we wind up with areas where they're permitted by, right, say out in an industrial area where there is not likely to be restaurant competition, but they're likely to be able to have a captive customer base that might be a permitted by right opportunity where they would just have those basic core operational criteria to comply with versus coming into one of the shopping centers on Cecil or something like that where it would be those standard operational criteria plus conditions of approval that we would look at that are specific to that location that take into account traffic patterns, both vehicle and pedestrian. Look at what other businesses are in proximity and are there facilities available, parking, restroom facilities, trash management, things like that. So that's just an other opportunity.” Councilmember Solorio-Ruiz: “I want to start off by thanking of course thinking Brad and Danielle and the mayor who was present recently. We had a meeting with some local businesses who, some of them are present as I see in the audience who had concerns about food trucks in general. And so I want to thank you for providing direct responses to some of the questions that the restaurant owners had and us, and I know that I also sent you over some questions today as well that you did answer in regards to the buffer zones and also the different types of trucks out there. For example, I know that nowadays food trucks are being more modern and they're becoming more popular nowadays where it's not only food trucks, but sometimes they sell coffee or they sell. There's people who have, I don't want to call 'em food trucks, but just mobile trucks that sell merchandise or clothing or things like that. I think we need to keep that in mind. I think I would prefer this solely being on food trucks and not piling up mobile vendor trucks in general. That's just my 2 cents on that. And of course, I do want to thank the individual who spoke. I'm not sure if you own a food truck, I believe that you possibly do, but I think that it's important to acknowledge, and I shared this with the local business owners, is that absolutely your food trucks are a business. And sometimes that is the first step into owning an actual restaurant. And we've seen it here in Delano, we've seen it with ez. They started off in their own private property selling tacos and then now own two restaurants. And I think that that is a beautiful thing. That is, we are in America and we need to make sure that we we're allowing folks to own a business, to start a business and to build wealth. I think that that's important. With that said, I think it's also important to prioritize our local and small businesses. And so we really need to kind of, in my opinion, kind of all the middle in terms of this, where we both uplift our small businesses but also acknowledge that we don't want to abolish all food trucks. We want to still have some in the city because as much as there's research that there are cons, which are our negatives to have food trucks, there's also a lot of positives is the similar stuff for folks who own local restaurants owning or having a local food truck and buying food. From there you are literally supporting your neighbor. Similar to supporting a local business, you're getting food hopefully fresh from the city itself. The food truck hopefully is purchasing those items from a local entity. And so like I said, we really need to kind of work in the middle of this. I see that, of course Fresno has a buffer of 300 feet from a local restaurant. I'd be in favor of that. I'd be in favor of doing a 300 feet buffer from a local restaurant and 500 feet from the distance between one and another food truck.
I'd be in favor of that. If the council and my colleagues want to lower it or increase it, we can have that conversation. I also think they shouldn't be near schools because I think that also could, especially after school kids get out, it's heavy traffic. I believe another city had that component of not near schools or youth areas. There's also the possibility of us capping food trucks in the city saying, this is the amount that we will only have in the city. Of course, with the reality that we currently only have five, I don't think that's a ton. And with the growth that we're having in the city, I think it's okay to not maybe put a cap on it or we can, depending on what the council would like, lemme see. But I would say that it's also important to note that we shouldn't want too much government overreach.
And I say that with the idea, and I think you mentioned earlier, Brad, that if, let's say for example, the restaurant has a space in the back, they are allowed to put a food truck in the back to whether, and I've seen it when I go to work in Visalia and in other areas they have their space, but if you want to go in the back and in the back, there's to go orders or there's things like that. And I think that that allows for creativity, that allows for a good economy and good spaces. So I'd be in favor of that. So the buffer limit wouldn't hinder those restaurants who are currently established who want to have something, whether it's in the back or possibly even in the front of their lot if they have the lot in the space. I, let's see. I have some questions as well. So would current food trucks be impacted if we changed the policy tonight or determine how this policy is moving forward that have already been approved.” Interim Community Development Director Evanson: “Through the chair and subject to legal oversight From our good friends there in the city attorney's office, I would say that it probably existing permits would be grandfathered in. They would be subject to whatever operational criteria they're permitting was approved at. If they abandon those permits, like if they cease operations for a period of time and we can deem the permit to be expired or null and void or abandoned, then someone else wanting to reestablish in whatever location they may have been would be subject to the new regulations.”
Councilmember Solorio-Ruiz: “I know you mentioned this in our previous conversations, would you say that the way that we regulate public food trucks and public spaces, does that work how it's working now? And can that kind of also mirror into the private areas a little bit?”
Interim Community Development Director Evanson: “I don't know that we have many operating on public property in the right of way is another issue, but that becomes not overtly locational specific because the whole point is they're on a road. They can go from one neighborhood to the next and set up operation in different locations. But functionally that seems to operate adequately. There haven't been that I'm aware of many complaints about any operations in the public sphere on public property. The basic criteria are established there and the permitting for that is handled through finance. So it's just their licensing and the operational criteria of don't sit on one spot on the street for too long, comply with county health requirements, pick up your trash, et cetera, et cetera. So yeah, that can be adapted to the private property side of things with some creative editing, for lack of a better term, it's not overtly applicable because obviously there's not necessarily a case of restaurants on a lot of public properties.
There'll be some that are in close proximity, but regulating where someone parks on the street, they want to park a food truck in front of someone's restaurant. That's kind of mean. But it can be done. I mean, there's ways to go ahead to adapt that.”
Councilmember Solorio-Ruiz: “Okay. And this is more for legal. Have you seen any legal challenges of unethical or unfair practices that food truck vendors have they sued cities for saying it's unfair practices the way they're trying to regulate us or anything like that? And I asked that with the sense of that I heard recently from councilmen in the city of Arvin that they recently got sued because they regulated food trucks and the food truck vendors. And of course you can get sued for anything, but has there been any legal challenges that you've seen that stuff it's not justified or unfair practices?”
City Attorney Vasquez: “I've seen more in the realm of sidewalk vending, but not pertinent to food trucks.” Councilmember Solorio-Ruiz: “Necessarily. Okay, thank you. So with that, those are my points. Of course I heard my other colleagues mention it and I think that maybe we can have a further after the meeting. I was going to mention it and I've had a conversation with the city manager about potentially looking into a food truck plaza. I think that's a fantastic idea. I think maybe we can find a lot or a place that's kind of a little not so centered downtown where we can have those discussions. And of course I don't want to go further into that because of Brown Act rules and stuff because not specifically on the agenda, but that's something that later on I will ask to bring back on another agenda. Thank you.”
Councilmember Alindajao: “Thank you mayor. Appreciate it. I think the part of the issue that came before the council was an issue that arose a couple of years ago, and I think Joaquin sort of encapsulated it pretty well in terms of a square hole using a round peg. And it was using the conditional use permit via the drive-through sort of ordinance that we were fitting some of these food truck vendors, but then it was in opposition to the ordinance regarding the buffer zone and other mobile food truck vendors. So I think that's the issue before the council that we're trying to solve and striking that balance. I do recognize that there is a trend and I'm happy to see it. I think every one of us loves going to a good food truck vendor and having a great meal. And I know we recognize that trend, we welcome it to the city. But I think what we need to do is strike a balance between the food truck vendor and the brick and mortar retail partners that we have in the city. I disagree with some of the comments that were made about food truck vendors. I think they're not similarly situated. I think that the amount of capital investment brick and mortars make is sometimes can be exorbitant. The increasing rent or continued increasing rent prices for some of the brick and mortar are exorbitant as well. Utilities are expensive for brick and mortar buildings or restaurant owners and the larger staff that work at some of these brick and mortar restaurants are also disparate in terms of food truck vendors. And I think what the common denominator is in all these jurisdictions is that we all agree, I think that the spirit of the law is to protect brick and mortars and strike a balance with food truck vendors.
And I think that's what we're all struggling to do. But at the end of the day, I think every jurisdiction is looking out for the brick and mortar business and trying to protect their interests and balance it with the interests of food truck vendors. Now I had a question for you, Brad. In terms of the land use, you said your preference was a land use recommendation. How so would you strike the balance between mobile food truck vendors and brick and mortar?” Interim Community Development Director Evanson: “Well, I mean first of all, we would establish the basic operational criteria for the mobile food vendors in terms of proximity to other food trucks, proximity to brick and mortar restaurants, proximity to schools, parks, et cetera, sensitive uses. But it's less the idea of having it as a land use for the purposes of itself, but more the idea of having the permit process run through planning just from the sake of the question of does Rosa have the bandwidth or does Merriville have the bandwidth to handle those applications? It's just what planning does. That's our reason to be, is to process applications and manage the land use. So having that as a category, I think it also does help us in terms of if we are in the process of doing this type of ordinance development, if we are able to establish that within the CG zone they are permitted by or within the industrial zone, they're permitted by right within the CG zone, it's subject to a conditional use permit, then that gives us a standardized process that we can best explain to people when they come in to seek guidance on possibly applying to have a food truck. But the basic operational criteria would apply across the board. Hopefully they would be consistent to the greatest extent possible to those that are operating on public property. I think it makes sense to standardize those things. Public property, private property, ultimately they're all within the city. They're all going to have some type of effect one way or the other. I think for consistency sake, it makes sense to have them be consistent across the board so that there's not a lot of confusion over, well, which set of standards apply? Well why doesn't it here because I'm next door to the public property, why can't I have that separation instead of this separation or whatever.”
Councilmember Alindajao: “Sure. And in terms of buffer zones, I mean doesn't that depend on the density of the city and the layout of the city in terms of choosing what a good balance buffer zone would be?” Interim Community Development Director Evanson: “That would certainly be a rational way to do it. I don't think we've thought that far about what the proper way to do it is. I think back to, I'm assuming that a B, c Cal alcoholic Beverage control still does something similar to this back in the day, I know they used to issue alcoholic beverage licenses based on density of licenses in ABC. So I mean that kind of a criteria of do we look at density of food trucks in an area? Do we look at density of food trucks and restaurants in an area? And that can be an operational criteria that yes, it becomes, unlike the land use table in the zoning ordinance, maybe it becomes this use is a C with a one footnote on it means it's conditionally permitted, one footnote, unless there are more than five other vendors in a five block radius let's say, or something like that. I mean those are ways to regulate that and that, I mean, that could require having a business development consultant performance studies or something. I really don't know what the best course of action is for that depending on how the city wants to proceed. But there are ways to do that and that could be it.”
Councilmember Alindajao: “Sure. And I think I would like to see that as part of the equation to study that issue. In terms of the buffer zone, I think a thousand feet. I mean when you look at the layout of the city, it doesn't seem all that far away. However, I'd be open to discussing the buffer zone and seeing what would strike a good balance given the density of our city, the density of brick and mortar, the density of other food truck vending.” City Attorney Vasquez: “Licenses, if I may. Council member? Yes, mayor Council, just to piggyback on this point, I think there's also interplay between, so I think the two biggest questions are where and how. So where are they going to be allowed? And both of those questions are ultimately going to be answered in an ordinance. It's going to come before you, assuming people want things to go through community development. It's going to have to be an ordinance, a zoning ordinance that amends the code that answers the question. The first one where, so what zones? So if you put them in limited zones, then the buffers may not necessarily need to be as restrictive. So there's sort of interplay there. And then how is, if we have a bunch of operational requirements that are ready to go and easy to implement, you could just make it buy right or sort of a permit that is director level approved and that's sort of a low cost, easy less red tape approach. And then on the other extreme would be a CUP where there's a pretty ft fee and they have to pay for noticing, but at least there's more public input and there's a public hearing and more sort of involved. But ultimately it would be a zoning code amendment. And I would just say by analogy, we have been talking about drive-throughs. So in the zoning code right now, there are specific operational requirements for a lot of different uses. Daycare centers, auto shops, there are specific criteria for drive-throughs in the zoning code. And then separately, when you go to the commercial zoning areas, you see drive-throughs are allowed with the conditional use permit in commercial zones. So essentially we're going to have to do something analogous for food trucks. So we could establish operational requirements and we couldn't massage them based upon what areas you want to allow them in. But I think there is a little push and pull interplay between those, the where and the how.” Councilmember Alindajao: “Sure. And when we come back to the issue of fairness, I think that some of our brick and mortar businesses in my discussions with them in the past have sort of felt a level of unfairness because we're using that round pegs square hole kind of thing, sort of a back door to really circumvent the spirit of the curtain ordinance that's in place now. And so on one hand the ordinance creates a thousand foot buffer zone and then the CUP is being approved through the drive-through process, which actually doesn't technically fit. But in terms of that, that's why I think this issue needs to be addressed, especially with the city growing at the rate it's growing.
More food vendors are interested in coming to Delano. I think there ought to be a moratorium on CUPS under this section until such time as the ordinance is approved, changed past.” Interim Community Development Director Evanson: “Sure. And to clarify one of your points there, the thousand foot buffer does only apply to operations on public property. That's the biggest wrinkle with the code is that it does not specify anything for private property. And that's where all of our applications have been lately. So it just basically states get a land use permit from community development and that's the end of the guidance. So that's why we had to go to the kind of square peg approach because there was literally no other guidance short of, okay, we'll apply these standards, but we still don't, I mean everyone would say that that's not fair to require that kind of a buffer and how big does it get and all that.”
Councilmember Alindajao: “Yeah, that's a huge gap. I mean if it's not covering private property, and I think even to the extent that it may not be lawful. Right. Joaquin, in terms of the CUP.” City Attorney Vasquez: “That's not something I'd like to opine on the record. Thank you.” Mayor Pro Tem Nunez: “Hi. So I have a couple, got a little experience with this. My dad actually started as a street vendor, unpermitted Street vendor. He eventually was taught the right way how to do it and lo and behold ended up with a restaurant in 15 taco trucks out in the streets. Some of are similar to what we're talking about here that would sit on private property and others he had similar to what we recognize back from the construction sites where truck pulls up the truck, blew his horn, everybody ran out, got something to eat, and that truck had like 15 minutes and then it took off. Our ordinance currently right now is written for that truck to pull up, honk its horn, people run out, grab their food and take off. And it's not designed for our traditional, what we talk as our food trucks now because now we don't have taco trucks anymore. We have pizza trucks, coffee, you name it, they sell it all. So I think what we need to look at is two separate ordinances that we need to work on. One is to clean up the old fashioned one where it pulled up to a construction site or a business honked the horn people came out and got their food and that should be a ordinance on its own. Second one should be built for the ones who do want to have their business on a private property. No difference than a private property. I believe the private property should be using the land use process where they're required to pull A CUP similar to our brick and mortar businesses. Those businesses are required to have a parking. They're also required to have specific lighting covering restrooms, you name it. They have to have it all. So some of these trucks are wanting to do this. I'm all for it, let's do it. But you need to come in and do everything else. Our brick and mortars establishments have require the same thing identical. Get the owner's permission, make sure you have your workman's comp, make sure you not only have the city of Delano's permits, but you have your state sales tax and you also have the county environmental health. Have all those items prior to going to your CUP. I think we need to limit the amount of food trucks we have in a specific area. We also need to limit the amount of trucks we have in total on private property within the city of Delano and stay in the line with the buffer zone. Similar to what we have with our ice cream trucks. I believe we have an ordinance for ice cream trucks specifically talks about where you can and can't be, how far you have to stay away. That also goes in line with our street vendors that we have our ordinance. We just lasted earlier this year or last year in 2024. What areas you're restricted to, how far you have to be from an intersection. We need to cover all those areas. I would like to stay within the a thousand feet from a brick and mortar, unless you have established a permanent location, which included all your A requirements, all your parking, all everything that's required to have a regular brick and mortar location until those trucks or the, I call it the taco truck or taco trailer, until they meet those requirements, I don't think we should be issuing those permits. And I agree with council member Lin, how did we do a moratorium and stop issuing those permits until we clean up ourselves and get it done correctly.” Mayor Morris: “Thank you. All great comments. Thank you. Thank you all of you. I totally agree with a lot of what you have and I do agree a lot with what Councilman and Alindajao, how stated as far as the buffer zone. And we do need to protect our brick and mortar places. I think I'm more for the Fresno ordinances that they have for their city.
I'm not in favor a food truck plaza unless as all of you said, it's like on the outskirts or a little bit outside, but not necessarily in town. And so with that, I think there's a lot of, we have five permits right now and I really think we need to limit the number of permits that we put out there. Limit them to 10 or 12 within our city. Unless, like I said, they set up a plaza someplace, a little ways out, somewhere away from brick and mortar. And those are my comments. So I don't know how we're going to come to some agreement. I know this is a discussion, but we have to come up with some parameter today, is that right?”
City Manager Reyna: “Yes, mayor. And I think what we'll do is we'll take the comments of each of you and we'll see if we can't put something together that kind of firms it up a little bit more, gives it some more shape and then we'll come back.”
Councilmember Solorio-Ruiz: “Okay. As for council action, because of course we heard two folks on here who were in favor of a moratorium to stop the permits until we clean up the ordinance. And then of course, also I know council member Alindajao mentioned to kind of find out what an appropriate buffer zone would be if you can find that out. I'm in favor of that as well. And of course, like the city manager mentioned of getting a little bit of what we all said and maybe establishing the ordinance in that way as well. But as for a moratorium on future food trucks, until we clean this up, that does require a motion, I would confirm. Right. Okay. And by the way, did we have, I feel like deja vu, did we have or was it on the agenda before of moratoriums on food trucks? I believe Council Member Nunez brought it forward, but did we ever talk about it or was it just an idea?” Mayor Pro Tem Nunez: “It was a moratorium for sidewalks. Would this moratorium would only be issued for the food truck vendors because we don't have an ordinance for it, so don't issue anything until we have an ordinance.” Councilmember Alindajao: “Brad, I wanted to, just so we can get it on the record for this discussion, I want to also make some suggestions in terms of food truck plazas. I know Bakersfield does that or has done that on a few locations that I know of. But block H, I think the city still owns some of that land.” City Manager Reyna: “Counsel just approved the swap, but you do still have the area that was in green. I believe that's up by 11th. That's right across from the transit center.” Councilmember Alindajao: “It appears to be or can be at least within or outside the a thousand foot buffer. I think that's possible given that size and that length of the land. Another suggestion is for the city property that's adjacent to the police department. I know there was some talk in the past about potentially making that location a food truck plaza. So I wanted to just note that on the record. So that's something that staff can consider.” City Attorney Vasquez: “Mayor counsel, if I may, I just want to note as far as Moratoria and also with the Brown Act, so I think we have direction to bring it back because to formally approve a land use moratorium, there has to be a certain type of urgency ordinance that's implemented. So we can bring that back for formality sake and brown Act purposes. Thank you.”
Motion was made by: Solorio-Ruiz to approve moratorium; 2nd by: Alindajao
Vote: 4-1
Ayes: Morris/Nunez/Alindajao/Solorio-Ruiz
Nays: Osorio
Absent: None
Abstentions: None
18) Introduction and first reading of an ordinance amending Subsection 2.64.040 of Chapter 2.64 of the Delano Municipal Code regarding the meeting dates for the Community Law Enforcement Liaison Board Staff report provided by Chief of Police Nicholson
Mayor Morris opened up public comment.
David Vivas – “I am a member board of the community law enforcement, Liz and board. And yes, as the Chief just explained, we haven't had any complaints. And the only thing I would ask is I know that the pleasure of the Council, City manager, Chief of Police and the Delano Police Officers Association each appoints a person to be part of this board. The only thing I'm going to ask, and this was discussed at our board meeting, is that if you could speak to the person that you have personally appointed and ask if they are able to commit to attending these meetings. Because if we don't have a quorum then it's going to be that much longer until we have our next meeting. So four times a year is very reasonable. And so I know in the last two years we've had a few that had been absent consistently because maybe of a conflict in their schedule. So if you are going to appoint someone or have, I mean you've already appointed someone, but if you could speak to them if this is approved this evening, and just make sure that that individual that you appointed is able to attend these meetings. Again, four times a year is not a lot, but does take commitment. So that's the only thing that I would ask. Thank you.” Mayor Morris closed public comment.
Mayor Morris: “Chief, you have just special meetings in case anything arises, is that correct.” Chief Nicholson: “Yes ma'am. If we do miss a meeting for lack of quorum or if we have an item that is of urgency, we can call a special meeting. So it wouldn't limit us on having meetings outside of the once every quarter. So that's still unchanged.”
Councilmember Solorio-Ruiz: “Okay. I have one question Chief, is there also, I know this is one avenue for folks to make a complaint. Is there other avenues that folks can do, whether it's going to your office or what other ways can they make a complaint?”
Chief Nicholson: “Yes sir. So you can also go to the police department. Initially what we were talking about, they can go to the community law enforcement liaison board. They can also go online and download the complaint form and turn it in that way. Or they can simply call and telephone a supervisor. By policy and law, we're required to take a complaint, whether it's written or verbal, and they must be investigated. So there's a lot of different avenues of making a complaint and us receiving the complaint.”
Councilmember Solorio-Ruiz: “Okay, thank you. Yes, sir. And four times a year is not bad at all as Pastor Vivas mentioned and like we mentioned as well, no complaints is good, but I don't know if it falls under the board members, but I challenge them as well. How are they engaging with the community and inviting them to these meetings? I think I've witnessed some of them and you've done a great job running them as well and co-facilitating them and bringing forward different stats to hopefully uplift our police department and law enforcement. So thank you.”
Mayor Pro Tem Nunez: “Just thank you and thank the officers for doing a great job. I know that for all the years being out there, a lot of the complaints that would come out would be really, really bad complaints or unfounded.
And I know these body-worn cameras now are, when somebody comes in and has a complaint, you're able to take care of that complaint. Really good. I have nothing else and I'm all in favor of approving this.” Mayor Morris: “How do we get the public to know that this is available to them in case they ever need the service?” Chief Nicholson: “Yes. So that's one way is it's verbally stated that the law enforcement Lee is on board. It's also on our website that they can go to. And I think it's common sense if you will, that if you wanted to make a complaint against an officer, you would go to the police department, or at least telephone dispatch. Dispatch would get ahold of the shift supervisor who would then receive the complaint either in writing or verbally over the phone. It's on our website. I think it's common knowledge in the community that if you make a complaint against an officer, you have to contact the PD someway. Delano's unique where we have a law enforcement liaison board, that's another avenue for our community to make a complaint and not only make a complaint, but also a positive comment if they have one. So our complaint forms are comment forms. You can make a positive comment or a negative comment. So we don't like to use the complaint form verbiage. It's a comment form because our staff does an amazing job more than they make a mistake. So we have a wonderful staff and I think our stats over the last year and a half prove that I don't want to jinx ourselves.”
Mayor Morris: “Thank you for bringing that forward. I know you recognize your officers when they do good things.
We have good officers, so thank you so much.”
Motion was made by: Solorio-Ruiz to approve;
2nd by: Alindajao
Vote: 5-0
Ayes: Morris/Nunez/Alindajao/Osorio/Solorio-Ruiz
Nays: None
Absent: None
Abstentions: None
DEPARTMENTAL REPORTS
Departmental report provided by City Engineer Dowling.
COUNCIL STATEMENTS AND REPORTS
Council Member Bryan Osorio – No comments.
Council Member Alindajao – “I wanted just to mention a few individuals who recently lost their battle with longterm illnesses, who were, I think very large community members, contributed a lot to our community sports. Babe Ruth, Herman Santaella, who's the father of Officer Darien. Herman, his son is Darien Santaella, who's part of our Delano Police Department family. And Marty Evans, she passed away yesterday who was a longtime member of this community and used to work for me years ago. And I wanted the community to know and I wanted the community to pray for their family in this time of difficulty for them and keep them in your place.” Council Member Solorio-Ruiz – “Yes, my condolences as well for their families. Thank you for bringing that up, Councilman. I wanted to just thank the Public Works department. I know that they were busy giving out sandbags recently for the rain. And so I think how many were giving out? They were giving out total. 2000 or so. Over 2000.
Wow. So I just want to give props to them and gratitude for their efforts on that. Of course, not on the next agenda, but I know we've had some conversations here as counsel. But when appropriate to bring forward, to have a conversation on the Food Truck Plaza where we can place it at, where's the feasible areas, how does it look, how have other cities done it? That type of conversation. Similar as today. And that is all for me. Just thank you to city staff for all their work.”
Mayor Pro-Tem Nunez – “I was just reminded by my daughter to make sure that I say Happy Birthday to my granddaughter Teagan. Happy 3rd birthday. That's all I have.” Mayor Morris - No comments.
Motion to go into closed session at 7:43pm by: Solorio-Ruiz 2nd by: Alindajao
Vote: 5-0
Ayes: Morris/Nunez/Alindajao/Osorio/Solorio-Ruiz
Nays: None
Absent: None
Abstentions: None
The City Clerk was excused. City Manager was appointed as Acting City Clerk. City Manager Reyna and City Attorney Vazquez were present for item No. 19.
CLOSED SESSION
19) PUBLIC EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE EVALUATION - Govt. Code Section 54957:
City Manager (Agreement No. 2025-13)
Action: Satisfactory performance.
Motion made by: Solorio-Ruiz
2nd by: Nunez
Vote: 5-0
Ayes: Morris/Nunez/Alindajao/Osorio/Solorio-Ruiz
Nays: None
Absent: None
Abstentions: None
Moved for Open Session by: Solorio-Ruiz
2nd by: Nunez
Time: 9:45PM
Vote: 5-0
Ayes: Osorio/Vasquez/Alindajao/Morris/Solorio-Ruiz
Nays: None
Absent: None
Abstentions: None
ADJOURNMENT
Moved by Solorio-Ruiz seconded by Nunez and unanimously carried 5-0 to adjourn the closed session meeting at 9:45pm.
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Ricardo G. Chavez, City Clerk