MINUTES
CITY OF DELANO
CITY COUNCIL – REGULAR MEETING
November 17, 2025
CALL TO ORDER
Mayor Morris called the meeting to order at 5:15 p.m. in the City Hall Council Chambers, 1015 – 11th Avenue.
INVOCATION
Pastor David Vivas offered the invocation.
FLAG SALUTE
Council Member Alindajao 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, City Clerk Chavez, City Attorney Hensley, Finance Director Lara Rios, Police Commander Mendoza, Human Resources Director Zamudio, Interim Community Development Director Dowling (via teleconference), Public Works Director Nunez, City Engineer Rodriguez, Transit Manager Alapisco, Fire Chief Crist, Assistant, Police Sergeant Nino, City Attorney King and IS Coordinator Reyes
PRESENTATIONS AND AWARDS
• Mayor Morris presented the Recognition of Taqueria Tampico Restaurant for years of contribution to Delano’s Christmas Celebration
• Mayor Morris presented the recognition of Delano’s McDonald Restaurants for years of contribution to Delano’s Christmas Celebration
ITEMS FROM THE PUBLIC
1. Fernando Bravo – “Good evening, mayor Council. My name is Fernando Bravo, 1417 Belmont Street. And I just want to address the council today about maybe adding some speed bumps to the roads of Albany and Belmont were the schools from, was it Almond Tree? And then we got Fremont and these kids walked through there quite a bit because they come from those houses back west and I see those cars going zooming by real quick and I'm just concerned about these kids walking to and from school. And I also noticed you guys have speed bumps on Austin Street, Eighth Avenue and Ninth Avenue. Why? There's no, that's not a school zone, so can you please check into that please? 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 $5,309,354.08
3) Minutes of regular Council meeting of November 3, 2025 4) Approval to increase the Recreation Department salaries by $37,000 for FY 25-26 and $40,000 for FY 26-27 and authorize the Finance Director to appropriate funds 5) Second Reading of an Ordinance of the City of Delano revising Section 10.20 of the Delano Municipal Code related to Traffic Speed Zones on Dover Parkway between 1st Avenue and Woollomes Avenue (Ordinance No. 2025-1366)
6) Acceptance of the Browning & County Line Road Traffic Signal and Road Widening Project and authorizing the filing of the Notice of Completion
7) Authorize for the upgrade of Delano Transit’s dispatching software with Trip Spark for the fixed routes in the amount of $239,531 and authorize the City Manager to execute necessary documents (Agreement No. 2025-104)
8) Consideration of a Resolution Amending the Delano Commercial Business Façade Improvement Program to Expand the Program Area, Decrease the Program Budget, and Revise Program Funding Limits Per Project (Resolution No. 2025-83) 9) Acceptance and Approval of the City of Delano Quarterly Investment Report for the period ending September 30, 2025
10) Report on the Status of the Local Emergency regarding the failed Water Line located under State Route 99 (SR99) at 14th Avenue Pursuant to Public Contracts Code § 22050 11) Approve and authorize the City Manager to execute a Grazing Lease Agreement with +C Cattle LLC in the amount of $6.00 per acre for approximately 793 acres, for a two-year term with automatic annual renewals for up to four (4) years, subject to the terms and conditions outlined in the agreement (Agreement No. 2025-105)
12) Resolution approving the Final Map and Subdivision Agreement for Tract 7449, Phase 2A, with SJV Horizontal, LLC, located south of Avenida Castro, between Hiett Avenue and Albany Street, and authorizing the City Manager to sign the agreement and the City Clerk to file the Final Map with the County Recorder (Resolution No. 2025-84) (Agreement No. 2025-106) 13) Introduction of Ordinance to Adopt the 2025 California Building, Fire Codes and 2024 International Property Maintenance Code
Motion was made by: Solorio-Ruiz to approved items 1–13 on consent items; 2nd by: Alindajao
Vote: 5-0
Ayes: Morris/ Nunez/Alindajao/Osorio/Solorio-Ruiz
Nays: None
Absent: None
Abstentions: None
PUBLIC HEARING
14) Resolution declaring the condition of the property located at 320 10th Avenue to constitute a public nuisance pursuant to Civil Code Section 3749 and Delano Municipal Code Sections
7.32.010 & 7.32.015, ordering the abatement of said nuisance, and authorizing the City Manager to cause the nuisance to be abated should the property owner fail to do so (Continued from October 20, 2025 Council Meeting) (Resolution No. 2025-85) Mayor Morris declared the public hearing open.
City Attorney Hensley – “Mayor and Council, I'm going to step out for this. David King of my office will appear by video because I'm the chief code enforce enforcement person for my office. I have to stay out of this particular part of the hearing and David King of my office will advise on.” City Attorney Hensley left the council chambers at 5:24pm.
Administrative Sergeant Christopher Nino – “Good evening Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council. Christopher Niño, Administrative Sergeant with the Delano Police Department. Staff is recommending that the City Council move forward with the resolution for the property located at 320 10th Avenue. On or about May 29, 2024, the single-family residence at 320 10th Avenue was extensively damaged by fire. The property was red tagged on May 30, 2024, and remained abandoned thereafter. A Notice of Violation was sent to the owners of record on August 8, 2024, informing them that the property had been deemed a public nuisance and ordering them to abate the nuisance. The notice of violation detailed violations of the Municipal Code, including unlawful accumulations of refuse and failure to adequately secure the abandoned property. Administrative citations were subsequently issued on March 18, 2025, and April 16, 2025. On April 24, 2025, the City Manager issued an Emergency Abatement Order directing the Chief of Police to erect a temporary fence around the perimeter of the property and post “No Trespassing” signs warning of the danger. The City Manager’s order was carried out as directed. On May 19, 2025, the City Council held a duly noticed public hearing and adopted Resolution No. 2025-37 declaring the Subject Property a public nuisance and ordering abatement of said nuisance by demolishing the structure and cleaning/clearing the Subject Property of other nuisance conditions. In July 2025, the property owner caused the structure to be demolished and removed as directed by the City Council. However, the property owner requested that staff allow her to keep the vegetation, the wrought iron fence and the concrete driveway, in hopes that she would rebuild the recently demolished residence.
Staff agreed to this request on the condition that the owner reinstate water service to the property to water the vegetation and to provide staff with a contract or agreement with a landscaping company for the maintenance of said vegetation, and to maintain the wrought iron fence. Despite various extensions granted to the property owner to fulfill the conditions set forth by Code Enforcement staff, there are some nuisance conditions that remain on the Subject Property that the owner has failed to address.
Additionally, given the history of the property with vagrants and trespassers, allowing the wrought iron fence and the concrete slab to remain will attract vagrants onto the property, giving them a spot to erect encampments and create a nuisance to the neighboring properties. The remaining nuisance conditions that must be abated include: (i) makeshift fencing made from metal and plywood along 10th Avenue, dilapidated wood fence along west alley, and deteriorated wrought iron and block fence along 10th Ave and Dover St.; (ii) overgrown and dead and dying vegetation; (iii) incomplete demolition and removal of the concrete slabs and driveway leaving an unsightly appearance and an uneven grade that can result in improper drainage and pooling of water that can harbor harmful vectors; and (iv) abandoned shopping carts and other debris on the property. Photographs of these conditions are included in the agenda packet. On September 25, 2025, a “Notice of Hearing on Abatement of Nuisance” was sent by certified mail to all owners of record. The Notice informed the recipients that the City Council would conduct a hearing on October 6, 2024 to consider whether the Subject Property should be declared a nuisance and whether to authorize removal of the makeshift fence along 10th Avenue, clearing of overgrown/dead vegetation, removal of the remaining concrete slab, leveling and grading of the dirt lot, and removal of accumulated junk and debris as the appropriate means of abatement. The Notice further informed the recipients that, in the event the nuisance was not promptly abated by the owner, the cost of the city’s administrative proceedings, all previous code enforcement efforts concerning this condition of the property, and the cleaning, clearing, and demolition by the City would constitute a special assessment or a nuisance abatement lien on the property upon which the City may foreclose in order to reimburse the City for these costs. A similar notice was posted on the Subject Property on September 25th. This abatement hearing to address the nuisance conditions on the Subject Property was originally noticed for the October 6, 2025 City Council meeting. Shortly before the October 6, 2025 hearing, the property owner’s attorney contacted the City Attorney’s office to ask for more time to abate the nuisance. The property owner’s attorney explained that the property owner was still attempting to access funds in probate court to allow her to abate the property as requested by the City. He stated that his client had agreed to negotiate and enter into a compliance agreement. The hearing was continued to October 20, 2025 to allow time to negotiate and execute the compliance agreement. Shortly before the October 20, 2025 hearing, the property executed the compliance agreement, so at the property owner’s request the City Council continued the hearing to November 17, 2025. That compliance agreement required the property owner to abate the nuisance by November 9, 2025. As of the writing of his staff report on November 12, 2025, the nuisance conditions have not been abated, so City staff recommends that the City Council hold the hearing and adopt the proposed resolution. After the hearing, the Resolution will be posted on the Subject Property and mailed to all owners, mortgagees, and beneficiaries under a deed of trust, of record. In the event the property owner fails to abate the nuisance condition as ordered by the Resolution within 30 days of the date of posting of the Resolution (and also does not file a petition for writ of administrative mandamus in court within 30 days), the City Manager will be authorized to abate all nuisance conditions on the Subject Property.”
Mayor Morris opened public comment.
No public comments.
Mayor Morris closed public comment.
Motion was made by: Alindajao to approve;
2nd by: Solorio-Ruiz
Vote: 5-0
Ayes: Morris/Nunez/Alindajao/Osorio/Solorio-Ruiz
Nays: None
Absent: None
Abstentions: None
City Attorney Hensley returned to the council chambers at 5:31pm.
REGULAR AGENDA
15) Discussion regarding letter of support a proposal of a behavioral health program City Attorney Hensley – “The applicant first.”
Mayor Pro Tem Nunez – “Are we allowed to hear from him first? If this may potentially we can hear from him.”
Dr. Rama Yasaei – “Okay. Good evening. This is Dr. Yasaei, the psychiatrist. We were hoping to have the project of mental health for substance use and also residential substance use and intensive outpatient services for City of Delano because per study of Kern, BHRS, this is one of the cities that has no services in that regard. And we were hoping to have the letter of support for the BHCIP grant in order to just show the need of the city. And in that letter of support, we as I sent the draft previously, that there is no obligation by the city, no financial responsibility or anything, it just want to show the need of the city for the substance use to support the application. That's all we are asking at this point. And we wanted to hear the city's concerns in order to the program towards the city needs more than the previously. People just focus on doing what they want to do. We want to do something that the city needs more than anything else. That's why I am here.”
City Attorney Hensley – “Mayor and council. This was staff received the details about program last week and my office reviewed it because it is a facility that's larger than six beds being proposed. It does not follow, it doesn't fall under the exemptions of California law of not being subject to local government jurisdiction because it's larger than six beds. It needs to conform with the city's zoning laws and also get the necessary permits and licenses from the city. As part of that process, this project would need to go either if it's in the commercial zone, it will need a conditional use permit. It's not in a commercial zone. It would need a rezoning. Either of those could involve, well, a rezoning would involve the council being involved in that decision making process. If it isn't a commercial zone, the matter could get appealed to the council through a conditional use permit from the planning commission because of those issues and the fact that it needs land use entitlements from the city, I recommend against the city taking any position at this time because the council has an obligation to remain neutral on items until after a public hearing's conducted on a land use map that land use matter hasn't occurred yet. And that needs to occur before the council should really take a position on a project like this. And that's probably frustrating for the applicant, but a little bit of the cart before the horse, the applicant needs to have a property selected and go through somewhat of a land use process before the council can really weigh in as to whether it supports a project or not. But with that, my recommendation would be that the council not take any action on the request.”
Dr. Rama Yasaei – “The letter of support, first of all, the location of the project, yes, I bought the land based on the recommendation of the city because I want it to be somewhere that city supported and it can be moved. It's not locked in one property or location yet because it can be moved to any location. Grant doesn't. If the grant by state is being granted, it does not need the change of zoning or purpose or public hearing because BHCIP Grant has override that part of it. That's why I wanted prior to that to have a support of this work with the city in regard because I did not want at any point to bypass that part. I wanted to in advance come and have the support work with the city to do something the city wants because historically Bishop Grants, they don't work with the cities and at the end it doesn't become what city wants. I wanted to break that culture. That's why I want it to be in front. And the letter of support can be as basic as just showed the need of the city for substance use, not to have anything about the location or any specific, it can be as blank as we just have substance use.” Mayor Morris – “If they have any comment. Yes. So Councilman Osorio, I'm sorry, do you have any comment?”
Council Member Osorio – “Sorry, I just have a couple of questions. One is you said you purchased property for this?”
Dr. Rama Yasaei – “Yes.”
Council Member Osorio – “And you said with some communication with our staff around that.” Dr. Rama Yasaei – “Yes.”
Council Member Osorio – “Yeah. Ms. Reyna, could you provide an update on that?” City Manager Reyna – “It is difficult for me to provide that update council member because it wasn't with me. That conversation did take place with me. So I'm not sure who Dr. Yasaei spoke with. It might have been somebody in community development, but that's difficult for me to say.” Council Member Osorio – “Got it. Thank you. Yeah, sorry to place you in a hot spot there. Mark, my question is, I know you mentioned we don't want to give the position or present any position on this regarding his recommendation of it being as basic as showing that there are substance abuse issues in Delano. Is that still going into taking a position territory?” City Attorney Hensley – “I mean I have no doubt that there's substance abuse to some extent issues.
They're everywhere. So if he just wants a letter that there may be substance abuse issues in the city that need to be addressed, I don't have any issue with that. But that's not what the letter that I've seen says it strongly support this grant being awarded to address this issue for a facility in the city that goes a lot farther than just saying that there's a substance abuse in the city. If the applicant just wants a letter that says that the city's open to entertaining this issue and something very generic and non not really taking a position as far as where it would be located or whether it'd be located here at all, but just that you're open to hearing it, then that's okay. He has a right to actually bring forward an application through the land use process and do that.”
Council Member Alindajao – “So is the argument that the recommendation of the city is a necessary element of the grant that they're applying for? Is that our understanding?” City Attorney Hensley – “That's what the applicant is saying.” Council Member Alindajao – “So what if the city doesn't take a position? Like oftentimes we don't take position a lot of issues whether they might be local political issues, state issues, et cetera. What if we don't? But….”
City Attorney Hensley – “Certainly within your, you don't have to at all. I would be concerned about you taking one. Now legally that goes too far because of the land use issue, but you're not required to take a position if you don't want to do it at all anyway.”
Council Member Alindajao – “And so if we don't take taking a neutral position, what would be the correct procedure to move forward? We table this issue, how does that work?” City Attorney Hensley – “Think it would just die for a lack of a motion probably or a motion would fail.” Council Member Solorio-Ruiz – “Okay. Lemme chime in real quick. So what the attorney has notified us is that we must remain neutral because the process that you went through, it's not necessarily the process that should have happened and I'm sorry about that. But what I'm hearing from the attorney is that we must remain neutral in case this does go to the proper channels that it needs to go to in that process. And so as far as on my end can support or I can't support, nor can I support the project, we must remain neutral based on the recommendation of the attorney.”
Mayor Pro Tem Nunez – “I have nothing.”
Council Member Alindajao – “My position also is not to take position on the issue. I think there's universal agreement that mental health or substance abuse help is needed in the city. I think that's safe to say and agreed to, but for the city to take a position either for or against the project in my opinion would be improper. And so my position is just to move forward either without a motion or table motion.
Definitely. Thank you.”
Mayor Morris – “I think that would my position, for one, I don’t like the location. It's a street that everybody walks don't feel comfortable with that. Not to take a position at this point for me.” Council Member Osorio – “Just a last comment. No, I commend you trying to do this in the city of Delano. As others have mentioned, we know this is needed and we know that funding is required, but I think we're in a bind here with moving forward, but thank you.” Dr. Rama Yasaei – “But all this guidance was provided by you guys to come and stand here. If it wasn't legally appropriate, it could have been prevented.”
Council Member Solorio-Ruiz – “Real quick, one quick question to staff. Can the doctor afterwards, if there's a future grant or even the same one and he gets an extension, he can always communicate with staff on the process that he needs to do?”
City Manager Reyna – “Absolutely. Council member, I mean we're always a staff advising on projects, but many times the projects are just, they're at the very beginning, initial stages. They haven't really jelled there. They're not really formed yet, if you will. Sometimes they're very much hypotheticals or scenarios that staff answers. So it is best if it's going to be a project of a substantial size or amount or significance that the applicant get guided by maybe an architect or a developer or somebody who can help them navigate through the process. Because just to go into the counter and ask staff, I mean, you're just really dependent on who you talk to and how much information you provide as to what you're going to receive.” Council Member Solorio-Ruiz – “Thank you. And just to close, my comment is just thank you for the work that you do and the community and for the topic at hand.” Dr. Rama Yasaei – “Thank you.”
DEPARTMENTAL REPORTS
No items.
COUNCIL STATEMENTS AND REPORTS
Council Member Bryan Osorio – “I think similar to Councilman Alindajao, how I want to thank the city employees who were out there doing the parades, handing out measure B flyers, spreading the word, doing the outreach. And it's just a great testament to the work that the city is doing and the work that still needs to be done. Yeah, have a safe holiday next week.” Council Member Alindajao – “Thank you Mayor. Again, congratulations to the city and really to the community or the passage of Measure B without the sunset clause. I think wine penny's not allowed to ask for our community to help with important services in the city. So, congrats. Thank you. I know Council Member Nunez and the mayor did a lot of work in that regards. We appreciate it. Thank you for doing that.
Other than that, I have nothing. I want to wish everyone a happy and safe Thanksgiving next week. Hope you enjoy it and enjoy your family. Thanks.”
Council Member Solorio-Ruiz – “Yes. Let me see. I attended 25th anniversary World Harvest International Church. Their anniversary was really amazing. It was a lot of love and beautiful praising in the air. And so I know Council member Osorio was also present and I know the pastor did step out, but I just wanted to thank him for inviting us to that historical event. He explained about how he acquired the church. It's a quite funny and great story to hear. I also of course want to remind folks about the candy cane corner that's going to start up on November 21st. And so thank you to staff and everyone. And I spoke to some folks in the city who were like, oh, I helped put it and it was a lot. But I'm glad that we got that going and I'm really glad. I'm really excited to see that come to fruition. And then the last thing is really just I think the biggest excitement that we should all have, which is the passing of measure B. And so I want to thank of course anyone who was involved with that. As I've often said, and as many of the council members have mentioned, measure B is really what's going to sustain the city, what's going to help it grow our families thrive, our community thrive. And it's all thanks to the council, Council Member Nunez, who also led efforts, certain specific efforts, and of course everyone who had conversations about the measure and as well of course our DPOA, our associations as well within our city. And so that passing was just a big deal and I want to recognize that. So that's all. Thank you, council.” Mayor Pro-Tem Nunez – “I just want to say thank you to the staff. I've been driving around for past couple of days and our city's been getting all the rain that we really want in this area. And you see these guys, young men and ladies out there, they're working really hard on clogging waters and pushing water and getting water in the right places. We haven't had any significant flooding in our city. That attributes back to all the hard work that previous councils did with our City Manager and our previous engineers going down there and taking care of our issues. So when this did happen, we were ready and we can sustain it again. We always say thank you staff. Thank you staff, thank you staff. But today really showed it a lot.
When you can drive around our streets and have minimal or little flooding and the water's flowing really, really well. All of our holding basins are all filling up nice and neat. And so it's again, thanks staff for all the job they did. Thank you.”
Mayor Morris - “Thank you. Did I miss anybody? Okay. I too want to thank and I was hoping there'd be more public here. I think there's two guys here at the public other than the staff that is here. But I want to thank the community and say how grateful we are for passing Measure B, is so critical in our city. I think people are seeing or recognizing what that money does for our community. And I know that they see, they like what they see. So grateful for everyone who took part in that effort to get that passed. Some of us walked. Yeah, walked and walked even in the parade. But anyway, grateful to everyone and thankful for this community. We loved this community and we want to continue to see it prospering and grow. And just wanted to say skating rink opens this Friday. Have we done any advertising to tell people that it's open? It's going to be open Friday.”
City Manager Reyna – “We certainly have it on civic ready. So if you're signed up for notifications through the city's notification system, you've gotten a few of them.” Council Member Alindajao – “Oh, okay. Wait, have we got an increased.” City Manager Reyna – “Subscription? We have. We have. It's nudging up. Think we have, last time I checked maybe 165.”
Council Member Alindajao – “We can get that up into thousands, I hope.” Mayor Morris – “Do we decide on a price or what it was going to cost or what's the…” City Manager Reyna – “I believe it's $10. We go through Eventbrite. People can get online tickets.
So yeah, so there's no cash that really needs to exchange hands. Everything is done online and I know staff is excited about it. It is on our website, the city's website. We've had employees tested out.”
Council Member Alindajao – “Does City have good insurance?” Mayor Morris – “Has anybody skated on it?”
City Manager Reyna – “Yes. Yes. We've had a couple of brave souls that have skated on it. It's on 11th for this year. We're going to put it inside the 11th Avenue gym just because again, at the short notice. But that just means we have a project this coming year as to where its permanent location might be.”
Mayor Morris – “Looks beautiful in there. I went over there to check it out today.” City Manager Reyna – “FYIs is larger than I expected and FYI, the decorations have all been provided by the various city departments. Not a competition, but they have teamed up. So depending on which decoration you like, might be from your favorite department.” Mayor Morris – “Thank you. I'm sure it'll be a great success once people get a hang of it and go out there and know that it's there. And we can pass the word around too and let people know that it's available and open. And the hours are from what to what…” Transit Manager Alapisco – “I apologize. We will be having a temporary bus stop there so anybody can hop on, hop off right there. Well at least hop off because we'll be at eight o'clock.
We'll be a little closed, but at least they can get there and their parents can pick 'em up Wednesday through Sunday from two to 8:00 PM.”
Mayor Morris – “Saw, saw a big tunnel or something. They were up today. So they go, what is this? It's all white and something. It's a tunnel I guess that people are going to go through. Right? Totally. But it looks exciting, so I hope it's a great success. So with that, I just want to wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving. Happy safe Thanksgiving. And if we have nothing else, we'll do a hear motion please.”
CLOSED SESSION
No items.
RETURN TO GENERAL SESSION
ADJOURNMENT
Moved by Nunez seconded by Solorio-Ruiz and unanimously carried 5-0 to adjourn the closed session meeting at 5:55 pm.
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Ricardo G. Chavez, City Clerk