MINUTES
CITY OF DELANO
CITY COUNCIL – REGULAR MEETING
February 17, 2026
CALL TO ORDER
Mayor Solorio-Ruiz 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
Mayor Solorio-Ruiz led the flag salute.
ROLL CALL
Council members present: Salvador Solorio-Ruiz, Mario Nunez, Joe Alindajao Liz Morris, Bryan Osorio(arrived at 6:11pm)
Council members absent: None
OFFICIALS PRESENT
City Manager Reyna, City Clerk Chavez, Assistant City Attorney King, Finance Director Lara Rios, Police Chief Nicholson, Human Resources Director Zamudio, Interim Community Development Director Dowling (via teleconference), Public Works Director Nunez, City Engineer Rodriguez, Fire Chief Crist, Transit Manager Alapisco and IS Coordinator Reyes
PRESENTATIONS AND AWARDS
• Police Chief Nicholson presented the 2025 Delano Police Department Crime Statistics • Mayor Solorio-Ruiz recognized wrestlers Isaiah P Rodriguez and Jacquelline Demacabalin for their individual achievement, as well as the Robert F. Kenney Girls Varsity Wrestling team.
ITEMS FROM THE PUBLIC
1. Claribel Gutierrez – “I got certificates for you guys, so pass 'em all. Check for your name, numbers, please. Thank you, mayor. Good, good evening everyone. My name is Clara Ba Gutierrez field representative for Assemblywoman, Dr. Banks. And I always say I'm making my business to be in everybody's business. And the reason why is because I know I was going through my morning as the routine because yesterday was a holiday. I said, every time it's a holiday, ano always put their meeting to the Tuesday. And I was trying to figure it and I said, oh, the Robert f Kennedy's kiddos are doing it again, but this time with the wrestling championship team. So I made sure that I reach out to the coach and to athletic department. I'm like, come on, just keep me up to date. I tried to call Ricardo and he was busy and everybody else, but it's an honor and a privilege that you guys continue to put Delano in the map in a positive way and just being one year and to make sure these kiddos make it and beat everybody else, McFarleand, Wasco, and I was out of the city. I don't remember because I love you guys more. So, congratulations to you all. You guys are all superheroes in your division and your way because it's hard to be dedicated to something that is new and people don't say no. But I got two superheroes, well, including the coach. So, on behalf of my boss Assemblywomen, all the kiddos got certificates on their own division. And thank you for your hard work and continue to put the line on the map. But the mayor said, we have two MVPs in the house. And so, we want to make sure that Jacqueline, I don't want to butcher your last name, but we have a certificate of recognition for you for being the MVP and making sure that you show the rest of the girls that if you could do it, they could do it too. So they just got to give up and come and show up and show up and be people. Congratulations because Delano does the best. And Isaiah Rodriguez double, double repeating. And so, like I was telling this young lady, you guys are the superheroes, the ones that make our city better. Because if you guys put all the effort to do positive things, you showing me if I'm disciplined and I put my 100 in anything that I do in life, I'm going to become a champion. So congratulations on your MVP outstanding wrestling of the South Sequoia League. I know Mayor, I'm taking more than three minutes and I do apologize, but honor what honors do anything in my comments. I also want to recognize Eric Esquibel, the head coach for the girls on your first year. Look at how far you have been these young ladies. And I know it's not going to be just this team. Everybody else is going to want to come to Robert F. Kennedy because they want to be in your team. Congratulations. Oh, one more minute. Oh, last one. And I do apologize. So I had one for the head coach, Ivan Sanchez. He's not here right now. Right? But you're going to give it to me. And last, Ricardo, I do apologize for Adrian Hernandez. Thank you.”
2. Monica Garcia – “My name is Monica Garcia. I live at 430 20th Avenue, Apartment Number 824.
My concern is the homeless encampment behind my apartments. It's really bad. I've called the PD three times. They have multiple fires going. I've came home on my lunch breaks and they're out there naked. I have a five-year-old daughter and I don't feel comfortable and my patio faces the back area where they stay at and I could be on my patio doing laundry and they're riding, riding bike, yelling things at us. I don't feel comfortable there. And I don't know who else I need to call.
I've called, like I said, PD, nothing's being done. So I don't know who I need to talk to or what, but something needs to be done about it because it's really bad back there.”
3. Anthony Cortez – “Good evening Mayor, City Council. Anthony Cortez, 282 Shell Beach Court.
Last council meeting, there was a discussion regarding a billboard for recognizing our achievements here in Delano for our athletic department and band and all of that kind of stuff. It was really, really enlightening that we want to recognize just like we did this evening right now, recognizing these athletic, the athletic department and the students that are achieving such goals.
So, I was thinking about that, the sign and the billboards and stuff, which is a good idea, but that's only going to recognize whoever we put up there for that moment. And a billboard's going to cost some money. Of course, everything costs money and it's only going to be up for a certain amount of time maybe. So, I was thinking why can't we put up a sign like the high schools have that are lit up at night? And you could also put past achievements, present achievements, and those that are going to happen in the future. I think a good place to put something like that would be at the marketplace. We have a lot of people coming off the freeway, we have everybody that shops in that area and it could be changed continually with all the achievements, the years and what achievements and the names. So, I just thought that I bring that up. To me, that sounds like a good idea. I know it's going to cost some money. I don't know how we would get that money, but if we want to do something like that, I think that would be something that we can look into. So, I just wanted to share my thoughts with you about that. Okay, thank you. You're welcome.”
4. Roberto Ibarra – “Good evening. My name is Roberto Ibarra, Delano resident. I have one question regarding, well a few questions, but I want to keep it low. The water mills, they dispense water and they charging $2 five gallon, five gallon. And what's wrong with the city water? I was drinking my coffee with city water and I started getting sick on my stomach. So as soon as I switched the water mill, the bad thing went away from the stomach. But why is it that, where do they get the water? The water mills… where do they get the connections to the supply? Where do they get the water? And yet the city water is not even good for the coffee and not even for the baby formula. So what are we doing? Do they have better osmosis, reverse osmosis or better purifiers or where is their connections? Are they getting the water from the city and we pay our city bills, water bills, and on top of that we have to buy our water in order to cook, drink our coffee. I mean to me it's like let's dump the charges on the consumer. Everything we clean, we just say that we do the best we are. We can't, but we do not. And yet we getting nailed with more taxes, more things that are going up. We get notice from the Kern County that now our taxes going to go up. Now the trash is going to go up and it's going to be more on our taxes. We just got the letter. So where do we stand? It's coming to a point which having a house, it's not the socalled American Dream or it's just a heavy burden on my back. What do I work for? Nothing. I cannot even afford insurance. Health insurance.”
5. Pastor David Vivas – “The record. Good evening, pastor David Vivas, 925 Jefferson Street. First and foremost, I want to say that I'm very happy to see that the crime on many levels has come down here in our city. I know only in a perfect world, no cities would experience crime. And so we've seen crime go down across the nation, which I'm happy to see. The thing that I appreciate about Delano is that we look out for each other, those of us actually who live here, this is a city that I was born and raised in, and this is the city that I intend to live the rest of my natural life.
What is disturbing is that we see a rise in sexual assaults. Now, years ago we used to have the Delano record paper and anytime a person that was arrested, their name would appear in the paper along with the violation, whatever it is that they violated. Now, I know that some people say we shouldn't shame people. Well, the person who committed the violation actually shames themself. It's just being reported. And I really want to see this come down because people that are just totally out of control and we'll violate another human being. Unfortunately, our laws in California are extremely lenient due to the leadership in our city. I mean in our state, excuse me, over the years. And I really believe that penalties should be more severe. And if penalties were only more severe than I believe that we would see a decrease even in sexual assaults. But these individuals need to be made an example of. And so, I know that our city has passed measure I measure U, which and then now measure B and a majority of the measure B money or Measure U should go to emergency services, which the police department and fire department are a part of.
And so I don't know the answer, I have ideas, but I'm sure that we can implement educational programs for people that are violated, are victims and advocacy. But we just need to really crack down on these predators because these people are not decent. These people really have no place in society. I wish they can just live out on an island on their own. Believe you me, and I believe that God forgives people, but these types of individuals, they are monsters, they're animals, and they just have no place in a decent society. I want our kids safe in our city. I want the people safe.
I want our citizens safe. So anyway, but thank you to the Delano Police Department and the men and women who do their job in keeping our community safe. 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 $3,023,735.59
3) Minutes of regular Council meeting of February 2, 2026 4) Minutes of regular planning commission meeting of January 14, 2026 5) Minutes of special planning commission meeting of January 28, 2026 6) Minutes of regular Pension Committee Meeting of November 12, 2025 7) Authorize City Manager to Execute Agreement with Sun Life Dental Insurance for the City’s dental plans for the Period of March 1, 2026 through June 30, 2027 (Agreement No. 2026-08)
8) Acceptance of the Public Improvements for Tract No. 7449, Phase I, located on County Line Road between Albany Street and Ellington Street
9) Authorization for the City Engineer to execute an easement granting Southern California Edison the ability to underground electrical supply systems on City property for the benefit of the Electrical Vehicle Charging Station project at 1031 Lexington Street (Agreement No. 2026-09)
10) Acceptance and Approval of the City of Delano Quarterly Investment Report for the period ending December 31, 2025
11) Report on the Status of the Local Emergency regarding the failed Storm-Sewer Main located on 18th Avenue and Terrace Drive Pursuant to Public Contracts Code § 22050 12) Report on the Status of the Local Emergency regarding the failed Sewer Main located on 1000 High Street Pursuant to Public Contracts Code § 22050 Motion was made by: Nunez to approved items 1-8,10-12 on consent items; 2nd by: Morris
Vote: 4-0
Ayes: Solorio-Ruiz/Nunez/Alindajao/Morris
Nays: None
Absent: Osorio
Abstentions: None
Item No. 9 pulled by: Roberto Ibarra
Reason for pulling item: “I'm just curious about this. I don't know if it's going to be a mandate by 1930, 2030, but I believe President Trump annulled that. Now, as I understood, he's saying anybody can have their wish if they want to continue on their regular combustion engines, gasoline and whoever wants to have the electrical system can do so. Whichever. I'm just concerned if it's going to be so because I certainly can't afford to have an electric car. And many of the landlord residents, I believe we work on the fields and we are being…”
Council Member Alindajao – “Point of order. I think that isn't relevant to item number nine.” Roberto Ibarra – “It is not relevant. I just want to know if it's it's I'm okay with that. If you're not okay with that, that's fine with me. I understand that. But I just want to know if that's the case. I just want to know if it's going to be the case for us in Delano that no mandates on.” City Manager Reyna – “That? Honorable mayor is the question. Does Delano have to comply on a national level, a state level?”
Mayor Solorio-Ruiz – “I'm not. I think we should just get the staff report and then we'll move on. Please come forward.”
Staff report provide by City Engineer Rodriguez.
Council Member Alindajao – “Yeah, you don't have a citizen asking me questions about the chargers? These chargers here right On Lexington?”
City Engineer Rodriguez – “Correct.”
Council Member Alindajao – “And will those be universal chargers? I guess those can charge any type of vehicle or how does those work?”
City Engineer Rodriguez – “I want to say they're level two, but yeah, I'm getting a thumbs up from Pedro, so I'm going to say yes.”
Council Member Alindajao – “And do you know how soon they'll be operational?” City Engineer Rodriguez – “Once we get this easement? I think we need to get on Edison's schedule, but we already have a work order open, so could be months, hopefully sooner.” Motion was made to approved item no. ___ by: Nunez;
2nd by: Alindajao
Vote: 4-0
Ayes: Solorio-Ruiz/Nunez/Alindajao/Morris
Nays: None
Absent: Osorio
Abstentions: None
PUBLIC HEARINGS
13) Resolution of Initiation of Annexation and Pre-Zoning Ordinance related to PreZoning Application No. 25-0002. A request to (i) pre-zone an approximately 122.49- acre property (Assessor Parcel Numbers: 521-120-14 and 521-120-15)from the Kern County Exclusive Agriculture (A) zoning district to the City of Delano Industrial (I) zoning district. Staff has determined the project to be exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (“CEQA”) pursuant to Section 15183 of the CEQA Guidelines (Projects Consistent with a Community Plan, General Plan, or Zoning) Mayor Solorio-Ruiz announced that matter will be tabled.
Interim Community Development Director Dowling – “Honorable. Mayor, quick question for you. This is Roman. Yes. Could we request that it be continued to the March 16 meeting if possible.” Motion was made to continue item to March 16, 2026 Council Meeting made by: Solorio-Ruiz; 2nd by: Alindajao
Vote: 4-0
Ayes: Solorio-Ruiz/Nunez/Alindajao/Morris/Osorio
Nays: None
Absent: None
Abstentions: None
14) Ordinance and Urgency Ordinance Amending Delano Municipal Code (“DMC”) Chapter
6.25 (Business Regulations) to Establish a Permitting Process for Food Trucks on Private Property, Update Food Vending Permit Requirements, and Amending DMC Sections
20.5.30 (Commercial Use Regulations) and 20.6.30 (Use Regulations for Employment Districts) to Include Food Truck Operations on Private Property as an Allowable Use in Industrial, Neighborhood Commercial, and General Commercial Zones; Resolution Establishing Application and Renewal Fees for Food Truck Permits Staff report provided by Interim Community Development Director Dowling.
Mayor Solorio-Ruiz opened public comment.
Roberto Ibarra – “I hope you be patient with me. Robert, I just want to be clarified this because it's saying about vehicle bending. That's what I understand. I understood vehicle bending, but why we having these people having bending food on garage's? Driveways or on the corners, is that allowed? I don't know.
That's why I'm confused because it says about vehicle, but yet I see people putting taco stands on the garage driveways. And so where do we stand? That was my question. I personally don't like to see people having their vendings on, well, this corner, this was not profitable. I'm going to go to another corner and a driveway and then right at the cemetery and what is the 13th avenue also. And so where do we stand now? He's talking about the vehicle vending, not stationary. So I want to see what the clarification is there. Thank you.”
Mayor Solorio-Ruiz closed public comment.
Council Member Alindajao – “I think to Mr. I, Barrow's point, Roman, I don't know if you can answer this question or not. I think he's bringing up a good point there. These permit food truck vendor permits, they're not able to, those permits are for a particular location or can they move about the city on one permit or how does that work?”
Interim Community Development Director Dowling – “Yes sir, they are. For a particular location, again, that location would be, it would have to be in the industrial zone, the general commercial zone or the neighborhood commercial zone. And again, within 500 feet of any existing restaurant. So when somebody comes with an application, it would have to be an existing business that has a developed lot, a paved lot of course. And that is within those zones and that meets that buffer regulation. So, it is very stationary for private property because of that. And again, it's going to be very limited once you establish one. As we went over the maps in the past, it's a very limited location.” Council Member Alindajao – “From, another question has to do with sales tax regulation. I'm just curious about that. I assume that food truck vendors are subject to city sales tax, correct?” Interim Community Development Director Dowling – “Yes sir. So when the finance department takes in the business license application, a seller's permit is required. Obviously, the city business license will take into account a fee from their sales. And again, that will be part of the process.” Council Member Alindajao – “Is that monitored? How does the city get some indication that they had sales and did they have to report sales to the city finance department? How does that work?” Interim Community Development Director Dowling – “I will leave that to the finance director. And again, this is every a two year process, so I'm not sure Ms. Rosa monitors that.” Council Member Alindajao – “Hi Rosa.”
Finance Director Rios – “No worries. So when it comes down to this regulation, there is no requirement that the business actually submits a sales tax report to the city. We can as the city go online and check to see if they filed the required reports. We also work with Avenue Sales Tax and they also are helping and monitoring that the businesses that are working in Delano are submitting the reportable sales tax.” Council Member Alindajao – “Wouldn't it be a good idea to require them to report sales to the city rather than on our own, go and see if they've reported their appropriate paperwork and whatnot. Why not make that part of the permitting process? To me, that would make more sense. It's almost like the coyote guarding the hen house.”
Mayor Pro Tem Nunez – “And I don't know if we require other businesses to do that as well.” Council Member Alindajao – “Well, I guess the transient nature of food trucks is what my concern is. I mean the brick and mortar, they're, they're not going anywhere necessarily, but…” Finance Director Rios – “We do currently require it for the fireworks boots. So we can, if that's what council chooses.”
City Manager Reyna – “As the council member stated, we do receive that for the regular brick and mortar businesses because they're required in, I mean, they're more regulated in nature. The food trucks are not as much because obviously they could work one day this week, maybe not work for the next three weeks. I mean, it's just a little bit more transient. They could be up and running as a startup business for three months and then they could close. So it's much more flighty.” Council Member Alindajao – “And I think you're almost making my argument in terms of self-reporting.” City Manager Reyna – “If council would like to include that, we can certainly include that in the process that they're required. And then of course we would have to make sure that we're able to enforce that. And if they're not going to be in compliance, then we can revoke.” Council Member Alindajao – “Right. If they're not submitting the reports, I can imagine folks pulling permits from out of town or whatnot, we don't know much about them. They may make significant amount of profits that the city isn't regulating or subject to sales tax. And that would be my consider.” City Manager Reyna – “Well, and many times we know that food trucks are the beginning sometimes of a business. Sometimes they try the food truck avenue and if they're prosperous, then sometimes we'll see them as a brick and mortar if they're successful and sometimes they try it and they doesn't work and then we don't see them again. So very oftentimes they do turn into regular businesses.” Council Member Alindajao – “And so does that come by way of motion if we're going to amend this to the ordinance or how does that work? If we were to move in that direction.” Assistant City Attorney King – “Mr. Mayor, members of the council, I would recommend that that we fold that in. If that's the council's desire, it would just be part of the motion and then we can add it to the ordinance. And then there's an urgency ordinance and a regular ordinance in front of the council. So, we can specify that in the urgency ordinance and the regular ordinance. And the regular ordinance would come back for a second reading at the next meeting.”
Council Member Alindajao – “And I'll submit that issue to the mayor if we want to have a discussion on the council about that amendment or addition. I'd love to have a conversation. I think it makes sense, especially with those kinds of transitory type businesses that they should be required. I don't think it's asking a lot or the burden is heavy on that business to report what kind of sales they're making to the city so that they can pay the appropriate taxes.”
Assistant City Attorney King – “And I think one question that I have was how often the council would want them to report, and I don't know if Rosa would want to weigh on that as well, but it'd be helpful to get clarity on how often we would expect them to report.” Council Member Alindajao – “And again, I don't want to make it burdensome, but at the same time, for some business it may be difficult for others, it might not be difficult, but perhaps a quarterly reporting I think would be doable when most businesses, but again, I'll open up, submit that to the Mayor, we can have a discussion about it.”
Council Member Osorio arrived at 6:11pm.
Mayor Solorio-Ruiz – “Are those conclude your comments? Yes. Okay. Thank you. We will move on to Council member Osorio. Thank you for joining us.”
Council Member Osorio – “Yeah, sorry folks. We're running late. Well, I think I made my position clear at a previous meeting where I feel like this is still a bit limiting for food vendors who want to start up their mobile station or mobile food truck. I do appreciate the efforts that staff went into researching and the multiple preparation and the meetings that went into that for the council to consider this. Regarding the specific suggestion, Councilman Lin, how I would say, yeah, maybe I was going to, before you made a recommendation, I was thinking maybe aligning it with a fiscal year reporting as it's not going to imagine factor. If it hasn't been factored in already, it's not going to factor significantly. But as we review the next biannual budget or do a semiannual or an annual review of the budget, I think it'd be good to have in hand those numbers in whatever sense it makes to our finance director.” Council Member Morris – “This is going to be a, because food vending is just really actually really just starting up. We don't know how big this good money is really going to get. I perceive that this ordinance is probably continually be evolving all the time because there's always going to be some changes made or that need to be changed. So, for now though, I'm good with what we have or what they presented. Thank you.”
Mayor Pro Tem Nunez – “I'm also good with what was provided by the city staff with the urgency and with the current fees provided and with an additional of the, when they renew or when they initially, or actually when they renew, they just do their reporting at that portion to it. Other than that, it's good to go for me.”
Mayor Solorio-Ruiz – “Okay. So when they renew, we have one temperature of when they renew, they report the sales tax every two years. Would that line up with fiscally or…” Council Member Alindajao – “I think as a former business owner for about 20 years, it makes more sense to know what you need to pay when the going is good. So, if we're in a quarter reporting system and you have so many profits, I think it's much easier for a business to set aside that money or city sales tax at that time rather than having to go back a year or two years and then tally it all up. I don't know. What if they were managing their business well, they stayed for any day or whatnot, they may not have the money to pay the city, the sales stack that's owned. Another issue is that oftentimes brick and mortar businesses often complain about, we're not treated equally with food truck vendors a lot of times, well, they get to do this and they do that. They're not subject to these fees that we are and the taxes, insurance and whatnot.
And I think here's another, I think loophole where a business is going to be able, or a truck business might be able to maybe not be so honest with the profits that's making the taxes. That's subject to where brick and mortars are having to report what every…”
Finance Director Rios – “The sales tax is reported on a quarterly basis. The state, it would be the same.” Council Member Alindajao – “Right. So why wouldn't the food truck vendors be the same? There's no reason for that.”
Mayor Pro Tem Nunez – “Do they report to us on a quarterly basis or to the state and we just get our yearly.”
Finance Director Rios – “To the state.”
Mayor Pro Tem Nunez – “So if we did ours just on the renewals, they all already reported and they've been paying the state during this entire time, correct?” Finance Director Rios – “They would have, yes. So, they would have the figures already too, but…” Mayor Pro Tem Nunez – “Our renewal, we would just need to show proof that they have been doing it when they renew with us or if they're in existing, they have something to show the startup. Correct.” Finance Director Rios – “Correct.”
Mayor Solorio-Ruiz – “Thank you, Rosa. Okay. So do we have to do this on two separate ones for the urgency ordinance and the regular ordinance?”
Assistant City Attorney King – “No, it can be one. Mr. Mayor, I will note that the urgency ordinance requires four fifths vote of the council. So four of you would have to agree on the language in order for that to be part of the urgency ordinance. The regular ordinance is just a majority three out of five, but for the urgency it would have to be four. So if there's a consensus among the council as to what you want to do, just let us know.”
Mayor Solorio-Ruiz – “Okay, thank you. And I guess just my comments, I'll keep it short. I think this has been a long conversation in regards to this. This is not the first time we talk about it. And overall I think it's a good policy and limiting, but also allowing and regulating, which is the role of government, which is important. So I will entertain a motion.”
Council Member Alindajao – “So Mayor, I'll make a motion to adopt the regular ordinance with the amendment of requiring food truck vendors to report quarterly sales proceeds, but they might be subject to the city sales tax. Yeah.”
Motion was made to approve introduction and first reading of ordinance with the amendment of requiring food truck vendors to report quarterly sales proceeds by: Alindajao; 2nd by: Morris
Vote: 4-1
Ayes: Solorio-Ruiz/Nunez/Alindajao/Morris
Nays: Osorio
Absent: None
Abstentions: None
Assistant City Attorney King – “And that was for the regular ordinance, correct? Correct. Okay. Yeah.
And just looking at the ordinance, Mr. Mayor, members of the council, there's a couple sections that deal with application requirements for the permits. So I would recommend that that language go into those sections. It's 6.25.080, and 6.25.105. For both of those permits, staff can add that language to the regular ordinance. Okay.”
Mayor Solorio-Ruiz – “Does that require a motion?”
Assistant City Attorney King – “No, I just sort of Okay. Clarifying to the council where that language will be.”
Mayor Solorio-Ruiz – “Thank you for that clarification.” Assistant City Attorney King – “Absolutely. Okay.”
Mayor Solorio-Ruiz – “We will move on to item number 15.” Mayor Pro Tem Nunez – “We have a second motion?”
Mayor Solorio-Ruiz – “Correct. Oh, okay. So we have the urgency one.” Assistant City Attorney King – “Right? So I think.”
Mayor Solorio-Ruiz – “I thought we could have included that.” Assistant City Attorney King – “I think the motion only included the regular ordinance.” Mayor Solorio-Ruiz – “Okay. Okay. It was only included the regular ordinance. So now we've got to do the urgency.”
Assistant City Attorney King – “Urgency. Urgency. Correct. Okay.” Mayor Solorio-Ruiz – “Motion to approve the urgency portion. We first, second we have a second.” Assistant City Attorney King – “And just for the clarification with the added.” Mayor Solorio-Ruiz – “Added verbiage of the sales tax, same thing.” Motion was made to approve urgency ordinance with the amendment of requiring food truck vendors to report quarterly sales proceeds by: Nunez;
2nd by: Alindajao
Vote: 4-1
Ayes: Solorio-Ruiz/Nunez/Alindajao/Morris
Nays: Osorio
Absent: None
Abstentions: None
Motion was made to approve resolution by: Nunez;
2nd by: Alindajao
Vote: 4-1
Ayes: Solorio-Ruiz/Nunez/Alindajao/Morris
Nays: Osorio
Absent: None
Abstentions: None
REGULAR AGENDA
15) Introduction and first reading of an ordinance amending Chapter 7.32 (Property Maintenance and Nuisance Abatement) of the Delano Municipal Code and finding the ordinance exempt from review under the California Environmental Quality Act Police Chief Nicholson provided the staff report.
Mayor Solorio-Ruiz opened public comment.
No public comments.
Mayor Solorio-Ruiz closed public comment.
Council Member Osorio – “Yeah, thanks Chief. I appreciate the initiative to align our municipal code with state and case law. I think my primary question is a few years ago when we increased code enforcement at first to two and there was this perception about the city going after folks, and then we had a presentation about how that wasn't the case. That code enforcement response to calls on a case by case basis with this implementation. I think the line item or the line that stood out to me was that there was going to be an expansion of enumerated nuisance conditions from 12 to more than 50, which is, of course here states that it's more helpful because it's specific and guides the conditions for code enforcement to do their job. My question is more so about perception, about how we're going to go about implementing the changes related to the additional nuisance conditions. So, it's not like the council here or myself here from community members, like why am I getting ticketed or warned about X, Y, and Z when we weren't before? But as you mentioned, it aligns with case and state law. But from your perception, from your understanding, how you see this playing out, what's the reassurance we can give to community that it's not to go after people who are maybe more inclined to have lesser, to put it delicately, how it would be not targeted towards more low income areas or areas that may not have the budget to address some of these conditions?”
Police Chief Nicholson – “Well, sir, certainly the municipal code doesn't give direction to staff to go after a certain part of town or somebody that may have trouble paying their bills or enforcing on the east side or not the west side. So it's certainly just aligning itself with the current state standards. For one, it provides detailed addressing the over approximately 50 different public nuisance statutes that we could actually go after. If there was a violation, it sets out a structured outline of violations versus the 12 that could be misconstrued or not defined very clearly. Again, this was written in 1989. Obviously we have to keep up with current laws, current technology, everything that we would run into if we were out there trying to enforce something with a statute or a municipal code that was written over 35 years ago. So we have to keep up with current industry standards and obviously it's not going after a certain part of town or economic status of a certain individual in our community. It's simply aligning our code with current standards, current state law, and the best practices of code enforcement as far as the code enforcement personnel. We're not going to increase the number of officers to go out and enforce the new code. There's no plan to increase the staffing level of our code enforcement officers to go cite more people. So hopefully that answers your question.”
City Manager Reyna – “Council member, if I could add to you, I think this provides more clarity to the staff because as in any case, staff changes. There's staff turnover. So, when you have 12 that are somewhat vague and ambiguous, the way Mr. King interprets one of them could be completely different the way I interpret another. So that allows for inconsistency amongst enforcement in the community. The way the chief would approach the problem would be different than the way I would see it. So, I think getting to more specific and maybe better laid out just clarifies the guidance to the staff who's actually going to be interpreting it and enforcing it.”
Council Member Osorio – “Yeah, no, and I agree with that approach that the specificity will remove any potential bias or different interpretation of any general code. So, thank you. My next question is, are there, from this expanded list, are there any anticipated areas where you may expect, I know you mentioned it's not going to dramatically increase the number of citations or violations, but is there any particular conditions that from this expanded list you anticipate we would see an increase in?” Police Chief Nicholson – “None off the, again, like the City Manager explained, it's just providing clarity with the expanded list and it provides our staff with a clear direction of what a violation is versus something that's ambiguous or not… it's vague. It provides not only just our staff, but administratively when it goes to hearings, it's much more clear towards the hearing officer or the City Manager or even judicial review if it gets that to that level. So, I don't see a specific portion of the new public nuisance being singled out or used more than the others. I just believe it just provides more clarity to staff and it's in the end, it could be upheld by whoever the reviewer is or the hearing officer is if it's much more clear in the statute.”
Council Member Osorio – “Got it. And that aligns, I believe in one of the concluding additions that the burden falls on the city to show. The evidence for that. Alright.” Police Chief Nicholson – “Correct. The more clear, the better.” Council Member Osorio – “Yeah. Those are my questions. Thank you.” Council Member Alindajao – “Thank you Mayor. Appreciate it. Chief, I think what I'm hearing you say that the updated law, well, violations are codified, right? And the approach to the violations, at least in the updated version of it, are objective not subjected. Correct?” Police Chief Nicholson – “Correct.”
Council Member Alindajao – “They list, they list the violations and you're either violating or you're not violating, and that's how you enforce the law. Is that fair?” Police Chief Nicholson – “Yes.”
Council Member Alindajao – “Okay. I also hear that you're going to apply the new law, whether it's, well, it's going to be helpful to the city and to the police department because it's going to be much more clear, right?”
Police Chief Nicholson – “Yes, sir.”
Council Member Alindajao – “In terms of, I guess in the past iteration of that particular section, it was a lot of subjective sort of analysis that it required or asked for. Is that fair?” Police Chief Nicholson – “Correct.”
Council Member Alindajao – “And I hear you saying that you're going to apply that law neutral, objective and equitable. Is that right?
Police Chief Nicholson – “Absolutely.”
Council Member Alindajao – “Thank you, chief. That's it.” Mayor Solorio-Ruiz – “Okay. And I guess I don't have any questions, but one line that stood out from all of this is I think this is really, as it says here, intended to strengthen the city's ability to protect the public health, safety, and welfare while ensuring fair and transparent procedures. And I think that that sums it up. This is routine and it's very direct. So thank you. Thank you, chief.” Motion for approval made by: Nunez;
2nd by: Alindajao
Vote: 5-0
Ayes: Solorio-Ruiz/Nunez/Alindajao/Morris/Osorio
Nays: None
Absent: None
Abstentions: None
DEPARTMENTAL REPORTS
No Items.
COUNCIL STATEMENTS AND REPORTS
Council Member Bryan Osorio – “Yeah. Well, I hope everyone enjoyed the long weekend. Appreciate staff again preparing this staff report for us and for the follow-ups. I'm sorry to have run in late. I was coming from a work conference in Merced and yeah, I hope to catch y’all next month.” Council Member Alindajao – “Thank you Mayor. Congratulations, chief and the Delano Police Department for those wonderful crime stats. I know it's not a perfect world. There's some increases there in some categories that we'd rather not have, but I appreciate all your hard work. It seems like the moment you sat in that seat, things have looked up and moved in the right direction. So we appreciate you and the men and women in uniform. I also want to give, I'm sure Chief, you get asked this question. Can you explain the reduction in the crime stats or what's happening? I'm not sure if anybody really knows the answer to that. But besides the hard work of the men and women of Delano Police Department, I also credit, I think some of that to some of our community partners like Garden Pathways and they've done, I don't know if anyone saw the story that KERO ran a couple weeks ago on the number of people they're helping the community at risk, individuals and whatnot. I think they're doing a great job in lowering the temperature in this community for violence and other types of crimes. So I appreciate them. I did want to also report that the City of Delano and Garden Pathways were awarded the Cal VIP grant, the cohort five, which is $2 million, which will fund 42 months of their work in this community. Congratulations to them. Great job. Also, Juan… Juan works for the city, right? He's our grant writer. Yeah. That guy's awesome. He did a great job. Mr. Avila tells me that there were approximately 15 proposals submitted.
We were ranked number three out of the 15, and only eight were funded. Out of the 15 proposals, only eight projects were funded. We were number three and we were one of them. So, thank you to Juan, who is, I think his title is Administrative Grant Analyst, right? Or is he part of the police department or, okay.
Very well, tell him he's not here, is he? Right. Okay. Tell him congratulations. You did a great job. So, I just wanted to put that out to the public because I think some of those things go unnoticed and that is a significant amount of money, a significant amount of work they do. And it's just part of the, I believe part of the reason why since 2022, you've seen a continual decline in crime statistics for the city of billing. So thank you.”
Council Member Morris – “Yes. As I mentioned last council meeting that I did attend a California League Cities or Cal Cities on January the 22nd in Sacramento. And I am assigned to attend community services. However, there are a lot of division or committees. So there's usually land use, there's budget, there's public safety, there's all kinds of people representing or being part of policy committees to meet with legislators and meet with our lobbyists to see what we want to fight for in a legislative position here.
And legislators for community services. We discussed what are the things that we wanted to focus on this next year. And of course, I think homelessness comes at the top of everybody's list in every city. And so that theme is going to be taken out of community services or public safety or public health or behavioral because it's relevant to every city. And so, it's a theme of its own. Now, some of the things that communities, the policy committee wanted to focus on is seniors and aging parks, recreation and access to open spaces and early learning, childcare and youth programs. So those are the things that we want to lobby for. And we've had people come and talk, presenters that come and talk like the Conservation… Conservation Corps, I guess is what it is. And they spoke about what they do for cities or what they can do for cities if ever we need them, we can call upon them and they can gather those people or volunteers of youth and young adults to come together to organize and to perform a mission that cities need to get done. And basically the state pays them. And so, they wanted to let us know that they are available at our access anytime that we do need them to come if we need them for anything. So I wanted to just kind of encourage all of you to come to the division meeting. Division meeting is going to be the 26th of February and it's going to be in Lemoore. All of you are invited to come and we'd like you to come so you can catch up on what's happening legislative within, not only in our division but within the state. And then you have your input or what you feel is important and network with a lot of other council people and mayors that are there to have the same interests or have different interests that we can all benefit from. And staff is welcome to come also. And if you are, welcome to come and join in on the meetings. But we do have a presenter who comes and sometimes we like to have legislative rep there, if we can get them there. But the issues are good, we can all learn something from that. So do come. And I want to encourage all of you invited to come. And so, they wanted me to leave, wanted me to present that to all of you and say, invite all your staff and as well as our council people to join in and be part of the input of that division. And so, they do great work. They really do. And when you really get to know or get in the mindset of what happens there, they are very powerful. They really are. And so, we have a big influence coming up. I think there's a bill when there's an alert and a bill that affects cities. Cal Cities puts that out and they say, we need a letter of support from your city. And one of the bills that is coming up is where money is allocated for homelessness for those cities that have over 300,000 people. And that's where basically most of your money all goes to. Now smaller cities and small cities are now advocating for that money now too. So, in support of that, I sent that letter to you, Maribel, and to Camry so you guys can take a look at it. So if we can as council be in support of that, we can have her drop a letter and we can say that yes, we want some of that money that's allocated to bigger cities to come equally amongst the rest of the communities that are smaller and really don't get the funds that they need to help with those issues. And I think that's all I have. I have another meeting in March and we'll go back to see where we are with the initiatives that we presented and our lobbyists comes back and reports to us what we're doing. And so we'll report then again and let you know where we are.”
Mayor Pro-Tem Nunez – “I have one thing. Happy birthday to my Home Depot partner, my granddaughter, Teagan, who's turning four. That's all I have.” Mayor Solorio-Ruiz - “Happy birthday! I was invited recently to attend a press conference with the governor's office for the High Speed Rail. It was good to have Delano present on that. And to hear the investment in Kern County in regards to that. I also had a separate meeting with the governor's office, in particular, Abigail and Taylor who work for the governor's office. And we spoke about different priorities that Delano has and some stuff that we are working on and how we can build the communication in the governor's last year, I also attended the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Gala with the Councilwoman Morris as my partner. We were great to hear the different awards that everyone received. And it was also good to have Delano present in that as well. And so thank you, the city staff for coordinating that. And just to close off, echoing what Council Member Alindajao mentioned in regards to the report that we received. Really grateful for the chief's work, the men and women in uniform. I think that when we look at overall, when I've personally knocked on doors and spoken to people, you go to the west side, you go to the east side, doesn't matter where you go. The top issue amongst our residents, and I would say all across this country, is public safety. To make sure that our aunts, our grandmothers, when they walk in the streets, they feel safe. And so, I think that our community does feel that. And I think of course, that's in support of our law enforcement that have been doing good work. And so, thank you to the Chief and of course, thank you to city staff as well as we know it takes a village for all of this good work that we do.”
CLOSED SESSION
No items.
ADJOURNMENT
Moved by Alindajao seconded by Nunez and unanimously carried 5-0 to adjourn the meeting at 6:50pm. _____________________________________________
Ricardo G. Chavez, City Clerk