MINUTES
CITY OF DELANO
CITY COUNCIL – REGULAR MEETING
August 3, 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 Council members absent: Bryan Osorio
OFFICIALS PRESENT
City Manager Reyna, City Clerk Chavez, City Attorney Hensley, Police Chief Nicholson, Human Resources Director Zamudio, Public Works Director Nunez, City Engineer Rodriguez, Fire Chief Crist and Commander Nino
PRESENTATIONS AND AWARDS
No items
ITEMS FROM THE PUBLIC
1. Claribel Gutierrez – “Oh, I'm sorry. Claribel Gutierrez, field representative for Assemblywoman Dr. Baines, and also a resident here, 1414 Sixth Avenue. But I just want to address the police department. I just want to thank you for the amazing project and event that you guys had at the swimming pool. It was packed. It was so amazing. It was overflowing. They had to put a number and a cap, and that's a good thing. And it was such a great turnout. I'm just grateful for the opportunity to be there and just to see it in person that the city and the parks and recs, they have such an amazing staff to be able to pull this together there. It was everybody smiling, having fun.
Families gathered together, tables and chairs everywhere. Lifeguard, they had like 50 million lifeguards for every person that had a lifeguard. So, I was just grateful to see the outcome of that project, and hopefully you guys could continue more of those. So thank you guys. You guys did amazing.”
2. Fernando Bravo - “Name is Fernando Bravo, 1417 Belmont Street, Delano, California. Good evening, Mayor, Council. I'm here to address this issue about speed bumps, and it's been brought to my attention that since they're doing work on Garces Highway, okay, that's a state road, right? Okay. There we have a school there, elementary school, Valle Vista, which I know that you guys changed the name. And I've heard a couple of reports that we get a lot of speeds there during school issues time. And my question is, who's responsible, the city or Caltrans, so they can get speed bumps put in that area? And also I cruised around town and I seen a couple of speed bumps on residential areas. For instance, on 800 and 900 block up Austin Street on the west side.
And then on the east side you got on the, I believe 16, 1700 block of Vassar where that car wash is at, Mr. Carwash, you got a speed bump there. And then it curves around, it goes into Chaparral, and you got another speed bump there. So, I don't see any children, school people walking through there. But my concern is mainly they're at the school, at the Delhi Vista School.
So how would I give a response?
Mayor Solorio-Ruiz – ”Thank you, Mr. Bravo. Unfortunately, we cannot respond to you, but if you want to speak to staff after the meeting or provide them your contact info, I'm confident they have it, they can reach out to you.”
Mr. Bravo – “I just wanted to state it on the record so you guys are aware of it.”
3. Roberto Ibarra – “Hello, good evening. Roberto Ibarra, Delano, Citizen. I just want to have the two things. Do you have the program Self-Help available? It's for people who wants to upgrade their houses and stuff like that that doesn't have a lot of income of any sort. I want to know if you still have that available. Okay. I'd like to know if you can have it on paper, please. And also, the bike lanes, I like to ride my bike a lot. And I get edgy when cars pass by me really fast and we have to share the roads on the county line. What is the Albany Road by Albany? Towards the, what's the name? Towards Cecil. It's like three lane, but I'm on my bike and they have to share the road with me and the cars pass by me too quickly. So, I will appreciate if there's an ample away in the middle for a long, long way, but there's nothing on the bike lane. So I want you to, if you can address it on the, what is it, 20th Avenue on Albany towards Cecil, all the way to Cecil, because I mean there's ways in which, I mean, we have to share the roads with cars and cars don't respect the bike riders that much. Thank you very much.”
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 $3,225,740.94
3) Warrant Register in the amount of $3,054,331.67
4) Minutes of regular Council meeting of July 20, 2026
5) Acceptance of the Local Roadway Safety Plan Project No. 3 HSIPL-5227(072) and authorizing the filing of the Notice of Completion
6) Award of contract for the “Randolph Street and County Line Road Traffic Signal & Intersection Improvements Project” to Mac General Engineering Inc. in the amount of $1,092,676.30 and authorize the City Manager, or her designee, to sign any documents needed to complete the project (Agreement No. 2026-46)
7) Acceptance of the 2024 Transit Maintenance Facility Roofing Project (former MCCF) and authorizing the filing of the Notice of Completion
8) Second and final reading regarding an ordinance of the City of Delano amending chapter amending Section 2.08.025 of the Municipal Code to increase compensation for deputy city clerk I and city clerk II (Ordinance No. 2026-1378) 9) Approve payment of Southern California Edison invoice for $432,197.41 for design of the undergrounding of the overhead power lines in the 1000 block Jefferson-Kensington alley, south of City Hall in conjunction with the City Hall Campus Improvements Project and authorization for the City Manager or her designee to sign any documents needed to carry that project to completion
10) Approve the Purchase of Two Sewer/Storm Trash Pumps for Emergency Flood Response and Sewer Bypass Operations in the amount of $49,795.00 (Agreement No. 2026-47) 11) Award of the “2026 Office Furniture for HR Project” contract to Sierra School Equipment Company for $119,296.87 and authorize the City Manager, or her designee, to sign any documents needed to carry out this project (Agreement No. 2026-48) 12) Resolution Awarding Contract to Lease Servicing Center, Inc. dba NCL Government Capital for the Lease Purchase of One (1) New/Unused PB Loader Dump Body, 15 Ft 12- 14 Yard with 2026 Freightliner M2 106 Chassis (58,000 lbs. GVWR) from National Auto Fleet Group, authorizing the expenditure of funds in the amount of $224,359.29 over a term of five (5) years, with annual payments of $54,070.46 and authorizing the City Manager, or her designee, to execute all required documents (Resolution No. 2026-52) (Agreement No. 2026-49)
13) Approval of first amendment to license agreement 2024-69 with Sky Safe, Inc. to locate and operate a drone detection system on city property to assist in security for the Kern Valley State Prison and authorize the City Manager, or her designee, to execute the same (Agreement No. 2026-50)
14) Approve the agreement with Van Lant & Fankhanel, LLP Firm for auditing services not to exceed $76,525 (Agreement No. 2026-51)
15) Approval of Professional Legal Services Engagement with Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP for Pension Administration Legal Services and authorize the City Manager to sign any documents needed (Agreement No. 2026-52)
Motion was made by: Nunez to approved items 1-15 on consent items; 2nd by: Alindajao
Vote: 4-0
Ayes: Solorio-Ruiz/Nunez/Alindajao/Morris
Nays: None
Absent: Osorio
Abstentions: None
PUBLIC HEARINGS
No items
REGULAR AGENDA
16) Approval of Mayor’s appointment to replace a Pension Committee Member Finance Director Rios provided the staff report.
Donna Gonzalez – “Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, council members. I'm really excited to be able to come on board and help with the fund. And like she said, I have 25 years of experience in banking, most definitely in government for the last nine. So, I appreciate the opportunity to come on board and help out.”
Mayor Solorio-Ruiz opened public comment.
Carlton Lennon – “Good evening, distinguished board, Mayor, Council Members, and all that attend this meeting. I was brought to my attention earlier that I would be replaced. My name is Carlton Lennon. I just wanted to talk a little bit about my background. My background is not with government. I do have about seven years of background with banking, but I have over 26 years in the investment financial planning portfolio management area. And when I was at Cecil Junior High School, I had a math teacher named Mrs. Fogle that gave us a stock project. Since I was 13, I knew I would work in the investment industry, and I knew I would go to UCLA to get my first degree in math economics, and my second degree in real estate and accounting. And my third degree is a master's in business administration from Cal State Bakersfield. Since I've been a member of the committee, there are many times that there are issues that come up, financial issues, issues about the economy, issues about inflation, issues about government, everything related to the markets and to the pension plan of the city. And honestly, most of the people on the committee don't have a clue of what the money managers are talking about. They have no idea. We have a CPA on the committee, but I'm the only person on the committee out of five people that knows anything about the markets. And sometimes I'm the only person that votes one way versus the other four.
And I don't know, it doesn't matter why they vote that way. But I do feel that I'm a buffer on the pension committee because I have seen a lot of positive things in the market. I've seen people make a lot of money, but I've also seen and lived through crashes. I've been involved with the markets since the mid - 80s. I've seen the 1987 stock market crash. I've seen when the Russian currency devalued, the Mexican currency devalued. I saw the dot-com bubble pop. I've went through the subprime meltdown. I've seen markets go down 40, 50%. And the one thing I want you to be aware of is that right now, things are good. Dow Jones is at 52,000. And when the bad times come, people will hold you accountable for not having someone on that committee that knows and understands what the actuary and the money managers are talking about.
Thank you.”
No public comments online.
Mayor Solorio-Ruiz closed public comment.
Council Member Alindajao – “Questions for Ms. Gonzalez. Ms. Gonzalez, do you mind taking the podium? Nothing too difficult. Just wanted to know a little bit about what exactly is a VP industry specialist for government?”
Ms. Gonzalez - “Vice president for government industry. Most of my portfolio were cities such as the city of Delano, the city of Monterey, water districts that were considered a special district of the state. So everything in government. And prior to that was finance.” Council Member Alindajao – “And you're currently still with Wells Fargo Bank?” Ms. Gonzalez - “I'm actually currently on leave for medical, but I am still employed with Wells Fargo, but on leave.”
Council Member Alindajao – “And where are you based out of? Are you here in the valley?” Ms. Gonzalez - “Bakersfield, The drive's not too bad.”
Council Member Alindajao – “Yeah, No, it's not too bad. Only when it's 110 maybe. You've been with Wells Fargo since 2013?”
Ms. Gonzalez - “Correct.”
Council Member Alindajao – “And you said you have a degree in business administration from what school is that?”
Ms. Gonzalez - “Eastern New Mexico University in Roswell. I did my bachelor's in Protalis.” Council Member Alindajao – “Well, you certainly have a lot of relevant experience that'll be a benefit to the city and the pension fund. And we appreciate you throwing your hat into the…” Ms. Gonzalez - “Well, I appreciate being considered.”
Council Member Alindajao – “Thank you.”
Ms. Gonzalez - “Thank you. Any other questions that I can help with? Thank you.” Mayor Solorio-Ruiz – “No, no other questions. I guess my comments, I think it's important as a city to bring in different perspectives and experience into the table, and that is yourself, Ms. Donna Gonzalez. I also want to thank Mr. Lennon. I know that he's dedicated a lot of years to the community and to the city, and I know that his service is far from over. However, the decision comes out tonight. I think we're all here because we care deeply about this community and want to see it thrive.” Motion was made to approve the appointment of Donna Gonzalez by: Solorio-Ruiz; 2nd by: Nunez
Vote: 4-0
Ayes: Solorio-Ruiz/Nunez/Alindajao/Morris
Nays: None
Absent: Osorio
Abstentions: None
DEPARTMENTAL REPORTS
No items.
COUNCIL STATEMENTS AND REPORTS
Council Member Bryan Osorio – Absent
Council Member Alindajao – None.
Council Member Morris – None.
Mayor Pro-Tem Nunez – “Nice. I get the whole time. I'd like to invite everybody out, Friday night out to the La Jolla Cold Storage off of Schuster Avenue, 3112 Schuster Avenue. I was contacted this weekend by Lideres Campesinos. They were needing a location… location they had wasn't available, so they needed somewhere to pass out food. So everybody, anybody who needs food, please come out to La Jolla Cold Storage. I'm sorry, it'd be Friday starting at 7:00 AM. I believe it's going to be drive-through. So, I'll be out there. Anybody want to volunteer? I can use all the volunteers we can get. Regarding the police department, I'd like to thank the police department. Actually, last week, the police department and a couple of the detectives bailed me out. I had a food giveaway and we were short on volunteers. I had already talked the Chief into volunteering and a couple of the guys into volunteering. They showed up and we were lucky because I was short a lot of volunteers and the Chief got dirty and jumping in the garbage cans and doing what he needed to do out there. And I appreciate the Chief and the guys that came out for the police department. I appreciate it a lot. For Mr. Ibarra, regarding speeding, I also had concerns about the speeding. So, I went out there and sat one day at Nueva. I was told about car speeding. I went out there and in the probably hour that I sat out there, Delano Police Department probably wrote nine tickets of car speeding throughout the day. And in talking to some of the guys that I was working with throughout the week, they've been targeting different areas in the schools and enforcing traffic citywide with the schools. We are our first couple of weeks in them schools, so they are out there enforcing the laws regardless of how late we are or how fast we got to get somewhere. Speed limit is still 25 miles an hour in the school district, so please adhere to this. And yes, we're out there, they're citing.
They were citing quite a few people, and that was a good thing. The only thing else I have is, Mrs. Reyna, this past couple of weeks I've gone out to several of our city parks and been looking at our parks and some of our parks need to be looked at a little bit closer. There's some equipment that's damaged. There's some tables that need to be replaced. So there's some way within the next 60 days or so we can do some kind of evaluation of our city parks to see what we need to fix or update or where we're at. And that's all I have.”
Mayor Solorio-Ruiz – “On my end, I have a few. I had a conversation with the City Manager about certain ideas. I wanted to also, of course, vocalize them here and also request them for the Chief if it's possible to include them. I would like to ask if we could coordinate another gun buyback program. I believe that these events did do well and help our community be safe. So if we could work on that to potentially host one this year if time allows and permits. I would also like to see if we can also host a victim's vigil. I was confronted by the idea by Ms. Gutierrez. And so, I think that the victim's vigil, as well as with coordination with Pastor Vivas, I know years back, we've done them and they've also done well in helping our community and also spotlighting the good stuff happening in terms of crime reduction. I also want to wish a good luck to all the students for the new school year, to the parents to drive safe. It is hectic out there in the mornings and hoping for a great school year as well. I also wanted to provide a little bit of my personal experience recently. I spent a week in Aspen, Colorado a few weeks ago after being invited to attend what's called the Resnick Aspen Action Forum hosted by the Aspen Institute. This experience was transformative at a time when our country and our world can often feel divided. The guiding question of the forum, which was very interesting, was ‘What defines our humanity in this moment and what does humanistic leadership demand in the era ahead?’ And my answer to that was that our shared humanity is found in our love for one another, our shared struggles and the values that connect us far more than the labels that divide us. I had the privilege of learning alongside leaders from Saudi Arabia, from Ukraine, from Guatemala, from Columbia, from South Carolina to Kentucky, many places. I listened to stories of people building schools in Ukraine during war, parents turning unimaginable personal loss into purpose after losing a child to cyberbullying, and leaders working to bring people together in moments of deep political uncertainty, regardless of party or ideology. The more I heard of the stories, the more I realized that while our languages and cultures and zip codes may be different, the things that we care about are remarkably similar. We all want dignity. We all want opportunity for our young people and for our community. I left Aspen deeply grateful but also challenged on what type of leadership we bring to the roles that we have. And so, I'm excited to continue the work that we're doing here and wanted to provide a little bit of my experience at the Resnick Aspen Institute Action Forum. So, other than that, actually, I wanted to also mention Pastor Vivas sent me a text today that we lost someone remarkable in the community as well. And I'm going to read your text, pastor. He let me know, he wanted to inform me that a longtime former business owner of a Delano business, Ralph Jimenez, passed away this morning at the age of 88. And so I want to make sure that we mention him, we honor him, and we close in his honor. So, thank you pastor for that.” Motion to go into closed session at 5:39PM by: Nunez
2nd by: Alindajao
Vote: 4-0
Ayes: Solorio-Ruiz /Nunez/Alindajao/Morris
Nays: None
Absent: Osorio
Abstentions: None
The City Clerk was excused. City Manager was appointed as Acting City Clerk. City Manager Reyna and City Attorney Hensley were present.
CLOSED SESSION
17) CONFERENCEWITH LEGAL COUNSEL – pursuant to govt. code section 54956.9(c).
Initiation of litigation – one (1) case
Direction given. No reportable action.
Motion to go into open session at 5:52PM by: Alindajao
2nd by: Nunez
Vote: 4-0
Ayes: Solorio-Ruiz /Nunez/Alindajao/Morris
Nays: None
Absent: Osorio
Abstentions: None
ADJOURNMENT
Moved by Alindajao seconded by Nunez and unanimously carried 4-0 to adjourn the meeting at 5:52pm. _____________________________________________
Ricardo G. Chavez, City Clerk