Agenda packet — Fort Jones City Council, September 11, 2023

i
AGENDA
Regular Meeting
MONDAY September 11, 2023 – 7:00 P.M.

The Town of Fort Jones (City Hall)
11960 East Street Fort Jones, CA 96032

CALL TO ORDER
Fort Jones Town Council Roll Call:

MEMBERS: Garcia ___________ Banks ___________ Eayrs ___________ Collie-Mason ___________ LaRiviere ___________

PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
Led by Mayor

PUBLIC COMMENTS
Discussion items only, no action to be taken. Any person may address the Council at this time upon any subject within the jurisdiction of the Town of Fort Jones; however, any matter that requires action may be referred to staff and/or Committee for a report and recommendation for possible action at a subsequent Council meeting. There is a five (5) minute limit per topic.

DISCUSSION/REPORTS/CORRESPONDENCE: NON-ACTION ITEMS
A. Police Department Monthly Report
B. Fire Department Monthly Report
C. Public Works Monthly Report
D. Town Administrator’s Report

CONSENT CALENDAR

1. Items listed on the consent agenda are considered routine and may be enacted in one motion. Any item may be removed for discussion at the request of the Council or the Public. a) Approval of Minutes:
i Special Meeting May 16th, 2023
ii Regular Meeting August 14th, 2023
iii Special Meeting August 29th, 2023
b) Ratification of Disbursements: August 1 through 31
c) Review Budget vs. Actual for July 1, 2023 through August 31, 2023 ii
DISCUSSION/REPORTS: ACTION ITEMS

2. Vote to Approve and Post Accounting Clerk Job Description

3. Museum

4. Ray’s Store

5. Fort Jones Website Updates

STAFF COMMENTS

COUNCIL MEMBER COMMENTS

ADJOURNMENT
The next Fort Jones Town Council Meeting is scheduled to be held on October 9, 2023 at 7:00 p.m.

The Town of Fort Jones intends to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in all respects. If, as an attendee or a participant at this meeting, you need special assistance beyond what is normally provided, the Town will attempt to accommodate you in every reasonable manner.

Individuals who need auxiliary aids or services for effective communication or to participate in programs and services of the Town of Fort Jones are invited to make their needs and preferences known by contacting the Town Hall office, (530) 468-2281, at least 72 hours prior to the meeting. iii
Contents
Reports and Non-Action Items
Police Department Report…………………………………………………………………..…….………..….2 Fire Department Report…………………….……………………………………………………….………..15 Public Works Department Report…………………………………………..………………………….….....17 Town Administrator Report……………………………………………………………………………..….....19 Consent Calendar
Approval of Minutes: Special Meeting May 16th, 2023…………………………………......………….….22 Approval of Minutes: Regular Meeting August 14
th, 2023…………………………………......……..…...24
Approval of Minutes: Special Meeting August 29th, 2023…………………………………......…………..29 Ratification of Disbursements: August 1-31, 2023………………….………………………….……..…...31 Budget Vs. Actual (NOT AVAILABLE) and Profit & Loss: July 1, 2023-August 31, 2023……...…...…35 Action Items
Accounting Clerk Job Description………………………………...………………………………...……….46 Museum……………………………………………………………...………………………………...……….49
Ray’s Store…………………..…………………………………………………………...…………………….52 Town Website Updates ……...………………………………………………………..………………………53 1 REPORTS & CORRESPONDENCE
2 Fort Jones Police Department Monthly Report
July 2023
3 Fort Jones Police Department Monthly Report: August 2023 Happy September everyone! Per request from city administration, all police department reports and statistical data in the future will include information from the first day to the last of the prior month of the council meeting. This will ensure town staff has time to collect and submit correct information for the council packet and agenda. In most months there may be an approximate two-week gap between the last day of the month to the council meeting. If council has a question regarding something that occurs during those gap weeks, please ask during the meeting and I will address the issue at that time. It would then be included within stats for the following meeting. Summer is officially over with the start of the new school year, so we have been transitioning our schedules to accommodate different needs of the community and school district. As Fall approaches we will have several local events including holiday related activities taking place in the Main Street area as usual. Thank you for supporting these events as they continue to bring safe community gatherings into our town that benefit our constituents and business owners in many ways. As you can see from the attached statistical reports, both towns have been very busy with calls for service as well as significant case reports. As a reminder each one of these cases doesn’t end with the call for service and often require many hours of followup and investigation. Thank you to our officers for putting in the extra time to make sure the adjudication of all our calls for service finds the correct outcome.

Traffic- These past couple months several citations were issued for various violations in and around town. We have focused on downtown and Main Street areas as we continued to receive and observe traffic-related violations in this area. It has appeared the violations we observe, especially in the Main Street area have begun to decline. While we will always have violators here and there it is nice to see the proactive stance of the PD has made an impact. With the start of the new school year, we will also be focusing our presence on each school campus. If you see a problematic area, please let us know so we can address it appropriately. Our new radar/message board should be arriving any day and will be put into service as soon as possible.

We can utilize this sign for both towns, helping educate drivers and pedestrians. One benefit to having this particular radar trailer is its ability to log and retain speeds helping us keep an accurate record of actual traffic behavior. Speeds of vehicles can be categorized into times, days, weeks, months, even years to help us better understand what our communities’ needs will be with traffic related issues.

Schools- The new school year began on August 23 this year and is already off to a busy start. Officers have worked in partnership with school officials to ensure the safety of our students. A focus on traffic hazards and violations will continue well into the school year especial during pick up and drop off of students. We will also be working on new programs in conjunction with the school district in order to provide a well-rounded environment to students in need of focused instruction. Our PAL program will also be starting up fall-related athletic programs as we have for the past 22 years.

Animal Control- Recently we have had an uptick in cat-related calls. We have been working on helping people place the kittens as well as make arrangements for spaying or 4 neutering. Kelly has been working on a potential grant partnering with the snip program in order to provide free fixing of felines around town. Although we saw an increase in cat calls for service, we have seen overall animal control cases decline with the exception of a few dogs’ at large issues. We continue to successfully rehome problematic dogs utilizing our partnership with the Mt. Shasta Humane society and the rescue ranch. Utilizing our face book page and local social media we are also able to locate owners and come to a successful conclusion while hopefully preventing a future problem when it comes to lost dogs. While we will always have animal control related issues it has been nice to see them slowly declining. Again, education is a large part of maintaining voluntary compliance with any ordinance violation especially with animal control issues. July has brought us a new year for dog licensing and showing proof of vaccinations. We along with city hall have been continuing to remind dog owners of the new year in hopes to gain a high number of compliances.

Reports/Cases- Attached you will find last month’s event logs showing the diversity in calls for service and activity levels. This also includes calls for service in the outlying areas of Ft. jones and Etna. This year has already brought us up to over 75 written cases and shows no sign of slowing down. As mentioned above Officers have been doing a great job and are keeping up with the demand for service while continuing our proactive approach to community service.

Our scheduling may differ to accommodate this demand, but we are still available 24 hours for any needs. Many of our cases continue to be officer generated due to our officers being so proactive in the community. Presence is a huge factor in preventing crime and it is our mission to be seen as often and continually as possible. The increase of traffic enforcement also comes with an increase of cases generated. Anytime a traffic issue entails a misdemeanor or above, a written case is generated that is sent to the District Attorney for prosecution. It is anticipated that Ft. Jones will have generated over 100 cases for this year, which is a substantial increase from previous years after seeing a decline. Times and laws have definitely changed bringing change and a higher workload for the department.

Calls for Service- As with the written reports we have seen an increase in calls for service including mutual aid requests and response to EMS/Fire calls. It is anticipated this year we will have responded to well over 2000 calls for service. We also continue to assist other departments in any way we can to help first responders to any crisis. With an increase in criminal activity outside our two towns and other agencies suffering from low staffing we have been called upon by outside agencies to assist often. These agencies include CHP, Sheriff’s Office, Forest Service, and CAL Fire to name a few. They also assist us when the need arises. It has been a great working partnership we have fostered and will continue to do so in the future.

We have also been able to attend training recently involving our mutual aid partners which has not only given us a better response but the ability to understand the complexities in everyone’s policies and procedures.

Ordinance Enforcement- Kelly has been closing out several code enforcement cases recently, sending several through to the review and prosecution process. Kelly has been very active in the process of code enforcement recently and is looking into the revising and addition of ordinances to streamline and make Ft. Jones a safer place to live. She has sent out numerous 5 letters to households that need to address code enforcement issues. Many are immediately addressed with the reminder and have already found a solution. Code enforcement and animal control has always been a long process but worth the work as local ordinances will continue to be tailored to the Town of Ft. Jones and our lifestyle. The biggest improvement we have seen is the accountability of everyone to do their part in our efforts. It is nice to drive around town and see the many accomplishments of the town’s requests come to fruition.

PAL- With the new school year comes our new PAL year. We will be beginning our soccer and flag football programs as well as continuing our Mentoring program. We were successful in obtaining a 3-year grant to help with the continuation of our programs. We will be setting up future fishing expeditions with our Pal mentoring group which has always been a fun outdoor activity for our youth. Our Youth Mentoring program was very successful this summer providing numerous programs and opportunities to local youth. We hope to continue these programs while adding additional programs to help meet the needs of our youth.

Training- Recently our officers have been attending several training courses in perishable skills as well as advanced officer trainings. We have numerous upcoming training courses scheduled and look forward to the specialties our officers will now be experts in. several of the recent trainings attended have been RADAR operator, interview and interrogation, patrol rifle, and DUI courses.

Patrol Hours- The patrol hours and time in the office are maintained with 3 fulltime officers, part time detective, part time CSO, and 2 reserve officers. Countless security checks, home checks, and business checks are made daily making sure our community is safe. We continue to hear compliments and appreciation on a daily basis for the service we provide our constituents. It makes all the hard work worthwhile when we can see and especially hear the difference our officers make in the community. Due to how important the town of Ft. Jones is to me and your police department, the following is a repeat from last month to reiterate the high level of service the town is receiving and how that should never be questioned.

Coverage/Service- We have two open positions with potential officers completing background. It is important for us to fill these vacancies with highly trained compassionate officers who are vested in our community as much as we are. Sometimes this takes a little extra time finding those who want to serve our little community, but it will be worth the wait. We are very fortunate to have the officers we do and provide our community with many services that in many cases are not put on a timecard. It is with great pride we are able to serve the town of Ft.

Jones. It will always be our pledge to provide the highest quality law enforcement services to our Scott valley area. We continue to feel the support of our community which is very important these days, so thank you for your continued support and please feel free to come out on a ride along to see the outstanding services our community has to offer.

6 SISKIYOU COUNTY