MINUTES
JOINT MEETING OF THE
GONZALES CITY COUNCIL AND
GONZALES SUCCESSOR AGENCY
REGULAR MEETING
MONDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2022
6:00 P.M.
CALL TO ORDER
The meeting was called to order at 6:00 PM by Mayor Jose L. Rios.
PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
The flag salute was recited by all present.
ROLL CALL
Attendee Name Title Status
Jose L. Rios Mayor/Chair Present
Scott Funk Mayor Pro Tem/Vice Chair Excused
Liz Silva Council/Agency Member Present
Lorraine Worthy Council/Agency Member Present
Paul Miller Council/Agency Member Present
YOUTH COMMISSIONERS
Sherlyn Flores and Luke Naegle.
STAFF PRESENT
Acting City Manager Patrick Dobbins, City Attorney Michael F. Rodriquez, Community Development Director Taven Kinison Brown, Executive Assistant to the City Manager/Deputy City Clerk Mary Villegas, Administrative Assistant II Miranda Uribe, and Fire Chief Jason Muscio. * Successor Agency Item
PUBLIC NOTICE
This meeting is being conducted consistent with State of California Executive Order N-29-20 dated March 17, 2020, regarding the COVID-19 pandemic. The public may participate in person or online via zoom at https://us06web.zoom.us/j/84061097394 or call 1-1669-900-6833 and use Meeting ID: 840 6109 7394. If you wish to make either a general public comment or to comment on a specific agenda item, please use the Raise Hand function. You will be allowed three minutes for your comments.
If you choose not to attend the City Council meeting but wish to make a comment on a specific agenda item, please submit your comment limited to 250 words or less by 12:00p.m. on Monday, October 3rd to the City Clerk at [email protected]
PRESENTATIONS
2. Introduction of 2022-2023 Youth Council
Michelle Slade, C4 Consulting, introduced the two Youth Commissioners, Sherlyn Flores and Luke Naegle.
The following members introduced themselves and shared what they liked about being a member and what they will be working on.
Youth Commissioners Sherlyn Flores and Luke Naegle.
Youth Ambassadors Valeria Tinoco, Jozelyn Reyes-Vargas, and Aliyah Castillo.
Youth Council Members Odalis Garcia, Joziah Uribe-Lopez, Anixia Davila, Betsy Preciado, Gabriel Rosas, Ernesto Santos, Alejandra Pinon Ruiz, Emily Mendez, Lizbeth de Leon-Santos, Vianney Martinez-Valdez, Edgar Teodoro-Saavedra, Angela Madrigal, Judith Valeria Zarate, and Valeria Cardenas Pacheco.
Mayor Rios thanked them and said he was truly impressed and humbled that so many youth were willing to step forward with all these great ideas and enthusiasm. He hoped they continued with that and if they have any questions, they can contact Mary at City Hall for his cell number and he was sure the rest of the Council felt the same. He said the Council appreciates what the youth does for this community and looked forward to the leadership this community will have in the future.
BUSINESS FROM THE PUBLIC
3. Business from the Public not on the Agenda; any member of the Public may address the Council for a period not to exceed three minutes on any subject not on the Agenda. The Council will listen to all communications, but may take no action.
Maria Orozco, 1443 Rhone Way, asked about the community grant approval process. She thought per the process, the approval of the grant applications by the Measure K Committee on September 20th should have been on today’s agenda which was the next Council meeting after the Committee meeting. And now the delay for some of these awardees will mean that they will probably not be issued a check sometime until the latter part of October, and you have one committee award that has an event the first week of November. She also announced that this Saturday they were having a celebration of life in Salinas from 11am - 4pm in honor of Juan Martinez and the public is invited to attend.
Council Member Worthy said she had some questions and that's probably why it was held up but those questions have been answered on her end, and assumed they would bring them at the next meeting which is October 17th and believed that gives them plenty of time. She said one of the things that she thought was important is that she wanted to be able to see the receipts from everyone to see how the money was spent in the past. And she had a couple of questions regarding need because we are issuing grants every year pretty much to the same group and she would like to see other people put some things out there to see if we can come up with some other
ideas. She said everything that everyone has done has been great. She asked Ms. Orozco if that was enough time.
Ms. Orozco responded it depended on when the checks were cut.
Council Member Worthy added they can expedite the checks.
Johnny Castaneda, 1269 Cabernet Drive, shared information about animals in neighborhoods that it should be a team effort with the City to get animals transported to the SPCA; elaborated on the times he has had to transport to and from the vet cats on separate occasions, paying for them out of pocket to get fixed, get them medical attention, and give them food and shelter; suggested consideration to create a transportation partnership with the SPCA for lost and found animals; efforts to consider expanding the duties of the Animal Control Officer; and shared the time he called the Animal Control Officer when he was told she cannot assist in that situation per her job description; he felt there was gaps, and that's what he wanted to share.
Lupe Ferrari, 1457 Burgundy Way, addressed Council meeting minutes from August 15, 2022 regarding stated need from a Council Member to teach Americanism and patriotism in our local schools. She felt sad to see that there is such entitlement when council members were motivated to make those statements where they need to teach children how to be more American; the elected official being oblivious to the struggles of minorities, the struggles that they face every day that she feels children should be taught Americanism and patriotism in our schools where the majority of children are immigrants and low income families; she wanted to hear what this council member felt such need and shared a few possible reasons; told the member she assumed that we are too foreign and not American enough where our children need special education in order to assimilate and belong, and she was doing a disservice to the Latino community she serves by making these suggestions and there is no need to strip our children or their identity with Americanism, or patriotism classes. She told Council Member Worthy she needs education on how to be more tolerant with a community she serves on how to be more accepting of this community and how to be a true leader by being involved with the Latino community, and attending events sponsored by the Latino community, which she has not seen her at, so she can see how welcoming they are.
Roman Barba, 123 Second Street, said he goes to many functions and he always sees Ms. Worthy in functions so he supported Ms. Worthy and didn’t know what the lady was talking about and Ms. Worthy is getting his vote. He thanked the Council and Mayor Rios for fixing our roads since they have been a mess; he was glad they are in support for the community center; he was glad they are cleaning up the businesses; people building and adding to their homes; he was glad they are doing senior housing for the seniors; he suggested doing the community center in phases if we don't have the all the cash right now; hoped we could get this thing rolling because it means a lot and our youth and our families here need to get behind this; he looked forward for the next election to Mr. Rios getting re-elected; and wished him good luck.
Henry Martinez Sr., 112 Tenth Street, reminded he was a Gonzales audit and believed in free speech; he wanted to mention that this candidate (he pointed to a Mayor candidate in the audience) running for mayor had not approached him as a good responsible candidate to ask him if he would support him or not; said the Mayor walked up to him before he won who told him if he wins, if he can have six months of free, non-interrupted, none of your clown suits; said he is the good spokesman for the City; him and Roman having different politics; people getting tickets left and right while other people's cars are not being ticketed; he’s following the cops standing up for our rights; said he wasn't here last week when the candidate’s wife was talking supporting him running for Mayor and said he had to fire the Superintendent that fired Mr. V; talked about the school district being bad; firing the second person that the candidate’s wife hired; he talked about
his wife having a bad record; and he will be bringing his suit out next year because we're electing the old Mayor and we are selecting the same people, just different people back on the council.
CONSENT AGENDA
4. Approve the Joint City Council and Successor Agency - Regular Meeting - September 19, 2022 Minutes
5. Approve City Accounts Payable Warrants #47595-47660
6. Consider Approval of Resolution No. 2022-72, A Resolution of the City Council of the City of Gonzales Approving an Amendment to the Joint Exercise of Powers Agreement for the South Salinas Valley Broadband Authority
7. Consider Approval of Resolution No. 2022-73, A Resolution of the City Council of the City of Gonzales Awarding a Contract with Tope’s Tree Service for the Tree Removal Contract at the Community Center Site, Rejecting All Other Bids, and Authorizing and Directing City Staff to Execute a Contract with Tope’s Tree Service in the Amount of $90,000 which Includes a Contingency Budget of $10,300 for Unanticipated Field Changes; and Amend the FY 2022-2023 City Budget by increasing the Measure X (Budget Unit 850) Contractual Services - General (Object Code 6235) by $90,000
Council Member Silva pulled item 5 for clarification. She noted the warrants on page 12, the one for EMC Planning Group for $36,879.11. It says EMC but she thought we were working with Swinerton and it confused her because EMC was the company doing the CEQA for the cooler project.
Acting City Manager Dobbins said that was later on the agenda. He clarified EMC was working on a couple of projects for us which were the Vista Lucia, Punta del Monte, and for the RFP that was issued, they were selected to prepare the CEQA document for the Community Center Project.
Council Member Silva asked if those documents are not applied for by Swinerton.
Acting City Manager Dobbins responded that was correct. They drafted the RFP, staff issued it, and Swinerton over oversaw the work, but this is a direct payment to EMC for this work.
Council Member Silva said because she thought Swinerton was the consulting group that was going to provide all these documents.
Acting City Manager Dobbins mentioned staff needed a separate request for proposal process for the CEQA.
Council Member Silva asked if they are going to have anything else to do with the community center.
Acting City Manager Dobbins responded that also on this agenda is the tree removal contract, and EMC will provide a biologist to observe the trees and look for nesting birds, and it's building on their effort preparing the CEQA NEPA documents, and they will prepare the field monitoring related to the tree removal at the community center site.
RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS] Consent Agenda Items 4-7
MOVER: Liz Silva, Council Member
SECONDER: Paul Miller, Council Member
AYES: Jose L. Rios, Liz Silva, Lorraine Worthy, Paul Miller EXCUSED: Scott Funk
*
REGULAR AGENDA
8. Public Hearing to Consider Approval of Resolution No. 2022-70, A Resolution of the City Council of the City of Gonzales Adopting Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) as the Metric for Conducting Transportation Impact Analyses to Comply with California Senate Bill 743, Vehicle Miles Traveled Policy
Staff Report: Community Development Director Kinison Brown presented the staff report via a powerpoint presentation.
Council Discussion: Council Member Silva asked how the VMTs are being measured. Is it for businesses that are currently in Gonzales and they have x amount of employees to travel from outside of Gonzales to come here? Is it their responsibility to give you those numbers? Community Development Director Kinison Brown responded that you have those numbers by good math and good planning. And he failed to mention this won't be retroactive to any of our existing businesses. It's going to present some slate of ideas, we would do an entire analysis then for an new project. So basically, it's just for new development that's kind of on the table working, but not our existing businesses, unless that business wants to expand.
Council Member Silva asked if it’s also going to include school sites, new school sites.
Community Development Director Kinison Brown said schools are their own districts, their own government agencies.
Council Member Silva mentioned that it's not going to be retroactive, but it could be something, if approved, we can highly recommend to some of the local businesses to help reduce the traffic in town.
Community Development Director Kinison Brown said yes, we can talk about that and share those things and gave examples.
Mayor Rios opened the public hearing at 6:57pm.
Public Comment: Henry Martinez Sr., commented about school traffic; suggested that people do what he did when he was a kid walking from 10th Street to the school; asked why can't we just get these parents to walk to school; building pedestrian bridges so kids can walk to school; or rent van pooling like some fieldworkers do; and Mayor candidate not approaching him yet.
Roman Barba commented about riding bikes; suggested bike lanes; talked about school bonds to fix the schools; what the school should have done with the bonds but never did because there was not enough money; mistakes the school did due to whoever was the president at that time; traffic on Fifth Street; suggested improving both bridges; and installing bus stops on Fanoe Road.
Sonia Jaramillo said she wasn’t going to say anything but seemed like the podium is being used for complaining and not focus on what they are trying to accomplish which is a better City of Gonzales. She shared her disappointment by all the comments made which she thought were political, and sadness about them modeling their own behavior when we have students here listening to this information. She suggested modeling what we expect to see of them because they are the future; and yes, she was the President of the Board and did amazing things and there was not enough money for the school but there's not enough money for the community center either.
She wants us to model good behavior for our kids, but their signs have been disappearing, and one of the individuals is present here, but there are cameras everywhere right now; and she asked to follow the rules of the game and respect each other because she wants to see the community
blossom and continue to be a great community for all of us to enjoy and feel safe. She shared her and her husband do a lot of walking and biking and asked to stay away from each other, and she referred to a person in the audience.
Mayor Rios closed the public hearing at 7:06pm.
RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: Lorraine Worthy, Council Member
SECONDER: Liz Silva, Council Member
AYES: Jose L. Rios, Liz Silva, Lorraine Worthy, Paul Miller EXCUSED: Scott Funk
9. Consider Approval of Resolution No. 2022-64, A Resolution of the City Council of the City of Gonzales Authorizing Execution of a Consulting Services Agreement Between the City of Gonzales and EMC Planning Group for Preparation of CEQA Documents for the Gloria Rd.
Cooler Project
Staff Report: Acting City Manager Dobbins presented the staff report.
Public Comment: There was none.
Council Discussion: Mayor Rios asked if there was a timeframe that we have given EMC because in speaking with the applicant, he knows the that they're under a very tight timeframe and he’s assuming that EMC will be able to match that timeframe.
City Attorney Rodriquez mentioned that as a practical matter, EMC needs to take as long as it needs to take to finish the environmental analysis. They have in mind when the developer would like to have the report be completed by, but they can encounter any number of things during the CEQA analysis that would cause that schedule to be thrown off. But they are very aware of the fact that the developer is very anxious to have that component of the project completed.
RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: Liz Silva, Council Member
SECONDER: Lorraine Worthy, Council Member
AYES: Jose L. Rios, Liz Silva, Lorraine Worthy, Paul Miller EXCUSED: Scott Funk
BUSINESS FROM CITY COUNCIL
10. City Council Board/Committee Reports
a. Transportation Agency for Monterey County
Mayor Rios couldn't attend the meeting.
b. Mayor Selection Committee
Mayor Rios announced the next meeting this Friday.
c. Salinas Valley Recycles
Council Member Silva announced the next meeting October 20th at 6pm here in the Chambers.
d. Measure K Oversight Committee
Council Member Worthy reported on the nine applications for the community action grants and they approved all nine which is a very diverse group, and they can expedite the checks in a timely fashion.
e. Salinas Valley Basin Groundwater Sustainability
No report.
f. City's 75th Anniversary Committee
Acting City Manager Dobbins reported on gearing up for the October 15th event on Fourth Street. Council Member Worthy added the time of the event is from 4pm - 8pm.
11. Oral Communications
Youth Commissioners Flores and Naegle reported on the Youth Council’s first meeting, and finalizing finer details on projects they will be working on.
Council Member Worthy said she wasn’t going to do this but felt forced to address what came up this evening by Ms. Ferrari. She thought there has been a failure to communicate or a miscommunication, and tried to set the record straight. She mentioned she not only sits on the City Council, but also belongs to the American Legion Auxiliary, and by being a part of that group, we want to teach our students about what the American Legion does, and what the Auxiliary does. She was sorry that the term patriotism and Americanism is a derogatory term, that was not her intention. She met with someone because she wanted their advice, and her intention was never to go into the schools and teach kids about Americanism and patriotism. She said her idea of going into the schools was to teach the children about the American Legion and the Auxiliary, which does have a division of Americanism and patriotism. She said part of the reason why we want the young people to know about what the American Legion does, is because as they grow up, they are able to sign up for scholarships, which Boys State and Girls State are part of what the American Legion and the Auxiliary do. She was very sorry if she hurt someone's feelings or if she made someone feel uncomfortable, that was never her intention.
She added that as far as being a part of this community, she have lived here for over 30 years, her children were raised here and she loves this town and the people in this town. She participates in a lot of things, not only on the Council but she’s part of the Auxiliary, the food distribution and many things. And she also takes care of a 90 year old mother. She added that if someone is going to question who she is, she’s sorry, if they feel that they had to say that, because she cares a lot about this town. For someone to say something like that, it hurts, because she doesn't have a thick skin. She apologized for the miscommunication and may not have said it in the proper way, but she is a part of the American Legion and Auxiliary because her husband was a Vietnam veteran and did three tours in Vietnam and suffers from post traumatic stress disorder so has a lot on her plate. On another note, she also encouraged people to come out to the October 15th event.
Council Member Silva also said she is also a member of the American Legion Auxiliary, the daughter of a World War II Veteran, born and raised here in Gonzales. All her grandparents are from Mexico so she is also a proud Mexican American. And like Council Member Worthy said, we wear different hats. She said that for those of you that don't know, we're not just here on the City Council. We serve different capacities in different clubs and organizations, including maybe our place of worship. She is also on the Monterey County Fair Heritage Foundation that raises money to help keep that venue going. It also provides scholarships, as does the American Legion Auxiliary. She went to all schools here and is a proud alumni from the class of 72. She hoped to see a lot of people out at the football game, and she went to a volleyball game recently which she hadn't been to one in a couple years due to the pandemic. She announced the Homecoming coming up and encouraged everyone to wear black and orange on Friday, October 14th which was the game against San Lorenzo Valley. She thanked everyone for being here and appreciated public input. She said they just do what they need to do that is going to serve the entire community, not just one section or demographic. She was here for everyone, not just for certain groups. She concluded that sometimes, we have to agree to disagree with each other but hope we do it respectfully.
Mayor Rios said he was born in Mexico, became a US citizen in 1976, primarily because as his mother would said you were born in Mexico but the US gave you life, and he’s always
appreciated that. He said he’s also a very proud member of this community that his wife and he chose to make this their home and have been here 37 years. They raised all for their children here, he’s part of the church council, food drives, basketball coach, and other things even though sometimes his wife says he’s the light of the street, but not at home. He said he loves this community and is honored and proud to be their Mayor. He mentioned he’s humbled that people have voted for him, and hoped this second time around, they vote for him again. And unlike previous Mayors, he assures them, his hope and his goal is to serve another two years to get that community center started and moving along, and then he has other things to do. He thanked them again for their vote and confidence in him.
BUSINESS FROM CITY MANAGER
12. Oral Communications
Acting City Manager Dobbins reported on the contract approved for the removal of the trees at the community center site which was a good bid to the City; the Salinas Valley Broadband JPA Board meeting he attended last Thursday; draft RFP for legal counsel services, and consideration to add this board to the list of agencies the Council reports out on; and the EMC proposal timeframe of 10 to 12 months.
Community Development Director Kinison Brown reported on the housing element and agricultural mitigation ordinance.
Fire Chief Muscio reported on the California shakeout drill on October 20th at 10:20am; and community forum presentation on October 18th from 5:30pm-7pm at the High School Cafeteria.
Mayor Rios thanked the Fire Department for the training to the Public Works Department on Narcan.
Council Member Miller asked if there would be a training like that for the public.
Fire Chief Muscio said that was one of them offered at the October 18th forum and he believes it will be also done at the flu shot clinic on October 22nd at the Taylor Farms Medical building.
ADJOURNMENT
RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: Paul Miller, Council Member
SECONDER: Liz Silva, Council Member
AYES: Jose L. Rios, Liz Silva, Lorraine Worthy, Paul Miller EXCUSED: Scott Funk
The meeting was adjourned at 7:35 PM.
ATTEST:
Mary Villegas, Deputy City Clerk