MINUTES
JOINT MEETING OF THE
GONZALES CITY COUNCIL
GONZALES SUCESSOR AGENCY,
GONZALES SUCCESSOR HOUSING AGENCY,
GONZALES ELECTRIC AUTHORITY BOARD,
GONZALES MUNICIPAL ELECTRIC UTILTY BOARD
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2024
5:30 P.M.
CALL TO ORDER
The meeting was called to order at 5:30 PM by Mayor Jose L. Rios.
PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
Mayor Pro Tem Funk led the flag salute.
1. ROLL CALL
Attendee Name Title Status
Jose L. Rios Mayor/Chair/President Present
Scott Funk Mayor Pro Tem/Vice Chair/Vice President Present Liz Silva Council/Agency/Board Member Present
Lorraine Worthy Council/Agency/Board Member Present
Maria Orozco Council/Agency/Board Member Present
YOUTH COMMISSIONERS
Valeria Cardenas and Emily Mendez.
STAFF PRESENT
City Manager Carmen Gil, City Attorney Michael F. Rodriquez, Community Development Director Taven Kinson Brown, Executive Assistant to the City Manager/Deputy City Clerk Mary Villegas, Administrative Assistant II Esthela Palmerin, Public Works Director/City Engineer Patrick Dobbins, Fire Chief Jason Muscio, and Police Chief Keith Wise.
* Successor Agency Item
Successor Housing Agency/Electric Authority/Municipal Electric Utility 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/87020263943 or call 1 (669) 900-6833 and use Meeting ID: 870 2026 3943. 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 the day of the meeting to the City Clerk at [email protected]
CLOSED SESSION
Any member of the public may address the Council on a closed session item appearing on the agenda.
Speakers shall have a limited time of three (3) minutes. Please be brief and to the point.
There was none.
2. The City Council will recess to closed session pursuant to Government Code Section 54956.8 to give instructions to the City’s negotiator concerning the exchange/lease/acquisition of property located at Assessor Parcel Numbers 223-031-024 and 223-031-025. Instructions will include price and terms of payment.
The Council conferred with its real property negotiator and provided direction. No other reportable action taken.
3. The City Council will confer with legal counsel pursuant to Government Code Section 54956.9(a) to confer with its attorney- significant exposure to litigation.
The Council conferred with its Attorney and provided direction. No other reportable action taken.
4. The City Council will recess to closed session pursuant to Government Code Section 54956.9(a) to confer with its Attorney regarding pending litigation which has been initiated formally and to which the City is a party: Claim of Chavez.
The Council conferred with its Attorney, rejected the claim, and provided direction. No other reportable action taken.
PRESENTATIONS
5. City Park Concept
Public Works Director Dobbins introduced Jean Salcido and a Gonzales Youth Guardian who were going to present information on the proposed City Park. He showed an image with a location showing a City property at South Belden Street and C Street, across the slough from the Corporation Yard.
Silvester, from the Gonzales Youth Guardians, explained the need for this park and what it meant to a lot of the people that reside in that area. He mentioned a lot of kids went there to play in that area but it was very unsafe. He elaborated on the reasons, the different amenities they were
planning on having there, making it a safe place for kids to play, and everybody wanting to come together to make this happen to help beautify Gonzales.
Jean Salcido elaborated on how this idea came about and was introduced by middle school boys who came knocking on her door asking to play basketball in her backyard, and her home being a safe house for the youth before covid. She said the majority of the boys came from the apartment complex from the south side of Gonzales.
City Manager Gil mentioned that staff was trying to show an aerial image that showed the layout of the site but couldn't show it because the technology wasn’t working, but staff would share it to the Council later.
The Council and staff engaged in questions regarding grants, agreements, and architectural plans.
Since this was a presentation, the Council directed staff to bring this back as an agendized item so it can be discussed and receive public comment.
There was about two-minute break after this item to restart the technology system since staff could not share presentations online.
BUSINESS FROM THE PUBLIC
6. 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.
Daniel Gutierrez, 1614 Spumante Way, expressed his concerns about the potential illegal parking not only in the Canyon Creek Subdivision, but all over town. He elaborated on the 863 vehicles in that neighborhood parked on the street, the driveways, or on the grass; vehicles blocking all 28 access ramps; safety concerns for everyone walking between cars; and commended the Police Department for responding quickly to a call for a blocked fire hydrant. He suggested painting the full area of access ramps, and asked for consideration on this issue.
CONSENT AGENDA
7. Approve the Joint City Council and Successor Agency - Regular Meeting - September 3, 2024 Minutes
8. Approve City Accounts Payable Warrants #50687-50807
9. City Manager’s Report
10. Community Engagement & Recreation Departments Activity Report
11. Community Development Department Activity Report
12. Fire Department Activity Report
13. Police Department Activity Report
14. Public Works/City Engineer Department Activity Report
15. Consider Approval of Resolution No. 2024-57, A Resolution of the City Council of the City of Gonzales Approving a Joint Exercise of Powers Agreement and Cooperation Agreement with Monterey County and the Cities of Greenfield, Marina and Sand City to Undertake or to Assist in the Undertaking of Essential Activities Pursuant to Title I of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974, as Amended, for the Period of July 1, 2025, through June 30, 2028
16. Authorize the City Manager to Sign a Memorandum of Agreement Between the City of Gonzales and the Gonzales Unified School District to Co-Sponsor a Resource Officer Position Jointly Funded by the City and GUSD
Council Member Worthy pulled Item 8, and Council Member Silva pulled Item 16.
Council Member Worthy asked about Warrant #50759 for C4 Consulting and asked if the amount of $14,000 was over a period of time.
City Manager Gil responded yes, it was for Michelle Slade's consulting services which she billed every six months, and it was a group of invoices.
Council Member Worthy also asked about Warrants #50794 and #50797 and assumed they were credit cards. She asked if staff could send those to her to look at.
Council Member Silva asked for clarification on Item 16 regarding the SRO, she asked if the school was going to be invoiced for their portion by the City, and if the liability was 100% for the City in the event the SRO became injured while addressing something at one of the school sites.
City Manager Gil responded yes. She informed this had been in existence for many years and it was a great partnership between the School District and the City where the School District reimbursed the City for half of the SRO position, and the City would invoice the district yearly.
In regards to the liability, Police Chief Wise responded the City would bear the complete burden of any injury that may happen as they would any officer anywhere in the City.
Council Member Silva felt it was too bad we couldn't build something in there towards the workers comp costs just in the event that an officer was injured on duty.
City Manager Gil responded staff could look into that to see if others have similar agreements, and it was in our favor to address any issues that were happening at the school that we could prevent to come out to the community, so this agreement was a good thing for the City but staff could look into that.
Council Member Silva expressed her total support of an SRO which was an asset to our community.
Mayor Rios asked if we were currently at full staff at the Police Department. He said that would be his only concern.
Police Chief Wise responded they were currently down two positions, one of them was in the academy and would be graduating in January, so that would technically bring them down one position, but the SRO helped out considerably, not just at the school but as a backup officer to supplement our patrol.
City Manager Gil responded that this was just bringing the agreement current. She mentioned this had already been established for many years, but we were bringing it current because the School District was also wanting to ensure that they had access to the SRO on site, and to continue to be a partnership between the School and the City.
Police Chief Wise informed of the statistics for FY 2023-2024. For the High School, there were 100 calls for service and 62 were handled by the SRO; for Fairview Middle School, there were 100 calls for service and 55 were handled by the SRO; for La Gloria School, there were a total of 90 calls and 70 were handled by the SRO.
RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS] Consent Agenda Items 7-16
MOVER: Liz Silva, Council Member
SECONDER: Maria Orozco, Council Member
AYES: Jose L. Rios, Scott Funk, Liz Silva, Lorraine Worthy, Maria Orozco
REGULAR AGENDA
17. Community Center Construction Update
Staff Report: Public Works Director Dobbins and Harris & Associates Project Manager Luis Flores presented the progress report. Luis Flores also thanked Council Members Worthy and Silva for stopping by the project, as well as Fire Chief Muscio for helping with all the fire inspections.
Public Comment: None.
The Council received the update. No action required.
18. Authorize the City Manager to Accept the California Office of Traffic Safety Grant EM25022 in the Amount of $42,933 for the Purchase of New E-draulic Vehicle Extrication Equipment Staff Report: Fire Chief Muscio presented the staff report.
Public Comment: None.
RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: Scott Funk, Mayor Pro Tem
SECONDER: Lorraine Worthy, Council Member
AYES: Jose L. Rios, Scott Funk, Lorraine Worthy, Maria Orozco ABSENT: Liz Silva, Council Member, was not part of this item since she had to step out of the room for a bit.
19. Consider Approval of Resolution No. 2024-58, A Joint Resolution of the City Council of the City of Gonzales/City Council as Board to the Successor Agency to the Gonzales Redevelopment Agency/Board of the Gonzales Successor Housing Agency/Board of the Gonzales Electric Authority/Board of the Gonzales Municipal Electric Utility Approving Amendment No. 1 to the Employment Agreement for City Manager/Successor Agency Director/Successor Housing Agency Executive Director/Gonzales Electric Authority Executive Director/Gonzales Municipal Electric Utility Executive Director
Staff Report: City Attorney Rodriquez presented the staff report.
Public Comment: None.
RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: Scott Funk, Mayor Pro Tem/Vice Chair/Vice President SECONDER: Liz Silva, Council/Agency/Board Member
AYES: Jose L. Rios, Scott Funk, Liz Silva, Lorraine Worthy, Maria Orozco
GONZALES YOUTH COUNCIL UPDATES
20. Oral Communications
Youth Commissioners Cardenas and Mendez reported on how the GYC interviews went, announced the GYC Orientation on September 21st from 9:00am - 2:00pm, and their first Youth Council meeting on September 26th.
BUSINESS FROM CITY COUNCIL
21. City Council Board/Committee Reports
a. League of California Cities Monterey Bay Division
No report.
b. Association of Monterey Bay Area Governments
Mayor Pro Tem Funk reported on AMBAG staff continuing to move forward with projects and programs.
c. Monterey Salinas Transit
Council Member Worthy reported on the employee of the month recognition for Dalia Lopez who drove the Line 23, and what she did to help with a drug overdose incident. She also reported on the ratification of the contract with Enterprise for the van pools through 2026; South County on call services being discontinued in December; discussion on MST Circulators; and approval of the Surf Project bus way permit.
22. Oral Communications
Council Member Orozco reminded folks about the St. Theodore's Church Carnival on October 6 th
.
Mayor Pro Tem Funk also shared with respect to public comment tonight regarding the number of vehicles parked on the streets, which had been brought up in his neighborhood as well by a couple of residents. He liked the idea that was brought up about painting the ramps since it would also make it easier for officers and he understood it would be an additional cost, but maybe this could be a strategy for us to consider, and it would be great if staff could look at options and see what's possible.
Council Member Silva talked about the time she and Council Member Worthy spent as part of the City beautification and service commitment to the American Legion Auxiliary on Saturday morning, where they walked for a few hours on two of our main streets, and they collected about 40 to 50 pounds of trash. She encouraged people to get out and spend a couple of minutes to help with their area. She also gave a shout out to the Gonzalez Knights for their fundraiser on Saturday afternoon who went through challenges with the people they contracted to provide the food in a timely manner but hoped that didn't reflect on this group's efforts to raise funds.
Council Member Worthy mentioned the group lost money on the fundraiser but asked if anyone could donate to the Knights who worked really hard on Saturday. She also said they would do the clean up again on the 28th and if anyone would like to help out, they were welcome to join them.
She gave a shout out to Maury Treleven for providing the vests, gloves and tools from Tri-Cities.
She also talked about the Community Garden where she noticed a father and a son there, and also Connie Arellano who were pulling weeds. She informed there would be areas that would be labeled. She was sad to see someone picked some tomatoes and left them there but asked people to give them to someone who needed food instead of leaving them there. She reminded everyone
this was something new and we were learning but it would get better. She also thanked Corporal Castillo for being instrumental in helping Mr. Gutierrez who had some issues. She also said she was getting really diligent and she was going to start reporting some things that she sees, and one of the things are expired licenses on vehicles. She also asked about Measure S coming up in November, if there was a group of any kind that we knew of that was working on that project.
Mayor Rios asked if they could go out and hand out flyers as an individual, and say nothing about it, but just giving them to people.
City Attorney Rodriquez responded as long as the flyers were produced by him, not the City.
City Manager Gil responded there were individuals that were working to support the measure, but the City was continuing to provide information and education and resources out for folks. She added that the FAQs in the survey hit mailboxes last week sometime, and we've received a good number of phone calls asking and trying to understand the measure, as well as people who did not want to raise taxes.
Mayor Rios said he wanted to share again since Mayor Pro Tem Funk and Council Member Orozco were not at the last Council meeting, that he believed if there was success in passing Measure S, we need to start setting aside real money for helping folks with a potential down payment on a new house. He said this was just food for thought for the Council to think about and he would like to bring that up for more robust discussion at a future council meeting. He also asked for a presentation from the Monterey County Air Board regarding the stench that had been percolating out of the M&M Dairy. He knew they had a right to farm project which was creating fertilizer for our local farming community, but there were days that the stench was so bad, so he would like to hear from the Air Board and if there was anything that we could do about the air quality. He also felt Mr. Gutierrez’s pain and the number of parked vehicles were not going to get better if we were adding ADUs. He also shared his concern on the amount of vehicles from the apartments on South Alta Street that were parked along the Southern Pacific Railroad property.
He shared information about a lady that came before the Council before mentioning she was willing to pay for additional parking permits and she had talked about people choosing the garages for storage areas instead of parking vehicles. He also talked about commercial trucks blocking sidewalks. He felt we had to begin to do something about it and he was ok with issuing parking permits. He would like for staff to review that and see what our options were.
Mayor Pro Tem Funk remembered that person who went out and did some polling and a couple of Cities in the peninsula had something similar, so maybe we can provide direction to staff to potentially investigate this and bring back.
City Manager Gil asked for clarification if they wanted staff to conduct a poll to see how the community would feel about permitted parking.
Mayor Pro Tem Funk suggested to start looking at what other communities are doing.
Mayor Rios also asked City Attorney Rodriquez if that would be feasible and what would that entail because if it was going to entail lots of legal time, it would be a challenge.
City Attorney Rodriquez mentioned staff can bring something back.
BUSINESS FROM CITY MANAGER
23. Oral Communications
City Manager Gil reported on Public Works staff getting information on what the cost would be to take all the trees down on Alta Street, and keeping in mind this was just to take the dead trees out.
She informed the cost was $18,000 and there were 46 trees. On another note, she informed she would be at the 3CE meeting this Wednesday and Thursday. She also announced the Community Health Day at Central Park on October 12th from 11:00am – 2:00pm, and invited the entire community to attend the event which would consist of a flu clinic, food giveaway, activities and resources. In response to the odor going on, she informed that Chief Muscio would be looking into that as we were getting some reports from the public as well.
In regards to parking enforcement and concerns in the City, Police Chief Wise shared that from January 1, 2024 to today, the Police Department had issued a total of 240 parking citations; 49 were for 72-hour violations, 78 for registrations, 24 for parking on sidewalks, 18 for parking unlawful or double parking, 10 for blocking driveways, and 61 other citations for parking in a red zone, fire lane, fire hydrant, disabled, etc. He added that officers were out there enforcing regulations.
Mayor Pro Tem Funk mentioned that was an unfortunate number, and thanked him for the update and said officers were always great about showing up and taking care of a blocked sidewalk, etc.
ADJOURNMENT
RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: Liz Silva, Council Member
SECONDER: Scott Funk Mayor Pro Tem
AYES: Jose L. Rios, Scott Funk, Liz Silva, Lorraine Worthy, Maria Orozco The meeting was adjourned at 7:35 PM.
ATTEST:
Mary Villegas, Deputy City Clerk