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, JUNE 16, 2025
6:00 P.M.
CALL TO ORDER
The meeting was called to order at 6:21 PM by Mayor Jose L. Rios.
PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
The flag salute was recited by all present.
1. ROLL CALL
Attendee Name Title Status
Jose L. Rios Mayor/Chair/President Present
Liz Silva Mayor Pro Tem/Vice Chair/Vice President Present Scott Funk Council/Agency/Board Member Present
Lorraine Worthy Council/Agency/Board Member Present
Maria Orozco Council/Agency/Board Member Present
STAFF PRESENT
City Manager Carmen Gil, City Attorney Michael F. Rodriquez, Community Development Director Taven Kinison Brown, Finance Director Mike Howard, Executive Assistant to the City Manager/Deputy City Clerk Mary Villegas, Administrative Assistant II Marisol Gomez, 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 two 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]
PRESENTATIONS
2. Gonzales Little League Sportsmanship Recognitions
Deputy City Clerk Villegas read the certificates of recognition and Mayor Rios presented them to the athletes. He thanked the parents for all the work they put in for their kids.
3. Fourth of July Preparations
City Manager Gil, presented via powerpoint, the preparedness efforts, City messaging by various means, safety measures, prior years calls, drone support, and staff deployment.
Mayor Rios asked for public comment.
Henry Martinez Jr. said he will be sending a letter to the City and the Police Department that his 13 properties will not be on surveillance or flown over without a proper warrant by any of the Police Officers or the City. He commented about not going to the Fourth of July park event to take toys or anything. He announced he will be hosting a party at his house which was open to the public and he will be spending upwards of $4,000 in fireworks out of the City, not within the City, and he will throw the biggest party that this town has ever seen this Fourth of July. He added he will have security to combat the Police Department because they sent 25 Officers last year, and it was going to be glorious and huge, and encouraged the public to go over to his house and party to stand up for freedom, especially on a Friday night for which it made no sense to have a 10:30pm curfew. He also talked about the drone not getting any money back from all the court cases and he was glad they didn’t receive portions of that money back.
Henry Martinez Sr. commented about what happened last year when officers went to his house and they had to call mutual aid because there was a disturbance and was assaulted by the drone officer with a flashlight. He hoped he doesn’t fly the drone this time because those tickets would be invalid; he wanted to charge him with a felony as soon as he was done with his case of being falsely arrested; and he would hand over the video to his lawyer.
Henry Martinez III commented he would be helping the football team and he loved them dearly and the school.
Mayor Rios told Mr. Martinez III this was public comments for the Fourth of July item.
Mr. Martinez III said he wanted to have a safe Fourth of July; and commented about still having complaints about roads needing to be repaired; fireworks popping off next to his house; the need
to be on those people for illegal fireworks; and he hated being surveillanced by the drone because it gave him a heartbeat. He also said he respected the firemen going out there and working hard, the fire truck still needed to be repaired and told the Fire Chief to never give up.
BUSINESS FROM THE PUBLIC
4. Business from the Public not on the Agenda; any member of the Public may address the Council for a period not to exceed two (2) minutes on any subject not on the Agenda. The Council will listen to all communications, but may take no action.
Pete Maturino commented about his conversation last February regarding safety on his street when there was a suggestion about signing a petition by the people that lived in the area, it was turned in but he hadn’t seen it on the agenda. He understood the Public Works Director was busy but asked if he could finish what they were requesting since it was a safety issue and elaborated on a recent incident.
Henry Martinez Sr. was surprised to see the officer that charged them in the building and elaborated on the time he was in Salinas on the front line for his rights regarding immigration; City not help with that and three Council Members never voted for a sanctuary City.
City Attorney Rodriquez noted that notwithstanding the fact that the City hadn't adopted anything to designate itself as a sanctuary City, the law in the State of California under its act, essentially did the same exact thing, separating the actions and funding for federal enforcement of the immigration laws from the enforcement actions of individual Police Departments, so there was a law and there was a mandate, notwithstanding what Mr. Martinez just said.
Henry Martinez Jr. told City Attorney Rodriquez that was his interpretation and the law was interpretable but the people themselves needed to hear it from our so called leaders and he would stand with the Hispanic people. He elaborated on the different ICE raids here and in the neighboring towns and said Soledad Police Department was doing a better job than Gonzales because they stood for their people.
City Manager Gil wanted to make a remark that the City of Gonzales did provide a statement regarding everything happening early on, and was also on our social media pages, website, etc.
Mayor Rios reiterated that he knew that for a fact when the City Manager and Chief of Police attended the meeting at the High School and they made that very clear, and he thanked Chief Wise for doing so.
CONSENT AGENDA
5. Approve the Joint City Council and Successor Agency - Regular Meeting - June 2, 2025 Minutes
6. Approve City Accounts Payable Warrants #52108-52181
7. City Manager’s Report
8. Community Development Department Activity Report
9. Community Engagement & Recreation Departments Activity Report
10. Fire Department Activity Report
11. Police Department Activity Report
12. Public Works/City Engineer Department Activity Report
13. Consider Approval of Resolution No. 2025-23, A Resolution of the City Council of the City of Gonzales Approving the Prioritized List of Services and Programs to be Funded with Tax *
Proceeds Received from the Measure ‘K’ Transaction and Use Tax, During Fiscal Year 2025- 2026, Including Funding Allocations
Council Member Worthy pulled Item 13 for further discussion on the Measure K list relating to the Community Action Grants amount of $30,000.
She mentioned that they’ve all made a decision that we would like to have our stipends pulled for the upcoming fiscal year. So she felt that we needed to pull this amount, and she understood we had a lot of people from our organizations that depended on those community action grants, but many of the people that have received those community action grants have been the same groups that have been receiving them the entire time, and we had always said that it was supposed to be a funding source for them to get started. She said that's how it was always presented when we started this group. She added she spoke to a couple of the groups who had told her that they knew this was coming, and that they had been asking for donations from people.
Mayor Pro Tem Silva asked for more details on this since she couldn’t open the item.
City Manager Gil responded what this motion did was to approve the $30,000, then it would still go back to a Subcommittee of the Measure K Oversight Committee after applications were received.
Council Member Funk asked Council Member Worthy for clarification if she was suggesting we removed the $30,000 from the list.
Council Member Worthy responded yes and if it was possible to put it into the reserves.
Finance Director Howard responded yes and in other jurisdictions with oversight committees had funded the reserve and it meant it couldn't be used for operational expenses, it would actually be earmarked for general fund reserves as these are general fund revenues.
Council Member Orozco mentioned that when we first passed and advocated for Measure K, we told the public that Measure K was going to help support senior programs, recreation and youth programs, and that was one of the biggest pushes for us to pass Measure K, and some of the projects that were done under community grants serviced and met the gap we were not able to provide services for, like the seniors and the youth. She felt it was hard to pull back and say we were not going to be able to serve those programs now. She would like to see what it would be or what it would look like with the financial numbers coming back in terms of doing away with our stipends, and what that amount will look like or how we can maybe tweak.
Council Member Funk didn’t think we should eliminate it completely. He knew we increased it the last few years and he didn’t think there was discussion about removing it with the Measure K Committee, so that would be a surprise to the committee. He mentioned we did discuss the amount for sure and that was what was recommended. He also elaborated on the Measure K funding that wasn’t going to go into aquatics as last year. He didn’t like the idea of putting it into a reserve because reserve was kind of ambiguous.
Council Member Orozco recalled that there were some groups that applied multiple times for funding.
Council Member Worthy most of the groups that had applied had been the same groups.
Council Member Funk clarified that not all of them were repeats. He said we did have new groups last year.
Council Member Worthy said most of them were.
RESULT: APPROVED AS AMENDED [3 TO 2] Item 13, Resolution No. 2025-23, to include eliminating the Community Action Grants and putting the amount into the reserves in the general fund.
MOVER: Lorraine Worthy, Council Member
SECONDER: Liz Silva, Mayor Pro Tem
AYES: Jose L. Rios, Liz Silva, Lorraine Worthy
NAYS: Scott Funk, Maria Orozco
14. Consider Approval of Resolution No. 2025-42, A Joint Resolution of the City Council of the City of Gonzales/Gonzales Successor Agency/Gonzales Successor Housing Agency/Gonzales Electric Authority/Gonzales Municipal Electric Utility Extending the Employment Agreement with Carmen Gil
15. Consider Approval of Resolution 2025-44, A Resolution of the City Council of the City of Gonzales Authorizing Task Order #3 Under a Master Services Agreement with Harris & Associates for Construction Management Services on the Community Center Complex Project During FY 2025-2026 for a Not-to-Exceed Amount of $218,873 RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS] Consent Agenda Items 5-12, 14-15 MOVER: Maria Orozco, Council Member
SECONDER: Liz Silva, Mayor Pro Tem
AYES: Jose L. Rios, Liz Silva, Scott Funk, Lorraine Worthy, Maria Orozco
REGULAR AGENDA
16. Public Hearing to Consider Approval of Resolution 2025-41, A Resolution of the City Council of the City of Gonzales Approving an Agreement Between the City of Gonzales, City of Soledad, City of Greenfield, and Tri-Cities Disposal & Recycling Services from July 1, 2025 Through June 30, 2035 in Substantial Form and Content, and Authorizing the City Manager to Execute said Agreement on Behalf of the City Gonzales, and Approving the FY 2025-2026 Garbage Collection and Disposal Rates
Staff Report: Public Works Director Dobbins presented the staff report.
Patrick Mathews, Salinas Valley Recycles CEO, presented information via powerpoint presentation which included procurement process, continued/amended services, rate adjustment, sample rate adjustments, and common service levels.
Mayor Rios opened the public hearing at 7:15pm.
Public Hearing: No comments came forward.
Mayor Rios closed the public hearing at 7:15pm.
Council Discussion: None.
*
RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: Liz Silva, Mayor Pro Tem
SECONDER: Maria Orozco, Council Member
AYES: Jose L. Rios, Liz Silva, Scott Funk, Lorraine Worthy, Maria Orozco City Attorney Rodriquez clarified if the Council was approving it to substantial form and content since there was always some last-minute tweaks, particularly when dealing with three different Cities. He said the signature line was a perfect example, in the agenda packet it said that the Mayors would sign as opposed to having the City Managers who had the authority to sign off, so staff will need to make those kinds of changes.
The Council concurred with the City Attorney.
17. Consider Approval of Resolution 2025-43, A Resolution of the City Council of the City of Gonzales Authorizing Issuance of a Notice to Proceed with Construction with Gateway Pacific Contractors for the Industrial Wastewater Treatment Facility, Authorizing Task Order #3 under a Master Service Agreement with Dudek Consulting for Design Support during Construction, and Authorizing Task Order #4 under a Master Service Agreement with MNS Engineers for Construction Management and Inspection Services
Staff Report: Public Works Director Dobbins presented the staff report.
Public Comment: There was none.
Council Discussion: None.
RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: Scott Funk, Council Member
SECONDER: Maria Orozco, Council Member
AYES: Jose L. Rios, Liz Silva, Scott Funk, Lorraine Worthy, Maria Orozco
18. Public Hearing to Consider Waiver of Second Reading, Adoption, and Reading by Title Only Ordinance No. 2025-150, An Ordinance of the City Council of the City of Gonzales Amending Chapter 4.70-Tobacco Licensing of Titlte 4-Business and License Regulations of the Gonzales City Code to Prohibit the Sale of all Flavored Tobacco Products and to Prohibit Single Use Electronic Smoking Products
Staff Report: Community Development Director Kinison Brown presented the staff report.
Mayor Rios opened the public hearing at 7:25pm.
Public Hearing: No comments came forward.
Mayor Rios closed the public hearing at 7:25pm.
Council Discussion: None.
RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: Scott Funk, Council Member
SECONDER: Liz Silva, Mayor Pro Tem
AYES: Jose L. Rios, Liz Silva, Scott Funk, Lorraine Worthy, Maria Orozco
19. Public Hearing to Consider Waiver of Second Reading, Adoption, and Reading by Title Only Ordinance No. 2025-151, An Ordinance of the City Council of the City of Gonzales Amending Section 3.16.085-Bidding Procedures for Public Construction Projects of Chapter 3.16- Purchasing Procedures of the Gonzales City Code
Staff Report: City Attorney Rodriquez presented the staff report.
Mayor Rios opened the public hearing at 7:27pm.
Public Hearing: No comments came forward.
Mayor Rios closed the public hearing at 7:27pm.
Council Discussion: None
RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: Lorraine Worthy, Council Member
SECONDER: Liz Silva, Mayor Pro Tem
AYES: Jose L. Rios, Liz Silva, Scott Funk, Lorraine Worthy, Maria Orozco
BUSINESS FROM CITY COUNCIL
20. City Council Board/Committee Reports
a. League of California Cities Monterey Bay Division
No report.
b. Association of Monterey Bay Area Governments
Council Member Funk reported on the item of discussion about the REAP 2.0 and the good news was that there was some funding left over for Gonzales and they had been in conversation with the City Manager about it, which works well on our budget. c. Monterey Salinas Transit
Council Member Worthy reported on the data she requested on the circulators to see how our community members were utilizing them and that would be provided at the July 14th meeting.
21. Oral Communications
Council Member Worthy mentioned some of the things they had to do were difficult but hoped the community understood and she looked forward to 2025-2026.
Mayor Pro Tem Silva congratulated our youth for their sportsmanship awards which she enjoyed seeing. She wished everyone a safe Fourth of July.
Council Member Orozco reported she attended and represented the Council at the graduation ceremonies and was impressed to see the number of our residents getting their High School GED, many of them who became US citizens. She was excited to see some of our Youth Council Members graduate. She announced the Fourth of July event that Rotary was sponsoring at Central
Park where they will have the famous barbecue ribs and the parade will depart from Centennial Park. She also announced the St. Theodore's Reverse Draw in July.
Mayor Rios shared about hearing a loud boom that rattled the picture frames in his house and he was afraid someone could get hurt with the fireworks, and he knew the Fire and Police Departments were going to be very busy on the Holiday.
BUSINESS FROM CITY MANAGER
22. Oral Communications
City Manager Gil wished everyone a safe Fourth of July and encouraged people to call if they saw illegal fireworks. She also reported on the potential parcel tax survey which would go live tomorrow, and to let people know that the City was exploring the idea of a parcel tax and it was important for them to know that it was indeed something the City was putting out in case they wonder if it was real. They can call City Hall if they have any questions.
Public Works Director Dobbins reported on the Community Center paving continuing on schedule; and on another note, he shared the joy of watching his son walk the commencement stage at UC Santa Barbara.
Council Member Funk asked if the signs for the trucks not to turn were staying, and if we could get similar signs to sit on the corner of Fifth Street and the bridge.
Public works Director Dobbins responded yes they were staying, and yes they could place one there.
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 two (2) minutes. Please be brief and to the point.
There was none.
23. The City Council will recess to closed session to consider personnel matters pursuant to Government Code Section 54957(B)(1) - City Manager Evaluation.
No reportable action taken. Evaluation continued.
24. 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: Duran v. City of Gonzales.
Direction was provided to legal counsel. No other reportable action taken.
ADJOURNMENT
RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: Scott Funk, Council Member
SECONDER: Liz Silva, Mayor Pro Tem
AYES: Jose L. Rios, Liz Silva, Scott Funk, Lorraine Worthy, Maria Orozco The meeting was adjourned at 7:45 PM.
ATTEST:
Mary Villegas, Deputy City Clerk