City Council Minutes
July 28, 2026
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CITY COUNCIL MINUTES
MEETING OF JULY 28, 2026
CALL TO ORDER
Mayor White called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m.
ROLL CALL
PRESENT: Mayor White, Mayor Pro-tem Rodriguez, Councilmembers Ortiz and Garcia ABSENT: Councilmember Moreno-Mares
STAFF: City Manager Wood, Captain Paredes, Public Works Director Tugel, IT Director Espinosa, Science Workshop Director Sanchez, City Attorney Thompson, City Clerk Rathbun
GUESTS: Gail Stewart White, Robert Mullen, Cynthia Zavala, Patrick Headley, Victor Caravez, Kuei Villa, Monica Perez
EXCUSE COUNCILMEMBER ABSENCES
A MOTION by Mayor Pro-tem Rodriguez, seconded by Councilmember Ortiz to excuse Councilmember Moreno-Mares. All in favor. Motion carried.
INVOCATION BY PASTOR ROBERT MULLEN
Invocation by Pastor Mullen.
PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
All recited the Pledge of Allegiance.
AGENDA REVIEW
City Manager Wood asked that Item K-1, Resolution Overrulling Objections to the Proposed Removal of Weeds, Rubbish, Refuse and Ordering the Fire Chief to Abate Nuisances by Causing the Removal of Such Weeds, Rubbish and Refuse, be removed from the agenda. City Council concurred.
PUBLIC COMMENTS FROM THE AUDIENCE REGARDING ITEMS NOT ON THE AGENDA Victor Caravez, SEIU representative, asked that the City Council support a fair contract for the members and stated that their members have gone with no raise for over 1 year.
Kuei Villa thanked the Council for placing the sidewalk over the Walnut Avenue overpass. She stated that she had heard of the horrible murder that happened at Fastrip and was wondering what the City was doing to stop this from happening again. She stated that there were many locations were the sidewalks were broken and lifted because of the tree roots and asked the City to look into it. She also stated that the fees for the water and sewer were very high and that the City needed to provide more recreation activities for our youth.
Cynthia Zavala, Heart of the Valley Chamber, invited everyone to the fundraiser that they were having on August 7th at the Greenfield Memorial Hall. She stated that it was a line dancing event and they would also have a taco truck.
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Laura Mireles thanked Tiffany Twisslemann for reviewing and explaining in detail the utility billing and meter reading. She asked that the bill statement be updated because it was confusing.
COMMENTS FROM CITY COUNCIL
Councilmember Ortiz announced the Relay for Life event on August 8th at Parkside Court Park. She stated that this event was honoring survivors and their families, anyone affected by cancer and the whole community. She stated that she attended the listening session with Supervisor Chris Lopez last Thursday and one of the main concerns was providing services for people affected by domestic violation and mental health. She also stated that there were weeds along sidewalks and it looked very bad and that there were a lot of broken sidewalks throughout the City and staff needed to look at what could be done about it. She stated that she was walking with her grandkids on a hot day and stopped at the cooling station at the Science Workshop thinking that they could get some water; however, there was no colling station opened. She stated that during the hot weather, cooling stations need to be always open for our residents. She also stated that the perc ponds were extremely clean and was happy to see that.
Mayor Pro-tem Rodriguez asked that the City develop a banner policy and place it on an agenda as an action item. She stated that she believed that the City needed to celebrate our Veterans specifically, however, she did believe that there were certain disqualifying factors that should be considered such as being a registered sex offender. She stated that as a survivor, she could not image driving down town in my home town and seeing somebody that was convicted of harming myself or someone in my family on a banner. She encouraged all the members of the public to familiarize themselves with the Megan’s Law website which was for communities to be able to access information about registered sex offenders in our area. She asked that the police department could maybe put out a flyer to bring awareness.
Mayor White stated that he met with Jose Chavez, Community Engagement Coordinator, and our youth commissioner on July 17th and they interviewed him regarding being Mayor and city government. He announced that National Night Out was on August 4th at 5 p.m. at the Gazebo and the Heart of the Valley Chamber event on August 7th from 7 to 10 p.m. at the Greenfield Memorial Hall. He stated that Jesus Perez and he attended the ribbon cutting on July 20th for the communication boards. He stated that the boards were sponsored by Supervisor Lopez and were designed to help foster communication for children. He stated that the boards were being installed in parks in South County and one would be installed at Patriot Park. He stated that Councilmember Ortiz and he attended the listening session with Supervisor Lopez last week and stated that there was discussion on various things in Greenfield including the cemeteries, memorial hall and Oak Park. He stated that they updated the group on the new construction projects including the Poppy Truck Stop and the new storage facility going up on the north end of town as well as the reconstruction of the pizza parlor on Walnut Avenue.
CONSENT ITEMS
Kuei Villa stated that if the City was raising taxes then the item should be a separate item and more information should be given. She stated that she would like to have it publicly discussed. Mayor White stated that this item had been previously discussed and that all the information could be found in the agenda.
A MOTION by Mayor Pro-tem Rodriguez, seconded by Councilmember Ortiz to approve the consent items including Warrants #327564 through #327606 and Bank Drafts #7349 through #7354 in the amount of $746,848.07; Receive and File Monthly Departmental Reports – Police; adopt Resolution #2026-78, “A Resolution of the City Council of the City of Greenfield Certifying Compliance with State Law with Respect to the Levying of General and Special Taxes, Assessments and PropertyRelated Fees and Charges for Fiscal Year 2026/2027 and Rescinding Resolution #2026-70”, and adopt Resolution #2026-79, “A Resolution of the City Council of the City of Greenfield Adopting the Fiscal Year 2026-2027 Annual “Appropriations Limit”. All in favor. Motion carried. 47 City Council Minutes
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PUBLIC HEARING
INTRODUCTION AND FIRST READING OF AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF GREENFIELD AMENDING SECTIONS 10.12.030 AND 17.58.040 OF THE GREENFIELD MUNCIPAL CODE Staff report was given by City Attorney Thompson.
After discussion among the Council, it was determined to amend the proposed ordinance to include not being allowed to park in the setbacks and not block any accessways, such as front doors, for all vehicles This item was continued to the September 8, 2026 meeting.
ADJOURN TO CLOSED SESSION
CLOSED SESSION - GOVERNMENT CODE SECTION 54957.6
CONFERENCE WITH LABOR NEGOTIATORS
Agency designated representative: City Manager Paul Wood Employee Organizations: Service Employee’s International Union Local 521, Greenfield Police Officers Association, Greenfield Police Sergeants’ Association, International Association of Fire Fighters - Local 4656
Kuei Villa asked if closed session could be at the end of the meeting and have the City Attorney and City Manager reports prior so that the public could hear the reports and not wait until after closed session.
Meeting adjourned to closed session at 6:34 p.m.
RECONVENE TO OPEN SESSION
Meeting reconvened to open session at 6:58 p.m.
There was no reportable action taken.
CITY ATTORNEY REPORT
No report.
CITY MANAGER REPORT
City Manager Wood stated that staff had had some discussion with Council and some community members about closing the restrooms at the parks at 3:15 p.m. and staff has agreed to keep them open to the prescribed time that the City had been doing in the past. He also stated that the Council was dark in August and there would be no meetings.
ADJOURNMENT
Meeting adjourned at 7:00 p.m.
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Mayor of the City of Greenfield
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City Clerk of the City of Greenfield
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