MINUTES
City of Guadalupe
Regular Meeting of the Guadalupe City Council
Tuesday, February 22, 2022, at 6:00 pm
City Hall, 918 Obispo Street, Council Chambers
1. ROLL CALL:
Council Member Liliana Cardenas
Council Member Gilbert Robles
Council Member Eugene Costa Jr.
Mayor Pro Tempore Tony Ramirez
Mayor Ariston Julian
Council Member Ramirez was absent. All others present with Mayor Julian on zoom. (The abbreviation "CM" will be used for "Council Member" in these minutes.)
MOMENT OF SILENCE
3. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
After the Pledge of Allegiance, Mayor Julian turned the meeting over to CM Cardenas to chair it with him remaining on zoom.
4. AGENDA REVIEW
At this time the City Council will review the order of business to be conducted and receive requests for, or make announcements regarding, any change(s) in the order of business.
There were no requests to change the agenda.
5. PRESENTATION
• Central Coast Community Energy - Annual Member Agency Update Mr. Gabe Ruiz, Central Coast Community Energy ('CCCE") Key Account Specialist for Guadalupe, gave the presentation via zoom. CCCE purchases and deliveries electricity for the communities served. The following is a summarized version of that presentation:
• CCCE has served approximately 50% of the customers in California and is the largest community choice in the state with offices in Monterey and San Luis Obispo. There currently are 33 members with another city potentially to join. Geographically, CCCE is the largest community choice in the state.
Cities with populations less than 50,000 share a seat on the policy board. (Santa Barbara Counties have Buellton, Solvang and Guadalupe.)
February 22, 2022 City of Guadalupe Council Meeting Minutes Page 1 of 7 • CCCE has 94% enrollment, with an emphasis on their outreach program. Guadalupe has
98.6% enrollment or 2,543 customers.
• Since March 2018, CCCE has saved communities $50M. There is over $14M set aside for FY 21/22 energy programs. Over $140M in their Rate Stabilization Fund. CCCE has received an "A" rating with S&P.
• CCCE's goal by 2030 is to have 100% clean and renewable energy, with goal of 60% reached by 2025, financially benefiting customers and CCCE to reduce operating costs of $8M - $15M per year.
• Prior to Guadalupe joining, CCCE gave rebates at the end of the year but switched to show monthly discount on the bill itself. During the beginning of the pandemic, May & June 2020, CCCE had 50% bill reduction, totally approximately $24M in savings. For the months following through February 2022, there has been a 2% discount which will change in March. • CCCE's 2022 goals for service offerings include "predictability, simplicity, fairness and competitiveness" with the intent of being transparent explaining where the dollars go. • Approach to Rate Design: Create simple, easily understood customer classes based on size and usage and allocate total cost across customer classes. • 4% of operating revenue goes into a variety of energy programs for the community. Electrify- Your-Ride Program has funds available to residents for purchase of electric vehicles and electric charging stations. Energy Program Funds - Guadalupe School District has applied for an electric school bus and will receive $200k for that. • CCCE promotes programs through their Field Promotion for agricultural workers in Counties of Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo.
• CCCE is creating resources to help customers get access to data and make informed rate decisions.
• CCCE is working with their member agencies to ensure customer fairness and equal access to resources on regulatory and legislative matters.
• CCCE is working with communities to show there is money to give to residents.
Mr. Ruiz concluded his presentation and asked if there were any questions. There were no questions asked. CM Cardenas then said, , "Thank you. These are great programs available for our community, especially moving forward toward cleaner energy in Guadalupe." Mr. Ruiz thanked the Council for the opportunity to give his presentation.
6. COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION FORUM
Each person will be limited to a discussion of three (3) minutes or as directed by the Mayor.
Pursuant to provisions of the Brown Act, no action may be taken on these matters unless they are listed on the agenda, or unless certain emergency or special circumstances exist. City Council may direct staff to investigate and/or schedule certain matters for consideration at a future City Council meeting.
Mr. Lupe Alvarez spoke regarding the stipends for Mayor and Council. He said, "A change in the stipends should be considered by the City Council. From 2004 to 2012, I was mayor. The City Council's stipend has been $150.00 for 30-35 years. The Council does a lot of research, a lot of studying and has a lot of meetings. A lot of time is given. I would like to see discussion by the Council to have the stipend go up to $300-$350 for the mayor and $250 for the Council. The mayor probably works 30-40 hours a week as it is. Being on the Council is not a way to make a living but this is a February 22, 2022 City of Guadalupe Council Meeting Minutes Page 2 of 7 way to compensate for their time. Also, it might encourage some other talent in the community, new members, retirees who live here already. When it's $150.00 and you're putting in so much time, it doesn't go a long way. If there was a change, it would not take effect until after November, until after the election. Some of you might be here. Some of you might not." At this point, Mr. Alvarez asked City Treasurer Michaud, who is also a Guadalupe School Board Member, what the stipend was for a Board Member. Ms. Michaud said, "$225.00 at the School Board."
7. CONSENT CALENDAR
The following items are presented for City Council approval without discussion as a single agenda item in order to expedite the meeting. Should a Council Member wish to discuss or disapprove an item, it must be dropped from the blanket motion of approval and considered as a separate item.
A. Waive the reading in full of all Ordinances and Resolutions. Ordinances on the Consent Calendar will be adopted by the same vote cast as the first meeting unless City Council indicates otherwise.
B. Approve payment of warrants for the period ending February 15, 2022.
C. Approve the Minutes of the City Council Regular Meeting of February 8, 2022, to be ordered filed.
D. Receive the January 2022 Financial Report.
E. Adopt Resolution No. 2022-14 approving the City of Guadalupe 2021 Local Road Safety Plan.
Adopt Resolution No. 2022-15 to petition LAFCo to initiate annexation proceedings for the Almaguer Annexation, 2020-060-PA, to also include annexation into the Guadalupe Lighting District.
G. Adopt Resolution No. 2022-16 approval of Classification and Job Description for Facility Rental Coordinator.
H. Adopt Resolution No. 2022-17 appointing Amelia M. Villegas as the Interim Facility Rental Coordinator.
I. Approve a one-year time extension for Escalante Meadows, 2019-063DR (TE) and 2019-064- CUP (TE).
MONTHLY REPORTS FROM DEPARTMENT HEADS
1. Public Safety Department:
a. Police Department report for January 2022
b. Fire Department report for January 2022
c. Code Compliance report for January 2022
2. City Treasurer's report for January 2022
3. Human Resources report for January 2022
February 22, 2022 City of Guadalupe Council Meeting Minutes Page 3 of 7
4. Los Amigos de Guadalupe report
Items #7.B., 7.E., 7.G. and 7.J.4. were pulled. Motion was made by Mayor Julian and seconded by Council Member Costa, Jr. to approve the remainder of the Consent Calendar. 4-0 Passed.
Absent: Ramirez.
Item #7.B. - Warrants
repair. He asked, "Is there any consideration for O'Connell Park trees? There are 23 trees on the westside of the park that needs trimming." He asked Ms. Shannon Sweeney, Public Works Director, if she could respond. Ms. Sweeney said, "We had originally allocated $70,000 of ARPA funds for vegetation maintenance. About $29,000 is to be used for the existing contract. When we finish that current project, we'll look at the westside of the park to use any remaining funds." Mayor Julian thanked Ms. Sweeney for her response.
Item #7.E. - Local Road Safety Plan
Mayor Julian referred to page 1 of Attachment 1, where there is a picture of city limits and the railroad crossing by Hwy 166 and Hwy 1. The mayor said, "In speaking with DJ Farms/Pasadera, and Shannon knows this.../ know there was to be a meeting regarding the request by, I don't know if it's CalTrans, SBCAG, or whoever, or the railroad, to put, right where you see the railroad crossing (the white sign), they have requested, whoever requested to have DJ Farms put a sidewalk on the southside of Hwy 166 - that's the sidewalk to nowhere. That thing goes across...you don't want people going on the southside of the railroad tracks then crossing the railroad tracks without any crossing guards or anybody else nor walking across the street to the northside of the sidewalk. I know Shannon is working with that group and I just wanted to make sure we can see how we can clarify that. Again, you don't want to have the sidewalk to nowhere." On page 2, it's a minor thing, under "Acknowledgements", Mayor Julian said, "It shows Guadalupe Chamber of Commerce. I'm assuming that should be the 'GBA', Guadalupe Business Association. / was wondering why...maybe because it isn't a government agency or entity, why DJ Farms/Pasadera wasn't included in this discussion? They have a considerable interest in everything regarding the project on the southside of the street. That's just a comment. There isn't a question to do that. / think it would have been nice to have them since they're a big ticketholder in this whole process." The mayor continued saying, "That's just to see if we can do something, especially with that sidewalk. Shannon is working on that. I know DJ Farms is willing to do that but is it tied into, perhaps, the signalization and the request by the owner of DJ Farms to have something to do with the crossing guards and everything else that's going to be put into that intersection once the lighting goes through? That's just some feedback to Shannon and some of the concerns that I and others have on that sidewalk."
Item #7.G. - Facility Rental Coordinator Job Description Mayor Julian questioned the hours for this part-time position, specifically the noted flexibility schedule with '3 hours on Saturday'. He said, "There needs to be more flexibility. The person may February 22, 2022 City of Guadalupe Council Meeting Minutes Page 4 of 7 be needed more than the 3 hours on Saturday. Especially if you go back to Attachment 2, it shows that this position "is also responsible for the facility rental process and assists with other recreation programs, as necessary'. So, if someone can't be available for the weekend or Saturday, then I think there needs to be more flexibility in how we create that. I don't want to lock in for somebody to say "I'm only available 3 hours' and then they can't work on a Saturday. Maybe we can modify that to say, 'as needed'. It may be in there already, but / wanted to bring that up." Ms. Emiko Gerber, HR Manager, said, "I'll make a note of that on the job description. I believe that will be perfectly okay.
For the purposes of our labor union, SEIU, that will be protecting this job, this position, their suggestion was that we put in a minimum number of hours that we'd want somebody on Saturday.
At our meeting with CM Robles, yourself, Recreation Commissioner Emily Dreiling and Hannah (Fuentes), we discussed the idea of having a Saturday mandatory set of hours. I think at the time we just arbitrarily said three (3) hours based on the 18-hour workweek. We can certainly make that change to add 'or, as needed' so that we can tie into flexibility." The mayor had no further comments.
At this point, Mayor Julian made a motion to approve the remainder of the Consent Calendar.
However, Item #7.J.4. had not been discussed.
Item #7.J.4. - Los Amigos de Guadalupe (LADG)
Ms. Alma Hernandez introduced herself and said, "I'm the Board President for LADG. I'm really happy to report that today was the on-boarding and first day for Alejandra Enciso Medina who is now the Executive Director for LADG along with Thomas (Brandeberry). They're going to be co- directors for a little while she gets completely onboard and gets familiar with everything. There's just so much going on. We just wanted to make sure that everything continued as it was going. We have so many projects up in the air. The Le Roy Park project is estimated to be completed with a ribbon cutting in late April or early May. All the information is on the report on that and other projects. LADG was recently awarded $200K from Calfire for an Urban Tree Master Plan. An application for $10M was just submitted for the Royal Theatre. They are hoping to have it shovel ready by the end of the month."
Ms. Hernandez also introduced Alejandra Enciso Medina, LADG's new Executive Director. Ms.
Medina spoke briefly about her background. She said, "I'm a long-time Guadalupe resident having gone to school at Mary Buren School, McKenzie Middle School, Righetti High School, then Allan Hancock. I'm a Board Trustee at Allan Hancock representing Area 3 which includes Guadalupe and south Santa Maria. Currently, I'm working on my master's and doctorate. Hopefully, I'll do you all proud."
CM Cardenas then said, "You already do. Thank you so much for everything that you do, LADG, for Guadalupe, and for meeting you. You know our community in and out so, we're really excited for you."
Mayor Julian said, "I'll amend my motion to include Item #7.J.4. Motion made by Mayor Julian and seconded by Council Member Costa, Jr. to approve Items #7.B., #7.E., #7.G. and #7.J.4. 4-0 Passed
Absent: Ramirez
8. CITY ADMINISTRATOR REPORT: (Information Only)
February 22, 2022 City of Guadalupe Council Meeting Minutes Page 5 of 7 Mr. Bodem did not have any items to report at this time.
9. DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC SAFETY REPORT: (Information Only) Chief Cash had two (2) items to report:
He said, "With the cold weather, there are the homeless sleeping in the streets. "We're working with three (3) homeless shelters in Santa Maria now, Good Samaritan Shelter, Salvation Army and Power of God Christian Center. We just got the report from Santa Barbara County. They're looking to hire to fill the 31 staff shortage. So, if there's anyone looking for employment to help keep those shelters open, I just want to put that information out there.
Also, the PD put out a 'Community Alert for Suspicious Subjects'. We've had two (2) incidents right now of people following some of the kids, before and after school, trying to entice them to come into vehicles. We have some photographs. We put up a Community Alert and sent those the schools.
We're putting them up in businesses. We also sent that information to the Community Alert that you can get from the City. I had a great citizen, Jeannie Mello, who has very graciously put information out on Facebook to advise people how to go on the City website. You scroll down to the very bottom. A lot of people ask how to get the safety alerts. On the City website, it says 'Public Safety Alerts' and it shows you how to put your information into the system so you can get this kind of information. We did this with the hostage situation we had at Christmas now this Community Alert. We're trying to keep the community informed of incidents so that we, hopefully, apprehend the subjects."
10. MAYOR'S REPORT - UPDATES
For clarification, Mayor Julian mentioned item #5 on this report, 'Butcher Shop Ribbon Cutting Ceremony'. He said, "I was an hour early for the ribbon cutting. I got a firsthand orientation of it. I didn't get any birria but / wasn't there at the ribbon cutting. I think it's great to have the business here in town."
11. FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS
No additional future agenda items were added to the list.
12. ANNOUNCEMENTS - COUNCIL ACTIVITY/COMMITTEE REPORTS
Mayor Julian said, "I appreciate CM Cardenas taking over at this quick notice. That then sets her up in tune for being able to meet this in the future if that be her desire. And it's good to see Hannah (Fuentes) back from the cold country."
13. ADJOURNMENT TO CLOSED SESSION MEETING
February 22, 2022 City of Guadalupe Council Meeting Minutes Page 6 of 7 Motion was made by Council Member Costa, Jr. and seconded by Council Member Robles to adjourn to closed session. 4-0 Passed. Absent: Ramirez. Meeting adjourned to closed session at 6:45 p.m.
CLOSED SESSION
14. CONFERENCE WITH LABOR NEGOTIATORS
(Subdivision (a) of Government Code Section 54957.6)
Agency designated representatives: City Administrator, Human Resources Manager and Che Johnson, Partner, Liebert, Cassidy & Whitmore; Employee Organizations: International Association of Firefighters (IAFF)
15. ADJOURNMENT TO OPEN SESSION MEETING
Motion made by Council Member Costa, Jr. and seconded by Council Member Cardenas to return to open session. 4-0 Passed. Absent: Ramirez
16. CLOSED SESSION ANNOUNCEMENT
No reportable action.
17. ADJOURNMENT
Motion was made by Council Member Costa, Jr. and seconded by Council Member Cardenas to adjourn the meeting. 4-0 Passed. Absent: Ramirez Meeting Adjourned at 7:38 p.m.
Prepared by: Approved
Quesia
Amelia M. Villegas, City Clerk Ariston Juliar Mayor
February 22, 2022 City of Guadalupe Council Meeting Minutes Page 7 of 7