MINUTES
PARADISE TOWN COUNCIL
SPECIAL MEETING – 2:00 PM – January 21, 2025
1. OPENING
The Special meeting of the Paradise Town Council was called to order by Mayor Crowder at 2:00 p.m. in the Council Chambers located at 5555 Skyway, Paradise, California who led the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America.
COUNCIL MEMBERS PRESENT: Steve “Woody” Culleton, Heidi Lange, Ronald Lassonde, and Steve Crowder, Mayor.
COUNCIL MEMBERS ABSENT: Greg Bolin
STAFF PRESENT: Town Manager Jim Goodwin, Town Attorney Scott E. Huber, Town Clerk/Elections Official Melanie Elvis, Community Development Director Tony Lindsey, Community Development Director Susan Hartman, Public Works Director/Town Engineer Marc Mattox, Capital Projects Manager Colin Nelson, Supervising Project Manager Jessica Erdahl, Recovery and Economic Development Director Colette Curtis, Police Chief Eric Reinbold, Police Lieutenant Cameron Kovacs, Deputy Town Clerk Jacquelyn Blancett and Administrative Assistant Sheris Alvies.
2. COUNCIL CONSIDERATON
2a. Town Engineer Marc Mattox introduced the Paradise Sewer Project Progressive Design Build consultants team from Mountain Cascade, Inc. and Carollo Engineering and Town staff. The consultants presented the project components for a regional Paradise Sewer Project design.
1. JT Martin said the problem was with “effluents” and that there are other options besides a sewer.
2. Cliff Jacobson said the septic tanks weren’t the problem, the problem is with the leach fields and asked the Council to consider worms as an option.
3. Federico Pumpin from BioFiltro said the Town can harness the power of nature for different options for wastewater treatment plants and provided Council with a pamphlet on BioFiltro’s worm treatment for effluents.
4. Jon Remalia asked if Council had looked at the Carollo Engineering contract vs the Basis of Design Report to know if the consultants had really fulfilled their contract obligations.
5. Nathanal Vail spoke in opposition to a local sewer treatment plant located on lower Skyway.
6. William Sharrett said the timeline to put a sewer in place was costing the Town in potential revenue and made it more expensive on Paradise Unified School District to build new facilities.
7. Doug Munjar asked how Council knew Carollo Engineering did their jobs correctly; said there are a lot of alternatives to a sewer and thought a smaller system that could be added later would be more prudent.
8. Robert Bean asked if the Town was working with other stakeholders like Paradise Irrigation District.
9. Kevin Phillips, Paradise Irrigation District Manager, said PID would like to support and partner with the Town in funding, advocacy, and the operations and maintenance of the project.
Mr. Mattox reported the current cost estimate for a regional project to be in excess of $450 million and asked for Council direction on how to proceed.
Mr. Mattox shared new potential funding sources and asked for direction on a revised project that would be more fiscally attainable.
MOTION by Lassonde, seconded by Culleton concurred with staff’s recommendation to accept the Basis of Design Report (BODR) prepared and submitted by Carollo Engineering and requested staff provide information on how much of the information in the plan remains useful for a local treatment option. Roll call vote was unanimous with Council Member Greg Bolin absent and not voting.
Council provided direction to staff to redirect the project from a regional connection to Chico to a local treatment option, and to ensure all options for local treatment are considered.
MOTION by Lassonde, seconded by Culleton, appointed Mayor Crowder and Council Member Lange to serve on an Ad Hoc Committee, replacing the previously established Sewer Regionalization Project Advisory Committee between the Town of Paradise, City of Chico and Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board to work closely with staff on the sewer project. Roll call vote was unanimous with Council Member Greg Bolin absent and not voting. (960-70-007)
2b. Town Engineer Marc Mattox provided an overview of the proposed resolution to allow Paradise Town Manager to approve amendments to the current Master Services Agreement with HDR.
MOTION by Culleton, seconded by Lassonde, 1. Concurred with staff’s recommendation to allow Paradise Town Manager to approve amendments to the current Master Services Agreement with HDR so long as the amendment does not affect the overall budget that was originally approved and the overall intent of the Master Services Agreement; and, 2. Adopted Resolution No. 2025-04 “ A Resolution of the Town Council of the Town of Paradise, Receding and Replacing Resolution No. 23-22, and Designating Authority to the Town Manager to Execute Individual Task Orders and Amendments Under The Resultant Master Agreement For RFQ 2023-001 On-Call Owner’s Agent Up To The Maximum Contract Aggregate Amount Of $5,000,000 To Expedite and Facilitate the Paradise Sewer Project, Initial Design And Progressive Design Build Process” with direction that all task order amendments be reviewed by the Sewer Ad Hoc Committee, first. Roll call vote was unanimous with Council Member Greg Bolin absent and not voting. (960-70-007) (510-20-382)
3. CLOSED SESSION
At 4:47 p.m. Mayor Crowder announced that the Town Council would adjourn to Closed Session for the following items:
3a. Pursuant to Government Code Section 54956.9(d)(2), the Council will meet with the Town Manager and Town Attorney regarding potential exposure to litigation – one case.
After reconvening from Closed Session at 5:05 p.m., Mayor Crowder announced direction was given, no reportable action was taken.
10. ADJOURNMENT
Mayor Crowder adjourned the Council meeting at 5:06 p.m.
Date approved: February 11, 2025
By: Attest:
________/s/___________ __________/s/_________________
Steve Crowder, Mayor Melanie Elvis, Town Clerk