CITY COUNCIL / LRA BOARD RIV CITY OF RIVERBANK
Mayor/Chair Regular City Council and
Rachel Hernandez Local Redevelopment Authority
Council/Authority Members: Board Meetings
District 1-Luis Uribe CITY OF ACTION
Vice Mayor -District 2-Cindy Fosi
District 3-John Pimentel EST. 1922 3707 Third Street, Suite E District 4-Stacy Call Riverbank, CA 95367
choose civility
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 2025 - 6:00 P.M.
(THE AGENDA PACKET IS ONLINEAT HT://www.RIVERBANK.ORG/AGENDACENTER)
1. CALL TO ORDER -Mayor / Chair Hernandez called the meeting to order at 6:00pm
2. FLAG SALUTE -Vice Mayor Fosi led the pledge of allegiance.
3. INVOCATION - Reverend Randy Richardson provided the invocation.
4. ROLL CALL - City Clerk Hernandez conducted Roll Call.
Members of the City Council / Local Redevelopment Authority Board present:
Council Member / Authority Member District 1 Luis Uribe Council Member/ Authority Member District 3 John Pimentel Council Member / Authority Member District 4 Stacy Call Vice Mayor / Vice Chair District 2 Cindy Fosi
Mayor / Chair Rachel Hernandez
5. AGENDA CHANGES
No Agenda Changes.
6. CONFLICT OF INTEREST
Any Council/Authority Member or Staff who has a direct Conflict of Interest on any scheduled agenda item to be considered is to declare their conflict at this time.
None Declared.
CC / LRA Minutes - 09/09/2025
7. PRESENTATIONS (Informational only)
Item 7.1 Proclamation for Hispanic Heritage Month September 15th to October 15th, 2025 and Honoring Jeanette Reyes. - It is recommended that the City Council present the Proclamation in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month from September 15th to October 15th r, 2025, to Riverbank resident Jeanette Reyes.
Mayor Hernandez read and presented the Proclamation honoring Hispanic Heritage Month to resident Jeanette Reyes.
Item 7.2 Presentation - KSN, RRRWP Updates- It is recommended that the City Council receive a presentation from KSN, regarding project history and status for the Riverbank Regional Recycled Water Project (RRRWP).
Neal Cowell, with KSN gave a PowerPoint presentation on the Project History and status of the Riverbank Regional Recycled Water Project.
Item 7.3 Presentation- Bartle & Wells- It is recommended that the City Council receive a presentation from Bartle & Wells, regarding funding for the Riverbank Regional Recycled Water Project (RRRWP).
Erik Helgeson with Bartle & Wells, gave a PowerPoint presentation regarding funding for the Riverbank Regional Recycled Water Project.
PUBLIC COMMENTS (No action can be taken)
Mayor Hernandez opened the Public Comment Period at 7:29 P.M.
Bill Berryhill, Stanislaus County resident, spoke regarding the worth of the water. Would like extend an invite to all, who would like to take a tour of the proposed River Walk site.
Olivia Arambula, Riverbank Chamber of Commerce extend an invitation for upcoming community events.
Fred Walton, Stanislaus County resident to express his opposition to the River Walk project.
Milt Trieweiler, Stanislaus County resident to express his opposition to the River Walk project.
CC / LRA Minutes - 09/09/2025
Michael Christie, Riverbank resident, spoke regarding the need of more public safety within the city.
Karen Conrotto, Stanislaus County resident, to express her opposition to the River Walk project.
Jami Aggers, Stanislaus County resident to express her concern with reconciling numbers regarding water capacity.
Mayor Hernandez closed the Public Comment Period at 7:49 P.M.
CONSENT CALENDAR (No Obligation to Read Aloud)
All items listed on the Consent Calendar are to be acted upon by a single action of the City Council/LRA Board unless requested by an individual Council/Authority Member or member of the public for special consideration. Otherwise, the recommendation of staff will be accepted and acted upon by motion of the City Council/LRA Board Item 9.1 Waive Readings. All Readings of ordinances and resolutions, except by title, are waived.
Item 9.2 Approval of the City Council and Local Redevelopment Authority Board Minutes for August 26, 2025.
Item 9.3 Reject Bids for the Pedestrian Access on Roselle Ave over the MID Canal Project and Authorize Staff to Re-bid the Project.
Item 9.4 Second Reading by Title Only of an Ordinance 2025-002 Approving Rezone 02-2024, Rezoning 1.94+ Acres to Planned Development, Located at 6509 Claus Road (APN 132-048-016) for the Sierra Village Subdivision (Dept. File No. 24-0022).
Item 9.5 Second Reading by Title Only of an Ordinance 2025-003 Approving Rezone 01-2025, Rezoning 5.83t Acres to Planned Development, Located at 4537 California Avenue (APN 062-021-007) for the Meadowview Subdivision (Dept. File No. 25-0010).
There being no public comments, Mayor Hernandez brought the item back to City Council.
ACTION: By motion moved and seconded (Uribe / Call 5/0) to approve Consent Calendar as presented.
Motion carried by unanimous City Council and LRA Board roll call vote:
AYES: Uribe, Pimentel, Call, Fosi and Mayor Hernandez
NAYS: None / ABSENT: None / ABSTAINED: None
CC / LRA Minutes - 09/09/2025
10. PUBLIC HEARING
The Notice for Item 10.1 was published on 08/20 & 8/27 in the Riverbank Newspaper.
Item 10.1 Resolution to Consider Approval of Road Abandonment Application No. 01-2025 (Dept. File No. 25-0016) - Old Crawford Road (Westgate Drive). - Adopt a resolution approving Road Abandonment Application No. 01-2025, to formally abandon/vacate 0.64t acres of Westgate Drive Director of Community Development Mann gave a comprehensive staff report and power point presentation on the Road Abandonment of Old Crawford Road (Westgate Drive).
To formally abandon/vacate 0.64t acres of Westgate Drive City Council discussed item with staff.
Mayor Hernandez opened the Public Hearing at 7:59 P.M.
Karen Conrotto, Stanislaus County resident, to verify if proposed school would be Sylvan or Riverbank school district.
Evelyn Bettencourt, Riverbank resident, express her support for public safety to cover the potential growth of the city.
Hector Gutierrez, Riverbank resident to seek clarification on Item 10.1.
Dave Romano, Crossroads West Developer to provide more insight and clarification on Item 10.1.
Mayor Hernandez Closed the Public Hearing at 8:05 P.M.
Mayor Hernandez brought the item back to City Council for consideration.
ACTION: By motion moved and seconded (Fosi / Uribe 5/0) to approve Resolution 2025-097 approving the Road Abandonment of Old Crawford Road (Westgate Drive).
Motion carried by unanimous City Council and LRA Board roll call vote:
AYES: Uribe, Pimentel, Call, Fosi and Mayor Hernandez
NAYS: None / ABSENT: None / ABSTAINED: None
CC / LRA Minutes - 09/09/2025
11. NEW BUSINESS
Item 11.1 Resolution of Appointment of Eight (8) Candidates to the Riverbank Youth Council- It is recommended that the City Council consider the candidates interviewed and recommended by the Panel and appoint eight (8) members to serve on the Riverbank Youth Council for the 2025-2026 term.
City Clerk Hernandez gave a comprehensive staff report and power point presentation on the recommended (8) eight candidates for appointment to the Riverbank Youth Council.
City Council discussed item with staff.
There being no public comments, Mayor Hernandez brought the item back to City Council.
ACTION: By motion moved and seconded (Uribe / Call 5/0) to approve Resolution 2025-098 approving eight candidates to the Riverbank Youth Council for the 2025-2026 term.
Motion carried by unanimous City Council and LRA Board roll call vote:
AYES: Uribe, Pimentel, Call, Fosi and Mayor Hernandez
NAYS: None / ABSENT: None / ABSTAINED: None
Item 11.2 Opportunity Stanislaus Memorandum of Understanding Discussion- Council to review and provide guidance on the current Memorandum of Understanding between the City of Riverbank and Opportunity Stanislaus and, if necessary, provide direction to staff.
City Manager Garcia gave a comprehensive staff report on the current Memorandum of understating between Opportunity Stanislaus and the City.
City Council discussed item with staff.
Dave White, CEO of Opportunity Stanislaus provided more insight and answered Council questions on Item 11.2.
There being no public comments, Mayor Hernandez brought the item back to City Council.
ACTION: By motion moved and seconded (Call / Uribe 4/1) to bring Item back on next Agenda for termination of MOU with Opportunity Stanislaus.
Motion carried by 4/1 City Council and LRA Board roll call vote:
AYES: Uribe, Pimentel, Call, Fosi
NAYS: None / ABSENT: None / ABSTAINED: Mayor Hernandez
CC / LRA Minutes - 09/09/2025
Item 11.3 City Flag Design Contest Guidelines-It is recommended that the City Council provide feedback on the guidelines of the City Flag Design Contest.
City Manager Garcia gave a comprehensive staff report on the City Flag Design Contest Guidelines.
City Council discussed item with staff.
Olivia Arambula, Riverbank resident provided feedback regarding Item 11.3 Evelyn Bettencourt, Riverbank resident provided feedback regarding Item 11.3.
There being no public comments, Mayor Hernandez brought the item back to City Council.
DIRECTION: Provided to staff.
12. COMMENTS/REPORTS
A brief report on notable attendance of a meeting or conference or other notable topics of City business shall be made.
The Brown Act does not allow for discussion or action of items by the City Council/LRA Board during this time.
Item 12.1 Staff
City Manager Garcia:
• So, for the members of the public, we've been advised by Stanislaus County that as part of the North County Corridor construction, Roselle Avenue will be closed to thru traffic between Claribel and Plainview Road starting September 26th. The road closure information will be posted by Stanislaus County. As this is a county project on their social media pages, as well as their project website. So, for those who would like to follow along, their website is North County Corridor Phase one.
All one word or all one sentence.com. You can navigate over to their construction web page to see the latest information.
Thank you to our city staff, who are now street sweeping our beautiful city. We thank the residents for their patience as we learn the routes and find ways to improve the efficiency of this task. With that, we are looking to modify our existing schedule and we'll be running that modified schedule for a few weeks prior to updating and sharing the information to ensure that no further modifications are going to be needed prior to or after that.
The City is currently accepting applications for Alternate Planning Commissioner.
That will be the first review of applications on Thursday, October 9th. Those applications are available in person here at City Hall North and online under the Planning department's website.
CC / LRA Minutes - 09/09/2025
Item 12.2 Council/Authority Member
Vice Mayor Fosi:
• September 16th is the first meeting for the Riverbank Women's Group. It will be at 6 p.m. at Scout Hall and it is a potluck.
• Riverbank Historical Society had their first meeting yesterday and they will have their next meeting October 13th at 5:30pm at the museum.
Councilmember Uribe:
• So, in light of Hispanic Heritage Month, this weekend, this Saturday, the Riverbank Sister Cities Subcommittee is going to be hosting our very first Mexican Independence Day fundraiser. We have been working on this for months. I have gained a lot of gray hair from this, feels like I am kind of planning a Quinceanera at this point, right? So, the committee has done amazing work.
Please get your tickets. It's on Eventbrite. Please reach out to me. We are close to selling out, but all of the funds that we do raise that night are going to go to awards for our youth. So maybe we can partner with our Youth Council on that.
We are very excited. We hope it is a successful night, and we hope to do it again next year. So, see you guys there. Reach out to me.
Councilmember Pimentel:
• As a part of Sister City, I have lost my hair! A lot of long nights. • Jessica's house in Modesto is giving tours. They have invited the Council through Brianna Guzman. It is for families who are grieving over the death of a loved one.
If you are interested, please see me.
Councilmember Call:
• So, I have a really short one this time I know it's surprising. Tomorrow is Stanislaus Homeless Alliance meeting in downtown Modesto at 1010 10th Street at 5:30. We've heard a lot of conversation about the unsheltered in our communities. So, I encourage you to go, because there's going to be a comprehensive report to our community regarding homelessness. • I will be giving a public safety presentation on the 23rd of this month. So, for those who have had concerns with this and have brought it to me, I want to bring you something in return. So please pay attention to that meeting.
Item 12.3 Mayor/Chair
Mayor Hernandez:
• There is a public comment made earlier kind of referencing the Basin, the Sub Basin, the Groundwater Sub Basin, and some state management that's in line with some conversations going on with the Basin as a whole. There is, we will bring more information at the next meeting. But there's conversations going on around the management which we all share, but of the East Side of the Basin
CC / LRA Minutes - 09/09/2025
and the West Side of the Basin where we are located. I am paying a little bit of close attention to it, because I foresee there may be some implications on increases in rates. We are still moving forward through all of that, and / appreciate Public Works for being a consistent member of the Stanislaus Tuolumne Groundwater Regional Basin. So, there's more forthcoming on that. / just want to communicate, start planting the seed and communicate with you all.
In the next couple of weeks, we are anticipating some changes in the communication simply put, that happens between residents, SR 911, Police and Fire. We are closely watching that as well as a Contract City and how that may or may not impact us. And so maybe when the changes happen or if they do not, whatever happens, if we could have Chief present a little bit on what those changes may be.
• StanCOG, our Interim Executive Director retired pretty suddenly. So, we are now without an Executive Director at this point. I mentioned I am on the Ad Hoc Committee for that search. So, what we are going to do right now is look at internal candidates and potential external candidates with the consulting firm and other staff member is also on a six week leave. So, there is work moving forward with Stan Cog as a whole, but also the Grand Jury conversation, which is / believe it will be ongoing for quite some time, is also on the move. There is a meeting happening on the 17th next week, and it is public for anyone to attend.
13. CLOSED SESSION
The public will have a limit of 3 minutes to comment on Closed Session items) as set forth on the agenda prior to the City Council/LRA Board recessing to Closed Session
Item 13.1 CONFERENCE WITH LABOR NEGOTIATORS
(Pursuant to Government Code §54957.6)
Agency representative: City Manager Marisela H. Garcia
Employee Organizations: Riverbank Mid-Management Employee Association
There being no public comment, Mayor Hernandez motion to closed Session at 9:17 P.M.
Reconvened from Closed Session at 9:36 P.M.
14. REPORT FROM CLOSED SESSION
Item 14.1 Report from Item 13.1
CONFERENCE WITH LABOR NEGOTIATORS
(Pursuant to Government Code §54957.6)
Agency representative: City Manager Marisela H. Garcia
Employee Organizations: Riverbank Mid-Management Employee Association
CC / LRA Minutes - 09/09/2025
DIRECTION: Direction was provided to staff.
15. ADJOURNMENT OF THE REGULAR MEETING
There being no further business, Mayor / Chair Hernandez adjourned the regular meeting at 9:37 P.M.to the next regular scheduled City Council / LRA Meeting of September 23, 2025 at 6:00 P.M.
ATTEST: (Adopted 09/23/2025) APPROVED:
Gabriela Hernandez, CMC
City Clerk / LRA Recorder Mayor/ Chair
CC / LRA Minutes - 09/09/2025