CITY OF
111 E. COMMERCIAL STREET
8 WILLITS, CALIFORNIA 95490
(707) 459-4601 TEL
WILLITS (707) 459-1562 FAX
WILLITS CITY COUNCIL
MINUTES
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 2022
Mayor Rodriguez called a regular meeting of the City Council to order at 6:30 p.m., via teleconference/video conference. The meeting was preceded by the pledge to the flag.
Roll Call: Councilmembers Madge Strong, Gerardo Gonzalez, Larry Stranske, Greta Kanne, and Mayor Saprina Rodriguez were present.
Also present were staff members: Brian Bender City Manager; Cathy Moorhead, Assistant City Manager; James Lance, City Attorney; Scott Herman, Utilities Superintendent; Fabian Lizarraga, Police Chief; Manuel Orozco, Finance Director; and Delores Pedersen, City Clerk.
Due to the provisions of the Governor's new Executive Order N-15-21 (Assembly Bill 361) which continues to suspend certain requirements of the Brown Act, and the Order of the Health Officer of the County of Mendocino to continue to impose/recommend measures to promote social distancing to minimize the spread of COVID- 19, the City Council will be participating by tele/video conferencing.
2. Public Communications
• Larry Olsen expressed his gratitude for the Council forming an Ad Hoc Committee regarding the Tobacco Retail Ordinance. Mr. Olsen feels the discussion between the City Staff, County staff and Tobacco Coalition was very productive. He also hopes the council will vote for the ordinance if it is brought back at a future council meeting.
3. Public Matters
a. Supervisor Haschak reported on items in the county that affect the City of Willits. • County Cannabis Department will be moving to the upstairs portion of the Justice Center. The plan is to have this move competed within the month. • Presented an update of the Great Redwood Trail Master Plan and Community Engagement Program. There are hopes to have the Master Plan complete by November 2023.
Measure P and Measure O are revenue neutral. They will be redirecting tax to the Libraries, Fire Departments and County Fire Safe Programs. No increase to taxes if both Measure P and O are passed.
Regarding the concern of the increase of homeless in Willits, Checked with Social Services and found that Building Bridges Program, is open in Ukiah and providing bother shelter and services. Ford Street is open, providing shelter for families with children in Ukiah. Manzanita Services in Willits is open and provides services and support.
• October 9t, Blue Zones roll out for Northern Mendocino County at the Rec Grove Park at 1:00 p.m., at the County Museum, an opening for Recognition of the Hispanic Community and Contribution in Mendocino County, Nuestra Alianza will be showcased during the showing 1:00 p.m., at 2:00 p.m. the candidate forum will be at the Grange.
• Hazardous Waste is only open in Ukiah on Wednesdays.
• At the October 18" Board of Supervisors meeting there will be a public hearing to discuss closing off Dogwood Terrace and Dogwood Lane in Brooktrails.
Mayor Rodriguez and Councilmember Gonzalez expressed their concerns about the County Cannabis Department moving into the Justice Center. b. Scott Cratty, Mendocino County Fire Safe Council & Fire Chief Carter, Little Lake Fire District. Presentation of Measure P, County Essential Services Sales Tax. • Scott Cratty gave an overview of Measure P and would like to get an endorsement from the City Council.
• Fire Chief Carter added that the Little Lake Fire Department has 35 volunteers at the Little Lake Fire Department, they are looking for a way to pay the volunteers. The traveling public will also be paying into Measure P.
Public Comment: None presented.
4. Enactment of Ordinances
None presented
Consent Calendar
The following items) are recommended for approval or denial, as follows:
a. City Council Minutes:
i. September 14, 2022
Public Comment: None presented.
Moved by Strong/Seconded by Gonzalez and carried unanimously to approve Consent Calendar item (5a).
Monthly Activity Reports
Matters that do not require action by the City Council but are of public interest. • None presented.
Commissions, Agencies and Authorities
None presented.
City Manager Reports and Recommendations
a. Agreement Between the Willits Chamber of Commerce and the City of Willits for the Allocation of Transient Occupancy Tax.
Verbal Reports -
• City Manager Bender and City Attorney Lance gave clarification on the changes to the Brown Act.
• City Manager Bender commended Davey Bowles, Building Official for getting the lights fixed at the Tennis Courts.
Moved by Gonzalez/Second by Strong and carried (4/1, Kanne dissenting) to approve Resolution No. 2022-59 of the City Council of the City of Willits Approving an Agreement Between the Willits Chamber of Commerce and the City of Willits for Allocation of Transient Occupancy Tax.
Public Comment: None presented.
Willits City Council Minutes of September 28, 2022 Page 2 of 6
9. Department Recommendations (Action Items)
a. Presentation by Finance Director Regarding Audited Financial Statements for Fiscal Year ending June 30, 2020.
Presenting staff member: Manuel Orozco, Finance Director.
Finance Director Orozco presented a Power Point Presentation of the City's Audited Financial Statements for Fiscal Year ending June 30, 2020 and answered questions from the Councilmembers.
Public Comment: None presented.
10. Department Monthly Reports (ONLY SECOND MEETING OF EACH MONTH a. Airport -
• Airport Manager Moorhead reporting that the city has received the Data Survey on the Reach and Mike Smith hangars from LACO. Will be sending them on to Mead and Hunt so that they can finalize the documents with the FAA, to make sure that the placement of the hangers is correct. Received the quotes for having more trees removed from the north and south ends of the airport.
b. Community Development Department -
• City manager Bender added that our General Plan Update is gaining momentum.
City Planner Duley is looking to schedule an elaborate city-wide tour for consultants and experts.
• Councilmember Kanne asked if Dusty could give an update on the California Conservation Corps (CCC) Campus and its progress and what the timeline is. c. Engineering -
• Public Works Director Herman reported that the Groundwater Resiliency Improvement Project Phase I is moving forward. All permits were approved as well as the dewatering plan if they encounter any groundwater. • Councilmember Kanne expressed her gratitude to the staff at the Water Treatment Plant for their actions during the Walker Fire.
d. Finance-
• Councilmember Kanne asked if the New Financial Software will tie in with ACS Payroll? Finance Director Orozco responded that we are bringing payroll back to ACS so that when we migrate over to the new software, we are only tying in one system not two.
e. Police Department -
• Police Chief Lizarraga reported that we are slowly getting staffing levels up to par.
We have been able to give a couple of our officers the ability to go on vacation. Also trying to schedule some staff for training in the next few months to a year. Had a new Sargent start in the last few weeks. Sargent Walstrom came to us from Humboldt County. Next week we will start a new trainee for one of our dispatch positions. In the next week or two we are hoping to have a new Police Officer starting. We have a young lady we are sending to the academy starting October 10th ", she will be attending Delta College in the Central Valley area. Hoping to have her on board with us in April 2023. Continuing to push to have more positive interaction with the community.
f. Public Works -
• Public Works Director Herman added that the plan is to have the merry-go-round back in service Friday.
• Councilmember Kanne commented that she had two citizens come to the bookstore and commented how impressed they were that they saw public works crews out cleaning storm drains before the rains. This was appreciated by the community. g. Utilities -
Willits City Council Minutes of September 28, 2022 Page 3 of 6 • Public Works Director Herman thanked CalFire and Little Lake Fire Department for getting the Walker Fire under control, as well as the fire on Morris Island. Calfire was super helpful when they came and helped get the trees that fell during the fire out of the lake and back onto the island.
• The Morris dam valve was removed today and the new one should be installed tomorrow. The reason it has taken so long is because it is about 125 ft down a hill, Wipf Construction had to get creative to get down there to remove and then to replace it.
Public Comment: None presented.
No action taken.
11. City Council Announcements, Communications and Reports Councilmember Gonzalez - Tobacco Retailers Licensing Ad Hoc Committee, does not feel we would be ready to bring the item back to Council by October 12th Councilmember Gonzalez had an opportunity to speak to Mark Fierro.
Councilmember Gonzalez mentioned to Mr. Fierro he would be interested in him or someone for his agency to come and speak at a council meeting about what is being done at the schools and who does what? Councilmember Gonzalez felt that this information would be important so that everyone has a good grasp as we move forward. Councilmember Gonzalez asked the representative from the local tribe to have someone from the Tobacco Store to contact him, he would like to ask some questions. Unless these people got back to us right away, he does not feel we would be ready for the October 12"h meeting
Councilmember Kanne added that Angela Wartell of the County mention that if the state voters decide to pass Measure 31, which would ban flavored tobacco statewide, there will not be any mechanisms from the state to help enforce the band, so from their perspective passing the Tobacco Retailers License Ordinance would help create a mechanism within our jurisdiction. It would give us a leg up.
Councilmember Kanne feels that from the meeting that all agreed that they wanted to wait to see how it shook out at the State level. The committee sees the benefit of being pro-active but wanted to see where it was all headed in the bigger picture before we start digging in too deeply. Councilmember Kanne agrees that we would not be ready by October 12t to act on the Ordinance.
Councilmember Gonzalez - There is a League of California Cities (LCC) Meeting tomorrow, Mariah Turner, the representative for our area, is resigning as a Councilmember for Lakeport which makes her not available as our representative, this position is now opened up and there will be a vote to fill the League of California Cities Representative position.
Councilmember Strong - Mendocino Solid Waste Management Authority (MSWMA) met on September 15th , there is no draft of a Contract with C and S towards privatizing services, but MSWMA is working on it. The next meeting is October 20th , there may be a special meeting called once they have a proposed contract. Hoping to make the transition by the end of the year.
Councilmember Kanne - Attended the Willits High School Environmental Club o he and Pole che Learn hopes dear way lo the
Superintendent O'shea and Police Chief Lizarraga in hopes to clear the way for the High School group to do a two-hour cleanup in town.
Mayor Rodriguez - Attended the Mendocino Transit Authority (MTA) Board meeting, discussed staffing and in the inland area they have restored most routes back to where they were before Covid activity. Fort Bragg area is in desperate need of drivers, there are four openings. The MTA Board accepted the retirement of Bob Willits City Council Minutes of September 28, 2022 Page 4 of 6 Butler from the maintenance department. Mr. Butler has been with MTA for 41 ½ years. The gentleman that is going to be filling his shoes has been with MTA for 38 years. MTA is receiving a $2,000 a month savings by switching from fuel to electric.
One challenge MTA had on the hot days, was the request not to charge the electric vehicles for those 3 days. MTA is trying to figure out what will be the plan if they change the whole fleet to electric as the State mandates. MTA is reaching out to lawmakers to make sure they have a plan as the State moves forward in imposing the switch to zero emissions mandates. MTA is making a marketing plan, there will be a thirty-day period where passengers will be able to ride MTA for free, in hopes that this will increase ridership. This is being paid for with left over LC Top funds from 2019.
Mendocino Council of Governments (MCOG) is putting out a Request for Proposals (RFP) for the Ukiah Transit Center. Working on a grant opportunity for FY 2023- 2024. It will be critical that the public participates when it is their time in this grant opportunity. Other communities that have gotten their Transit Centers going, it came down to the public participation showing that they really wanted this. Lake County and Humboldt County were awarded grants for their Transit Centers.
Mayor Rodriguez brought up a community concern about Baechtel Road. There is community concern about excessive speed on Baechtel Road. City Manager Bender responded that Baechtel Road is one of the target areas that is subject to the city-wide traffic study. The city is going to be looking at road design, usage, volumes and speeds. The city will get the proposals out and hopefully retain a consultant to help complete this process before the end of the year.
Public Comment: None presented.
No action taken.
12. Good & Welfare
Councilmember Strong reported that Willits Economic Localization (WELL) sponsored an Energy Future Forum on September 22nd. The speakers talked a lot about the times to use the solar power and the times to try and not to so that the state can adjust and take advantage of when people are feeding power into the grid through their solar installations.
• Councilmember Strong - October 9t there will be an Election and Candidates forum at the Willits Grange from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.
• Councilmember Kanne - On September 10th Supervisor Mulhern and she hosted a cleanup event in Brooktrails on Dogwood Terrace, this has been a sight of dumping for the past couple of years, there were almost 30 people that showed up to help with the cleanup. In four hours, volunteers removed over 6,000 Ibs. of rubbish, this was taken to the Willits transfer station and the fees were generously waived by Gerry Ward. Nicolaus Landscaping as well as residents of both Brooktrails and Willits were there helping. There will be a follow-up cleanup this coming Saturday to finish the job. Hoping to have some heavy equipment there to help load the last of the big stuff into the trailers and Gerry will once again be waiving the fees for us.
There will be an item before the County Board of Supervisors on October 16th to close both Dogwood Terrace and Dogwood Court. Once this is done the Willits Area Cyclist will be working to tie in trails from the top of those circles down into the green belt and into the rest of the hiking and biking that they have been stewarding these last few years. Councilmember Kanne wanted to thank the residents of Willits and Brooktrails that helped with the cleanup and those who will be coming this Saturday.
Public Comment: None presented.
Willits City Council Minutes of September 28, 2022 Page 5 of 6 No action taken.
13. Closed Session Notice
None presented.
14. Adjournment
Mayor Rodriguez declared the meeting adjourned at 8:35 p.m.
SAPRINA RODRIGUEZ, Mayor
City Council for the City of Willits
ATTEST:
Deleres Pedersen
DELORES PEDERSEN
City Clerk
Willits City Council Minutes of September 28, 2022 Page 6 of 6