111 E. COMMERCIAL STREET
WILLITS, CALIFORNIA 95490
(707) 459-4601 TEL
WILLITS (707) 459-1562 FAX
WILLITS CITY COUNCIL
MINUTES
WEDNESDAY JUNE 26, 2024
Mayor Rodriguez called a regular meeting of the City Council to order at 6:32 p.m., in Council Chambers. The meeting was preceded by the pledge to the flag.
Roll Call: Councilmembers Larry Stranske, Greta Kanne, Vice Mayor Gerardo Gonzalez and Mayor Saprina Rodriguez were present. Councilmember Madge Strong was absent.
Also present were staff members: Brian Bender, City Manager; Cathy Moorhead, Assistant City Manager; Jim Lance, City Attorney; Dusty Duley, Community Development Director; Manuel Orozco, Finance Director; Davey Bowles, Building Official; Walter Kolon, Services and Facilities Director; Scott Herman, Utilities Superintendent; Karen Stevenson, Human Resources Manager; Leiloni, Contract City Planner; Chris Dewey, Interim Police Chief; and Delores Pedersen, City Clerk.
2. Public Communications
• None presented.
3. Public Matters
a. Bi-monthly Update from the Chamber of Commerce.
• Chamber Coordinator, Misty Johnson, reported that the 42nd Annual Car and Bike Show was a huge success and the first time held on Main Street. Restaurants were busy with patrons and to-go orders.
• Ms. Johnson reports that she has been working with a website developer to redesign the Chamber Website, the Chambers Social Media accounts are active and regularly maintained sharing many local business posts to help promote and support them. •Ms. Johnson walked the North and South ends of town with Chamber President, Lisa Kvasnicka and introduced herself. This has given her direction on where she needs to concentrate her efforts to help provide resources, tools and connections to help bridge the gaps for the businesses in need
• Ms. Johnson is currently developing the 1s' Annual Willits Community Yard Sale with the use of an online map. Registered participants will have their address pinned or the map with brief details of their items for sale, allowing anyone with cellphones to click on the map and travel from sale-to-sale.
• Council members Kanne, Stranske and Mayor Rodrigues thanked the Chamber for putting on the Car Show and moving it to Main Street.
b. Update from the Little Lake Fire District (written report).
4. Enactment of Ordinances
None presented
Consent Calendar
The following items) are recommended for approval or denial, as follows:
a. City Council Minutes:
i. June 12, 2024.
ii. June 13, 2024. Special Meeting - Budget Workshop
Public Comment: A Community member inquired about the process of approving meeting minutes. Mayor Rodriguez responded that the minutes from the prior meeting are always brought forth for approval at the next meeting.
Moved by Gonzalez/Seconded by Stranske and carried 4/0 Strong absent to approve Consent Calendar items) (a).
6. Monthly Activity Reports
Matters that do not require action by the City Council but are of public interest.
None presented
7. Commissions, Agencies and Authorities
None presented.
8. City Manager Reports and Recommendations
a. Consideration of a Master Tax Sharing Agreement between the County of Mendocino, the City of Fort Bragg, the City of Point Arena, the City of Ukiah, and the City of Willits.
Public Comment:
• Randi Dalton expressed concerns over the 2023 Pavement Preservation Project. • City Manager Sage Sangiacomo of the City of Ukiah thanked the Council for allowing staff the time to focus on the Tax Sharing Agreement. City Manager Bender was a key member on the committee with his leadership and experience. • Larry Aguilara inquired if his property taxes would be increasing because of the agreement.
• John Almeda asked how the tax sharing agreement would work? Mayor Rodriguez responded that if a business is housed within the City of Ukiah the taxes would go to the City of Ukiah, if the Business is located within the County of Mendocino the taxes would go to the County of Mendocino. City Manager Bender responded that the Tax Sharing would allow for more of the sales taxes to go to the Cities that house the businesses rather than the County. This will allow the Cities the ability to provide the services, such as utilities and supporting development, that are needed for the businesses that the County now provides and will allow the County the ability to provide the services, such as Health Programs and Social Services, that are needed in the County.
Councilmember Gonzalez expressed his gratitude to Supervisors Gerde and Mulheren as well as the City Managers from the City of Ukiah, Willits, Fort Bragg and Point Arena for participating in the Tax Sharing Ad Hoc Committee.
Moved by Gonzalez/Seconded by Stranske and carried 4/0, Strong absent, to adopt Resolution No. 2024-31 approving the Mendocino County Master Tax Sharing Agreement among Mendocino County and the Cities of Ukiah, Willits, Fort Bragg, and Point Arena.
Willits City Council Minutes of June 26, 2024 Page 2 of 7 b. Consideration of a funding request submitted by the Willits Community Services & Food Bank.
• City Manager Bender explained that the Willits Community Services & Food Bank is in crisis and is looking for financial assistance. The City is not prepared to fulfill their full request of $200,000. The City was able to send funds to the Food Bank from the ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) Program Funds in the amount of $25,000, the check was mailed the week of June 17h. The fiscal year budget for 2024-25 also has an allocation of $5,000 that will be distributed to the Community Services & Food Mayor Rodriguez states she supports more funding being sent to the Community Services & Food Bank and believes that it should strictly come from ARPA funds. In discussions with City Manager Bender the suggestion of a quarterly distribution amount that could be sent with the expectation that Community Services & Food Bank would report quarterly, at City Council Meetings, about their progress they are making to become self-sustainable.
• Vice Mayor Gonzalez requested some more analysis be done. • Kim Tippett, Executive Director of the Community Services & Food Bank, explained that due to the food bank moving to a new location and the retirement of the previous Executive Director a date was missed for applying for a Grant that is applied for every year as well as rising inflation and increasing demand on the Food Bank there was only a few months of solvency left when Ms. Tippett became the Executive Director.
• Councilmember Stranske stressed that Food Distribution is what is most important to him over lodging.
• Councilmember Kanne states that she would like Council and staff to reevaluate the ARPA funds and see what can be redirected to the Food Bank. • Council gave direction to City Manager Bender to bring the item back to the City Council Meeting of July 24* to assess the current ARPA Funding list and to work with staff to see what projects can be reevaluated on the list to allow for the possibility of more funding going to the Food Bank. Mayor Rodriguez suggested that staff evaluate what projects, currently on the list for ARPA funding, could be supported with Measure K Funds.
Public Comment:
• Carol Orton, Community Services & Food Bank Board Member since 1978, stated that the Community Services & Food Bank has never come before the City Council before and asked for help. Ms. Orten expressed her gratitude to the Council for considering helping the Food Bank and states that they will return to council meetings to update on their progress. Vice Mayor Gonzalez corrected Ms. Orton and stated that the Food Bank had come to the city before when Jim Merrill, pas Executive Director, requested help for the Food Bank. The city at that time partnere with Mr. Merrill to help at that time.
c. Verbal Reports - None presented
9. Department Recommendations (Action Items)
a. Presentation of the Annual Groundwater Report and Discussion of Continued Use of Groundwater under the Current Groundwater Operational Use Policy and Provide Direction on Potential Water Modeling Effort.
Presenting staff member: Walter Kolon, Director of Services & Facilities. • Brian Wallace, Project Engineer of EBA Engineering presented a PowerPoint presentation explaining the 2023-2024 Annual Groundwater Report. The PowerPoint revealed:
Willits City Council Minutes of June 26, 2024 Page 3 of 7 • During the 2023-2024 monitoring period, observations indicated interconnectivity between the Elias Replacement Well, the Elias Test Well and Long 20 Test Well (deep).
• Observations did not indicate interconnectivity between the Elias Replacement Well and the Long 20 (shallow) or the MCRCD monitoring wells during the 2023- 2024 monitoring period.
• Groundwater elevation data is not available for the Elias Replacement Well, however, the surrounding wells recovered to pre-pumping conditions after cessation of pumping the Elias Replacement Well.
• EBA Engineering recommends:
1. Install telemetric flow meter equipment on the distribution pipe coming from the
2. Install telemetric groundwater level monitoring equipment in the Elias Replacement Well.
3. Survey top of casing elevations for the MCRCD monitoring wells.
4. Install telemetric flow meters and telemetric groundwater monitoring equipment on all MCRCD monitoring wells.
Public Comment:
• Dr. Mills Matheson expressed concern over the manganese levels and arsenic levels in the water. He was reassured after the presentation because the high levels were caused by poor samples. Dr. Matheson questioned how long before arsenic may show up in the Elias Well. Mr. Wallace responded that due to an EBA Engineering study revealed that arsenic is a natural formation of geology and the transport of arsenic to the Elias Well is very low.
Bear Kamaroff expressed concern over the samples for the water testing being done incorrectly and asked why the flawed sample numbers were even included in the report. Mr. Wallace responded that the numbers were a requirement of the Groundwater Operational Use Plan, the data for the correctly done samples are included in the report as well, this is shown in the fourth quarter testing. Mayor Rodriguez added it shows full transparency as well.
• Rosamond Crowder expressed concern over arsenic migrating from the Long 20 Well to the Elias Well.
• John Almeda also expressed concern over the possibility of arsenic becoming present in the Elias Well.
• Randi Dalton states that the public having access to information is very important. • Larry Aguilara inquired about the frequency of the water testing. Scott Herman, Utilities Superintendent responded that testing is done weekly.
Nicole Caldwell inquired if the city is paying for the monitoring wells for the Mendocino County Resource Conservation District (MCRCD), and added that she would be against this, she feels that MCRCD should be paying for the monitoring of their own wells. Mr. Wallace responded that the suggestion to monitor MCRCD's well is strictly to acquire more data.
Council Direction:
Moved by Gonzalez/Second by Kanne and carried 4/0, Strong absent, for staff to seek cost recommendations for items 1 - 4 with an emphasis on items 1, 2 and 3, then bring brought back to Council at a later date.
The council recessed for a five-minute break at 8:53pm, returning to open session at 8:58pm.
b. Adopt a Resolution Awarding a Contract to Argonaut Construction Inc., in an Amount not to Exceed $1,120,345.50, for the Construction of the 2024 Pavement Preservation Willits City Council Minutes of June 26, 2024 Page 4 of 7 Project (Project #2024-01), Approve a Budget Amendment to Cover a Bid Higher than the Engineer's Estimate (Overage of $233,589.61), and Authorize the City Manage to Execute the Contract and Approve Construction Change Orders up to a Cumulative Total of 10-Percent of the Total Contract Amount.
Presenting staff member: Walter Kolon, Director of Services & Facilities.
Public Comment:
• John Almeda commented that the project will not get cheaper if this project is pushed off until next year. The community will appreciate getting the roads fixed.
Phyliss Aguilara inquired where the money was coming from for this project. Walter Kolon, Services and Facilities Director responded that the City has already been guaranteed $400,000 from the State of California and Manual Orozco, Finance Director added the remaining funds would come from the gas tax that the City receives.
• Randi Dalton expressed concerns about the 2024 Pavement Preservation Project.
She would prefer the streets to be unpaved
• Nicole Caldwell spoke in favor of the Project, there is a desperate need for a sidewalk around Baechtel Grove Middle School.
• Robin Leler spoke in support of the project.
Moved by Stranske/Seconded by Gonzalez and carried 4/0, Strong absent, to adopt Resolution No. 2024-32 awarding a contract to Argonaut Constructors Inc., in an amount not to exceed $1,120,345.50, for the construction of the 2024 Pavement Preservation Project (Project #2024-01), approve a budget amendment to cover a bid higher than the engineer's estimate (overage of $233,589.61), and authorize the City Manager to execute the contract and approve construction change orders up to a cumulative total of 10-percent of the total contract amount. c. Review and Discussion of the Proposed Fiscal Year 2024-2025 Budget (Preparation Workshop).
Presenting staff member: Manuel Orozco, Finance Director. • Manual Orozco presented the council with the Fiscal Year 2024-2025 General Fund Budget. Mr. Orozco explained that due to the city transitioning from ACS to Springbrook the Budget looks different.
• Mr. Orozco also explained that some departments have been combined. • The Vehicle Replacement and IT Services will now show that the cost is shared among the departments rather than being paid solely out of General Fund. • This is the first time that the city will be using Measure K, this is something new in the Budget. This budget proposal is programming in one third of the total amount of Measure K funds received.
• Springbrook is accurately allocating payroll, when the city was processing payroll through ADP this was not the case. This is now reflected properly in the proposed budget.
• Health Insurance and Unfunded Liability (retirement) is now being funded in the departments and not out of the General Fund.
• The budget reflects a total increase of only $37,000 from FY 2023-2024 due to the city being very conservative with projected spending because of the way that funds are coming in. Staff did not want to overextend the budget and wanted to stay within our means.
Public Comment: None presented.
10. Department Monthly Reports - (presented at the second meeting of each month). a. Airport - Nothing further to report.
Willits City Council Minutes of June 26, 2024 Page 5 of 7 b. Community Development.
Community Development Director, Dusty Duley reported that the Community Development Department is managing over 12 million in grants. 150 vouchers were given to the community for free dump days. Secured grant funds to support home rehab program. The applicatior window to apply for the rehab program opened on Monday, June 24'h and will remain open unti ' Downtown Willits signs have been installed. Public draft of land use element was posted to Project website willitslanduseupdate.com. The old Jack in the Box is currently being remodeled and will house a new Starbucks.
c. Finance.
Finance Director, Manuel Orozco, added that there needs to be a plan to have succession to keep staff within the department. To ensure long-term growth, Mr. Orozco is currently working a plan to ensure that.
d. Police Department.
Interim Police Chief, Chis Dewey reported, Officer Garza graduating from Police academy on July 12h. There has been an update to the Police Departments Field Training Officer (FTO) Manual. City Manager Bender had requested that Chief Dewey look into mental health services in the community. Chief Dewey reported that the Police Department will be participating in number of programs that Mendocino County has, the first being the Heads-Up Program, this focuses on the people that impact our services the most, trying to find them the aid that they need to get them back into a healthier environment. The Behavioral Health Outreach Program is another program the Police Department will be partnering with. Behavioral Health will go out into our community and try to connect our homeless population with resources that to help with further aid for them. Will be bringing a Critical Incident Training to Willits. This training is very successful, it brings Mental Health, Behavioral Health, Social Services and Law Enforcement Services together with users of the services.
e. Services & Facilities - Nothing further to report.
f. Utilities - Nothing further to report.
Delores Pedersen, City Clerk took the opportunity to remind Council and the Public that the filing date for elections begins on July 15'h, being the first day to pick up packets and August 9th being the last day. If an incumbent eligible for re-election does not file nomination documents by August 9th, the deadline extends to August 14th.
No action taken.
11. City Council Announcements, Communications and Reports Councilmember Kanne
Finance Committee - Update on Status of the 2022/2023 Audit, completion will be delayed until August. Received an update on Sewer and Water funds as well as Capital Improvement Plan as part of the budget.
Councilmember Stranske
• Water/Wastewater Committee - Received an update on the water extension to the Little Lake Mobile Home Park. Walter Kolon, Services and Facilities Director added that the State had been delayed with their engineer. Mr. Kolon reports that he has a meeting with the State on Monday, July 1s to see if the City is able to extend the line to the location, there is a long process with the State and the Local Agency Foundation Commission (LAFCO) to get the project approved.
Councilmember Gonzalez
Willits City Council Minutes of June 26, 2024 Page 6 of 7 • League of California Cities/Redwood Empire Division - Voted to change the shoplifting initiative from supporting too neutral.
Mayor Rodriguez
• Mendocino Transit Authority (MTA) - Meeting was focused on budgeting. Ridership is increasing. Greyhound will no longer be operating in Mendocino County, and it is llkely that Amtrak will follow suit. MTA is working on a plan to ensure that the local transit agencies are interconnected to assure the riders will receive the same level of service.
• Transportation Committee - Meets June 27, 2024.
Public Comment: None presented.
No action taken.
12. Good & Welfare
Councilmember Kanne - Attended swearing in for the new Fire Chief. At the swearing in Chief Alvarez expressed the need for volunteers at the Little Lake Fire District.
13. Closed Session Notice
None presented.
14. Adjournment
Mayor Rodriguez declared the meeting adjourned at 10:28 p.m.
SAPRINA RODRIGUEZ, Mayor
City Council for the City of Willits
ATTEST:
Delores Pedeser
DELORES PEDERSEN
City Clerk
Willits City Council Minutes of June 26, 2024 Page 7 of 7