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WILLITS, CALIFORNIA 95490
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WILLITS CITY COUNCIL
MINUTES
WEDNESDAY OCTOBEr 8, 2025
Mayor Allman called a regular meeting of the City Council to order at 6:31 p.m., in Council Chambers. The meeting was preceded by the pledge to the flag.
Roll Call: Councilmembers Larry Stranske, Bruce Burton, Vice Mayor Matthew Alaniz and Mayor Tom Allman were present.
Also, present were staff members: Rod Wilburn, Interim City Manager; Jim Lance, City Attorney; Dusty Duley, Community Development Director; Manuel Orozco, Finance Director; Walter Kolon, Services and Facilities Director; Connor Stack, City Planner; and Delores Pedersen, City Clerk.
2. Public Communications
• Nicole Caldwell expressed concern over an article that was in the October 8, 2025 edition of the Willits Weekly. Ms. Caldwell also expressed concerns about comments made by a Council Member at the September 24, 2025 meeting, when citizens expressed their inability to hear what was being said.
• Mark Wilson, IBEW Representative, reminded the council that the contract with IBEW Union workers expired on June 20, 2025. Bargaining began in May but was unproductive during initial meetings with chief negotiator Patrick Clark, the City Council requested a 90 day pause which was agreed to, this pause ended on September 25, 2025. Mr.
Wilson was informed the Mr. Clark will not return as the chief negotiator for the City, and emails to the Interim City Manager went unanswered. Mr. Wilson urged the City Council to resume bargaining.
• Gary Martin requested that he be placed on a future City Council Meeting Agenda to present a presentation on the State of the Arts in Willits and to produce a proposal for a new public art sculpture for the City of Willits. Mayor Allman informed Mr. Martin that he is unsure of the date but that he would meet with him and figure out when this item could be placed on the agenda.
Public Matters
None.
4. Enactment of Ordinances
a. Second Reading and Possible Adoption of Proposed Revisions to the City of Willits Municipal Code, Chapter 2.40- Airport, Sections 2.40.030 and 2.40.040, Entitled "Regulations for Use and Conduct-Generally". As Ordered by the Director of the FAA.
Public Comment: None presented.
Moved by Burton/seconded by Alaniz and carried unanimously with Gonzalez absent to adopt Ordinance No. 2025-05, adding Section 2.40.040 "Regulations for Use and Conduct - Generally" and amending Section 2.40.130 "Violation-Penalties" to Chapter 2.40 of the Willits Municipal Code.
Consent Calendar
The following items) are recommended for approval or denial, as follows:
a. City Council Minutes:
i. September 24, 2025 - Special Meeting
ii. September 24, 2025
b. Discussion and Possible Approval to Extend for an Additional Month the At-will Employment Agreement with LACO Associates for Interim City Manager Services, at a Weekly Rate of $3,600, and Authorize the Mayorto Execute Same.
Public Comment:
• Raghda Zacharia stated that the decision to have LACO Associates provide the City with Interim City Manager services is the best decision the Council has ever made.
Ms. Zacharia stated that she did not feel the Council was taking the advice of the Interim City Manager on how to fix the financial bind the City is in. She then expressed concern over the cost to the City for these services, she feels $3,600 per week is expensive for a town of Willits size.
Moved by Burton/Seconded by Stranske and carried unanimously to approve Consent Calendar item(s) (a-b).
6. Monthly Activity Reports
Matters that do not require action by the City Council but are of public interest.
Commissions, Agencies and Authorities
None presented.
City Manager Reports and Recommendations
a. Verbal Reports - No Action.
• Rod Wilburn, Interim City Manager, reported that the focus has been on the budget and trying to resolve the deficit and what is being envisioned as a reorganization of the City to meet the City's needs. Mr. Wilburn reported that the elimination of the Assistant City Manager and Project Coordinator positions will be brought to Council in the near future. These positions will not be filled and will be a cost savings to the General Fund. The first steps will be to address the unfilled position and then looking at the positions that will be needed to meet the needs of the community. Positions with priority are Public Safety, Streets and Utilities. This is a complex situation that will require a lot of different changes to the City
Public Comment: None presented.
9. Department Recommendations (Action Items)
a. Discussion and Possible Action on Application for General Plan Amendment #GPA 22-01 and Zone Change #ZC 22-01 For Sanhedrin Timber Company, LLC.
Willits City Council Minutes of October 8, 2025 Page 2 of 6 • Council Member Burton recused himself due to conflict of interest. Mr. Burton does business with Sanhedrin Timber Company through his business, Willits Redwood.
Mr. Burton also has property adjoining Sanhedrin Timber Company. • Rod Wilburn, Interim City Manager also recused himself, Sanhedrin Timber Company is a client of his through LACO Associates.
• Dusty Duley, Community Development Director, presented a Power Point presentation on the General Plan Amendment and Zone Change for Sanhedrin Timber Company.
• Mayor Allman reported that several letters came in supporting the Plan Amendment and Zone Change. There was one letter asking to postpone the item until the City Council Meeting of October 22, 2025.
Public Comment:
Nicole Caldwell expressed concern over the drilling of more wells, and how it could affect all of Willits. If the City is going to supply the water, where is it going to come from. Ms. Caldwell feels this item should be postponed and it should be looked further into.
• Maddison Lawrence spoke in support of the Application for General Plan Amendment and Zone Change for Sanhedrin Timber Company, LLC. • Adam Gaska, Executive Director of Mendocino County Farm Bureau, spoke in support of the Application for General Plan Amendment and Zone Change for Sanhedrin Timber Company, LLC.
Julia Moon-Sparrow, neighbor of Sanhedrin Timber Company LLC., spoke in opposition of the project. Ms. Moon-Sparrow submitted a declaration requesting a postponement of the Agenda Item until the next City Council Meeting of October 22, 2025, for the record from David Schwindt.
Raghda Zacharia inquired if the letters that were submitted in support of the project were from people that are outside of the City of Willits. • Ellen Drell expressed her support for the members of the public that asked for an extension. Ms. Drell mentioned that she only heard about the project eight days ago.
Dennis McFarland, owner of McFarland Trucking, spoke in support of the Application for General Plan Amendment and Zone Change for Sanhedrin Timber Company, LLC.
• Kevin Doble, Project Manager for LACO Associates, commented that the Sanhedrin Timber Company, LLC Log Yard expansion project, has been reviewed multiple times over the last three years not only by LACO but also by City Staff. The main issue that was brought up when the project was taken to Council in February 2022, was concern about water. The applicant at that time was asked to be creative on how to minimize the impact on City's water system. LACO developed the idea of creating large ponds. The ponds will hold water; the water will be recirculated and re captured and will be used to continuously sprinkle toe log decks. Mr. Doble believes that Sanhedrin Timber Company LLC is committed to not using water from the city at all. • Dee Sanders, VP of Schmidbauer Sawmill operations, stated that they do not have sawmills to manage timber, they manage timber to support sawmills. Without those sawmills and no management our resources suffer, and not just timber, fish, water, wildlife and everything suffers.
Russ Storval, Timber Manager of North Fork Lumber Company. Explains that he has worked in forests all over Northern California, and our forests are in dire need of help. Active forest management is the only thing that is going to get us out of our Willits City Council Minutes of October 8, 2025 Page 3 of 6 problem of overstocked forests and increased fuel loading. To do that we have to have facilities to take the lumber too, to have a measurable impact.
Victor Hollister, Log Procurement Manager of North Fork Lumber Company. This log yard project is not only going to positively affect the City of Willits, but communities as far as Santa Cruz. Logs are being shipped to Willits from Santa Cruz, Napa, Sonoma County, and Southern Trinity Counties. North Fork Lumbar Company has pumped one hundred million dollars into the local community and would like to expand on their contributions to the local communities.
Dee Sanders reported that using ponds that recirculate is common and is done in every log yard they own. They have worked diligently to develop a water system there and have dug wells and a tank system to keep some water on the logs. This last summer there was only one week that they operated off of City Water due to problems with the wells and storage tanks and was the only City water they used all year. They understand the City's water issues and have no intention of trying to operate off of City Water.
Mayor Allman asked how many new employees does Mr. Sanders see being brought to Willits? Mr. Sanders responded that they currently have five maybe six employees there now and it probably will not create any new employees. • Council Member Stranske expressed concern over fire suppression of the Log Deck. Mr. Stranske would like to hear from the Fire Department and whether they are satisfied that the Log Yard has a sufficient Fire Suppression system.
Vice Mayor Alaniz asked if the original zone change application was in 2022, why was this not put into the Land Use Element that was passed in October 2024? Dusty Duley, Community Development Director answered: the Land Use Element was completed using three different Grant Funds, there was an extensive amount of environmental work that went into the Log Yard Project, the cost was borne by the applicant, the cost would have pushed the City out of budget trying to analyze the individual request. Also, the previous council had established a number of goals to accomplish with the Land Use Element, a lot was related to housing and jobs, it wasn't clear that this project met the established goals Vice Mayor Alaniz asked Mr. Duley to describe what circulated for public review means being that the IS/MND was circulated for public review starting June 5, 2025 and ended July 7, 2025. Mr. Duley responded that when an Initial Study of Mitigated Neg Deg is completed, it must be circulated for public review. This means it is posted on the State CEQA Portal, California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) agencies are notified, and they are given thirty days to comment. The notice is published in the local paper.
Vice Mayor Alaniz asked Mr. Duley to describe the revisions that are noted to have taken place in September after the public review process. There was a letter noting CDFW's concerns, that letter is included in the study. The initial study includes just clarification to the project description throughout the initial study to satisfy the CDFW's comments. This lead to revisions of the public draft of the initial study and that is why there is a revised date of September on the document. Based on CDFW's comments there was not a need to recirculate to document. • Vice Mayor Alaniz inquired why the Boundary Line Adjustment is not before the Council at this time, is this a normal process. Mr. Duley responded that Boundary Line Adjustments (BLA) are approved administratively at the staff level and are appealable to the City Council, in this situation the BLA is related to and relies on the approval of the General Plan Amendment and Re-Zone, the fact that they are maintaining a portion of the property as commercial through a BLA if felt relevant to include that information in the report, but is not subject to Council approval.
Vice Mayor Alaniz continued to asked what is before council right now is the Zoning? Approving the zoning is not giving them a green light to their whole plan, issues about water and fire suppression will continue to be discussed publicly at the Willits City Council Minutes of October 8, 2025 Page 4 of 6 next phase? Approval of the GPA would allow the applicant to submit a Site Plan Review to the Community Development Department to allow for the expansion of the Log Yard. As part of that project there are no public hearings, it is approved administratively, but it allows staff to place the mitigation measures that are identified in the Re-Zone as well as other housekeeping measures should this project move forward. If the applicant is not satisfied with the conditions placed on the Site Plan Review process they can appeal it to the Council. The neighbors or community and appeal to council if they are not satisfied with the conditions being appropriate to fully protect public safety, health and welfare. Mr. Duley also noted that the Site Plan Review is revokable if documented situations occur, ie. fire suppression system is not being maintained
Fire Chief Alvarez, Little Lake Fire District, if the GPA does move forward Sanhedrin Timber Company will be submitting a set of plans to the Little Lake Fire District, he will then check it against the Uniform Fire Code and will make sure the health and safety of the citizens of Willits is protected
Moved by Alaniz/Seconded by Stranske and carried unanimously with Gonzalez absent and Burton recused to adopt Resolution No. 2025-49 adopting the Initial Study/Mitigated | Negative Declaration and Mitigation Monitoring and Reporting Program.
Moved by Gonzalez/Seconded by Stranske and carried unanimously with Gonzalez absent and Burton recused to adopt Resolution No. 2025-50 approving General Plan Amendment #GPA 22-01 and Zone Change #ZC 22-01.
b. Report from Finance of Activity within the Department.
Manuel Orozco, Finance Director, presented the Council with a brief update on the City's financial status.
1. Status of the FY 23/24 Audit.
Auditor is reviewing the work papers and will make a couple requests in order to receive more documentation that staff will get to him as soon as he requests.
2. Staff is moving forward with closing FY 24/25. Staff is going through a lot of journal entries; bank reconciliation is driving most of them currently at May 2025, with 191 journal entries left to go. Staff should be ready when the auditors are done with the audit for FY 23/24 to begin Fy 24/25 audit. Mayor Allman requested that by the October 22nd meeting that the auditors have everything for the FY 23/24 audit and are working on it.
3. Next steps are the bank reconciliation for FY 25/26, developing a monthly cash report and CIP reconciliation. Mr. Orozco hopes to be able to present these reports to council in December 2025.
• Council member Burton asked for the current cash balance. Mr. Orozco reported it is $3,045,000. Mr. Burton asked if the City has converted any securities. Mr. Orozco responded that some securities have matured and there is a possibility that some may need to be transferred if certain bills need to be paid, right now the Syserco contract would need a payment in December or January and for Rails with Trails there is an invoice for bridges that is coming due. Between these two invoices and payroll there may be the need to transfer funds if the City is unable to acquire a revolving loan. Council will be notified before this happens.
Willits City Council Minutes of October 8, 2025 Page 5 of 6 • Council member Burton asked for information on the Receivables and Payables for the Rails with Trails Project. Mr. Duley responded that there is one outstanding invoice that has been sent to the Coastal Conservancy for reimbursement in the amount of $684,213.75, his understanding is that all other invoices that have been sent to the Coastal Conservancy and Caltrans Grant have all been reimbursed.
10. City Council Announcements, Communications and Reports Councilmember Burton
• Councilmember Burton requested that the Public Comment introduction of the Agenda be reduced, Delores Pedersen, City Clerk, responded that she would research to see if it could be shortened
Vice Mayor Alaniz
• Mendocino Council of Governments (MCOG)
California is working on securing an additional $50,000,000 specifically for the Rail with Trails Program, $41,000,000 is due once the cities finish the project. The cities would apply if there was a cost overrun and potentially receive some of that money back.
Public Comment: None presented.
No action taken.
11. Good & Welfare
• None Presented
12. Closed Session Notice
None presented
13. Adjournment
Mayor Allman declared the meeting adjourned at 8:27 p.m.
For more information on the October 8, 2025 Willits City Council Meeting please view the recording on YouTube.
City Council for the City of Willits
ATTEST:
Delores Pederan
DELORES PEDERSEN
City Clerk
Willits City Council Minutes of October 8, 2025 Page 6 of 6