City Council - Regular Meeting

So I believe that's on the adopt on the adopt. Well, that's what I read. I told her that they were thinking it back. So can you clarify that? Mics are on. One second. Hello. Hello.

All right. Thank you all for making it out and thank you for joining us on this regular meeting of the Madera City Council. It is now 6:00 p.m. and we'll call this meeting to order. Couple of house cleaning uh uh uh rules here is that we want to make sure that everybody has uh enough space. So if some of you may want to watch this through live stream, we do have the other room open so that so everyone can make make sure that uh we're able to walk through as well. But um we will give uh ample time for public comment when that comes. For now then I'll ask our madame clerk to please take role. Mayor Prom, um, the live stream has malfunctioned in the lobby, so there is no TV access in the lobby area.

Yes. What I meant is if you have access to your phones and you want to see live stream, you can do that as well. Thank you for clarifying that, Madam Clerk. Can we please take a role? One moment. It appears we have some audio issues on Zoom. Oh, never mind. We're good. We're good to go. Okay.

The Madera City Council meetings are open to the public. This meeting will also be available for public viewing and participation through Zoom. Members of the public may also observe the live stream meeting on the city's website at www.mmadera.gov/live. Members of the public may comment on agenda items at the meeting or remotely through an electronic meeting via phone by dialing 669-9006833. Enter ID 86030700504 hashtag. Press star 9 to raise your hand and and sorry press star9 to raise your hand to comment and star six to unmute yourself to speak. Comments will also be accepted via email at city council public comment madera.gov or by regular mail at 205 West 4th Street Madera California 93637. We would like to remind the public that Wordley is available and can translate this meeting into different languages by accessing by accessing Wordley. can scan the QR code on the agenda. It is also available at the entrance of the uh city council chambers.

Thank you again, Madame Clerk. Just to clarify, I am the acting mayor today. Our current mayor is out uh absent on an illness, but I'll be presiding over that meeting. I always wanted to do this, so I Yes.

There you go. All right. Before we get going with our invocation, I did want to take this moment um before we proceed, I would like to take a moment to recognize and honor the life and service of Herman Perez, former mayor and council member of the city of Madera. Herman dedicated his time and energy to serving our community with integrity and commitment, leaving a lasting impact on the city he loved. On behalf of this body, we extend our deepest condolences to his family and loved ones during his diff this difficult time. What I am going to ask is after the invocation and flag salute that we reserve or observe a moment of silence for for Mr. Perez. So with that uh we'll now u do our invocation presented by Sammy Neely from Mount Zion Missionary Baptist Church.

We need to do the call to order. Mayor, did I not call to order? Well, wait. What's going on? Madam clerk, please call to order, please. Mayor Gyos absent. Mayor Prom Rodriguez here. Council member Zachariah here. Council member Montes here. Council member Evans here. Council member Mahia here. Council member Viegas here. Okay, looks like we're all here. So, uh, Mr. Neely, can you please uh make the invocation?

Let us bow our heads. Our most heavenly father, we just come thanking you Lord for this blessed day. Thank you for what you have done in our lives, for what you are doing and what you will do. Lord, we ask you Lord that you touch these the city council Lord. Touch the meeting Lord. Open up their hearts and their minds Lord so they can be led by what you want. Lord ask you Lord to touch our city Lord. Continue to guide us Lord to guide the spiritual leaders. Guide the preachers. Guide the pastors, Lord. Guide the churches, Lord, to be able to lead the city, Lord. All this I ask in Jesus name I pray. Amen. Amen. I'll ask uh please remain standing. I'll ask uh council member Montes to please lead us on the pledge.

Ready? I also

now I'll ask that we reserve this moment of silence for Mr. press. Right. Thank you. It looks like uh we do have uh Councilwoman Evans.

I was just going to say we do have a few seats right here in the front if someone would like to come down. We have three seats. I know they're priceless right now, but Well, we're going to do a lottery. So, if you guys come on down, we do have three other seats here. And matter of fact, we may be have to pull out some chairs back here if we have to. But, uh, are we are the chairs? So, if anyone would like to sit up front, please come on down. We do have three chairs. Don't everybody run at once. Okay.

All right. So, again, thank you again for reserving that moment. Again, Mr. Mr. Herman Perez dedicated a lot of his life also for community service, public service. I just wanted to make sure he did serve here as mayor from 1994 to 1995, but served in the council for two terms. So again, our condolences go out to his family. He was part of the Moors board. I think there's a room at the Espiron Village that that has his name as a dedication to him um as a nonprofit arm for the housing authority. he was very instrumental in helping us acquiring not only um housing and public housing but also this Espironza village was part of that uh initial effort. So, thank you again and our condolences go out to uh the Perez family. That being said, we'll now go on to uh approval of the agenda. Do we have any items on the agenda that need to be removed

uh through the council? Yes. if staff is requesting to continue item A1 to the regular meeting of December 3rd at 6 o'clock. Thank you. Thank you. So, we'll make note of that. Again, u I'm asking for a motion to approve the agenda. Removing item A1 for the December 3rd meeting. Motion to approve the agenda, removing A1. Second. And that is to continue it to December 3. To continue. Yes. Thank you, city attorney. Again, with that, we do have a motion from council member Evans. And we have a second from com uh council member Viegas. All those in favor signify by saying I. I.

All those opposed. Okay, that motion carries. Thank you again. We'll move on to presentations. Madam clerk. Yes, Mayor Prom. Thank you. And just one quick quick announcement. We did turn on the uh television in the conference room. So there are Oh, it's not streaming. Okay. We'll move on to presentations. All right. Recognizing Small Business Saturday. Back over to you, Mayor Pro. Yes. Thank you.

With that, we do have some uh recognitions here. I'll go ahead and pull these up. First one that we're going to pull up is um this is for small business, Sabora Wajaka. We'll have uh our council member, esteemed council member Mahia go out and present this. I'll stand with you.

Thank you, Mayor Prom. If I can please have Nicole step forward to receive um the proclamation for Sabura Waka. Um, Nicole Benas. Okay. Um I I about Sabora Wajaka if not everybody knows but Sabora Wajaka is a restaurant that's on Yusede Avenue. I had the pleasure of tasting its food long before it became an establishment. I was a university student and I would look for on Madera form for food that kind of tasted like home. So, I'm very happy to see what has um Nicole transformed to from selling from home to now it being a brick and mortar along our main avenue and also um a mobile cart. So, I'm just to me uh Nicole's story symbolizes resiliency, hard work, and it's it's a product of Madera and what makes us all um a town of that's full of people that are very hardworking. I'm just very proud to be able to present this um to Nicole. So, thank you.

Gracias. So, just like Nico had said, she invites you all to her restaurant. I love to have you guys there. She started with hard work. This council is committed on always celebrating small businesses in Madera. And just like Nicole and Sabora, Wajaka, we really appreciate that. So, up next we have uh Sanchez Brothers Tires and that's being presented by our council member uh Steven Montes. Um yeah, if we can get the Sanchez Bros to come up. So, I've known these uh gentlemen uh for many years. Full disclosure, they used to beat me up. [laughter]

No, I've known them since they were like kids. Uh I was a much younger man. See you again. And um in boxing gym. Um they were very dedicated. So I uh you know, Jesus and Ugo, I used to call them Jesus and Juice. Um and uh but they had a lot of people in the gym didn't want to spar them. Yeah.

Didn't want to fight them because they were good. Um and they are I'm sure they still are good. But uh I think they took that dedication seeing them as young very young men uh growing up in the city of Madera staying out of trouble and then now becoming business owners taking that same dedication into their business. And that's why I wanted to nominate them as uh you know recognition for small business uh Saturday and they're what keeps Madera going, right? Small businesses are what keeps them. So thank you for beating me up when I was a young man and uh for continuing to serve Madera. Thank you Steve. Appreciate it.

Hello everybody. Uh, thank you for coming tonight and hopefully everybody has a good evening. Um, just want to thank um I just want to thank God and I want to thank uh my family and of course I want to thank Steve for nominating this and I have a little gift for you and just you're

um like right now I'm a little bit nervous and just the same way when we started u the business in 2022. Um and it's been three years. Thanks to God. Always thank God for it. And um it's always, you know, my mind is always work hard, work hard and uh always, you know, uh thank the city of Madera for giving us opportunity to give the privilege to help the people out from Madera and giving them service um with the tires. Um and that's all I know. My brother Hugo wants to to talk.

Same thing. You know, we like to thank God. you know, you guys are are giving us the motivation to keep on going further. You know, hopefully soon we start another business helping you guys out as well. And uh more than anything, thank you to Madera. This is saw us grow.

As I start presenting these, we have several more. We just want to make sure um that we we we get a photo in with you. Especially you are the two that beat up uh Councilman Ramontes. Well, so okay. Well, he didn't know this. I was gonna do this, but I bought uh some gloves for a sparring. Thank you again. Appreciate the business. Up next, we do I'm sorry. We have a referee. someone. [laughter]

Uh we do have uh the next uh small business that we have is LA small business and that'll be presented by our council member Jas. And this is a part of the city council that we love to do is we always like to celebrate people and we like to celebrate our businesses and it's great to have this opportunity to do that and recognize these small businesses. Council member Bieos. I don't see the Is Mr. Abdul here?

Mr. Abdul out here.

Oh, he's not here. Anyway, I know this uh family business called Estraa and South uh Gateway. Uh this business has been there for many years and when they do they are cashing the checks to a lot of farm workers. They always uh uh go there because the easy way to change the check. Uh I was one of them too at one time for many years. uh go over there and cash my check and also it's a store restaurant and it's like a catch your catch your check quick just like that they has the money ready so uh this business is very essential to farm workers because because of that because they go over there and change the check seven days a week there's people there ch changing a check so uh instead Abdu and and myself I don't know why he's not here. But uh he knows me very well. So uh uh we will save this uh uh certificate for them and one way or another we're going to uh give it to them. Uh so that's that's all I can say that he's not present. So uh we save it for that. Matter of chat, matter of fact, there council member Jas, I have a check that may I may need cashing. We need to get Abdul up in here. Thank you again. Up next, we have Rancho San Miguel, small business, and we have Councilwoman Evans.

Blessings everyone and thank you all for being here this evening. I'm Is Mr. Bradstone here? Come on down. You're the next contestant. All right. Thank you so very much, Mr. Stone. Rancho San Miguel, the store that's right behind my house that I look out and I see all the time. I just want to tell you thank you. There's many mornings that I have gotten up and I've been hungry and well, you have some If you guys haven't had his tamales, you guys go get tamales. The breakfast is awesome. But the small business, I just want to say thank you. The proclamation here and I'm just going to read it. It says, "Whereas the city of Madera celebrates local small businesses and the contribution that they make to our local economic community. And whereas our community thrives because of the hard work and dedication of small business owners who continually contribute to the economic vitality and dis this excuse me, I'm so sorry. Please. Diversity of our region. Whereas small business Saturday is celebrated annually on the Saturday after Thanksgiving and is a day to celebrate support small businesses. And we now myself, Councilwoman Anita Evans, the mayor, city of Madera, and on behalf of the entire city council do proclaim November 29th, Small Business Saturday. We encourage all residents to support local businesses by shopping locally and making a positive impact on the economic well-being of our community. Thank you so very much, sir.

We are now in our 18th year of operating. I moved here in the fall of ' 08 to assist in the final construction and opening of Rancho San Miguel. Most of my kids have grown up here in this town. And we're proud to be a part of Madera, to be a part of the community and to support not only our customers, but to be a part of the city and what we can do and sponsoring events throughout the city and fundraising and doing donations throughout different entities and organizations. We are grateful to be here and I just want to thank the council and all those who do support us. Thank you so much. Okay, last but not least, this was going to be presented by our mayor Gyos. This is for Midland Tractor, and I believe we have Mr. Nelson and Sun. Now, as these gentlemen are coming here, I've had the opportunity and the privilege to know uh Mr. Nelson. Matter of fact, this guy's a um a hell of a guy. He's very uh giving to the community. Um, and one of the things that we see about Midland Tractor, especially in our sales report, is they continue to keep our economy moving around. So, we appreciate the small business, and we appreciate uh the the uh the economy that you produce here for our community. With that, I'll go ahead and present this to you. Again, this is a proclamation, Small Business Saturday to Midland Tractor. Whereas the city of Madera celebrates local small businesses and contributions they make to our local economy and community. And whereas our community thrives because of the hard work and dedication of small business owners who continually contribute to the economic vitality and diversity of our region. And whereas Small Business

Saturday is celebrated annually on Saturday after Thanksgiving and is a day to celebrate and support local small businesses. And therefore, let it be known that I, Mayor Prom, Jose Rodriguez, Mayor Cece Gyos, and the entire city council do hereby proclaim November 29th, 2025 Small Business Saturday. We encourage all residents to support our local businesses by shopping locally and making a positive impact on the economic well-being of our community. With that, I present this to you. Thank you. Thank you. Well, thank you. I'm Stan Nelson. Uh, [clears throat] it's wonderful to be recognized by the city council and, uh, just blessed to be have been in Madera for so long. Uh, the company's been around since ' 69 and then you came there in 79. So, we've been here a lot of years and Madera has been nothing but good for our family. So, grateful for this honor and thank you for the recognition.

Thank you. So, what we're going to ask of you, if you don't mind, Mr. Nelson, is we're going to take a picture with the council. If you don't mind, we'll step up there. Thank you again. Yeah, come on. They're good. You're all good. Squeeze in a little.

Are you good? Okay. Ready? One, two, three.

One, two, three. Thank you. Thank you guys. I think that's going to be okay. Now on to our second presentation this evening. It's a proclam proclamation recognizing Veterans Day.

Yes. Thank you, Madame Clerk. Before uh we get to that next, we'll let the room kind of clear out. Again, one last round of applause for all of our small businesses. All right. Am I gonna have to use a gamble? No. gonna have to take it away from you. Okay. He's getting happy with it. Sure. You want to take a break? Yeah. You know, we got to keep

let's let's go ahead and take a uh a couple minutes about four four minutes a recess there only so we can clear uh if you don't mind. Yeah. And we'll congratulate some of these businesses. So, give give us about three minutes.

All right, so we're back. Thanks again, Madame Clerk. And again, we'll continue with our presentations. Uh, second presentation is proclamation recognizing Veterans Day. And I believe we have uh Councilwoman Evans that'll be making this presentation. Again, thank you very much, Councilwoman Evans here. And I would like to call up I imagine Olsen Alen. You know what? I always do that. I'm so sorry. She's retired from the Air Force. Correct.

Retired. I did 12 years. 12 years. 12 years. So this this is a true honor. Generally we don't have a lot of women. There was a 68 that was in 1945 to 1946 and that's where the mail was distributed. And now I am so very honored to have as a veteran Miss Imagene. Say it again. Allison.

Allison. Allison. And this proclamation is for Veterans Day. Whereas the greatest acknowledgement of our freedom is to honor our armed forces veterans who are s sacrificed for the freedom. And whereas in 1975, Congress voted to approve Veterans Day as a national holiday every November 11th in honor of all veterans who have served in the armed forces. Whereas the city of Madera recognizes and respects our veterans for their many contributions. Whereas the city has all branches of military represented and dozens employees who have doomed the military uniform in the service of our country and community. Whereas for this service and their dedicated efforts, these men and women have earned the gratitude of the city of Madera. And therefore I, Councilwoman Nita Evans, the mayor CC Gos, Vice Mayor Pro Tim, Jose Rodriguez, and my entire um city council. We wish to congratulate you, thank you for your service, and continued success with you. And would you like to have something to say? Hello, my name is Imagene Olison and I served 12 years in the United States Air Force which gave me a foundation to go to my next career which were 30 years in the California Department of Corrections. It was an honor to serve in the military and I appreciate the recognition. Thank you. Ready?

One, two, three. Madam clerk. And for our third presentation this evening, it's the recognition of Oldtimer's Day Parade first place winners. All right. And I get the liberty of doing that. Great.

Donald,

would you like me to answer that? All right. First of all, I'd like to call up the Madera Torres High School band. Do we have any representatives? There we go. Thank you. So, during the uh old-timers parade, there were certain recognitions and prizes or more so places that they had when it comes to um the the recognition at the old-timers. So, Matilda Torres High School. The Madera City Council proudly recognized the Matilda Torres High School band for their outstanding performance at the Oldtimes Day Parade, their exceptional musical talent, precision, and school spirit earned them the honors of best band entry, sweepsake champion, and best in parade. So, with that, congratulations. And if you'd like to have some words, please do. Uh my name is uh Ryan Durham and I have the privilege of being the band director over at Torres High School. Uh and uh on behalf of the over 120 students that are in the program, uh the three directors and uh over 15 staff members that we have that get to work with our students. Uh we want to thank uh the city council for the recognition. Uh also a thank you uh for just the participation within the parade. Uh we absolutely love this uh wonderful community here in Madera. Uh and getting to see these uh over 120 students working so hard day in and day out. Uh all of their nighttime practice. We were in the 45 degree cold last night practicing for state championships this

weekend that we're going to be competing in uh in Fresno uh over at Garza High School if you're free. Uh so uh at any rate, it's just a true honor uh and privilege to get to serve uh the city of Madera. And I want to also thank our senior drum majors that are here. Antella Saratino and Dallas von uh who came over to also uh receive this recognition all the hard work for leading our kids uh into being great ambassadors for the city Madera everywhere we travel uh across the state. So thank you all very much for the recognition and uh go Tauros and uh thank you so much. Yeah, they they couldn't have picked a better day for me to be mayor and today was that day. So, I I I thank you all because this is exactly the gratitude uh of why, you know, I served the city council is because of moments like this to be able to recognize folks of their achievements, recognitions, and their contributions to our city. Up next, we do have um also a certificate of recognition for the Madera Splash Pad. So, if they're here, and they're going to show off their trophy that they received here. This awesome. Awesome. So, I think we have several members. It wasn't too long ago uh I want to say two meetings ago that they came in here for a public comment and one of their requests was to go up there and take a picture. They had they had mentioned that they had won uh this prize with the old-timers parade. So, um, they had requested to take a picture with the city council up front and because it was public comment and it wasn't agendaized, we had to put it on the agenda. So, we wanted to recognize them for that as well. Again, they participated in the

old-timers parade with that that this certificate of recognition for the Madera Splash Pad. The city of Madera proudly recognizes Madera Splash Pad for earning best overall entry in the old-timers parade. your creativity and enthusiastic participation helped make this year's celebration memorable for residents and visitors alike. So, one round of applause and then I'll have someone from the uh

viewing entire splash pad. Would you like to

Hi everyone, my name is Yolanda Contas, a member of the splashpad project. Um this is just an initial project that um just moms are getting together and trying to make this happen here in Madera. And I just want to thank the city council for um uh providing us this um recognition. I appreciate that. And um and a splash will be here. Madera, I don't know when, but it will be here. Yeah. Thank you. And we have one other recognition and then we'll get to the horseshoe. Right. Seems like the horseshoe has some comments to make. Right. here again.

Let's try to get the little ones up front if we can so that we can squeeze all the uh Oh, wow.

Can we get you all in there? from the back. Let's have some of the little ones over here. Yeah, right here.

Can you see her? I'm gonna pick her up. Okay, everyone over here, please. Ready? One, two, three. One, two, three.

All right. I wasn't sure if there was a member of Congressman Gray's office here to present the same award. Yeah, if you do, please give me one second. We do have India from uh uh Congressman uh Gray's office. This is the same recognition, correct?

Yes, for both. You want to say that as well? Yes, they just go ahead and you can give your speech. All right. Wait for her to get home. Sorry. She's not She's absentee. Yeah, that's fine. I'm like [laughter] and

we can get Yolanda. Just one of you guys to come get the uh the award.

Of course. Hello everybody. My name is India. I'm here on behalf of Congressman Adam Gray. Uh we saw all the pictures, we heard all the news of your guys uh win. Congratulations on being selected for best band. Uh as a Stallion band alumni myself, I congratulations to you guys for this year's win and congratulations. I know we've been in contact quite a few times, so I would like to present these certificates of congressional recognition on his behalf. Thank you guys so much. Awesome. Thank you again. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you again.

All right. And I would be remiss if I did not announce the other winner. which was Debbie Marshall and she was the winner of uh her outstanding presentation dedication uh for best esquestrian equestrian

equestrian. Thank you. That kind of that's a tongue twister there for me but uh anyhow just wanted to make sure we recognized her. We do have a certificate of recognition and alongside we have congressional recognition. So both all these three u contestants made it not only locally but also congressionally. So, thank you so much. Again, round of applause for them. We will move on to the final uh resolution recognizing I Madame Clerk, can you please take on that?

Yes, Mayor Prom for our final presentation this evening. It's a resolution recognizing Mr. Luther Slack. And this presentation will be given by the officer office, I'm sorry, of Senator Anna Cavayto. Hello. Um, good evening members of the council, Mayor Prom. My name is Aruro Martinez, district representative for the office of state senator Ana Cavayto. I do have a plural cremation with me, but it is a bit big. So, thank you, Councilwoman Anita. Um, so I'll go ahead. I do have the verbiage here, so I'll go ahead and read it. It is some good information that I would begin reading. Um members resolution by the honorable Anna Mavayto 14th senatorial district relative to memorizing Luther Burbank slack. Whereas the passing on May 29, 2025 of Luther Burbank Slack, a caring and compassionate California resident, a devoted civic leader whose good deeds earn him the respect and admiration of his colleagues and the countless individuals whose lives he touched brought great sorrow and an immense sense of loss to people throughout the Madera and the state of California. And where is known as men of understanding, wisdom, strength, and patience who was always ready to extend a hand in friendship and lead with an open heart. Luther Slack was born to William C. Slack and Li Lily Pearl Slack on April 29, 1940 in Wilmont, Ar Kansas, where educa where education, church, and community service were high priorities in the Slack family. And throughout his life, Luther often explained to people how his strong faith orchestrated his life. And whereas a true patriot, Luther Slack joined the United States Navy in January 1962, completing his basic training in San Diego, California before being assigned to Ferndale. And from 1962 to 1970, he was on active duty,

achieving the rank of chief petty officer. And whereas Luther Slack attended the US Navy School of Dental Technology in the US Navy Field Medical Service School in addition to which he earned certificate in certificates in career counseling, leadership management and instructing cordial pulmonary resuscitation CPR and after his honorable discharge from the Navy, he served in the US Navy Reserve from 1970 to 1996, participating in the field training of many active duty US Marines and naval enlistes. And whereas devoting his life to serving his country and his community, Luther Slack participated in sitins at lunch counters in Little Rock, Arkansas during the civil rights movement. Started an education committee attended by local Madera school administrators to work together to better serve Madera students. was a member of the Madera Unified Curriculum Oversight Committee and served as president of the Madera NAACP branch 1084 and with his late wife Clarissa Pedro in reinstating youth council 1739 traveled with local youth to several national Afroacademic cultural technological and scientific Olympics competitions and initiated the back to school stay in school rally for Almadada Unified School District. middle schools. And whereas in addition, Luther Slack was employed for more than 14 years by the state of California as a prison industry superintendent in the dental laboratory at Chachilla Woman's Correction Facility, where he trained and counseledled a staff of 30 inmates in fabricating partial dentures, taught CPR to state employees, and helped several inmates become certified dental technicians, beyond which he later served as a mentor for elementary school students in Madera, helping them to succeed in their studies and work toward

becoming being productive adults. And whereas a man whose faith is direct whose faith directed him in every area of his life, Luther Slack was a member of the United Methodist Church before joining Family Community Church in Fresno. And whereas Luther Slack held a bachelor of arts degree in social science, a master of arts degree, and a credential in education from Chapman University. And were as limitless in his vision and capacity to excel throughout his life, Luther's flag will forever be remembered as a beacon of hope for those who have committed themselves to improving the quality of life for future generations and preceded in death by his wife Claresa. He leaves to mourn his passing and celebrate his legacy his daughter Camille Slack, his son Brian Slack, his granddaughter Cameron, and his grandson Carter. Now therefore be it resolved by Senator Anna M. Cavierro that he joins the family and friends of Luther family or friends of Luther Bourbanks like in celebrating and revering the accomplishments and legacy of a distinguished and caring individual who lived to the fullest whose generosity was extended without hesitation or expectation of reward and whose spirit will will live forever in the hearts and memories of his loved ones. And this is now inscribed in the state of California history. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Jenny.

Wow. There's not much to say more about my dad. Um, I want to thank the city council. I want to thank Councilwoman Evans and Senator Anna Cabayro. I want to thank the city of Madera for how they honored my father. um because of all that he did in this community was represented by all that honored him at the funeral and in this resolution. It shows that people really honored the work that he did and it showed his commitment to this community. And at this time um I want to encourage all people to recognize our little heroes that are not famous but that they contribute to the community. They contribute to education. They commit to the military. And they contribute to being teachers and nurses and doctors and attorneys. And I just want to encourage people to to do that no matter what side of the aisle you are politically, but to do that in love and to do that according to God's word and God's wisdom. And I want to thank you all tonight for recognizing that. Thank you. Family come up. Donald Holly come up.

Everyone over here for you. Ready? One, two, three. One, two, three,

four, five, six. I didn't know you were still here. As the room is starting to clear, if you guys would like to make yourselves uh more comfortable, there are some seats that are open as well up here in the front and there's some out here in the front as well. So, feel free to make yourself more comfortable. And what I'll ask is if as as people are starting to make their way out, maybe we can continue with the city's business, but we'll need to close the door so that we can have the attention here for the public comment. Thank you, Chief. All right. Well, thank you again. All right, Madame Clerk. Our next item, please,

is public comment. The first 15 minutes of the meeting are reserved for members of the public to address the council on items which are within the subject matter jurisdiction of the council. Speakers shall be limited to three minutes. Speakers will be asked, but are not required to identify themselves and state the subject of their comments. If the subject is an item on the agenda, the mayor has the option of asking the speaker to hold the comment until that item is called. Comments on items listed as a public hearing on the agenda should be held until the hearing is opened. The council is prohibited by law from taking any action on matters discussed that are not on the agenda and no adverse conclusions should be drawn if the council does not respond to public comment at this time.

Thank you again, Madame Clerk. And as our clerk mentioned, this is a 15minute period for public comment. Uh, I do notice that there is quite a few people representing the horseshoe league. So, I'm going to ask if there's anyone not in the horseshoe that would like to make a public comment to come out. We'll reserve the last 10 minutes for the horseshoe league. And if we need go beyond the 15 minutes, we can always push that to the end of the agenda so that we hear all your comments. So, at this time, I'll ask if there's any member of the public wishing to come forward. Hello, my name is K Denise and um I'm here in support of the Madera splash pad um project. I'm also here to support all parks in Madera and help make them better for the youth in my community. I had the honor of participating in the Madera Soccer Youth League, but I think we can improve the soccer fields um at the Madera Sports Complex by growing grass and filling the holes for um the players for safety. and more officers patrolling the area for the safety of our players. And um Thank you.

Thank you, young man. What was his name again for the record? Kate Denise. Kate Denise. Kate Denise. Yeah. Thank you.

Do we have any other members of the public wishing to make a comment? Now that I'm up here, I don't want to take the take the mic. I just really want to quickly commend again Aruro Martinez on behalf of the office center in Cavayto. We had a really um great and successful Veterans Day. Our team participated in multiple Veterans Day events throughout the valley. Our office also participated at the Madera State of the County where we had a heard a great presentation from city manager Arnold. I will say I I commend the city manager. He really brought up the powerpoints and it really helped. I I just remember him talking about, you know, the different investments the city has done towards the community. So that's really highly and commendable and also acknowledge some of the investments we have brought here towards the city. And apart from that, our outdoor legislative program put on by the sender did conclude. uh video is still in production, but once we have that finalized, I will go ahead and bring it for you all to see. And we also did recognize farm workers that saved uh children from a bus that uh I guess was smoke and then caught on fire at the Madera County Board of Supervisors. Our office remains here to assist constituents with any state issues, but we also stay here to ensure that if there's any needs the city has, u we're here for the for the city and for our people of Madera and of the Valley. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Aruro. Okay, do we have any other members? Oh, she's down. Miss Madera, little bit more. Hi, my name is Joel Ocean Denise and I am Little Miss Madera County and I would love to have a water park at Madera County. Thank you. Thank you.

We have any other members from the public wishing to make a comment? believe we do have a large support group here for the Madera horseshoe. If there's any members that would like to come, we reserve some time here.

And mayor, if I can take this opportunity, if you would like to appoint a spokesperson, that would probably make a very good use of your time because you have about 10 minutes and then that way you won't have to wait till the end of the meeting to make any more comments. So, if you have a spokesperson or somebody who would be willing to do that, you've got your 10 minutes. uh just as a suggestion. Thank you. Thank you, M. There's there's only three of us. Okay, great. Go right ahead.

Okay. Good evening, Mayor Prom and City Council. Uh first of all, and I pray for the speedy recovery of our our mayor and [clears throat] get her back on the job as soon as possible. My name is Harlon Ripto. I'm the founder of the Big Valley Horseshoe League. I'm here this evening to ask for your support to fund the building of eight additional horseshoe courts at Rotary Park. Madera is geographically located in the middle of the state of California and were ideal were an ideal site for getting the state tournament. Madera um the additional courts would be needed to qualify for for a state tournament. As mentioned before your count appearing before your council, I've been in contact with the National Pitchers Horse Association and they have been they've told me that they're very favorable for us if we get the courts that we would they would give us strong consideration to bring the state tournaments to Madera. During the three-day uh during a three-day state tournament, there's approximately 200 people plus their families that would come into the town, use our uh hotels and restaurants and shop and and uh it [clears throat] would uh benefit Madera considerably. If we can uh construct the courts, it would be a win-win for Madera as we could expand our existing horseshoe league and uh accept statewide recognition in the horseshoe community. in addition to be economically uh beneficial to the city. Our horseshoe league has just completed 25 years of uh play at Rotary Park. Um I have [clears throat] asked members of the horseshoe league to attend the meeting to show support for the uh building of the additional courts. If if

I could uh I would like the horseshoe members to please stand up so you can see who they are. Wow. Thank you. I would like Thank [clears throat] you. I would like now to introduce to you the current league president, Nick Beldorama. Thank you.

Hello, my name is Nick Balorama and I am the current president of the Big Valley Horseshoe League and the Big Valley Horseshoe Club here in Madera. We have a spring and fall horseshoe league annually at Rotary Park with approximately 120 pitchers each season. Our club is associated with the National Horseshoe Pitching Association and the Northern California Horseshoe Pitching Association, hosting tournaments and fundraisers at Rotary Park throughout the year and has grown to over 60 plus members annually, ranging from 5 to 80 years old. Both the league and club have become a staple of Madera, the Central Valley, and horseshoes in general. We have grown to become the biggest horseshoe league and club in California and one of the most recognized and observed in the nation. Now celebrating our 25th year anniversary this year. Our tournaments and league bring people to Madera Weekly from all over the valley from as far south as St. Louis Abyispo and Bakersfield as far north as Sacramento and the Bay Area and from San Jose to Aubberry bringing communities together and to be a part of what we have here. We've established an exciting, fun, competitive family environment that has not had any major issues with the city or park in our 25 years. What we have here in Madera is very special and sought after by many cities, but never duplicated. Our horseshoe pits are self-maintained, but we've shown community support with such things like planting trees to help beautify Rotary Park and participating in events like the first taco truck throwdown that was held there. We've held fundraising events contributing to local organizations such as Madera Animal Shelter, New Beginnings Church, Boys and Girls Club, American Red Cross for Fire Relief, a Combat Veterans Hope, Tary Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Ethan's Hope, and the United States Marine Corps Toys for Tots, which we hold a tournament for every year. We support local businesses such as Proise, Madera Trophy, Sugar Pine Smokehouse, the Elks Lodge, and several other various stores and restaurants. Our organization has brought revenue to the city of Madera and has proven to maintain a good working relationship

with Joe and Hector from the parks department. Our league and club are growing and with the installation of additional horseshoe pits, it will allow us to expand our league which is a waiting list to add additional teams and our club tournaments which have to have two games played on one pit due to the amount of people we draw. With the addition of these pits, we are being sought after to host major annual tournaments due to our central California locations such as the Northern California and Southern California state championships, the Norcow singles and doubles championships, and many more. All which will bring hundreds of people and revenue to Madera for these events. I've already been in contact with several local hotels to generate interest in accommodating these events as a host hotel. Expanding our horseshoe pits only makes everything mentioned bigger and better with additional revenue and exposure for the city of Madera. Most have driven by Rotary Park on 99 on a Wednesday or Sunday or Wednesday night or a Sunday afternoon and they see something they've never seen before. Completely filled horseshoe pits and an opportunity to participate in one of America's oldest pastimes, horseshoes. With your help, we can take this to the next level. It's a win-win for everyone. Horseshoes community.

Thank you, Mr. Rama.

Good evening, mayor and city council members. My name is Cody Nelson. I'm a member of the Big Valley Horseshoe League. I'm a member of the shoe slinger team. I am here tonight to request your support to fund and build eight additional horseshoe courts at Rotary Park. I believe the construction of the additional courts will one help bring the state tournament to Madera, two enable to expand the horseshoe league and three improve the economy of Madera of the city when out of town pitchers utilize the hotels and restaurants during tournament play. Thank you for your time.

Thank you. All right, our next speaker, please.

Hi everyone, my name is Yolanda Contas, a representative of the Madera Splash Pad Project. I first of all, I want to appreciate um the um recognition that we received earlier today. Thank you all. Um and I just want to say something real quick. Um I know that I speak in every public meeting, but um um Elo. So what I get from this is like I will continue fighting for the splash pan. today, tomorrow, until we have one for our kids who and it's all accessible for our kids. Thank you.

Thank you. I don't see any other folks with the public comment. Madam clerk, do we have any written comments or members on Zoom andor audio?

We have none, Mayor Pro Tim. Okay. So, that'll conclude the p public comment. So, we'll close public comment, move on to item A, public hearings. We do have an item there, A1. I believe I was requested by staff to continue. I'll allow the room to clear. Yes, Mayor. Item A1 has been continued uh to December 3rd. So, we're on item A2. Thank you. Wow. Just when I was made mayor, everybody leaves the room. That's not good. I'll get to do this.

All right, let's convene with the meeting again. I believe item A1 was uh recommended by staff to continue for the following meeting uh scheduled on December 3rd of 2025. So that item will continue. Moving on to item A2. Madame clerk. Item A2 is a public hearing regarding annexation number 17 track 25-S01 TSM2024-05 Toer 3 subdivision into community facilities district number 2005-1 public services under the Melo Ruse community facilities act of 1982 and related actions.

Great. Thank you madam clerk. I now open the public hearing for annexation number 17 regarding the annexation of territory to community facilities district also know known as CFD number 2005-01. I declare that the notice of public hearing was published on November 8th, 2025. Thank you, Madame Clerk. Uh staff, please proceed with your report.

Thank you, Mayor. Good evening, council members. Robert Smith, senior planner. Uh as mentioned the project represents the annexation of uh annexation number 17 for the Toza 3 residential subdivision in the community facil facilities district which is a way to create special tax for public service funding throughout the city when generated by new development. The [clears throat] district to be annexed is highlighted to the southeast of the map and shows the annexations also previously brought into the district. The map was approved in 2024 for 52 residential lots. Conditions of approval requiring the applicant to make this annexation application. The assessment on this application is currently at $567 per unit uh for this new annexation. the recommendation to hold a public hearing, adopt the resolution of the city council to annex the territory, conduct the election of the qualified electors, and adopt the resolution of the city council with the findings declaring the certifi and certifying the results of the special election for annexation number 17. That concludes staff's presentation. We're available for questions should you have them. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Smith. At this time, I now open the hearing to protest, comments, and questions from interested parties. Do we have any? Madame Clerk, anything online? We have none. Okay. So, city clerk, are there any written protests? You said no. Okay. So, Madame Clerk,

I declare no written protests were received by the city, that there are less than 12 registered voters within the territory to be annexed into community facilities district 2005-01, that written consents to holding the community facilities district elections today have been received from all the land owners within the proposed annexation number 17, and that I concur with the holding of the special election for annexation number 17. Thank you, Madam Clerk. I now close the public hearing. Is there any discussion from the council? Yes, council member Viegas.

Uh yeah, this one was in the previous meetings for the city council [clears throat] and I believe that the should we should we continue and approve it? That's my request. Well, that's going to be the next step here. So, if there's no other discussion, um, is there a motion to adopt the resolution authorizing the annexation, authorizing the levy of a special tax, and submitting the levy of tax to the qualified electors? And before there is, mayor, the resolution has one typo in the title, it should be resol, it should be annexation 17. So, if that if your motion is to approve is, we're going to make the correction to 17. Thank you.

Thank you uh for making that uh amendment there uh city attorney. So with that, that is number 17. Move to approve with the correction noted by uh city attorney. Hey, thank you. Second it. Okay. Uh motion from uh council member Montes, second from council member Evans. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. I. All those opposed? Okay. Motion carries. Do you need me to read out the motion as far as Okay, we're good. All right. Uh, city clerk, I'll call on you to conduct the election.

Two ballots have been received. I now close the election and announce the results. Appears we've received two ballots. And for the first ballot um as to annexing the property under annexation number 17 to CFT 2005-01, there's one yes vote and zero no votes. And the second item, it appears this is not a ballot city attorney. It's a petition and waiver. Okay. So, as to annexing the property under annexation number 17 to CFD number 2005-01, there is one yes vote, zero no votes. I declare the annexation passes unanimously. Council, you may proceed to consider adoption of the resolution declaring the election results.

Thank you, Madame Clerk. At this time, is there a motion to adopt the resolution declaring the election results, adding territory as an annexation number 17 to CFD 2005-1, and authorizing the levy of special tax? Move to adopt. Second it. We do have a motion from council member Montes, second from council member Evans. Um, all those in favor signify by saying I. I. I. All those opposed? Okay, motion carries. That was a six 6 zero and one absent.

Okay. So, the motion to adopt. We're good there. So, that closes item A2. Moving on to item B, consent calendar. Madame clerk,

matters listed under the consent calendar are considered routine and will be enacted by one motion and one vote. There will be no separate discussion of these items. If discussion is desired, a member of the public or a member of the council may request an item to be removed from the consent calendar and it will be considered considered separately. Mayor Prom, I have one announcement regarding item B6. Um, this is the NG item and we made a correction to the notice of completion adding all listing, I'm sorry, listing all of the addresses and that's um for the purposes of recording this at the county. It's a requirement.

Perfect. Thank you, madame clerk. At this time, uh you do have the consent calendar before you. Is there any member of this council wishing to pull out any item for a separate discussion? Okay. We do have uh council member Mahia. Uh thank you, Mayor Bam. I'd like to recuse uh myself from voting on item B3 because it involves me. Okay. city attorney. We'll have um can we have her recuse herself on this item alone and come back and have her vote on the rest?

In this particular case, you can all vote and hear everything all at once and her vote will be recorded as recusing herself for item B three, but it'll be but she'll be able to vote on all the other items. So, it just be a motion to approve the consent calendar, a second, and then the minutes will fix it on the back end. Thank you very much, city attorney. again. So you have that modification that the uh clerk had made and also the recusal of item B3 from member Mahia. Okay. Do we have any members of the public wishing to make a comment? Seeing none, any Zoom audio? We have none, Mayor Prom.

All right. So I'll bring this back to my council. So move to prove consent with the corrections noted by the city clerk. And I'll second that. We have a motion from council member Montes, second from Council Member Evans. All those in favor signify by saying I. I.

All those opposed. Okay. Motion carries. All right. Moving on to item C. We have no workshop. So we'll move on to item D. Petitions, bids, resolutions, ordinances, and agreements. Item D1. Madame clerk. Item D1 is the purchase of boys mobile equipment type six custom fire engine and related bud budget amendment. Good evening, Mayor Promp, council members, city attorney, madame clerk, and city manager, and the other guests in the in the gallery and online. My name is Larry Pendarvis. I am your Madera city fire chief. It's an honor to be here this evening to speak to you in regards to the purchase of our Boise mobile equipment type 6 fire apparatus. It's a budget uh item on uh excuse me on D1. So a little bit about the background. The city had established the vehicle replacement program. However, initially it did not include the city fire department equipment. So in 2019, the city did create a program for the fire equipment replacement which allocated

approximately 200,000 a year. In the year 2022, the city had increased it to 490,000 a year. This investment has allowed the city to replace dated equipment and to acquire equipment that supports fire prevention, which also is looked at as a major part in assisting us in our fire suppression efforts. The city does receive funds from sending engines to state incidents, also known as assistance by hire agreements. Those revenues are being placed into the equipment replacement fund. As far as the new equipment that has recently been purchased within the last three to five years is we have gotten a a new command vehicle, the battalion 51 vehicle, which was replaced in the year 2023. It is a 2023 Dodge 2500. also a UTV at station 56 which was uh replaced in 2023. It's a 2023 Honda Pioneer Deluxe 5. And most recently engine 57 which was replaced in 2024. That piece of equipment is a 2023 Rosenbower custom type 1 fire engine. That picture is depicted before you. A little bit about the existing equipment that we have and by station. There is three stations within the city. Engine 56. It goes all the way down here. Engine 56. Um, front line 2016. These apparatus range from 2006 up to 2023 displaced both at 5657 and station 58. The proposed equipment by station would to continue to have engine 56 there at 56. The replacement which would be the new type six engine is a a 2026 BME. These all would be considered frontline

engines. And also um that the older engine 656 which is the 2006 piece of equipment would now be put into reserve status and would be placed at reserve at station 58. Those two are depicted in red, the new engine and the older one going into reserve status for you. And why the need? Well, the service life for fire apparatus according to NFPA, the National Fire Protection Association front line is approximately 15 years of service. The next five years is the you the equipment goes into what we call reserve status. The current one is 19 years old now. Based on its age, it has become less reliable and we do have frequent annual repairs on this piece of equipment. the proposed equipment. It would have the same color scheme color scheme as our current new engine 57. The red charcoal and the gold lettering. It does hold 300 gallons of water. It would be ideal use for use in down in the river bottom as well as any grass and vegetation fires in the air surrounding areas. Controls are located at the rear of this apparatus which is an improvement from previous apparatuses um to uh for the safety of the personnel who are operating the equipment. taken away from the side of the apparatus where in fact could be um a safety hazard due to vehicles and equipment passing by. Um it will take approximately two and a half years. They do say two and a half to three years for actual delivery of the equipment. So it's a long process from date of purchase to actual delivery. The pictures before you now is is we went out to Mercer City Fire Department, took a look at their apparatus and it very very close to what we are looking to get the same BME buildup on this apparatus.

Another one is a back view of it where I had depicted the the controls at the rear of the apparatus on this picture here. The cost, the base price for it is $461,48025. There is a prepaid option on there as well. So, how much money has the city saved through the measure K funds? Through the fiscal years of 18/19, 1920, 2021, and 2122, we have a total of 800,000. We did up it to 490,000 for the 2223 23 2425 and now we're halfway into the 2526 which would give us 1.9 total in the in the um fire equipment replacement fund is $2,760,000. So what the what the city has purchased within the last five to six years is those figures that you see before you. Everything from the UTV vehicle all the way down to what we use on the safe and clean team with the tractors, the sid skid steer, masticator, flare flare mower and um and of course that engine 57 on there. other expenses for engine 656. The the price that I gave you is for the apparatus itself. So, in addition to the engine replacement, we will be looking at a later date with the separate separate items for the equipment to outfit the unit itself. The estimated cost to fully equip a type 6 engine is approximately $100,000. Because the engine has an estimated two and a half year lead time, the equipment request will be scheduled before you and for consideration at a later date closer

to the delivery of the apparatus. Please know that this is onlyformational and it's not being presented to you at this as an action item at this time for the pl placement of the of the equipment. So looking ahead based on the age and the operational need the next engine is scheduled future replacement would be our engine 56 is a 2016. We are currently evaluating the options of replacing that with the same model as engine 57 for a fleet consistency and for consistency and for efficiency. The current industry lead times indicate a three-year turnaround time from time that the order is placed for that as well. Once again, this is not being considered for recommendation at this time. It's only information that I'm able to provide you for planning and awareness. So the recommendation to is to adopt the resolution approving a purchase agreement for the Boise mobile equipment also known as BME the type 6 fire engine under the Houston Galveston area council purchase contract FS12-23 and approving the amendment to the 2526 adopted budget appropriating $461,48025 for the purchase in the measure K fire budget for the purchase of the equipment. I am available. That is the conclusion of my presentation and I am available for any questions.

Thank you, Chief Penderis. Appreciate the presentation. I'll bring this back to my council. Do we have any comments or questions? Okay. If not, then um I'll ask a question regarding the numbers. You you say it's type type six and then you have 656 and then you have station 56. Is that a coincidence or is that just the Well, the number sequence is due to what we call incident command system typing. The type one apparatus has just would have just the station number. As we start getting into the type three, which is the four-wheel drive engines, they'll have a three. So, if we had a type three engine, it would be engine 356. And so, that this is a type six apparatus. So, it is engine 656. Got it. Thank you.

For ICS typing. Got it. Now, you mentioned that this can take anywhere between two and a half years before you receive that, right? And then on top of that, you still have to equipped it. So, that could take an additional 6 months, a year. Well, as long as we're forecasting, that's a great question. As long as we're forecasting it out, and we're getting close to the delivery date. So, within about 3 to four months, we would go ahead and start come before you with that resolution to purchase that equipment. The turnaround time is much shorter for the equipment than it is for the apparatus itself. Now the issues that you're facing now with the current uh engine you have it you're going to place it as a reserve but now it's giving you issues what now in between that time

that lag time this is we've been doing in the past sir is we're it goes out of service for maintenance from time to time if we do what we can basically we're putting a band-aid over it until we can actually get it get it replaced and that'll happen for the next two and a half years until you receive we've been we've been experiencing these problems for probably about the last four and a half years with this apparatus. Well, thank you. I appreciate you giving us the the the life of this engine, you know, the expectancy, especially no more than 15 years. So maybe in the future as a fleet starts coming to that end, we can anticipate that early so that we can get these in service and we're not having that uh that concern or that lag with those. But thank you again for your presentation.

Absolutely. Thank you, sir. Any other questions, comments? If not, then I'll open it up to public comment. We have any online? We have none. Mayor Pro Tim. Okay. Seeing none, hearing none. We'll bring this item back here to council to approve. Second it. Okay. We have a motion from uh council member uh Monte, second from council member Evans. All those in favor signify by saying I.

I. All those opposed. Okay. Motion carries. Moving on to item D2. Madam clerk. Amendment number one to agreement with Stantech Consulting Services, Inc. for the wastewater treatment facility improvement project for additional engineering services during construction and design of a new influent pump station IPS wet well.

Good evening, Mayor Proton, members of the council, Ronaldo Rodriguez, city manager. I will be presenting this evening. The item before council this evening is amendment number one to a contract with Stantech Engineering for assistance for design services for the city's wet well. Um, as the council's aware, we we are currently in the middle of constructing a a new headworks project at the wastewater treatment plant. that item uh came before council on December 4th of 2004 and that was for the actual contract to construct it. Um if council may recall that as part of that project there was a 15% contingency and there was language um that were um during the council meeting we had discussed some potential challenges that we saw coming up. The challenge for staff is that we didn't really have u a clear line of sight of what that meant because the existing wet well could not be properly inspected um until we installed a temporary bypass. Um and so the challenge was that in June of this year uh there was a 24 um there was a 24-hour bypass installed as part of the headworks project. At that time, that's when it was determined that the existing wet well is in um it's in poor condition. And that's um and the item for this evening is to engage Stantech for additional engineering services to design a new wet well. Um the construction of the wet well would come after the fact, but that's that's some context and some background. Um the one item or the one reason this being um this item is being brought to council this evening is to again um to engage Stantech to continue on the engineering services and to ensure that this project

um that it remains on schedule. For some context here, this is an aerial photo of the wastewater treatment plant in the upper right hand corner in in yellow. That's that's where their current um headworks project is being constructed. But again, that's an $ 8.7 million project. That project, I'm I can't tell you it's halfway done, but if you go out there, there's a large structure that's being built as we speak. Um, I had to guess probably 17 to 18 ft below grade and then exceeds above grade as well. The red arrow that is that's where the existing uh wet well is currently located. Uh, preliminary uh we have discussed keeping the wet well in its existing position. Um, however, we do have two options this evening. Staff is going to recommend that the council approved a full reconstruction, not a rehabilitation of the existing wet well. And we'll talk a little bit about that. Um, so again, so uh the Stantech report um in June revealed that that it's damaged, that there's some missing concrete, there's there's extensive corrosion in the rebar there, or there's missing rebar alto together. And the challenge with rehabbing it is the rehab. Again, ballpark figure. This is not a precise figure because the project hasn't been designed. Um the team guesstimated that it would be about a million dollars to rehab it. For full reconstruction, it would be more than likely approximately 1.5 million. I'm going to ask that council not hold me to that number because we're not going to know until we actually design it and we we actually go out to perform formal construction. The one of the challenges that we have with rehabbing it is that we're not confident that the existing foundation can meet seismic standards. Uh it it would not meet seismic standards. And so one of the challenges that that the city has is if we do rehab it, there's no asurances that this is

going to last us for 10 or 15 years or 50 years. Um conceptually, if we go and if we construct a new wet well, the existing wet well has been there for roughly 50 years. We're anticipating that we should be good for at least 40 years. um with the construction of a new one. These are a couple of photos of the existing wet well. You can see that there is a lot of corrosion on the concrete. On the photo on the right, you can see some of the rebar there where the concrete has been um has been eroded away and you're starting to see the rebar in the foundation of the wet well. Um here are a couple of other photos on the interior of the wet well. And again, one of the reasons that staff was unable to to tell its condition is that there was no um there was no way for the city to inspect it without installing the bypass. And so you do have to drain the uh you have to install heavy equipment to bypass it. Again, we're averaging roughly 5 million gallons of raw sewage a day. So you have to keep it going. You simply can't stop the sewage from coming into the plant. And that's made it challenging to know some of the conditions. A lot of this is below grade as well. So this is not like a tank you walk into. It's all below grade. you're actually stepping on top of it. And so you can tell from the photos um um it's it doesn't look like it's in good shape. It almost looks like you're in a cave pe because of the bumps on it. And again, there is exposed rebar. So Stantech has proposed two potential options in meeting um with our team. Again, one of them is repairing kind. It's less costly than alternative number one, but again, it does not address the potential foundation issues. Um, alternative number two, um, it's, um, it does cost more. It would be designed, uh, to accommodate the ultimate capacity of the plant as it's designed of 10.1 million gallons a day. Right now, the plant receives approximately 5 million gallons a day, slightly less on some days. We have a permit from the state to process 7.2 million gallons a day. We're

in the process of moving to having our permits for 10.1 million gallons a day. this would this would be a step in that direction. Um so in terms of long-term planning, this this helps us get there. Um so again, it does include a lot of sensors and some safety features and it does provide between 40 and 50 year design, but again it does cost more. Um with that being said, city staff does um does support full replacement due to long-term reliability. Um and and while the costs are more, they're not significantly more. Uh the other item um is that Stantech has done significantly more work than that was called for in their original contract. So this contract amendment tonight um is for $160,000 for the design for Stantech. And again, they they've done a lot more work than they had anticipated. Um and they've been an excellent partner through this process. and we've we've attended a lot of meetings to get to this point and they've had to design a lot of um plans and u it it's taken months to get to this point. So again, so the total cost is $160,000. There are sufficient uh funds within the sewer fund and council may recall that when council initially approved this project for construction, there was a contingency of 15%. A lot of projects are 10%. Uh we we always try to keep them at 10. There there are a few occasions where we'll go to 15% or 20% because of the complexity of the project. On this one, it was 15% which was $1.31 million. The $160,000 would come out of that 1.3 um million. With that being said, preliminary estimates are going to put it at for construction are going to be about 1.5. So, there is going to if that number holds true, uh staff will have to come back to council for a budget amendment of a couple hundred,000. But again, it's it it's probably premature for me to talk council with absolute confidence. That's going to be the exact cost because we

just don't know yet. Just like a home construction project, you open up walls and you find stuff you didn't know were there. We're having the same situation now. So, with that being said, staff does recommend that council uh adopt a resolution for an amendment with Stantech for engineering services of $160,000. And that concludes staff's presentation. Thank you. Thank you, city manager Rodriguez. Do we have any questions or comments from the council?

Okay, I do. Uh, city manager, um, you mentioned there that right now we're operating at 7.5 million gallons per day. We're asking to uh to to increase that to 10 million. Now, this is a 50-year um warranty or or a lookout for 50 years. Now being that we're moving to the direction of 10 million gallons uh per day, would you say that we'll be okay as far as u uh the growth of Madera and what the projected growth is to be able to take in 10 million the capacity is sufficient?

So right now the city's operating um we we are taking in approximately 5 million gallons a day right now. Um when it rains that number goes up because there's water intrusion. Um but um in the summer sometimes it drops a little bit um about four and a half million gallons a day. Our permit by the state is 7.2 million gallons. So we still have I can do the math probably 30% 35% I'll say excess capacity as we speak. What we're the the plant itself is going to be designed to accommodate 10.1 million to more about double of what we have in the city right now. So roughly if we have 67,000 people in theory we can probably accommodate 135,000 people with at 10.1 million. The challenge though is is um under state guidelines you cannot reach your capacity once you reach a certain threshold. You have to by law start designing to expand it. So once we're done with this project and once we get to the 10.1 million uh permit phase, I'm I'm going to speculate in a number of years, we'll be back before council saying we have to start the process for an expansion. And that expansion, it's going to be at the direction of council and some state guidelines. If we're at 10.1 um and if we start looking at future buildup, for example, if village D starts to build up, that's 35,000 people. Um then then that's going to add to it. If you start taking a look at the southeast growth area, that's going to add to it. And so at at 10.1 million gallons, the city is going to be fine for several decades, um, a lot of that's going to be predicated on on really market conditions. Um, and if we experience a tremendous amount of growth, which would be great, and we would welcome it. Um, I think the plan's going to be in good shape. There are some improvements that we're in the process of making as we speak. for example, the the Headworks project. That's going to help us get to the 10.1 million, but legally right now we're at

7.2 is our permit, but but we're not bumping anywhere near the 7.2.

Yeah. And to your point, I think we're only collecting 5 million. So, you know, why I bring this up, right, is um past councils, you know, and I'm not, this isn't to um you know, throw anything at them, but you know, obviously the increase in growth that Madura had over the last two, three decades was not really accounted for in their projections and we see a lot of the issues that we face with infrastructure. So, when it comes to these 50 years just it's just down they can't say it's down the street. my may I may not be here. I know that I'm not going to. Who knows? But just to make sure that we're we're we're looking at these uh possible spurts of growth and and with demographics maybe showing some decline in population at some point. Um I think we would be okay. Just wanted to confirm that uh we should be okay to double the size that we have today. Correct.

All right. I don't know if there's any other questions. Yes. Just just to follow up on that. If say we do have have a period that market's great, we have a period of expansion um population growth, would uh essentially redoing our current wastewater treatment plant be feasible or would we be able to add maybe another facility at another site and kind of you know put it into a closed system or could those systems you know function independently right so say you have village Z they can have their own waste water treatment plant is that is that something they would do or we always have to essentially tear this one down and build it back up.

No, the the city always has the option of adding a a package plant. Uh the city staff has talked about potential options of a package plant to accommodate certain growth in certain areas because of the lack of existing sewer lines and the and it simply it's it's engineering. It's feasible. The problem is it's cost prohibitive. And so the city can always add a package plant in another part of the community. For example, in northeast Madera and Southeast Madera to accommodate additional growth. The city always has that option. Um it would be the permitting process with regional water control board that we would have to go through and the existing plan can always be expanded as well. At some point if that's the case, um the city would more than likely have to acquire additional land. But one of the things that we are seeing as well um with additional growth it's not necessarily a gallon per gallon because if you look at the past 15 years due to water rates um there's less water usage and with advances in technology a lot of our our raw sewage is decreasing per capita because if you take a look at washing machines they become more efficient. Uh lowflow showerheads, lowflow sinks, toilets today are 1.28 gallons per flush. Historically there were three gallons of flush. So every time you flush your we we we as society are we're at least in California we're using half of the water of what our our our our parents probably used. And so so the amount of of um of volume is decreasing while the total gallons are decreasing the waste content is increasing because the same volume of solids and that's presenting other challenges. Um, and so maybe the plant can accommodate it, but we're probably going to have to add additional elements to it to try to separate the solids from the from the um from the water. I'll say

I'm sorry that conversation went we promote a low fiber diet or something like that. No, I'm kidding. I'm just kidding. I'm sorry. No, but that that was a good question. Yeah, you got me there. You uh sparked that like okay, you know, kind of planning for future plan. So, thank you. Just made me start thinking. Thank you, S. So, now that we're talking about fiber, I think we need to start promoting more fiber. Thank you. So, there's another question from Oh, okay. Commissioner U Sachariah, please.

Yeah. And just to understand Arnold, so with with some of the numbers like that come with this for instance, you know, we went five, seven, and then 10. Is what is what is the total capacity of that particular item? Could could it be built out to a 15 or 20 or what point does that land? Do we say 10 is the max and we have to now go to a new site or like what is the full capacity of that?

Um you can always expand capacity at plants. It's just a matter of adding additional systems. Um right now um as far as city staff goes the we we are designing the entire plant to be at 10.1 million gallons. Um we can always for example the wet well right now we are designing the wet well to be to accommodate 10.1 million gallons in theory we could go up to 20 million gallons. The challenge for that though is is um who's going to pay for it and is it the rateayer or is development impact fees and then you start affecting the the customer's rates and the development impact fee program. While council always has that prerogative, what we're trying to do is we're trying to be fiscally conservative to make sure that that we're not building systems that are so over capacity that we're not going to need them for several decades. So, what we're trying to do is rightsize it, but at the same time still accommodate growth for at least the next probably 30 to 40 years. But we don't necessarily want to say that we want to build a system that's at 20 million gallons knowing that we're probably not going to reach that more than likely in our lifetime or maybe even our kids' lifetime. and and there's always a balance there and it's a real struggle with trying to get it right. Um, and I'm not going to say there's there's there's science behind it, but some of it's also probably more common sense approach and it's more financial perspective to say, well, should we really do that knowing that our rates are going to increase for 20 years down the road where where the system's probably not even going to be needed

and and and to the wet well itself is not going to be the issue. the density essentially where you may have to expand other parts of the the

correct right you're absolutely correct the wet well itself may not be the issue it's probably more than likely going to be the flare unit that's the next thing we're working on um and that's to burn off some of the methane and then also we're looking at a couple of other units to to to further separate um the solids from the water and those are some of the other things that we're doing that's going to actually allow us to reach that 10.1 million gallons but also for efficiencies of the plant so when we're hauling away sledge it's drier and it's costing the existing rateayer less money. That's those are some of the efficiencies that we're looking at. So, there's different ways of doing it. And at some point, I I suspect the state of California, and there's no law on the books now, but um putting on my tinfoil hat, is the state will probably come out and say that cities are going to have to start going to tertiary treatment at some point. We do not have a tertiary plan at the city. At some point, I suspect the state's going to come out and say that. And that's that's going to have some some major financial implications for the city. Tens of millions of dollars to bring up our system. And at that point, that's probably when we come back to council and say we have to kind of hit the reset button. The state has not done that, but you're starting to see more communities go to tertiary treatment because there's so many environmental benefits to it, but but it's also expensive to do.

Thank you. Thank you again, uh, city manager. At this time, I'll see if there's any member of the public wishing to make a comment. Chief, anybody? Come on, somebody. Come on. My my debut here. Nobody's talking. [laughter] Alrighty. So, bring that back. Oh, any comments online? We have none, Mayor Pro. Okay, I'll bring this back to council to approve. Second. We have a motion from council member Monte, second from council member Evans. All those in favor signify by saying I. I I I All those opposed? Okay, motion carries.

Pounder gavl. [laughter] All right. Right. Moving on to item D3. Madam clerk, airport advisory commission, AAC rules of procedure.

Uh thank you, Mayor Proin. Arnold Rodriguez. For the record, this item is being brought back to council uh since our last meeting with updated rules of procedures for the airport advisory committee. Um so this item um was at the direction of council. Um I attempted to capture council's feedback from the last item. Um I cannot state with absolute 100% confidence I got it right. Um but if I didn't um I'm sure council will let me know. So so some context here. Um at the last meeting council directed staff to prepare an updated rules of procedure with with a couple of goals. One of them is to uh ensure that we are getting quorums at the AAC and also to expand eligibility for members. Um and there was several um items of discussion at the last meeting is should it be a do they have to be city residents? what's their um what's their aviation or aeronautical experience or can they be county residents? I believe we we captured that in in the draft um in the draft um um item. So again, the AEC is a seven member advisory board. um me members are currently appointed pursuant to the municipal code which allows every council member to make an appointment which is then made uh that recommendation goes to the mayor and then the that and then the mayor makes a recommendation to this council. I do want to I highlight that the airport landings commission is different than the airport advisory commission. The airport land use commission is a county board. Um it's overseen by state guidelines. Um and the airport land use commission uh does review land use entitlements for example zoning and land use densities. The AAC is airport operations. The airport land use commission is land use exactly as it's

in the title. Two two two distinct boards. The city does not oversee the airport land use commission. So again, so a couple of challenges uh which we discussed about and so a couple of the proposed revisions. So right now um um advisory committee members are city residents. This would potentially modify it and under five conditions. Um so one, it can either be a city resident and the city resident um does not necessarily have to have aeronautical experience. that's at the discretion of the city council member that's making the appointment. Um there are no changes to that language whatsoever. That that's exactly how it's been. For non- city residents, the language uh currently states, and this is not verbatim, um but rather this is um the 30,000 foot level overview may be appointed by a council member if they are an airport lease in good standing. That airport lease would not necessarily have to be a city or a county resident. We do have airport leases that are potentially city of Merrced or Merced County or Fresno. So again, if they have an active lease at the airport and in good standing, of course, they could in theory be appointed by this council. The other item is they they would they could be a full-time employee at the airport of a LIS in good standing. There's there are about a dozen or so private hangers out there. Some of them are airport mechanics and they're they're out there if they're full-time by our standards 40 hours a week. Again, that employee does not necessarily have to be a city or county resident of Madera, but they're spending a lot of time at the airport. Um, line item three, they are a licensed or retired pilot residing in Madera County. So, I if they're a pilot, they they they do not have a lease at the

airport, but maybe they have a lot of um a lot of aeronautic experience, more than likely, they would probably be an excellent candidate for the airport advisory committee. They're an active or retired FAA employee residing in Madera County. Again, not necessarily have an airplane at the airport or have a lease with the city, but but they're there um often or or they have experience, I should say. And then the last one would be an active or US armed forces. And that should actually say uh I apologize. It should say active or retired US armed forces with aviation experience residing in Madera County. Um that's an all-inclusive because there are people that um that that either have experience with aviation, uh they're not necessarily pilots, but but they probably have a lot of experience. And again, that one is a little more open-ended, and that would be at the discretion of the city council. A few other items. The the existing rules state that um they're very specific on when quorums happen or when meeting times happen. I think it's the second Tuesday at 10:00 a.m. at the airport. staff is recommending to council that uh that language be deleted and that that angage um that language simply state that the AAC shall determine when they meet and not necessarily where they meet but the time and and uh place would be the airport because it's obvious but in terms of times and um uh and dates um and then also members would automatically resign after three consecutive absences there is uh I there is no language um where staff does not recommend commend that language be included that the chair of the AC has discretion or authority to remove members. If members are appointed by council, the obvious is that council members can remove them. Uh but it should not be up to the AAC themselves. Um there's also language provided that the chair may not serve more than two consecutive years. And again uh the proposed language clarifies that the AC does not make land use

recommendations. Again, that's the airport land use commission, not the A. Um there are no financial impacts because uh AAC members volunteer and they are not compensated. And so with that, staff does recommend that council adopt the resolution approving the revised AAC rules of procedure, but obviously it's up to the council's prerogative if you would like to make any changes. Thank you. Thank you for your presentation, city manager Rodriguez. At this time, I believe we have a question from council member Montes.

Yeah, and I apologize. because I know that you guys had this conversation um last meeting, right? So, I wasn't here for that. Um but I did I did try to uh get up to speed on it, but just to clarify, so there's no changes to existing city residents. So, they would not be required to have those that that just be for county residents, but they have to have some sort of tie to their local airport.

Exactly. Exactly. Or in the alternative, they can be a non- city or Madera County resident if they're if they're a leasey at the airport or if they're an employee of the airport. So, correct. But in terms of existing members, there are zero changes or modifications to existing members. And I'm not I'm not necessarily advocating for this, but if a city resident knew nothing about airports or airplanes, they could still theoretically Absolutely. That's my question. Thank you. Right. We do have another question from Commissioner Sachariah.

And just for clarification on the the three consecutive meetings considering that they haven't had quorum in a long time and knowing that I believe there was only usually two members attending. Is this going to be retro to say all those people who were not attending and so they couldn't make quorum, are they going to be disqualified immediately or is it going to be upon approval? I did not um go through the mental gymnastics of that. Uh, but I suspect it would be starting now unless council would want to retro it. I'm not too sure. I'm not trying to maybe look towards that, but I mean it it may be something to consider being that they haven't met quorum. So those people I don't know if we have record of who has and hasn't been in attendance, then can we do that?

Kind of obvious to some of the members to know that those people weren't interested in serving. Maybe um again I don't I don't want to disqualify since we've already had a hard time making a quorum. Um, but I just want a clarification to know that is it going forward. Is it going to be retro?

Yeah. A as written right now, it would be moving forward, but council always has the prerogative to change it this evening if you would like. And I should add that council always has um every council member can always appoint someone new on the commission if they feel that that commissioner is not representing um the that specific council member. So you always have um you don't have to wait until the end of your term. Council can always make a change. And sorry just to finalize. So on the third consecutive, is that going to be the recommendation from staff to the council member to remove that person or is it immediate removal?

It would be automatic how it's written. Thank you. Um I just did want to clarify something before I get to uh Councilwoman Evans. You mentioned the council has the right to appoint. I believe that that appointment falls under the mayor, right? I think we have correct a nomination to the mayor. Mayor then would come and appoint this body would then approve the appointment made by the mayor. Um, councilwoman Evans. Gotcha. You don't want to hit your gavvel or anything? Not right now. I'm waiting for the end.

Okay. Okay. No, I just wanted to say um now I think that we have kind of had a turnover and the fact that there are new members that will be joining. So I think we will be able to make our quorum and also the fact of the retroactive because you do have new members coming on. We wouldn't necessarily need to have a retroactive. we would start now and then progress on and go forward and then start the the consecutive three if if in the event that you know there is absence ab absentees or whatever. So that's just my remark.

Thank you Councilwoman Evans. I think the the point that uh if I heard you correctly council um Councilman Sachariah was that they still haven't been showing up to quorum. So, um, the retro would say, well, if there's no interest in you attending, then really, I mean, it serves no purpose for you to start over because it'll be three other meetings that you may not attend. So, maybe making sure that we inform whomever's on that uh advisory if they do desire to continue. Um, you know, this is uh something moving forward. But um I I I do want to recognize that because I think it's important as well now that we do have this um we'll be able to make quorum again and thank you for the additions that we added to the existing um bylaws.

Yeah. Yeah. Right. Rules of procedure.

Rules of procedure. Thank you. Um that'll certainly open up that pool of folks that can certainly contribute to that airport advisory. And that's all I have. Yes. Uh so uh I forgot I got assaulted here. [laughter] Um chief chief chief know in uh and I I know councilwoman I mean he had made made point about notifications and stuff being that we're including now a lot more of the airport individuals. Is there going to be more postings or letters that would go out to those places considering that again there's probably a decent amount of people that are involved working or um lease lences or leases that maybe we again have that pull. Um yeah, absolutely. We'll send a letter out to every lease and we'll uh hang something or post something inside the u the air terminal there that's available to anyone. Um, so we'll be sure that we'll send the letter out to every lease, which hangers are probably I'm going to speculate 80 something leases in total out there. Um, and so we'll be sure that we get each one of them a letter.

Thank you. All right. Do we have any other comments? If none uh I'll move this out to uh the public. Do we have any members of the public wishing to make any comments? We have none. Mayor Prom. All right, Chief. Okay. Guess not. All right. This was a um a require required action. Yeah. All right. Yes. Move to approve. Second it. All right. Hello. Hold on. [laughter] Recognized.

Hold on. Order. There'll be order. You okay there? No. No. Maybe you punched me in the proc get the scab again. It's on video though. Don't I don't It is on video and they saw him hit me. City attorney, are we good to proceed?

Just trying to address some questions. We probably have one clarification for you just to make things crystal clear. I would love to take credit, but the council just saw this play out in action. So, so legal council is recommending language be added to item one, B as in boy. And so that's that's on the first page. Currently, it says appointment and B as in boy um currently reads the city council may appoint non- city residents pursuant to section X of the MadM subject to the following qualifications. Uh um it is now recommended that council add the following language. In addition to the city residents or I'm sorry, in addition to city residents, the council may also appoint. So there's a couple of little words there, some word smithing.

Um I thought I had an A on this report, but obviously minus report. No, on the uh rules. Did I miss it? Okay. It's a Patrick. You said B1, right? Uh a um it would be one B as in boy. Got it. With the added language, in addition to city residents, the city council may also appoint. Okay. I move to approve with that correction to uh 1B. What was it? 1 BA. Uh one B 1B. What what city manager said. Second.

Okay. We do have a motion from um council member Montes, second from council member Evans. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. I. All those opposed. Okay. Motion carries. Moving on to item F.

Item F is council member reports, announcements, and future agenda items. This portion of the meeting is reserved for the mayor and council members to make brief reports on boards, committees, and other public agencies and at public events, to request updates, to initiate future agenda items, and to take action on matters initiated under this section of the agenda. Under this section, the council may take action only on items specifically agendaized and which meet other requirements for action. All right. So, at this time, I'll ask if there's any members. I'll start off with member Evans. Council member Evans.

Thank you so very much. First and foremost, I want to thank everyone for my beautiful Yeti. Do the Vanna White right here. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. It's beautiful. Thank you for that. Second off, um I wanted to say that I attended the um Veterans Day which was at the courthouse. Very, very nice. um our mayor wasn't there so uh she had to sit in for her or to stand in for her. Um Maddie from the CAPMC and she presented her her speech with that one. Also I attended the Veterans Day celebration out of Toro VJO. They had the pancake breakfast which was excellent and the fire department was there, sheriff department and it was a it was a beautiful morning. It was it was a little bit breezy but it was it was nice. Um thirdly I went to the state of the county and there we had our illustrious city manager who gave the um talk that day and he did quite well. There was a lot of information and he just kind of that just kind of hit him early in the morning I think it was or late that night that he was going to have to do the presentation but he did a did a very good job. I also attended the um live well. It was at the um Madiraa superintendent schools and at that point in time they spoke in reference to health. Um the group from Panam performed the exercise there. They actually got up and had everyone to stand and try to exercise which was difficult but anyway breakfast was great. Um speaker was was awesome. Um, Chad, I forget his last name, but there was like a little debate session and that was there. Um, also I want to

advise and remind those on council that on November the 25th that the at the um Muslim temple over on Avenue 26, they're going to be having a food giveaway. So, for anyone that um knows of anyone that may very well need anything, and at this point in time right now, there are a lot of people that need help, that need assistance. So, it starts at 9:00 in the morning and it continues until everything is gone. So, they were asking for volunteers if anyone from council or anyone would like to come out and help. But anyway, um, from me to everyone's family. Yeah, I said the 25th. Mallet, please. Mallet. But anyway, happy Thanksgiving everyone and and don't eat too much. So, God bless and I pass the baton.

Thank you, uh, Councilwoman Evans. Council member Zachariah.

Uh, I don't have much to report. I I do see as I know I was looking around. Uh I know we've attended a couple meetings with the updates to these cameras. I don't know if it's something that can be looked at. Poor Councilwoman Evans wasn't even on camera during her little talk there. So, um I don't know if it's something we can look at. I mean, I know there's been a few times now where speakers are are not even on camera. It's kind of looks like it's looking at the sky. But regardless, uh nothing really to report. I was able to attend the uh the meeting as well with for the uh economic development committee uh or council for the city. I think Arnaldo, you did a great job. I know it's tough to to fill in and make some of those presentations uh shine, but you did good. Um and I think it always it helps uh make the city look great when we can attend those things. So, other than that, uh nothing else to report. Thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Sachariah. Council member Montes. Uh yeah, I uh had the privilege of attending the uh Madera County Food Bank um food drive. Um they increased I want to say um but uh their vouchers by a couple hundred um and the need was great. There was a lot of people out there. It was drizzling. It was wet. It was wasn't that cold, but um and everybody was just out there, you know, having having a blast and trying to give back to the community. So, um that was a very great um event and I really thank the food bank for putting that on and everybody who donated either items or their time. Um also want to express my condolences to the Pres family. Um, former mayor and council member uh Perez uh was always an advocate like even even recently reaching out and asking if you know somebody that needed help that had reached out to him if we could do something. He he reached out to me from time to time just letting me know about things or even just inviting me to to events and letting me know about things. So, um the community uh has really really lost a great advocate um for everyone. Uh and he he hasn't I mean he hasn't been here elected for a long for a while and he still was just out there in the community all the time. So, condolences to the family and a great loss for the community. Those are my comments.

Thank you, Council Member Montes. Uh Council Member Mahia.

Thank you, Mayor Prom Rodriguez. I would like to reiterate my condolences. Even though I did not have the pleasure to meet our former mayor, I know how uh challenging it could be to do public services. So, I thank him, his family, um and again, my condolences to the Pettis family. Yesterday, I had the opportunity to attend the final California Connects regional convening that was held in Fresno. I was happy to see a lo a lot of familiar faces, local nonprofits that were there. This was hosted by the office of community partnerships and strategic communications and it was a great exchange of resources and creative partnerships. I was very happy to be there on behalf of our city of Mada. Um, thank you to the Madera Police Department. Uh, I know that our Lieutenant Gonzalez is spearheading the Mad Grinch and I am very happy to see the enthusiastic participation. And so you're going to be hearing more about that uh in the coming week as um we're getting ready for the upcoming Christmas festivities. And lastly, I would like to say happy birthday to Mr. Avery Mahia Mas who is turning 5 years old today. Um my little nephew has been an enthusiastic participant in our oldtimer's day parade float and and parades in the past and I know he's looking forward to the Christmas parade as well. So happy birthday Avery. And with that, I conclude my report. Thank you.

Thank you, Councilwoman Mahia. Council member Viegas.

Uh, thank you, Mayor Pter. Uh, last Friday the 14, me and Ronaldo and Anita went to Stockton to uh the ribbon cutting for the new name to the Amtrak California. Now it's a gold gold runner new color and it's owner by Cultrance I believe or whatever is anyway so it's a chain name and last Saturday I was in the Nishimoto elementary school is maloria I was giving the turkeys and and all that stuff go with I was there help them out for at least couple hours. So, and that was a great event to for the community. And that's all my report.

Thank you, uh, Council Member Viegas. I have a couple of things that I want to report out. Um, this earlier this month, I completed my fifth and final session for the Well, Untapped Fellowship. Well, represents uh water education for Latino leaders. Again, that's not specifically for Latino leaders, but it's for any leaders that survey population of Latinos. This is a great program that taught me a lot about water uh policy, hydrarology, and more importantly, um advocating for for water policies within our community, especially in the central valley. So, this was held at Pico Rivera where I had my my um graduation. I'm now an official well and I joined my esteemed colleague here also as a well uh councilwoman Mahia. Um I look forward to hopefully my colleagues to also uh uh take on that um uh cohort be or that fellowship because it does give us a lot of insight of water. It's not so much about Madera water but it's water in California in general and and it it's everything water which was great. So, um I also had an opportunity to attend the self-help counties um conference that was held in San Francisco. This was in part of the MCTC. Again, this this is a a a conference that's geared towards the self-help counties that have self have uh uh tax measures uh kind of like our county. There's 25 counties in the state and they all get together to see what's going on especially with transportation housing needs. It looks like uh um the the topics of of conversation are a lot of laws around housing elements right so how we build our our our housing elements um you know with infrastructure transportation obviously when you have multimmodal transportation uh means then there's some exemptions that SQL may do again something that we may want to look into um again that was through the south counties I also participated in the food

bank uh drive again thanks to uh council member for Montes for inviting me and reminding me uh that this is such a great event to do because not only uh do you volunteer. Um it's very purposeful. My kids again have been doing it for many years. We skipped a couple years, but it was great to reconnect. I hope uh to do it again here in December. I think we have another one. And if you can share that date with us, too, Council Member Montes, I'd appreciate that. Um last but not least, I had an opportunity to attend the uh golf uh course advisory alongside uh Director A. there. Again, I think the the advisory is moving forward and and providing maybe a consultant to go out and give us a scope of what's really needed out there in the in the golf course as far as the irrigation system that at some point will be brought back to council so that they then can decide what what they what kind of appetite they have to wanting to make any repairs if any to the to the um um to that course. But again, that advisory will bring that in the later future. And again, my condolences to the Perez family. I know that Mr. Perez was an avid golfer. I had an opportunity to serve with him um not in the in in the Moors board for a short stent before I knew that I was it was a conflict of interest for us. So, we had to move out, but he was such an advocate not only for public housing, but even for the community. So, again, my condolences go out to him and the family. I'd like to drag this out just a bit more, but I think we're going to call it uh call it a a wrap. We have nothing for uh close session, but we do have future meeting dates. Uh, our next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, December 3rd, 2025. And again, Wednesday, December 17, 2025. With that, that's all I have. I now adjourn this meeting.