City Council - Regular Meeting

1, and welcome to the right. Got it. Good evening. Everyone welcome to the regular meeting of the city council Wednesday, July 15, 2026 at 6 PM city clerk Gonzalez.

The city council meetings are open to the public. The meeting may also be viewed and access remotely at www dot zoom dot us. forward slash WC eight two five four four six eight six three one forward slash join members of the public may provide comments on agenda items in person through zoom or by phone at six six nine nine hundred sixty eight thirty three using meeting ID eight eight two five four four six eight six three one followed by the pound key or by email at city council public comment at madera.gov to comment by phone press star nine to raise your hand and star six to unmute when called upon Written comments may also be submitted by mail to 205 West 4th street, California 93637. a recording of the meeting will be posted on the city's YouTube channel as soon as practical practicable following the conclusion of the meeting. We'd also like to remind the audience that wordly is available for translation services.

Thank you for that roll call please.

Mayor guy goes here. Mayor Pro Tem Zachariah Council Member Rodriguez Council Member Montez Council Member Evans Council Member Mejia here Council Member Vegas here.

All right we'll have an invocation and thank you Pastor Josh for spending a few minutes of your evening with us and please remain standing for the pledge of allegiance by Mayor Pro Tim Zachariah.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. Let's pray together. Heavenly Father, we honor you and we thank you, God, for your many blessings over our city. We ask God that you continue to bless us and lead us. We invite you, Holy Spirit, into this time for your wisdom and your direction. And we ask God you continue to have your hand upon our city. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

Ready? Salute. I bless you.

Moving on to approval of the agenda. I'll bring it to my colleagues for any questions or concerns. I see not any public comment. Anyone online or on zoom city clerk Gonzales?

We have none, Mayor.

Thank you. I'll close public comment at this time and bring it back to my colleagues for an approval and a motion to approve.

Second.

I have a motion in 2nd, all those in favor say, aye aye those opposed motion passes unanimously no presentations tonight and we move on to the next item public comment.

The 1st, 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 speaker shall be limited to 3 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 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 for that. At this time, I open it for public comment. Anyone in the chamber? I see none. Online or on Zoom?

We have none, Mayor.

Thank you. I'll close public comment at this time and move on to the next item.

We have no public hearings under consent calendar. Matter listed under the consent calendar are considered routine and will be enacted by one motion and one vote. There will be no separate discussions 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 separately.

Thank you for that. Some great things here on our consent calendar. I bring it back to my colleagues for any comments or concerns. I see none open it up for public comment in the chamber online or on zoom. We have none mayor. All right. I will close public comment at this time and bring it back to my colleagues for a motion on a 2nd, move to approve the consent calendar. I have a motion in 2nd, all those in favor say, aye aye those opposed motion passes unanimously. Thank you for that next item.

We have no workshops under petitions, bids, resolutions, ordinances and agreements item D, 1 phase 3 of the Avenue 13 interceptor sewer rehabilitation project.

Ooh, and that'll be presented by our very own deputy engineer better. Thank you for being here this evening.

Good evening. Mayor members of the council, uh, Ellen better deputy city engineer. So this item tonight is, um, related to our favorite project, the Avenue 13 Avenue, uh, Avenue 3 interceptor sewer project. Um, this is phase 3 of the improvements. And just for some background, um, the overall project has been the rehabilitation of the sewer interceptor all the way from the wastewater treatment plant upstream to, uh, the intersection of snore and industrial. That pipeline was installed at the same time as our treatment plant in the early 1970s. And so the reason why it needs some consideration for rehab. The project itself was amended into the CIP in August of 2020 after our condition assessment where the CCTV revealed that it was severely deteriorated. So we amended it even after the budget to get it into the CIP. And ultimately, we issued an RFP. And selected and associates for the engineering services for 3 of the phases design work for 3 of the phases and, um, construction support for phases 1 and 2 of the project. And that agreement was approved in November of 2021. So, this map shows in blue phases 1 and 2. And phase three is this item that is in green, and red is the future phase four that was identified as being a next priority during some of our repair work that we did in our emergency failures. But that is not related to this item tonight. So in January of 2023, and also in June of 2024, we had some significant sewer collapses and emergency repairs and emergency bypass and um that occurred within phase one and two of that project um the the phase one and two bid package had been let to bid before the june collapse so the consultant had prepared the documents completed the design drawings and we received bids on may of 1994 but During those collapses, MKN kind of jumped in and really helped us evaluate the situation, make recommendations and oversaw a lot of the repair of those collapses. So that did eat into their design budget from the original contract. And then also in the last couple of years, we have secured funding for complete construction of phase three. And I don't have a slide for it, but I'll just quickly recap We received $3.5 million from Congressman Costa, $1 million from Congressman Duarte, and then the balance $5.5 million is coming from the sewer enterprise funds for that. So, um, provided a proposal, uh, to complete the bidding documents for phase 3, and then also assist with the bidding and move into the construction management for phase 3. and, um, it's, it's more than typical for a project because they're, um, very much hands on in the review of the design of the liner itself, the material, the thickness. Um, they look at the bypass pumping plans. They provide oversight. They're in the case. in the truck, watching the camera installation of the liner, and they're monitoring the quality assurance throughout. We also have proposed in the amendment extra services, a contingency for 10%. In case there's anything that missed, it gives us a little room to keep them moving in their work. So tonight we recommend adopting the resolution approving that amendment to their agreement for 123,588 for additional services for phase three of the Avenue 13 project. Thank you for that.

I'll bring it back to my colleagues for any questions or comments.

I just have a comment.

Deputy Engineer Bitter, I just want to thank my colleagues first for routing ARPA funds for this project and thank you for the in-depth giving us the slides of the amount and all the donations from our elected officials up at Congress and Senate. So I did appreciate all that information because we forget it's been a while when we start getting those checks that come through from our elected. So we appreciate that so much. With that, I will open it up for public comment in the chamber. I see none online or on Zoom.

We have none, Mayor.

Thank you. I close public comment and bring it back to my colleagues for a motion and a second.

Move to approve item D, 1.

Okay, we have a motion and a 2nd, all those in favor say, aye aye. Those opposed motion passes unanimously. Thank you deputy engineer better. We always love, you know. That project, I look forward to phase 4 soon.

Next item item D, 2 Washington elementary school sidewalk construction city project are 93 C, Mac 5, 1, 5, 7, 1, 1, 9.

Thank you and that we were presented by senior engineer benton court. Good evening.

Thank you. My name is Steve Battencourt. I'm a senior civil with the engineering department.

Good evening, mayor and council members.

I'm here to present a contract award for the Washington School Sidewalk Construction Project, City Project R93, CMAX CML 5157. I just lower it because I need to do it. The background of the project is this project is funded by the Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality, CMAQ, and the local transportation funds. Plans and specifications were prepared by our consultant, with the bid package being prepared by city staff. The project includes constructing a new sidewalk on both sides of Delaval and Austin Avenues between Lincoln, which is Butts' School, and Cleveland Avenue. The work in general consists of clearing, grubbing, sidewalk, new construction, sidewalk, drive approaches, access ramps, and alterations to existing front yards. City staff, we held a public information meeting on June 23rd, 2026 at Washington Elementary School so that all property owners were made aware of the upcoming project. And we did have quite a few people show up.

Here's a map of the project.

The bid review on June 16 2026 11 bids were received good coverage, the bids were checked for accuracy against bidding requirements validity of licenses and bid security. The lowest bid was from jt to incorporated doing business as taught in Todd companies. But after the review of the bit it was discovered that the bid bond did not have the dollar amount specified or language 10% of the bid amount, even though it was signed notarized. and acknowledgement in writing by the surety company vice president. This omission renders the bond unenforceable. Therefore, Todd Company's bid was considered non-responsible at the time of bid and therefore rejected. And we did notify them in writing. The second lowest bid was from Villalobos and Associates Incorporated whose bid met all the bidder documentation requirements as been selected as the lowest responsive and responsible bidder. It is recommended City Council reject bid by JT2 Incorporated doing business with stock companies as being non-responsive. Next couple slides are just the bids. Again, we've been getting good bid coverage from a lot of bidders on our projects lately. The contract award recommendation, Villa Lobos and Associates Incorporated submitted the lowest bid for $510,094.38. They met all the bidder documentation requirements and was selected as the lowest responsive and responsible bidder. We recommend allowance of a 10% of the contract amount for contingencies resulting from unforeseen conditions. Dave Kuntz, Environmental assessment of preliminary environmental assessment was performed, which determined to project would be categorically exempt pursuant to sequel guidelines section 153 or four dash see. Dave Kuntz, Existing facilities as a roadway alterations do not create digital automobile lanes which resulted negligible expansion Kevin capable capacity. The recommendation for council this evening is to adopt a resolution approving the contract award for $510,094.38 plus contingencies to Villa-Lobos & Associates Incorporated and adopt a CEQA Class 1 existing facilities categorical exemption for the project. Thank you.

All right. Thank you for that report. I bring it back to my colleagues for any questions or comments. I see none.

One comment. Oh, Councilmember Montes. Thank you for this project. Really appreciate, you know, the project out there and helping the kids, you know, safe route to schools and everything. Right. So we do appreciate all the work that you guys are doing out there.

This will help putting sidewalks in because it goes directly to school.

Those neighbors are excited. They're going to be all the other streets are going to be jealous that they've got sidewalks because sidewalks are exciting. Cause other problems. We get the phone calls. I will open up for public comment at this time in the chamber. I see none online or on Zoom.

We have none, Mayor.

All right. I close public comment at this time and bring it back to my colleagues. Move to approve.

Second.

I have a motion and a second. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Those opposed? Motion passes unanimously. Thank you, senior engineer Ben and court for that report.

Next item item D3 water main replacement crossing river crossing Fresno river city project number W dash 0 9.

And I'll be presented by our assistant engineer Gomez. All right. Great to see you this evening.

Good to see you guys. Good evening. Mayor, uh, council members today, I will be presenting the contract award for the water main replacement. crossing the Fresno River, or other words known as City Project W09. All right. Before we get into the award details, I kind of want to go a bit into the project and why I kind of got brought up a bit more background into it. The project aims to replace a portion of existing water main crossing the Fresno River that has been exposed due to riverbed erosion. And also there has not been any upgrades made to this water main since it was originally installed back in 1963. This project has been held up for quite some time due to obtaining several permitting agencies. I'll touch more on those permitting agencies in a later slide. Uh, but I just want to stress and give thanks to our city staff for, um, you know, their countless effort into pushing this project took a lot of work, but I'm happy to be here. Happy to be finally moving this project along. This project is funded entirely by the city's water utility fund. And the plans and specifications were prepared by city consultants and the bid contract documents were prepared by city staff. So just want to give a couple of pictures here. Not the best looking pictures, but want to state this was maybe approximately six years ago. There we can see the exposed pipe there. This is within the center of the Fresno River bed. As you can see, this was during the time of a water release and we can see, you know, significant exposure of that water main transmission. This is another picture, again, not the best looking photo, but I just want to stress the significant gap there between the bottom elevation of the pipe and the dirt elevation of the grade that was made due to all that erosion. This is just the given section, the worst condition here that we see that requires the replacement of this water transmission line. The project includes removing and replacing approximately 227 linear feet of this water transmission across the Fresno River between the well site 18 on Gateway Drive and Riverside Drive. So the work in general consists of removal and replacement of this water line with some backfill and project site restoration, sheeting and shoring, and temporary water diversion. So This project location map just kind of shows an aerial image. You can see from the northeast side of Gateway and the northeast side of that railroad, just kind of the location of this replacement of the water main. You can see it's in between just north of that railroad heading up to Riverside Drive. Give you an idea of where it's located. And I did want to touch up on those permitting requirements. As we mentioned, it took a while to get, but we're glad we finally receive them. We'll start off with the Cal Valley Flood Protection Board, which required an encroachment permit. And within that encroachment permit, there's pre, during, and post conditions that must be required by both the contractor and city. And some of these are, for example, the Valley Flood Protection Board requires a pre-construction notification, a dewatering plan, erosion damage repair, and restoration. There was a California Fish and Wildlife Which required a stream bed alteration agreement within this stream bed alteration agreement there must be a pre-activity biological surveys worker environmental training pre and post construction notices a spill response plan and a final report We have the California water resources control board the section 401 certification which requires an annual report and a commencement and completion notification and And the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Section 404 permit, which is just construction notices. And finally, the United Pacific Railroad Agreement, which requires flagging safety measures, additional insurance, and pre-commencement notification. So now getting into the bid review, bids were opened on July 2nd, 2026. A total of four bids were received. These bids were checked for accuracy against bidding requirements, validity of licenses, and bid security. The lowest bid received came in from B&L contractors at an amount of $306,882.80. City staff has reviewed and confirmed that B&L has met all the bidder requirements and is selected to be the lowest responsive and responsible bidder. The summary table shows the four total four bids we received ranging from the lowest bid which is $306,000 to the highest which is $497,700 and our engineering estimate which was $294,450. So again, a BNL contractor submitted the lowest and has met all the bidder documentation requirements and was selected as the lowest responsive and responsible bidder. City staff recommends a 15% of contract amount for contingencies resulting from any unforeseen conditions. So with that, city staff recommends adopting a resolution approving the contract award of $306,882.80 plus a 15% contingency to B&L Contractors Incorporated. That'll be all.

All right, now get ready for the hard questions. Here we go. I bring it back to my colleagues for any questions or concerns. Oh, I think you're getting off easy tonight. I'll open it up for public comment in the chamber. I see none. Online or on Zoom?

We have none, Mayor.

Thank you, City Clerk Gonzalez. I bring it back to my colleagues for a motion and a second.

Move to approve.

Second. Thank you for that. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Those opposed motion passes unanimously. Thank you for your report.

Next item item D for purchase of forcible entry Inc 40 foot connex box training center prop.

Oh, and our very own chief is here tonight. Good to see you.

Good evening Mayor, Council Members, Chief Larry Pendarvis, Madera City Fire Chief. I'm before you this evening to discuss the resolution for the purchase of a forcible entry prop to 40 foot Connex box. A little bit of an overview. Our staff trains daily for all risk incidents, approximately 8,000 hours annually. The need for this updated training equipment is necessary to advance the knowledge on our current construction and forcible entry methods. Why the need? Advanced construction methods, building materials, security features have significantly increased the complexity of forcible entry and ventilation operations. Reinforced doors, high security locks, impact resistant windows, security bars, and modern roofing systems now require firefighters to change our traditional methods. Our current situation, our fire department has one forcible entry prop located at station 56, which is just a forcible entry door prop, and one ventilation prop located at station 58. This has limited the structural fire multi-company training opportunities between staff due to the props being located in two separate locations. Moving on to the benefits, the all-in-one prop that will be located at one fire station. It can be moved in the future to a future training center, saving the city money. It has the ability of training 10 plus personnel at one time. It is rated for law enforcement use. Lock-side explosives, Bearcat window pole, interior adjustable walls for building searches. These next couple slides depict the actual illustration of the prop itself. It's 40 feet in length. Here's some uses with SWAT teams utilizing the prop as well. The design for the prop itself would be painted the same color scheme as our Station 58. The building would be placed on a concrete pad and would be screened as best as possible, and the features may easily be swapped. The staff included the cost of this in our fiscal year 26-27 budget. The funds will come from the Measure K operating budget, and the prop would cost $143,219. The recommendation is to approve the purchase agreement of a forcible entry through forcible entry Inc. 40 foot training contacts under the national purchasing partners contract number. P. S. 25680. That is the end of my presentation and I am available for questions.

Thank you for that. I bring it back to my colleagues for comments or questions. I just want to say thank you chief for the visuals because I was trying to picture it in my head until I saw your actual picture. So thank you for that. At this time, I'll open up for public comment in the chamber. I see none online or on zoom city clerk Gonzalez.

We have none, Mayor.

Thank you. I close public comment at this time and bring it back to my colleagues for a motion in a second.

Move to approve.

Second. Thank you for that. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed motion passes unanimously. How exciting for our fire stations. Thank you for that. Thank you very much.

Moving on to the next item. We have nothing under administrative reports. Moving on to section F council member reports, announcements, 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 agendized and which meet other requirements for action.

Thank you for that. I will go to Council Member Villegas.

Oh, nothing to report.

Thank you. Council Member Rodriguez.

Yes, Mayor Villegas, thank you. On the Saturday, 4th of July, I had the honor to attend another golf tournament that was provided at the golf course at our municipal golf course. I wanted to thank the Parks and Rec staff, Joey Baer. Thank you to Adam Romero for putting this together. This event was again packed. Looks like we had a lot of members out there playing. Olga Garcia and the rest of the Parks and Rec staff and our partnership with SGM did a good job, again, of providing and facilitating this golf tournament. I know that this goes a long tradition. It happens every year. I don't since I've moved here I don't think it stopped now as far as the fireworks I'll let my colleague council member Sakurai a talk on what took place at the fairgrounds but it was a great event I was very happy I do want to take this moment to appreciate the donations received by Valley wide the gunda's Terry's links ranch and also our very own attorney and his firm in providing that. I know there was others, but these were the ones that I came across and I do want to thank you for continuing the support and making sure that this event continues to happen every year. reminder tomorrow we do have a groundbreaking ceremony for state route 145 project uh that'll take place at 10 a.m i think it's on the corner of a street and uh 145 is that correct uh but anyhow this will be a historic uh groundbreaking because it's been long awaited project that we've uh all really supported thanks to our city manager uh for directing us and the contribution that the city council has made in the tune of almost three million dollars to be able to enhance it so I'm looking forward to that tomorrow. I think the mayor has a spot there to speak on. I will follow her, but it'll be great to see this project come to life. So that's all I have.

Thank you, Mayor. Thank you for your comments, Council Member Rodriguez. Councilwoman Mejia.

Thank you. I also had a great time watching the fireworks display like every year. I did notice how much quieter it was in our neighborhoods. And so very grateful for that. And that's my report. Thank you.

Thank you for that. Moving on to Councilwoman Evans. Nothing to report. Thank you. Mayor Pro Tem Zachariah.

Again, I would thank my colleagues for supporting the project. Thank you for city staff. It was a really easy event. Thanks for the partnership that we were able to have. Again, it was nice to see some of the colleagues out there and obviously a lot of the many faces and families that were happy to be there and enjoy the event and, you know, hopeful that it'll be continuing thing obviously now with the city support that you know finance has always been a concern of mine having run this a couple years now so it's nice to see that with that I would ask that if if we can bring an agenda item out of the the events there was some discussion and concern relating to some of the business licensing processes of the city and I would like to see if maybe we can have an agenda item added

um to maybe see about some of the processes and maybe some confusion relating to to that so okay we have thank you all of us thank you thank you madam mayor along those lines i don't want to take the highlight from council member sakuraya but also if we could and this is one thing i want to request we do this every year just to have a recognition and appreciation for those uh sponsors as well yeah okay thank you Perfect.

Council Member Montes.

Yeah, I just wanted to offer to Chief Vandarvis, if you need more props, you should offer or invite the council to go out there. They can be props and see if you can drag us out of the burning building. But I also really did appreciate, I attended the fireworks show this year, and I would say that security is top notch out there. I told them I was a council member. They didn't care. You need to have your proper documentation, which I appreciate. I really do appreciate. I did get in to the parking section, so I really do appreciate everything. But it was a great show. I was probably sitting where I shouldn't have been. I was able to watch the show right under the huge flag that we had on our fire trucks. which was pretty awesome because I got to see the fireworks going off on the other side of it. It was just kind of cool, right? So I do appreciate that. First time I actually went out there, I usually watch it from just down the street from my house at the park, but it's a little different experience being there. So I really appreciate all the effort that everybody has put in and all staff. So hopefully everybody had a good Fourth of July. That's it for me.

Thank you, Council Member Montez. And I just have a few things. First, we had a kickoff Movies in the Park. Director Abro, you're not even on the hot seat this agenda, so woohoo. But it was a very good turnout. Second thing, our staff needs to make sure that we're staying cool out there. We're hitting triple digits. And I would like to thank our staff for cleaning up some of the race fiber octave that's been hitting water lines, sewer lines, sprinklers, you name it. So thank you for all jumping in on board when we have that happening, because I'm getting phone calls in Texas and you name it. uh the last thing i would like to share is just our condolence from this council and myself to council member rodriguez to his family for losing his father-in-law this weekend our prayers are with all of you at this time in need and with that we have no closed session and i will be adjourning this meeting at 6 31 woo and we will see you at our special meeting next wednesday july 22nd thank you everyone safe travels have a great evening