City Council - Regular Meeting

All right, we're back from close session. City attorney, do we have any reportable action from close session tonight? No reportable action, Mr. Mayor. Thank you, city attorney. With that, we are going to adjourn this meeting and we will reconvene for our regular council meeting in after a very brief three-minut break. Thank you.

Okay, everybody. Thank you for your patience. We are going to get started with our regular city council meeting. It's April 21st, 2026 at 6:00 p.m. and some change in the Selma City Council chambers, 1710 Tucker Street in Selma, California, 93662. Teleconference phone number is 3017158592. The webinar ID is 891-6864-50005. When on the phone, if you wish to address the council during the public comment part of the agenda, press star9 to raise your hand and we will select you from the meeting queue. Press star six to unmute and mute yourself. Notice the meeting attendees. Members of the audience shall not engage in disorderly or boisterous conduct, including the utterance of threatening or abusive language or other acts which disturb, disrupt, or impede or otherwise render the orderly conduct of a city council meeting infeasible. Before we get started, I would like to have a moment of silence, please, for Mr. Refugeio Ramirez and Deputy Sheriff Randy Hopper, who was killed in the line of duty. Would everybody please bow your heads? Thank you. And we remember both amazing people. With that, we'll move on to our invocation which is going to be um conducted by Chaplain Gilbert Bar Dixon from the Adventist Medical Center. Do we have the chaplain here tonight? Thank you, sir. Come on up. Yes, sir. And just turn that mic on. green button.

Let us pray. Sovereign and gracious God, we invite your presence in this room and in every hearts and mind gathered here in this space. Grant wisdom and clarity and unity as they make decision and shape that shape the daily lives of this community. We thank you for the freedoms and opportunity we enjoy. And we ask that you guide this council with insight and understanding. Where discussions are difficult, we let civility prevail. Where opinions differ, let common good lead the way. Lord, provide the resources to meet the needs and to address the needs of this community. safety, housing, transportation, and the development that help community flourish. May the work here done uh tonight contribute to the well-being and prosperity of every resident, bless this meeting, bless this council, bless this community. Amen.

Amen. Thank you, chaplain. Please stand for the pledge, please. would you call the role, please? Council member Avalos here. Council member Oroa here. Council member Thrujillo here. Mayor PMGaraa here. Mayor Robertson

here. Potential conflicts of interest. Any council member who has a potential conflict of interest may now identify the item and recuse themselves from discussing and voting on the matter. Agenda changes or deletions to better accommodate members of the public or inconvenience in the order of presentation. Items on the agenda may not be presented or acted on in the order listed. Additions to the agenda may be added only pursuant to California Government Code section 54954.2B. to be city attorney. Do we have any such changes or deletions tonight? Nothing to add or to delete, Mr. Mayor.

Thank you, city attorney. Oral communications. At this time, any member of the public may address the city council regarding any item on the regular meeting agenda over which the council has jurisdiction. No action or discussion will be taken on any item not on the agenda. Issues raised will be referred to the city manager for review. Members of the public are asked to limit their remarks to three minutes. Do we have any oral communications at this time? Will you step up?

Good evening, Mr. Mayor. Uh, council members. It is my pleasure to be here joining you this evening again. Uh, my name is Rich Saibong, outreach analyst with the California Department of Insurance. I'm calling to respectly call your request to support a package of wildfire and insurance reform bills currently under consideration at the state capital. These measures are authored by assembly members Mike Gibson, Lisa Calderon, and Senator Steve Padilla, and they are focused on addressing ongoing recovery challenges in wildfire impacted communities across California. The first bill is AB1795, authored by Assembly Member Mike Gibson, would establish a clear public health standards for smoke damage homes. After wildfire, many homes that may appear structurally sound but still contain hazardous smoke contamination without clear standards. Homeowners often face delays, disputes, and uncertainty regarding remediation and insurance coverage. This bill creates clarity, protects public health, and streamline recovery. The second bill is SB876, authored by Senator C. Padilla. It strengthens disaster recovery protections and expands living expense coverage. Families displaced by wildfires are often out of their homes for extended periods. This measure helps ensure residents have adequate coverage for temporary housing and related costs, reducing financial hardship during a time of crisis. The third bill is AB1680, authored by Assembly Member Lisa Calderon. reforms and increases accountability within the fair plan. As more Californians turn to the fair plan due to insurance market instability, it is critical that the program operates with transparency, sustainability, and stronger consumer protections. This bill aims to provide to improve oversight and help stabilize the insurance market for

wildfire impacted communities. Together, these measures are designed to speed recovery, reduce coverage gaps, increase accountability, and strengthen long-term community resilience. Local government support is incredibly important and in advancing policies that directly impact residents, and I respectfully ask again for your consideration and support. I'm also happy to provide a fact sheet which with each of these bills along with a brief survey. And I would also welcome the opportunity to deliver a presentation. uh city manager there. Um but uh provide a legislative update on this and thank you for your time, leadership, and your continued commitment to protecting our community.

Thank you. Just uh wondering if we if you have a template letter of support you as provider could provide to our city manager so we can review it and uh potentially sign that and and move that forward. And what's the deadline? Um I believe we still have in June. It it just passed the assembly floor with the first reading. So, it's still moving along. Still have some time here. Yes, sir. Great. You get that template to our city manager. He can get in front of the council and we can put it on the next the next council meeting agenda or one after that or the city manager can sign it on our behalf if we have a consensus after we take a look. Yes, sir. Thank you. Can I have a I have a question? Yes, ma'am.

I'd like to know will you be or will the state be enforcing California fair plan to make amendments for these type of coverages because I know for a fact they don't offer these type of coverages now. So the comprehensive part of the discussion that we're having with AB1680 is to have the fair plan offer you know liability and water damage which they haven't done before right so it is going to be a little bit of push back in between the assembly and you know many of the insurers because it is backed by the insurers the fair plan. So it it is an uphill battle. And just piggybacking on that, u will there be any added perils added to the property coverages by any chance in

that that can definitely be open for discussion. I mean the the bill itself does go to public comment. So you know as more as the public gars out different issues and concerns, you know, definitely the bill can be revised to address those as well. Great. Thank you. We'll be talking. Appreciate it. Anybody else with oral communications at this time? Have anybody online or on the phone with a comment? Mayor, I see no hands raised.

Thank you. With that, we'll move on to our special presentations part of the meeting. Our first special recognition is the Selma City Selma City Council congratulating the Boys and Girls Club of Fresno County on their flag football tournament championship. Communications director Moreno. Mayor and members of the council, what you have in front of you is is a certificate of recognition to the Boys and Girls Club of Fresno County Flag Football Team. Um, the city is presenting the certificate to the All-Star Flag Football Team for winning the 49ers NFL regional tournament at Levi Stadium and advancing to the 2026 NFL Flag Championships in Indiana. Your teamwork, dedication, and achievement have made your community proud, boys. Thank you. that is everybody. I can't see Bring the little one to the front.

Yeah. Well, hello to the front.

Right over here, guys. Everybody look here. Count to three. Everybody smile. One, two, three. Um yeah,

here we have representatives for the Boys and Girls Club who'd like to say a few words.

It's a pleasure to be here. We're really excited. Our boys worked really, really hard. Our coaches, Nate, did an amazing job with the boys. The Ron, our director of operations, picking up kids from the West Club, the East Club, coming to Selma, just practicing it. It It was a lot of work and it was definitely worth it. And we have a team of seven amazing young men. Four of them are from Selma. And my Selma heart is so proud of them. All of them. They all really worked really, really hard. And we're going to work really hard to raise the money. It's about $15,000

to get to Indiana to take all these kids to fly out there. So, we will be looking for sponsors. If anyone's interested, um you can contact me directly. Um but we're going to work hard. We worked hard for practicing. We're going to work hard to get them there. So, thank you so much for the recognition. Club website. Yeah, you can go to the Boys and Girls Club website. Just add on the link there for the kids for the flag football. How do you guys Good job. Way to go. Thank you.

Uh before we go on to the next item, I would like to make a comment. And I would like to wish u Rachel a very happy birthday. She turned 22 today. She said I don't know can believe that but happy birthday.

Our second special presentation tonight. Another special recognition which is the Selma City Council recognizing Mid Valley Disposal in appreciation of their continued sponsorships, services, and support of community events. Mayor, members of the council, uh what you have in front of you is a certificate of recognition to Mid Valley Disposal. Uh the city the city would like to recognize them for their generous event sponsorship, outstanding community outreach, and continued service to the city of Selma. Your partnership and support help strengthen our community and enhance the quality of life for Selma residents. Thank you.

Say something, Joe.

Good evening, mayor, council members, and staff. Joseph Kalpikov, president of Mid Valley Disposal. It's an honor to be here tonight, but I'd like to introduce my team that came along um for this for this evening. Peter Wrangle, operations manager. Alfredo Alvarez, operations manager. Thomas Hammond, recycling programs. Isaac is a operations um district manager, I should say. Sorry. Uh kind of over all of these guys. And the birthday girl, uh Rachel, here with us tonight.

Um thank you very much for honoring us. Uh it's it's been a a great a great run so far about 21 months I believe. Um I know it was uh the transition is tough. I think that we got over the rocky parts and um our are finding our groove and our and our way of life in your in your community. Um and we we definitely appreciate your your support this evening.

I'd say the same thing. We uh we we made the the the tough times through the transition and now we're u smoothing it out and I've just been hearing great things about Mid Valley from the folks and dealing with you guys. You're always there for us and you're a great participant in our in our city. So, thank you very much for everything you do for our city. We really appreciate you.

Got a certificate to present. Thank you. Okay, our next item is the consent calendar. All items listed under the consent calendar category are considered routine. The complete consent calendar will be enacted by one motion by roll call vote for purposes of discussion. Any council member may have an item removed from the consent calendar and made part of their regular agenda. The council can then approve the remainder of the consent calendar. Does anybody have any items they would like to remove tonight? Okay. I'd like to remove item 23. Is there a motion to approve items 21, 22, 2, 25, and 26?

I'll make a motion. Second. Okay. Call the role, please. Um, first and second. Council member Avalos. Yes. Council member Trujillo. Yes. Council member Oreosa. I mean I'm like who's that? Oara. Yes. Mayor Pertim Gara. Yes. And Mayor Robertson.

Yes. Okay. Item 23. This is the cash and investment report. Director Moreno, thank you for providing this. This is

so much more information than we ever got before. Thank you. This is really good. Um, the question I have on the portfolio in investments is the Umpqua Bank public funds money market. I'm noticing that there's a $4 million balance in there making a whopping 01% of interest. I know when the previous finance director many moons ago negotiated that lower interest rate consolidating all this city debt um that was a condition of Umpqua that the city would keep some funds there. My question to you is what is the minimum amount of funds that can be kept in their money market because I'd much rather see city money in the uh leaf than the umpqua public funds making 100 times that interest rate than what we have currently. check into that.

Okay. Thank you. I think it was a minimum and that's what 4 million was what they wanted, especially when they did the the bond. So that's why it's that amount, but I'll double check to make sure. I'm just wondering if there's like a time limit on that if there's, you know, time when we can take that amount out. Thank you. Or if that's negotiable. Thank you. We can send that out to council once we have that information. Great. Sounds good. Okay. Um I'll make a motion to approve that. Is there a second? I'll second. Call the role, please. Mhm.

Mayor Robertson, yes. Mayor Pertima, yes. Council member Avalos, yes. Council member Oaggera, yes. Council member Tojo, yes. Okay, that passes. We'll move on to departmental report. City manager.

Yes. Thank you, Mayor and City Council. Uh, since we last met, I've attended various meetings, including Fresno Cog policy advisory committee and SKF policy advisory committee meetings. Uh, we also received and evaluated proposals for interim community development director services, results of which will be discussed later tonight. Uh, Director Moreno, Jose Moreno, and I met with Fresno EDC staff to discuss the upcoming ICSC convention next month. Um, I also met with Fresno EOC member Matt Rogers. The EOC will be holding a town hall meeting in our council chamber on May 28th for those interested. Uh, I I met with various council members and constituents regarding issues they wanted to meet and discuss. Um, and I appreciate those being brought to me. My largest focus right now, of course, is working with our department heads and finance on the draft budget. Uh, let's see. I also attended the 32nd annual seek parade on Sunday. It was my first time attending and it was a great event to attend and I look forward to attending next year's event as well. And then finally, I wanted to formally introduce our city planner, Megan Lawrence, sitting over there. I thought I had introduced her before, but then she reminded me that it was just at a planning commission that I had introduced her. Uh, she started with us back in February and will be presenting a couple of items tonight. So, I wanted to formally introduce her beforehand. All right,

manager. Uh, it's a pleasure to be here. Thank you. Welcome aboard. All right, city manager, just uh briefly on what you um said. Couple things. First is I was at that same uh seek parade festival and you didn't know that you had to speak and yet you rose to the occasion and spoke in front of all those people and there are a lot of them there. So, thank you for doing that and representing our city. Well, you did a really good job. Thank you. You

um Thank you. And then um just had another question for you on the commission applications. There are multiple boxes on the commission applications or multiple commissions. Just to clarify, if someone applies for a commission um and they check multiple boxes, are they automatically considered for that those additional commissions or do they have to fill out additional applications for each of those? No, it should be it one application. They check the boxes for the commissions that they're interested in and then they'll be considered for um each of those that that have a vacancy. Want to make sure the folks know know that when they apply. Okay. Community services director.

Good evening, Mayor and members of the council. Just wanted to update you on a few events that we have going on. Just, you know, we always have a lot of events going on. And so, um the next event is actually taking place tomorrow. We are not cancelling Earth Day. We are moving forward with our Earth Day celebration so far. The weather seems to be holding up for today. So, we'll keep an eye on it for tomorrow. But I looked at the weather, saw there's going to be some wind, so I ordered some kites. So, we're adjusting. All right.

Um, so join us out at Lincoln Park from 5:00 to 7:00. We're going to have um some activities. Um, Home Depot will be out there. Mid Valley will join us as well. Some some beautifification committee and we'll have a Girl Scout troop out there as well. and we've hired pelicans to do um some limited amount of snow cones first come first-s serve bases and so um join us for a picnic or just come on out um and play some yard games with us and let's celebrate the earth together tomorrow from 5:00 to 7:00 and then on Friday we are hosting the Sama Art and Culture Fest on downtown in on High Street. Um we'll be out there from 5 to 8. We'll have live music, a beer garden, um art art displays, um craft and food vendors, all the good stuff. So that'll be a really good time. Other than that, our tea ball um opening day is next week on the 28th. The raisin festival comes to town on the 30th. And then we are hosting um the the beer festival over at Pioneer Village on May 16th, which is an event that we're bringing back. The Sama Arts Council is working diligently on um securing a lot of different brewery breweries and and food vendors and all that good stuff. So um lastly, Sama Live was rescheduled and so we will be hosting that um at the end of May. So May 29th. Um we will be um inviting John Pepperon and his wife Tammy to come back out. Um our location has changed to Lincoln Park and so um the site location is just right down the street but it's going to be bigger and better this time. So that's all I have.

Great. Thank you. That's a lot of events, director. Very good. Okay, city engineer.

Good evening, mayor, members of the council. Uh there were two projects that were asked for a quick update. So I wanted to provide that tonight. Uh the Thompson Park project uh the design has been basically completed. We are currently still trying to coordinate the uh CI canal that crosses the very corner of that property. Uh the process has been with the trail project and this park project. We need to make sure those are coordinated together. So that piping portion of the project has been completed, communicated with CI is uh being reviewed by their engineer. Um just in the last week, the uh consulting engineer&M engineering that's doing the trail project, they were able to get some more information from CI to allow that project to continue moving forward. So there has been some progress with our communication with CI. So as far as Thompson Park is concerned, we need to get that pipe undergrounding of the of the canal approved by the CID's engineer. And once that is approved, then the entire project, all of those plans will be ready to understand the funding requirement and go out to bid if appropriate. So we'll continue to keep pushing that, but that's our current um current process for the Thompson Park. What do you think the timeline is, city engineer, for getting to the bid process? That's where it goes.

It's uh most likely a couple months to deal with CI and their engineer. There are some issues there with uh easements uh beyond the city property. Um the the design of the underground piping is is pretty standard, but it's involved. We have to make sure those plans are are solid. So, and then I and then I'm meeting with C this week to um discuss this and other uh projects that are going on that we are coordinating with them to see how we can move stuff along quicker.

And maybe you could bring up all that vegetation around that's growing all around the canals behind their fence. Always always an issue there, but they they uh they they want to take care of that. So, anything else, city engineer?

Sure. A couple other projects, the Rockwell Pond project was asked for an update. There hasn't hasn't been any movement or new information there and city manager has met with the county administration office as far as the ownership of that parcel. As I think the council knows, there are some restrictions on if the county would transfer that land to the city based on the tobacco funds and the money that they used. There's restrictions on on revenue generation and certain things. So there still still needs to be a discussion with them or some type of avenue forward. Um according city manager's info that he gave me, you know, purchasing the property at fair value is most likely an avenue. So no, we're not working on that or not moving forward with any design, but that's the the current status of the land for that project. And speaking of that, so they do the surplus land act route that they're talking about. What at what point would the city be ready to go into looking at design on that? soon as the city um made a bid. If if that's what happens um for the fair market value, city could pretty quickly get up to speed with a design on that request design or the usage that the city has been talking about for five years, which is a yes, six years, which is a regional park.

Yeah, we would just have to program it as a task order for uh Yamab and Horn to be able to move forward with that. Um, and because of the uncertainty of the property and how Fresno County is moving with it right now, um, we haven't authorized uh, doing that yet because we're waiting to see which way the county is going to move on that. But, um, and I'll continue talking to my counterpart over there and seeing where we can go with that.

A quick question. Um, just that I'm I just want to um make sure that I'm clear. Didn't we make plans? There were some plans that were already designed for that location if we were going to move forward with a regional park. I I've seen some conceptual plans. Yeah, there's some conceptual general overlays um for the for that park. Okay. That that would then be used um as the basis for a full design.

Okay. Another project uh is the signal the traffic signal at Dauba and McCall. Uh so an update on that project is the uh rightaway consultant that was selected. Uh it has been working on their scope. They have just in the last week provided the city with escrow documents for each of the small pieces that need to be acquired from the property owners. Uh those are currently under review. Uh there is a legal description and an exhibit that needs to be signed by the project surveyor uh which is Gateway Engineering. So I've been communicating with them to get those documents provided. Um that will probably complete the review that we have. City manager has those documents. If there's any questions, uh we can communicate back to the rightway consultant. If there are no questions and we feel like those are adequate, then city manager can sign those and then move to the process of that consultant continuing to work with the property owners uh to get into escrow of purchasing those small rightway pieces.

What's a typical escrow period for pieces of land like that? Is it same as escrow for a house or is it a little briefer escrow period or I

I'll have to check. I don't think it's the same as with a house. They've already gone through the appraisal. They've they've provided those appraisals. Those appraisals are included in that document have been reviewed by a third party appraisal to meet Calrans requirements because of the funding source. Um so I think we're it'll depend based on each property owner and I'll review that timeline with city manager to make sure we know on the design side of that project. We're continuing to try and communicate with the uh design engineer to get the plans uh the construction document plans uh completed now that the rideway phase is moving forward um without too many issues or roadblocks. So we'll continue to do that. The construction funding from the uh federal CAMAC is uh is ready once the design and rideway phase are completed. then we can request uh what's called an RFA, which is request for authorization for funding. Um and then we'll we'll be closer to updating a schedule to to let you know on the construction phase. So that's where we're at with that one. If there's any questions,

I have a question. So do you think based on that information, we probably will stay on on a track more likely Octoberish is we'd see some development going on. Yeah, I hope so. The the rightaway phase has gone as as well as we had expected.

Uh, from my perspective, there haven't been any communication from that consultant that there's any major issues or or holdups. It's not it's not done yet. They still have to go through the escro process, but as of this moment, there aren't any issues that I would have to extend that timeline. Yeah, I would provide a caveat on that is that uh once these are signed, they get sent out, start the escro process, negotiations with the property owner. If there is a property owner or two that uh rejects the um offer, then there is an opportunity for them if they go through the uh process of getting um they have to get their own appraisal done and so on and then you can enter into negotiations. But if that were to happen, that could delay u that timeline.

But you'll keep us posted. We'll keep you. Okay. I mean, this is just going to be really big for Selma. You know, people are just I mean, they have been waiting for this for this stoplight for years and the traffic gets so bad back, you know, during that school time 3:00. I mean, it's just horrible. So, this is going to be big for Selma. Really appreciate it.

Continue to to push that forward. Uh, last project to do an update is the Second Street uh clean California project. This is that project between State Route 99 on and off ramps at Second Street moving towards downtown just past Witson to the uh west front street. Um the plans have been prepared by&m Engineering who's the consultant engineer on that project. Their plans are at 90 to 95%. Um the currently they're working to get approval from CALR or the portion of the project within the state rightway at the offramps. We meet with them regularly. Uh they're they are moving it as as fast as they can on their end to get to answer any questions of CALR to make any changes. City staff has been giving them direction on any changes. U so now they're just in the process of getting approval from CALR. Uh there is a maintenance agreement that is being reviewed uh with public works and city manager because the city will have facilities within the rideway. We will have to review a maintenance agreement for the city to maintain the signs and the different pieces. But um I think they've they've brought to you different schematics and different drawings. U those are all still part of the plan. That's what they're working on to get approval with CALR. Um, as far as timeline goes, uh, it's hard to put a timeline on CALR's uh, review and approval process. Um, but, uh, it's it's hopefully either a matter of weeks and hopefully not months. Um, the C the Clean California funding does have some timelines. So, um, we understand the being able to get the plans approved, get it out to bid, looking at the engineers estimate, and seeing if anything has to be value engineered out. Um those will all be part of the process to go out to bid. So we'll provide an

update once uh we get approval from CALR. We'll be able to provide a better timeline uh because at that point it'll be based on bidding and does it look like we're going to meet the deadline at this point? I I would say so. I think they're far enough along. Calr there we've had some issues of agreeing with some landscaping and some things that they asked for. Those were all resolved. At this point, it's just it's hard to get over that last little finish line, but we're they're moving forward and Calrans is responsive. So, we just have to do that part of it. Thank you. That's my update.

Well, those projects are really, really important to everybody in Selma. So, thank you for keeping us informed on that and moving forward. Communications Director Moreno, Mayor, members of the council, last week was uh dispatcher appreciation week, April 12th to April 18th. And in collaboration with the Smo Police Department, I created uh some video content that highlights the work that they're doing in the communication and dispatch unit. And I'd like to play that for you all right now.

Yeah, I just felt it was important that the community knows the faces behind the voices if they've ever called uh the PD or the 911 emergency line. Um, and speaking of, I wanted to remind council or put it on on the radar that there is an emergency response drill on Saturday at Selma High School. It's a collaborative effort between the police department, uh, fire department, Selma Unified, and other agencies. They'll be running drills at Selma High from 7 to 3. You're going to probably see some road closures on Wright Street and Huntsman. Uh but if there are any residents that call you or alert you that they'll see a helicopter or ambulance. Um again, it's not an emergency. It's just a drill. Um they're running drills um for all the agencies um to um to practice to practice their their work out there.

Good heads up. Thank you. Appropriately, police chief Alcarez.

Thank you for that. That was a awesome video. Uh depicts what the hard work that our dispatchers do and all of our staff. So, thank you again. Just as a note, last year the dispatch center handled 37,000 calls for service in 2025. That's a lot of phone calls. So, a lot of dispersement of resources. But to that, um, we met with the Floral Avenue corridor business members last week just to discuss some of the, uh, code enforcement violations, quality of life violations in that area. Uh, the the agents of those businesses were extremely receptive. So, um, we're continuing now to work and I want to make sure that they knew that they could trust that when they called we'd get a response and they've been calling and we've been responding and I think we really working uh drastically to improve that area. So, we're very happy with that and that collaboration with those business owners. To that note, uh we've just invited us the McCall Avenue business owners um and we'll be meeting with them on Tuesday, April 28th at 9:00 a.m. in the community room to discuss some similar uh quality of life issues and code of enforcement violations. Again, the purpose of this is to ensure the quality of life for the citizens of Selma, but also aesthetically improve these areas so that when people come into Selma, they feel welcomed and uh everything looks uh they look it looks safe and and they are safe um as our uh annual update will indicate in a few weeks. So, and that's it. So,

forward to that. Thank you, Chief. Thank you for reaching out to the floral uh business owners as well. That's very good that you got a a really positive reception there. Public works director Han. Mr. Mayor, members of the council, only one item to update on tonight, and it's for the community uh citywide uh cleanup event will be happening beginning this Thursday, the 23rd. It will be a three-day event held at the Nelson M uh Nelson and McCall lot uh that it the last uh event was held at. Uh and uh we are working with Mid Valley currently to get that all set up to begin that operation on Thursday.

Are you uh going to do the one-way traffic again? Are you going to repeat that? We will have the same setup for uh the traffic coming in and out of that facility or that lot for that event that we had last year. Yes. Thank you for that update. Appreciate it. Mr. I have a question. Uh director, um what about the B? I had asked um Jason about I'm sorry city manager sir um about the beautifification of the parking lot on uh first is it first and high behind the beauty salon. Yep.

Uh I know we talked about you know making it nice since downtown is really nice and that's look kind of ugly over there. So we actually have that as one of our regular business items number 46 that's going to be discussed by the city engineer but we are looking at that and funding to actually get that project underway and he can elaborate more on that uh during the regular business item.

Yep. Just uh quick um not uh question. About 10 months ago on Nelson and Highland, we had a drunk driver on one of my properties uh take out the barricades and with the discussion at the C, our city attorney and I was trying to get that area fixed and a couple of months ago, actually a couple of weeks ago, some a drunk driver went through it again. And I'm I'm saying this because I really want to commend your staff, you guys. And I say this because of the fact that I know they've been we you your staff's been working really diligent. If it wasn't the lights, it was downtown. It's everywhere. And I really want to commend you, Mike, for taking on that. And you guys did a great job. You put the barricades back up. You guys cleaned that area. The area I'm talking about is on Nelson and Highland. Now, that's half county and city. And um about a couple of weeks ago, 10 months ago, some a drunk driver took them all out. And I was really worried because that's my property and there's the canal there. And then a couple of weeks ago, another drunk driver went in there, but they happened to pull the car out real quick, right? My renters called me and I went over there and I was really shaken up and I thought, you know, somebody's going to get hurt. It's going to be the city's liability. And you guys still went in there and you guys cleaned it up. It looks really, really nice. And I want to commend you because your staff has been coming out for the last two years. I've been seeing nothing but good hard work from your staff. And I want to commend you because I understand all the strains you're going through and I really want you to understand I thank you for for going out there and you guys setting your guys out and getting it done. Um I've seen other projects. I've been seeing them. So I want to commend you and thank you. Okay.

I appreciate that, Councilman Trio. Again, I just have to give all the credit to my guys. Uh I'm just the coach on the sideline, but we have a great staff and and I appreciate that. Just uh real quick to caveat on that. We're not done with that yet. Uh I've uh already talked to the city manager previously and and what our intent is is the wood barrier that we have in our standards that's up now that's been rebuilt. Uh that will not keep a car from going into that canal. So, what we're looking into is uh identifying exactly where the edge of the rideway is and purchasing um some Krail concrete barriers that can go on the ground at the rightway out of the road, the path of travel that would actually stop a vehicle from going through that barricade. I understand the concern they start flowing water that could be uh a deadly situation and so we are still addressing that location but I appreciate the comments. I

I also want to reiterate what the mayor was saying in regards to the the high weeds around all the canals. Um you know it it's an interesting uh conversation when you speak with C in regards to the city of Selma's canals. So and I don't speak bad or good. I just say that it's a it's a very interesting conversation. and I've I've been having it with them and and they're good, but at the same time, we really really need to think about all our areas that we have that's accessible to a canal because there's seriously um liability there for us. I have another go.

Um the there's an area over there by um by Pioneer Village uh where the Well, you know which one I'm talking about where all the weeds are. There's a lot of people are saying, "How come you don't take the wee out and use it as a parking area by cattleman though?" I know what Sherry, you know, I know Jim identified it a while back. Yeah. Actually Sarah did. She's the one I brought to my attention.

Yeah. So that that that is city property and we are looking at making that overflow parking for the Pioneer Village events. Um, I can tell you that my staff has gone in this year and when we had the heavy rainstorms in uh January, David, the manager of Cattleman's reached out to me and we actually had some ponding in the parking lot where it was uh taking up some of the parking spaces. So, since then, we've gone out and redirected the water and removed some of the trees that were blocking up that area. Um, we've tried to keep the weeds knocked down. Um, but that is a kind of an eyesore area, but I am working with the city engineer and we have been discussing uh through the discussions with bathrooms and all the needs for Pioneer Village actually getting that parking lot uh in a in a condition that can be used for overflow parking. So, we are still looking at that.

Oh, okay. I'm not my turn now. Hey, now um there was an issue on uh actually on 2674 there was a a light is out on the light pole. Are we responsible on that street on that particular streets? It was 20 it was 2674 Stephanie. So uh Councilman Avalos and Lauren and yeah in order for me to answer that I would have to look with the city engineer at our lighting map. Some of the lights are owned by the city of Selma, but the majority of them are P gen lights. So P, if it's a P Gen light, then we would actually reach out to PG maintenance to replace it.

The reason why I was brought to my attention, there was an incident and right in front of that light, it was a mil post office mailbox stand for the residential. It was open. We don't know if it was pride open or whatever. and the the law law enforcement was called and I know it's uh under their it's not their juris I mean their addition to respond but it's the up to the postal it's a postal post office so it's a federal offense that's that falls in a different category but I just wonder what you're going to check on the light so on another note um I got to give you guys credit on uh the day a Sunday we were going underneath the the Rose Avenue bridge on, you know, and it was graffiti and um someone made the call and by the time we came back from the march through the, you know, our our looked like 20 mile march.

Felt like it. Yeah. Uh it was it was covered up. It was covered up within less than less than an hour. You guys tell you guys they did a heck of a job. Okay. because we're going, you know, it, you know, we had a lot of people going from different towns, you know, in that march and I think they're probably amazed when we came back and it was all covered up, you know, and that's I gave you guys high five for that. Okay,

I appreciate that. Could I get the address of that location of the light again? I'll check into that tomorrow, sir. Okay. The the address is uh 2674 uh Stephanie. It's the right it's the only uh mailbox in that street in the middle. You'll see it the light right above the light. I will look in that tomorrow. Uh David, our city engineer has already identified it. It's P Gen. So, what I'll do is I will work with uh my supervisor tomorrow to get a work order out to P Gen to come and take care of that light. All right. Thank you. Yes, sir.

Okay, with that, we're going to do what we always do, which is uh take a fivem minute break and allow members of the public here to talk with the department heads if you have any business with them. And anybody who doesn't have any uh business with the council, wish you a good evening. We'll be back in 5 minutes.

All right, we are back and going to move on to our next item which is our regular business agenda. Item 41, information only, grant activity update and upcoming funding opportunitiesformational report by Sonia Hall with Granted Solutions. Hello. Good evening, Mayor Council. So, we have applied for several grants. We've been awarded actually the um for the ABC grant uh OTS for 13,894. The clean calrans clean California. Now, it says total grants award on the report 413. It's actually 3138.94 because I'm not including the the match. So the grants that we have submitted are the T-Mobile grant or 50,000 that's for the bathroom um at Pioneer Village. The other one is OTS, Selma Fire Department, and that is for equipment and OTS, Selma Police Department. And uh we applied as well for equipment and for uh overtime and um the clean air resources board planning a capacity grant for 500,000 and that is to focus on EV charging readiness planning for uh the city's future zero emission infrastructure investment and then um the build grant which is for the 99 floral exchange planning and that is basically to look at that area and when you have your um new development coming in to find other alternative routes and uh figure out the um issues with traffic

in the modeling there in that situation and getting onto the freeway. The next one is the cyber security grant for 250,000 and um that is to update your technology and cyber security within the city. The arts in the park for 75,000 and that is um for the visual arts. It's for the Lincoln Park visual arts culture demonstrations and the ones that we are currently working on is California arts council for general operating support and we are looking at the grants for arts projects program the US do oh the um I'm sorry let me go up here oh the California um parks and recreation natural resources uh agency for urban greening grant. I wanted to use that to partner with also the um Prop 4 state parks grant and that is the next one. this the state parks grant for your new park. And then we also have the uh governor's office land and climate innovation extreme heat, the strategic growth council, community resilience programs, and then I've also found several grants for animal care. I did the I was asked to do some research for animal care and I found several grants other than the regular. They're from foundations. And so once they open, we do intend to apply. One of them is called the Max and Victoria Drifus Foundation and the uh Neil Foundation and the Banfield Foundation grant programs. And so those will help pay for spay and neutering. And then other upcoming police grants

that we have that we're um intending to work on is the cops deescalation grant that is for $250,000 and that is for the deescalation services and training for law enforcement. And then the um BSC calvip grant and that goes up to uh from 1 million to 5 million and that is to address youth violence. And then we also have other fire grants coming up through the California fire safe uh fire state fire capacity grant for 225,000. And we do have some foundation grants as well for equipment. One of them's Firehouse Subrant, the Liry Foundation, Firefighters Foundation, and then we have the big one that will be coming up later in the year, which is the FEMA AFG uh assistance firefighter grants and the safer grant for staffing. So, we are also looking at helping the city with housing programs. And so that's just something that will take some time to put in place to set up your program first before we can apply. And that's through Cal Home. And with Cal Home, we're able to apply for up to 3 million on that one. And so that would be for firsttime home buyer, uh, owner occupied rehab, and even um funds to build ADUs. So that's my report. if you have any questions. I know I gave you a massive written report.

Appreciate that. Anybody with questions? Uh just not a question, just could thank you for all you're doing. I hope we could get down to the realization of what we're actually receiving and you know, but just thank you. Any any effort to assist the city of Selma is a good effort. So, thank you for that.

Thank you. Um so the span neuter um I know there's some a movement by someone in um the the house um the assembly to uh move that forward um and then our city on a micro level. We're um coming up with councila started the program to get matching grants with businesses. Um do you know um the grant that you talked about with spay and neuter will it be on a matching basis? Will that help us to be doing grassroots efforts here as well? Yes. Yes, it will help because some of them are matching and Okay. So, when is that going to open up for consideration?

The first one that I going to apply for on this, the first one that I have here is in May, but I don't believe that one is a matching one. And then in terms of couple of the other items, the T-Mobile bathroom grant, what is the status of that? So, we still haven't found out the who's been awarded yet. It should come any day. Any day because that application went in like beginning of the year, right? Mhm. Yeah. December. Yeah. So, that should be coming out. That's that's good to know. And then in terms of the cops grant, the 250,000 is that something that every city competes for or just the rural cities or every city in the nation?

Nation. Okay. So, that one will be quite competitive. Um, but I've been pretty successful with cops grants. And so, there's also another cops hiring grant. I haven't talked to your chief. I I haven't gotten confirmation from the chief. He has confirmed the the two I did mention with the deescalation and the Kelb. And then, um, we've been hearing about the big deal with the drones. Is there grant money for technology for PD for resources like drones?

You know, so the one thing that has um just come out is a grant that went out to all the larger cities, but also as well as the county. And so one of the things that you can apply for through that is technology. So, I've been reaching out to the the county contact to find out when the smaller cities will be able to apply to the county and so that's where I have seen the availability of technology. So, it would go to the county and then the cities would apply through the county through a cog or something like that. Yes.

And then u uh Okay. And then finally, in terms of the PD again, public safety, we've been seeing that Bearcat in the news. Um, are there the city doesn't, you know, have 600,000 for a vehicle necessarily, but are there grant opportunities for specialized equipment like that that the city normally wouldn't be able to afford but could apply for? You know, I can search for something like that, but right now I can't think of anything on the top of my head for something that large.

I saw that they had owned Taller County had owned that with Fresno County, like a partnership there. So those are two really big entities, but I'm wondering if some of us smaller cities like some of you know Kingsburg, Selma, Fowler, oh yeah, may be part of to have something like that and be ready to go emergencies which none of us think we we want to have but could, you know, definitely happen as we saw a couple weeks ago. Yes.

Anybody else? Okay, Sonia, on the on the note on the u on the parks, you know, park grants and stuff like this. Now is there how would I say under the guidelines when you apply for those when you apply for those park uh grants in other words can we I want to say reapply certain areas say hey like uh the example of say we want to do a grant for pioneer valley rich you know beautifification type because you know a lot of the weeds are growing a lot you know there there's part of historical society group in our that particular area. But is there money there to I want to say historical money his and also park recreation money to restore those areas? Let me that's that's the question I'm going to ask you.

So I mean is there two entities there or just the one?

That would be just the one. But there's um you know, Shipo sometimes does have some funds and even the national um historic does have funds for things like that, but for a project where you want to restore the park um and beautify the park, I would look at something like land and water conservation fund. And um unless you want to use your state fund that's coming out here real soon, but I think that we were going to use that on uh a new park. So but but there are funds that you can use for rehab of a park

because you know you know because the park itself is has two entities, you know, I mean it's historic and it's a park. Yes. It's it's a very beautiful park, you know. So, you know, I just want to put them together and, you know, create a great basis of of the park, you know what I mean? And on another note, uh, as far as the air quality board, energy, clean air, is there any funds for, uh, solar, as far as solar, putting solar in parks? I mean, totally with zero cost. Um I don't really see anything from um

from the airboard for that. I do the airboard is um we did apply for a planning grant through the airboard. Yep. And that planning grant is something that will look at all of those options. Once we have identified exactly what you want to do, it's possible we can take that grant and then apply for an implementation grant. So once we u are able to get the planning done, we can identify things like that and then uh pursue that. I'm right now actually implementing it's it's an $8 million implementation grant. I'm I'm administering that grant. I know there's money there. I know

there is money there. I know I you know because I'm on that board. I know there's money there. That's why I asked you that question. Okay. So, we did apply for that grant for $500,000 and uh I hope we get it so we're able to move that forward. But like I said, I am working with the with actually city of West Hollywood in their implementation. So, Oh, okay. Yeah, it does fund a lot of great things. All right. And so, thank you, Sonia. Anybody else? Members of the public with any questions? Anybody online or on the phone with a question for Sonia tonight?

Mayor, I believe we did have a hand raised earlier. Great. Peggy, I'm opening your mic now.

Mic is open. Oh, hi. When I heard TNR, that's when I raised my hand. Are we going on to another section that has TNR discussion? Is it directly? We're going to be talking about spay and neuter, Peggy. That's what I want to be involved in. Stay tuned. I jumped the gun. Thank you. That's okay.

With that, we'll bring it back. Thank you very much, Miss Hall. Appreciate everything you're doing for the city. That was an information item. With that, we will move on to item 42, which is an action item, consideration of resolution 2026-366R, approving a spay and neuter sponsorship match up to 6,000, which I believe Miss Bomb was uh waiting to hear. Report, please.

Absolutely. So, good evening, mayor, members of the council. So, what you have in front of you is a resolution approving up to $6,000 worth of monies to match the current funding that we have for our for our ongoing spay and neuter program that we are implementing over at the Summit Animal Shelter. So, with that being said, we've received $4,000 from Cow Water, a thousand from Torto Local Market, 200 from Lewab, and then um we have identified about $1,000 within our current budget to support this as well. And so, um, yeah, we're just looking for for a city council approval to assist with this program and basically double our monies to make sure that we're able to provide a spay and neuter and TNR within our community to to assist with our overpopulation um, within dogs and cats.

Great. Thank you. Any questions or comments for Director Fletcher? I have a question. I just want to confirm um this program is going to be strictly just for Selma residents. Is that correct? That is correct. Okay. And so when you're going to implement this program, will you be requiring ID and utility bills to confirm that the individuals are from Selma?

Correct. We will be we will be requesting some form of identification to prove that they are within our city limits. And so what we ended up doing is um staff on social media has um requested, you know, members of the of the public to to sign up with us to just um contact us if if there's a need there. And during our vaccine clinic as well, we had our staff um doing some outreach and taking signups and and all that good stuff with the um just letting them know that they do have to be Selma residents in order to take advantage of this program. So, we have a list currently going of um you know, it's just some some trouble areas that we've identified within the community and then just members of the public that are interested in taking advantage of this program as well. And so with um $12,000 worth of funding, we should be able to hit most of these um these interested parties at this time. And so I've also instructed staff to to look into um to different kinds of traps for cats as well. So we're going to be doing both um dogs and cats neuter. So that's cool.

Good. Thank you. Okay. On that note, would now would the requirements require make sure the animals have been licensed by city of Selma and the shots up to date shots on that issue. That would be a wonderful requirement to implement. Yes, that would be a goal as well is to encourage our residents to make sure that they're so right now um only dog licenses are required. Cat licenses are not a requirement yet, but we will definitely push for dog licensing as well. Thank you,

Councilman. No. Um, okay. All my comments or we go out to public comment. A lot of people want to talk. Anybody have a public comment at this time?

Rose Robertson, 1057 Mil Street. So, are we able to speak now or should we wait or the other one is to match? Right. Um, speaking of the Selma citizens, um, to have access to the spay and neuter, um, have we reached out to Selma P clinic, the all the clinics here in Selma? Because it will be happening here in Selma as well, right? We're not going to have people driving to Vicelia or any Fresno. We're going to have them um the the money that we're receiving from businesses are from Selma. Um we we want to make sure it goes back to the same uh vets from SA. So the revenue goes back to them and uh again the um the revenue goes back to the city of SA. The the vouchers go back to the the vets here in SA. So that'd be great that it's all going to be here in SA. Thank you.

That is what staff has been working on. Yes. Great. Okay. Can we hear from Miss Bomb on the uh waiting for this topic patiently? Peggy, your mic should be open now.

Okay, gotcha. Wow, there is like a ton of questions going through my head how everything's going to work. As you know, I have had a Facebook page and trying to get people interested for the last four years and some of it was successful. I ended up uh more educating than getting volunteers to TNR, which is just fine. I took anything I could get to get the word out. Um my health isn't that great now, so I'm backing off and I'm and I um will be so happy to see this uh funding and to see a program started. Um I like I said I have so many questions so I think I'll save that for for the city animal shelter because there are a lot of things that need to be work worked on. Um one thing uh this is just TNR and abandoned cats. It's not people's pets. That would be a question I have and I want to know after they're TNR and return back to their space. Um, you know, how that works because some people do not want them there. Some businesses do not want them there, nor do they want them fed. So, there's a lot that goes with this just besides TNR, but it's a wonderful start and I thank you very much

and you really helped us in the city. Thank you, Peggy, for all your tireless efforts over the last four years championing the causes of uh uncared for cats out there. So, thank you for staying with it. Oh, yeah. I'm losing my voice over it. I'm I'm I had cats last night I took today and there's a many dedicated here, but they're silent. They've been We're getting a good We're getting a good start and you're a good voice for them. So, thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you. Anybody else with a comment at this time?

Good evening, Mayor and Council. Brian Ramirez. Um, is there a specific number of um animals for the voucher? Is there is there a limit on that? It really depends on how far the funding goes. So, a lot of the spay and neuter programs, what you're going to see is the cost of the actual operation is going to be based on the weight of the animal. And so we're going to go as far as we can with the monies that we have. Okay. So there is no official number. Got it. Thank you.

A lot of questions just like that. So director, um, the shelter used to charge an adoption fee. Is the shelter charging an adoption fee anymore to adopt dogs or cats from the shelter? Um, yes, they are taking donations at this time. Not it's not mandatory at this time. There is no set fee for it, but they do take um donations and they receive a few. Yeah. So, back in the day when Rose and I were volunteering um we would see the adoptions, there would be no animal that would get adopted without being fixed, spayed and neutered. Is that still the protocol of the animal shelter? That is still the protocol. So, right now the animal shelter is just doing that and incurring those costs.

Correct. Yeah. Um, with the spayneuter grant, is the is there thinking that some of that money will be applied to those those animals that are sent out for adoption?

Not necessarily. That's been budgeted for. Um, and we still have some some of that budget within our our current year that we should be able to use. And so this is this funding that we're focusing on right now is for the community at this time. I would definitely agree with that because and in the future, you know, this is but a discussion for another day, but maybe return to those adoption fees because, you know, you pay for the the city pays for the spay and neuter, um pays for the shots, the microchipping. There's some serious costs that are incurred in that and people when they uh come in and find their forever pet, they um will usually be happy to pay a nominal fee to to get their

We've been seeing that as well. So, they have been we have been receiving donations when when adoptions take place. I think right now what the goal was and and something that needs to be reviewed as well and I completely agree with you, but we're trying to limit and restrict the restrictions for adoptions as much as possible so that way we can get these um these pets in in appropriate homes.

Completely agree and I would also remove any barriers for fixing the animals. Um I completely agree with Councilman Abalos. They should be licensed and um but after the fact. So when you bring them in, license them when you when you do it, but don't keep that from getting them fixed in the first place. Also, um what I think um I hope I speak for the majority of our council up here when I say we want to see a report on this. I would like to follow this every month. I would like to see the number of spays and neuters. I'd like to know the the name of the animal. We can't publish the name of the people who have the animals or if they're strays, you know, if they're picked up, but I would for us doing our due diligence because, you know, we we've gone out and gone gotten these donations. We'll be some of us will be donating and um for the just to um for accountability purposes, I would like to keep track on this. Also, this is if we pass this tonight, it's going to be 12,000. That's onetime money. So this is not going to get renewed. If we never hear about it again, then we'll never look at it again probably, unfortunately. But if you keep this in front of us, keep it in front of the public, people like Peggy, um people who are, you know, have a big heart for animals and volunteer, um they will be on fire to do this as well. And we can continue to move forward. We've got our grant writers now working on a spay and neuter. We have potentially a a state senator, potential state senator who's working on a spayneuter bill in the um in the assembly right now. Um and then we're doing this and we're probably one of the first cities to to come up with a program like this. The need is everywhere though. It's everywhere there over animal overpopulation and I think that's what we're we're going after. Uh last thing, um I would also like to

reiterate what we heard from the public tonight which is keep it local. Um, we don't need to take them to Hope Foundation. We need to keep that money local in our local businesses. I I don't care who it is, whether it's Dr. Peele or South County or Selma Pet Clinic, but just make sure that you plow that money back into our local economy as well for the span neuters and promote it, you know, and then also let's get started, you know. I mean, now here's here's the bank. The money's ready. Um, good that we're going out and getting donations. That's that's awesome. But now I think the council's looking at the implementation phase of getting animals fixed. And so I would like to see, you know, not the next meeting, but the and not the meeting after that because we won't be here, but the meeting after that, I would like to see the first round of how many animals got got spayed and neutered. Okay. Is council concur with that having accountability and getting a record of that in the report from our community services director?

That's fine. Okay. All right. Is it if that's Is everybody ready? Okay. Is there a motion to approve this item? Motion to approve. Is there a second? Second. Call the role, please. Council member Avalos. Yes. Mayor Pengara. Yes. Council member We'll get her right something. Oh my god, I went by. Oara, council member Thrujillo. Yes, Mayor Robertson. Sorry about that. And mine say yes, too.

We have So, we have Miriam filling in for the city clerk. She's doing a good job. Thank you for doing that tonight. We appreciate it. Um, okay. The item passes. Now, we'll move on to item 43. It's an action item. Consideration of resolution 2026-37R awarding professional services agreement to precision civil engineering for interim community development director service.

Yes, thank you mayor and council. Uh as stated this is to award professional services agreement to precision uh civil engineering. The city conducted an informal RFP process and received two proposals. uh staff evaluated those proposals and determined that uh precision uh provided the overall uh best overall value based upon qualification service approach and ability uh to provide consistent on-site support. Funding for this agreement will be fully covered through salary savings from the currently vacant community development director position uh with uh cost split between the fiscal year 2526 and upcoming uh fiscal year budget. Uh no additional fiscal impact to the general fund is anticipated. And with that, I'm happy to answer any questions you may have.

Anybody have any questions for the city manager at I do, city manager. I just want to confirm it is going to be an in-house. You mentioned there'll be an in-house. Yeah, there's a component that's inhouse. It they won't be here 5 days a week, but um similar to um like David Horn is one to two days a week depending on flow and need.

Okay. Thank you. on on on another note Jason now if projects you know come to the table very f you know at one time they come real fast you know you know and David understands down there he knows uh would we would we bring instead of the what two days a week we in case extra days can we bring them in

yes it's based on a time and materials uh type um contract So, um, as needed, they would come in, do that, or be available via, uh, Zoom or Teams meetings, that type of thing. And then we're able to send projects to them for review, comment as well. And um, they'll be able to provide back information to us in a timely manner. And then would they be attending the planning commission meetings? Okay. And then um I understand we had a number of firms bidding on this contract. So was very competitive. What differentiated Precision from the other competitors who were all good I'm sure by the way.

Yeah. No, they were all good. Uh they all scored well. Um we scored them on various different aspects, five different aspects of the proposals from staff availability um to cost. Um, and I mean they're all within one or two points uh together and it's just that uh there was some thought process as uh more availability with uh precision that we like that I think put them over the top. I have one more question, Jason.

You know, I noticed on the report here, I noticed they were doing business with the city of Clovis all of a sudden with the city of Clovis. Is it they have their own engineer now or I don't know what happened. Yeah, I don't know. Um and maybe they have comments on that. I I don't know. Um but I do know that they do provide services to other um agencies such as city of Kerman. I know the list. You got a lot of list and and so they're very familiar with uh everything in the valley and what's going on. Um which is was another bonus as well. Very definitely very familiar. Anybody with comment?

I just have a question and it may it may be a ridiculous question but I gotta ask it. Uh so many many years ago when we um switched over our engineering to um the engineering we have now um the prior engineer was working on some projects and I'm just wanting to clarify that if an engineering company that were precision comes in and starts working on some projects are will they be just in case they leave will they be entitled to work that project and finish it like the project we have with the one the one in Dauba and McCall that was a signed contract full-blown that they had the ability that they left they still needed to be working that's the reason why we're in this mess are we are we are we signing a contract in in that way or or are we getting out of this

no I mean it'll be task order um and by task order and there's always potential for something like that but um depending on how we lay out the task order. It doesn't have to be that way. And we can always when we have something large engineering projects, it gets a little bit uh more difficult because you have an engineer that's been on it from the beginning and knows the ins and outs on that. Not saying that planning isn't any more complex because after uh you know, five months of being the community development director, it's I just say I just say this because of the fact that yeah,

here we are. Here we are in what 2018 1920. Yeah, generally we try about a project in McCall and Dauba and we still haven't developed it because we have an engineering that needs to work through it. So yeah, no turn every stone and make sure that we we do our due diligence to make sure that we

and we can include that within the um agreement um as we approve this and move forward. So, and I think that the probably the city engineer probably had some input on this decision in terms of it was city uh let's see on the review team, it was city planner uh deputy city manager uh myself and one of our associate planners as well. So I think yeah he I'm not mentioning that the city engineer put favored any one company over the other but this will be a planning function. This won't be a city engineer. So be a city planner that'll be augmenting at our services. And if I'm understanding um a question from a council member, I guess the question is will the have there been any previous projects um promised or contractually obligated to the previous community development director or will our new community development director take over from here and be able to kind of pick up where that position was left off? Yeah, it'll be transferred over.

And I remember 2018-19 it was the previous engineers, Gateway Engineering, they didn't leave. They were they were fired by the city and it was they had a contract that obligated them to finish the um stoplight at Dauba McCall. The delay of which has been because it was federal money. It wasn't due to any problems to my knowledge with uh with that engineering company. It's just a federal project that's taken a long time, too long, but it's going to happen. It's been programmed. And interestingly, it's not the money that's the problem this time. The money's been there. It's just the procedures. It's just the red tape to uh to get through as as everybody has experience in government well knows. It can be the procedures and the red tape that delay things rather than the um financing sometimes. So, we have the owner of Precision Engineering here, Mr. Ed Dunle. Would you like to come up and say anything, sir? Well, thank you, esteemed mayor and the rest of the council. Thank you so much. It's an honor to be here and uh we take much pride in being able to work with you. Actually, my personal roots uh run deep here related to the Nelson and Spmer families. If you've been here a long time, you might have known them. They're from the turn of the century. They've been around. So, it's great to work with the city and we look forward to working with your city manager and the rest of the staff and helping the city move along and here to ask answer any questions you might have.

Any questions for Ed? Thanks very much. Look forward to working with you. Thank you very much. Right. Is there a motion to approve this resolution awarding the professional services agreement to Precision Civil Engineering? I'll make a motion. I'll second. Call the RO, please. Mayor Pertim Gara. Yes. Council member Houseera. Yes. Council member Avalos. Council member Ruo. Yes. Mayor Robertson. Yes. I apologize.

Item passes. That we'll move on to item 44, which is a discussion item tonight. It's the city of Selma sign ordinance overview. City planner. Thank you, mayor and councel. Um, so what you have before you tonight is sort of a concise overview of the city's existing sign ordinance. Um, this is a much longer set of regulations in our municipal code. And this is intended to be just a a general overview of each of the key provisions as well as the intent of the sign ordinance itself um and how staff sort of uh reviews signed permit applications once they're submitted to the city along with the fees that are associated with each signed permit application submitted by members of our community. Um, it's my understanding that you requested at your March 17th meeting an overview of this information to discuss um whether the ordinance as it is now is working well for our community, if there's any weak points. Um, so this has been brought to you tonight as a discussion item and staff is requesting direction. uh if there's any interest in opening up the ordinance, any any points of issues to consider um based on current needs and the community's character and value.

Great. Thank you, city planner, for the report. Much appreciated. Council, have any questions?

Yeah, I have a question. I just wanted to confirm on the sign permit fees here that you have listed and it says as follows. Permanent sign $590 fixed fee. A temporary sign 235 fixed fee. A banner pole hanging fee is 265 fixed fee and conditional use permit 4,470. I can I mean I understand the permit or permanent sign and the temporary but the banner pole hanging fee. Give me an example of what you're talking about for this. My understanding of that um fee is it originates more in the public works um permitting process and it covers the cost of uh staff to physically hang signs particularly in downtown. Okay.

Um so an example we just at our last meeting you reviewed a request from the P flag organization for a exemption of sign permit fees. Um, part of the fee that was waved for that group was that banner pole hanging fee of $265 along with the temporary sign fee. So, that's typically where you see in my opinion um where that fee comes into play is organizations that have banners, special event permits or special event banners and signs, temporary signs, when the city is responsible for hanging them. Um, that's where that fee comes into play. Okay. So, the military banners is what you're saying is considered part of the banner pull fee where the public works has to go and and put that up. So, that's a one-time fee. Is that correct?

That's my understanding. I'm not sure historically how the city has captured fees for that particular sign, but I'm happy to look into that. Okay. And report back. And then also the conditional use permit. Can you give me an example of that?

Yes. So certain types of signs um electronic reader boards, billboards, they tend to have a large structural component and a footprint on a property. Um those types of signs require approval from the planning commission as a conditional use. Uh and the city issues conditions of approval based on you know location, size, uh lots of different factors varying to the conditional use review process. Um, so that permit fee on its face is quite high when you're considering it's just a sign. Um, but it could be a very large and kind of have a very large impact. So, billboards, typically electronic reader boards, that's where that cup fee comes in. And that is a that's a standard planning fee, not specific to signs. So that's the city's general conditional use permit fee application fee for all land use actions that would require a conditional use permit. I have I have a question. Um I was under understanding that we're brought this issue up a couple of times because the flags that were in different businesses just hanging out there. And I thought that we uh had many years ago we we had established a policy and we thought that we were talking about not putting any teeth into it or establishing to make sure that it could um look more professional and um so I appreciate this but I appreciate the numbers and the explanation but the question for me would be uh what about that those signs that are out there just hanging hanging out on different buildings and just put a poll up. I'm a barber. Put a poll up. I'm doing taxes. Put a poll up. I do insurance. They're just sticking out everywhere. What's What's with our ordinance that we approved many years

ago? And how are we going to I thought that was the reason why we were not talking about raising fees but talking about establishing and making sure to reiterate the policy or add teeth to it so we can come back and look a little more at heath adhere to.

And within our ordinance and um what our city planner had put in there as well uh there are a list of prohibited signs. uh some of those signs that you're talking about um animated signs uh signs that are flashing lights or or um you know doing sound uh signs that are within the public right away. Um and so we already have uh a large list of prohibited signs. Um, and we have that listed on there that I if people are doing that, then the next step would be having our code enforcement uh go out and actually cite them on that. Um, so working with our code enforcement uh when we notice those or or get those complaints and then having them go out. our code enforcement has been uh heading out um and um tackling some of these issues um and moving forward. Uh with that uh Chief Alcarez has uh been in discussion as he mentioned earlier in his department report with uh some of those corridors uh and talking about the sign ordinance as well. So that way they're in understanding of it. Um, but we do have some of those signs that council was concerned about are specifically identified as prohibited in our current ordinance. It's just a matter of having our code enforcement go out and um site as appropriately. During during that process a couple years ago, we went back and we also discussed the fact that I think in order for the safety of our fire and our depart our police department, we would require that our the windows of all the businesses would be accessible for them to view, not being fully covered. And there's many b

businesses that now have their full windows covered. And and what I'm what I'm what I want to bring up is the fact that if we place an ordinance and we require one to do, all should do. And and um it's not about picking on businesses for their, you know, attacking them for not getting the economic structure they should have. It's about just keeping policy as it should be. What right is wrong, wrong is right. So and and um if we pay for a sign, well then you put the sign up, right? But I'm just asking I thought we were discussing a couple of months ago the fact that you know there's people just plugging in signs everywhere and we're trying to beautify our downtown and if you're putting a sign up and you're just putting a poll with a flag up well is that what are we doing about it and who's who's held accountable to make sure that they adhere to that. That's all that's all I'm

No and and I get that and um you know I thank you for the discussion on that. Um and so some of those as mentioned um are a function of code enforcement. So making sure that our code enforcement is up to date and is when they're out there seeing that that they are um noting it down so that way they can go and uh cite the property owner per our ordinance. Um we already have a fairly robust one, but we it can be you know changed any way that the council sees fit. If we want to add more signs on there, um, we potentially can. Um, but then I would defer to Neil on some of that because then you have obvious, uh, you know, first amendment issues that also come up as well with private property and, uh, signage. But especially within the right ofway, especially for blocking um, um, fire escapes, emergency exits, that type of thing, then that's where we have that opportunity. um signs that cause issues with um you know distractions, blinking, blaring, that type of thing. And and so um and I thought there was so one of the examples that she put in there is Witson Street corridor um um had quite a bit of those uh banner flags that were up within the public rideway uh working with our code enforcement making sure that they were going out and sighting. Then that got cleaned up and everything. So, it's making sure that uh we're doing that and that we're applying it equally to everyone.

Yeah, that does look that's a big big, you know, before and after on page 157 of the packet. That's good. And just to clarify in the banners, because it all kind of started here, I think a few months ago with the banners, but the citizen reaching out and the police chief weighing in, um the banners are not allowed to be on the rightway. No signs are allowed to be in the public right away, but what about banners in someone's property? You know, say um on on Witson, are banners still legal to put out these these types of banners that you see in the before page? of uh the street corridor if you would move that banner in to someone's land. Banners are still legal, but there's just the timing of when they can be out on property. Is that correct?

Yeah. So, specifically for businesses and so on. I'm that would go then to um a sign review essentially with our planning department for review of a permanent sign, temporary sign, and those conditions that would be allowed then on that. Uh if they don't have that, if they haven't gone through that process, then it would be a citation from code enforcement. Once again, there would need to be an application filled out for that sign to put a banner on your business property. And if that's properly executed, then have at it. But if not, then you can't put that banner out there, right?

So what would be the price for that? If it was a temporary sign, it'd be $235 fixed fee, right? Okay. Yeah. Just clarification. So, no signs can be put in the back of a pickup and driven around. Whether those signs advertise Oh, that one. I don't know. That one is I think a California vehicle code and I I would have to defer to those signs of a advertising or even political nature couldn't be put in the back of a pickup and driven around for exposure basis. That's correct. That's my understanding. That would be a mobile sign. Um and

correct. Also on bank that's that does there's no exemption for political signs within that category. Is that correct? um that it is in there. Sorry. That's my understanding. There are specific

Got it. So, it's just a public safety issue prohibition on trailers, trucks, or similar conveyance. Thank you. Okay. And then um in terms of the page 156 at the bottom, all legal non-conforming signs must be brought into compliance within 20 years of chapter adoption. I think we met days, right? Yeah. That years that would that would be quite a while

which may may some like does anybody from the public have any questions or comments about the sign ordinance? Hi, good evening. Lesie Nelson, 2413 Country Club Lane. Um, first of all, I wanted to thank you all very much for your support in the Pride flag. That meant a lot to a lot of people and um, really appreciate that. Um, I think we're talking about the feather banners that have been around town for quite a while and they start to get real frayed and they fall apart. So, pretty soon all you see are the the the rim of the whole um, banner. So, that was my question is um is if they're not allowed to put them up and then they're starting to fall apart, how does that all work as far as you know having them take them down? Does that fall under public works again or code enforcement, I'm sorry?

Yes, code enforcement um would be responsible for that. Additionally, um we do use public works for assistance with uh removal of uh signage as well. Okay. I know out by Home Depot that there's um a car dealership out there that most of their banners are just completely falling apart. So, I didn't know if that was something that um I even stopped and thought about stopping asking them if they might be able to put, you know, take them down, but I don't know if I'm stepping over the line there. But um I I just didn't know what the policy was until it was explained a little bit clearer. I the feather banners sometimes were just when Chevron station came up there were six or seven or eight um of the feather banners and I there were a lot of people I think complaining and I said you know ask council I don't know how that works so that was my question. I didn't know what the plan was for those banners around town.

Yeah, we're working with um our code enforcement on addressing those and and getting those down. I think the chief's involved in that too as well, right? That was that floral business association he talked about. I think that's what you're talking about. Yeah. Thank you so much. No problem. Thank Thank you. Anybody else with a comment? Anybody online or on the phone with a comment on this item? Mayor, I see no hands raised. Hey, that was a discussion item. With that, we will move on to item 45, which is an action item. It's consideration of resolution 2026 39R awarding contract to Aison Construction Inc. for the Thompson Floral Alley sewer crossconnect project.

Thank you, Mayor, member of the member the council. Uh yes, this project is a um a project that came up while SKF was doing a repair on a sewer project in the alley. They noted during construction that there was a storm drain from one of the residences that was tied into the sewer and that's uh not allowed. Uh so uh the city at that point we proposed a project to remove that connection and uh in order to do that you have to handle the drainage that is the storm drain water. So this project uh has been designed it went out to bid in March. Uh we got um eight different contractors to bid on it which is a good turnout for construction. All of the um uh bids were under our estimate which is also good for the city. Um so this uh resolution we're recommending that you award this project to Aison Construction Inc. Uh after reviewing the bids they are the the lowest responsive bidder. Uh you'll note there was one bid less than their number, but it was an incomplete uh bid package received by the deadline on bid date. Um so there was a page missing that didn't have the number on it. Uh they submitted their page after the deadline and we reviewed uh that with public works director. We reviewed that bid but uh in our recommendation they uh is not a responsive bid because it was not complete. So therefore, we're recommending Aison Construction uh for this work. You'll notice the uh contingency that we're proposing and the construction management amount. Uh the funds for this project have been uh included in our CIP and the budgeting. This is for local transportation funds or LTF. Uh so all of those funds will be

used for this project. So, we would recommend approval of this item. And where's it? Where's this located? Trying to visualize it. Sure. This is at the intersection of Thompson and Floral. It's just east Oh, okay. Right there. Just east of Thompson and just south of Floral. The projectary south of the cemetery. Okay. Yep. So, when the project is done, that alley will be uh paved. There will be a valley gutter, storm drain system. uh unfortunate uh reason to have to do the project, but the alley will be repaired and this will be uh good for quite a while for that alley. How common is that for a storm drain to empty into a sewer line?

It's not common. When SKF did their master plan, part of their master plan, they installed u meters throughout the collective system where they could tell when it rains. They can kind of tell when there are cross connections. there were there were very few if any that were noted in their master plan for the city of Selma. Um if we find them then we just have to take care of them.

If if I could uh piggyback a little bit on that too. One of the things to consider on these types of projects those cross connections are what is referred to as ini. INI is rainwater that's entering into our sewer system. And the thing to think about is we pay for gallons per day of treatment at SKF's plant. Our objective ultimately is to remove all of the INI cross connections from our sewer system to reduce the rates that we're paying for treatment at the plant. So this is a very needed project for the city of Selma.

How much do you think this will renew reduce the bill from SKF for the city of Selma on an annual basis? We would have to go back and look at that flow information from the flow meters that were installed a couple years ago during the rain events. Um, we could get that tabulation put together. It would take some time to go through all of that data. Yeah, they just sent us their most recent uh flows last week, I think. I think you were right. But it's not an insignificant number. It it depends on the connection. It depends on the area of where the rainwater is being collected. Save the city. Sounds good. Anybody else comment?

I have a quick question. Has the city of Selma done any work with Evasian Construction? Have you used them before? Uh, yeah, I'm familiar with them. They, I believe, did the work on Highland Avenue at Rose. It was a street project, a paving project. Um, we're familiar with their work and they met all the requirements in the bid package. I've worked with them on previous projects as well. They're reputable and good. It's really good turnout for this. A lot of companies that came out. Anybody from public with a comment? Anybody online or on the phone with a comment about this agenda item? Mayor, I see no hands raised. Great. Is there a motion to approve this item? I'll make a motion. Is there a second?

I'll second. Call the role, please. Mayor Tim Gara. Yes. Council member, you can do it. Josea. Council member Avalos. Yes. Council member Trujillo. Yes. Mayor Robertson. Yes. Item passes. Moving on to next item which is 46. This is a discussion item and it's the old police department parking lot conversion. Report please.

Sure. Mayor, members of the council, this is an item that the council requested that public works and our office take a look at as a potential uh conversion from a city police department parking lot, which is gated and locked to an open parking lot available for the public. Uh, Director Han and I visited the site. We walked it uh looked at the condition. Um, so our office then based on that visit and direction and direction from director Han created just a quick concept of what we believe from an engineering standpoint would be needed to bring it up to a standard adequate enough for the public including uh ADA compliance for a parking stall. Uh, in my quick opinion, the the pavement itself is in good condition. There are some cracks that would need to be what we call crack filled and then would probably just slurry seal the top. So there's no repaving. We're not having to really demolish anything on the parking lot itself. We'll end up restriping it so that the stalls are clear. Um most of the cost that's going to go into this project is to remove the wall uh around the the parking lot itself. uh there's no proposed changes to the actual police department building. So, what we're talking about is just the parking lot. Uh the the wall, the gates that there's going to be a cost there to demolish that. Uh and then the sidewalk adjacent to the parking lot on the what I'll call north and east side. Uh there it's mostly not compliant. So, we'll we'll need to remove and replace just the sidewalk itself, including the drive approaches. uh those are not that those do not currently meet our standard. So, and the curb ramp at the corner would be redone as well. So, in the end, if we take this project on, you'll have an open public

parking lot. You'll have a complete compliant sidewalk on the two sides for the public with the curb ramp. And then, uh we've budgeted to replace or be able to create one ADA stall on the parking lot. So that would be there would be some construction within the the footprint. Uh the proposal and the cost would be a concrete slab u stripe it as an ADA stall. It's easiest way to make those compliant. U with this we've also talked to Fresno County the CDBG staff that um we work with. Uh we explained the project, explained what we were trying to do, what the council has asked us to look at and uh Fresno County believes that this project is appropriate to use CDBG funds for, especially since we're redoing all the sidewalk. It falls within the sidewalk connectivity project that they have for Selma. Uh our engineers estimate of 175,000 is under uh the annual aotment that the city gets that we've been using. the city's been using for sidewalk connectivity in the southwest. So, if the as this as just a discussion item, if there's any um input from council or change to what our concept is, that's what we're looking for. But we would uh then look for direction that if the council would like us to proceed with this project as a CDBG project, we'll communicate that to Fresno County. You'll you'll see the agreement then come back in a few months with this as the project.

You're just looking for consensus from us tonight to move or any other direction or change it. I've included a little drawing that's just a concept so you kind of see what I've talked about. The engineers estimate is there as well. That's all. We haven't done any design yet, but that's our our planning estimate.

I have a question for you. Can I Okay. Could we do a CIP three-year project using CDBG and could you guys come up with a plan? I'm just I'm just speaking on my behalf and say that this part this this area here want phase one will be just you know tearing whatever it down and and I'm just talking about because 175 maybe we're going to want to do more things but creating a CIP project for three years and using that um maybe expanding the scope so we could really be able to use it and do other things with it. Um that is that doable? I'm not sure if I understand the the question.

So, let's just say that it's more than 175,000 and we decide to make this project a two to threeyear project. Could we still use the CDBG funds in in the phase this way?

I I believe so. I think it's a part of talking with Fresno County. The city receives their their aotment annually. Um the money is from HUD. So, Fresno County is is very it's important that that those funds get used annually. And so the sidewalk connectivity project that the city's been working on, that's a this is phase four, phase five. So every year we just continue to do more sidewalk. So this fits within that realm as far as Fresno County is concerned. So if you if this pro if you are asking to make a a larger project beyond just this little parking lot, uh I I think you could look at it as one big project and phase it for this year to try and uh keep the cost within your CDBG aotment and then next year do phase two. If you're I'm not putting words in your mouth, but if it's this, do this parking lot this year and do another parking lot and improve it next year downtown. It would have to fit within Fresno County's program for the city, which is sidewalk connectivity.

They generally don't like um uh acrewing CDBG funds otherwise. So, so even if even if we decided to say we're going to use CDBG money for the next x amount of years and we dedicate this project, they want to see that. Correct. Correct. they're they're even better. That's more of a way of showing that that's what we're doing. From my uh conversations with the county, it's important that uh they that those funds that are allotted to the city based on your current contract is being used. Uh there are there are ways to share those funds, but it is recommended that we use them for Selma. We get something done this year and continue to improve the community

and and for council. Well, the only reason why I bring this up is because uh you know as well as I do that when we start talking about improving a a piece of land, we are we we come up with something different and something else, right, to add to our community. So, a CIP project would be would be a beneficial for our community. And I think that's the key. This is just just prototypical block grim project right here. They're always very specific about it from what I've seen. They want to see, you know, that it matches the theme of the city. Sidewalk connectivity is exactly what we've been doing for years. They're very specific about where it can be applied. And that's really good news. I mean, this this really fits that. Sounds like very very well. Question I have about the specific project. Love the funding source. Love how quickly we can get moving on this. Um, but why remove the block walls? Is that absolutely something necessary? I'm just thinking, you know, if you kept the walls, then maybe you could make it a more secure facility in the future. Is that not a public parking hallmark or what are we looking at?

I I the recommendation to remove the walls is for open space and visibility and safety. It's a block. It's visibility in terms of PD being able to drive by and see if there's anybody getting harassed or or hiding or hiding in the parking lot. It's different than a rod iron fence that you could see through and make sure nothing is happening. This is a block wall that's solid and it's only open where the the driveways are. And so it's very it's not visible. So our recommendation is to remove it so that it's open, safe. It it needs to be a public park to meet these requirements as well.

Okay. If I could real quick, um during the discussion on the sidewalk with the city engineer and myself, some of those things like removal of the block wall are some things that public works can look at doing inhouse to save fund to save money uh on the project and we did discuss that. Um so there could be an opportunity for public works to do the demolition of the wall. Um, and then if I could real quick, part of the reason, just so everybody understands that we were discussing with the county, the CDBG, there were a couple of agencies that opted out of it during this round. And so there's some money still lingering there. So there's an opportunity because it meets the requirements for that kind of project for us to get in early on some of the funds that are still sitting there. Um, there will be some, if I understand it correctly, if we opt to do that, there will be some finagling of funds for future allocations because we're taking more than what our allotted amount was, but uh, it could move the project uh, really quickly.

As Councilman Osagger said, that that parking lot on High Street definitely needs some work. The sidewalk needs work. The parking lot itself, there are a couple trees there is really narrow when you park in there. So maybe that that might be a potential project for the future as well. Scott, you know, David, um, and Han. Okay. I was on the wall. What if you drop it down maybe maybe 2 and 1/2 ft, a 3ft wall? Cuz if I'm not mistaken, uh, that the old police station should have a camera outside that uh, facility already. surveillance camera.

I'm not familiar if that's still working or not. Yeah, I'm not sure about the camera. We could check into that, but I I can say with almost absolute certain should be still intact. I can say with almost absolute certainty that for safety, for public safety, that that wall will need to be removed because even a two and a half or 3ft wall, somebody could be laying behind it and awaiting uh somebody in the dark to come back to a vehicle. I think if we pass this around the table with the executive staff, the recommendation would come from public safety to remove the wall.

Yeah. It's the reason why you see a lot of uh um tunnel slides and parks have disappeared over the years. They're fairly narrow, but people hide in them and do illicit activities. So, uh it's that same sort of consideration. Reality's unfortunately. So, will there be lighting in this area? There there's lights there now and we're proposing just to leave those lights when we talked to director Han to leave those. If we need additional lighting, I know the solar lights is something that we've been looking to use as well. So that would be an option. If we need to add that during our design, we can do that and make sure we stay within the budget.

So if you get consensus today, what's the timeline on this looking like? So, so the consensus and direction with city manager to make sure that we communicate that to Fresno County, I need to let them know that this is our project for for next year. Uh there we could start designing right away. Um the reimbursement from CDBG won't be available until the agreements are signed in August typically. Um, so it's up to the council to uh or or the city manager to tell us to get started now. We can do that. Have the plans ready um so that in the fall we could go out to bid uh and then it's it's your choice on a financial standpoint of being reimbursed for all of this money. And Fresno County told us that there's no issue with that. It's totally up to the council. uh that you aren't you don't have to wait to start anything until the agreement is done. It's just you're not going to get reimbursed until that time.

Got it. So, it's a reimbursement agreement.

I have one more question. Okay. You say the county allocates 224,000 per year to the city of Selma. And if this project is going to run roughly about 175 175,000, there's a remaining of 49,000. Can we still use that amount for the other parking lot? Like because that that parking lot really needs a lot of help. I mean, it's it's those trees are lifting those sidewalks. I'm shocked that those weren't removed when they removed the the trees on High Street. And when you park there, if you have a pretty bigized vehicle and someone else, there is no way anybody can get through. And that's why a lot of people don't like to park there. And people that have to park there because there's a funeral going on, well, they don't. A lot of times they're not from Selma, so they're going to park there, but it's dangerous and people's vehicles have gotten hit. So, would we be able to allocate some of that money to that parking lot?

I we can talk to Fresno County about it and make sure that's appropriate. I think if we tie it to sidewalk connectivity like um we're saying then you know it makes it more likely right and uh similar to this last year's project we designed the sidewalk connectivity and then included certain number of them as add alternate pieces of the bid so that if the bids come in too high and now you're over your allotment uh we can this we can choose to not accept those ad alternates to to kind of scale the project. So that may be appropriate to keep it separate in the bid

and if it is within budget or if the council wants to allocate money from a local fund then you have that choice as long as it meets the requirements of Fresno County then we could definitely look at that. Okay. Thank you. Anybody from the public with a comment? Lesie Nelson. So, I may not be understanding this, but why would we not concentrate on the parking lot downtown before doing the one by the police department? I don't know if I'm is not what's happening. No. So, the first one would be to open up parking and and the whole reason for this is because,

you know, the tree stalls came in and they eliminated a certain amount of parking spaces. So, this is to build back those parking spaces and even even more. Oh, to add more and uh and then to worry about the other parking area later if if we can allocate the extra money toward if there's money for it under the block. All right. Thank you,

Rose Robertson. So, we're going to be adding a good 30. Do we know how many parking spaces do we know? Oh, well, you know, that's 25.

Okay, that's very positive. Um, also, I mean, hopefully this moves forward because as we all know, we need parking. Um, will there be uh opportunity later on to maybe put um parking stalls with solar? I mean, we're eventually going to need solar for some of our buildings that don't have it. Um, you know, we're we're getting a lot more lights in our downtown. I mean, they're lower lights. I mean, they're out the low voltage, but, you know, that's something to consider or protect our our parking lot. I mean, our vehicles under the car ports just like the Selma High School. I always love parking there when we have to go to their um events or do something because, you know, your car is going to be protected. But I think solar eventually may help that PG& bill come down because if you see those um PG& bills, they're they're pretty pretty high. So that could be a win-win situation. So thank you

regarding the electrification and potential solar uh facilities. Um as Sonia mentioned earlier, that's one of those grants uh planning grant that we're uh pursuing right now that we have uh submitted for I believe. And um so that way we can look at some of those facilities and then go out and get uh grant funding for a charger in the parking lot that's uh that's north of that

a public parking and it's electrify America. It's really old and it takes forever to charge. But I always see cars plugged in over there because it's free. Plug it in. Okay. But uh if we could come up with like a current version of that that would be even better for the for the public to use. Anybody online or on the phone with a comment on this agenda item? Mayor, I see no hands raised. With that, this council give consensus to the city manager and the city engineer to move forward with the block grant. Yeah, I'm good. Yes. Okay. So, we got consensus. All right. Thanks.

That we'll move on to item 47, which is an action item consideration of resolution 2026-40R, accepting the city of Selma tactical urbanism report. Yes. Thank you again, mayor and city council. Uh as mentioned this is to accept the city of Selma tactical urbanism report. Um at this time I'll introduce Javier Andrade with&m consulting engineers who worked with the city on uh this study and uh they'll walk us through some of the uh findings and identified safety concerns.

Good evening Mary and council. Um yes, so I'm excited to present some of the results from PAL studies tonight and then um talk a little bit about the grants opportunity that this provided and uh go from here. So um again, Javier Andrade with&M consulting engineers. I've had the privilege to be working with city of Selma as a consultant um and working with your um public works director, city manager and city engineer and the rest of your staff on this project. Um but I'll go through Go ahead and go to the next slide. Yep. So the contents will go through introduction uh we'll go a study overview and and then review the pilot studies at the end. So the funding source for this project came from the sustainable transportation grant program which comes around every year. Um we applied uh with the city of Selma and then um uh applied for funding for this tactical urbanism. Um and the purpose was to essentially test uh lowcost and temporary solutions. Um and that's where the word uh tactical urbanism comes from. Essentially it's a way for for us to uh use low budgets to have immediate um results to see what works and what doesn't work in terms of safety improvements for the public. So um addition additionally with these funds and this u this report which was attached for the council um essentially we would identify uh safety countermeasures. So if we do find that something does work, um we we talk about why it works and then we also use the uh our tech or technical urbanism report and pilot study to help um support future grant applications to say, "Hey, we've tried it. We implemented it. Um we had public input and uh we found these results. So now uh could you provide some funding to have some some future um uh in our grant applications some future concrete improvements that would solidify a long-term project? So in terms of the overview what we did

is we formed an advisory committee with the city um advisory committee um comprised of of many people who helped which we met with every month um essentially city manager city engineer uh fire chief uh um police chief uh public works director uh planning um and a lot of other city staff but we had a pretty big group um and that we met every month and and and talked about this. So um with that group with the advisory committee uh we prioritized uh different locations based off of collision data. So we looked at all the collisions around the city of Selma and um we mapped that also uh versus the uh community survey we did citywide asking where they felt uh the city had the most unsafe intersections. We mapped that and then we identified which uh which ones are the most priority and then uh identified different ways that we could try to solve um the safety uh problem in those intersections. Um and then we uh to we found we got some speed data on each one of them either before the we implemented a pilot study on that cross-section and after and then compared those results which I have those coming up and then finally in the report we provided some recommendations some for some uh permanent improvements. Next slide. So the pilot studies. Um so pilot study one uh was a good good pilot uh study to start off with. This was one of the most unsafe intersections um at Thompson and Lewis. Um so the first safety measure we I kind of identified for this intersection was temporary bulbout uh curb extensions uh flexible post. Uh and I'm sure a lot of the council has already driven through this intersection. But this was a great uh project because we got the high school involved and and the students came out and painted each one of the the black and and white dots that see on the bulbs. Those were painted by the school uh by some of the students from the school district. Um and then also it was

an opportunity for PD uh PD came out and also painted with the students which is really great. Um all of that really buil build builds community um builds community and then uh builds uh essentially community acceptance of the project and and kind of lets the students and their parents have some stake in it saying hey I helped paint that crosswalk. So it's really important work. So in terms of the results uh of the speed studies, so after after we installed the bullouts, we had uh 16% more vehicles traveling under the speed limit of 35. And that doesn't sound like a lot. Um but 16% is is uh 720 cars per day that are going slower than 35, which previously they were going faster than 35. Why 35 is important um is because any collision with a pedestrian at uh higher than the speed limit of 35 it is considered more of a potentially uh deadly collision. So essentially you're you're uh what we're doing a 16% um uh increase of of uh vehicles going uh from faster uh going down to 35. Um, so that 16% correlates to 720 cars that day that could have had a potential deadly collision with a pedestrian. So it's actually a huge deal. Um, even though it doesn't look like a lot. Um, so we also did a community outreach where we asked the uh the community, hey um, how does it make you feel safer? And most of the results came in as as it does feel safer, feels more visible. The bold color colors also increased the driver awareness. Um and uh and and yeah, the mascot um uh also um you know helps with that too. Gets people's attention. The the whole goal of alert the driver and wake them up, right? That's uh that's what we want to do so that they know

that there's kids crossing there. Um yeah, so pilot study number two. Um this was a great really interesting project because we um we installed some zebra lines. So, a lot of people are probably asking what what are those zigzags on the road. Um, and really what where it comes from is essentially um with looking at some data for fatalities of pedestrians in the US. So, in 2021, we had 7,300 uh pedestrian fatalities. So, people that got run over, some of them kids in the US. Um, I' I'd like to ask the council to guess how much the UK uh in terms of pedestrian fatalities uh they had when the US had 7,300 in the UK. Just

5,000. So they only had 13 in the whole year. 13?

Yeah. Just 13 pedestrian fatalities. So that's a huge difference compared to our 7,000 in the US. I mean, they're they're a fifth of our population, but I mean, the numbers are are drastically different. Um, and so that essentially the striping you see here are zigzag um striping that is used in the UK to help um to help essentially wake up the driver. Again, um this is part of the the things that we wanted to see with this pilot study to see if this um type of striping would be something that that does reduce speed. And so, um, it it did reduce speed more than the bullouts. Um, and again, 17% of the vehicles that were driving faster than 35 slowed down under 35. And that equated to um 1,039 vehicles per day that are now going under 35 that previously were not. So, it's it's an additional thousand uh collisions per day that could have been deadly that that are now even even if there was a collision. Um it would be classified as as something that that wouldn't result in in

habit stick or is it just the the the novelty of seeing the zigzag lines wondering if the sign maker was drunk that day or something just bearing off or does it stick? Do people pay attention to those patterns on a regular basis? slow down.

So, it's a combination of uh of these type of solutions along with uh targeted enforcement as well in order to make those uh stay. So um by doing these and then by working with PD um there's what like four elements in order to ensure that you are increasing safety at these intersections. U engineering followed by enforcement the four E I can't remember the other two. Uh yeah, there's there's four, but essentially set of

Yeah. Okay, let me I've seen the work. Okay, but I will grant you, you know, when you see this kind of work, you you actually slowed down and pay attention. You tell yourself, who in the heck did this know the the snake lines and everything? He says, "This poor guy, was he was he okay when he did this or was you do slow down?" Yeah, it does. I will grant you it does slow down. It does it does bring attention. I will grant you that.

Uh and even in the intersection that you guys have done, I know you have to uh you are paying attention, trust me.

Yeah. And and the concept comes from from a concept called the essentially visual narrowing where um if you're driving on the freeway, you see straight lines, everything looks the same. You just feel like you can speed because everything's consistent. As soon as you break up the peripheral of the eyes, um you you have a disturbance in in in the in the in the flow. Uh making you wonder um kind of naturally like what's going on? What's different? Let me slow down and try to uh make sure everything is safe. And that's kind of where the the concept for the zebra lines come in. It really breaks up the edge lines of of your peripherals. Um it also does visual narrowing and then breaking out breaking down um visual monotony essentially is what what we call it. Um yeah, that we we also installed um some uh an in uh an inroad crossing sign which is uh essentially pedestrians crossing here um stop for pedestrians. Um so this was a combination of three elements. the the the the stop sign, the the the um zigzags and also the bots dots which you know give that vibration essentially before you come to the crosswalk. Um and and this was an amazing feat by public works. Um I didn't install any of this. I just designed it with with our committee. Um public works installed everything. They they uh were working with us that day. It was extremely hot and they were out there. Um, you know, hats off to them, really working with us. These are not standard things that that are in in a manual somewhere. These are things that we're doing to try to help save lives and they really stepped up to make sure. So, I really appreciate you guys um doing that. Really good to work with you guys. Um, okay, we can go to the next one.

It was hot. Bunch of engineers sweating out there. the tape, but it's good. Um, so pilot study number three, u Mitchell Avenue in Nebraska. Um again this this pilot study was at a uh a high priority intersection um there's as people come into town and there is a school down the street here um a lot of times the students are crossing there after school before school and and you got high you have high um high speed traffic coming up uh Nebraska and uh so essentially with this pilot study we we f a thematic crosswalk it this type of safety measure also looks at how do I make the crosswalk colorful and how do I make it stand out. On top of that is community building because we built uh we reached out to the the school district which sent over uh some students that actually painted all the um all the crowns with public works as help of course um on the crosswalk. Um and uh essentially this is not a project that where you can get natural speed data from because it's at a four-way stop, but this is a project that does uh that is needed to to um to wake up uh traffic and let them know that there's there's children nearby. uh sometimes crowns um you know books painted on crosswalks uh remind uh uh drivers that this kids are around here and and they they do cross here and it's not just the freeway coming in from out of town. Um the other thing we also installed was bot dots again the the rumble strips on the on the on the road to help alert the driver before they get to to the crosswalk. And then also this one we installed a hardened center line which is essentially it's those orange cones in the center of the lane. And those those um those delineators uh

essentially give you a hard center line. So again it works as visual narrowing. It makes you feel like I better slow down before I get to this this uh what looks to be an obstruction. Not an obstruction. It's the center line where traffic was not supposed to be. Anyways, the other thing it does also is it makes the vehicle uh stop at the crosswalk all the way through and have a a perpendicular view with the pedestrian on both sides. Um and so that it stops them from turning early. Um so uh which which again creates that perpendicular view to to pedestrians to to uh so they can actually see kids as they're crossing across the street. And yeah, the plaster number four um ride and burnham uh standard uh I guess it's not a standard speed bump, but this is a speed cushion. Um these cushions are designed to allow emergency vehicles to to ride through them without um being impacted by the speed bumps. Um and then also um in terms we with speed data before and after we saw a similar um increase of traveling pe of uh pedestrians traveling less than 35. So u uh we we uh so 16% of drivers that were going above 35 miles an hour are now going under. Um so it actually had a similar result to zigzags and to the um the bulbouts between 16 17% is what we're seeing uh uh of um of decrease in speeding deadly speeding is is what we're we're we're actually talking about here. Um and so with this one we had a community uh feedback they just say that the crosswalk feels safer. um um community said that they forces drivers to slow down and uh the only caveat to this was that um uh PD, fire department and many other um and and public works

staff noticed that traffic are would now go um into the oncoming lane to avoid having to hit the speed bump. Um and uh and so that creates another hazard there. Um the another like easy solution for that is to add Yeah, I put them on the other side of the road. Um, we're limited with the funding on this because of planning grant. So, we had to make certain decisions, but but uh that's something that the city can look at in the future. Well, and then I think to the other uh cave on that is that within the study itself uh when it comes to the speed cushions that while there is a 16% uh reduction down to the 35 it was right at that point and and then initially after they hit that then they sped back up uh to uh over 35 again.

Do we care though? I mean that's right in front of the high school. Yes, it's terrible that they speed up after the speed cushions, but is that like where the kids cross because those kids walk every day to the high school from there? That is like ground zero, right? It was put before the crosswalks in order to um bring awareness to them so they get aware. Yeah, I hit a speed cushion. I'm aware and the crosswalk is coming up. So, I'm really going to probably see people c I think that's the whole point.

Yeah. Speed is important because it's, you know, if they're hit somebody over 35, it's potentially fatal. But I think the whole point is getting the awareness up and reducing the speed. And then these ones were chosen as was stated for emergency uh response. That was one of the other E the four E that I mentioned earlier. So it's education, um engineering, enforcement, and emergency response. There are these sort of mix and match. You try different techniques like you could have put in the bot you could have put the bot dots right there too and it may have done the same thing. Is that right? Is there a rhyme or reason to why you put the particular

So that was our final location for the study and we had an immense amount of uh input from council about speed bumps or speed cushions. Uh so we felt because it's caddyy corner, you have the elementary school and the high school at that intersection that that would be a good location for our final pilot pilot study and to give those that data to the council for them to review. So,

I will note if I can um there, um the fire department said that they had to slow down anyways for the speed cushions just because they have a large engine and uh if they clip it wrong, it's it's a it's a it's it's a hazard for them. So, um the fact that it pretty much provided the same results as the bulbouts um with with the bullouts having zero impact on the emergency is something that the council should consider going forward. So, thank you for allowing us to work on on this amazing project and thank you for your report.

Yeah. So ultimately uh this is an a to accept the study that was presented and what we will do with this study is um I see that Sonia had left but we'll use this study to uh go after grants or um adopt them um into existing projects um as we move forward. Um it gives good valuable information on on putting that in there and we know how they will uh work in certain areas.

Yeah. On another adjacent on those pro you know grants like he just explained is there a lot of money in that in your project grants in that in your area that that funding round comes around every year. In other words, other words, if we want to apply it again, can we apply again or we have to wait a year or so? How does that work on your on your end?

I can I can answer. Um yeah, so STP um the safety uh transportation program um comes around every year and it's only for planning. So this is considered planning even though we're kind of implementing this work. This that's why I really like doing this type of work because you're you're you're planning in a sense, but you're having real impact. You're saving lives. Um, so yeah, this funding comes around every year and and we could apply for the next round, do a phase two if we wanted.

But then funding programs, funding programs like ATP, active transportation program, safe routes to school, uh stuff like that um are uh eligible grants that we can go after and use this as a backup data to augment and increase our chances of getting those fundings. And with the measure C programs, whether you're for the T4A or whether you're for the FO, there's a component that could be used for safe routes to school. That's assuming that one of them one of them passes. Um because I think city had safe routes to school from COG and I think that money has been um dedicated so far. We actually referred to this study in its draft form and I think that helped us helped the city get the safe route to school money for that Rose Avenue location.

That's awesome.

I have a quick question. I think this is a great project and I really appreciate all your guys' hard work because it was something that was very needed in the city of Selma. So, I want to thank you guys for all of that. Um, I just want to make a comment in regards to the painting. What you guys did behind the high school, you know, at Sahigh, it's bold. Those colors are bold and you can really notice it. But when you go to uh the sec this one on Mitchell in Nebraska where Eric White is, the little the crayons, you can tell now that it's fading. So it kind of, you know, it's I just think that if you go with bold colors, it stands out. And this is kind of fading now. And at least you still have those buttons that are there, but even those I think you guys had to replace those pretty quickly. Um there's just re that's just my recommendation because I know it gets really busy there as well and you know I hate to see them not having the same protection that everybody you know the other schools are having. So just something to think

if I could just jump in real quick. So um keep in mind that these are temporary study fixtures. Okay. Um so there are paints and other products that can be used that are more permanent. Um, part of the reason the buttons came off is because we use the smaller uh adhesive patches u because it is a temporary study. So there are options to um look at other products that are more permanent pavement marking products. These were meant to be temporary. Okay.

So u we can definitely look into that. And I have to tell you, out of all the studies, the crayons to me were amazing. The way and and it is a four-way stop, so there's not traffic passing through without stopping completely. Again, that was to identify those crosswalks and to let people know there's an elementary school right here, and you need to slow down for the children. And it looks like when you look at the permanent solutions on page 242, you already kind of thought about the speed cushions not being as good for the emergency response vehicles and you substituted bots bots dots which have no problem with emergency vehicles. Is that right? Is there any issue there? Okay. So the permanent solutions so that if if we move forward with this um the next thing we're going to see is the cost to permanently install these permanent solutions here and then how will that be allocated? How will the funding be allocated for the to install the permanent solutions?

So if I can there's two of the pilot studies that have already been funded. So the um Thompson Avenue at Lewis is part of the HSIP money that has been allocated that's under design as well as the other side of the high school. That's one big project. The Rose Avenue I referred to that's the safe routes to school that has been funded through the measure C. So my understanding of the study and I believe what Javier was saying is that if you adopt this study becomes a planning document for the city to the CM's U statement that now you can take this study and go get funding to help make these permanent. So I don't believe this is we're not showing you these are going to be the permanent. This is a permanent solution or solutions that have shown um reduction in speeds. So then when you go apply for outside funding, you're more competitive and can potentially get funding in order to make something permanent. At any location in the city, these should apply based on the statistics,

but a couple of the these intersections have already been applied for permanent solutions and they're they're coming. They got funding. Yes. Yeah. The high school. Okay. Okay. And um I I would reiterate what uh what Mayor Prom said. It's just it fades. And we just want to make sure the colors stay bright to keep people, you know, like I asked, how sustainable is this? If people just like, okay, well, I'm going through colors again. We just want to make sure that we keep gathering that attention, keep getting that attention um on a on a on a constant basis. Um, do we have any comment from the public? Do we heard any

Oh, go ahead. you know on the on the paints you know even though it's it's a study can you uh develop paint that's glows in the dark you know certain paints that glow in the dark know they can you know night time they could see it innovation you know just thinking about that they do have some reflective types of paint that are thermal paints that again we can look at permanent materials once we adopt where those are going to be installed. So, that's something we can look at.

I'd like to just say real quick, thank you to&m. It's been a great project to work with you guys on and a special shout out to Graciella. You uh you took this project by the horn and uh you really did a great job. So, I appreciate that. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you both. Really appreciate. Good job. And do we have any comments from the public? Hi, mayor. Hi, everybody. Um, they did a good job. Okay. Your name? Oh, my name is Anita Gonzalez. I live at 2743 Sierra Mon Court.

Thank you for coming out.

Sorry. Okay. They did a good job, but you see weeds and everything in the back of the high school that needs to be taken and it's faded. You can't really see. Can't they put like uh lights on the street or something they could stop? I You know what? Cuz I go, they do speed. They're not slowing down cuz you know what? My granddaughter got hurt. You know, the lights were on. I'm doing this for all the kids. You guys need to do a better job. You know, I just pray to God it doesn't happen to your guys' kids. She was in a coma for two minutes and I prayed and I don't want this to happen to nobody's kids. I love you know I volunteer at Indiola you know I did volunteer you know being the crosswalk people was the kids the the parents were going fast and you know what I go to back of the high school I go to front of the school I park right there. They're not slowing down. We need to do a better job. The bumpers they could, you know, who cares about fire department, it's care about these kids, their lives. You know, it's not only my granddaughter I'm fighting for. Her friend uh her friend got hurt, too. You know, you guys weren't there at the hospital. You know, I thank God and I thank a lot of people for praying for my for my granddaughter and her friend. I could have lost my granddaughter and I don't want this to happen to any kids. Please open your eyes and do a better job. You guys want to for the fire department because of their cars, their trucks. It's to save a kid. You know, I I'm shy and when it comes to

kids, I'm going to stick up for the kids. And I am back there seeing if they're slowing down. They're not slow. And you guys did a good job. Okay. Very good job. But go look at the weeds back there. That makes s ugly. If you guys going to do a job, do a better job. And the paint is coming off. And you can see it's fading like the way Sarah said. You guys need to do something. Thank you. Thank you,

Rose Robertson. So, I I think the project being colorful and all great, hands down, but I'm confused. Um, is there anywhere I can read or where um and why the trucks are, you know, um, at risk for safety reason because they're pretty pretty heavy. Fire trucks are pretty heavy and I'm trying to trying to understand, you know, when they go pretty quickly, they're really running over foam cushion, right? And the only reason why I'm saying that is because we have a secondary office in the Monterey Peninsula area and we're always in the Selenus area for we're going to be celebrating 25 years. So we go over there a lot and they probably put their um their speed foam bumpers probably maybe close to a decade now and they're right by the elementary schools as well. And it it it's very interesting. I think I'm going to call that city and see if the fire departments if it ever had any problems there because I just drove by there the other day and they're still there. So, I'm just confused why it's it's it's a hazard to a very heavy vehicle and I'm not putting it down. I'm just I don't understand it, you know. And I think the speed bumps have always helped us slow down. And a matter of fact, if you go to the new Costco on Clovis and you turn right on before Shaw to be able to go on Clovis, if you continue to go down, I believe it's that street that have these hard speed bumps and those I could see maybe uh having some, you know, damage to the vehicles because I went quickly thinking, you know, it you know, you go through that motion where you're like,

"Oh, darn." You know, but the the the foam, is that the correct word? Foam speed bumps or what what are they called?

Rubber. Rubber foam. Rubber. Um, so I I just has there been any tragedy with the fire truck anywhere in the city? So maybe I could read on that and maybe understand it a little bit because I completely am not understanding um um the that that part. Yes, we can we can provide some additional information, but it's not so much uh regarding dangerousness to the vehicle. Um it's uh more a concern of response times um and having to slow down um slows down a response time if they're responding to an emergency. Um and when we know that uh when we had Chief Webster's report uh last council about you know every second every minute counts um when they're responding to something. So that's the concern on on from that side. Um and then additionally if there are sudden jarring things yeah there you know for these vehicles are quite heavy it could you know do something but that's you know not not our concern on that you know safety is a concern and it like the study shows the speed cushions do work and they are effective um but then the bots dots um are just as uh effective as well at doing the same thing without having that uh decrease in response.

So I think the question I should also ask them when I call if there's been response, you know, that takes away from their emergencies. So just so I could get an update from from the uh city of Selenus, they have them all over their schools. Thank you. Have a comment uh to follow up on the citizens comments. Um have you ever been to the city of Parlier? Talk about speed bumps. How do they deal with it? And they're not the phone speed bumps. I mean, you go through one of the streets and they're like there's a lot of them and you have to go and you go a little bit about from here to where Mr. Horn is and you have to go over another one and another one and I how do they do it? They're everywhere. Speedy relations. I'm just sir.

Yes. Brian Maris, um I agree with the fellow community members as well and council member um OA. I don't I find it very hard as well finding that other communities around us have similar or not the old school speed CB bump speed bumps like Fresno, Vicelia, Hanford. So again, the question is how do they deal with that? You know, is there something that they're doing right that we're doing wrong that we're not seeing? Um because you know we are again you know we are talking about kids crosswalks um anybody that's walking and near the schools again it is a safety I do see you know the side of it you know the the calls coming in to get to the you know the those to get those to those calls immediately but again like I said you know it it doesn't make any sense that other communities are are have those speed bumps that we're asking for and how how do how are they doing it so I think there should be maybe like collaboration maybe more and more research to that u before we make a final decision. Thank you.

Yeah. And as stated, I mean they're they're within our study as one of you know an option that's available to us. Exactly. Point is to reduce the speed and people there's a public outcry for speed cushions. There's a outcry for spot dots but just lower the speed and no more no more injuries like that lady has experienced back there. So, um, definitely. Okay. This is an action item. Do, uh, is there a, is there a motion to approve this, uh, City of Selma tactical urbanism report? I'll make it. Is there a second? Call the RO, please.

Council member Avalos. Yes. Council member Thrujillo. Yes. Council member Oera. Yay. Yes. Mayor Perim Gara. Yes. Mayor Robertson. Yes. All right. With that passes and we are moving on to the future agenda items. Council requests for future agenda items not subject to public comment items require a consensus. Councilman Avalos. Uh yeah, I'd like to have an update um on the old Semark building on their I think the holdup is their permits. I know they've been work they've been working on it out there. Uh

they'll state food. State food. State food. That's okay. State Farm office. No, no, no, no. That's fine. It's late. I don't throw you off in those that road thing here, the bumps. Uh, and also also let me have a I want the council have a current update on the the the developments that we have on in our close in finishing up our update as far as our projects as far as uh amberwood projects and things that we that we're going to start up you know the timeline you know when it's going to finish and everything. That's all I got to say. Thank you.

Consensus on those ones. I'm good with update. Or we can get the update on the um on our project um spreadsheet that we used to get before and it gave all the updates and where we are and so forth, all the new businesses coming in. We can get that. Great. I don't have anything. I don't think so. April 10. Um, well, we're speaking of solar, so I'd like to go, it doesn't have to be on the next agenda, but just in the future, I'd like to look at considering solar for the city of Selma and help reduce the cost of our electricity.

Um, in front of uh Oh, is there a consensus for solar? Yes. In front of Redpos. We had the owner here tonight. Um, there's the handicap designated parking spot, but there's is there any sign there? Don't we Aren't you supposed to have a sign with the Can we look at that? See if we could put one in there. And can we look at the curbing there, too? We were talking about that tonight with block grant. Um, apparently there are some a lot of people that go in. Some some are pretty vocal about not having those um the curbs the ramps up the curbs. If you look at the the corner there ADA compliance. Yeah.

Can we add that to the list for um potential block grant money?

Number two, I had a citizen is there consensus for that? Everybody good with that? Number two, I had a resident um ask for bike racks at the parks. People are, you know, riding bikes. There are no bike racks to to park their bikes, tie up lock their bikes up. Those little squiggly things with the that you put the bikes on. I don't know how much those are. We could see what those are would run. And three, can we look at the difference between a general law and a charter city? Talked with the city attorney about this. Uh city attorney maybe in the future put something together. Is there consensus to look at the difference and the potential for changing? We are a general law city. Is that correct? And what's the other kind of city?

Charter. There is only charter cities and general law cities. Okay. And then um in the future, could we have a report on the different how to become one and what the benefits and cons are? Yeah. Yes. Is there consensus to get that from our city? I can do that for you. All right. All right. Okay. Thank you. Moving on to council reports. Council Trillos, you're on the spot. No problem. Uh first I first that in my life I got up in the morning and I look in the in a picture in a mirror and good-looking guy right off the start.

I thought you were saying you saw your good-looking wife. Uh, no. I I seen it. I seen her second. You're gonna get another comment.

No, that that's my joke of the night, by the way. I'll probably be sleeping outside tonight, too. No, I I this week I visit the Christian Cafe, you know, meet with people, you know, and homeless, whatever, a cook meal. It's a great it's great charity for that church that does that and that we the family healthcare give it a uh for a cooling center for in the summer. That's great because no one wants to go to the police station and hang out. So uh and also attended the seek parade. That was a great event. Uh, you know, OC Garrett was there, Scott Robinson, Sarah, uh, a lot of dignitaries, uh, came out, you know, you know, running for office, you know, they came out to the visit, which is good. Uh, it brings a lot of people in, uh, and also our good man here. Don't want to go to your head here, Jason. He was there, too, you know, and he he did well. You had to think outside the box, give a speech, and I was impressed. You know that, you know, he shocked me.

Drama.

Yeah. No, but but it was a great event. We walked that parade and it you know what? You don't get you don't get tired of eating food. I'll be honest with you. Every I think it's every probably what hund maybe 150 yards there's food and water drink go again there's either water food pizza watermelon man you know it was it was a great u uh event uh and I got to like I said public works did a great job you know covering that graffiti real quick you know you got to tell you guys hey they did we came back less an hour it was gone I got I was impressed. U but also it was a great event. We events like that in our community. you know, that's what Sama wants to, you know, bring back, uh, you know, more advanced when you have more because when you get that many people bring, you know, when we get over 4,000 people come your in the community, especially walking down the parade and everything and they're looking at your town and they buy they buy here, buy gas, they buy food, they stay in the hotels, uh, the the the actually the seat temple, they buy they try to buy local, they buy tons of milk. Believe it or not, when they do their cooking, uh it's and the food is great. It's they freed all these people free. You just come and you can stay till they throw you out.

That's good. Thank you. Thank you, Councilman Oscar. Well, after the good-looking guy coming, I don't know what to say. I think you left me speechless. Yeah, that was a good one. But I attended the s um party at the was not a party but at the temple the function at the temple. Uh we also attended everybody here attended um the chamber mixer a Portuguese and I tell you what they had a really nice spread. So you know we're always looking you know me if there's food I'm there but uh it was very nice. Um everybody wins prizes raffle prizes. So what else do we do? That's about it. Huh? was good. Mayor Prov,

I also attended the mixer at the Portuguese Hall and I want to say, you know, they did such a phenomenal job. I mean, it was it was really nice and I think this was their first time doing a mixer, so they really they stepped it up and they really set the bar high. So, kudos to them. I also attended the seek parade and like our my colleagues are saying you know they they mentioned that it's they had over 10,000 people last year and this year they could have they said they even went there was way more so probably 15,000 people. So, that's really big for the city of Selma. And I want to give everybody so much um thank uh thanks for, you know, being public works or our our safety department, PD, you know, people mandating um security. I mean, they were all out there and they did such a great job. Um the generosity that these folks they they they give to the community is just overwhelming. They're they do nothing short. I mean, they just want to give and give and it's it's amazing. So, I'm I was proud and honored to be part of it. I've been doing this for over shoot eight years now and I'm very thankful. So, that's it for me.

Great. And it was great to see our building on that everybody's comments. Totally agree. It was great to see our cemetery district board member, our healthcare district board member, our planning commission member. They showed up as well yesterday to the the this the seek parade. It's a festival of rebirth. Like I said, you know, our city's undergoing a rebirth right now. So, it was very um very appropriate for us to be out there for the seek and they festival and they treat you like family out there. Really ve very very nice. Um so attended that. Um, I also want to give um a shout out to our communications director for going with me to um the CBS news um at noon to promote Selma events. He did some be he he did footage. He sent um a list of the events. So, it really was professionally produced um so it wasn't just, you know, me rattling off events. it was visuals as well um about the great things that are happening in Selma and that are coming to Selma that we're promoting to the community. So, just want to say um thank you to our communications director for that and to um um our city for having all these great events, you know, giving giving people a reason to come out on the on the on the weekends. Um, wanted to uh also say I attended the lowcost rabies shot clinic um on Saturday, April 11th. First time we've had that in years, so that's good. Um, attended the business improvement district meeting last Monday. I toured the Raid building for sale as a possible city community center. Um, I attended the Chamber of Commerce mixer at the Portuguese Hall. I met uh individually with three local business owners regarding Selma issues and attended the seek parade. With that, we will move on to our final um oral communications of the evening. Would anybody like to say anything at the end of the the meeting?

Anybody online or on the phone with a comment to send us off? I see no hands raised. All right, great. that we're meeting as a journal.