City Council - Regular Meeting

All right, we're back in session after close session. City attorney, do we have any reportable action from our close session tonight? No reportable action, Mr. Mayor. With that, we will adjourn our special meeting and reconvene for our regular meeting in 8 minutes at 6 pm.

Is the clock for your left or I go when he looks at me two minutes according to

we'll hear the grandfather All right, welcome everybody to the joint Selma City Council and Selma Community Enhancement Corporation meeting. It's April 7th, 2026 at 6 PM in the Selma City Council chambers at 1710 Tucker Street in Selma, California 93662. The 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 star 9 to raise your hand and we will select you from the meeting queue. Press star six to unmute and mute yourself. Items denoted with a star are Selma Community Enhancement Corporation items and will be acted upon by the Selma Community Enhancement Corporation Board. Notice to 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 in feasible. Tonight's invocation is Pastor Paul Messa from the Trinity Life Church. Welcome, pastor. You better do your gear. As I begin, I have

I begin, I need to share a quick update. I'm not sure if you are aware of good news for the city of Selma and a wonderful way to start off this meeting. The Dodgers are beating Toronto 3 to one.

Thank you for that ESPN update. Good evening and God bless to all of you here, all the city officials. I personally want to thank you for your service to the city of Selma. I do not know all that you do, but I know you do your best to keep this city moving forward. And once again, I thank you for your service. And let us pray. Dear Lord, we thank you for such a beautiful day that you have blessed us with and also for your continual daily blessings for all of us. And together, we thank you for our wonderful city. We are so grateful for all of our businesses, big and small, our chain businesses, as well as our mom and pop shops. We thank you for the Selma Police Department, the Fire Department, and all city officials, and all the families and individuals that make our city great. I pray, Lord, that your spirit of wisdom will lead and guide our city officials during the most difficult decisions. And during those difficult times, may there be a spirit of cooperation. And may all discussions, debates, and decisions that are made this evening lead us towards the common good and welfare for our city. We trust in you for guidance as they govern our town. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen. God bless you.

Please stand for the flag salute. Ready to salute. I would you call the role, please? Council member Avalos here. Council member Osagera here. Council member Trillo here. Mayor Promgera 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. Yes, I do have one item I have to excuse myself on and that would be a regular business new business under 4-1.

Thank you. 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. City attorney, do we have any such changes or deletions tonight? We have one deletion and it is of item four hyphen 6 on your regular business which was the discussion relating to measure C. We're deleting that because it's premature. Neither uh measure of the two competing measures have qualified for the ballot.

Thank you. City attorney oral communications. At this time, any member of the public may address the city council. was removed because there was no no agenda item yet. Okay. Oral communications. At this time, any member of the public may address the city council regarding any item on the special 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? Do we have anybody online or on the phone with oral communications?

May see no hands raised. Thank you. Moving on to special presentations. Our one and only special presentation tonight is Fire Chief Webster presenting the 2025 Selma Fire Department annual report.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. And uh good evening, Selma. I'm assuming all of this presence is here tonight for this presentation solely and so appreciate you all being here for that. Uh when PD does theirs, I expect to see equal support. So if you can uh you can just go to the cover page for right now. Works for me. Perfect. All right. So before I get started on the report, there's just a couple of housekeeping items that I want to talk about, and that's just to recognize the folks that have helped put this annual report together. Um, one of the the key people that have assisted with this and making it what it was was Director Moreno. And I just want to thank you for the support um and making this look like what it does and your professionalism and your talents in that. Um I think it just really reinforces the importance of uh his role here at this city and uh the elevation at the level that we operate at. And so thank you for all the time and effort in that. The other person I want to thank in the development of this is our battalion chief Ashley Greco. Uh she spent hours and hours uh going through all of the data and all of the images that you'll see tonight and uh just a tremendous amount of work. And so thank you to her for that. And with that I'll get started. Uh, go ahead and go to the message from the chief, please. Perfect. So, tonight it is my honor to present this year's annual report on behalf of the dedicated men and women of the Selma Fire Department. This past year has been one of continued progress, professionalism, and purposeful investment in the safety and well-being of our community. Our personnel remain the cornerstone of our success. The

professionalism, integrity, and commitment demonstrated by our firefighters, paramedics, and support staff reflect the highest standards of public service. Whether responding to emergency incidents, providing advanced medical care, conducting firerevention inspections, or engaging with our community, our team consistently exemplifies excellence. Their dedication ensures that the residents and businesses of Selma receive responsive, compassionate, and highly skilled service every day. Over the past year, we have made significant improvements to our fleet and equipment. Strategic investments in modern apparatus, enhanced medical equipment, and upgraded response tools have strengthened our operational readiness and reliability. These enhancements not only improve firefighter safety, but also allow us to deliver faster, more effective service to those in need. We are especially proud of the continued development of our firebased emergency medical service program. The Selma Fire Department has positioned itself as a regional leader in fire-based EMS by expanding training, enhancing clinical capabilities, and aligning our response model with best practices. Our medical calls continue to represent the majority of our responses. Our ability to deliver highquality prehosp care remains a top priority. Through innovation, accountability, and performancedriven standards, we are setting a benchmark for excellence in firebased EMS service delivery. None of this progress would be possible without the steadfast support of our community and elected officials. I would like to extend my sincere gratitude to the residents of Selma and the Selma City Council for their continued trust, partnership, and investment in public

safety. Your support enables us to maintain modern equipment, attract and retain professional personnel, and continuously improve our services. Together, we are ensuring that the city of Selma receives the highest level of fire and emergency medical service. As we look ahead, our commitment remains clear to serve with professionalism, to lead with integrity, and continually evolve in order to meet the needs of our growing community. It is a privilege to serve as your fire chief, and I'm immensely proud of the work our department accomplishes each day. Now I'm going to go through some of the statistics uh that represent the hard work that our team does. In 20125 we noted a rise in service calls for our suppression division which is our fire division. The most significant increase was in requests for medical assistance while there was a notable decline in fire related incidents. um that decline in fire related incidents is a positive to our city and I think uh this is representative of two things. One the the activity of our prevention division in doing the fire and life safety inspections and also I want to take an opportunity to compliment our police department uh in uh impacting a reduction in um fires related to uh unhoused activity. And so PD, that's your shout out for the night. So thank you for the uh the positive stat. Emergency medical services, we saw about a 4% increase again on the fire division side. 2024 we ran 1644 calls. 2025714. Um the other calls and again the way our statistics work um the at the federal level they organize all these criterias

and kind of group them into different things. And so uh under the other category which represented 833 calls uh that's a combination of false alarms uh hazardous conditions such as uh carbon monoxide activations or fire alarms um and those those types of of calls for emergency medical services division in 2025 we noted a 4.6 six overall rise in EMS calls for service indicating a substantial increase in demand for medical services. Uh this trend has been consistent over the past 3 years and reinforces the need for a fourth ambulance. Uh total call volume in 2025 was 6,135 calls. Of that, 4,845 were transported. 620 uh 627 were refusal of medical care, which means that our crews arrived on scene, did an assessment of the patient, and the patient determined that they didn't want to be transported to the hospital. And then other calls accounted for 663. And again, that's a criteria that just bunches together um calls that were not transported, that were either treated at scene and were not transported, but didn't qualify as a actual refusal. Uh the next page here shows a heat map of where our responses are in the area. Um the top heat map there represents our suppression heat map, which is representative of our fire engine response. And so on that you can see some of the areas that our fire engines respond to. That big red uh shape there in the middle is the city of Selma. Uh to the upper right hand portion of that map is Parlier. The upper left hand portion is Fowler. And then uh the uh that little red dot down there um below

Selma represents the Mountain View 99 corridor there. And then Kingsburg down below there. Uh the next heat map represents our EMS division which is the map that our ambulances respond to. Uh the scale of that map is significantly different and uh it it covers just a much larger area that the top bubble right under the word map there that's the city of Sanger and uh we spend quite a bit of time over there which may be a surprise to some of you but uh that represents a good portion of our calls. Um the largest red dot there right in the center represents the city of Selma. Uh up above a little bit up and to the left is the city of Fowler. Uh a little more to the right. Yep. Uh that red dot you were just pointing a little more to the left and in the middle um that represents one of the skilled nursing facilities main gardens that we respond to quite a bit. And then to the uh right of Selma there is Parlier. Um down below is Kingsburg and then Reedley. We spend a little bit of time running calls there. The next page is uh our response time statistics. So our response times are fundamental to effective emergency response. When calls are dispatched, it is essential that fire and EMS resources are accessible and prepared for a rapid reaction. On the suppression side, which again is a representation of our fire apparatus and firefighters, our overall response time is 5 minutes and 49 seconds. Our response time to the Fowler area is 9 minutes and 15 seconds. Our response time to the Parlier area was 9 minutes and 1 second. Um, we have two different numbers for shoot times. Shoot times for fires is an aggregate of the time from our guys getting dispatched to them putting on all of their protective equipment and then getting out the door.

uh the shoot times for our EMS calls, they don't require to put on uh PPE and so their response times are a little bit quicker there. Uh for EMS, our overall response times are 8 minutes and 46 seconds and that's representative of the uh that's the average time for the entire 125 square mile area that we serve. for within the city limits of Selma, which is the majority of our calls, our average response time is 5 minutes and 49 seconds and a shoot time of 56 seconds is the average. Um, with that, when we're calculating those times, um, that's from the time that somebody calls 911 and the time that somebody is arriving at the scene of the incident. And so there's a lot of things that take place during that time. The dispatcher has to take the call. They contact our uh resources via radio. Our resources have to react and then uh get prepared to respond and then they drive to the scene of that call. Once they arrive at scene is when that time stops. All right, next page. Uh this is a page just showing the organizational chart of the suppression division. Uh myself is the fire chief. Assigned to me is the fire marshal which oversees our prevention division and an EMS division chief which oversees the EMS portion of our fire division as well as the entirety of our EMS division. We're broken down into three platoon which each work a 48h hour shift and so every two days a new shift comes on and every six days the same shift starts over again. Um each shift has an assigned battalion chief and they oversee two stations which is station one and station two. Each of those have an assigned captain. Station one has two engineers and a firefighter assigned and station two has one engineer and firefighter. And again that same

staffing model is assigned to uh all three shifts. For a response model, the Selma Fire Department has again a battalion chief available around the clock at the admin. They are housed at the fire admin building across the street. Uh each day the department operates two fire engines along with one ladder truck. Uh station one houses engine 111 and truck 111. Uh the truck, the crew assigned to that also cross staffs our squad, which is the pickup truck that looks kind of like a monster truck you see driving around. uh they utilize that for wildland response. Station 2 uh houses engine 110. They also house a 24-hour ambulance and a 12-hour ambulance. And again, the admin building there across the street is for our battalion chief. In 2025, the Selma EMS division experienced significant changes due to the rising call volumes and ongoing technological advancements. The notable notable achievements uh were the addition of the 12-hour ambulance that we assigned to peak days. Uh we started that uh resource at the beginning of 2020 uh I'm sorry at the middle of 2025. Um we were awarded the grant from Selma Healthcare District for the purchase of Lucas CPR devices. um we received ambulance 556 and then one of the other big achievements was the uh onboarding of our fire med program onto an online portal and so we're bringing that program into the 21st century. Uh next page to the yeah for EMS division org chart. Again um the EMS division chief oversees uh the

entirety of that division. We assign three 24-hour ALS ambulances which are staffed uh two of which are staffed with a paramedic and an EMT and one of those is staffed with two paramedics. And then we have a 12-hour ambulance that's staffed with a PDDM paramedic and a PDDM EMT. Our PD our PDM um staff typically they work for other agencies and they pick up shifts with our agency on their on their days off. The response model again there is three 24-hour ambulances every day of the week and then a 12-hour ambulance that's staffed um on peak days. They're housed uh at the EMS post which is uh over on the hospital off of Rose and then also um at station two where we house the 124 and the 12-hour. I'd just like to highlight that I look forward to them being relocated to the new EMS facility uh by the end of 2026. All right, our training division. So, what activities do members of the SA Fire Department pursue when they are not responding to emergencies? Uh, their primary focus is on training. In 2025, department members devoted an impressive 8,844 hours to training, which includes both fire and EMS education. This averages two hours of training per day per employee. And I'd like to highlight that the statistic says that um firefighters were really good at doing things out in the field and not as good at uh documenting or reporting our training. And so I would argue that the training hours is probably really double that. Um and our guys, they do a tremendous tremendous job. Um but they it's very challenging for them to account for every minute of time that they spend training, but they they do a great job. Uh some of the training that they took place in this year uh was multi-company

drills alongside Fresno County Fire Department as well as high-rise drills uh with the city of S or I'm sorry with the Fresno Fire Department. And in that picture there you can see that's struck 111. Um, we were able to send crews up to Fresno on multiple night drills to run through these high-rise uh, trainings, which is very helpful to us to be able to participate in any type of incident like this that to that scale is going to require assistance from all of the areas. And so, the more trained our personnel and prepared to respond to something like that, the better. Um, our newest employees, uh, new hire firefighters, they undergo multi-week trainingmies. Um, this guarantees that all department members are equipped to deliver the highest standards of service. Our Selma firefighters also participated in annual training covering EMS continuing education, which is a requirement to maintain their licensing, a hose deployment and suppression, auto extrication, which they utilize along the Highway 99 corridor, confined space rescue, hazardous materials response, and then wildland fire response. Our prevention division uh is very busy. Uh they conduct business inspections which is handled uh by our engine companies out in the field. Uh they attend community outreach events which is some of the most fun things that we get to do. They do school tours and then we also host no cost CPR classes uh which is funded through a grant provided by Selma Healthcare District. Last year, our crews um they participated in 52 community outreach events, uh 90 hours spent on community outreach, 426 business inspections, and we uh completed 134 fire protection system permits, and that includes fire

sprinklers, uh hood systems for commercial cooking and that kind of thing. Next page, recruitment, retention, and milestones. So, I as I look at this page, um there's quite a long list on new hires and uh I just want to take a moment to thank the HR department and the and the great work that they've done um because we keep them very very busy. And so with that, I'm going to list off the folks that we hired last year. Uh, PDM EMT Heaven Fernandez, full-time EMT Trevor Bench, PDM paramedic Josh Garcia, full-time paramedic Stephen Santa Cruz, uh, full-time paramedic Josh Christian Miller, uh, paramedic Tyler Tucker, Ashton Yazy, uh, firefighters Caleb Nelson and Aaron Ray, and then Battalion Chief John Cutka, and Ashley Greco. Uh for milestones for our department, we had two promotions, Justin Aoyo to paramedic and Jason Gray to C to captain. Uh fiveyear marks, we had Chris Cisneros, Frank Deanda, Elsie Arana, Carrie Mira, uh Daniel Diaz and Edward Collegio. For 15 years, we had Gerald Reer. And then we had two folks retire this year. In 2025, Caesar Luna with 20 years of service and Debbie Row with 23 years of service. One of the other things that our fire department does is they assist the state of California and neighboring states with mutual aid response. In 2025, our fire department provided mutual aid support all across California and into Oregon while continuing to maintain full emergency coverage within the city of Selma. And so when these rigs go out of the city, we staff behind them. Uh up in Oregon, we had two personnel uh assigned to the immigrant fire which was in Wamtt

National Forest. Uh we sent uh single resources and engine companies to the Green Fire in Shasta, California. the root incident in Shasta Trinity National Forest, the High Sierra Lightning Complex which was in the Sierra National Forest kind of up around Shaver and Huntington Lake, the Garnett fire in Sierra National Forest, the Saddle Fire in Three Rivers, the Madre incident in St. Louis Abyspo, the Gford fire in Los Padres, and then I'm sure all of you remember the uh Eaton fire down in Pasadena that happened right after the first of the year. Um lastly in memoriam the members of our honor guard participated in several events in 2025 in memory of fallen firefighters. Uh they represent or they they assisted with Kings County uh fire captain Mark Eid's memorial services and they traveled to the fallen firefighter memorial in Colorado honoring firefighter Chris Nelson. Uh they also uh participated in the f fallen firefighter memorial in Sacramento honoring firefighter Chris Nelson. On those pictures you can see our honor guard members um both at the Colorado U memorial and then also with Chris's family, his wife and kids uh when they attended at the Sacramento Memorial. That concludes my report. I'm happy to answer any questions that you may have. Yeah, Chief, uh, great presentation and and, uh, and I'm glad you mentioned the grants. Selma Healthcare Board assisted you on this latest equipment. And actually, we do have one of the Selma Healthcare Board members here in the audience. She's willing to stand up, be recognized.

Thanks. you know, she's one of the board members and thanks, you know, by the way, she's actually a retired nurse, by the way. Okay, but things like that. Thank you, chief, for doing the presentation, saving lives. And the question I'm going to ask you, what is what Okay, the criteria time when a person has a heart attack, what is the time frame window for the for I want to call the window uh the oxygen level as far as saving that person's life. I know you guys have a time an MEST.

So, we adhere to a couple of different windows when it comes to timelines and it's very dependent upon what's taking place. If somebody goes into cardiac arrest, which means that their heart stops pumping. Um, science has shown that at about the six minute mark of no profusion, you start to have um brain tissue loss. And so our goal and objective and what the industry standard is for emergency response is to be able to reach patients within and underneath that six minute window. When it comes to a heart attack, meaning that somebody has a blockage in their heart or something like that, reprofusion science and technology has come a long way. And so those the reperfusion criteria they used to talk about the golden hour for strokes and for heart attacks. Um in certain circumstances that timeline can actually be expended uh ex extended um kind of depending on the specifics of the injury. But for us in the fire service, um that gold standard from the time the um cardiac arrest especially the time that your heart stops to the time that you want somebody either doing CPR u is is six minutes. And so as we um as we look into the future for the location of fire stations as well as the availability of resources such as fire engines and ambulances, it's critical that we're able to be within that that six minute mark.

Thank you, Chief. was here for that meeting when for the Selma healthcare district when they awarded that money and I think that illustrates a a real strength of the fire department in that you're always looking for grants always looking for other areas of revenue as well and it's it's almost mind-blowing that you know just a few short years ago we didn't even have our own ambulance division we we farmed that out to American ambulance so it's just uh you and your department have done a great job chief bringing that in weaving that in the fire department like it's always been in here and can't wait for that EMS facility to come up. That's our job up here to make sure that you uh you get the funding for that and um you've been um just a great partner in that and helping us to locate that and and the chief has been front and center in terms of working with the architects on that and the builders and getting that um ready so that it can come back to council and we can look at it again to push it along right along with our our city manager. So, it's a it's a real partnership here. Quick question for you. Um, you mentioned at the outset of your presentation there was a notable decline in fire related incidents. What is the cause of that?

There's a lot of factors that go into that and uh again fire related incidents there's a pretty broad criteria. So some when what's included in that statistic are structure fires when people's homes catch on fire, vehicle fires, um small nuisance fires like from a uh a transient or just a roadside accidental fire. There's lots of varying things. Um what we've seen with regards to uh that one is a reduction in in um like nuisance type fires associated with homeless activity. Um and then also uh we've you know we're very active in fire prevention activities, fire and life safety inspections. Um there's a lot of variables you know in that. Some of it is just chance also. And so um but the combination I think of just being present and engaged. Um I think we've also established a really good relationship with uh PD and code enforcement on hazard abatement, weed abatement. um that helps with the decline as well. Um you know and so I I think you know the the city we you look at your fire department it's uh it's incredible and and and you know you guys have invested heavily in fire suppression and I think that that's a result of of of that

and it's really paid off even with the lack of insurance availability. Our protection class of three is one of the best in the state. And for a community of 25,000 people to have protection class, people should know that's in large part due to our fire department and our water service provider. So, you have really um you know helped the uh the insurance rates stay um they they're still too high, but you help keep them at a uh is the most reasonable level they can be. So, thank you for that. Any other council members have any questions? Quick question in regards to your respond time statistics. It shows here that uh we're 5 minutes 49 seconds um for the city of Selma. Now that is that is under state requirement. Is that correct, Chief?

That is correct. And and for that specific statistic on uh for that division, that is the average of our response times period, not just within the city limit guidelines or um jurisdictional boundaries. And so uh our response times are less than that for the city specific um geographical area. Well, that that states volume, chief, and I just want to thank you because that just gives the city of Selma and the citizens the protection that we deserve, the citizens deserve, and you just give high quality service and that speaks volume and I really appreciate that. Thank you.

You anybody from the public with any questions or comments for the fire chief at this time? Anybody online or on the phone with a question or comment regarding the fire chief's report? Mayor, I see no hands raised. Thank you, Chief. Our next item is Way to go.

Awesome. Next item is a 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 made part of the regular agenda. The council can then approve the remainder of the consent calendar. Does council have an item or items they would like to remove from the consent calendar tonight. Have any items? Okay. Up one. Okay. Two 21. Two. Correction 21.

Okay. Anybody with any other items they wanted to pull off tonight? Is there a motion to approve items 2-2? I'll make a motion to item 2-8. Call the roll, please. Council member Avalos, yes. Mayor Promara, yes. Council member Oagera, yes. Council member Trillo, yes. Mayor Robertson, yes. Item 21.

Yeah. just uh I was noticing that we're we're approving special close session meetings and I was noticing that in all the closed sessions we have no uh no reportable action. My question is to the city clerk um where are you getting the information or are you preview to the information that we're that we're having in close session? The information is rep provided at report out if there was a report out. If there's a notation at the bottom, then I was not present for a report out. So you're so you're taking it from the when we come to the city council and you're if they say no reportable action, that's what you're reporting. Correct.

Okay. Okay. Thank you. There a motion to approve item 21. I'll make a motion. Second. I'll second. Call the role, please. Council member Avalos. Yes. Council member Oagera. Yes. Council member Trillo. Yes. Mayor Promger Gera. Yes. Mayor Robertson. Yes. Okay. Moving on to departmental reports. City manager.

Yes. Thank you, Mayor and Council. Uh, since we last met, uh, I met with city staff and SKF staff to discuss their upcoming budget preparation uh, specifically related to the their upcoming CIP budget as part of their budget process. uh we provided comments back to them. Uh thank you to uh David Horn and Michael Han for assisting with that and providing comments back to them. Uh I also met with the chamber of commerce and also attended their chamber awards banquet. Uh it was a good event and uh glad to see so many people get some really good awards out of that. Um, I also met with the Selma Unified School District superintendent uh in order to ensure that we are meeting regularly and discussing items related to both of our agencies. Uh, we also received two proposals for interim community development director assistance. Those are currently being evaluated and scored to bring back at our next uh council meeting. We also last week had our budget goal setting and priorities workshop to kick off our fiscal year 2627 budget process. Uh thank you to all the feedback that we received from council and the public. Uh it was great and as a result of that workshop um I am also working diligently with our department heads and finance on submitted draft budgets right now. Thank you. Great. Thank you, city manager, community services director Fletcher.

Good evening, mayor and members of the council. Going to update you on all the amazing things that we have coming up in this wonderful month of April. So, um first I just wanted to thank um our city staff and our community services department for a wonderful spring extravaganza event that took place this past Saturday over at Pioneer Village. We had um seniors from the Selma Senior Center help us fill over 10,000 eggs and so their support and um was very very much appreciated. Um the kids cleared us out in about 3 to four minutes if I'm not mistaken. So it was it went really fast. Um but other than that um our staff did a wonderful job putting on um such a good community event and we're very much excited to do it again next year. And then thank you to director Moreno for getting some footage for us. And so you'll see that on our social media pages today and I believe he's going to share it with us a little when he does his report. So that um this Friday we are scheduled to have our summer live event pending weather. So we'll have some more information on that um possibly um by tomorrow we'll have a confirmation whether we're moving forward with John Pepperon downtown or if we're rescheduling. So, just wanted to give an update on that. Um, we do still have our pet vaccine clinic taking place on Saturday that is not being cancelled or postponed due to weather. Um, we were fortunate enough to schedule that indoors um before the storm came in. So, we have a vaccine clinic over at Pioneer Village from 9 to 12 for low to reduced cost vaccines for your dogs and cats if you're interested in coming by. And then on April 22nd, we are hosting Earth Day at Lincoln Park. We're partnering with Home Depot, Mid Valley, and the Selma Beautifification Committee just to have an afternoon of hanging out at the park. We encourage the community to come out, maybe bring some pizza by, have some dinner with us out at the

park. Bring your lawn chairs. We'll have kids activities and free snow cones until supplies last. And then lastly, on April 24th, we're having our Selma Art and Culture Fest um provided by the Selma Arts Center and the community services staff. We'll be on High Street from 5 to 8 in downtown Sama with um cultural performances and art from art and art pieces from both local artists and SA Unified School District students. So, um that'll be 5 to 8 downtown SO 24th. And that's all I have to report.

Thank you. Question. um director on the vaccination clinic on Saturday at Pioneer Village. So, there'll be rabies shots that are available. How much are those going to cost each? I believe they're about $18 to $20 if I'm not mistaken. That was kind of the ballpark that we had. And then will microchips be available as well? Microchipping? Yes, microchipping will be available as well as well as dog licensing. So there'll be representatives from the city to license dogs after the rabies shots are given.

Correct. My staff will be available for dog licenses after the event. And then Dutch Bros is kind enough to go out there and provide pup cups for us at the event as well. So yeah, they may need to provide pup raincoats too at this point, but we'll see. Bring your raincoat weather. Yeah, bring an umbrella. Unfortunately, the vaccine clinic is inside, but there may be a little weight outside. And so, we're going to do our best to provide um canopies and shade as best as we can for that. And then, will there be any We're going to discuss this as a later agenda item, but spayneuter certificates, will there be any of those available at this event? potentially

our goal is to take an interest form at the vaccine clinic and then we're going to do some sort of raffle at a later date once we acquire a little bit more funding. But yes, we'll discuss more in detail. Great. Thank you. Right. Communications Director Moreno,

Mayor, members of the council. Um, as Director Fletcher mentioned, uh, we had a very busy Saturday and I'd like to share that video with you right now of some of the the fest festive activities we had out there. Let me see if I can share this correctly. Let's one more time. Oh, I see. Great job.

Thank you. As you could see, it's uh as director Fletcher could agree with, community sponsors, any type of sponsorship really make these events special. Uh collaboration with our businesses uh to to support our our community events. Uh, with that, I want to add another plug of the city of Sama website, city of sama.com. U, you can always go there to catch the latest news and all of the events director Flesher mentioned. Um, on this calendar right here, there's an events calendar. And you also want to keep updated on this left side is a news tab. Um, right there you can see that we are currently looking for sponsors for the spay and neuter um, surgery. So you can click this information, you can click this story and you can see learn about the sponsorship levels and how you can get a hold of the animal services department to uh sponsor uh spay and neuter clinic. So all the information is updated as as soon as I get it on the events in the news section right here. And that's all I have. Mayor,

great. Thank you to Director Moreno, to the parks and community services commission, public works. The place looked great. Um, thanks to all the city council members who showed up and the commission members who came out for that and supported a really great event for the kids and their parents. This is the part of the meeting I know we have a packed house where we take a very brief break for members of the public to talk to the department heads one-on-one if you have any issues. Um, that's it. We're going to do that tonight. We're going to take a briefer break than usual usually we take five minutes. We'll take 3 minutes tonight and we'll say good night to the U department heads who don't have any more business with the city tonight. We'll see you back in 3 minutes.

Give me a moment. Okay. Okay. We're back in session. We're going to move on to item four of the agenda, which is new business. Item 41 is an action item tonight. It's a hearing consideration and necessary action on petition by McCall Village Residents Organization objecting to McCall Village increase notice. Welcome to step up.

Okay. Let the record show council member Abalos is recusing himself and stepping out of the room. We'll give him a moment. Nice and nice and cool.

Okay. The city has received a petition signed by more than 50% of the tenants of McCall Village Mobile Home Park objecting to a rent increase notice. The council members present have all reviewed the petition and the covered letter that accompanied it. The ordinance requires that we adhere to a specific procedure. So, I will conduct this public hearing by first asking the representative of McCall Village Mobile Home Park to provide the position of the owner that the rent increase is justified under the Selma Municipal Code and to provide any testimony or documents supporting the owner's position. Following the presentation of the mobile home park owner, I will invite the presentation of any testimony or documents from McCall Village Residence Organization as to why the increase should not be allowed. That will be followed by giving the park owner an opportunity to respond to the resident's presentation and the residents will likewise be given the final opportunity opportunity to rebut the park owner's response. City attorney, do you have anything to add at this time? uh just that I received from the or the city received from the uh mobile home park owner a series of documents that I will distribute to the city council so that you have them. Uh the documents for the record are a February 27, 2025 letter from uh Cow Water uh advising the owner of the need to install the uh backflow prevention devices that have resulted in the rent increase. Uh secondly, the owner provided us with a copy of our ordinance, which is chapter 5.5, the mobile home rent stabilization

um uh ordinance. And he also provided a February 23, 2026 uh Macall Village mobile home park uh required capital expense requiring rent increase notice that was distributed to tenants. and uh he provided us with an estimate from Flowtech in the amount of $21,870 and 39 for the installation of the backflow prevention device. And finally, he provided a document which I believe was generated by the owner or the owner's representative that uh describes how it was amortized over 10 years and spread across the uh 28 spaces within the mobile home park. My understanding is those are all the documents the mobile home park owner wishes to have you consider. Uh if he wishes to have you consider anything addition additionally uh he can he can point you to that fact when he uh provides his statement or testimony. Um, the homeowner association, I'll call them, uh, is, I presume, represented by a one or two specified representatives, uh, and I assume they are the persons that have signed the cover letter to the petition. Uh you have in your packet the uh March 12, 2026 uh I'm sorry, March 12, 2022. I think

it's misdated. Uh cover letter to Megan Lawrence, your city planner in addition to the individual um uh petition signatures by what we have confirmed to be more than 50% of the owners. Thank you. Um, one other item. There will be no public input. There'll be input. This is not that type of item tonight. There'll be input from the owner of the mobile home park and the representatives of the residents of the mobile home park tonight. Okay. And with that, we will commence with this hearing. And I will ask that the mobile home park owners representative step forward to the podium and provide the mobile home park owner position and evidence supporting that position.

Thank you. Um, the green button should be on. Green light. Green. Green. Is that better? Oh, yes. Maybe swallow it. Okay, let me go in a little bit of history. Can you introduce yourself first, sir? Introduce yourself. Just give us your name and position.

I'm Joe Mckenry. I am not the owner. I have a little piece of it. Uh, but I represent that company. Um, in March 3rd of 25, the mobile home park received a letter that, uh, you were just given a copy of. Uh the letter was dated uh February 27th of 25 uh from the California Water Service notifying the park that it had to install backflow preventive assembly on the park's water line from Cal Water. Uh this letter referenced in installation required those words are right there on it. You can see that due to the requirements of the state, the cross connection control policy handbook and their tariff rule 16C, which states that each utility must ensure that its water system is protected against backflow from a consumer's premise premises. These regulations require the services connect to water system infrastructure where cross connection would potentially present health hazards be protected through the proper installation of a backflow prevention assembly. Attached to the letter was a sheet entitled frequently asked questions about backflow prevention. One question that was asked which is the bottom of the sheet what if I don't comply with this order within the allotted time period. The answer. Cal Water will make every effort to work with its customers in protecting the water supply. However, non-compliance may result in your water service being disconnected. That sounded pretty final. Uh but we were hesitant to comply because we have been in that park for over 50 years and uh we have not had this requirement before. But apparently in 2024, the state enacted a new law. Um, we began immediately working with Cal

Water to obtain an approval, excuse me, approved contractor as we had less than six weeks to complete the job and have it final inspectioned by Cal Water. And we were in the middle of a tariff wars if you remember that were driving up the prices. We looked for contractors in Selma and Vicelia trying to find parts which were in short supply. Gwater changed the method of installation, the materials required, location of the backflow valve. We were going crazy. Finally, we found a contractor in Vicea. But the time of installation was delayed once, twice, three times and the price of materials increased again and again due to the tariffs. After these delays, then came the word. It needs to be installed in the next three days. Well, we got through that. By September 4th, our part of the installation was complete. But then we had to wait for Cal Water until October 23rd when they were able to remove their old meter, the piping, and and finally fill the holes. We spent a lot of the park's time working with the contractors and pushing the job forward, but none of those costs are being included in the additional rent here in requested. What is our request? As per the Selma ordinance 5-5.5-7B, the park owner shall provide clear and concise terms why the rent increase is justified under the ordinance section 5-5.5-8. Reference of the specific ordinance must be identified. This proposed 84 cent increase is not requested under 5 excuse me 5-5.5-4A which relates to the base rent calculation but is request is made under

the guidelines of section 5-5.5-5B and A. When the park was built in the early 70s a backflow valve was not required. The law changed in 2024 requiring its installation. The law finally filtered down to Cal Water in early 25 when they required us to install it. Does it protect us? That may be questionable, but at the same time, the adjacent shopping center was required to install four backflow valves. We know that those protect the parks water quality because we're downline from them. So, it's a give and take transaction. The shopping c center's backflow valve installation protects us and our backflow valve installation protects the residents down the pipeline. If we are unable to pass the cost of our to our tenants, how are we able to generate the fair return on our investment as referenced in the proposed Selma ordinance 2024-5 as stated here? Sell ordinance number 24, excuse me, 2024-5 was adopted in July 18th of 24 with a stated purpose to protect the owners and occupiers of mobile homes from unreasonable rent increases while at the same time recognizing the need for mobile home park owners to receive a fair return on their investment and rental increases sufficient to cover the increased cost of repairs, maintenance, insurance, upkeep, and additional amenities. Section 5.5-5.5A states, "A park owner may obtain a pass through of a capital expense under this section. Any capital expense shall be identified separately and listed on rental statements along with their date of expiration. The owner may request recovery of the cost of materials,

labor, construction, interest, permit fees. Notice of the uh 84 cent rent increase was provided to tenants with our February 26th bill rent statement, whatever you want to call it. Our cost of the back floor valve with installation and the initial inspection was 21,870 339 as you've got there. Installation of a metal cage and the installation of a blanket. Metal cage to keep bandals from coming and turning the water on. and the insulation blank of course during the winter to keep it from freezing uh are yet to be determined because we didn't really need it through this last winter. It was a warm winter. So we will wait and see if that is an additional cause that may come down the line. Section 5.5-5.5A continues, "All amenities, replacements, and re rehabilitations shall have been approved in advance by a majority of the park tenants, and the cost of such items is fully advertised over the useful life of the improvement. We now understand that approval of our increase does not require a tenant approval per ordinance 5.5-5.5-5A and B. But we initially misread this portion thinking that it required tenant approval of the rent increase due to the state cow water required improvement. On first reading this section was confusing. We ask you, why would anyone approve an increase in rent, let alone be able to get a majority vote for an increase in rent? In all honesty, we wouldn't vote for it. However, Cal Water in conjunction with the state of California required a backflow valve installation per their attached letter dated uh February 207 of 25 and the

attached frequently asked questions of backflow prevention copies are attached there also. We therefore assume this is that is why the ordinance states section 5-5.5-5B new capital expenses. Capital expenses that did not previously exist in the park shall be deemed new capital expenses unless the park owner is required by law to make the capital expenses. A park owner may charge each affected mobile home tenant an additional rent as additional rent. the parata share of new service and capital expenses including financing costs subject to the following preconditions. One, prior to initiating the service and incurring the capital expense, the park owner must consult with the mobile home tenants regarding the nature and purpose of the improvements and estimated cost of the improvements. Based upon prior experience, we knew that a tenant meeting would only result in a lot of anger and hate displayed toward the park since the cost increase was required when the meeting would be non-productive if it would if it could even be finished. We were negligent in following this ordinance section as we thought the 84 cent per month had to be voted on. But now all tenants know about it due to the rent increase notice sent to them. Might be able to delay the beginning of the 84 cent per month increase in rent for a couple of months and try to conduct a delayed negligence and try to correct our delayed negligence. But it's only 84 cents a month. This 84 cent increase was properly noticed to the park tenants. Copy is attached there. in February 26 of 26 to be effective on May 1st of this year,

which was 63-day advanced notice. It's required 60. So that's in line. All uh tenants are required under excuse me, advanced notice to all tenants is required under section 5.5- 5.5 C notifying them of an 84% increase in their total rent. and it will be separately stated on each monthly statement until the April 1 of 2036 expiration. Prior to this notice, even though it has was not required, we did provide a heads up notice. Do we follow the ordinance amortization period of the useful life of the improvement and overcharge our tenants or not? That's the last sheet I have up there and it kind of summarizes what I'm going to say here in a moment. Uh trying to show that I think we picked the better option out of the three that I've suggested. Uh first of all, based upon the total backflow cost of 21,8739 with a 50-year, this is following IRS guidelines, 50-year amortization period and a 10% interest rate. Each of the 218 spaces would pay this 84 cents per month for a total of 50 years uh repayment of $50. That would be their total share. This seemed excessive to the park ownership who suggested a 10-year amortization based upon a total backflow valve cost of 21,870 and 39 with a 10-year amortization period and a 10% interest rate. Each of our 218 spaces would pay $1.33 per month. Okay, over the 10-year period, that would total about $15910,

which is substantially less than the $55 under the 50-year plan. But the park ownership went one step further and proposed a repayment with no interest. Based upon the total backflow valve cost of 21870 with a 10-year amortization and a zero interest rate, each of our 218 spaces would pay this 84 we've been talking about for the 10-year period or a total of $100.32. This option is the least expensive. That's why it was chosen. Um, I'm open to questions or Thank you, Mr. Council. Have any questions

for Mr. Mckenry? Thank you, Mr. Mckenry. You can sit down and we will ask the representative of the residents to please step up and make your presentation at this time. You can just pull that mic down. You just pull that down. There you go. For short people. Okay. I have several things to read to you today.

Can you um introduce yourself first? Yes. introduce yourself.

Uh my name is Ivon Vbeck. I'm the president of McCall Residence Committee. Um our reason for being here tonight is for your clarification on a situation in our park. According to the MRL mobile home residency law, which we all base matters of law cons concerning mobile home parks and the charter city hall drew up for us when we got rent stabilization. In both instances, rules were laid down concerning capital gain rent increases and how they should be implemented by the owner manager of our park. As stated in both, management will meet with all residents and get at least 51% to agree in writing their approval to increase rent to cover capital gains. In this case, the backflow valve to be installed. The resident's meeting didn't happen and the only notice was a heads up note in our rent envelope of impending rent increase once the CPA gave up came up with the amount each resident will owe. Management knew well in advance the cost. Meanwhile, the work was done with no explanation to the residents. This oversight of laws put us here. City Hall and the MRL were ignored. Laws are laws. Here is this is what the city hall ordinance

that was written up here. Prior to initiating the service or incurring capital expenses, the park owner must consult with mobile home tenants regarding the nature and purpose of improvements and the estimated cost of improvements. Didn't happen. This I'm going to be slow in reading because I want you to assimilate it. It's a little bit of legal ease. Selma Municipal Code Chapter 5.5 mobile home rent stabilization section 5-5 uh-55 base rent increases for capital expenses B states new capital expenses capital expenses that did not previously exist in the park shall be deemed new capital expenses unless the park owner is required by law to make the capital expenses. I realize there's possibly maybe some confusion in the sentence. Expenses that not did not previously exist in the park shall be deemed new capital expenses unless the park owner was required by law to make the capital expenses. This is simply means that the park owner can charge unless he was required by law. Since he was required by law, state law through the cross connection control policy handbook effective July 1st 9, 2024, he cannot charge for backflow valve.

Next speaker is Sandy Neswander. Good evening, Mr. Mayor and City Council. Um, Sandy Niswan McCall Village. I'm a director of the board for the resident organization. On behalf of the resident organization, I'm providing additional documentation and information that has come to light since having submitted a p petition requesting a hearing under the city's mobile home rent stabilization ordinance. This petition was filed due to a rent increase notice that was provided to the residents by the park owner dated February 23, 2026. In a phone conversation on March 17 at 1:37 p.m. between myself and the operations manager for California Water Service, Cal Water, assigned to Selma, Mike Andrada confirmed that there has been no backflow device at McCall Village prior to the installation on September 4, 2025. It was further not noticed or noted in the conversation and the email that there is no backflow device prior to the installations. So there were no inspection fees at any time fees that the park owner in his notification to residents indicated that he was going to include for a reimbursement. This is confirmed by an email from Mike Andrada to me on March 18, 2026. I previously sent all of my attachments and this letter to the city council or rather the city planner who disseminated it on my behalf. So, um you should have those attachments. Also, please note, it

is our belief the new annual inspection fee should be viewed as administrative cost of operating the park similar to to required um business licenses and in fire inspection fees. It is required of the park and an overhead expense rather than an element required for the backflow valve and its installation itself. The installation is a one-time charge of a piece of equipment. The inspection fees are annual. Further, I asked who and why the backflow was required at this point in time. Mr. Andrada explained that Cal Water needed to bring multi-user parcels into compliance with the law. These are specifically properties with apartments, mobile home parks, RV parks, etc. In his email, Mr. Andrada also provided me with links to the three following documents. The cross connection control policy handbook effective July 1, 2024. The California code of regulations title 17 effective March 28th, 2019. And these are the public health laws. and the EPA agency uh which is the Environmental Protection Agency technical corrections um which were implement implemented in 2003 but uh revised in 1989. The Safe Drinking Water Act of the EPA states that water systems must be must ensure uh contaminants cannot enter the distribution center and that state it states that it must adopt laws that meet

or exceed federal expectations for black backflow preventions. The backflow preventor that Cow Water required Macall Village to install is not optional. It is mandated by multiple layers of California law. California Health and Safety Code 116555A2 requires any person who owns a public water system to ensure the distribution system will not be subject to backflow and code 11375C directs the state water board to adopt cross connection control regulations. The state water resources control board exercised that authority by adopting the cross connection control policy handbook effective July 1, 2024 pursuant to the health and safety code 116407 and 116555.5. Sections 3.12 states that all public water system systems must comply with its requirements and section 3.2 2.2C requires that public systems um that water systems protect their distribution systems from high hazard cross connections through uh premises containment used using a reduced pressure principal assembly or air gap. Appendix D, item 28 specifically classifies mobile home park, RV park, or campgrounds with RV hookups as high hazard premises subject to these mandatory protections. Cal Water as a public water system for the city of Selma is required under section 3.1.3 to enforce its cross connection control program and its operations manager confirmed that McCall Village had no

backflow device meaning the park park was out of compliance with state law which went into effect in on July 1, 2024 under the city of Selma's mobile home rent stabilization ordinance. is uh codified as Selma Municipal Code Chapter 5.5. The park owner cannot simply pass this cost on to tenants as a new capital expense. Section 5-5.5-5B specifically provides that capital expenses that did not previously exist in the park shall be deemed new capital expenses unless the park owner is required by law to make the capital expenses. We can't be charged as it was required by law because the backflow preventor is required by the health and safety code 116555A 2 under the uh cross connections control handbook sections 3.1.2 3.2.2 2C and appendix D and enforced by Cal Water under the handbook section 3.1.3. It is a lawmandated expense that falls outside of the definition of new capital expense under the ordinance. Bringing the park into compliance with existing state law is a fundamental cost of operating a mobile home park and tenants should not be expected to bear the financial burden of the owner's overdue legal obligation under the city of Selma's mobile homes rent stabilization ordinance 5-5.5-2 definitions the capital ex capital expense a Capital replacement of

existing facilities or capital improvements does not exceed $10,000 at the time of the effective date of this chapter and in subsequent years is annually adjusted as at the same percentage rate as the base rent that materially add to the value of the property. have expected life of more than one year and is located within the geographic boundaries of the mobile home park or outside such boundaries but are directly and primarily for the benefit of the park are directly and primarily for the benefit of the park is specifically listed in that capital expense. Capital expenses shall be advertised over the useful life of the improvements of the building pursuant to straight line depreciation provisions of the internal revenue code and the regulations issued pursuant there too. Examples of a capital expense are but not necessarily limited to resurfacing of existing park roadways or replacing underground pipe systems within the park. Again, please note are directly and primarily for the benefit at the park. Cal Water has stated and confirmed that the backflow benefits the water system outside of McCll Village, not those individuals living inside the boundaries of McCall Village. Although there is a law requiring the backflow, it benefits those outside of McCall Village boundaries, not inside those boundaries. The ordinance says qualified capital expenses are directly and primarily for the benefit of the park. Further in his email attachment A, Mr. Andrada indicates that because of the state drinking water act that water systems must ensure ensure contaminants cannot

enter the distribution center system, excuse me. This would be contaminants from McCall Village to the distribution system. Also included is letter dated March 7, 2026 sent by uh resident William Forbes to Joe Mckenry, owner manager attachment B in my documents and responses by Mr. Mckenry including attachment attachments which is the attachment C in my document. Mr. Forbes questioned among other things the validity of the backflow being required for the benefit of the res residents, the lifespan of the backflow and how it was determined with no actual documentation. Documentation of the cost of the backflow and installation have never been shared with the residents although it is required as per the rent stabilization ordinance. As per the ordinance 5-5.5-5, it is required that the park owner must consult with the mobile home tenants regarding the nature and purpose of the improvements and the estimated cost of the improvement. This has never happened. Mr. Forbes also questioned the lifespan of the backflow and the amortization and how it was determined. He also included a chart from the IRS which is included with attachment B. Mr. Forbes also questions the total amount to 118 other than 220. The additional two spaces would include the office area, the shop area, and the park area rather than than the full of the expense being passed on to the residents. Mr. Forbes, like most residents, isn't protesting the monthly charge. He's protesting the backflow because it

doesn't benefit benefit McCll Village residents which is required by the ordinance. Attachment C is a response of Mr. Joe Mckenry manager did March 19, 2026 with an attachment from Cal Water. In his letter, Mr. Henry acknowledged the requirements of the state of California cross connection control policy handbook and their tariff rule 16C implementation of the state law requirement requiring the the installation of the backflow device. This was developed to ensure compliance with the EPA, a federal agency and requirements which would move this improvement out of the capital expense and into a required improvement to comply with the law which is not a capital expense under the ordinance and clearly stated as such. Mr. Mckenry argues that the backflow did not previously exist. So therefore it is new capital expense which I previously covered in this document. He has agreed there is no benefit to us. He refuted using 220 spaces and went into detail on different plans on how the cost of the device should be advertised. To his letter he attached a notice to McCall Village dated February 27, 2025 from California Water Service. You will not note in the upper right hand corner it says installation required. Also be advised that all the markings on that cowwater letter were made by Mr. Mckenry and on the copy that Mr. Forbes received. The words installation required was circled by Mr. Mckenry. It is our belief ownership can only recoup these costs by their annual rate increases as outlined in the ordinance

and the CPI. Although initially we filed the petition for a council hearing as we hadn't been notified properly as per the ordinance of the installation the estimated charges lifespan and amortization as we have never been provided documentation. We believe after thorough review of the Selma municipal code chapter 5.5 mobile home rent stabila stabilization ordinance and review of the documentation provided by California water service referenced above that there are no grounds to pass on the expense of the backflow device onto the residents at McCall Village. Therefore, we respectfully request that the proposed rent increase be completely and totally denied. Thank you. Anybody else from the residents association council? Come up, sir.

Hi, my name is Dave Aguo. Uh, thank you, uh, Mayor Robertson, city council, staff, and city of Selma. Um, I, uh, just moved back from the central coast. I was born and raised here in city of Selma and, uh, I got to say, uh, things changed quite a bit. But, uh, for the good part, I must say, they all doing a good job here at the city of Selma. just everything's kind of cleaned up and looks good to me. But uh I do want to say that um I I've been a advocate for seniors pretty much all my life. But um what I found is that you know when I came to over here at McCall Village is that I found that a lot of people that are are helping one another. I like I I really like about everybody just looks after one another. But u when I saw that the the rent was a was a big thing for everybody and uh I might say that I was a uh I was a uh I was administrator for a convolescent home back at the central coast. So I I'm an advocate for seniors big time. So, my rent went up in two years, 30 bucks. For someone else that might live two, three houses down, $30 is like $80 for, let's say, someone who has a social security at $900 or $800. So, I might say that it is a big change for a lot of people. So, and over at the coast, when you see someone that says, um, we're going to raise your rent, we see we see improvements. We see paint

changes. We see construction. We see new gates. We see new lighting. We see everything. And where I where I'm at, I got to say there's a little done, but not nice things done. you know, we see things that been there since 1980s, you know, um I'd like to see more give back to the people. Uh help, you know, so they could see things changes for everybody else, you know. That's this is what I like to see. Even if even if it's me or someone else, I'd be happy to help something, you know, but uh I'm wanting to see change. If you I don't mind pain, but give something back to the seniors. That's what it's all about. And and I'm glad to see that you as city councilman, you're doing this. I can see it. You're you're supporting people and people are coming back to you, probably thanking you for this. I know the chief of police must have done a heck of a job because I don't see the riff raff. I don't see anything else anymore anymore. And I like that. But once again, if you're going to do something, if you're going to raise the rent, let's see change, help the people. That's all I got to say as far as But I I like the city and I want to support it once again. Back over there at the coast, you raise the rent, you see change, you give it back. And over there you own the land. In some cases at one of the home mobile homes you own it. But over here you get charged. You you shouldn't be able to pay nothing back to the owners. They own the land. We don't own the land. Over there they own the land. I could see them paying back a little bit for charges, but not here. That's all I got to say. You

Thank you. Hi, Teresa Salis. Um, the McCall Village Mobile Home Park is geared to retirees, people 55 or over. The majority of the people there are on fixed incomes. A lot of them are um widows, widowers. um that if it's a couple, they're both retired on fixed incomes. Um in May of 2024, our rent was raised by $10.99 per month. Um in June 2025, it was raised by $9.66 per month. This May, it is being increased by $12.71 per month per resident. That's in three years it's gone up $33.36 times 218 spaces. That's just the rent increase altogether. He makes well over $1.5 million in the rent that he's collecting from the mobile home park residents. part of that is passed through um which is the water u things that that he it's in addition to our base rent that's part of our the total rent. So after subtracting what he gets passed through, he still makes over $1.5 million in our rent. 81 cents, 83 cents, whatever it is, may not seem like much to most people who are working who can put in overtime to increase your take-home

pay. We are not in that position anymore. We are on fixed incomes. We have social security and if you're fortunate enough to get some type of retirement check in addition to your social security, that's all you get. We do get increases, cost of living increases, but as we talked about when we were doing the the rent stabilization ordinance. Uh before that, our rent was just increased at whatever the owner wanted to increase it by. There was no rhyme or reason to it. Um if we got a big cost of living increase, our rent went up by that same amount almost. So we we never saw the benefit to it. Whether it's 84 cents or $84, it still has a direct impact on us. And as Miss Niceand Miss Nicewanders said the the ordinance says that the capital improvements have to benefit the park have to benefit us. That backflow system does not benefit the park. It protects the people outside the park so our water doesn't get mixed with their the city water and get contaminated. But it is not a benefit to us and I just don't feel that it is fair that we be charged that in addition to the already the increase this month of $12.71 a rent increase. That's not counting what he wants to increase for the backflow. Thank you.

Anybody else with a comment? You already talked, tape. I'm good. I'm

Oh, you're getting your notes. I thought that was my phone there for a second. Anybody else? Okay. Um, did Mr. Mckenry, did you have a rebuttal to any of the residents comments? I have a hard time believing these people up here talking because obviously they've not run a business before and are unfamiliar with a business. You charge enough that you can stay in business. If your costs go up, you have to charge for that. There's no way you can not do that. It's impossible to stay in business and do that. in time you will be out of business rather that's a year or 10 years you have to stay up with the cost. We submitted to the rent ordinance that the city put into effect. It only allows us to increase the rent 75% of what the cost of living is for social security. Now let's say we got to use some examples. Let's say a social security you're getting a dollar and it went up five cents. Well, 75% of that is how much? Okay. So, I can only go up 4 cents. The other penny stays in your pocket. You, the recipient of social security, get to keep that 25%. Okay? Now, rather it goes up somewhere else or you have to spend it somewhere else. Of course, costs are going up just like my costs go up. I cannot run a business without my costs going up in this inflationary period that we're in. You all know that your costs are going up. So are mine. So what we try and do is find some happy

medium in between. Now that state requirement that they have a backflow val that we have a backflow valve is a state requirement. I can't do anything about it. So, my costs have gone up and I have to pass that on if I'm going to stay in business to the people that benefit from what service we provide. I have to ask the councilman, how many of you have been in the park? Okay. If you've been in the park then and there,

you will notice that every space has 10 feet between it. Now, some are weird angles, so it's different, but basically, it's 10 feet between each one. How many mobile home parks do you go to anywhere in the country where you get 10 feet of space between the ending of your awning and the beginning of the next guy's awning? And the patio awning is out at least 8 feet, if not 10 in some cases. The clarboard awning is 12 feet. That's a lot of space when you add 10 more feet in between that. Now, what's the effect of that and why am I bringing it up? Because that costs more land that generates no additional income. My mom and dad built the park, okay, with some help, but they couldn't get the park rented to keep up with it in the beginning years. So, what did they do? They dropped their rent below what they should have dropped it. As a result of that, they wind up not generating as much income as they should have been gening to get a fair return on their investment, which your ordinance says we're supposed to have. How do we balance it out? That's my only question. If my costs go up, I have to pass that on. I'm not adding a profit to it. I'm not adding the parks labor to implement that thing going in. it it cost us money and time and effort to do that and we watched the cost go up because of the stupid tariffs but there no way we had control over that. So I I just ask you if you have any business sense at all please look at it from a perspective of do we want mobile home parks in Selma? If you drive out your mobile home parks, that's your lowest cost of living that you can get. And you don't want to

do that. My folks built this park with the idea, another thing that they did. How many mobile home parks have a mobile home? It sits on a pit. Okay. It's a senior park 55 and over. Two steps to get in the front door. You go to a regular mobile home park, five or six step because they sit two more feet higher. That pit costs money to dig and then find a place to get rid of the dirt. That's why we put it over there on that lot for the people when you guys bought it. But anyway, that was good for that that lot. But I I just sit here and say, "Okay, guys, we we need to have a way that we can find a mi middle ground somewhere, and I'm willing to work with somebody on it." Uh they they they came up here and they brought up the fact that we have to have their approval and I don't read the ordinance that way. It doesn't say I have to get their approval for a required expense. So I have to I have to look at it and say hold it. Are we taking things out of context as we read the ordinance? Are we reading the whole ordinance? Not just one little paragraph but the other paragraph way down here or wherever. Okay. I will admit that we did make a mistake in that we did not talk to this to the people the tenants before we increased it. It does say we have to talk to them before we increase. Unfortunately, I'm a shy, embarrassing type person. I don't like talking to groups and get mad at me. And that's what happens at every meeting we have ever held. So, I quit holding meetings. I'm tired of that. You know, now the my door is open. If people want to come in and discuss this, fine. Not a single one of these people came in to discuss it

except William Forbes, who you have a letter from. I wrote back that response to him. He seemed to me, he came into my office, said he was satisfied with my response. If they think I should be talking with him, why aren't they talking with me? It's a two-way street. My door is open. I'm there every day. Got it. Thank you. rent increase that she talked about just before me went from 1099 to 960 to 1271 exactly followed your model under the ordinance.

Great. Do we have a rebuttal by the resident association? Thank you, Mr. McKenner. I think we get the gist.

Residents have a rebuttal and this will be it and then we're going to bring it back to council. Betty Standage, McCall Village. He is making a fair return on his investment. He increases the rent the maximum amount that he can every single year since the ordinance has been in effect and he's making a fair a fair return. Um, I think everybody in this room uh can attest to Joe's retaliation. And when we put the ordinance into effect, the night that we did, Joe was here and he said to me, he was very angry that the ordinance was passed. He said, "Well, just wait till you see what the park looks like. I'm not going to fix I'm not going to fix anything. I'm not going to fix anything. And if you drive through the park now, you can see that just like what Dave said, we get rent increases, rent increases. We don't see anything from those rent increases. You can take a look at the clubhouse. All the paint is chipping off of it. We've got a leak in the ceiling um in the library and there was mold coming through there. Uh there's a a lot of things that could be fixed and they're not very big deals, but the paints uh the stuckco is chipping on the whole side of the clubhouse, which doesn't look very good. These are these are things that he should be taking care of with his rent increases, but this is retaliation from this man.

With that, we will close the public hearing. Thank you everyone for your comments. Appreciate it. And we will bring the matter back to council. I have some questions of clarification since this is a legal issue. This is the first time that this ordinance has been tested. As everybody knows, these are words and words can be interpreted different ways. That's why there are three spheres of government. They devoted a whole sphere of government to interpreting the uh written laws. So, I think that's what we're faced with tonight is kind of setting a precedent for this. And that's why this is very important. I think we all understand it ain't the 84 cents a month. This is a precedent on what can be passed on and what can't. So with that, I'll ask the attorney, our city attorney, um, to clarify one of the comments made tonight that residents can't be charged if the capital improvements are required by law. Is that to be read? Is that to be interpreted from this ordinance?

That would be my interpretation. uh we we have the uh specific ordinance that this uh comes under which is 5-y 5.5- 5. You look at that ordinance, you look you look uh back in the beginning of the ordinance, you have a series of definitions. And the definition of capital expenses is capital expenses authorized by section 5.5- 5.5- 5. So there really is no definition. this this particular section here 5.5 point you gotta go back down there um if you go to 5 five- 5.5- five

would that be file by any chance yes it is very difficult this is this is somebody like the number five

this is just poorly written is what this is you see in subdivision B a definition of a term new capital expenses there's capital expenses that do that did not previously exist in the park. So basically it means anything um shall be deemed new capital expenses unless the park owner is required by law to make the capital expense. And that definition should appear in subdivision A, not in subdivision B. If you put that definition in subdivision A and you move subdivision A to subdivision B and you carry through with the defined term new capital expenses, it would be crystal clear this ordinance does not apply to a capital expenditure required by law. And that's necessarily the case because you're a city and your ordinances cannot conflict with state law. They're preempted by conflicting state law. State law controls. If the state tells uh the park owner, you must install this backflow prevention device, that's the end of the story. And you can't regulate that in any way, shape, or form. You can't prevent him from passing that cost on to the tenants

whether or not it benefits the park in somebody's subjective view. But the the the the park provides a water system and the water system is required to be equipped with the backflow prevention device. He has taken that expense and he has amvertised it over 10 years. So we're talking about an 84 cent per month increase in the rent as a result of passing that through. So, if you look at the um the last uh sentence of subdivision A, it says all improvements, replacements,

I got to read it from here. Rehabilitation,

all improvements, replacements, and rehabilitations shall have been approved in advance by a majority of the park tenants. You cannot impose that requirement on on the installation of a device that the state requires the park owner to install, not up to the tenants. It's up to the state. So, I just think, you know, and they they both express confusion over the the wording of this particular section.

Okay. We're talking about who has to pay for it and we're talking about process tonight. So, if it's I get that that it is an expense required by law. This is it just has to be done. This has to be done. Has to be done. So the next question is does state law say the tenants have to pay for this expense? It does not. It says the owner has to pay for that expense.

So tonight we're Hold on. So what we're deciding tonight is whether the owners or the tenants pay this expense. We realize I realize in my feeble mind that you got to make this expense. What I don't realize I haven't come to the conclusion yet is who has to pay for it. And I'm not I haven't been convinced that the tenants have to pay for it unless the procedures are followed in the subsequent ordinance language. And I think that's what we're deciding tonight whether the steps were followed. I think anybody's disputing you got to put it in. The problem the problem with those that requirement that last sentence of subdivision A is if all improvements to the park have to be approved by a majority of the tenants and the expenditures required by law to be made by the park owner. The park owner is making a further investment in the park owner's property. The fifth amendment of the United States Constitution prevents a city or any governmental entity from taking private property without just compensation. Property owner has improved his property by installing this backflow prevention device. And if you were to regulate his ability to recover that expenditure from the tenants that are within the park, you would be arguably crossing the line into a regulatory taking of private property because you're preventing the owner from

getting a fair return on his property.

Well, I would agree in the first part that it is an expense that had to be made. I would take an issue with it being an expense that is actually something that improves the value of the property. I don't think a legally required expense is something that improves the value of the property. I think it's something that legally has to be installed. Now, without it, I think it subjects the owner to fines. And whether or not that owner could could pass on the fines to the tenants is another issue for another day. But what we're deciding tonight is simply did the owner follow the procedure under this ordinance to pass on this cost to the tenants. You're arguing a question of the constitutionality of telling the owner that they may not pass on this expense if that's in fact what the council votes on.

That's the problem. That's the problem with your ordinance. Got it. Your ordinance is poorly written. It should be you. They've got it exactly backwards here. And it seems to me the intent had to be that new capital expenses expressly exclude um those required by law and that the provisions in paragraph one the provisions in paragraph B do not apply because it is an expenditure

require hanging. So what it does is it's silent on the definition of the only thing the only thing under your ordinance that would apply would be that last sentence of subdivision A because if you look at subdivision B, you can see that capital expenses expenses required by law do not have to conform to the following preconditions prior to initiating the service. you know, you give him notice and you but it wasn't in there and and so it's it's not there. Got it. So the the real question is

whether he's required to comply with this provision that all improvements, replacements, rehabilitations shall have been approved in advance by a majority of the tenants. Okay. And I guess what I'm what I'm saying is

question city attorney. How do you determine if it's a an capital expense required by law then? Because I can tell the suspicion is given the relationship that we're kind of seeing reading the tea leaves is what's to prevent someone saying, "Okay, you got a rent increase and it was a capital expense required by law and you just have to pay it." Look at the council meeting in April of 2026. What justifies capital expense required by law? What does that mean? Is it defined in this this ordinance? Is it defined anywhere?

A a capital expense required by law would simply be any expense that is required by statute or regulation. Presumably the reference to required by law is not a reference to required by this ordinance. That would be superolous. you would be talking about, you know, you you're imposing requirements by the ordinance and then saying that they're required by law.

You can't that that's very clearly a reference to law that is outside of your ordinance. So, it is necessarily one of two sources, well, one of three sources. The Constitution, statute, or regulation adopted by a state agency. All of those things preempt your ability to legislate with respect to anything. That's why I'm saying that, you know, if if you read this ordinance in the way it's written, all improvements, etc., etc., have to be approved by a majority of the tenants. Well, an expenditure required by law. Yeah. I mean, you can look at it as as not being an improvement, but it it uses words other than improvements. Replacements. There's not a replacement either. It might be a rehabilitation.

Got it. Because it's a rehabilitation that is uh causing the the thing to be in conformity, a remodel because it was already there. Did he m or did you have a point to make?

Yeah. No, I I was going to say it would be considered more of a rehabilitation because yeah, it wasn't previously required, but the state has gone through a lot of uh changes on backflow requirements uh to make water systems um um more safe for the drinking public. Um and so I agree with that interpretation. Okay. So just just as a matter of textual reading of the ordinance as it's written, I would say that you know the the requirements of one and two under subdivision B clearly don't apply. And the only question before you is whether or not that last sentence of subdivision A applies. And my position would simply be you don't have the authority because state law has preempted you to say you're not allowed to make this rehabilitation or improvement and pass it along uh if it's required by law. I you don't have that authority as a city council. I would add that if the if this wasn't done, the backflow protection device wasn't done, having managed a water system before and gone through some of these similar uh things with backflow that um cow water would have had to shut off the water to the mobile home park in order until they had that fixed in order to protect the water system. uh per state requirements

and the the expense has been amvertized over 10 years. It's 84 cents per month. I I think it works out to like hundred and some odd dollars over the 10year life of the of the charge. It's in the documents that they provided to you. Um there there seems to be no uh dispute here that cow water required them to do this. There's no dispute here that it's clear that the the matter is covered by regulation adopted by the water resources control board. You have to do that

either way that council decides. I would re recommend that um the city attorney and I work on trying to clean up the Yeah, we need some clean up resolution in the I I think you need to you need to reward this this ordinance essentially basically the way I've been describing it reverse the order of A and B

and the reason it was instituted in the first place was because of the rent increases that seemed arbitrary to the residents then they came to the city for because they weren't getting it um because they felt their comments weren't being listened to by the owner. There's no communication as the owner said. Maybe it's the other way. He's shaking his head. I'm not passing any kind of judgment. I'm saying that's why this ordinance was passed. I remember I was here. I was sitting here when we passed this. So, um this is a a detail, a nuance. This wasn't really contemplated when we passed this ordinance for something like this and how it would be determined. Now we have a precedent for it and um we can see how it can be u um judged in the in the future and the tenants can see the residents can see how this is looked at. Um however just a couple of points um I I think the owner of the park could have done a better job meeting with the people. Just because you don't get along with the people, Mr. Mckenry, doesn't mean you can avoid meeting with them. You think I get along with everybody that comes to these council meetings? We still have our meetings every two weeks. It's democratic process and you should listen to the tenants and they should listen to you as well in a polite atmosphere. So I think that wasn't followed. That's very clear tonight. Came down a lot of this came down to communication and now the city council is being called in to be the the umpire on it. Another thing is where's your final bill? This is an estimate that was provided in here. Where is the final bill? the estimate. I've never gotten I wouldn't pay an estimate. I pay final bills. Okay. Well, I would I would demand a final bill in the first place.

M Mr. Mayor, can I can I say a couple of words real quick? You know, at at at best at the beginning of this conversation, I was really looking towards for some information as to what would give us an opportunity. And you know, we we each represent a district and you know, we can we can come with a with an an understanding and we're certainly we're not an attorney, but in reading and listening to the conversations what we're having where in my viewpoint, I I see it as uh we were we were looking at it as yeah, you know, this something you should pass to the residents, but then I started think the the occupants, but then I started when you stated the word rehabilitation, well, that's like, you and apologize. I'm in tax business. So, it's like asking a person, you know what, there's a new tax code. So, guess what? You got to you got to eat that new tax code. Tax code, right? So, my view is that you should not bear the the cost. I think that the owner has that's his right and that's his new tax code, so to speak, my terminology. So, that's his cost, not yours. Now that because of the fact that you use the word rehabilitation because rehabilitation means that you had that there you just got it you rehabbed it you got it you brought it up to par if it wasn't there then it would have been a cost which a new cost that means that they're going to burden it but because it's there it was rehabbed it was brought up to code that's his cost he own now the individual back there said you know what they own the land in the coast well if you own the land then that means you bear the cost but you don't own the and and I'm not I'm I'm just speaking my language because I represent a district and I'm looking at things and I want to just be honest, okay? It's it's very confusing because at the end of the day, the mayor has a point. We all need to go negotiate to to reach a point where we can all be happy. And you know what? I think that it's the if you're going to

pay something and he has a right too. He has a bare, you know, rate of dividend. I'm a business owner. I want to rate a return. So, you know, if I put something out there, I want to have the best out there, too. So, this is a very complicated issue. I just want to speak my mind and my mind says that, you know what, just like the individual in the back said, if you own the dirt, you should comply and you should owe that. This is my own opinion, but when you start using word of rehabilitation versus actually new, that's when I start thinking that if it's a rehabilitation, you're actually replacing a part. And you know what? It's just like having a new tax code. You get a new tax code, you go in there, you scream, yell, pissed off, but you still pay it because it's you. So, and I'm not I'm not speaking sides because we have we have our attorney that gives us our opinion, gives us what the pros and cons, but and certainly what the mayor stated that you know what, we need to get along and start talking because at the end of the day, guys, we've been here for two years and and two years is too much, you know, cuz I mean, I will be you. I'm I'm you already but I will be you in another five years and I would hope that you know what we are working together at that time right so I wish that we could get our city attorney our city manager and the individual and all work together but it but if you ask me for my opinion I need to actually express myself that when you start talking about using words like rehabilitation that means there was a part there already and it's being rehabbed so that means that you don't own the dirt if you own the dirt hey all part to you own it you owe it because you own it. That's my own opinion. Thank you,

Mayor. Pro tip.

Yeah. I'd like to just make a comment. From what I'm hearing is it wasn't it's not about the money. I think it's how you went about it and you admitted that you didn't want to have a meeting. And it's so unfortunate because I know a lot of these people that live there and they're great people. And I don't think they're difficult. I just think it's the way you speak to them. If everybody humbles themselves and speaks together, I think you could get a you can get along so much further. I'm also a businesswoman and I'll tell you if I shied away from people that are screaming at me because their rates went up, I do insurance. So, let me tell you, I hear it all the time because California is getting so bad that insurance rates is they're going so high and people are are screaming at me. But, you know, it's the way we talk to people and I explain it to them. These are the laws. This isn't what I wanted to do. It's because, you know, insurance has gone skyrocket because of the fires. I have to explain it to them and they understand. You know, I explained to them about auto insurance, why it's so high because there's so many accidents. It's unfortunate and they have to, you know, they get cited a point if it's their fault and their insurance rates go up. So, I just think it's it's how you approach the individual. And I think you could get a lot further along if you were forthcoming and being honest and telling them this is how much it's going to be. This is it's like you said, get a meeting together. You can't avoid that. And I just want to say I have visited that park many times. I've been there and I'll tell you I know people that have come from other states to live there because you know what Mr. Mckenry

that's a beautiful park. A lot of people give so many compliments when they go there and they say how nice it looks. And I have to agree when you charge somebody, you do have to make those expenses because paint does go fade. It fades. You're, you know, the paint on the streets. Like if you have a, you know, the crosswalk that fades. You got to make those things look nice, you know, because then guess what? The tenants appreciate that. They appreciate that. Hey, you fixed the gate. because I've noticed at one point that gate didn't work for a few weeks, right? I I I mean, I have to say what I've seen with my own eyes and I think those are the improvements that these folks deserve because they're paying. They don't own the land. So, I just think if you look at it that way, and I think these are great people here and they're very understanding. I think if we all could come and have that common ground, speak to each other respectfully, I think you'll get so much further. Those are just my comments.

Council member Elsa Garrett, do you want to make a comment? Yeah, I just want to say that um they're they're all completely right with their comments. There's got to be communication. Um because if you would have communicated and worked together, I don't think we would have been here talking about all this stuff here. So, uh thank you guys for coming. good presentation and u hopefully we can assist any with anything we can. Thank you.

Okay, so back to the attorney. So does this capital improvement that is required by law that is also now a rehabilitation or remodel? Would you agree with that character characterization that it is a a remodel? Does that change the council's ability in terms of capital expenses to be passed through as opposed to being retained by the owner if it hasn't been approved by the majority of the residents? Which section five order for him? City attorney, would you mind turning on your mic? Please

turn on your mic.

Your your ordinance talks about amortizing those expenses over the useful life of the of the device or improvement that's made. And you know that this is this is a very very small increase and it's uh something that uh you know the the the expenses for the property owner are going up. That's one of them. Uh is it reasonable for him to pass that through to the tenants? That's really the bottom line of the question. We can we can um we can deal with your very ambiguous uh ordinance later on, but I mean for this council, for you right now, that's really the question. Are is this a reasonable expenditure to pass on to the tenants? Is a ammo period of 10 years for a backflow device long? Is that the right time or should it be more for something that will probably last more than 10 years?

10 year period on a I think I'm assuming a 6 in backflow um is probably about right. So 10 year and then what will happen at the end of the 10 10 year probably need to be replaced again? They replace it and this will start all over again.

Yeah. Um they'll be required to um have the backflow tested every year by a state certified backflow tester um as part of this program and then that'll have to be submitted to Cal Water for their review and approval as well. And then if at any time it fails an inspection because of the seals or anything in there, then it would require repairs or replacement at that at that point too. So I have a question. Sorry, can I

Yeah. Okay. Um in in in joining the conversation that we're having here, we have a city attorney telling us that the policy we have is inaccurate and doesn't represent the true re vision of what the community is going through right now. We have a city manager telling us that it is a proper rehabilitation and it can can and should be rehabilitated or should be advertised within 10 years and that's probably the right thing. But you're missing you're missing the point here. These are not resident owners of that land. And the question was that it was we defined it and I don't you don't want to get through this but we already defined it that is a rehabilitation and a rehabilitation should be charged to the owner not to the actual renters because these these guys are renters. And that's really the question we should answer before we're answering the amortization. Shouldn't it be?

But the re rehabilitation is going toward questioning. Yeah. I'm I'm just saying the rehabilitation is going towards something that enables the park owner to provide them water. But the rehabilitation means that's defined that it was something there already. You're just rehabbing it to correct the state policy that was brought to this year. So that means that it's something already correct. He's correcting it. He had it there. So that's his. It's because just like just like the gate that council mayor PM said that gate's been broken. Well, it's his gate. So he fixed it. That's true. Yes. But I I I think with respect to I'm just you know this is all

I think with respect to a backflow prevention device particularly because what you're doing as the park owner is you're providing the water service to the tenants and you're charging them what the water company charges you as a pass through. That's true. So why shouldn't the the rehabilitation of the backflow prevention device also be passed through? Because what it is at the end of the day is a charge of the water company which is a safety issue. Which is a safety. Okay. But wait a minute. But the fence is a safety issue too because if it was broken, people came in and stole their house. It' be the same thing. So you have to fix it.

But they wouldn't shut up the water.

No, they won't shut up water. But I'm having we're having a we're having apple apples conversation. I just try to because I want to make sure they get good representation. But I feel that we should really be d having dialogue in regards to the rehabilitation before we have dialogue in re re in in in con into you want to start talking about advertisation. Let's talk about that later. Let's talk about first is it a rehabilitation? If it's rehabilitation that means it was owned by him from the very beginning. So I hate to add in more ambiguity on stuff. So we we we have essentially a water line and a portion of that water line stated that you have to have this uh um you know backflow protection, right? Um one way of considering something like this as well is that past the meter point uh the water um line that goes in and serves those uh residents. If that were to break um and the property owner has to maintain that and fix that um is that pro is that cost then passed on or is it just an assumed cost of business?

Well, these are all interesting questions, but I think I think it comes down to being whether this is a reasonable charge or not. And I have to say I'm not completely convinced that that estimate is the final bill. I want to see something that says the final bill and I want to see that it was actually paid. So at this point, I mean, it it passes the reasonable test in terms of, you know, he wouldn't have put it in unless he was forced to by cow water. He doesn't appear that he's making money on it. Doesn't appear that it is an excuse to charge the the residents more rent. However, it still says just an estimate and there was no meeting ahead of time.

You could find that it is a reasonable expenditure and reasonable to be passed on to the tenants on the condition that the landlord provide the tenants with documented proof that this is the precise amount that was paid for that approve improvement. if that if the if the failure of the the landlord to give the tenants that documentation is the issue.

Okay. Is there a motion to approve this expense based on the landlord providing documentation to each tenant of the park that he actually paid that amount? Do you want to provide a timeline of providing that? And that proof would be would 30 days be enough for you and you could not charge the increase until you get that bill, that final bill to the tenants. Can I show you a check that I paid to him? We want the bill from the third party. Sir,

can you can you help Can you help them with it? And if you can't, why don't you come down to city hall and you and the city manager can call this company and say we you need this. Is there a second to that motion? I'll second it. Okay. Would you call the role, please? Discussion. Discussion. Yeah. Um because of the fact and I'm just being honest that the re rehabilitation really strikes my mind. So I'm I'm I understand the city attorney and with all respect buddy, I'm going to abstain to this or vote no. and it's because of the rehabilitation and I thank you guys for all the comments you guys have given us. You guys have given us good information and it makes sense and you know I just I hope you guys can all work it out. Thank you.

Thank you. Believe me, I would not be voting for an expense that couldn't be justified and we're going to want to see the justification for that and look for more communication in the future and more transparency and a better relationship so that we don't have to go through this again. But we will be looking at cleaning up this ordinance so it is even more crystal clear. And thank you for testing it for the first time. It's only going to get clear from this. Call the role, please. Who made the motion? I'm I made the motion and Mayor Prom second. Mayor Robertson. Yes. Mayor Promgara. Yes. Council member Osagera.

Yes. Council member Trillo. No. The motion passes. Thank you everybody for coming out. We'll take a five minute break now.

All right, everybody ready? We're uh back in session. We are moving on to section item 42 which is an action item consideration and acceptance of audited financial statements for fiscal year 2024 2025 presented by Ryan Jolly of Bryant El Jolly CPA Accountancy Corporation.

Uh Mayor Robinson and council members um that before you is the audited financial statements and yes we do have Ryan Jolly here to present it today. Right. Thank you. Hey,

thank you for having me here tonight, mayor and members of the city council. Um, I'm going to go over a few highlevel um, observations from the audit and then I can take any of your questions. As mentioned, this is the audited financial statements for the city of Selma for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2025. Um, just beyond the table of contents is our independent auditor's report. This is where we issued an unqualified opinion stating we found the city's uh books and records to be in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. Uh so this is a favorable audit opinion. Um just beyond the independent auditors report you get into the governmentwide financial statements on page six. Uh this is capturing all of the city's assets and liabilities on a full acral basis. Uh ending net position is 96.4 4 million. After that, you get into some more detailed financial statements more on a fund basis. On page nine, um I'll just highlight the general fund and pages nine and 11 actually. Um the general fund had a net decrease in fund balance of 2.6 million. Um 2.4 million of the expenditures in this last fiscal year were related to capital outlay in the general fund. Um a big one big expense in that uh capital outlay had to do with the uh spend down of the ARPA funds that were received in prior years and recognizes revenues in prior years and that was the Clarkson lift station about 1.7 million was spent on that in fiscal year 2025 there are um within these uh financial statements here on pages like I said 9 and 11 and then starting on pages 13 4 for the enterprise funds. Uh there are some funds um that have negative fund

balances and those are highlighted on page 33. Um some of the funds have a negative fund balance because of a timing difference in receipts of um grant revenues or reimbursements. Um others have to do with enterprise funds have to do with not collecting uh sufficient charges um to cover the expenses of the enterprise fund. And then also some internal service funds have uh some deficit balances have to do with um not collecting um appropriate charges across um different departments and f and funds of the city to cover those um those internal service fund charges or expenses. And so there's some information on page 33 regarding those negative fund balances. Um after the financial statements um on the enterprise funds and the governmental funds, we have the successor agency. There was one correction booked this year as a prior period adjustment had to do with a uh due to um liability that was being reported since 2012. Um when the when the prior redevelopment agency was um disbanded, uh there was at that time it should have been recognized as a as a loss. Um but there was a there was a due to that was on the successor agency for the last 15 years that was identified that did not belong there. So that adjustment was made this year and so that liability does not exist on the successor agency side of financial statements anymore. After those financial statements are the notes to the financial statements. This gives you detailed explanation of all the different asset or significant asset and liability accounts. So there's a lot of information there to digest on the beginning of year to end of year differences. And then following the footnotes to the

financial statements are the budgetary to actual comparisons for the major funds include the general fund and the local transportation fund. And then after that we get into some pension uh information, a 10-year history of the information that affects the pension liability calculation. And then we get into the what we call the non- major fund financial statements which are um certain funds that don't meet a certain asset or revenue threshold. And those are reported in the back of the financial statements. And as I mentioned, most funds are operating as intended. There are a few that have negative fund balances and those are highlighted on page 33. Um lastly, we issued a report to the city council letting you know that we didn't have any difficulties in completing the audit and didn't have any disagreements with management. Um didn't have to consult with any other outside accountants and uh also issued an opinion on the internal controls of the city. This is where we look at the significant transaction classes uh more specifically cash dispersements, cash receipts, and payroll. uh ensuring that there's proper segregation of duties and so there are no material weaknesses or significant decisions. Um overall once again a a good audit report for the city. Um a lot of work goes into this by the city staff. So we thank Maggie and her staff for helping us get this done. Um this is actually it may not seem like it's a timely audit but um with just how many Gazsby pronouncements there are and how complicated some of these uh financial statements have become um this is the new norm. We've just now started issuing uh audited financial statements for out of our 15 different cities only probably three have now had their audits issued um at this time period and we're now

approaching the end of another fiscal year. Um, but with the help of your outside consultants, it definitely helps you guys uh issue your financial statements more timely than other cities. I'll now take any specific questions you may have.

Great. Thank you for that. What What a difference couple years makes. Couple years ago, we talked we didn't have a finance director. Virtually no transparency in our uh city finances. And I think you bore some of the brunt for that. So, thank you for uh staying with us. And um I think it's a better year this year. Much better having our finance director. We can just go to her when we have questions. We can go to um director Moreno. She gets right back to us. We can actually go directly to her. Isn't that beautiful? So that's the way city government should work. And we have a city manager that not only um doesn't feel threatened by that, but encourages us, you know, to go to the the finance director for these very technical questions. Um, so just getting back a quick quick uh wrap up on this on um shoot 495. Um it says an error correction. Did you cover that, Bryant? Was that Yes. 203?

Yes, that was the successor agency uh removal of that liability that was reported incorrectly since 2012.

Got it. Okay. And then just um just looking at the 242, we are current, correct? This is we're up to date on our so I think we get funding like TDA funds based on whether we have um a fin a current financial statement. Is that right Director Moreno? So that this definitely impacts the kind of grant money and the money we can get from the county and the state. And then the just so I'm I'm understanding this um on 495 the uh the budget it was budgeted 2425. It was it was budgeted for almost a balanced budget of a $75,000 $247 excess of revenues over expenditures, but we actually ended up about $2 million of excess expenditures. Is that correct? Okay. So, that resulted in a um in a deficit of about two 2,881,440. So, we definitely have some have some work to do on that, making sure that uh we don't um continue the trend of uh of increasing the deficit.

Any questions? Anybody from the public? Mr. Jolly, Mayor Proch, I think you gave an explanation in regards to the deficit, the 2 million deficit. Yes. And was that due to the raises for the the ARPA money? Uh some a big chunk of that is the uh the final expenditures of the ARPA money for the um Clarkson lift station. That was 1.7 million of that total that project those if you remember those were funds received in earlier years and uh and now have those funds have now been expended.

Okay. I think the city got like four four or five in ARPA money. So the the 1.7 was for the Clarkson. The other one was I think it went right in the general fund payroll. This um some of the money probably was used for Yes. general fund expenditures. Yeah. But we still had that deficit of a big deficit of 2 million. Got it. So that's just overspending, right? That revenue was recognized in previous years. So it was actually it's kind of in your fund balance because you probably had a a surplus in the year that you received that those revenue of the ARPA was recognized in a previous

previous years. Got it. Okay. Anybody with a question? Anybody online or on the phone with a question about the audited financials? We got a question here. Mayor, I see no hands raised online. Thank you,

Rose. Robertson 1057 Mil Street. So accordingly um the ARPA money ARP um so they took that I I I remember that very clearly 32 vote they took a million dollars basically for the salaries for raises and I remember asking after the fact when it hit that wasn't going to be revenue coming in every year. It was just a one-time um I believe it was it $4 million that a lot of the cities received for um these cities, different cities. Is that correct? And they used former council one still sitting up there used a million dollars to pay salaries for our increase and didn't come back with any way of that being repaid every year. Very unfortunate. Thank you. comment. Councilman Avalos.

Oh, no. I'm I don't have anything else for a question. Do you have a question? I'm a good I don't have anything else to say. All right. Are you good? Okay. We'll bring the matter back to council. Following up on what was just said. Yes. Mayor Prom and I did vote against that because we didn't think you should spend onetime money on continuing operating expenses. So, we paid it, you know, got to pay for it at some point. So, that's what that's what we're doing. Um, and trying to generate that cash now and other ways to uh to make up for that to pay those continuing operating expenses. So, unless there's a comment, is there a motion?

I have I have a comment. Um I don't I don't accept I don't it doesn't make sense what but the uh individual came up here and at the same time it'll come back and you know we talk about what we spent in the past but uh you know this year we've sp we've paid a lot of we've give a lot of people raises we've given new positions and you know right now we're actually getting a presentation from Jolly giving us the report and I appreciate that. Uh but um I don't think that's something we should be talking here. I think it'll come out in the open later down the road. We'll have fully up we'll have fully uh lots of time to discuss this when the politics start. But for right now, and when we do have that time, we'll have to justify what we're actually saying. And I hope you do understand finances, understand how it works because what you're stating is inaccurate, but at the same time, we'll be talking about it in the future. For right now, I really appreciate your um presentation and I thank you for it. Thank you. The principal still holds. You don't spend

one You don't spend onetime money on continuing operating expenses. Is there a motion to approve the audited financial? You got a comment. You have a com.

Okay. I have a comment. Well, first I got to thank him. Okay. Um you know when you don't when I was down there asking where is finance person we do have one now and h you know in the house and those that during those times we didn't have one you know being on the council before we built a we built a a reserve and then when I get back wow you know I don't see a reserve You know, reserves were were were designed in case of an emergency. They built it. We built it in the past for reserves for a reason in case hard times would come about cuz I went through some hard times and we had to make some hard decisions and I didn't want I laid people off. I didn't like did I didn't like doing that straight up. When you lay people off, that's that's families with no jobs out there. I didn't want to see that. We created a program to offer early retirement structure and furlow programs and and when they came back we we we develop unfortunately every department became a multitask department. You know I expected a lot from those people and I thank those people that became the multitask people. It was a difficult time and it's when you come back from accounts and and the reserve is gone, you know, you know, kind of gone and you tell yourself, "What the heck happened?" You don't have a finance person at the helm and you got people making decisions and they don't have a financial person guiding them, you know, say, "Hey, you're

overspending. Shouldn't be doing this." and and I'm glad you actually made those statements earlier. So it's you are you know we rely on people you know independent audits to know what to balance the book I call balance balancing checks bottom line and it helps us up here as council to make those important decisions you know that's

and how we how we can fix the problems the leakage that we have how to fix it how to mitigate these issues and and that's all I got to say we you Uh this council is this new group is we're going to be transparent straight up and we want the finance person we rely every every department we rely very important because they're a part of the tools of the city and we're up here to make decisions for the taxpayers and sometimes they're not happy sometimes they're happy. It's just one of those things that we have to make because these are difficult times. Sometimes we have to make those tough decisions and and right now I I feel that we have to build back a reserve somewhere and bring back the businesses in our community some way to help our citizens uh develop a better community. When you don't have the money is tough. That's all I got to say. Scott, thank you. Appreciate it. And

I'll make the motion. Make the motion to approve the audit financials. Is there a second? Call the role, please. Council member Avalos, yes. Council member Osagera, yes. Council member Trillo, yes. Mayor Promggera, yes. Mayor Robertson,

yes. Okay, item passes. Thank you for coming out. Appreciate it. You too. Um, next item is item 4.34-3. It's a discussion item for spay and neuter sponsorship. Breaker Fletcher. Mayor, members of the council, what you have in front of you is just a discussion item um that staff had so staff had worked on a spay and neuter program sponsorship packet for the community. So, our animal services manager, Arando, has taken this sponsorship packet and he has approached a lot of our local businesses already and he is currently working on hitting some of the big box stores as well. Um with this you'll what we're finding is that a lot of the bigger organizations and businesses that we're hitting require that we submit um sponsorship applications online. And so that's currently the process that we're working on. But um we are still waiting to hear back from some of our local businesses as well. And so with that, um, our department has also allocated about $1,000 is what we've committed to for a spay and neuter program. And so with that, it varies on how many spay and neuters we can actually do. And so um, we are currently working with New Village Pets that has about, um, a $60 spayneuter, um, fee for cats at this time. So, it ranges from $60 to $165. And then we've also reached out to the Hope Foundation and their fees also range from $150 to $250 for dogs depending on weight. And so, it's really hard to give you an actual number as to what it's going to cost to spay or neuter a dog because a

lot of these surgeries are based on the size of the dog. And so what we're doing is we're working on creating an interest form for the community to be able to apply for a voucher and then um use those interest forms um to host some kind of raffle and raffle those off until the monies have been expended. So bring a report. So will those forms be in English and Spanish? That is my goal. And at the events that we're starting to have now again in the shelter to benefit the community, will those forms be passed out to everybody in line? Even if it's raining outside? Even if it's raining outside, our goal is to target those Selma residents. So our vaccine clinic is open to

anybody. It's not just Selma residents. So we're going to get other members from different communities, but we're going to make sure that we have in there like request proof of Selma residency. So I think this should be limited to Selma residents with Selma animals. Another thing is um in terms of the providers, why are we not going to South County? Why are we not going to South County is on our list as well as

local taxpaying correct businesses here that we want to support. They may be a little more expensive than Hope. Um New Village has helped us for year. Dr. Peele's helped for years and years. you know, she's not quite in the city limits, but she's pretty darn close on the call. Um, and she's helped out a lot of shot clinics. Next question of mine is process. So, when you they fill out the form and you award a spay and neuter or multiple if they have multiple dogs and cats in the family, um, describe the process after they get awarded.

Right. So at that time we would um we would identify how many animals are needed to be spay and neutered at that time. And so we would um we would create a voucher through um a city claim that we would um that we would make directly towards the the business or city would pay the business not the individual. We're not going to pay the individual. We're going to pay the business directly. So that way there is no confusion there. Yes. And then so they and then a waiver would probably be signed allowing that medical treatment to happen to the to the pet the owner cons a a consent form

most likely. Yes. And then just following up on that um so they could if they chose bring the animal to the shelter and then our shelter personnel would take the the animal to the the veterinary clinic. Correct. Those are still legal parameters that we're trying to determine um internally. Um so I have not pulled the the trigger on that one.

I know we did that as a shelter as a nonprofit second chance because we started with the great idea of having spay and neuter and no one felt like taking their animals there. I mean they would be like fine with it but they wouldn't go that last step. So, it may be incumbent on the city just to take those animals and take them to the vets and then take them back to the shelter and then the owner would come and pick them up at the shelter. I could definitely look into that

because, you know, if you put the burden, you know, where they have to show up sometimes and schedule it, that can be a real impediment and hurdle to actually getting animals spayed and neutered. Um, and then the city would, I'm sure, keep records uh, in terms of receipts on all those animals spayed and neuter so we could see a record of those animals that get fixed because that's really going to take that's going to really help the problem. Did any other council members have any comments at this time?

Yeah. Um, talking about funding, um, I was able to get, um, a grant of $4,000 from Cal Water just for that. I mean, they gave it to us um for the city, but I talked to them and they said, "Yeah, you can use for that's a worthwhile cost." So, and I know we're talking to other businesses that are going to be donating. If you know anybody that wants to open up your wallet, um we we be No, you got to you got to do more than open. You got to pull out the money. Funny. So, if you know anybody, any business that would like to help us out, we would appreciate it because uh we have this new ordinance coming in what couple of months now

and uh we want to make sure that we try to help because uh giving people fines, would that get in my way to get those animals fixed? Uh to me, it's not fair. And it was my idea actually, but I think we need to help the community. And

it was it was a great idea, but Second Chance did it a long time ago. and we made it work on a small scale. Now that we have the all the city assets and resources behind it, we can do an even better job. And um I have a check here from El Toro Loco for $1,000 for the spayneuter program for the Selma Enhancement Corporation. So, I'll be giving that to Director Moreno and that is um I think a great start along with the 4,000 which um Councilman Oaggera um secured and the thousand from our parks and community services department. That's six grand right there. I mean that

we are very grateful. If you can get me contact information to the owner, um I would love to connect with them and and give them a special recognition based on our sponsorship packet.

That would be great. maybe, you know, they come out and take a picture with one of the doggies or kitty cats that gets fixed or something like that cuz they're they're animal lovers over there. And that's how it starts. That's how we start really taking a whack at this problem of overpopulation of pets. Everybody talks about I see too many cats around. I see too many dogs. Well, we're going to fix this problem and we're going to It starts right here and it starts tonight and we're going to make a real difference in this community. And I think this is one way we talk about making our community better, not just for people, but for animals as well. And this is really going to help our animals. It's going to help our residents. And this is something we could do. And people want to do it. Just ask them. Just, you know, everybody who's talking to business owners, individuals, you want to give to our spay and neuter program, Selma Enhancement Corporation right there. It's a nonprofit and it's taxdeductible. So, you know, every everybody wins. Any any members of the public have any comment on this span neuter program tonight? Anybody online or on the phone with a comment?

Mayor, I see no hands raised at the time. Perfect. This is a discussion item. Mayor Pam, do you have a comment? No. Okay, this discussion item. So now we will move on to item 44, discussion and direction regarding special event and park rental fees. Director Fletcher. Actually, are you doing the city manager or is Director Fletcher doing the report? Okay, we'll tag team this one.

Um, all right. So, what you have in front of you is our um special event permitting um fees along with our park rental fees. And so, council had given direction as to, you know, bringing this back to to council and having a discussion. And so we're looking for direction as to how you would like to proceed with these. Um, with that, right now, our special event application fee is about $650. That's the application on its own. That's typically not including the sound permit, the street closure, or um, the park rental depending on what type of event um, is taking place. And so what you'll see with our park rental fees as well is there's a resident fee and then there's also a non-resident fee. And then both of those are based on um the number of attendees. And so for residents um it's a $200 fee for 200 people or less. And and then it increases to $350 if it's anything above 200 people. And then um for non-residents, it's $300 a day for 200 people or less. And then $500 for um 200 people or more. So that's those are the fees.

Let him do it. He brought it up. Councilman Abalos, this is your Yes. What you brought up?

I brought it, you know, I brought this item up and the reason why I brought it up is, you know, uh I want, you know, honestly, I wanted us to look at, you know, I mean, somebody said they would give studies, whatever. actually let's we go we got to reach out and look at cities like you know reley Sanger Dauba and look at what they're charging on their you know their events and their parks and everything like this and the reason why I say these things I mean sometime you do studies we don't know where the studies come from of different areas and everything but when you do your own surrounding studies around your own geographical area you have a you have a better understanding of your environment and what it's charging. So, you don't want you don't want to have charging the price of the Bay Area because it's different different pricing, but at the same time, you want to be fair, but at the same time, you want to entice people to come to your community. And how do you entice them to come to your community? If you're out of the ballpark on price, they're going to go to the next town and they're going to have an event there or a or use their parks or events. uh you want to bring more people come to your community because you show you showcase your town and the reason why you showcase your town that people going to say you know I like going to Selma I like to go in the restaurants over there I like to get you know I like the people I like the event back in the past we had those things we had the the chili cook off the ribs cook off uh we had the the beer fest going on we had all these events take. We had, you know, a lot of events taking place. We had the marachchis coming to hear me music coming in. We had a lot of stuff going on, but our price back then our price was very competitive, very low, but we had a turnover. Our parks were always

being used on every two weeks basis. It was never a dull moment. And I'd like to see that back because there's an old saying, you know, it's best to get a thousand nickels than try to get $1 out of each one person. You know what I mean? You have a better turnover and getting money back in the returns, you know, and you show it's a it's a it's a win situation all the way around. It may look like a lot of work, but in the long run, it pays off. Trust me, it pays off. Uh that's all I got to say. Any comments after that? I don't care. Councilman trio.

Uh my question is um you know and I'm speaking in a higher volume in this here. So I kind of want to get a feeling of where your where your thought process is because you know I I it's not a secret I have JT promotions and I've had big events. Right. I think the capacity there is about 6,500. We had 5,000 at one event about 4,500 in another. The question I have for you is um what is the what is the price structure you're going to have for something like that? And and and and I'll hand it to you this way. Those events generated more than 45 to $50,000 given to different organizations in this community. But at the same time, there wasn't a thought process of, you know, now we're talking about bathrooms, we're talking about giving back to the community to actually fix the park, right? And so my thought to you is as Jim says, you know, as you're bringing a field fee structure, keep in mind that there are other people like myself that that goes to other towns because but and the bad part is that when we go to other towns, they get the money, right? They get they get the nonprofits get that money. Um, so the question for you is, will you be also uh working on a a price sheet for local business owners or that come in here and we'll do X, Y, and Z. Are you are you thinking that way? And if and if you are, I hope you are and hope you're factoring that in. And if you're not, then we have to go to other towns. Um, and and and um those are really important. you know, keep in mind that we we have a huge Latino uh presence in town. They have the Tahano Festival Morteno Banda, you know. Um but there is there is that need. I've been I've been sitting back and waiting to see what we're going to do with that park because I I do have contracts with bands and

they are playing somewhere else, not here. So, the question is for you is are you factoring that in and are you actually looking at getting a fee structure for that too? So, I'm assuming you're talking about Pioneer Village. And so, with that being said, the the fees for Pioneer Village were not included in this report. And so, the way the pricing works for Pioneer Village is based on the number of attendees and the number of hours that you're going to have an event out at the park. And so, the I can't give you a clear-cut answer as to, you know, what our price is going to be because it's very dependent on what it is that you're doing out at the park. And so, um, honestly, the price for Pioneer Village ranges from anywhere from about $400 to about maybe $2,000 depending on the size of the event. And so, with that being said, right now staff is actually we're actually working on trying to figure out how we're going to revamp those prices because what's happening is um there's just been a lot of neglect over at Pioneer Village and there's a lot of repairs that need to take place, right? And so we're trying to find a middle ground of how we can increase these prices in a reasonable way to help accommodate for the repairs that we need, right? And so we are having those conversations internally. I met with PD and with public works a couple weeks ago to to have these conversations, right? How can we make that place safer? What is it that needs to be repaired? What, you know, what factors need to go into into this? And so ideally, yes, there is different type of events that we that we host at, you know, Pioneer Village. There's going to be the small kinetas. We're not here to, you know, upcharge a small kinetta where maybe we can upcharge a little bit more for those outside agencies that come to us that, you know, are going to be promoting a large event that are going to be making thousands of dollars on our property.

And maybe that's how we can, you know, offset some of those costs. And so we are looking at that at this time. But again, this one, this particular staff report does not have that information. That's something that we just started um talking about internally as of a few weeks ago. So we're trying to figure that out. I have a comment. Okay. I know we just did a workshop in regards to our budgeting. You know, it was pre and we talked about the toot tax and Pioneer Village is considered a park. Correct. Correct. And I know they mentioned that there's only I believe it was what 98 that go 9800. How much goes to 30%.

What goes to um Pioneer Village? There was an amount 68 68,000 50% goes to parks of that 50%.

Okay. So 50% is there any way that that can be increased that there could be a more of a percentage to go to the parks than some going into the general fund? My question is is because you mentioned neglect. I just was there not too long ago and there you know they did some improvements out there and it does look nice. It it looks better, but it it could look much better. And what council member Trillio was talking about is, you know, there's events that other cities are doing just as Selma's doing now. But Pioneer Village has been mentioned to me by other people that have played their bands and they say we have one of the best locations.

They do, hands down. The thing is is that we have to upkeep it. And that's why I want to know is there any way that we can provide more monies from the RTO to the Pioneer Village because there are some things that we definitely we talked about that building that really needs to come down because it's on its last legs and that really is a liability issue there. We don't have those numbers in front of us right now on this on the tot and how much goes here or there. We do have the percentages as the mayor mentioned. Um but we can look at that and see um what that does and um you know how we could potentially

legal question maybe legal um it's measure K is the 50% so half goes measure K is half of the toot going of that three 300 I think roughly goes in the general fund which was 298 a to which was voter approved. Yes. So, we couldn't change those allocations, but could we change the allocations on the other 300,000 that just goes into the general fund?

Well, you could go higher. Uh the um measure essentially sets the the floor for that, right? So, if it's at 50% or whatever, you could put in more than that. It's just saying that that measure K you need that's your bare minimum that you have to do. But it's not saying that you can't augment those percentages for the park infrastructure operations and the art center with that general fund allocation of 50%. I would have to pull a specific measure K language in order to review that, but

pretty much

the ability to trans I wouldn't violate the the ter Got it. When it's specific, it's 2/3. So, since we are embarking on budget time, maybe we could look at allocating some of that other 50% into the We keep talking about Pioneer Village and what a gem it is, but a gem that's a little neglected and something in need of some remodel and some rehab.

You know, can I do really quick? I'm going to just throw this at you. What what mayor pro Tim Gar just stated is true. Um on on the big scale, you could look at it that in any other little town around the Fresno County, you can bring a $15,000 stage, but in Pioneer Village, I brought a $30,000 stage with all the lights and everything. So, that's really really big. And just to get you guys give you an an idea, that's something really really um on our side, something that we are not using. It's an acid. Okay.

I just want one other comment. There's a area that I know director Han mentioned that it belongs to Pioneer Village and it's it's just full of weeds right now and it's if you look at it, it's the north side that definitely could be cleaned up and just be made as parking lot. That's an area for parking easy. But you can't park there because there's full of weeds. And I just think that, you know, when you you talked about neglect, that's something that's being neglected. And you can definitely cut that down, throw a little bit of it doesn't have to be really expensive, but just throw it down, water it down, put some something and make it into a parking lot. Um because that would really help.

Correct. That area has been identified in the Pioneer Village master plan as um additional parking as well as the green space that's in front of the as soon as you drive into Pioneer Village, there's a green space in front of the Danish building, the the big red building in the front. That's also been identified as additional parking. Um and so within the Pioneer Village master plan, I mean there's different I believe there's like four different phases and within that doesn't mean we have to start with phase one or phase two, right? But it's like $19 million to build out that master plan. There's we definitely need a quite quite a few um that one in.

Yes. So there there's a few different things, but I just things that just need to be fixed is I the train depot needs a new roof. Um we need to to create the the restrooms. The restrooms, right? The restrooms is is a really big topic. The road that goes around the park internally needs to be paved. it. But the restrooms and the parking are are a really big um just factor out at that park only because once we have those two things set, I think that that'll definitely drive more use and and more revenue to come in and and assist with the remodeling and the repairs of all the other historical buildings that are currently there. Yes.

Oh. Oh, no. We have It was a good discussion, guys. Was good. In fact, Sarah, you're actually right. There is a location. I was there at the Easter egg thing and there is a there's room for parking on the weeds on the north side. Uh I looked at it yesterday. I mean, the other day that I I toured the Easter thing. I I I actually walked the whole perimeter look looking at how to how to facilitate and uh mitigate some of these issues that we have. And you're right, there is uh that grassy area that could we could use it for a parking. Um that's right. But we could look at this. Anybody from the public with a comment?

I have a comment before you you go public. Uh what about the monies we get from cattleman? I understand they pay what's the rent? I mean, are we charging enough? I mean, I understand that we're not even charging that much and they make a lot of money off of our citizens and you know, even when the Tano event comes, a lot of people go have dinner there and then they go to the event and then they can't even park because, you know, so it's like, you know, but I know how much do we get from the rental? Do we know?

It's it's not much. I want to say that the contract that we have with Cattleman's extends up until like 2035 and we only get about I want to say maybe $3,000 for for the use of the property and then that's split between um the arts enterprise fund and Pioneer Village. So we're only getting half for Pioneer Village. Okay. We should look at that agreement again. Should look at that lease. Can we bring that down agenda items? Anybody with a comment?

Well, you got the rent for Cattleman's and how about the revenue? What do they bring in? Does that go to Pioneer Village as well too or you know the revenue that their tax revenue? Tax revenue. Does that also go to Pioneer Village or just the rent specifically? just the rent specifically would go towards that and then their tax revenue would be similar to everybody else's tax revenue and just come to the general

about um also to bring um revenue. I remember back in the day when they had the women's club and let me tell you it was rented out all the time for baby showers. Just why are we not utilizing that red barn? I mean it's very nice in there. There's a nice Isn't there like a even a kitchen little nook area people could bring in their own food? It It's just always blown my mind that that just sits there. They don't I mean let people use that and you can make more revenue by using that like the women's club used to do. Um that that will help that would build up. Um, has that what is that there for? I mean, we're going to use it Saturday. Great. But what is what is it there for besides they opened it at one time for bathrooms cuz we needed them. It was an emergency for an event at the Pioneer Village. But why why are we not utilizing that? That could bring revenue. I I just I don't I don't know. I it's just we need to we need to offer it to not just the citizens of Selma to use it like the women's club but outsiders will come in and use that as well and that would be some great revenue. Thank you

our resources. Anybody on the line or on the phone with a comment? Mayor I see no hands raised. Thank you. With that we'll bring this matter back to council. This is um discussion item. So we will with council consensus we will move on to our final agenda item tonight which is an application for public service appointment. This is an application and appointment to the downtown business Improvement District Advisory Board.

Mayor, members of the council, what you have in front of you is the application uh for a downtown business owner to join the bid. Um, it's Irene Vasquez from Maiden Voyage. Um, you can see her application there as well. Happy to answer any questions.

Great. Thank you. I think this is a piece of the puzzle we just talked about previously, you know, where um not I know I'm not getting as many comments about park rental fees, about the the cost of the rental fees because the bid has done so much downtown with events. Selma Live, the business improvement district, whatever you want to call it, however you want to slice it, the city is doing more and it's doing more for the residents. And you know, whether it rains our event out on Friday and we have to postpone it, we'll have it again. So, we will we will do it again. But this is um and the reason I think the bid is doing all these events because we have really good leadership on the bid. We have a great bid board. We have a really good bid director. We have a city manager that's watching over it and we have a council that is committed to this bid and has been since we came up with this and put this bid into into effect. So, this is one of those parts of the city that can really really affect people coming to our city and having a right board is really key for people who will take this and run with this. Um, in terms of the business owners downtown and Irene Vasquez is a really good business owner with her husband Robert. at Maiden Voyage. They've really been a gamecher downtown. So, I'm very much in support of this appointment. Anybody else have any comments about this?

I'll make a motion. Did the public have any comments? Any Oh, go ahead. I was going to say that uh

since Maiden Voyage is uh open up their business, they've been very very very positive business. you everybody goes there in the morning. You'll see a lot of people go there. Uh and they've been very involved in our community. You know, they they and I commend it very strongly because you know when you invest in in a business and it's this is your livelihood. Either you you have a year to either make it or break it, you know, and so far they're being successful, their ideas, the innovation, I got to give them credit. They u they're I cannot say anything bad about these people. They're very they're very gracious people. They help out the community, the chamber, whatever. They're hands on. You don't find people like that.

Well, I mean, people people have been asking, you know, they a few years back it's been um hey, you know, we we we'll just since you guys aren't doing anything, we'll do our own we'll do our popup events in the park. And that's when these park rental fees really came to the to the front here. It's not as much because we've got people in the city who are staging events. They're bringing things back to our city, not just talking about it, we're doing it. And so having this right bid um board is a really key element of being doers on the city council and bringing Selma alive again and bringing our light back to our downtown and bringing light back to our city quite frankly. So, um, is there anybody on the line or on the phone with a comment about this agenda item or

Mayor I see no hands raised? Okay. Is there a motion to approve Irene Vasquez as the latest bid? Second. Okay. Call the RO, please. I motioned. Oh, she prom. I'll second it. Make you feel better. Guy in the blue shirt. Mayor Promgera. Yes. Council member Oera. Yes. Council member Avalos, yes. Council member Trillo, yes. Mayor Robertson,

yes. Okay. Congratulations to Irene Vasquez. Thank you for serving. Moving on to item five, future agenda items. Council requests for future agenda items not subject to public comment. Items require a consensus. Do do council members have any future agenda items they would like to put on the agenda tonight? Councilman Trio, Councilman Avalos. Well, not this time. Okay. Councilman Osaka.

Yes. I'd like to vote on the next um agenda. I wanted it for this agenda, but I want to see if we can make a contribution to the spay and neuter program. Right. At least try to match what we collected already. Match what the businesses have donated so far, contributed. Okay, I agree. Anybody else have a problem with that? Everybody okay with that? There consensus? That a yes? Okay, that's a yes. Mayor Pro Tim. Um, you want me to go about it?

Sorry. about um what I would like for the next council meeting is let's finalize the downtown um storefront improvement. Let's get the application. Let's get this going. The $10,000 non-match grant so we can um move on this. What I would love to see next council meeting since we've been talking about this seems like for a while is the the guidelines a very simple one-page application if possible so that we can uh be ambassadors for us in downtown not just on High Street but you know also on Front Street because people are using this. If you go downtown and look at High Street, look at the renaissance on High Street. And I think we can even make it look even nicer down there. We have approved colors now. We uh we just need to keep moving forward and putting this downtown storefront improvement for a $10,000 grant so everybody has the um motivation to and potential resources to paint their buildings if they'd like to do that among other qualified repairs. Is there a consensus to put that on the next

and that shouldn't be an issue? We um have that go into the bid on Monday. Oh boy. Okay. Got a consensus. And speaking of bid, can we review the bid fees? Now, I don't know if this would be a bid actual something that the the bid committee should look at or should the council look at it? But I've been noticing the bid fees are different for different businesses. Why why is that? Why are different businesses paying different annual membership fees for the bid? I'd like to take a look at that and and justify that and come up with a yeah a system that takes a look at that. Make sure that it's uh it's fair for everybody. All good with everyone.

Everybody good with that? All right. Good. All right. Okay. Moving on to council reports. Councilman Trio. Councilman Avalos.

Okay. Uh yeah, I went to the central well air quality board on the board. So it was a uh an well it was it was a uh picked the uh northern uh and the southern representatives were we're in the central so we're part of Fresno. We're part of Fresno. Uh but it it's it's all about the air quality in the valley. It's bottom line, how to uh uh mitigate some of the issues uh over the years. Actually, over the years, our air quality has actually gotten better. Believe it or not, it's gotten better. Uh so, uh and but at the same time, there's always room for improvement, they said. And that's that that was said and done. We we chose two people, one from the north, one from the south. And also, uh I went to Christian Cafe on Wednesday. a great event for the people uh you know people can come and eat eat you know eat dinner or whatever you know that you know get out you sometimes the homeless come there and eat that's good it's fine it's good it's a good atmosphere it's a church it's it's good atmosphere it's a good uh idea to u to understand people of different needs let's put that way okay and then I also went Saturday to the Easter out there I got there late so I couldn't getting the Easter eggs. But by the way, so I I actually t I actually, you know, I did go I I was there for about an hour and a half, believe it or not. Liz didn't even see me. I was in Carnito. Uh but

you were the one in the rabbit costume.

Yeah. And you know, Scott, the little gang was there. Uh, I actually toured the area and I looked at the what Sarah was talking about and I also uh talked to the guys doing the train. They've been there for a long time. Over 20 years have been there. These guys are the train. Can you believe that? And we should market that. It's it's a unique. You ever go there? Every Saturday they're open from uh 8 to 12 every Saturday. And uh it's neat. Uh, you know, I when I was in the Boy Scouts of America as an assistant, we we took the uh kids there, looked the train guys and they gave a lot of history lessons of unique trains in the past. I mean, things that you don't, how would I say it? They don't make them no more. You know what I mean? Special trains. And they have upstairs, downstairs, and they have it layout and everything. Uh, get a chance, go there. Uh I I this is a good tool to market our Pioneer Village because it's one of a kind, Scott. Believe it or not, it's one of a kind in the area. And these and uh and they like to be notified as on these special events that take place in the in the park. You know, sometimes they're they're forgotten. Uh we'll have to put them on the uh the I guess the email list. I got his card, by the way. So, you know, just and those kind of things are great. Uh, and also I uh I toured the downtown area of Selma here. Uh, looking for Easter eggs that we had to pick them up Monday and we picked them up. We put them back uh in the box. But, uh, no, but for next year, guys. Uh, but you know, town's looking good, guys. I'll be honest with you. The katan is actually looking good. I just hope it doesn't rain Friday. I

got to talk to the Native American Indians, see if they can stop it. So, we're working on that. Sounds good. 90%. That's a tough one. No, that's all I got to say. You I am I am no way connected to this man over here. That's my disclaimer. Disclaimer. Um, you know what? I attended some stuff, but I discussed it last meeting. So, uh, we're getting ready to go to ICSC in May. And, you know, pray for me again. This be my second time flying.

Yes. Um, I did really good. You know, I almost throw the the seat apart when holding on to so hard, but but I made it. Um, I went to the fun run. Uh, not the fun run, the United Health Centers. They had the run at uh No, you know, I was just gonna say I did the two-mile walk and I wasn't last. I barely made it, you know, and about halfway through I kept saying, "Oh my god, where's that little cart that can give me a ride, but I did make it. I got my medal. It was a good time." But man, I tell you what, for the next three days, my my ankles were cramping up so bad, it wasn't even funny. But I'm going to go back again next year for some more punishment.

Good for you. might be doing some other walking here pretty soon. I'll I'll save you a spot at our 5K as well. Okay. Um I attended the chamber awards um and that was a really great event. I just want to give so much a a great shout out to our chamber um president and staff because they did an amazing job. They they made that pine um Portuguese hall didn't even look like Portuguese Hall. It was very very nice. So, um, I want to congratulate all the recipients that won that night. Was very deserving. And, um, that was pretty much it for me.

Awesome. Thank you. Met with a landowner, project manager, an ongoing project in Selma. Met with a business owner regarding scholarships they would like to provide at Selma High School. Um, I assisted a resident with a um, concern about graffiti in their area. Their fence got tagged. city manager, public works director jumped right on it and removed it. Thank you. Great. It really the system really worked. Tend I attended a Fresno Council of Governments meeting and a Fresno County Rural Transit Agency meeting last Thursday night in Fresno. Um I attended the budget workshop for the city. Um it's we're going to have several more meetings and really get this uh these finances in as you saw from the audited financials. We have work to do, but we're going to keep looking at it because we are paying attention. Um, I also attended the Easter Extravaganza at Pioneer Village. Um, thank you to Director Fletcher, um, Director Morirano for making it a great day. It was just awesome. Love seeing those kids come out and amazing how fast they picked up those eggs, how long it takes to pack them, and how fast they pick them out. So, it's just amazing. So, thank you for having that.

Did you take a picture with Easter Bunny? We I did. If you would have looked at your video, didn't you see me in the video with with Jim the Easter Bunny there? No. So, um, with that, we'll move on to oral communications. This is the final time for members of the public to comment on the city matters. Does anybody have any oral communications they would like to make at this time? Anybody online or on the phone with our last oral communications of the evening? Mayor, I see no hands raised. With that, our meeting is adjourned. Thank you everybody for coming out. We'll see you at the next