City Council - Regular Meeting

in progress. Good evening everyone and welcome to the regular meeting of the Madera City Council and special meeting of the Madera City Council as the Groundwater Sustainability Agency. It is Wednesday, April 15, 2026 and I call this meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. City Clerk Gonzalez.

The Madera City Council meetings are open to the public. This meeting will also be available for public viewing and participation through Zoom. Members of the public may also observe the live stream meeting on the city's website at www.mmadera.govlive. Members of the public may comment on agenda items at the meeting or remotely through an electronic meeting via phone by dialing 669-9006833. Enter ID 859-0384-5246 pound. Press star 9 to raise your hand to comment and star six to unmute yourself to speak. Comments will also be accepted via email at city council public comment atmada.gov or by regular mail at 205 Westport Street, Madera, California 93637. We'd also like to remind everyone that Wley is available for translation services.

Thank you for that. Roll call, please. Mayor Gyos here. Mayor Proim Zachariah. Council member Rodriguez. Council member Montes here. Council member Evans here. Council member Mahia absent. Council member Viegas uh here. Thank you for that. Um if you could please stand for the invocation by Pastor Dave and um remain standing for the pledge of allegiance for our mayor pro Tim Zachchariah.

All right. Good evening. It's good to be with you. Let's pray. Father, I'm thinking of your promise um that you keep us in perfect peace when our minds are fixed on you because you're the rock eternal. And so I want to thank you for all the city leaders in this room. And I pray for the men and women. I can only imagine the weight, the stress, the decisions uh to be made every day. And I pray um that you would lead them, Holy Spirit, to set their minds on you. the rock, the eternal one, that their minds would be at perfect peace even amidst uh the decision- making and uh the things to do every day. And I also pray, Lord, that they would not grow weary or lose heart because you promise um a harvest of righteousness at your perfect time if we do not give up. And so Lord, I just thank you for men and women who just love this city, care for the people of this city, uh that they would trust in your timing, and they would continue to do the good work uh that you've put in front of them to do. Um and that this city will just continue to flourish and thrive. Uh a city full of people who will love one another and love you. We ask this in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Amen.

Please remain standing. Ready? Salute. I pledge algiance to the United States of America to the republic for its nation. Pastor, there's something for you here. Thank you for being here tonight. And mayor pro Tim At this time, I will um bring it back to my colleagues for any questions or concerns for our approval of the agenda. I do have one correction if my colleagues would entertain moving E2 um up after public comment. If I see any more any other comments, I would need a motion and a second. Make that motion uh to approve the agenda with item E2 after public comment.

Second. Thank you. I have a motion and second. All those in favor say I. I. Those opposed. Motion passes unanimously. Thank you for that. City clerk Gonzalez. Moving on to presentations. The first presentation is a proclamation recognizing the retirement of city employee Lynn Holier, water system lead worker. I don't see Lynn in the house yet, unless he's outside still. Chief, do you see him outside? Okay. Well, we'll postpone that. Maybe he will make it in before we finish our presentations. Um, we'll go to the next item.

Proclamation recognizing April as sexual assault awareness month. And that will be presented by our very own mayor pro Tim Zachariah.

Thank you, mayor. Those representing Captain C. There we are. Okay, there we are. How you guys doing? Uh we just want to give thanks for this group uh during sexual awareness month. Um I don't have a whole lot to say, but we do appreciate all the services that you guys provide for our our community and for those again in times of need. Uh whereas sexual assault awareness month calls attention to the prevalence of psych sexual violence and its impact on individuals of all genders, ages, racial, cultural and economic backgrounds. And whereas individuals and organizations have long worked to prevent sexual violence and to promote safe, respectful communities for all. And whereas preventing sexual violence requires communitywide efforts to educate the public, support survivors, and challenge harmful attitudes and behaviors. And whereas community action partnership of community muh county inc victim services provides critical support, advocacy and crisis intervention to individuals impacted by sexual violence. And therefore, let it be resolved that on behalf of Mayor Cigos and the city council um that we um recognize April as sexual awareness month. Thank you.

Hello, my name is Jennifer Cornado. I'm with victim services. I just want to thank the mayor and city council for recognizing April sexual assault awareness month. We do have a few events for the community. Um on Friday we have our annual walk a mile in her shoe. So if you've never seen or heard of it, it's where we go to courthouse park. Registration is at 5:00 and the walk starts at 5:40. We have uh children, men, women wearing heels to just bring a attention to a good cause. We also have denim day. Denim Day is Wednesday the 29th. It's basically where it's a world event. We break dress code to kind of protest blaming victims of sexual assault based on their clothing. So an Italian um judge ruled that a victim had tight jeans on so she couldn't have been raped. She had that's giving consent. So of course um caused outrage everywhere. So the women in parliament over there protest by wearing jeans. So we continue to do that over 20 years now. That would be on April um 29th. And then we are also hosting a child abuse conference on April 30th over at DSS in the EMO room. And that would be at 10:00 a.m. And we just hope that everyone can join us. And thank you. All right. Mayor, city council members, thank you so much um for the many years of support on bringing awareness to sexual assault. As you know, um your city law enforcement and and many other agencies participate and support our child advocacy center. That's where children come in and they're interviewed for for a forensic exam because they have they have shared that they're a victim of sexual assault. So, it's really important that we share this awareness with our partners at Madera PD and others. And um thank you for your support. This is many years of support

from the city council. Thank you. All right. You want to come up to the chamber for a picture and let the record show that council woman Mahia has arrived. Thank you. Very nice to see you. Likewise.

Okay. Ready? Close. Close. Hey, ready. Thank you. Thank you so much. See you Friday. Yes. Yes.

Next item. City clerk Gonzalez. Is proclamation recognizing volunteer month.

Wow. I need heels tonight. This monitor's got a little higher, I think. Um, good evening everyone. I have the great opportunity tonight to welcome um some volunteers that have been with us for many years. We cannot do what we do in this city without their support. If I could please call up our police department chaplain. I think we have three in the house. Come on up. Um, we would like to honor you if you can move this way so we make sure you're in the camera for a national volunteer month and chief come on down. April is recognizing a national volunteer month providing an opportunity to honor individuals and groups who selflessly dedicate their time and talents to meaningful causes. This month is devoted to celebrating the hard work, compassion, total compassion here and these gentlemen are showing commitment day and night you can we call them and our community calls calls them across this nation. The city of Madera recognize all their civic engagement and essential to building a strong vibrant and connected community. The volunteer chaplain of Madera Police Department serve as a vital partner offering support, compassion, and care to residents and first responders alike. I hereby, CC Gigos, mayor of city of Madera and my city council, hereby proclaim the month of April 2026 as National Volunteer Month. And I do want to just put another keynote here that um when tragedy does happen in our community, which it did I think a year ago, uh this community pulled together and um we did a visual out at Walgreens because of an incident that happened. Our chaplain were there. They were not just comforting the family, they were comforting this community because each and every one of us goes through a lot when something happens in this community. And without them, I think a

lot of us would be home struggling with a lot of things and issues of mental health, but they're always here for us. And if it's not um having to do with a personal issue, it could be a professional issue. Remember, they're always here to help support you in any way. You could reach out to the chief. He could get you in touch with one of our chaplain to get you through whatever you need to get through. And it can be even your children or your neighbors or your friends or an elderly person that lives in in in your uh subdivision or near your housing. Always know that they're here and they will do whatever it takes to make us all very mentally healthy and spiritually um sound in whatever we need. So with that, thank you chaplain for being there with us. And I hand you this proclamation. And if any one of you would like to say a few words, they're more than welcome to. Thank you. This is just Gino Chermani, chief of police. I just want to say these men have integrity. They are strong leaders in our community. Not only do they have families, they're running their congregations, but they're also putting in their time to give back to their community through the police department. She had talked about during times of tragedies, but it's not just times of tragedy. They will come and do ride alongs and just be there to listen to the officers. But most recently, I had an interaction with Pastor Tim at Shaver who was just present on a ride along and we ran into a gentleman who uh was struggling and life was starting to hit rock bottom and was just reaching out for help. What an opportunity we had to provide that help. Um pastor actually was able to drive him to an impatient facility to where he was able to start to make changes in his life. But it's those types of selfsac or willingness to sacrifice for others and looking for change to build up this community is what these three gentlemen provide. So this is Dennis Sylvester, Mike Under, and Tim at Shabir. We just appreciate

you guys so much for what you do for our community. So, I just want to say that we're honored today and just want to also say that we thank God for our police department. But I want to let you guys know that we're honored that we get to do this and not only that, but not only represent our Madera Police Department, our chief, and also all officers, but also the city of Madera. But I just want to say we thank all of you guys. We're all here today because somebody put their arm around us and that's why we do what we do. I know it's a calling from God, but we love it and we appreciate it. I just want to let you know that we're always praying for all of you as well. But thank you and God bless you and thank you chief too for all that you do for allowing us to do this. Next.

Please. better. Ready? One, two, three. More. One, two, three. We do our best.

I'm not sure. Just change the seat. It's the same one. No. No. Okay. Next item

is a certificate of recognition recognizing Linda Garner, founder of Doors of Hope. Blessings to each and every one of you here this afternoon. It is such a great honor for me to be able to stand and to present this honor to you in reference to um Linda Gardner. I will read to you what it says. Certificate the city of Madera city council certificate of recognition in memory of Linda Gardner. in memory of a remarkable individual whose service, dedication, and leadership left a lasting impe impact on the city of Madera. Linda Gardner, founder of Doors of Hope, established the organization in May 2003 to address pregnancy in Madera County. She was a dedicated leader who demonstrated compassion and a strong commitment to serving and uplifting the community. Her legacy, excuse me, her legacy continues to inspire. Her contribution to the city will be long remembered. And to you, I present this. Thank you so very much. And thank you for continuing to keep her memory alive. Would you like to have something? Thank you so much, mayor and city council, for recognizing Linda for the work that she started in 2003. Um, Doors of Hope, I don't know if many of you know about Doors of Hope. Uh, we are a parenting and pregnancy resource center here in town. Um, we have serviced over

5,000 people in the, uh, 23 years that we've been in, uh, operating. and we are a um nonprofit. We are a faith-based and prolife uh organization. Uh we are located on um Yusede 121 East and uh there are just there are many services that we provide for uh the community and for the people who are um low income and can't um afford a lot of things. Everything is free at our facility. um instead of trying to go through and tell you all the classes that we have uh I thought what would speak more volumes is some of the reviews of the clients that we have come across and so I want to read some of these reviews and this speaks volumes for Doors of Hope and what we do for the community. This is from a client. I don't know what I was walking into. I didn't know what I was walking into. They gave me a pregnancy test, let me take it privately, then sat with me for over an hour. Just listened, no agenda. I left with real information instead of just fear. Another one, parent in the Fresno area. I had to take a parenting class for social services. Expected to hate it, but it was one-on-one in Spanish, and my advocate treated me like an adult. I ended up staying for the strengthening families program on my own. And here's another one. A father in Madera called about anger management because my co-parenting situation had gotten bad. Class was court approved completely free. My advocate helped me through things I'd been avoiding for years. My relationship with my kids is now different. Just a few more. Um,

one lady said, her name is Patty. Doors of Hope provides many services that I think most people are not aware of. For starters, years ago, one of my daughters was a teen parent. They have donated baby clothes and things to help her out. Not only do they provide parenting classes and education, they also provide free faith-based peer counseling. Deborah Holiday has been so helpful to me in my journey of healing. I am so grateful to be able to see her on a frequent basis. They provide much needed uh services and support to all types of people in the course of my life. She has been my master level clinician that I have seen over the course of my life. I hope people consider donating to this nonprofit agency because they are a very positive resource for our community. And just a few more here. Amazing people and amazing services. Highly recommended. They have been truly inspiring and helpful in my time of need. They never judge anyone and simply try to help you out in any way they can. And one says, "I am very grateful with the way I was attended. I am feeling a lot better and more at peace with how I manage family time and friendship time. I thank God most of all for giving me the strength to walk into the doors of hope and have the courage to have asked for help. Yeah. Thank you for opening your doors. I 100% recommend this location, this foundation, this group as a safe place. And the last one I'm going to read is from a Hispanic client. Her name is Christina and she said, "I really love Doors of Hope. The diaper program has truly supported my family in these tough times, especially living paycheck to paycheck. The best part is also learning

and getting an education from the program. So, a lot of people don't know what we do, but we educate parents, newly parents that are going to be new parents and already people who have children, small children. And so, that is what we do. And then I also have a flyer here that I would like to present to um the city council. It's our 23rd anniversary celebration that we're going to have open to the public on um Saturday, May 2nd. The public is invited to attend from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Come by and see us. Check us out, see what we're like. Um we're going to have refreshments. We're going to have uh finger foods. and uh we just uh want to make the public aware of who we are in this town and what we do. So, thank you very much. I I'm a very appreciative of this certificate of recognition and I thank you very much. Thank you.

Thank you.

You can You're a giant city. Next item, city clerk is the Mid Valley 2025 annual update recycler of the year and Madera High School scholarship recipients. Thank you. And I think we have Billy coming up with Marissa. And if we could get the CEO, Mr. Kabokov to also join this group. Maybe he could start off by introducing his staff that's here. We have quite a few in the house. So, thank you for being here. Yes. Woohoo.

Excuse. Okay. Sorry. And if your kids staff could go more towards us to be in the camera. Thank you.

Good evening, mayor, council members, staff. Joseph Kalpuff, owner of Mid Valley Disposal. Uh it's our pleasure to be here tonight to give you an update, um hand out some scholarships, and go over the the cleanup event. Um, with our staff, I'll start with Rick, our oper operations manager. Ray Sanchez, route supervisor, Casey Austin, government affairs. Billy is our recycling manager, Fernando, and Marissa on the recycling team as well. Um, I'm going to turn over to Billy to get it started.

Thank you so much for that introduction and I'm so happy to see everybody tonight. Feels like it's been a year. Um, so the 2026 update is going to be a recap of 2025. Um, so I actually want to invite Marissa up. She's our recycling program specialist and I'm going to have her make these presentations moving forward. So we're throwing her into the fire tonight. Um, and then I'll pop in at the end for the scholarships. Perfect. Come on, Marissa. Welcome, Marissa.

Thank you, Billy. And uh I've done like three of these already, so hopefully I don't stumble through this one, but I just want to quickly introduce myself. My name is Marisa Coralo and I'm the recycling program specialist here with Mid Valley Disposal. I just recently reached my one-y year anniversary with Mid Valley uh this past January, but I'm not new to this industry. I've actually been in this industry since diapers. My dad's been a driver since 1992, and I have aunts, uncles, and cousins that are GMs, operations managers, you name it. Um so, it's just really amazing. I've been I've worked for other corporations and I just want to just say it while I have the opportunity that Mid Valley Disposal is hands down the best company I have ever worked for. So, um we'll leave that there, but we'll go ahead and we'll get started here. So, I just kind of wanted to quickly just touch base on the community events that Mid Valley was a part of. We actually really enjoy this. One thing where Mid Valley excels is community engagement. Um and so this past year in 2025, we participated in the Madera Earth Day um Madiraa Old Times Day parade. I actually wasn't at that one. Uh the pomegranate fruit and nut festival and the Christmas parade which I heard was a lot of fun. And then so for quickly education and outreach um we have Fernando Bautello who is our recycling uh coordinator here and he actually is the one that is boots on the floor doing all of this work um here in the city of Madera. So thank you Fernando for your hard work. Um in the city of Madera he was able to accomplish 659 site visits. Over a thousand educational flyers were distributed to the community, whether that was through a mailer or um in person um flyer. Um four flyers inserted in our utility billing. So those were separate uh those were actually separate flyers. And then all the tier one and tier 2 food generators were identified and provided education um for Maria Yalis. She is not here right now, but she is our food recovery specialist and she is really great at what she does. And so we have our cleanup events and for that I'm going to go ahead and bring up our operations manager and our route

supervisor uh Rick Ry and Ray Sanchez and they can go ahead and give you guys those totals. I will say that this year's cleanup was the biggest one we've ever seen.

That is 100% correct, Joe. Uh, I'd like to take a moment first off and thank uh the public works, code enforcement, um, and the police department uh, for all their help this year. Uh, this year brought a number of additional challenges that we've never faced before, from hazardous waste to sulfur and acid into some of the largest illegal dump dumping sites we've ever seen to date. Despite these obstacles, we were able to complete our work successfully. And after our final day, we conducted a full sweep for the next three days uh alongside public works making sure there's nothing left nothing was left behind. In total, we collected 4.7 million pounds of trash, 66,16 pounds of organic, 230,890 lbs of metals, 257 mattresses. This is a little over 5 million pounds of trash collected off the streets of Madera. This is an increase of 1.3 million pounds from last year to this year. Just so everybody can get a good little visual on that. Okay. Um at this year, I just want to like once again just thank everybody. It was especially Ray Sanchez, the Mid Valley team as well for working coordinating with public works and city staff of making sure that we had another successful cleanup this year. Thank you. I want to for the next slide is the recycler of the year. I want to invite Fernando um he's integral in selecting it um the recipient. So Fernando go ahead.

Good evening everyone. Uh my name is Fernando Bautello and I'm the recycling coordinator for the city of Madera. It is an honor to stand before you today as we celebrate an outstanding example of sustainability and commitment to a cleaner greener future. The recycler of the year recipient has consistently gone above and beyond in ensuring they properly sort their recycling and organic waste. This is a bittersweet feeling because the year they are selected is sadly the year they will be closing their business doors. What a better way to close shop than with this recognition. With that being said, I am thrilled to congratulate Plaza Flower Shop for being recognized as Madera's recycler of the year. She wasn't able to make it tonight, but we wanted to make sure and visit her beforehand, so we got that picture with her. So, she has her award. Um, and then lastly, we're going to move forward with our scholarship recipients. So, if you're one of if you're one of the scholarship recipients, please come on up. Um, I'll give you a brief introduction and allow you to share with the council um, if you've been selected to a school already or what your dream school is um, and what you want to do. So, come on up. From Madera High School, I have Isabelle Martinez. From Madera South, I have Nichollet Marcato. And from Matilda Torres, I have Kar Vier Singh. And I would love to invite you. You're the first one up, girl. if you want to come say something.

Um, hi, I'm Isabelle Martinez and I just want to say how grateful I am to be here today. So, thank you. And um as I haven't really picked a college I want to go to yet, but I do know that I want to major in animal science as I want to pursue a career that has something to do with helping animals and making sure that they are living in the best like lives possible. So um right now some of my top choices are Cowpoly Pomona and Fresno State. So thank you Hello everybody. My name is Nichollet Marcado and I'm from Madera South. Um, for my college, I'm probably going to go to Madera Community College and will hopefully get my bachelor's in premed as I want to become an optometrist. And I just wanted to thank Mid Valley Disposal for giving me this scholarship and my family for being able to support me. Thank you. Good evening everyone. My name is Gia Garson. Can be a little hard to pronounce. Um I'm going to UC Berkeley this next year for architecture and industrial engineering and I'm probably going to get my bachelor's and then go forward with my PhD or doctorate in something else. Um, that's about it.

And Billy, before you go on, can I have the parents of these students please stand up to give you a round of applause for all the hard work you put into your children? Thank you. That's the end of our presentation. And if you have any questions, we'd be happy to answer or we can just take photos.

We would like to take a photo. Come on up. As everyone's preparing, um, I just want to let everyone know it's a bit warm in here. Our HVAC stopped working. We do have someone working on it right now, so I apologize. So, we'll probably keep a couple of doors open, try to get some air circulation. You can fit in. Can you fit in? Have some.

There we go. That's important. There we go. Perfect. All right. Step back. Step. Okay, everyone ready? One, two, three. One, two, three. You got it. Thank you.

I think we should let you do your prospective students. Are we in or

Okay. And now one with only the parents. Ready? One, two, three. Thank you.

That's good. You got to take him away.

Right. We should have switched it on that side, huh? How you killing me? Dang. You see,

thank you, Min Valley, for that great presentation and all that you do to support our city and our young people in the city of Madera. We appreciate it. Uh, moving on to the next item. City Clerk Gonzalez is public comment. The first 15 minutes of the meeting are reserved for members of the public to address the council on items which are within the subject matter jurisdiction of the council. Speakers shall be limited to three minutes. Speakers will be asked but are not required to identify themselves and state the subject of their comments. If the subject is an item on the agenda, the mayor has the option of asking the speaker to hold the comment until that item is called. Comments on items listed as a public hearing on the agenda should be held until the hearing is opened. The council is prohibited by law from taking any action on matters discussed that are not on the agenda and no adverse conclusions should be drawn if the council does not respond to public comment at this time.

Thank you for that. Anyone in the chamber, please come up to the podium if you have any comments that are not on the agenda. Good evening. I'm Charlotte Brewer. I'm here representing Relay for Life, which is also taking place on May the 2nd. So when you go to Doors of Hope, please come by Relay. We'll be there for 24 hours. Our theme this year is wave goodbye to cancer. And don't we all wish we could do that? So, it's kind of a beachy theme and it should be a lot of fun. Relief for Life is a community-based fundraising event for the fight against cancer. It unites communities to celebrate survivors, remember loved ones lost, and raise funds to fight back against cancer. Since 2005, our community, which included Eastern Madera County and Chachilla with Madera, but Madera is the only surviving relay, has raised over $4 million for the American Cancer Society through Relay for Life. We'd love to keep adding to that number as we continue to fund life-saving research and services and education. Thank you. Thank you for your comment, Miss Burr, and for our really cute ornament that you gave us this evening. Any other comments? Come on up.

Good evening, uh, council and city of Madera. My name is Maurice Johnson, and, um, I wanted to, uh, say thank you, uh, to the the board, the council members for allowing me to, uh, be a part of the airport advisory commission. Um, I had my first meeting yesterday and unfortunately it wasn't a quorum, but I want to bring to uh your attention that and uh that I will um try and help um bring volunteers and more people that want to um volunteer to support that um commission. Um I do have three business owners. They have business businesses in the city of Madera. the residents of the city of Madera or county and I will work with the airport manager um and Azima who is uh administrator in the city uh to help strengthen the airport advisory committee. Um it's it's kind it's it's it's something for me to do. Um I feel um as a a resident of Madera that um this is a great opportunity. I appreciate um being um aligned with Anita uh Councilwoman Anita Evans and I appreciate the help uh from Councilman Rodriguez and Councilman uh Montes and Artimio. Um yes, thank you. I appreciate the help um with with this uh committee and uh I look forward to uh being here next uh next time. Thank you.

Thank you for your comment. Anyone else in the chamber? City clerk consults. Anyone online or on Zoom? Thank you. With that, I will close public comment at this time and move on to um E2. We're going to move up. City clerk, are you ready for that title? Thank you, mayor and council members. uh for about five or six years you've been hearing me come up and talk about the groundwater sustainability plan and and sigma the sustainable groundwater management act and usually that's coming from from me tonight we have John Davids he is one of the people who are directly involved in the prep presentation and preparation of those reports tonight he'll be discussing the domestic well mitigation program but I I would say take any opportunity that you can to ask him about

you're you're very welcome uh to ask him about the domestic well mitigation program and any other aspects of the of Sigma that you might like. Thank you. And that will be an update and action on this item by the successor agency. Okay, that is right. And I'm just working back through a number. There we go. always is it Alicia? I'm looking for the share part.

You spot it. I do. I do feel a breeze now. So, thank you for that. Oh, there it was. Public works director. I lost

we're acting on the video.

So embarrassed. Anyway, okay. Done.

Go ahead. Thank you, Keith, for the welcome. And uh Mayor, council, it's good to be with you this evening. I had three observations before I got started this evening on my way down. I've added two to it. Um, as you can imagine, I'm in a lot of boardrooms in city council chambers, uh, from about Chasta Valley down to Los Angeles. And this is probably one of the more inviting and welcoming boardrooms. So, congratulations to you guys. It's a hard act to follow having given out scholarships. Now, I'm going to talk about groundwater, right? Uh, that's difficult. That that thoughtfulness uh extends to the fact that you also moved me up in the agenda. So, thank you for doing that as well. Okay. Hey, the three observations that I had on my way down this evening before I wanted to jump in uh was this. I'm going to talk this evening about a program that uh has been developed and a series of documents that are embedded and sort of surround that program. At times it's going to feel like we as the administrator David's Engineering uh was the creator or the author of those documents. That's not the case. your staff, Madera irrigation district, Madera water district, that's their hard work that went into creation of those documents. So I want to be clear about that. The second item I want to mention is that uh you know what I'm going to describe here is a cooperative effort between again city of Madera, Madera Water District, Madera Irrigation District. You guys have the luxury in many respects of relying upon Madera irrigation district for the day-to-day management of this, right? And that's I mean an envious position, right? That's really good for you all. Uh and then the last observation is I think this is the fourth time I've given this PowerPoint. So if for nothing else, I'm going to try and keep it fresh for myself. Okay. All right. Let's go ahead and jump into it. Always like an agenda. So here's the road map for our discussion. Uh we're going to take a a minute to talk about the background, right? How did we get to this point? This is a significant milestone. Uh we'll review the domestic well mitigation program. Uh I'll start with a highle summary and then we'll move into the uh program documents and then into the well driller selection

process. Again, the audiences have varied. Some folks are more interested in this uh program than others, but the presentation is uh largely remain the same. And then I'm going to give you my takeaways, right? I mean, if Keith was up here, he may have uh other takeaways, and I encourage him to offer those thoughts as well, but the takeaways will largely be mine. I'll talk about the next steps. Then, of course, we'll open up for questions. And I'm pretty informal, so if there are questions along the way, please please uh throw something at me and we can go ahead and take the question and try and get it answered. All right. So, here's the background. Uh you will remember uh given Keith's updates before you that the original groundwater sustainability plan for the Madera subbasin was submitted back in uh January of 2020. Uh we subsequently review or excuse me revised the groundwater sustainability plan in response to the Department of Water Resources incomplete determination. We turned that in in uh 2023. And lucky for us, it's not common uh in critically overdrafted basins to have an approved groundwater sustainability plan. In the Madera area, we do in fact have an approved groundwater sustainability plan, and we did that the first time around. But as part of those revisions, uh the seven GSAs, I think it wasn't quite seven. There are seven, but I don't think all seven signed the memorandum of understanding when we revised the plan, but you guys did and four of your colleagues did as well. And as part of that revision, we exe developed and subsequently executed a memorandum of understanding that said that we were committed to domestic well mitigation. Okay, we didn't quite know how. We didn't quite know where or when or to what level, but we knew we were committed. Okay, so that's the genesis of theou. Uh after the plan was approved, uh we spent uh a couple years working our way through, right? This is a you know, water's difficult and uh when you have seven parties at the table, it makes it even more difficult. uh we spent a couple years newing our way through it. It wasn't because we didn't want to see resolution. It just took time. Uh we spent last summer, the

summer of 2025, uh with a facilitator mediator to try and get us there. Uh and in fact, we did and we didn't end in a way uh that I think is synonymous with some of the other subbasins uh in the Sanwaqen Valley. Uh nonetheless, we have we decided that we reaffirmed our commitment to mitigate for domestic wells as a function of declining groundwater levels. Uh we decided as a group that each of the GSAs within the subbasin was going to mitigate for domestic well mitigation within their own geographical boundaries. And that's the distinction. In some places, all of the GSAs work together, one program. Okay, that's not the case here. Uh and that we would get started immediately. At the time, that was October 9th of 2025. Okay. So, we're we're not too far away from that. So, here's the summary. Uh, and I'm going to add one wrinkle to this uh that I think is most appropriate for you all. Uh, but as I've already said, this is a significant uh commitment by you all, right? And Madera Irrigation District and Madera Water District. It is funded at different levels, right? And as the administrator, I don't think I even learned what the funding levels were until just recently. That doesn't really matter. That's between the three GSAs. Okay. Uh again the uh the domestic well in of concern must be within the geographic boundaries of MID the city m city city of Madera or Madera water district. Uh the applicant must be the owner of record. Okay that's extremely important. Uh this next sub bullet says it's limited to the drilling of the new well only. Okay. And the distinction that I want to draw here with you all today is a more durable solution uh and it's not precluded by the program. And that is where the opportunity arises, we want to be able to connect people to existing community water systems. Right? Our goal is not to go out and drill a new well. Okay? To the extent that we can control that. So that's very important for you guys. Right? In our agricultural communities, that potential doesn't exist on the fringes of your area. That opportunity exists and we want to capitalize on it. That's a

durable solution long term. Okay? Uh it is one-time mitigation, right? Uh so when a landowner comes in, they're they qualified, we drill a new well. Uh again, it's just one time. Uh the landowner has significant responsibility throughout this process, and you'll see as I move through some of the documents, there's some real skin in the game, and that's intentional. We want the land owners to be engaged in this process. Uh the maximum award, this is one of the things that all of the seven GSAs um you know, could could agree to. The maximum award is $35,000. Okay. Uh, in some cases it's going to cost more and that'll be the landowner's responsibility and we're already seeing that today. Okay. There is the hope I will say uh and I think there's great opportunity for collaboration with self-help enterprises to bridge the gap between the $35,000 that this program provides and increase cost should that be the case. Okay. So, we're working through coordination with self self-help which is funded by the state water resources control board. Uh as part of the process, we wanted to make sure that we vetted uh the well drillers. And so we have uh and you'll see slides here in a minute about the uh RFQ that went out, but the land owners must use one of the pre-approved well drillers. And importantly, they can use there's four and you'll see that in a minute. They can use different well drillers throughout the process. Okay. So we want to try and give flexibility. And then lastly uh the program is administered uh by a third party uh that is David's Engineering uh in coordination with Ludor and Scalmanini who have between the two firms we've been the primary authors of all of the groundwater uh sustainability plan efforts that have taken place within the Madera Chachill and a host of other subbasins. Okay. So let's jump into the documents. I'm not going to cover these in a great level of detail. uh I think the intent of going through them with you this evening uh is to make you aware at least at a superficial level of what's required right so if your phones ring you can push people to the right places that's the intent tonight from my perspective so the first document that we have and these are all there's going

to be some commonalities across all of these documents one of the commonalities is that all of these documents are available online at this point okay so they're all hosted on Madera Irrigation District's website madera water district you Click. They have a landing page. You click there, it points you back to Madera irrigation district. And I believe the same is true for you guys at this point. I know it's working through it. Okay. All right. Fair enough. Well, just like the AC, it'll be back online in no time. I trust that. Mr. Davis, is it all also in different languages?

That's another commonality. It's in both English and Spanish. Okay. And importantly, when there's uh telephone numbers, there's a distinct telephone number that's a 559 area code for this region. When they call our offices, they have the option of getting a Spanish speaker as well, right? So, we do have that that functionality. Okay. All right. So, we have the program summary document. It defines eligibility. Uh talks about each of the individual phases of the program. And again, as I've already said, it's accessible online and it's available in both English and Spanish versions. the application uh is to be completed by the landowner record. There's an important sub bullet here and that is that we don't want to just ride off or exclude uh tenants, right? I mean that's an important uh you know function in our communities. Uh so the the reason uh for including this today is such that the public can see it. You all are aware. If we find ourselves in a situation where we have a tenant occupied property, talk to the landlord. Right? That's at the end of the day that's who we do business with. I think that's reasonable. Uh but we want to make sure that the renters know that uh the importantly the land owner must not be delinquent on any of the accounts with the three different participating GSAs. Okay. So our staff is going to call around. We're going to call Mad Irrigation District. Everything current? Yep. Good to go. We're going to talk Keith has given us a contact for for your staff internally. We're going to reach out to them. Everything good here and so on so on and so forth down the line. We talked about skin in the game early on and land on responsibility. Uh there is a $100 non-refundable deposit. Okay? And you know, we've gone back and forth on this over the years. Uh the intent of this is really just to prevent folks from coming in willy-nilly, right? So there's some seriousness seriousness behind this. And you know, I'm not going to say that $100 is insignificant, right? It's not. It depends on on everybody's individual scenarios, but that's the fee that we've we've arrived at. All right. The initial well assessment. This is a form that must be complete or

paid for to be completed by the landowner uh by one of the pre-approved dwellers. Uh and the importantly the form must be completed within 45 days of the application date. The intent is we just want something within that time window uh that gives us a good indication of whether the well is in fact dry or not. Uh as I've already mentioned, the landowner is responsible for the cost associated with the initial well inspection. And then the well assessment uh form is submitted alongside the application. And lastly, they must use the pre-approved driller. All right, the application process form. I'm I'm actually moving fairly quickly through this, and again, that's intentional. I really just want you guys to be aware of the forms. Um the this form is is used uh after the domestic well mitigation program approval. Uh there's approval of the application and the landowner proceeds to the next step. Okay. Uh there are a couple different binding agreements uh within the context of what I'm going to show you this evening. This is one. uh it must be signed by ourselves as the administrator, the land owner, and in addition to that, the pre-approved driller, and the form must be signed prior to the beginning of work. Okay? So again, we're not trying to be ownorous here, but we're trying to be thorough, and it's a balance. Uh this is the second of the binding agreements. This is the actual mitigation agreement that gets executed by the parties upon completion of uh drilling of a new well or connection to an existing community water system. It is a legal contract was developed uh by Madera irrigation districts council and then shared with uh with your staff in addition to staff from Madera water district. Um the important components again it's uh actually for a legal document it's fairly brief. It's only three or four or five pages. Uh but in general the agreement includes a couple of important provisions. The first is that there's no warranty uh or guarantee that the program mitigation measures uh will be um for those measures that are performed. Okay. And that's important. We can't control uh the you know sort of the slope and the extent of future

groundwater declines. Okay. We are doing our best to implement projects and management actions. The number one driver as I'm sure Keith has told you in this room to our success from a groundwater sustainability perspective is one variable and that's hydrarology. If we have five wet years in a row, you're never going to see me again. Keith's phone won't ring. I won't call him. If we have five dryers in a row, I may be back to see you guys. Right. Okay. That's the main driver. Uh the document also protects uh the MI mid GSA and importantly the other parties uh and their authorized representatives like us. We're we're thankful for that. Um long-term this is an important item. The landowner agrees to allow property access for future monitoring. Okay. So, we're we're going to mitigate for the well, but we also have a significant uh data gap within much of the subbasin. And so, to the need to the extent the need arises for us to go out back out and monitor groundwater conditions, uh we have the right to do so. One-time mitigation. Okay, I mentioned we don't have a control over the future. This is one-time mitigation. H how do we how do we back that up? This document is recorded on the deed. Okay. So, if if I participate in the program, I execute these documents, I get a new well, it's recorded, 3 years down the road, I go to sell the property, there's a title search, this is going to pop up. Okay? Because public outreach is so important. In addition to the presentations that I've given in a host of different spots, we put together a domestic well mitigation program flyer. Again, it's on the website to be distributed. I'm sure that there's a stack of these perhaps somewhere uh or there will be soon maybe. Yeah. Um and it provides a concise summary of the program. Okay. And refers the potential applicants to additional uh resources. Again, available in English and Spanish as all these documents are. So, let's talk a little bit. We're on the home stretch here, so hang with me. Let's talk a little bit about the well

driller selection process. Uh this is important from a technical perspective. We advertised the solicitation on January the 20th of this year. We provide the opportunity of all in all of our contracts for questions to be asked by potential biders. Uh that deadline was January 30th. We received no uh no questions. Uh subsequent to closing of the RFQ period, we received seven submissions, which is fantastic, right? I mean, we want the free market to operate and we want cost to be as reasonable as possible. So, that's really really good. uh the the statement of qualifications were reviewed by uh both ourselves David's engineering and Ludorf and Scalmanini and subsequently we selected four qualified candidates out of that pool of seven. Okay, so these are the four. All right, Arsenal Well Services, CR Well Drilling, Bradley and Suns, who's a familiar name, and then Valley Well Drilling. Okay, so the potential applicants, again, the intended tonight, make you aware of this. There's four different uh parties that folks can choose from. All right, as part of the well uh driller selection process, there is also, you know, we're we're not short of agreements. We have another agreement between the pre-approved well driller uh and the animader irrigation district in this case on behalf of the other GSAs. Uh we distribute this is a mandatory document. It's uh to be executed by all parties. In fact, all of these are already on file at our office. Uh the agreement highlights importantly a couple different items. One that the payment conditions uh the payment conditions set by the domestic well mitigation program, namely that $35,000 cap. Uh it defines the standards for the program. Okay. Uh it talks about the warranty of the drillers when drilling a new well. It we require the insurance requirements. Uh prevailing wage included is a public works project. Uh reporting and documentation of the new well that's constructed. Uh and then the GSA's right to terminate the driller for failure to follow the requirements. Okay. Actually this document is fairly

one-sided and that's for good reason. It gives the GSAs like yourselves great ability to terminate the program for any reason at any time under any conditions. Okay. And that's the last bullet. Uh there is just that. So here are my takeaways. Uh and again, we're we're moving uh around third base headed to home. Uh this is a significant commitment, right? I said that in the opening and I'm going to say it again. I mean it. Uh the program uh is a detailed and well-developed program, right? And it wasn't us that developed it. It was your staff uh and uh colleagues at each of the other participating agencies. Again, just to recap, you must be within the geographic boundaries of MID City of Madera uh or Madera Water District. There you this must be we must deal with the applicant or the applicant must be the owner of record limited to drilling of a new well or importantly connection to an existing community water system. It is one-time mitigation. Landowner has skin in the game. There's a host of documents to aid and track uh implementation of the program. And then lastly, that the maximum award is $35,000. Um, pre-approved well drillers are in place and the program is ready for implementation. Has been uh since about the 1st of April. Okay. So, next steps. I'm here with you guys this evening. Uh, this might be an old presentation. That's all right, though. I won't hold it against Keith. Um, and probably my fault. That's okay. I'll take the blame tonight. Uh I was before the MID board of directors on uh March 31st um before you guys this evening and was actually before the Madera Water District board uh I think a week from tomorrow. Okay. Uh we as staff have monthly reoccurring meetings just to make sure that we're all on the same page, right? Most of this is going to run through mid and ourselves, but we don't want to leave anybody behind. So at a staff level, uh we have monthly reoccurring meetings. One of the questions that has come up and is important for the public tonight is if a well inspection comes in today or excuse me a well application comes in today and we move through the uh the approval

process and they meet the requirements for the program. We have standing well inspection days and those inspection days are the second and the fourth Wednesday of every month. Right? So at most folks are waiting 2 weeks to have their well inspected. Okay. If we were to see, I think it's fair to say if we were to see a significant uptick in the number of dry wells, we would increase that frequency, right? We want to be responsive to the community. Uh the pre-approved well driller uh flyer uh is is is complete. And then again, as I mentioned, the official start date uh is uh at this point a couple of weeks ago. Okay. So, mayor, with that, I'm uh happy to answer any questions on the subject matter today and at Keith's requisition or uh request any other groundwater condition or questions that you may have.

Great presentation. Thank you, Council Member Rodriguez. Yes. Thank you, Mayor Gyos, and thank you, Mr. Davids, for uh the presentation. Um, as far as uh the city is concerned, do we have an approximate number of people that are in domestic wells that have domestic wells within the city? Do we have ballpark number? Yeah, they have.

There's probably only been about three or four wells that have been shown up in the city in the last year or so. Um those have been mitigated by the uh self-help enterprises. Um I may I may behind the three or four. Uh in the last few days, we've had probably four drywall reports come in, but they were all out in the county. For the for the last several months, they've mostly been well, they've been occurring out in the county or outside the city limits.

And and folks that have uh wells, domestic wells within the city, they're not required to register those wells. do we not have like how many of those people have wells and the reason why I say that is because um the $35,000 seems to be a fairly priced or average price for a well but uh as we continue to go through this domestic well mitigation program and the costs continue to increase is that a sufficient number so it is not so ownorous on that on that uh uh resident that that's that's going to suffer some issue with their domestic we considered a fair number. Uh prices will increase and there is the opportunity for the uh uh for the the amount to be raised. Um in combination with self-help, we're hoping that we can go ahead and help even more people. Uh as an example, it was mentioned that if they connect up to the city, that's better overall for the for everybody. That can cost uh an equivalent amount if they're immediately adjacent to the city. is in fact it might cost a few thousand instead of $35,000 to go ahead and connect if they're immediately adjacent. We have one or two of those right now out on Ellis Avenue. There's uh there is one property that would like to connect and self-help is hand is handling that particular one. Uh that would probably be no more than5 or $10,000 including connection fees from the city. But as you move away it gets to be expensive to go ahead and extend water. you're talking about um um anywhere between 80 or plus dollars per foot to go ahead and do it depending upon who they talk to and who they contract with. It can be a really large number when it's a when it's an individual looking for a couple hundred feet of pipe.

The last time we had this conversation, I think you mentioned that if people wanted to connect, they can utilize this mitigation money to connect to the city. Would that be that's right and we're amendable to allowing that? Correct. Okay. My last question is do we have an amount of residents there that are outliers within a main water line that that

we do. We do, but I can't I I it's hard to go ahead and describe how or to go ahead and figure out how much many there are. Uh as an example, along Adele Avenue, there there are a number of properties through there that are adjacent to it. Uh there's no water line in that particular street, but there have been dry wells. Um there are quite a few dry wells around the periphery. We we I've seen a number of dry well reports that show that they're within say 500 ft of the city. 500 ft is an important number because the because the county is mandated to ask the city whether we have a concern with connecting to the city. Uh we can say yes or no. Generally, we're going to go our response to that is going to be based upon is it is it an ownorous request to ask them to go ahead and bring in 300 ft of of pipeline to connect their house to the city. We have we we looked at around 200 right now and even that depending upon the contractor might be a big number compared to say the $35,000. So each request is each request seems unique at the time it seems.

Got it. And I if someone has an active well but knows that this well it's has a potential of failure here in the next couple of years, can they be active in in trying to uh um go after this application? Yeah, I think I'm going to let John

No, that's a great question. I think I have a couple observations in response to your questions. The first is um Keith's exactly right that the hope is and frankly from our perspective the expectation is that we can bridge the gap between $35,000 and let's call it 50 for discussion purposes tonight through using an a cooperative relationship with self-help enterprises. Okay. So I that's the first question uh or the first comment that I had. The second comment is that uh our firm has the luxury of playing a similar role for Madera County. All right. So when you talk about cost escalating, we know that, right? And it's it's up to to the program design. For the Madera County program, they have built in a 3% escalator, there's a question whether that's enough or not in today's world, but they've built that escalator in over time to account for inflation just exactly as you talk about, right? And then lastly, I would say that you're this idea about um sort of on the way to being dry and taking proactive action. Yes, we want to know about those folks, right? We want to know about the folks that, you know, the wells cycling on and off today, but in two months from now when irrigation demand picks up, they might be out of water, right? Yes. We want to be we want to be proactive with those folks.

Yeah. And and I only say that because you brought up a really interesting point. You were assuming that if we have five good wet years and obviously we would love to see that, right? Obviously that's good for recharge. But uh if we don't then most likely they probably will be calling.

The the odds are high that we're not going to have five white years in a row. That's merely illustrative, right? I mean uh if I had a a bat phone to mother nature, I'd ask for that, but that not something that I have. Right. So you're absolutely right. Yeah. And we are and frankly we are seeing a bit of an uptick. We did this for another client. If you look at the number of dry wells, so if you were to imagine a graph with number of dry wells on the y-axis and time between January and December on the x-axis, what you would see is that there are very few dry wells in the early months. And then what happens? We go into our growing season, right? And then that line shoots up and then it sort of carries on at a stable rate for a while. We turn our a wells off and we drop back down. And dependent upon the year types, that can be cyclical, right? Especially when you 2021 and 2022 is a really good example of that, right? Two dry years back to back. That's precisely what you see every year.

Yeah. Thank you, Mr. Davids. I appreciate your uh response and thank you, Keith. That's all I have. Thank you for your comment, Council Member Montes. Couple questions in this kind of the same vein. Thank you, Mayor. Um and thank you for the presentation. Um just curious what what was the or the estimate of the property owner's responsibility for uh assessment of the drywall?

You know that's a difficult one and again I I I think our our gut feeling on that. We don't have firm numbers from the uh contractors. Uh we think it's probably in the $400 $500 range is the guess. But again we're hoping free market does what free market does and now that there's four folks out there uh you know hopefully somebody undercuts the market and we drive that price down. That's the intent. And again, it's this isn't in isolation. So, uh I mentioned that we are the uh administrator for Madera County as well. So, between Madera County and the three GSAs within the program that we discussed tonight, the important thing about that from my perspective, those are the clients that we've always represented all along the way. Uh that amounts to coverage of 96 98% of the subbasin. So, you know, the other districts, Root Creek, Newstone, Graly Ford, they're small districts on the fringes. And what we're talking about here is implementation for almost the majority of the subbasin.

Yeah. And that that's really good. Uh because that leads into my next question. So as an administrator, do you guys have the ability to like stack? So you guys are getting reports. Let's let's take a Dell. There's a few wells that went out if they go out in around the same geographic area around the same time able to say, "Well, this is going to be a $200,000 job." But since we have multiple Yeah. we can

Yeah. There's some economy of scale. The place that that plays out the most uh frankly is probably that you know Madera County was ahead a little bit from a timing perspective. So what we've learned there has already infiltrated its way into this program. Uh the other economy and scale is in those inspections that I talked about on the second and fourth Wednesday of every month. We're not coming down here on the second Wednesday just to do uh inspection for the program we've discussed tonight. Right? We're going to pull all of the applicants for Madera County and yourselves into one batch. So when we drive down here, we're splitting that cost across two different programs. Right. So we try and be smart with the money.

But well, I guess you verified they they are dry, right? But there's four in the same area. Um they're only getting 35,000 for each one. Say, well, you're you're priced out. Or would you say we can take that as one project and pull that money together and then do a whole stretch? I think it's tough because there's a geographic boundary in there somewhere, right? So, I I think that's tough. But again, you know, one of the words that I I I rarely use, but it's out there is adaptive management. What we know tonight, and it's appropriate in this setting, what we know tonight and the program we've developed is likely not to be the program if I was before you in a year from now, right? Things are going to change and we're going to learn and we're going to make we're going to make corrections as we go. Thank you. Uh, Council Member Mahia,

uh, thank you for the thoroughess of your presentation. Will the legal contracts also be in Spanish in addition to the applications? Good question. Great question. Uh so we debated that and the answer to that is actually no because from an interpretation perspective uh that is not something we feel comfortable with. So the recommendation is going to be uh and perhaps I see council shaking his head affirmatively. Our our recommendation is to go seek counsel of your own such that the interpretation is true and correct. Can key a key summary of the highlights of the contracts be provided to people? I I think the well maybe I should defer to council.

Just to to jump in, what happens when you do contracts in a different language and one in English, one in Spanish? Often there are nuances between the two translations that create ambiguities is what's necessary. So in the state of California, there's kind of a long history saying, "Hey, do the English one because that's the official state language because that defines the exact parameters for the court to be able to rule on. However, there's nothing wrong with providing them a brief summary saying this is what the contract generally provides. However, we make no representation that this accurately reflects all the nuances in the English translation." and courts have been fine with that because it's clear that it's kind of a summary versus a contract or so. And I hope I didn't jump in on that, but I there that's generally the reason why uh agencies do that.

Yeah. And I I don't have I there's there's two thoughts in my mind. The first is is that when they call if they're a Spanish speaking applicant, they call our office, they're going to get someone on the other end of the phone that speaks Spanish fluently as a primary language. Uh it's my expectation that that summary is going to be there sort of informally. Uh but I think my takeaway and action item tonight would be uh in coordination with Madera irrigation district and mad water district to recommend to them that we do just that. Right. So we we recommend you go seek uh your own counsel but here's a summary non-binding but we hope it's helpful. So I think that's a good comment and I'm happy to happy to work on that. Thank you. Yeah. Council member Rodriguez.

I just have one last uh question and comment now with with this program and and part of your engineering here. Mr. David, do you see uh a future um breakdown of these wells based on hydraology and what you've studied?

Oh, it's inevitable, right? I mean, the reason that we're here tonight, so let's back up to the original creation of the groundwater sustainability plan. And one of the analysis that was uh that was put together by a collaborator of ours um ERRA economics was this. And we we found ourselves in a place where the state had passed sigma. We knew we needed to act. We were in the middle of developing our groundwater sustainability plans. And the question was, what is going to bring uh sort of the most economic harm to Madera County and the Madera subbasin? And that analysis went something like this. Uh we can do one of two things largely. There's a couple dials we can turn. We can turn off all of our agricultural pumps, okay? And we can be sustainable from a groundwater perspective. What is the economic impact from doing that? It's enormous, right? It's enormous. On the other hand, we can allow groundwater levels to decline to some reasonable level while we do the planning necessary to implement what we call the projects and management actions, right? So, the recharge uh the multi-benefit land repurposing where we're taking land out of production. And what we hope to see is a recovery of those groundwater levels. But in the interim, we know that there are going to be impacts to domestic wells and let's mitigate for those domestic well impacts and the cost of doing so pales in comparison to the economic impact of uh of immediately stopping pumping for agricultural purposes. So there will be impacts.

Yeah. And and because you use the term inevitable, I know that it's inevitable that the municipal wells will also suffer and that's because of the overdraft that we have. So, one thing that I would continue to tell my colleagues here is that we continue to advocate for these aggressive recharge uh projects that we can do, not only with the current uh GSAs that are in this domestic uh uh uh well mitigation program, but also with the entire GS GSAs within our our our subbas in here. I just very important that the recharge is something that we do in projects, especially with MID. I think, you know, a lot of the residents here pay into MID and I think we need to assert that we need more recharge basins within our cities to be able to um prevent any of our municipal wells to take a hit because when they take a hit, every single rateayer here takes a hit as well.

Yeah, I agree with that. Uh you're absolutely correct, Councilman. Uh a couple of thoughts. one, there are some big infrastructure projects uh that we are involved in that are going in off the Chachel bypass. I recognize that's not close to your domestic wells. Um but I do think it's important that and we're seeing this throughout the state that recharge the one of the grand ideas uh 10 years ago was that agencies like yourselves would do all of this recharge, right? The irrigation districts, the cities, uh the water districts. What we're actually finding now is this really unique balance between uh projects that are completed with public funds by public agencies. But importantly, we're seeing a lot of recharge that is sort of decentralized in my mind that is done by individual growers, right? And individual individual land owners. And that's important because they can do things much e more easily than the public agencies can for a variety of reasons. SQUA environmental permitting all of the things that you guys talk about in these chambers on a on a monthly basis. So you're absolutely correct. I think Madera Irrigation District has been a great partner. There's the Ellis Basin is one of those places where, you know, in coordination with the county, there's uh some recharge happening there uh as time comes up. And the key to all of this, of course, is making sure that we retain our surface water resources for this region, right? That's a big deal. And so we're constantly facing the fight uh with uh you know the state of California, the federal government uh and water supply more broadly. And the key to success here is harvesting that the the top off those wet years when they come, but also making sure that we have water surface water even in those dry years and we're not turning solely to groundwater.

You Mr. Davids, that's all I have. Thank you for that comment, Council Member Rodriguez. With that, I open it up to public comment. Anybody in the chamber have any questions? I see none. any online or on Zoom? We have none. Mayor, thank you. With that, I close public comment and thank you for that presentation, Mr. Davis, for that. You bet. Thank you all. Good to see you. Hope to see you again soon. Yes, City Clerk Gonzalez. Next item. Public hearings. Item A1, initiation of proceedings for the annexation of the of the Sienna State Subdivision into Community Facilities District number 2005-1. Thank you for that. and I'll be presented by our senior planner, Smith.

Good evening, May. Good evening, council members, senior planner, Robert Smith. Um, this presentation represents the annexation number 18 for the Sienna Estates subdivision into the commun community facilities district. This is a way to create special tax for public service funding throughout the city when generated by new development. The district uh to be annexed is highlighted to the northwest of the city on the map and shows other annexations previously brought into the district. The map was approved for 113 lot residential subdivision with conditions of approval requiring the applicant to make this annexation application. The assessment would be $583 uh dollars per unit for this new annexation. And the recommendation uh is for the city council to adopt the resolution declaring its intention to annex territory including a portion of the track uh I'm sorry I lost the presentation. My apologies.

No worries. Oh, I'm still going to get it back up. Maybe I can just read the read the uh adop adoption of the re resol resolution is declaring its intention to annex territory including a portion of track 5S19 and track 22 to S01 the CN estate subdivision to the city of MadiRaa community facilities districts number 2005-1 public service to authorize a levy of special taxes there in setting public hearing annexation number 18. Uh that concludes the presentation. Staff are available for questions should you have them. Thank you. Thank you for that presentation. I bring it back to my colleagues for any questions or comments. I see none at this time. I open it up for public comment. Anyone in the chamber? I see none online or on Zoom. Anyone online or on Zoom?

We have none, mayor.

Okay, thank you for that. We have someone in the chamber. Come on up, sir. Yeah, I have a I have a information about u the Sienna taxes that they want to provide or the that they want to um charge in there. Um I don't see the reason why we should pay additional taxes for that. We don't even get anything benefit from the city. As a matter of fact, all the the little section of the uh where we live, it's all damaged. There's no nobody goes and cleans it. Nobody does anything to it. So we have a overpopulation of dogs running around, cats running around. Um the the sidewalks are all damaged. Um I don't understand what the concept of of that is. Uh we have very bad uh neighbors that they don't take care of uh of the of the properties. Uh the gratit additional taxes for something that they're not even taking care of us. So,

okay. Thank you for your comment. I bring it back to my colleagues for um any comments if not for a motion and a second. Move to approve. Madame Mayor, I'm sorry. Keith, were you going to add something before we voted or were you coming in for the next uh the next? Yeah. Sorry. I have a motion. I say second. Oh, and a second. Thank you. All those in favor say I. Those opposed, we do have Councilwoman Evans um not present at this motion

and aside that doesn't affect the uh the current consideration. I believe uh the gentleman is in the existing area which is not subject to the CFD. Right. Correct. Thank you for that. This is new development. Correct. Director of Engineering. Yes. Thank you. Okay. Moving on to the next item. Item A2, annexation of the Sienna State Subdivision phase 2 into landscape maintenance district zone of benefit 45A for fiscal year 2026 27 and presented by our own director of engineering.

Thank you, mayor and council members. Uh this is the annexation of the Sienna estates phase 2 subdivision into the landscape mainten 45A for fiscal year 2627. Um pursuant or purpose of the meeting pursuant to section 22554 the landscape and lighting underneath my little screen there. uh annexation of any parcel into zone of benefit requires both a public hearing as well as a published notice of public hearing. This is that public hearing. Uh public notice was posted on March 4th, 2026 of the Madera Tribune. Uh the public meeting represents an opportunity for current property owners of the zonal benefit to comment on proposed annexation. Uh this is also for the new parcels, not the any of the old parcels. However, the entirety of the original subdivision is subject to assessments from LMD. Uh the reason for the annexation, new development, the city is subject to annexation into the landscape maintenance district zone of benefit. Assessments are levied to pay for each property's fair share of maintenance within the zone associated with their parcel. These properties will be assessed fees outlined in the next slides or slide actually and included in the annual engineers report once they are granted occupancy and that is 45A states phase 2 and that's $71.18 per year for lots 105 through 137 and this is the uh this is phase two which was also shown in the uh CFD. The recommendation for tonight is conduct a public hearing and receive any public comments that may be offered. Adopt a resolution to confirm the diagram and assessments as set forth in the staff report. Levy the assessment set forth in the staff report. This occurs as part of the next annual report which is coming up

I believe mid probably May 5th. uh accept covenant for the landscape maintenance district zone of benefit 45A and authorize the city clerk to file the diagram assessments with the auditor of Madera County. With that, I'm happy to take any questions. Thank you for that. I bring it back to my colleagues for any comments or questions. I see none. I open it up for public comment in the chamber. I see no comments. City Clerk Gonzalez, anyone online or on Zoom? We have none, Mayor. Thank you for that. I close public comment at this time and bring it back to my colleagues. Move to approve item A2. Second. I have a motion and a second. All those in favor say I. I.

Those opposed. Motion passes unanimously. Thank you for representation. Next item, city clerk Gonzalez. Moving along. Item A3, measure T, annual expenditure plan A for fiscal year 202627. Thank you. And that will start off with our deputy engineer bidder woman of the year staff member. It's been a while. I didn't remember how to do this. Well, I think it's going to change next time we're at council our new system. Thank you very much. Thank you, mayor and members of the council. Ellen Bidder, deputy

city engineer. Um I'm here tonight to present the annual expenditure plan, but it's going to be a tag team presentation. Also, uh engineer Alexis Raundo is going to present some additional information on our overall street rehab program that um will be beneficial to this presentation. Well, welcome assistant engineer.

So, uh just a background, measure T is a half cent sales tax approved by the voters back in November of 2006. It's only for transportation purposes and it's only for Madera County. Uh it receives oversight from the Madera County Transportation Authority and it is slated to sunset next year, March of next year is the end of our current measure. Um however, the good news of course is that a citizens initiative passed to renew measure T and uh that will take effect um the new proceeds beginning April will go towards the new measure. Uh every year the annual work program is adopted by the authority and it includes each annual expenditure plan by the local agencies that it covers. So this year's annual expenditure plan um our projected revenues and or allocation is a little less because it's only nine months of the year. So, if you've been tracking the last few years, you'll notice that this is um about 3/4 of what's expected and it's the anticipated receipts through March. Um if anything more comes in or if the receipts are higher than anticipated um the authority will amend our allocation and we'll be able to um receive any additional funds that will come in up through March. Um how we identify our plans, our projects and programs is through our capital improvement process and also our city budget process. And uh approval of this uh annual expenditure plan does require separate council action at a notice public hearing which is tonight's uh recommendation. Uh if you recall in 2024 uh council approved resolution 24158 which establishes a 30-day public review period and uh following that protocol a notice of public hearing was published

in the Madera Tribune on March 11th of 2026. This table uh is a explanation of the planned expenditures uh for 2627 of the measure t funds. uh the the this is all of the programs that are included in the measure or in the um the annual allocation. The first column is carryover funds from prior years and um you'll see in the top one regional transportation highway program. It's a fairly large dollar figure um as we've been collecting funds for our larger regional uh improvement projects. So as we implement those projects, the obviously the carryover balance will um go down. The second column is new funds for this year. And then the total allowed for programming is the column to the far right. And at the bottom right um we have the ability to program $27 million uh this year. I'll go through each of the individual subprograms. Uh the first one is regional transportation and highway program. It's for collector streets and arterial streets and these are the projects that have planned expenditures this year either design engineering right of way and uh perhaps construction if the projects are ready for that. Um I think everyone's familiar with the Olive Avenue widening gateway to Knox. Just we continue to make strides on uh getting that project closer to construction. Project R54. It's the Cleveland Avenue widening from Schnore to 99. Um these are the preliminary design phases. It is actually one of the regional projects that's administered by um the authority, but we can start the preliminary engineering phases with our local funds and then um it'll be that much closer when the funds are available from the regional program uh to implementing.

The Lake Forest central intersection is the next project. Um, as we have modified the approach and we're now considering the roundabout, of course, the costs have increased. So, we're planning a contribution from measure T to help fund that project. Uh, we are able to use these funds for um pavement treatments and rehabilitation on car on collectors and arterials. And that's what the R79 project is. Um, it'll be noted later, but R79 um in combination with another project is going out to bid this summer. Um R82 is the Almond Avenue extension from Pine to Stadium. We'll be kicking off um preliminary engineering phases for that project this coming year. We're also uh supporting the Howard Road storm drain project with some design phase and measure T's contributing to get um initial engineering and cost estimates. So then we can pursue other funding sources for that project. And uh the last project slated with for expenditures this year is um filling in the gap funding for the D Street and South Street traffic signal. It's currently under construction. Um and this is going to cover the uh construction management inspection costs. This next slide is projects that are still that are slated for measure T funds. We're just not able to move them forward yet um this year. And that's uh the studies uh and potential improvements for Lake Street. on Pine Street. We have a reconstruction that we are um waiting to see how we might handle the Howard Olive Pine intersection. Are we going to have any changes to um the channelization and the signals there ultimately that might change what Pine Street would look like at the intersection? So, uh we're that one's been on hold for a little bit. and then um the construction phases ultimately of the Almond Avenue project.

Here's a map showing those regional projects that are um planned either with activity this year or in the future years. The next subprogram is the local transportation program and it's primarily the street maintenance. We transfer $860,000 each year to fund the street maintenance department. Um, and that's for patching, crack filling, and signing and striping. Um, basically transportation road related activities. Uh, we do have an allocation of 1.6 million for another uh large rehab project. Um, this is R99 and it's citywide. Um, and that is being combined with R79 as this project that's coming out this summer. Uh, another subprogram to that is called the supplemental street maintenance. Um, we have money slated for two other uh, projects. Well, one is additional funding going to R99. So, what we do is we compile our different pots and we can put out a much bigger project and we can um, take advantage of the economies of scale of the large project to get better unit prices and pave more streets. Um so and then another project R80 is uh this is measure TUNS monies partnered with RMR funds again for a bigger project. And then lastly uh we'll highlight um a project that was implemented this year. I think you're probably familiar with it. It's the 10x10 patching program. um these monies are um in public works budget and so they managed this project uh this year and here is the result of I think everybody's excited about the Cleveland and Gateway uh intersection repaving um that happened in the matter of a couple nights and um it turned out really great.

Uh the third component of the uh LTP is ADA compliance and this money goes for installation of ramps and improving sidewalks. Uh we're partnering with public works for money that's not CDBG eligible in in those areas. Then we can use measure T for other areas of the city. And then we match a lot of our grant funds for our sidewalk projects with this program. Transit has money uh planned for their um interotal transit enhancement project and then they also have a bus shelter, the relocation of the bus shelters for the new routes. That project is funded with measure T. And then lastly with their remaining funds um they plan different uh activities related to the implementation of the microtransit um following their feasibility study. So if it's bringing on a consultant to plan the routes or plan how to implement it plus potentially hiring or purchasing vehicles as needed. Um but that was their plan for that. Uh the last program environmental enhancement is usually match funds for projects that have environmental benefits and we have been uh using these to match our CMAC uh grant funds for the alley paving projects and we have three projects scheduled. They're in the different quadrants. Uh we are moving forward with the alley 6 which is the northeast quadrant and that uh hopefully by the end of this calendar year we'll see that one out to out to bid and then um this is where we're moving into the expanded part of the presentation. And you know, measure T is just one of our sources of funds. And so, in order to really give consideration to what we've presented here, it's appropriate to show you where the rest of the fund money is going to

be spent and what the overall problem uh program for the city looks like. Um so we um that both engineering and public works maintain lists of candidate projects and so Alexis will expand on our PMS or pavement management plan system but then there are certain projects that don't quite fit in that category and we try to tuck those projects in with the others when we can. So I will turn it over to Alexis now.

Thank you Ellen. Uh good evening mayor, council members, and members of the public. So in table four, uh provides the 40% funding for real road rehab projects. Uh the projects are listed as R79, R80, R98, R99, R 104, R 108, and new projects that'll be coming out in fiscal year 2627. Uh the total funding for measure T is 6,85,000. Armor, which is the road maintenance rehab account, uh, $8,617,18. Uh, the Crystal funding was a one-time funding source that was back in 2020. It is the Corona virus relief uh supplemental appropriation act. And the LPP, the local partnership program, which is has a funding source of 360,000, which totals to 15,62 and $918. This is a map of the upcoming projects. Um, as Ellen stated, R79 and R99 will be combined and will be um out this summer. Back to table four. U for fiscal year 26 and 27, the streets will be identified based on the output from the updated payment management plan. for city's payment management program PMP uh the current payment condition index is 55 uh forial is PCI is 62 collector roads PCI 56 and the residential local roads uh PCI of 53. Uh the statewide average of PCI in the state of California is 65. Uh the city needs an estimate of 121 million over the next 10 years to optimally repair all sections. Uh the current funding level is 4 million per year. Uh that

that is split by 70% for art roads and collectors and 30% for the residentials. Uh here's the current state uh current state of the street condition map. Green is very good. Uh blue is good. And then we have the yellow as fair and then um the orange poor and then red and very poor. What does the city own and maintain? Uh functional class arterials. Uh the city owns 44.3 miles which is 25.7% of the entire network. Collector roads 30.4 centerline miles which is 15% of the entire network. and then the residential 142.8 centerline miles which makes up 59.3% of the entire network. This table does not include any recent developments or annexations which will total the increase of the center line miles. Uh sad payment management program street saver is actually a program that the city uses to identify project selections. um is used to select cost effective treatments that improve over the overall PCI. Uh cheaper treatments early versus expensive reconstruction later. It optimizes a mix of treatments to maximize network life within budget. Project selections are prior prioritized based on the overall network PCI improvement. Feature planning helps avoid sudden large costs and a new PCI survey for collectors will be scheduled for next year 2027. and I'll hand it back to Alan.

Thank you, Alexis. So, you got a sneak peek of our CIP presentations coming up and maybe we can just slide right through the pavement rehab part of that one. So, next year the new measure is um going to be implemented. Um the allocations we they are not going to issue any allocations for the last three months of 27. they're going to start with um the fiscal year uh beginning in July one of 2027. Um but it will include the revenues that are generated. So there'll be a little bonus allocation that first year. Um the draft implementing guidelines are currently circulating. So um if you've seen them um uh posted from the Madera County Transportation Authority if you wanted to visit those will be the guiding do documents and um how the monies to be allocated and and policies and procedures for that. Um here at the city in this next year we will be diligently working on our own recommendations for how we will allocate the local funds um through the measure. you know, the new measure has a lot of flexibility. So, we're going to um and there's going to be a lot of different ways we can split those funds. So, you will be um very involved with the process and definitely by next year's capital program, we'll have a plan for our new measure expenditures. Uh so tonight um we would recommend that you receive any input from the public hearing and ultimately adopt the resolution approving the measure T annual expenditure plan for 2627 uh which is the exhibit to the resolution and authorizing submission of the projects to the Madera County Transportation Authority. And that concludes our presentation. Take any questions. Thank you for that. I bring it back to my colleagues for any questions or comments. Council member Rodriguez. Thank you, Mayor Kos, and thank you again, um, director, um, I'm sorry, I get lost. Ellen Bidder,

you just call me woman of the year. That's

Thank you again, woman of the year. Mr. Raundo for the presentation. Um so the carryover from the annual expenditure plan uh is that carryover of $24 million dirty program into those uh res those plans or projects that we have in place.

They're mostly for those bigger projects. So the olive and almond projects. So even if we don't spend them this year, it'll carry over and it'll be programmed for those projects um next year. It's one of one of the things that I've seen over the years here at the council is that we we program them, but there's just not they're not funded, right? And I'm not sure if all of these programs that we have in the list are already fully funded utilizing some of these measure T funds.

These are fully funded. Um it's a matter of delivery, I think. And so if we can um focus our team's efforts on all those projects, then we'll see them being spent down. Perfect. So, they're fully funded. It's just a matter of getting the work done. Exactly. Okay, good. Well, that's a good problem to have. We have the funding. So, thank you, woman of the year. Appreciate it. Thank you. That's all I have, man.

Thank you for your comments. Um, one question, uh, deputy engineer bidder is your your comment was that, um, they're fully funded. We just it's we have a lot to do to get them across the line. So, in the past, this council has in planning when we try to get stuff across the line, um, have given extra dollars to get support. Is this something that you would maybe entertain that if the council was willing to look at our budget and and put some money towards these projects to get them across the finish line because they're fully funded? Is this something that it would be in our beh? I welcome anyone else to to answer that differently than I might, but I I think they're fully with the funds that have been allocated, they can be delivered. I think it's strategizing. Um, we talked about how we combined two projects that we're going to put out together as one. Well, the the other three or four projects on the list, we're actually talking about combining them all into one giant project and getting those out the door. So, we'll get the the bigger companies that um can come in and just kind of blow and go through town and get it done. So, those are things tools we're trying to use um to effectively deliver these quicker. Well, we appreciate that because I know um on this council there's seven of us and there was only three here that were on the um council at the time that said yes to the Pine Alman punch through and and here we are quite a few years down the road and we still haven't even started um construction on that. So that's why I'm asking if you need more support from this council to say, "Hey, these are projects that this community really needs, especially that one with all those schools." That was what that's why we put a lot of the funds to that project because we have Madera High, we have uh Madison and we have Alpha and Madera South and you get in there and

you're locked in. There's no way of coming out of there other than left on Almond, but that's a lot of traffic. You need another way to go the other way. So, um if your team could get together and staff and with our city manager to see if that's something that's needs to be entertained or brought to the council, I would think that would be something that we would love to hear about. City Manager Rodriguez.

Thank you very much, Mayor. For the record, Ronaldo Rodriguez, city manager. Uh, I'd like to provide some additional context for both the council and the community in terms of some of the things that we are attempting to do to try to move some of these projects forward. Council may recall a number of years ago, council authorized an on call list for our engineering team. That all on call list has 10 uh engineering firms and um the original contract was $300,000 per year per firm for a total of $3 million. More recently, council amended that and I believe it was it was increased to $400,000. So, city staff has been using that on call list to move some of these projects forward. The other thing that we attempted to do knowing that there's great need in our community and we have some severely poor roads. We did begin the 10x10 program. Our first two projects were just completed in the last two weeks. And the concept behind that um I also understand that council is aware of this but maybe the community is not. Council authorized a 10x10 program and the concept behind that was to go out immediately. We did an RFP to try to correct some of those roads and that's how we paved the area in front of the John Deere dealership and um at the intersection of Cleveland and Gateway. Those are relatively minor in comparison to the 217 plus miles we have. But again, those were temporary solutions. We don't believe we're throwing good money after bad money, but we're but we've identified u the some hightraic areas that are need of attention. The other thing that we did, um, this is year three of the sidewalk repair program. Um, that that program, um, I'm very biased, but I think it's been very successful. Um, and for the benefit of the community, that's a program that we started where we are going out to neighborhoods and we are repairing sidewalks. Sidewalks are technically the responsibility of the property owner. However, we've been fortunate that this council um through use of various

funding sources, some of which Ellen discussed tonight, we have been repairing sidewalks. If if you go out on Yuseite on M Street um Emma and Marian, if you look on both sides, uh you will notice that we are repairing sidewalks in that area. And if you drive around the the community, you'll see we have a lot of new sidewalks, but we've also replaced a lot of broken sidewalks. We've been very aggressive. Um, we also have two vacancies on our in our engineering department. We have a deputy city engineer position and we also have a senior engineer position. Um, we have actively uh we're actively trying to recruit for those roles at the last council meeting. The city council adjusted the salaries for those and we've also council authorized a recruitment bonus of up to $35,000 to recruit licensed engineers. So, um, that's a long- winded response for me to say we are trying our best there. There there's a long project list before us. Fortunately, we do have some money. Unfortunately, it's finding the bandwidth to complete those. But I do want to assure both council and the community that we're doing everything we can. And these are ongoing discussions between um Allan, myself, our city engineer, Keith Helmouth, our community development director, Will, Mike Lima, our finance director. Um we these are a lot of discussions that we're having. Um and with Harper coming on, our public works director. We we've been exploring how we can try to continue the 10 x10 program, but not continue, but actually expand it and bring some of those hopefully bring some of those items that we're currently contracting out u that we're contracting off for if we can bring them in house. We've had some preliminary discussions and those discussions will come um they'll continue and hopefully we'll be bringing an item to council for discussion. Um and I also see a lot of young people in the audience. Um, if you're looking for a field to get into, I would recommend

civil engineering because you'll always have a job. So, thank you, mayor.

Thank you, um, city manager for that comment. I'm and I do applaud our staff and I know that we've been trying to recruit engineering. That's why I'm saying that if you need the more support from us to kind of take off the load because it it is a lot of of asking, especially when we were trying to get a lot of projects through with the ARPA money that was going to leave us if we didn't spend it. So, um, I do understand and so that's why I am just mentioning if if it's support that you need from us to get us across the finish line, we do understand there's only so much time in a day and so many bodies that it does take to this heavy lift to get across. And I do have other comments from council members. Um, council member Rodriguez.

Yes. Thank you, Mayor Gyos. And to your point earlier, um you know, leaving these projects to go for further time, I think really increases the uh the cost of those projects. And I I I just want to remind council that prior to COVID, you know, obviously inflation wasn't as bad, but after inflation periods come in, you know, tacos are no longer $150. looking at $5 if you want some premium kavia tacos. And now I can only imagine what a linear foot of trying to get some projects going, right? I mean, I can imagine that they're going to be twice as much, if not a third more. So, I think the longer we prolong this process, I think it's just costing the city a lot more money. So, if we can expedite that through some of the services that our city manager or contract services that our city manager mentioned, that would be something that I certainly would would u adhere to and I would request that we push that even further. And that's what I have. Thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Rodriguez. Council member Mia,

uh, thank you for the report. Um, a couple of years ago, I was taking an evening walk with my nephew who tripped over the sidewalk and he was just crying and he was complaining and his mom told him, um, talk to your council member. And he said, why do I have to go to the city to talk to my council member, my my she was right here. So, he he had a point. Um and with that recently I had shared some pictures of sidewalk repairs thanks to the sidewalk improvement program that were happening um around Madera High School and it has been years since those um you know repairs have been needing. So I am wondering whether it would be beneficial to the community as a whole and I say this because I did get messages and comments from residents in district 2. Today we're talking about Monterey Street and how difficult it is to get to Alpha without tripping over the sidewalk like my nephew did. Um I'm just wondering if we could get an overview in the website explaining what the process would be like for the sidewalk repair program. Um I understand that it may take years to get these, but like how can how can residents make uh the city aware of what they're seeing? And I do see a form on the on the street division section that has a process to report, but I think it would be helpful if we were to understand how is this prioritized, how long should we expect for these repairs to come um and and that kind of overview.

Okay, thank you for your comment at this time. A question maybe questions. I I will defer that one because that's run through the public works department.

It's gonna sound like I'm tiptoeing around your question, council member, and that's not my intent. Rather, it's um one of the ways we're doing it. For the first couple of years, we were using CDBG funding and for the benefit of the community and those watching online, that's that was limited to low-income neighborhoods. And so we have a threeman city crew and we've spent probably close to $700,000 I believe on making those repairs in low-income neighborhoods. So again, that's for the repair of sidewalks, not for the installation of new sidewalks, similar to what we've seen along Schnore Avenue and near um James Ma um I'm sorry, not not Madison, rather Monroe. Uh we've seen some around Washington and we've seen some around John Adams. They're they're two different um programs that that we're operating under for the sidewalk repair program. In this calendar year, in this fiscal year, we also received some nonCDBG money from the city council. Th those funds have been spent. We um I know we did some improvements at the intersection of Cleveland of Granada and Riverview. And then we also did some near West Berry and Westgate if I recall. Um so in terms of how we have been notifying people we we have not aggressively published the program because quite frankly the need is so great. I I think we'll be overwhelmed and I think uh we would be disappointing a lot of people if we told everyone this program's available because then people expect it to be done overnight. Um, people should hold us to a high standard and I expect that and I hold our staff to a high standard and I think the council should hold city staff to high standards. The challenge um it's going to come to um a bandwidth issue and a funding issue. We simply don't have enough. So, right now, one of the things we've been doing is we've been looking at some of the worst sidewalks

near schools. And what we've been trying to do is we've been trying to look at schools and and we've monitored where where people tend to walk and some of the worst sidewalks and that's where we focused. That's not to say they're the most visible. Rather, again, it's it's in our humble opinion, it's the greatest need. Um, have we gone everyone? Absolutely 100% probably not. But as we've been going through, we're seeing less need because we're repairing more. But we've been looking at uh parks and schools and shopping centers and where people are likely to walk or where they're currently walking. And those are the areas we've been trying to do. One challenge that I do have to clarify is that we do get letters for potential litigation against the city when people trip and fall on sidewalks. The sidewalk is the responsibility of the property owner. And so whenever that happens, we we typically turn them down and we say that's not that's that's technically legally it's not the city's responsibility, but we know there's a great need and that's why we've been aggressive with this program and we created the program a couple years ago not to relieve the property owner from their burden or from their responsibility. Rather, we know that a lot of our community members simply can't afford to repair the sidewalk that they have other needs like paying for their food. And so we created it, but managing expectations has been a challenge because some people say, "Well, you did it for my neighbor. You did it for for my cousin, but not for me. You're by a city. You don't like me." I'm like, "We don't even know who you are. I apologize. We're not trying to offend anyone." Um, but but some people do call the city and if you do have a couple of locations um or if the community has one, we we are more than welcome. We will take your call. We will visit it. My only ask is that everyone be patient with the city because this is new. We can't get to everything, but we're trying to be as helpful as

possible. And hopefully that gives you some context with with kind of where we're at with the program. Um, and hopefully uh we plan on continuing it with council support. I I think it's been a very um widely accepted program and I think people appreciate it. Thank you, Arnold. I'd just like to reiterate my gratitude um appreciation that I had um seen in in those sidewalks near Madera High School in District 5. I we're just very appreciative. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you for that comment. And I will piggyback on that comment that when I've been on council the longest for 10 years. And when I got on council, I got a lot of phone calls about sidewalks. And at the time, we had a city manager that wasn't apt to really help repair sidewalks with our community members. So, um, when we had a a new council and a new city manager, we made it an ask that we really needed to make a difference in a lot of the community who couldn't afford it because it was in a little piece like this. We were looking at $800 just to repair a piece like this in somebody's sidewalk. And again, it is the property's responsibility, but $800 10 years ago was a lot of money and even think now $800 is a lot of money 10 years from now. So, I thank you for um this council for again putting funds to this project and our city manager and our public works department. Engineering has to clear it has to go through all these different hands to have one little project complete. So, thank you everyone for pitching in on this. Um, I don't see any other comments from council, so I'll open it up for public comment at this time. I see no one in the audience. Any anyone online or on Zoom? City Clerk Gonzalez,

you have none, mayor. Okay, I will close public comment at this time and bring it back to my colleagues. Motion to approve is ready. Second, I have a motion in a second. All those in favor say I. I. I. Those opposed? Motion passes unanimously. Thank you for your report, Deputy Engineer Bidder and Assistant Engineer Raundo for being here tonight. Moving on to the next item. A4 is a public hearing and first reading and introduction of an ordinance amending the city's municipal code relating to fireworks. Thank you. And I'll be presented by our very own Lieutenant Adams. Welcome.

Good evening, Mayor. Good evening, council, members of the public. Uh my name is Mark Adams. I'm an operations lieutenant for the Monero Police Department. Let's bring this up. Yay. Great job, Lieutenant. Thank you.

All right, so I'll be presenting on an ordinance amending the city's municipal code related to fireworks. A little bit of background. The city has experienced a significant increase in the use of illegal fireworks. Uh unlike safe insane, they are uh often unpredictable and frequently land on rooftops or in dry vegetation, creating an immediate threat of structure fires and wildfires. Traditionally, uh these peak around the 4th of July, placing a massive strain on city resources. Uh illegal fireworks also create a public nuisance that affects the quality of life for residents, including veterans and pet owners. Current enforcement has been hampered by a code that primarily focused on sales rather than the consequences of illegal discharge. Uh here's a graph of the uh fire department's response for calls. You can see an increase from 2024 to 2025. Uh the hope is to reduce this in 2026. Um if you can imagine just the the amount of calls and the limits that they have as far as their ability to respond. Um the our officers alone respond to hundreds of calls that night. Uh and we do our best to try to reduce the amount of uh need for fire to respond to those. Our officers are driving around with uh fire extinguishers on loan from the fire department in in hopes of being able to put out small fires to reduce the need for their response. Um so some of the additions are the uh responsible person language. Uh it's one of the most impactful changes to the proposed amendment. Um under this it uh under the changes a responsible person uh may be but is not limited to a property owner uh a renter or parents. This means that adult uh the adult does not have the light have to light the firework themselves but allowing it knowingly or unknowingly to where they should have reasonably known uh that those fireworks are being uh lit off holds them responsible. Um parents become liable for minors violations and must supervise their minors uh during the use of fireworks. So, kind of in past a little bit of background on that is when somebody is lighting off uh fireworks, we have officers that are

typically driving around in unmarked vehicles looking for people lighting them off. Um you can imagine that for us to be able to pin who who did it and then hold them accountable becomes tough. This language allows us um if there's fireworks being lit off in the backyard and we per se did not see who lit it off, we can now hold the property owner uh responsible for um the fireworks. Um, we also propose to repeal chapters 13 and 13b of title 3 and adopt a new chapter 13 of title 3 entitled regulation of fireworks. The text amendment requires two readings and would go into effect the 31st day after adoption. Uh, some of the proposed language is new limits on when and where fireworks can be used. uh explicit prohibition of both possession and discharge of fireworks at city parks, the Fresno River area, and also areas deemed very high uh fire hazard areas. Uh certain streets during events uh within 10 ft of structures and on someone else's property without their permission, new legal discharge hours of 5:00 p.m. to 10 p.m. on sale days and until midnight on July 4th. Um, also it provides clearer language on an explicit ban on illegal fireworks instead of implying and relying on state law references. Uh, for violations, if violations occur, the amended code provides multiple enforcement tools to the city, including charging responsible persons with a misdemeanor, $1,000 fine per violation, and full cost recovery for fire and police response to the violation. Each day, an individual firework use can result in a separate violation and the city would have the ability to put leans on properties if fines are not paid. This is very similar to how our code enforcement currently operates. Just for background on that um sale of safe and sane fireworks, um it still requires a permit and the application and fees. Applicants must include a site plan of the proposed location, the storage of fireworks. Uh both the current and proposed ordinances allow sales

beginning June 28th from noon to 11 p.m. and June 29th through uh July 3rd at 7 uh from 7:00 a.m. to 11 p.m. That's not necessarily changing. Um however, the current ordinance allows sales on July 4th to 10:00 p.m. and on July 5th from 7:00 a.m. to noon. Uh the proposed ordinance would reduce July sales uh July 4th sales to 9:00 p.m. So we'd be reducing it by an hour and it would also eliminate the sale of fireworks. Uh on July 5th uh permits will be issued to recognize nonprofits who have been established for at least one year. Um and then the final decision to issue, deny or revoke permits rests uh with the community development director. Denalas are not subject to appeal. Uh there shall be allowed one firework stand per 4,000 residents beginning in 2027. Currently the code is one stand per 2,000 residents. The city typically permits we have we we offer approximately 34 permits per year. Um I don't believe we actually hit that mark though. Um proposed operational standards. So operational rules are also consolidated in the amendment. This this is pertaining to the uh the fireworks stands themselves, moving them into one section with clear definitions on safe distances, fire extinguisher requirements, smoking bans, and storage rules. Uh the stand removal deadline becomes shorter requiring the removal by from uh by July 7th instead of the current deadline of July 11th. uh financial impact. There are no costs to the city other than the preparation of this amendment or rather creates multiple enforcement tools for our code enforcement our officers uh to use to impose fines uh relating to violations and it's staff recommendation to wave further reading and introduce an ordinance amending the city's municipal code relating to fireworks by title only. That concludes my presentation and open for any questions.

Thank you, Lieutenant Adams. I bring it to my colleagues for any questions or comments. I have one Lieutenant Adams and that is um in 2026 we're going to stay at our 34 number of permits for fireworks and on 2027 we're going to go down to half of that 17. So how I know we're going to have nonprofits saying how how is the city going to determine who what 17 nonprofits are going to receive those permits? And that's the first question I'm going to get asked after tonight. Um, I don't think 26 will be a problem. It's 27. I'm trying to look ahead.

Gotcha. Um, yeah, the the issuance of the permits is going to be at the discretion of the community development director and I believe uh the chief has a better response for that.

Yes. Thank you, Gino Chermani, chief of police. Um, a little response to that is is uh in 2025 there was a total of 18 applicants. So, currently this would only leave one of those applicants out. That would be starting in 2027. That does not count for this year. We're keeping it the same for one for every 2,000 residents. Um, in fact, if there's not enough permits in the future, uh, there will be a lottery system done through the community development director. He will provide for every applicant a number and then do a random lottery selection uh, for however many permits are available. So, that's how the process will occur. uh if there are more permits uh or more applicants than permits. Okay,

that answers my question. Thank you, chief, for that. Um I have to tell you this council has asked for some stricter guidelines. So, we thank you for bringing that to us and um I think most of our residents are going to be very happy of this. It's the ones that don't want to follow rules that are going to be like, oh, what they just put in place. So, thank you for the time and effort and staff to to put this in front of us tonight. Council member Rodriguez.

Yes. Thank you. And Chief, thank you for answering that question. But here's a question to both of you regarding staff. I mean, now that we may have some teeth here, do you still see an issue with uh the amount of officers and or staff going out there and pursuing the illegal activity?

Uh I can answer that. So, uh I I don't foresee a change in the amount of staff that we use. Typically the 4th of July I would say is arguably but hands down uh one of the most hands on deck holidays that we have between uh DUI saturation patrols uh fireworks uh enforcement uh providing security for the uh fireworks uh show and then also the added dispatchers to handle the call volume that our officers uh uh are going to be responding to. Um however it does strengthen their ability to enforce and go after these people and hold them accountable. And I think uh once that starts taking effect and people start realizing that uh we don't need to pinpoint exactly who lit it off, but if you're allowing illegal fireworks to be lit off uh under your direction or at your residence, then we can hold you accountable.

Really? I think that will have a direct impact on the uh the amount of illegal fireworks that we have. And this won't be just the day of, it'll be the days leading to and the days after, right? Because these things go on like two weeks before and they go about two weeks after. So correct and that's some of the other changes that are in there which is also reducing the uh the times in which fireworks are able to be lit off which those are limited to the sales time which ends at 10 p.m. which also coincides with our other municipal codes for like noise ordinance. Um however in the current code it extends it to 11 p.m. uh when you still have the 10 p.m. noise ordinance.

Got it. Thank you. There there is a section on the corner of uh Granada and Cleveland. There's a house that's that's there and I want to make sure that they're always looking at that house there because that house lights up some fireworks here. Got you. They'll be everywhere. Hey, thank you for that comment. Um, at this time I open up for public comment. Anyone in the chamber? I see none online or on Zoom. City clerk Gonzalez, we have none, Mayor.

Okay, I close public comment and I will um wait for the reading if our city attorney would do that for us, please. Assuming the council wants to move forward, it would be a motion to introduce by title only an ordinance of the city council of the city of Madera repealing chapters 13 and 13b of title 3 and adopting a new chapter 13 of title 3 entitled regulation of fireworks and wave the first readings. Thank you. So I need a motion and a second. Approve. Second. I have a motion and a second. All those in favor say I. I. I.

Those opposed motion passes unanimously. Thank you for that report, Lieutenant Adams and Moving on. Right along, city clerk Gonzalez. Consent calendar. Matters listed under the consent calendar are considered routine and will be enacted by one motion and one vote. There will be no separate discussion of these items. If discussion is desired, a member of the public or a member of the council may request an item to be removed from consent calendar and it will be considered separately. Thank you for that. I will turn this over for to our city attorney.

Thank you very much, Madam Mayor. I need to recuse myself on item Bravo 15. That's B15. uh our firm, another person, our unit, my firm applied for this item, so I will not be participating or advising on this matter and I've recused myself with staff as well. Thank you. Thank you for that. Um any comments or concerns from my fellow colleagues? If not, I open up it for public comment. I see none. Stay. No.

You think you'll have to turn, right? I don't know where you want them at. There's a lot here. Good evening, mayor and city council members. My name is Safari. Um, Upstanders Day. Upstanders Day means building relationships. Sorry. A standard day means b building relationships, the community coming together and realization that we are in this together for a better community and a better future. With this day possible, it will be a real game changer. United of Sanders is a nonprofit organization. United Sanders is a nonprofit organization that is um our three pillars are leadership um kindness and um unity and we do this by workshops, we have events and we do fundraisers. Um, my whole message here is that you sorry, my whole message here is that the Upstanders Day would create a positive change for the city of Madera.

Thank you.

Hello. Good evening, Mayor and City Council members. My name is Roma Shik. Being an upstander means doing good, standing up for others, and believing in what's right to help and impact your community. This holiday is important because it will remind current and future generations to be an upstander. Being an upstander is something you do on your own with your own will, not some reminder from a teacher or an adult. It's something you take initiative of and apply yourself in your daily lives. This day also gets to celebrate those who who help others and overall make a positive impact. This day would combat the bystander effect, encourage proactive intervention against bullying and empower residents to foster a safer united community. Hello, my name is Lucia Sierra. It's nice to meet everybody, mayor and city council members. I attend Thomas Jefferson Middle School and I am honored to be here today representing the United Upstandards Community Program alongside with Miss Williams. I have been part of this community since starting middle school. It has been such an important part of my journey. Being involved in this program has allowed me to grow, connect with others, and help make a positive difference in our school and beyond. I've also been a part of the production side of this community by helping create videos and posting them on two different platforms, Instagram and Tik Tok. We share these videos to help grow our community, spread awareness, and reach other schools so that our message of kindness, courage, and support can continue to grow bigger. What I would like to say is that respectfully the goal is not to wait for something negative to happen. It is to leave before it does. of standards day is to prevent prevention awareness and empowering students to choose kindness and

encourage every single day. As students, we all have the power to stand up for one another, support our classmates, and help make our school and community a safer and kind place. Even small actions like checking on a friend, speaking up when something is wrong, or choosing kindness can make a big difference. Together we can create a positive environment where everyone feels seen, respected, respected, and supported. Thank you for listening. Good evening, mayor and city council members. My name is Omar Diaz. I attend Madera High School. The goal isn't to wait for something negative to happen. It's to leave before it does. And upstander day as upstenders day is about prevention, awareness and empowering students to choose kindness and courage every day. Thank you. Good evening mayor and city council members. My name is Omar Garcia and I attend Madera High. An upstander is someone who does the right thing even when it's hard and helps others feel safe and included. And that's why we need upstanders day. Thank you for your comments tonight and hanging in there a couple hours to see how government works. But we appreciate the parents for bringing you tonight to speak on it's B8. It's a proclamation recognizing a minute order approving the proclamation of the upstandard stay. So um thank you for being here tonight. We truly appreciate it on behalf of the mayor and council.

Thank you and your advisor for um bringing this to our attention.

With that, do we have any other public comment in the chamber? Come on up. Sure. Um, my name is Daisy Sierra and my daughter Lucia Sierra, she just experienced uh, bullying and different kind of things in school and it was in August and September and I stand for this bullying to stop and um, united myself as a parent that I was not we see it in TV. I always say it and I've been saying it before we see it on TV, but seeing it in person and dealing this personally myself. I would like to the community and to each one of you guys to join in and support this because we never know who might happen to it. I experienced it again with my son in Lincoln Elementary before before Easter and I say this have to be stopped. I've been going already to the Madera Unified and stuff like that, supporting everything that I've been dealing with my family. And this cost means a lot to me. Even though it's hard to even talk about it, but we see it on the news with this 12-year-old girl that she got hit in the head and she passed away. My daughter got hit twice in August and September. I'm glad she's here and she's alive because honestly I feel sorry for the family that went through it, you know, with her 12-year-old. My daughter was 13. She just barely did 14 on this month, 5th of April. And I join in and I appreciate each one of you guys support as you guys can pass the word. Like my daughter

said, she's doing this not she had did this before it happened and she's doing it again. Not only for herself, not only for her school, but to other people and other kids, students, neighbors, everything. If we hold each other's hand and we talk about the bullying and all the stuff that's going on in school, I think it can stop to an ending because school is meant to learn. Not to be hitting, not to be bullied, not to be rude, not to be disrespectful. I don't teach my kids that. I teach my kids you go there to learn and enjoy it cuz you're going to be someone in this world just like my mother taught me. And who knows, one of my kids will be here or maybe be police officer or fire. I encourage them everything. I encourage them everything because that's that's what we do.

But thank you. It's just a little nervous. Sorry.

Thank you for speaking up. I know it's not easy when it's your kids, but as parents, you're the best advocate for them and to speak for them. And all these young people in the audience, thank you for being here. It's not easy to get up and speak in front of a seven body of of elected officials, but we hear you. Um, not sure you know, I'm a school teacher of 33 years, so I am in the school system and I have seen it for years and I do my best to stop it as a teacher. Um, and as a mom and and as a grandma now, I'm I'm all in. So, keep doing what you do. Uh, keep talking to people in the schools. Um, go to the board means you make a difference. You really do. One person at a time can change a lot. So, thank you for being here tonight. Um, with that, anyone online or on Zoom?

We have none, mayor. Okay, I'll close public comment and bring it back to my colleagues for a motion and a second to approve the consent calendar. Seconded. Thank you. All those in favor say I. Those opposed. Motion passes unanimously. Um, with that I would um entertain my colleagues for a fivem minute recess and we will go back online at at 8:24. Okay. Thank you.

Okay, city clerk Gonzalez, we're moving on to um our next item on the agenda under petitions, bids, resolutions, or ordinances and agreements. D1, Phyllis's Garden Soft interview room memorandum of understanding. Thank you. That'll be presented by Chief Chairman Money.

Yes. Good evening, Madame Mayor, members of council, and for those of you that have stayed around, I appreciate your time. All right, we're up and running. Uh tonight's presentation is just an opportunity for us to uh discuss something new that's the possibility of coming in a service that we're able to improve to our community and those victims of violent crimes and sexual assaults. This is a partnership between Madera Police Department and Phyllis's Garden Soft Interview Rooms. A little bit of background. Our police department currently has four interview rooms. Uh many of them look like the picture you see there. Very sterile, cold. The two that are behind a secured behind the secure facility have metal um tables similar to a jail style for interview and interrogation. But we also have two that are in our police lobby where victims come in and that's their first contact and first uh communication with law enforcement and talking about and telling their story. Um, these rooms aren't very welcoming and a lot of times it can make a victim feel uh kind of the self-lame and they don't want to truly open up about the traumas that they've been through. Um, those that have experienced these traumas are more likely to cooperate effectively, recall details, and return further uh interviews in an environment that feels much more safe, comfortable, and supportive. So that's what we want to now provide for these um community members. Below is an example of a soft room. We are not the only agency that has soft rooms. Currently our CFIT program which is our child forensic interview team does that through uh CAPMC and Maddie Mendes over there. Uh

they were the first ones to kind of have this in our community. But one of the issues is is that only happens after the initial interview with law enforcement. And so that's days after we're trying to meet them at the very first time they come to the police department. We provide the same type of uh service and location for them to communicate with their law enforcement. Um this one's a picture from Folsson PD and these includes soft lighting, some wall colors and artwork, swivel chairs that allow them to adjust. Sometimes you become nervous, you need a little movement in your chair instead of these stationary chairs that feel unwelcoming. um some discrete recording devices, not just a table with a uh interview um recorder that sits out there. It provides them a better opportunity to open up. Um here's another one from Loaded Eye Police Department that was also done by in collaboration with Phyllis's Garden. Um it's the responsibility on our behalf to restock the consumable items that are located inside the room. That's water, snack, tissues, minor things, but all the furniture and decorations, those are provided by the nonprofit with zero expectation by uh the police department or the city to put funds towards it. What is our role? Our role is to accept and build the furnishings when delivered. The reason for the building is they have in uh they're out of Elk Grove and they have a 100 mile radius. Well, they'll build it out. We're a little bit beyond that and we agreed to build the furnishings as they come in. All the furnishings become property of Midair Police Department upon installation and even after this one-year contract. Uh that's the initial ex uh uh uh contract length uh for the first year. Um, we're also allowing and permitting before and after photos for social media and website use and then coordinate an unveiling that we bring in

uh members of Phyllis's Garden to show off what they have provided. Oops. Uh, one reason why I have their logo up there is because we will be putting their logo on the wall on display. So, I do like to make sure that you guys approve of their logo and having a better understanding of what the background is on it. Um their logo is displayed just over the wall. I mean just over the table is often where they do it and it symbolizes transformation of sexual assault survivor from a caterpillar into a butterfly. Looking at some of the partner agencies that are involved in this. There's a wide range throughout California and they've had a lot of positive impact and a lot of positive response from survivors. Our recommendation is to adopt a resolution approving a memorandum of understanding with Phyllis's Garden Nonprofit Organization and authorizing the city manager to execute the agreement. I would just like to kind of close with this and offer an opportunity for any questions. But this came to us from one of our investigators and that's Priscilla Ramirez and she's a part of the child forensic interview team and does a lot of sexual assault. Um, so it's great to have um employees that truly care for the community and this is her project that she's bringing forward. So this has nothing to do with me or any of our command staff, but this comes from the line level that truly cares for their community. And with that, I'll open that for questioning.

Thank you, Chief Chairman. I'll bring it back to my colleagues for any comments. Uh, Council Member Evans, it's more so a comment versus I don't I don't have to have a question. Sure. Um, I've sat in that room before and coldness is is hard.

Sure. So to have something like this is so very special and to be able to speak to someone and the person is caring and not so much just a steel face, you know. So to have, as you said, the microphones and things around versus having it right there in your face and to have to be able to speak. This is going to be so much nicer. so much nicer. So, thank you and and I'm forward. I appreciate the comment. Thank you.

Okay, I see no other comments. I'll open it up for public comment in the chamber. Uh thank you. Uh I bring it back to our city clerk for any on Zoom or online. We have none. Mayor, thank you. I closed public comment at this time. I bring it back to my colleagues. Motion to approve as written. Second. I have a motion and a second. All those in favor say I. I those opposed motion passes unanimously. Thank you for that, Chief. Thank you very much, council. Next item, item D2, resend the naming of Caesar Chaveis Plaza. Thank you. And that will be presented by our city manager Rodriguez.

Thank you very much, mayor, members of the council, Arnold Rodriguez, city manager. And I believe this was kind of moved around. So, let me see if So, item E4 is uh staff's recommendation that the council resend the naming of the Caesar Chavez Plaza. Um, for a little bit of background, Caesar Chavez Plaza was named after um Caesar Chavez back in 1996, which was a couple of years after his death, if memory serves me. Um, so the council at the time had named Caesar Chaveis Plaza. It's approximately one block just off of Yuseite. Uh, for context, it's where the Greyhound stations at or former Greyhound stations at right in front of the Chamber of Commerce. Um, and obviously the council at the time felt that that um that Caesar Chavez um uh that the renaming of the plaza was merited based on his contributions to farm worker uh to the farmworker movement spanning several decades. Um however u some serious allegations have come to light over the past couple of weeks. Um and I think this provides an opportunity for council to discuss or to consider um if if if rescending the naming of the plaza is appropriate. Um the city um historically has has had two identifying signs. One of them was visible um on off of. The second sign was visible from Fifth Street. I should note uh those signs have been removed. Uh city staff took the liberty to remove them probably within I'm going to speculate here about 48 hours after the news initially broke. This is the first meeting that the city has had. Um actually it's the second meeting if I recall. The first meeting the the the agenda had already published so we did not have an opportunity to amend it. This is the first meeting since the news broke. Um this is an aerial photograph showing where the plaza is at. Again,

it's it's on Northeast Street. Uh it's in front of Believer's Church, the former ground station and u the Chamber of Commerce. It's one block approximately 400 linear feet. The signs, one of the signs was historically located at this intersection. The second sign was located in this intersection in planter areas. Signs stood several feet tall, roughly four and a half to 5t in height. Um, in recent weeks, there have been some very serious allegations have emerged from individuals regarding his conduct while he was alive. Um, obviously the city's not in a position to adjudicate those um those allegations. Um, however, they I believe they're serious enough um that the city should be considering um the appropriateness of potentially honoring his legacy. Um, for context, I should add that the state has already uh taken action to to uh to rename Caesar Chavez Day to Farm Workers Day. Some surrounding communities have already taken some action uh including Fresno, San Francisco, Sacramento, LA, San Jose. Um, and those were all done in the last couple of weeks. Um and again, so based on the severity of the allegations, staff felt that it was appropriate to remove the signs, which we did on March the 19th, so a little over a month ago, um probably roughly 2 days after the allegations first surfaced. Um council does have options. Um so again, so staff's recommendation this evening is that the city resend the resolution, basically taking the resolution away, which eliminates the name. However, council has the uh has full discretion to um either leave the plaza without a name, which it's again, it's 100% up to the council. Council can rename it to whatever you would like, or um you can consider it and you can at some future date name it. There is no

requirement that the plaza be named. Again, that's fully up to the council and there's absolutely zero timelines or there's no pressure. There's no dates that council has to be considerate of. So with that being said, uh staff does recommend that the city council resend the resolution 96-71 which designated the plaza as Caesar Chaveis Plaza. And that concludes my presentation. Thank you for that presentation, City Manager Rodriguez. I'll bring it back to my colleagues for questions or concerns. Uh Council Member Rodriguez. Yes. Thank you, City Manager Rodriguez. So at this time um again the request before us is to

kind of follow suit of what's taking place not only in California but in other cities as well. Correct. Correct. And that's just to is it more of a a public appearance of not moving um towards this direction would make us vulnerable to some crit criticism. I'm assuming correct.

I do think it it makes the city vulnerable to to criticism. Um, I also believe that the crimes are are are are uh of such nature that I think it would behoove our community that that that um that from what I know and again, we are not here to adjudicate the claims we're not in a position to do so. However, I believe they're serious enough and there there's enough victims in our community that are probably experienced something similar that I think it would almost be insulting to those victims to to continue to honor someone um who's also being accused of such serious crimes.

Yes. Yes. And I appreciate that. Thank you, Ronaldo. And if you're the record, I will say that, you know, obviously no one we we don't condone that uh um we don't accept that behavior from anyone, but to erase a man's sacrifice of what he did, especially in the Latino community, is is is hard to remove and erase. Correct. And I I I say it as as as an eraser of his hard work and sacrifice. So, I find it's a very sensitive topic and and I want to make sure that I am uh I'm saying this correctly that it's not offensive to anyone, especially those that are victims in those allegations, but rather, you know, it's we're sometimes we're quick to jump to these conclusions and we we jump on it fast. Uh but nevertheless, I want to make sure that that I say this is that the the work and the leaps that that person did should not just be erased completely. And and those are my comments. I I appreciate any other comments from my colleagues, but that's what I have moving forward. Thank you.

All right, Council Member Evans. So, I've known Caesar Chavez since I was about eight, nine years old when I lived in Bakersville and he came to the fields and yes, he he did a lot of things for the farm workers. My dad was a farm neighbor contractor and I have seen things that he has done. So, not discounting any of the work, but then Doloresa also, she worked hard. Even though she went through everything that she went through, she still stood up for the farm workers. And I commend her for that. But if you've never been through that type of an ordeal, it's easy to say, "We don't want to not recognize his work." We're recognizing his work. That's why they made it farm workers day. And I commend whoever it was that created the title for that. But to now say, well, we don't want to discount him. Well, not discounting him means you discount all the women that have suffered. It's not easy. It's not pleasant. So to continue to uplift him and what he did do and for the women that have suffered at the hands of him and the hands of other individuals that have done some of the same stuff, you strike women down. You you you really hurt them. So

For me, my suggestion is to leave it unnamed. That way, nobody has to be offended. You know, if if you choose to honor him in another way, then that's fine. But we as a city should recognize the fact that we just passed for the room at the police department. If you never sat in that room before, you don't understand. So, I just speak I speak for the women now. And I speak for Dolores Wera. I spoke at the woman's event that Isaldola Sawyer gave. I've been raped. I know what it's like. So to commend him or to uplift him because he did farm workers. I'm sure there's those of us that are in this room right now that have also worked in the fields. So we're not discounting the work. I stand with the farm workers. I just don't stand with and for him. And that's just that's my opinion and I'm sorry.

Thank you for your comment. Um, Council Member Evans, Council Member Mahia.

Um, first I do want to commend the city staff for acting so quickly. Um, I really thank you for that. I can speak both as I hate the word victim. I'm a survivor and I can also speak as the proud daughter of farm workers. So I I see it from different lenses. Um, I did see the Cesar Chavez march that passed through in front of my house. I was about 8 years old. I don't remember. I was just I was taking out the trash on road 29. And I remember seeing a lot of people just marching down and and speaking up for people like my parents, farm workers, the men and women who do the work every day in the fields. No matter how hot it gets, how cold it gets, they're the ones that break their backs out there. And so for me, obviously, it was incredibly disappointing to learn this. Um, and that is why I also commend city staff for acting so quickly. But, um, I I can see how, uh, people of power would take advantage of their positions. I myself was a survivor of sexual harassment immediately following uh, my campaign by somebody who was a participant in my campaign. So, I could I could see how this could happen and I totally understand it. I don't like to talk about that topic, so I wouldn't I the comments that are criticizing why didn't she speak up sooner that it's just you you wouldn't understand it unless you experienced it. So, I just think that the city council at that time, they did they acted based on what they knew. Now, we should act based on what we know. Um, and I would be in support of still honoring farm workers. I would suggest a name like Plaza Campesinos. There's a lot of Hispanic people here, a lot of people that mainly are only speak

Spanish. they would completely understand this is for and about them that the city is honoring their work and it would still be in the same line or the same theme that you know he was fighting for farm workers rights as waserta as was so many people that were participating in those marches. I would suggest something like that. I would in addition suggest that we have greater community input into how things get renamed or renamed in this city whether it be buildings, parks or whatever. Um because there's not a lot of opportunities to recognize local people or just like I think that that would be like a form of incentivizing contributing to our community, serving our community. There's not a lot of incentives right now. Volunteerism is in decline. So, I I would just be in favor of bringing more of our community. And then those are my comments. Thank you.

Thank you for your comment, Council Member Viegas. Uh thank you, Mayor.

Uh at this point, I wanted to say that we should be able to put another another name like Los Compass Plaza or any other one we can recommend. And personally, I'm I'm going to say that Sher is going to be my hero in my heart. Whatever he did is it never going to go away and so many generations especially for uh farm workers uh people working in in agricultural jobs. So I would say yeah just just change the name and and put another name but uh related to the agricultural workers and that's my recommendation.

Thank you for your comment council member Rodriguez. Thank you Mayor Gyos u city manager Rodriguez and one of the options that you had before us also was to maybe allow the community to possibly u provide maybe some input and feedback. a lot of times I know it's left be before us here but I think it's important also to have have them engage and maybe bring us back with some some potential names of that plaza. I'm not opposed to either one of the options or alternatives that we have there. Um but I would like to see some feedback. Absolutely.

To the point made earlier, you know, when we when we put people on these pedestals, whether they're heroes or men or what have you, women, we do that. We do that not knowing that they're they're human. A lot of times, you know, things we we just do that as people. We tend to rise people up and make them these heroes and yet come to find out that they had flaws like everybody else does. You know, there's so many leaders out there, presidents, and we have buildings and stuff named after them. And yet, there's nothing taken from that. My point was yes, we don't condone any of those acts, especially to those vulnerable people or victims that were part of the allegations. That's despicable. Um, but I think we tend to do that. We do this. We do this to ourselves sometimes because instead of looking at the movement, we look at people. We look at this particular person and we personify them like God. Whether it's a woman, a man, whatever. But we do that and yet we come back here and then we have to retract 30 years 40 years from now. Again lesson learned is that whenever we have these movements is that we start thinking about it's not about one person it's a collective right so the name itself Caesar Chavez will be and ingrained in many people's as this fighter this guy that put sacrifice and did this as a community especially in Latino communities that's it what I want to take away from it. Yes, I'm not going to degragate anything. For example, what took place here with the allegations. We have to accept the fact that this was a man that committed these uh al these allegations that are before him. You have to accept that the community is accepting that. But nevertheless, I think we as people, we put them there and then we have to take them down because we forgot that they were they were human. They have flaws. Those are my comments. Thank you, Council Member Rodriguez. Council member Montes,

sounds like everybody's uh going to be on the same page, but yeah, I think um well, approving this uh D2 today. Um right, rescending the original naming uh and then still having the ability to change the name in the future will acknowledge, you know, the work u and the movement, but also acknowledge the pain that it's causing a lot of people, right? And that's real. So, I mean, I'd be in favor of moving forward with this today and then a a future time with community input um having a different name. So, those are my comments.

Thank you for your comment. And I would just like to end this with um I'd like to thank my fellow uh council members for speaking up today. I know it's not an any an easy subject to speak about. Um, we do have a naming policy uh in place in our city that I'm sure our staff can bring back. And um, we do have to remember that we do own that corner lot and there is a vision of of doing some magic there in the future for us. So, I would entertain looking um at holding on to renaming that plaza until we have more of a vision of what we're planning to do with that big piece of property. and we do own the property all the way down the Greyhound. There's one slice we're still working on, but that is said to be determined. Um, but behind us, God we trust right there behind us tells us that he will send us and and show us signs of where we should go with this. It's not an easy subject, but we do trust in him and we to make those right decisions and in policy makers and electeds, we're held to a standard. um and with him and the guidance that he gives us. I think we've heard uh both sides. We've heard um great comments from all council members. Uh again, not an easy subject to speak about. But with that, I would like to entertain a motion that we approve uh D2 to uh resend the resolution 96-71 and hold to renaming this plaza to um future a future date or time. Oh, yes. Sorry, excuse me. I got so emotional. Open up to public comment. got a public comment. Yay. Thank you, city attorney.

Thank you, U Maddie Mendes, resident of Madera. Um, thank you for um this position to remove the name and um I think we have a mural close to this plaza that it should be named after and that little child will never be questioned as to his reputation. It should be named after Thaddius. There's nothing after him but that mural named after him.

So consider it for future. But I don't see that that plaza will connect with the farm workers right there. And we should plan for something in the future for our farm workers who have you know the foundation of this city is on them. And I was in the fields when Cesar Chavez UFW were striking at the end of the rose and they threw rocks at me and called me a scab and all kinds of name as a child. They injured my father with the UFW flag when they put a nail in the pole and struck him over the head. So, I have a different view of Cesa Chavez. And I always wondered growing up, who is this man that leads anger when I'm the same color as him? Thank you for your comment. Um, city clerk Gonzalez, anyone online or on Zoom?

We have none. Mayor, thank you. So, my motion stands as I presented. If I have a second, second.

Thank you. All those in favor say I. I those opposed motion passes unanimously and thank you for that um report city manager Rodriguez and bringing it to our attention. Next item item E1 final allocations for the program year 2026-27 community development block grant and home investment partnerships program annual action plan. Okay. And that will be presented by our grants manager Zuniga. Welcome. Oops. Good evening, mayor, council members, members of the public. Marcela Zuna, grants administrator, presenting on the uh program year 202627 annual action plan for the community development block grant and home investment and partnerships program. Uh we're here tonight to discuss final funding allocations. Last month we brought this item forward and at that um March 18th meeting council approved tentative funding uh for CDBG. Uh it was tentative because at that time HUD had not released the program year 2627 funding allocations. Therefore, the allocations um or the um uh amount discussed that or considered that evening uh was based on this year's allocation which is in the amount of $989,791. Um HUD did release the program year 2627 uh CDBG and home allocations on April 3rd. the allocation um for CDBG decreased by just over 3% or a total of $32,694. Additionally, since the last council meeting, the city received a letter from the Community Action Partnership of Mander County um indicating that it um

had decided to withdraw its request for CDBG funds previously awarded during that March 18th meeting. Um there were two applications. One was for in the administration uh funding category for $15,000 and the second was um a public service application and the amount of the amount sensitively approved was $25,000 for the um emergency housing program. So staff would just like to bring forward some options to note uh this evening for council consideration. Um again the uh CDBG allocation was reduced by um over over $32,000. Um removing the CAPMC awards um um is equal to a total of $40,000 that was previously um allocated in the CDBG um sensitive allocations. So if we if we consider those two um scenarios, the net balance requiring reallocation is just over $7,300. So that's the number that needs to be reallocated this evening given the reduction in the CDBG uh funding allocation and the withdrawal of uh two applications. So, um, we also want to express that it is up to council how, um, that the reallocation of that $7,300 is is, um, is done. It can be spread across all three funding categories. It can be centralized in one found one funding category, a couple of funding categories. It is completely up to council this evening to determine how to reallocate those funds. Um the only note is that the funding maximums cannot be exceeded. So the 50% in public service and the 20% in administration. This evening staff is seeking council direction for the reallocation of these funds while also incorporating the

public comment letter received from CAPMC. So here we have the um revised funding maximums per per category. Um the the actual funding maximum assumes that the administration and public service funding categories will be uh funded this evening at their maximum capacities. In other words, the full amounts um at 15 and 20% will be funded leaving the capital projects public improvements funding category at just over $622,000. As I mentioned in my previous slide, that these amounts can fluctuate based on where council wants to allocate the the uh the $7,000. So, the recommended administration allocations, if you look at the far right column, um there staff left no change or or left the city administration project um unchanged. it remains at just shy of $183,000 as was tentatively approved on March 18th. Uh this uh chart does depict the withdrawal of the CAPMC application. Um and uh that is all that this reflects. There is no reallocation reflected. So the the administration uh funding uh previously awarded to CAPMC has generally gone gone towards the participation of the Fresno Bedera uh continuum of care. It also helps support the personnel who lead the delivery of the local point in time survey count. At this time, staff can conclude that the city um is not a recipient of continuum of care funding and after reviewing some federal regulations, um there is no requirement identified to to participate in a continuum of care for either the CDBG or home programs.

Uh further staff consulted with the city's um HUD representative uh to confirm a couple of points. One of them was um to determine um how our citizen participation plan influences um the city's involvement. And because there is no um uh there's no written um participation requirement for the city to participate in the Freso Mad Madera continuum of care. Um the city isn't obligated to do so. again um being that the city is not a recip recipient of continuum of care funding there is no point in time survey requirement. Further staff reached out to the FMCO and we did receive a response. I received a phone call after the writing of the staff report um and it was a brief phone call but um what was discussed was that the city can participate in the FMCO meetings without actually becoming a member um and that the planning for the delivery of a local point in time survey will begin in late summer. So here in the recommended public service allocations, what uh staff did note is the um elimination of the CAPMC housing stabilization um award that was um previously allocated last month in the amount of $25,000. All other um proposed allocations have remained the same. And moving on to the capital projects public improvement allocations. Um the these um allocations have remained the same. Staff did not make any changes to them. Also on March 18th, council approved the reallocation of uh the revolving loan program income balance of just under 240,000 to the Centennial Park Pool complex deck facility project. At this

time, there are no proposed changes from those previously um approved by council. So, the last of the funding sources for the 2627 annual action plan are the home funds. system as with CDBG had released the home fund allocation on April 3rd. The home allocation increased um by 52 thou just over $52,000. This the anticipated allocation is in the amount of $450,760. Uh staff uh continues proposing project home in the amount of $45,684. All activities tied to this uh project um will be um to focused on preserving or expanding the supply of affordable housing stock in the um within city limits. The remaining balance of just over $45,000 will be applied towards the administration of the home program. So this evening, the next steps that staff is um recommending is that we're requesting that council consider all public comments. Um requesting that council provide staff direction to address the changes uh noted in the 2627 CDBG and home funding allocations. Um thereafter, ST staff will return to council for review and acceptance of the final uh program year 2627 um annual action plan for both the CDBG and the home programs. And that concludes my presentation.

Thank you for that presentation. I bring it back to my colleagues for comments or concerns. I see none. Um I will open it up for uh public comment or any written comment. We do have one. City Clerk Gonzalez.

We do. Mayor. Um, as mentioned by our grants administrator, Marcella Zunika, we did receive a written public comment uh from Miss Mendes um of CAPMC, executive executive director, and I'll read that now. CDBG administration and community support has been one of the first funings first funings CAPMC received to provide services to the unhoused. CAPMC appreciates the support from the city council members and staff. The 2026 CDBG discussion during the last regular meeting raised concerns for CAPMC. On behalf of of Community Action Partnership of Madera County, Inc., I'm writing to formally notify the city of Madera of my decision to rescend our applications for the community developments block grant CDBG housing stabilization program in the amount of $65,000 and $15,000 for the administration application to participate in Fresno Madera continuum of care on behalf of the city of Madera. CAPMC has a long CAPMC has a long-standing history of effectively utilizing CDBG funds to directly support low-income individuals and families in our community. In the last two years, CAPMC has been allocated approximately $100,000 in housing stabilization funding. These resources have been critical in helping us provide rental and utility assistance to households facing housing instability and homelessness. During this current program year to date, CAPMC has assisted 59 unduplicated households with the variety of services ranging from security deposits, emergency rental assistance, stabilization of housing for homeless, as well as utility assistant to prevent service disconnection and ensure safe living conditions. As a result of this support, 100% of households served were un were were able to maintain stable housing and avoid eviction, demonstrating the effectiveness of targets short-term financial assistance. The impact of this program is best reflected through the experiences of the individuals and families we serve. For example, one household, a young family with a newborn was facing eviction due to a temporary loss of employment. Through CDBG

assistance, they were able to remain housed. In another instance, a household with fixed income was at risk of lo of losing essential utilities. With timely utility assistance, the household was able to maintain safe living conditions and avoid a crisis that could have led to displacement or serious health risks. Additionally, a family experiencing housing instability was stable was able to stabilize her situation with several months of rental support, allowing the head of household to secure consistent employment and move toward long-term self-sufficiency. For this funding cycle, CAPMC submitted a request of 465,000 to continue and expand these critical services. However, the proposed award of 25,000 significantly limits our ability to meet the growing needs within our community. Based on current program costs, the requested funding would have allowed CAPMC to serve additional households in crisis. While the reduced awards will substantially limit the number of families we can assist and the level of support we can provide. CAPMC CDBG funding programs consistently produce measurable outcomes that align with community priorities, including homelessness prevention, housing stability, and improved health and well-being. By helping households remain housed and maintain utilities, the program reduces reliance on emergency emergency shelters, health care services, and other crisis systems, ultimately contributing to more stable and healthier community given the significant reduction in funding and the resulting limitation on program impact. After watching the city council meeting, CAPMC has made the decision to resend its application for this funding cycle as the amount allocated is not sufficient to meet the needs for housing stabilization. And this decision reflects our commitment to ensuring that programs are implemented at a level that is both effective and meaningful for the community we serve. Future housing stabilization requests from residents residing within the city will be directed to the city city council member for support. CAPMC will not lead the HUD required point in time count for Madera in 2027. CAPMC is committed to seeking other funding to serve the residents of our community. Thank you, Mattie Mendes,

executive director. Thank you for that, city clerk Gonzalez. Anyone in the chamber would like to speak public comment on this item? I see none. Do we have any more written comment on Zoom? Okay. I I close public comment at this time and I bring it back to my colleagues to decide. We have how much? Um $7,36. And so my colleagues have any suggestions? I have a question. U I'm reading this report, right? The staff recommendation was to add it to admin or

that was 15. There's still seven on the other one. So it can be added it can be added to to administration. It does not necessarily have to. That is up to council discretion this evening. I'm I'm looking at and maybe I'm looking at it wrong. Um so the the original proposals and then the new proposals are in the staff report correct and it keeps everything else the same with the exception administration is going up but it's going up by more than the 7306 that's my math is not math and it's totally possible because it's 914

overall the um so all the administration would have gone down as well or it did go down as well by I believe it was just over $4,000 I so Um whereas the uh 25 26 uh 20 or yeah 20% is just about 198,000 the upcoming 2627 is uh 191,419. That's the maximum. Okay, that can be um allocated in the the administration funding category. Okay,

it's late. I'm reading it wrong. It's fine. So entertain anything council members. Anybody has any suggestions? You just as far as we're good at putting the seven into administration. Is that your suggestion? Council member Monte? That that would be my suggestion. Any other suggestions? Okay. So that way I would need a motion and a second to entertain the 7,400 and some change to administration. 7,36. Okay.

Motion to to add to the administration $7,46. 306 306. That's my motion. Second. I have a motion and a second. All those in favor say I. I. I. Those opposed? Motion passes unanimously. Thank you for that. Thank you, Mayor. Administrator Sunnica. Moving on to the next item. We'll skip. We've already um completed E2.

That would be my item. Uh one moment, please. Good evening, mayor and council. Alicia Gonzalez, city clerk. Uh this evening, I bring before you a familiar item, new month, new proclamations. So this evening we will be um I bring before you selecting recipients for May proclamations. For some background, council adopted a policy in August 2023 that governs ceremonial documents and at the end of last year, council approved the 2026 list of annual proclamations. Council also discussed and approved certain proclamations would be labeled as recipient at the discretion of council. And this evening, per council's direction, staff is requesting that the council select a recipient for the proclamations recognizing National Foster Care Month. Really for life and letter carrier stepout hunger food drive. We will have a full month of celebrations and recognitions in May. So we do have um some proclamations that are already um have have recipient selected. However, we we are looking for um your guidance on selecting for national foster care month relay for life and letter carrier stampout hunger food drive. And I'll now turn it back over to you, council.

Thank you. I bring it back to my colleagues for suggestions for um let's start with um National Foster Care Awareness. Looking for any suggestions? I see none. I would like to suggest our firefighter um who has uh several foster children that he is taking care of and honor him. I'm not sure the name is not. He was here um we recognized him. Recently retired. Yes. Not Scotty. Um

before him. No, before him. Okay. Oh, thank you. That gentleman. Okay. He's been with us for so many years and we've never recognized him. So, I thought that was great. I thought somebody was going to come up with something else, so I didn't have it prepared, but I think that would be a good recipient.

Um, moving on to the next one, Relay for Life. We did have Charlotte Brewer in the house who brought us information. I think that would be appropriate. We had somebody from Relay for Life. I think it was Deborah Peppers came last year. Unless anybody else has anybody they'd recommend. Okay. And let letter carrier Charlotte Burr that was in the audience today. Letter carrier stamp out hunger food drive day. Okay.

He was a letter carrier for like 40 years. I say if we could reach out also to um our postmaster and see if they he would like or she I'm not sure who we have now. We they've turned around again. Not there anymore. No, she retired. And um if they would like to bring bring some representation from our Madera post office, that would be great. Okay, with that I would need a motion from somebody just to make it legit. I move that we uh recognize better his name. Okay. So,

and if not him um Moisha uh Robinson. Yes, I know she has foster children and she has moles catering and then Miss B. Yes, Mr. and then uh the postmaster. Yes, I have a motion second. So, to be clear on the motion, the motion is primarily for the foster care, the retired firefighter that we're getting the name and it Oh, Gooseman. It's Guzman. That's it. So, Mr. Guzman, but if he's not available then Moisha Robbins. Is that what I'm understanding? Okay. Thank you.

Okay. With that, we have a motion and a second. All those in favor say I. I. I. Those opposed. Motion passes unanimously. Thank you, city clerk Gonzalez. Uh moving on to the next item. And that is also you. That is also parks director Aper. You're not presenting tonight. Wow. Same thing earlier. I can share. You know, extra ones. Thanks.

Good evening, mayor and council. This evening, I bring before item E4, uh, discussion and direction regarding participation rules for the women of the year program. For some background, the women of the year program was initiated in 2022. We and it was recognized annually during a city council meeting in observance of women's history month. The program honors individuals selected by city council members and each council member typically selects one honore from their district. Participation in the program has traditionally been optional. Program costs covered through each council member's district allocation and each council member is allocated $800 per fiscal year to use at their discretion in accordance with the city guidelines. At the March 18th meeting of this year, council directed staff to return with this item to allow for discussion on participation expectations and program guidelines. For financial impact, there is no direct financial impact associated with this report. Costs associated with the women of the year program are currently funded through individual council member district allocations and any changes to participation or program structure may impact future costs. Some alternatives. Council may provide direction to maintain the current program format, modify participation expectations, or establish formal guidelines for future implementation. This report was prepared at the direction of the city council to facilitate discussion on participation guidelines for the women of the year event. I will now turn it back over to council.

Thank you for that report. I bring it back to my colleagues for comments or questions. Council member Evans. Yes. So to make it easy for everyone, my suggestion is that we all lot $1,100 for that particular item. That way, no one will have to have anything deducted from their $800 and everyone will be just smooth and safe and we can still continue on and do. The only thing I would like to say is for me in my district, it's getting slim pickings to find somebody who's woman of the year. So if there's someone else that we know of that has done things and they may very well live in the county, I suggest that we'll be allowed to be able to do so to have but as long as they're as far as Madera City, Madera County, that's just that's my suggestion. back to you.

Thank you for your comment, Council Member Montes. Um, this is questions for secret clerk. None of our existing um rules regarding proclamations and and the like would cover any of this like you know because you know people have the I guess our rules to like what people would qualify for based on contributions, right? No, the only policy that we have is would be a certificate policy. Um, but as far as the criteria and and to be met for this type of recognition, no, it would not. It would not.

Okay. Um, so I mean I guess you're saying $1,100 for the whole program, right?

Okay. I don't have an issue with that. Uh I would I would just say it would be at the discretion of the council member to select um their recipient. I mean I would like to see something that there are some criteria that they've contributed to the district, right? Um I mean and that's going to be I guess to a certain degree it's going to be subjective, right? the council member would be able to um articulate what would need to articulate that um but and I know it's going to be hard because then who would be the judge of that and I don't want to put that I think that would be on

council not anybody else not on any staff member u but that that would be my recommendation that could be at the discretion of the council member okay I see No more comments. I open it up for public comment. Anyone in the chamber? I see no one in the chamber. Anyone online or on Zoom? City Clerk Gonzalez, you have Councilwoman Mia. I do see that. Council member Rodriguez.

I have none. Thank you for that, Councilwoman Mahia. Um I I think it would have been beneficial if we could have projected the current guidelines. Uh but I do have them pulled up on my phone. Um with so currently there are five different categories that these women that are honored, they have to fit into. They also have to be a resident of the district. They had to have lived there for 5 years or more. Um, and nominees must have exhibited hard hard work, which obviously that's where it would be up to the discretion of the council member to be able to articulate it. Um, the two suggestions that I would make for modification would be um, one in line with uh, Councilwoman Evans that you wouldn't have to live within your district as long as you lived in Madera. Um and and I also feel very limited when it's just like they had to have lived in the district and then we're adding these years. I don't think that we should have a length of time. Um 5 years is I don't know how that number came about, but I just don't think that it should be um a length of time that is established. um for the first time that I had the opportunity to select someone I did open it up to the community through social media and I did have a lot of people that uh were speaking on of the honore at that time it was Leonor Polito so I do like to think that if I'm representing my community I do like to listen to my community but I should also be able to articulate um why I am honoring this person how have they made an impact to the district so uh I just think that we shouldn't limit the time that they should have lived in the in the district or or in the county of Madera. Um and then the second thing is that these categories are also very limited. Um sometimes there are

women in the community that they may not have a career in education in business, law enforcement or government agency or a the way that they're limited here. I have seen women that they have been part of the community doing things that not everybody notices. Like they'll walk around picking up trash. they've done things for um so many numbers of years and it's not necessarily tied to their educational background. It's just their love and service for the community. So, I just wouldn't want to uh restrict or or just leave out people because they didn't choose to get an education the way I did or the way a lot of people do. So, those are my suggestions for this council.

Thank you for your comment. I see no other comments. I entertain a motion and a second. Uh, Council Member Rodriguez.

So, wasn't sure if there was a a a direction yet or motion, but I do um you know, I do agree with a lot of my council members uh regarding discretion. Um, I appreciate the uh the list of requirements. Um, obviously we're always trying to find that ideal woman of the year and there's many of them. I think in my community you have thousands of them, right? I think all women are women of the year. Matter of fact, Alisa here was the woman of the year, but again, you weren't in my district, but I still check see. So again, I do feel that there is a lot of people in our city that fall into that category. At times I can't think of all the women in my district and I think in years before mayor here had suggested and I know that uh Natty Mendes was a woman a year and greatly greatly so but I but I also feel that we should have a discretion if we can't go within that tight requirement that we can always step outside of that and say hey here's a woman of the year that has accomplished a lot more than what's on this requirement. maybe doesn't meet the five beer, maybe doesn't meet being in my district, but nevertheless meets the the example of what we call a woman of the year, right? So, for me, I I I think it it was a great thing that a mayor had brought before us. I think she she it's a lot of work to try to bring something like this and then try to coordinate. I know it takes a lot of work. Um but again, it's also collective. we we need to make sure that this carries on and we're doing it for the purpose of, you know, recognizing these women. So, I I hope that we find consensus and whether it's removing one item here or allowing people from within the city, I'm good with that. I mean, I'm not opposed to just staying to the requirements or I

mean, I'm open.

Thank you for your comment. I can um say right now that I could name five women that meet all the criteria in every single bun of your districts. So there are plenty of women that do meet the requirement and I just think it's we're city of Madera. were elected into our district of people who live in the district and the criteria did come from Esmerald deoya and I spoke with her when I created it and this is her requirements that she used and I just put them basically typed them out and put them up which we've not had a problem. Maybe if you have no one and you can't think of a woman that's um entitled to this great accomplishment, you reach out to other people on on in your district or you reach out to other electeds cuz um like I said, I can think of five in everybody's district that is so in honor of getting this award. Uh c mayor pro Tim Zachariah first time tonight. Woohoo.

Uh maybe to bring uh just kind of some some bonding to between all of us now. Uh, so I was honored to got to get get the award for around 40 a couple years ago being around 40. Of those recipients, there were some not around 40. But I think in the light of what the award was wanting to do is highlight certain people. And I think that's kind of what you're trying to accomplish. It's if I'm if I'm a woman, so I don't think I'll ever get that award. But if I'm a recipient like some of the people in the audience and I'm looking around the others being awarded next year, I want to feel commonality. I want to say I can relate that that person is deserving of that award, not just some random person we picked out of the crowd. So I think that's kind of the voice of everybody saying is we want to give honor and and I know that's kind of um where you want to have it is you want to have that honor. I can agree with I mean yes I'm a larger district so there's there's probably more population to choose from but to their point I mean if I want to choose somebody that maybe doesn't meet the social criteria of the award but is still deserving of it because of their community effort I think that it should be we should have that ability to hold that standard to say yes they have these things this is what we want but if this year I've really found somebody that has strived they just moved to Madera but they have busted their butt all year for the community that there should be some leniency to that to that um that selection process. That's

all I'm asking. Thank you for your comment. Council member Mahia, I think you had Go right ahead. Oh, okay.

There's no Yeah, I just do want to have pro provide clarity because I did have the opportunity to connect with Assemblywoman Sodia and I know that um I'm I'm not I it's not my intention to criticize these guidelines. It's just that I feel that um that this council as a whole should have input into whatever we adopt. So I know that you know that those guidelines were suggested and I also had the opportunity to attend her woman of the year program which was wonderful. She highlighted so many local leaders, Central Valley leaders. I think that they're a great great guide, but I feel she understands why because she works with um her colleagues in the assembly um that every entity should have the opportunity to provide that input. So, I just wanted to clarify that.

Yeah, thank you for your comment and that's a good comment because she is picking women within her district and she didn't pick women in her that worked in her district that lived in another district. She picked women in her district and that should be clarified because there are there are a lot of women that do not live in her district that work in her district but they were not chosen. They were only chosen in the living in the district that she represents. Uh, Council Member Rodriguez.

Yes. Thank you, Mayor Goss. And you know, when I first got elected, I don't recall us having any type of formal process to elect a woman of the year. I think this came years after. So it wasn't an obligation for us as council members to feel that weight that we have to have. It's something that we that that we want to commemorate. We want to give, you know, hey, recognition.

So, however you want to do that recognition, I I believe it's your discretion to allow that. So, as long as you do it within a timeline and I think some guidelines that were provided, I think we can think I think we're accountable to be able to provide someone that meets that criteria or close to that criteria. You know, you want to commemorate someone and recognize them pretty soon. I hope not. Then we don't run out of women. There's enough women out there, like you said, there's there's hundreds and you probably know a lot of them, too. But a lot of times, you know, this does come in at a time where you're having to think, well, who is going to be my next woman of the year? What do I need to look for that is going to make that woman of the year? And I know a lot of people that do a lot of hard work that may not be the teachers, that may not be uh living there for five years or may not be within my district, but they do a lot of work. And I just feel like we shouldn't have to put more weight on what we already do here for this city. This is something that we want to celebrate. And I don't think we I mean I hate the fact that we're having to discuss this, but I mean it has to be done. So I just feel like I'll discretion. I I'm I'm amendable, but I mean I also like the discretion, especially if it's coming out of my account.

Yeah. Well, I appreciate your comment. I just want to make it very clear that I did not intend to put a burden on my fellow council members. I was very clear that it is something that you can choose not to do, especially if you don't feel you have a woman in your district that is um a accommodating to the criteria. And if it's a financial issue, then that's something we we can always look at as a council. Um and it's something that I thought that we should recognize that we have never done in the city, and that's why I brought it forth. And it's just something that I felt that was important because women don't always get recognized for all that they do. And again, it was an option. It's it's not a requirement. It's a not a heavy burden that I that I put upon each and every one of you. It was a choice. You have a choice. And I think, you know, we're in the United States of America. We have a choice to choose the things that we want to do. Just like here, it's not something you had to do. Councilwoman Evans.

Yes. I agree. I understand. I understand the guidelines, things of that, but that was another Sawyer's guidelines. So, we are the city of Madera, so we should do our own guidelines. I I applaud the idea of us honoring and that's great. And yes, you I'm sure you know a lot more people than I do, but in the same token, um I agree with my colleagues. there are other individuals that may not fall under the educational criteria but bust their butts to get out like prime example um Monica Bravo you know she's I'm not saying that that's who I would nominate or whatever but she went all the way to Sacramento and there was things that her education is not of the elite you know where she lives may not be she's a farm worker she gets out there and busts her tail in the fields. But she's dynamic and I just feel we should be able to honor people like that. I go over to the um to the um what is it? The mosque. And you have these ladies, they without fail are there every month passing out food, working their butts off, passing out, passing out. And when they leave they get thank you. Why can't we honor some of them you know because they work hard you know but no they don't have the education. They may not even speak the language but they still work hard. So if we're honoring honor who gives and does. And I mean, I just feel that if we don't have them in our district, then if we have to go outside,

at least we're still honoring. And as far as financially, why not make a pot where we don't none of us have to use anything? Because I use mine because I do crunch with the council woman. So, I need to be able to have whatever whatever. But others don't. you know, you come in with 800 and you leave with 800 or whatever. I don't know. It doesn't matter. All I'm saying is to avoid that. Let's just allocate a fund to be able to take care of this and then that's one less burden that anybody has to worry about. Alicia doesn't have to hear, well, why it would just eliminate. So, it is what it is. Hey, I'm just honest. Thank you for your comment, Council Member Montes.

Back to the guidelines, I think I feel like they've evolved over the time. I don't know if they've been the same. Um I'm pretty sure they haven't been followed all the time. So that's another thing. Um so I can think of a few examples. Um so that's going back. It's still going to be a choice. people can choose to or council members can choose to participate or not, but I think it should be uh the guidelines um or lack thereof should be a council decision. I mean, respect for um Esmeria, but um I mean, we are the council here. We were elected to make decisions for this body. Um she was elected to make decisions where she's at. Um, so again, we have that discretion and again just I don't think we've the guidelines may have been there, may not have been there, may have changed, but they have not always been followed. So again, it'll just be easier in my opinion just to be council discretion. Um, and then the council member is going to have to answer to their council district if that's something that they don't want. And it should be that simple. So I would move that we just make the selection council discretion. that would simplify criteria and then council's going to have to make their uh choices and they're going to have to explain themselves especially when we're you know here in front of everybody. That's that's the last thing I'm going to say about that.

Thank you for your comment, Council Member Mahia.

I hope this will be the last thing I also say. Um, but I am also I think it is a wonderful program and I am also in agreement with Councilwoman Evans about allocating money for it. Um, because no I use my $800 to try to help low-income children uh the way I grew up with with a backpack. Um, and so thank I'm thankful to council member Ramontes who donated his lefto. We were able to get more backpacks for the kids. So we we do have a limited amount. We try to do as much as we can with that limited amount that we have. Um, and to be fair, the districts are about 11,000 people each. And that is so small compared to the whole assembly district that Assemblywoman Sodia represents. And another wonderful thing that she did do is that she allowed the community input. you had a period where you were able to nominate a person and you had to demonstrate that that that woman was worthy of being honored. So, in that sense, I do see her as a leader that allows for that community input. She's not the eyes and ears that are in every part of the assembly district. So, she does rely on fellow um members of that district to be uh someone that can refer they can refer people that they think would be a good selection. And so again, I think that that aligns with just having greater input from the community, but also us as council members having our input, having the opportunity to say, um, I chose this person because of XYZ and it's not just if if something is presented as you either do it this way or you don't do it at all, then that's not really a fair choice. And those are all my comments. Thank you.

Thank you for your comment. And I don't think it's a fair choice to put a money number on this event either, which is sad to hear. Council member Montes about to do that. So, um I wanted to amend my motion to for this great program, the uh nominees be at the discretion of council and then also allocate um a separate fund uh $1,100. Yes. uh to uh allow the council members to do this separately. I mean, I guess it is I don't know what the cost generally is for everything. Um up to $1,100. I don't know if you're you're going to give me some numbers. That's about it.

Well, last year was about 160 per district and this year we um it was with all the charges it was a total of I believe 120. Okay. So, so that'll still work. She doesn't spend it all, right? Yeah. You don't have to spend it all. Council member Monz, if I could be clear. So, your motion is the selection of the women of the year candidate by district at each council member's discretion and allocate collectively $1,100 for the event, which is de facto direction to staff to include that in next year's budget. Is that your motion? That is my motion. Thank you.

I'm sorry. I just wanted to ask, are we still restricting it by district or the discretion of council? Oh, okay. Okay. Council member discretion and stuff at the district. Yeah. Okay. It's a motion. Yeah. Second. I have a motion and second. All those in favor say I. I.

Those opposed? Nay. It passes 6 to one. Thank you for your presentation, City Clerk Gonzalez. Moving on to the next item. Section F, council member reports, announcements, future agenda items. This portion of the meeting is reserved for the mayor and council members to make brief reports on boards, committees, and other public agencies, and at public events, to request updates, to initiate future agenda items, and to take action on matters initiated under the section of the agenda. Under this section, the council may take action only on items specifically agendaized and which meet other requirements for action.

Thank you for that. I will start to my left with council member Viegas. Oh, thank you. And nothing to report. Thank you for that. Council member Rodriguez. Have nothing to report. Thank you, Council Member Mahia. I have nothing to report. Thank you, Council Member uh Evans.

Two things. One, I would whatever. Whatever. Um I I was honored to be able to go out to um Madera Community College to it was a um Eugama graduation and they they roped the young people. It it's basically an African-American um organization and they've been taught about the history of African-American and the things that have gone on in the past. But it was it was very enlightening to be able to experience that. Another thing is it's called cow kids and I've been working with um Jose um Eduardo not not our Jose but Jose Harardo and this is where um they can start education and scholarships will start at the very primary age and they will start out at $500 and as they grow and continue on through school they can when they graduate, they will have x number of dollars. Also, um we will need the SSID number for these students. But if you know someone now that'll be graduating, excuse me, in May or June, whatever graduation is, if we can get those numbers now, um it can be investigated and those students also would be able to um get funds. the seniors now would be able to get funds as well, but just to be able to start and have these babies start out with five $500 is a lot. These kids even graduating now can buy books if nothing else, you know. So, that's another thing. And then I also would like to put in for this the upstanders day that these babies came in and um requested. So, you know, bullying is is

is bad, you know, so if we can do something to help them out and to start a date. They were looking at the last last Saturday in the month of September for the upstanders day. So anyway, that's my suggestions. Thank you for your comment. Council member Mayor Pro Tim Zachariah

uh we haven't met in like a month. So as far as uh just some updates. So just to make you guys proud, I got a chance to go to San Francisco last weekend and and watch your robotics team set another world record. Um, so we're we're headed to championships uh in two weeks. Um, and it was just a great opportunity because again it's it's remembering I know we we don't notice but um Madera is on the map on a world scale for our robotics team and and I it's great to see the community support and stand behind that. So just be proud for them and they're they're going charging hard. So thank you. Right. Thank you for representing this too. Council member Montes can't follow that. Nothing to report.

Thank you. Um, I just have one thing to report is, um, on behalf of the mayor and the council, we would like our prayers to go out to the family of sheriff deputy Randy Hopper, um, who was killed in the line of duty. A tragic accident, I shouldn't say accident, a tragic circumstances that took place and took his life. um very well known in the community, had law enforcement background in his family and he will truly be missed by his colleagues and our law enforcement here is helping um represent and be support if needed in the Tallery County area. So with that um our prayers go out to all of them. We'll go into close session if our city attorney will take us there.

Thank you, mayor. We have one item G1, threat to public services or facilities government code section 54957A. Consult consultation with city manager and city attorney. We do not anticipate there will be any uh action taken in close session for Thank you. I open it up for public comment in the chamber. I see none. Anyone online? You're on Zoom. We have none. Thank you. I close public comment and we will move into close session.

Okay. Okay. We're back coming out of close session. I will turn this over to our city attorney. Thank you, mayor. There's no reportable action taken in close session. Thank you for that. At this time, I'd like to adjourn a meeting at 10:32 and we'll see you back on Wednesday, May 6, 2026. Thank you everyone. And good night.