City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening, everyone. Welcome, and great to see all the beautiful faces out here and my colleagues tonight. This is a regular meeting of the Madera City Council, Wednesday, 12/17/2025. City Clerk Gonzales.

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 livestream meeting on the city's website at www.madera.gov/live. Members of the public may comment on agenda items at the meeting or remotely through an electronic meeting via phone by dialing 669906833. Enter ID 82272308749 pound.

Press 9 to raise your hand to comment and 6 to unmute yourself to speak. Comments will also be accepted via email at citycouncilpubliccomment@Madeira.gov or by regular mail at 205 West 4th Street, Madeira, California 93637. We'd like to re remind the audience that Wordly can translate into 25 different languages. There's a QR code available on the agenda to scan the code to use the app. Thank you.

Thank you, city clerk. Moving on to roll call, please.

Mayor Gallegos? Here. Mayor Pro Tem Zakaria? Here. Council Member Rodriguez? Here. Council Member Montes?

Here.

Council Member Evans? Here. Council Member Mejia is absent. Council Member Villegas?

Here.

Thank you for that. Moving into the invocation given by pastor Martinez of First Street Church of God. Thank you. And please remain standing for the pledge of allegiance by mayor pro Tim Zachariah.

Please, join me in a time of prayer. Heavenly father, we, get ready to close out this, twenty twenty five year and talking through the business, father, of the city of Madeira. First off, father, we just pray for all those, who are in charge here making these decisions, father. And I pray, father, your blessing. Sometimes it's a thank thankless job, father.

We appreciate them. I thank you for them and their families and the effort they put forward, father, to, just make this city a safer place, to raise children in, father god, and to live here. And, Lord, we ask, your blessing over this meeting, father. Would you give wisdom where it's needed, father, knowledge where it's needed, father, and would there be peace, among all these conversations. We thank you today in Jesus' name. Amen.

Ready? Salute.

I pledge

allegiance to the flag. One

nation under God in the visible. Deliverance. Just as strong.

Thank you for that. Moving on to the approval of the agenda. I bring it back to my colleagues for any questions or concerns or comments.

Move to approve as presented.

Second. I have a motion and second. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Those opposed? Motion passes unanimously. Moving on to the next item, City Clerk Gonzales.

Under presentations, we have a proclamation recognizing the retirement of fire apparatus engineer, Alberto Guzman.

Wow. What a wonderful evening to happen to this this evening. If I could bring up our fire engineer, Guzman. I'm gonna talk a little bit about him before I read the proclamation from the council and myself. This is a firefighter who his colleagues had said that they can always count on him.

We are gonna truly miss you at the fire station, I can tell you. Your smile is contagious when it comes to all your colleagues, and you're the kind of firefighter that you would want behind you in a fire. You're the kind of man they can totally trust and know that their safety is going to be counted on by you. And if you've ever done that exercise, you know, somebody behind you and you and you you're going to trust they're going to catch you and you close your eyes and you fall, and sometimes you've seen in Facebook people accidentally drop them. Well, engineer Guzman would be one that would always catch you no matter what.

He's going to be that firefighter that's going to be behind you 110%. So I have to tell you from the bottom of my heart, engineer Guzman, you will be truly missed in the city of Madera. We thank you for all your years of service. You were hired, it looks like, in September 2000. So over twenty five years, you've served this community well and the residents here in the city of Madera.

So we thank you for that. This this proclamation is given to you engineer Alberto Guzman who was hired in September 2000 as a firefighter with Cal Fire. The fire apparatus engineer Guzman has served the citizens of the city of Madera and the citizens of the state of California for over twenty five years. His loyalty and commitment as a firefighter and a fire engineer were extremely to the safety of the citizens he served locally and statewide. On 12/31/2025, he will retire after twenty five years of outstanding service to CAL FIRE and the residents of the city of Madera and the state of California.

I, Cici Gygos, mayor of the city Of Madera, and behalf of the entire city council, do hereby proclaim the September 2025 as the day of celebration for your retirement. We wish you your best in your retirement, and you will truly be missed. Thank you. And we're gonna bring him up for a picture if we can get chi our chief sub with him. Oh oh, yes, chief. If you'd like to say something, and you too.

Speech.

Good evening, madam mayor, council members, city manager, legal counsel, and to the city clerk. I'd like to speak a little bit on the a little bit about the career of fire apparatus engineer Alberto Guzman and some of his career highlights. Fire apparatus Guzman began his fire service career in 1996 as a paid call firefighter with Tulare County Fire Department station number four in Color, Roseland, where he served until 2008. It should be known that Station 4 in Tulare County was the old was the busiest station and to this day still is the busiest station within Tulare County. This heavy call volume provided engineer Guzman with the extensive hand on hands on experience early in his career.

In the year 2000, engineer Guzman was hired as a firefighter one with CAL FIRE in the Tulare unit. He was assigned to the Springville station. He was promoted to fire apparatus engineer in 2006, assigned to the Pixley battalion within the Tulare unit. In 2008, engineer Guzman transferred to CAL FIRE Madera Mariposa Merced unit where he was assigned to Madera City and has continued his service to the community with dedication and professionalism. Throughout his career, engineer Guzman worked with Lifestar Ambulance during his off duty hours, further demonstrating his commitment to public safety and emergency services.

He has played key roles in managing multiple programs within the city and has served as a mentor to numerous firefighters, apparatus engineers, captains, and battalion chiefs. Engineer Guzman's retirement leaves a significant void within the organization. However, his legacy endures to the many individuals he has mentored and the example he has set through leadership, work ethic, and dedication to service. Engineer Guzman has been steadfastly supported throughout his career by his wife of fifteen years, Maria, and his children, Joshlyn, Apollonia, Sebastian, Jewel, Lynette, Emily, and Nessa. I'd like to introduce you and have engineer Guzman say a few words.

Okay. Here's my family right here. Front row seats. You all stand up. Let's start with my wife, my lovely wife, Maria, of fifteen years. We got Sebastian right next to her. We got Lynette next. Then we got Jewel with the red sweater. We got Emily with the brown sweater coat there. And Nessa with the Levi's jacket there.

And Jocelyn right up here and Napolonia. I also like to say a a few, thank yous to everybody that's in the city council and Reynaldo also. We worked a lot together. It was good working with them. I'd like to thank chief Pendarvis and chief Garcia and one of the co long, partners of mine, Biesenthal, Jeff Biesenthal.

We've been together for eighteen years just in the city, just me and him. And then, I learned a lot about the city, seen a lot, done a lot, and I'll remember a lot. Another guy I wanna thank is Scottie Farrell right over there. You guys probably know him. Stand up, Scottie. I learned a lot from that guy in the city. You know, he passed on with all those old timers. He passed on all the good information about the city, and I tried to pass on to the newbies that are coming in. So I'd like to say thank you to everybody and all my coworkers that are here. And I'm a man with little words, and I appreciate everybody for coming here.

Can we get all the firefighters up here with us to take a picture and our chiefs? No. I know some of them left. They gotta call. Mister Farrell, come on up. Mister Fernandez, come on up.

Hi, family. What's going on? Fine. Yep.

Gotta go gotta go up with the council.

Family wants to take a. Go stand right there. I don't. Stay. Yeah. You guys wanna take a. Or or, I mean, I can take one. Yeah. Right? If you have one.

Okay. How are your dad? I think

it's just family. You just want family?

Yeah. Two right now, mama.

Thank you.

Fire engineer Guzman, now the celebration begins. Have a great evening. Bye bye. We'll give a minute to clear the room.

Sorry.

K. Moving on city clerk, Gonzales, a public comment.

The first fifteen 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 matter of their comments. If the subject is an item on the agenda, the mayor has the option of asking the speaker to hold the comment until that item is called. Comments on items listed as public hearing on the agenda should be held until the hearing is opened. The council is prohibited by law from taking any action on matters discussed that are not on the agenda, and no adverse conclusions should be drawn if the council does not respond to public comment at this time.

Thank you for that. If you have any public comments in the chamber, please come up to the podium.

Good evening. My

name

is Michaela Contreras. I am speaking today as a committed resident who has lived in Madera for over forty years. I've seen our community grow significantly, and it's time for our resources to grow with it as well. I represent a group of committed residents who have long worked to care for our community, including through groups like Madera Kids and Semiguitas. These groups focus on supporting families and encouraging a love for nature by caring and taking care of our green spaces, leading nature focused activities, and organizing annual cleanup days at our local parks and trails.

Our community has a need for more diverse resources for children and families. We've had conversations for years about resources like indoor play areas and the idea for a splash pad. Though, coming to light more recently addresses this long standing need. I'm asking you to consider the prop the proposed splash pad at Lions Town And Country Park, specifically on Industrial Avenue and near Granada Avenue. I personally visit the park weekly, and I have seen its recent improvements.

The new trail phase one is already being utilized by many residents, Lions Town And Country Park has great potential to become a one of a kind, all inclusive inspiration park. It's a 50 plus acre park that can truly become the ultimate gathering park for families and visitors known through the valley. A Splash Pad would be an amazing addition offering a new qual high quality and and diverse amenity, not just another playground or green space. This park can be designed to include different amenities that consider disabilities and special needs for both children and adults. We have received overwhelming support and excitement from the community for this idea.

We want Madera to be better, and working together, we can make Alliance Town And Country Park the go to park, the cool place to be in town. Thank you for your time and considering this vital opportunity to invest in our children, families, and the future of Madera. Thank you.

Thank you for your comment.

Good evening, madam mayor and city council members. Name is Harlan Ripito, and I'm the founder of the Big Valley Horseshoe League. I'm here tonight again to, request approval to fund and, build eight additional horseshoe courts at Rotary Park. For the past past two months, I have presented to the council the economic benefits to the city if these courts were constructed. I won't go into those again tonight.

I was recently asked by by somebody what the Big Valley Horseshoe League could do to assist in the finance of these courts. And the answer to that or would we? And the answer to that question is yes. We would. We would work with the park and community services in any way possible by holding, fundraising tournaments, by, donations, by just seeking any help that we could get to do it because we believe it.

That is that important to the city. Within our league, we have painters. We have welters. We have cement and construction workers who have stepped forward on past, maintenance projects and would be willing at any time to step forward and help out in additional projects. As I say as Kevin Cosner said in the movie, if you build it, they will come. And I wanna wish all of you a very merry Christmas. Thank you.

Thank you for your comment.

My name is Corine can you hear me? Yeah. Corine Cook. I came here tonight from Aubrey. I play horseshoes, Big Valley. I'm here to support give support for Pitts. I don't like to publicly speak. So, anyway, I play horseshoes. My husband, Bernie Cook plays horseshoes. My grandson, my sons, I'm currently number 48 in The United States. My grandson's number eight in the cadets. So I guess you could say, I don't know if he's listed. Anyway, the sport involves seniors, disabled people. We coed. We have women.

We have children. Again, seniors. It's a way to get out and do something. There's a lot of sports and events for children, but this is something we have a lot of retirees from Madera, you know, Chowchilla Prison, from the glass company. I mean, tons of people there, so they enjoy this. But and we come from Mulberry. We spend, I don't know, what would you say, in the last couple years? 200,000, 250. We bought a truck here. We get tires here.

We're bringing money in. That's just us, much less other people. But we I spend 1,000 probably going to state, which is down south one year north. If we could have it here, it would get much bigger because a lot of people from north won't drive down south and vice versa. But everybody will come if it's central.

And so if I'm spending 1,000 to go to a state tournament times two, three, 400 people, that's 400,000 brought in. So, I mean, financially, we would be bringing in more money to Madera, which I'm sure is important. But mainly for me, we're just a big horseshoe family. It's I can't even explain it. You wouldn't know till you got out there and tried.

Some of you should. It's very fun. And we spend you know, we we get tires, oil changes here. We go to Vallarta, Trujillo's, Lowe's, you name it. And like I said and they've said before, people from Aubrey, Das Palace, Turlock, Hanford, Tulare, Selma, we're coming from everywhere to play. And if we can get more pits, that's another 100 people because it's not just us pitching. It's our parents that come to watch us, kids. Anyway, I just wanted to give my support. I hope that you guys will allow us to have more pits and have state so we don't have to travel somewhere else. And I thank you for listening.

Alright. You did a great job public speaking. Thank you for your comment. Thank you.

Hello, everyone. My name is Nick Luna. I've been in Moderna for over forty five years. I've seen Madera evolve in more ways than big accounts. Several of you have been in Madera, and you've seen it come and and evolve and grow in many ways. That's why you've come to serve in this fine city and with the fine people that we have here. I've also heard many plans for the potential growth in different programs that are being mentioned for the soccer fields, for the softball fields, for the flash pads, and they're all great. Trust me. I've been in here. I've seen the evolution of all the the programs and the facilities that the parks and recreations at the schools evolution.

My kids have been in all involved in everything here. I've been involved in everything here. So I'm just saying I've I have a little different perspective, and I'm here representing and speaking on behalf of the big valley horseshoe. As I had said that I've seen everything evolve, the schools, the the commercial properties, residential properties, the ag areas, the parks every park here in Madera has all evolved. I've seen it all change.

I happened to be a part when the when the when the Madera batting rage was there, and now it's not. And then it became the softball fields, and I got to coach there and do the Bobby Sock and open up the grand opening there. I got to be part of the Madera Youth Soccer League, which is which is one of the largest organizations here in the Central Valley for Madera for soccer in general. I played at the softball fields when he was at the Millview School before the softball complex was even built, and then shortly after that, the soccer complex was built. I've seen I've known when the Big Valley Horseshoes was playing at the Madera Bowl.

I I remember when the when the horseshoe pits were completed here at the Rotary Park, and that was many years ago. I've only been playing horseshoes for about five years now. So the reason why I didn't play then was because I was still getting my family together. So I was involved in all those other things. So I was asked to play, but I couldn't play. So I played still played a couple up until a couple years ago until the doctor said, hey, Nick, you don't you don't heal like you're used to anymore. You're not 30 years old. I was like, well, I better just slow it down. So I started taking horseshoes a little bit more seriously. Not that I'm great, and some of us are not as great as we want or my minds tell us to be, but we try.

And, what I when I when I say that is many of us try. We have Koreans' grandson who's five years old all the way to 75 years old. I've we have I've met people in Half Moon Bay. I mean, I could go down the line, and I've been at a lot of par a lot of places. I'm I'm probably not as much as everyone here, but I know for a fact that Madeira bought, Big Valley Horseshoes just to cook the current 12 pits.

I'm gonna go over, but they have a lot are very more more nice and more, organized than the other pits. So not only will the new pits make it more convenient for other players to come here, you'll you'll. But the Madera will also help and continue to evolve the hearts of other people to keep them more in welcome, to keep them more included and through all various ages and nationalities from everywhere here in the Central Valley and from other states that I've seen them play at other places. So I'm just saying that if if Madero continue to consider to to build, these pits, you would also consider to invest in the community and and other peoples to have their hearts reinvested in this fine city. Thank you for your time.

Thank you, mister Luna, for your comments. Anybody else in the chamber? City clerk Consolos, anybody online or on Zoom?

We have none, mayor.

Thank you for that. I will close public comment at this time and move on to the next item.

Under public hearings, we have consideration of the mitigated negative declaration prepared for environmental assessment, number schedule two thousand twenty five zero nine zero four one three for the Northeast Water Storage Tank Booster Pump Station And Transmission. Main project, city project w t zero 01.

Thank you for that. It will be presented by our community development director, Tackett.

Good evening, mayor Gallegos, mayor Pro Tim Zachariah. Okay. Good evening, mayor Gallegos, mayor of Pro Tem Zacharia, council members, Will Tackett, community development director. The item before you this evening is consideration of the mitigated negative declaration prepared for the Northeast water storage tank booster pump station and transmission main project. This is city project number WDashTDash001.

So reminder, CEQA applies to governmental action. This action may involve activities directly undertaken by a governmental agency, activities financed in whole or in part by a governmental agency, and private activities which require approval from a governmental agency. As a note, section one five zero five one of the CEQA guidelines states that where two or more public agencies will be involved with the project, the public agency that will carry out the project shall be the lead agency even if the project would be located within the jurisdiction of another public agency. We note that because the project site is currently located within the county of Madera, and the transmission grade will traverse city and county boundaries. As a reminder, the project phase one involves construction of a two and a half million gallon water storage tank, booster pump station related facilities, and improvements on approximately 2.89 acres of vacant land, again, in the county of Madera.

I will show you that site in a minute. Also involves installation of approximately two and a half linear feet of transmission main to connect the project site to Waterwell 38, which is south of the Loves Travel Center. And the analysis also included preliminary considerations for two future phases in anticipation of facility expansions. The first would be an additional storage tank, and then the latter discharge capacity expansions to meet future demand projections. This is an aerial overview of the project site.

It is located on the West Side of North Lake Street, approximately 800 feet north of Ellis Street, again, in the county of Madera. Properties to the northeast and south have been improved with rural residences, and property to the West currently remains vacant. This is a project overview. You can see the project site on the right hand side of your screens, the yellow rectangle, again, 2.89 acres in size. You can see the transmission main here, the dotted yellow line, again, approximately two and a half miles.

It will extend south from the project site in Lake Street to Ellis, where it will then continue west to the Sharon Boulevard alignment, and then northwesterly to the terminus of Sharon Boulevard South Of Avenue 17. That is where City Water Well Number 38 is located. The red line on this image shows the city boundary. So, again, project site in the county, and we'll have portions of that transmission main that traverse the boundary. As background, council approved a contract with Corollo Engineers, 09/05/2018, for preliminary engineering and environmental studies of the project.

Contract was subsequently amended to include final design, permitting, application support, and additional services to complete the required environmental documents. QK Consulting Group working as a sub consultant to Corollo engineers prepared the initial study and mitigated negative declaration before you this evening at State Clearinghouse Number 2025090413 in accordance with the provisions of CEQA. The initial study did identify one or more potentially significant effects on the environment, but found that there will not be a significant effect because mitigation measures were identified, which would reduce those potential significant effects to levels less than significant. Mitigation measures were incorporated for biological resources due to the possibility to encounter special state of species within the scope of the project. Those mitigation measures are focused on, preconstruction surveys, avoidance, construction team, training, etcetera.

Tribal and cultural resources sorry. Tribal and cultural resources as well as geo geology and soils pertain to archaeological, paleontological resources, and primarily deal with late discovery. And the involvement of qualified professionals should, cultural or paleontological resources be found. City staff provided notice of the intent to adopt the mitigated negative declaration in accordance with the CEQA guidelines that initiated an adequate public review per section one five one zero five. One comment letter was received from the California Department of Fish and Game, the regulatory agency of an MID canal that is just west of Road 26 for which a regulatory permit may be required.

The city is proposing to jack and bore under that canal, so we are not anticipating any impacts to the banks or, bed of the Riverbank, but there is a regulatory process to go through with the Department of Fish and Game for that purpose, and that's outlined in our mitigation measures. City staff delivered those comments to our consultant. The opinion received and the responses within your staff report and packet is that no new avoidable significant effects were identified, and no new mitigation measures or project revisions need to be added in order to, reduce an effect to insignificance. With that, staff is recommending the council adopt the resolution of the city council, the city of Madeira adopting the mitigated negative declaration and mitigation monitoring and reporting program as prepared for the Northeast water storage tank booster pump and transmission main project and city project w dash TDash001. With that, that concludes staff's presentation, and I'm available to field any questions the council may have.

Thank you for that. I bring it back to my colleagues for any questions or concerns. I just have one comment. Community development director Tackett, I would like to thank you and your staff for working on this. This has been a project on our books for a while and so needed now that our city is growing. So thank you for moving this water storage tank forward. It is a hefty, heavy lift, so I we appreciate all the hard work that's gone into that.

Mary, and quickly, kudos to Steve Betancourt from an engineering team who is the project manager on that.

Got it. Thank you, engineer Betancourt. At this time, open up for public comment. Anybody in the chamber? I see none. Anybody online or on Zoom?

We have none here.

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

Motion to approve as written. Second.

Thank you for the motion and the second. All those in favor, aye. Aye. Those opposed? Motion passes unanimously. Thank you for that report. Community development director tack it. Woah, I can't get it out today. Whoo. The horseshoe pit was a lot. Moving on to the next item.

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 councils may request an item to be removed from the consent calendar, and it will be considered separate.

Thank you for that. I bring it to my colleagues for any questions or concerns. I open it up for public comment. I see none in the chamber. Anybody online or on Zoom?

We have none, Mayor.

I close public comment and bring it back for a motion and a second.

Motion to approve as written. Second.

Thank you for that motion and a second. All those in favor, aye. Aye. Those opposed? Motion passes unanimously. Thank you. Next item.

Under Section D, petitions, bids, resolutions, ordinances, and agreements, D1, irrigation system assessment at the Missouri Municipal Golf.

Thank you. And presented by our very own parks director, Eber. We're cheering for you. We know you can do it.

Oh, it's been it's been a while. I know.

I'm looking. I cannot even see the slide.

At least, yeah, my.

I'm gonna see it. Oh.

Okay. Like I mentioned, it's been a while. Room cleared out as usual, so it's all good. Joe a Bear, parks director presenting item d one for irrigation assessment at the Madera Municipal Golf Course. Like me today. Okay. That's what

I was trying to do.

Okay. This item is being presented at the request of the golf course advisory committee, which is recommending that the city entered enter into a consultant service agreement for an irrigation system assessment at the municipal golf course and a budget adjustment to appropriate existing funds within the golf course capital expense account. It's still not working. Why is this horn? Over the past two years, the, golf course advisory committee has focused on addressing various deferred maintenance issues at the golf course.

Improvements to date have included, but are not limited to restroom renovations, flooring, and HVAC system replacements. It's noted that funding for the golf course originates from the following sources, from the, subcontractors, Sierra Golf Management, and the clubhouse tenant, Sugar Pine Smokehouse. And if you recall per the ninth amendment approved by council on 06/21/2023, each of these entities contributes 25,000 towards capital improvements for a total of $50,000. The city also contributes $25,000 towards the capital improvement fund. Per council direction on May 2024, all net revenues that the city receives is to be allocated towards the capital program, and this figure fluctuates from year to year.

While many improvements have been made over the years, funding considerations have influenced decisions regarding the maintenance, some of which are listed below, painting, updating the driving range, slurry ceiling, the parking lot, solar installation, irrigation system, pump station, and additional, HVAC replacement. So those are all things that the the committee has discussed, ad nauseam, I might say. And so this we've had this conversation quite a bit. The after a lot of discussion, the g the committee determined that the issues raised within the, annual USDA report related to the irrigation system are a high priority. The committee envisions hiring a consultant to conduct an audit of the irrigation systems and that would be beneficial in identifying inefficiencies and prioritizing the associated timing and costs of the identified needs within the irrigation system.

Preliminary budget estimates suggest that the expected cost for this audit will between somewhere between 10,000 and 15,000. We've got a few budgetary quotes, but, that's kind of our estimate right now. I put this in here just to show you the state of our our thirty year old pump house system. So this is the pump house at the golf course today. And as you can see, it's an enclosure with a a fence.

This is the inside of, the the pump pump station at the golf course, 30 years old. So, of course, it looks a little antiquated and some wear and tear. This keeps moving. Okay, that'd be great. Yeah, it's not cooperating with me today.

So this one is also this is a another golf course at the Castle Oaks Golf Golf Course, and you can see they have their this is their enclosure at their pump house, which is a little bit different than ours. Next slide. You can see it's secured with a lock and it's a building that's standalone that's a little bit different than the fencing that we have. And I just wanted to put this in just to kind of give you a contrast. And just for clarification purposes, this facility is fifteen years old as opposed to ours being thirty years old, so you can kinda see the difference.

So what you would have over, you know, 15 newer than this one would probably look much better. Next slide, please. This is the inside of the, Castle Oaks golf pump station, much different from ours, but, looks a little better. I think we'd agree that's, fifteen years newer. Next slide. Financial impact of this, there's there are sufficient funds available in the golf course capital improvement fund. This request regarding consulting services and the available funding is designated specifically for capital expenses. Since this is asking for a consultant, that's why I'm standing here before you. This isn't necessarily capital expense. This is a to find a consultant to proceed with the capital expense.

So, that that's why I'm coming before council. So, that's why we're we're asking for direction on this to reallocate some existing funds, and that that would be necessary. Next slide. This chart is a little bit this was in your, staff report. It's a little bit convoluted. I'll go through it as best I can. Is it what you can see is when we started the the capital improvement fund from, fiscal year 2324, we had some operating carryover, of 104,293. And if you look at our our expense, for that year was 48,925, which led delta of $55,000. You can see when we went into '20 I don't know why this is going this necessary.

Oh. That little box keeps getting in the way.

Yeah. I didn't touch it this time. So the, so as you can see at the top, there's the carryover from the capital carrier from the year before, the fifty five thousand three hundred and sixty eight. Then there's some operating carryover, which, reflects what we agreed to on May 1, as when we paid off our debt and we had this this operating expenses. This carried over, which and then also our $50,000 revenue, which is, which left us a 197,000.

You can see our expenses that we spent that year on the bathroom bathroom remodel, air condition unit replacement, restaurant door, replacement, clubhouse flooring replacement, and, air conditioning repair. We're we've delayed to the next year. But you can see our expenses for the year was a thousand 100,000 $109,970, which left us a delta with our expenses and our capital improvements, of 87,000. I don't know why this thing is doing this.

You're you're right right clicking?

I'm not even touching it.

Oh, shit.

Let's see. Can I go back to it back a slide? There we go. So if we go to fiscal year twenty five-twenty six, which is this year, we can see our capital carryover was $87,807 The revenue for the year from both SGM and SugarPine is there's the 50,000. So we have a total revenue carryover 137.

Thus far, expenses to date have been 24,593. I want to add that we have, as of December 10 year, we've had $113,214 We don't show the operating carryover because that's done at the end of the fiscal year. And just from my conversations with the finance department, we expect this number to be somewhere in excess of grow from a 100 and 13,000 to a 140 somewhere north of a 142,000, but we don't know for sure until the numbers are finally crunched. But that's that's kinda what the projection is at the moment. Is that clear as mud?

I I try to get a lot of data into one little slide, but that that's why I want to spend some time on it.

I have a question, park director, Aber. A new air conditioning unit was replaced for $23,000, but then we had to repair. Is it the same unit? We put in another $1,300.

Oh, that's not the same unit. We have six yeah. We've got four more that are, that need That's what I place that are causing us heartburn right now.

I didn't understand that.

Okay. So and just just to for a little bit of context, we actually decided to do a, a, more of a volume, procurement process on this and look at, HVACs for throughout the city as opposed to just the golf course so we could get a volume discount. And so I know that that RFP is in process, should be out shortly.

Thank you.

Next slide. So as this item is being presented at the request of the committee, we're requesting counsel review the information that I presented and provide direction.

Alright. Thank you for that. Bringing it back to my colleagues, council member Rodriguez.

Yes. You, Thank mayor Gajegos. And, again, thank you, director Abert. Appreciate you providing us that presentation and all that context. I will add that the pump house, over at the golf course also pressurizes the lines that have to keep the fire hydrants in place. And that has, at some point, been compromised because of a valve. So it's an older pump system. Valves certainly are deteriorating, so it does create a a safety issue at times. So those fire hydrants have to be pressurized at all times twenty four seven. And I think not too long ago, I think we had an issue there as well.

So the reason why we wanna go through an extensive audit or a consultant is because the USGA report, as it's instructed through our agreement, shows that the consistent factor of the golf course has always been irrigation. Irrigation system there is well over thirty years. And having the consultant give us a good estimate of what it would cost would at least give the committee to bring back recommendations to the city council. So this has been going on for well over a year. Director Abare and the remainder of the committee have spoken pretty intensively, and they wanted to bring this back to the council.

Again, the monies are there. The request is from those monies that are supposed to be allocated for capital improvements, can this council then approve a consultant that has been we have, I think there was probably no other bids. Right? There was two bids, and maybe this is the only

Yeah. That was and those are we have to go through our own processes to source someone. So the we'd consider those as budgetary. And those that's who we would probably solicit again, and we'd probably find someone else if we went through the city's procurement process.

And and then this will give not only the the committee a better opportunity to see to what extent do we need the capital improvements. Back to the units, I think there's a total of six AC units. Right? And every one of those units, it's past their life. So they depreciate it, depleted. So at some point, I think, Ronaldo and, director Abare definitely looked at this as a wholesale, maybe buy them in bulk for all other facilities and see if we can get that squared away cheaper cost, for the the units. But anyhow, I just wanted to add context to that because I do sit on that committee, and I think it's important that we move on then.

Alright. Thank you, council member Rodriguez, and thank you also for representing this council council mayor pro tem Zachariah.

I I think he kinda cleared up. So so the 10 to 15,000 is coming out of their capital funds, not not city funds.

No. That'd be the capital funds.

And then, when that that report comes back with a recommendation, it's still at the city's request of what goes forward, or is it it's

Yeah. We would we would just bring back the report, to what they what We said it's

a million dollars to upgrade. It's still Yeah. I think I think

I spoke back about this back on 05/01/2024. I'm not sure if you were here then, we I think we said the upward amount that it was about $4,000,000 to replace it. We got the really whiz bang system. So one of the things that they're looking at from a consultant is to, maybe perhaps help us prioritize if we could do it piecemeal, maybe a little bit at a time. I we we really don't have anybody on the committee who's a irrigation expert, including the Sierra golf course management. So that's kinda where we're

at right now. Thank you.

Thank you for your comment. Council member Rodriguez.

Yes. And I may be able to address that too, council member Zachariah. The $4,000,000 comes from a golf course that was done in Porterville, and that was what it costed that's the cost to replace the whole irrigation. In our case, it's the central system that they wanna update because that central system would adequately add the pressures and or water irrigation for that system. That's what the USGA report calls is that because of your antiquated system, you're not getting irrigation in certain areas.

So it's not trying to take all $4,000,000. If I I think the board or the council gave discretion to the advisory to utilize the funds appropriated from, the revenues to utilize them for capital improvements. So this will just get us where we need to go and then bring it back if we exceed any of those capital improvement funds that are allocated for that. Thank you.

Thank you for your comment. At this time, I open up for public comment in the chamber. I see none. Bringing it back to our city clerk for online or on Zoom. Thank you. I close public comment and entertain a motion and a second.

I'll move to approve. Second.

I have a motion and a second. All those in favor, aye.

Aye.

Aye. Those opposed? Motion passes unanimously. Thank you, parks director Aper for your report. Next item.

Purchase of two replacement gearboxes for the wastewater treatment plant aeration system.

And be presented by our own very own city manager, Rodriguez.

Thank you, mayor. I'm gonna try to swap the mouse out, and hopefully that that works. And I think I'm in luck. Am I in I am in luck? Luck.

Good evening. Mayor, council members, Arnoldo, city manager. The item before you this evening is a request to allocate approximately $145,000 for the purchase of two gearboxes for the wastewater treatment plant. For context, as council's aware, we have multiple relatively large projects happening simultaneously at the wastewater treatment plant. The first row that's italicized, that's this item. And, again, that's approximately a $145,000, which I'll be walking through, shortly. The items on here are ballpark figures. They're obviously not to the dollar. But right now, we have the headworks project. That's a relatively large project.

This council approved that project, $8,800,000. I was out there about ten days ago if that and that project is moving forward. We have a wet well, which this council has discussed on multiple occasions. That the wet well itself was included as part of the headworks reconstruction. However, since then, we have found that the wet well is in, I'll say slightly not as good as condition we had as we had hoped.

So we have Stantec engineering that's helping us, design a new wet well. Ballpark figure for that's gonna be about 1,500,000.0. We have centrifuge number two, which is being reconstructed as we speak. That is being, rehabilitated by Cinetrack out of the Bay Area at a cost of approximately $70,000. We're hoping to have that piece of equipment back between seven and ten days from today.

That piece has been offline since October. At the same time, centrifuge number one is giving us some challenges right now. We do, we've done an RFP. We have some, some bids in, and we are in the process of preparing a purchase order for that. The challenge is we can't have both centrifuges out at the same time.

So once number two comes back, we will take number one offline. In the meantime, we have rented two pieces of equipment. One of them is the rotating assembly that's that's there now, and that is to support centrifuge number one. And then we also have a skid, and we're leasing that on, for a month from Sentetrak, and that's to or to help out the system. And, again, all of these estimates or figures are estimates, but this evening specifically is for the gearboxes. But I did wanna provide context because we talk a lot about the wastewater treatment plan. So what's not too sure. Can I move this? There it goes. It allowed me.

So the gearbox, the gearbox is it's a piece of equipment that transfers powers or power from the motors to the aerators. These two gearboxes are specific for the oxidation ditches. I'll provide an aerial photo, but the oxidation ditches are the ones that appear to be kind of like, car racetracks. They're they're very large, but if you look at them from a map, they look like, you can race cars on them. We have a total of six.

So we do have six gearboxes. There are a total of three oxidation ditches. Every oxidation ditch has two gearboxes. So this would be for one of them. Quite frankly, these are, they're older pieces of equipment, and they have, reached their end of useful service life, and, they are no longer reliable. See if I can go to the next one. I'm in luck. So here's an aerial photo of the wastewater treatment plant. The two that are highlighted in, red circles there, kind of in the middle towards the bottom, those are the two pieces of equipment that we're talking about. And I as I indicated, the the oxidation ditches, kinda look like racetracks, and there's a total of three of them.

So relatively, we're proportioned to the rest of the plant. They're small, but but they're very much needed pieces of equipment. And what they do is they they keep the water flowing in the oxidation ditches, so it's transferring the power from the motor into the, large piece of equipment that circulates the water through the oxidation ditch. So we did do an RFP. We're fortunate that we received three bids.

We are recommending going with a little bid, which is Westech, for approximately $145,000, and you can see on there the other two bids. So after we order the gearboxes, the anticipated delivery is six months, and so we it is gonna be a while. The installation after we receive them is only a couple of days. Once we receive the two gearboxes, we would install them, then we would monitor them for a little bit to make sure that they're working appropriately. And then what we would do is we would probably take off another oxidation ditch offline.

We would inspect those, and, hopefully, those are in good shape, and then we would do the same thing with the last set. So with that being said, staff's recommendation this evening is to adopt the purchase of two replacement gearboxes, for a total cost of approximately $145,000. Thank you, mayor of council.

I'll bring it back to my colleagues for any questions or concerns. I see none. I will open it up for public comment at this time in the chamber. Anyone online or on Zoom? Thank you, City Clerk Gonzalez. I will close public comment at this time and bring it back to my colleagues for a motion and a second.

Motion to approve as written.

Thank you. Second. I have a motion and a second. All those in favor, aye. Aye. Those opposed? Motion passes unanimously. Thank you for that. City manager Rodriguez, don't go too far. City clerk, next item.

Accept QA Constructors Inc. Bid for invitation for bid IFB two thou 202526Dash01B, asphalt concrete patching, and slurry seal tape slurry seal type two application on call surfaces.

Thank you, Mary. And I'm attempting to share, but now it's not allowing me to do that either. So the item this evening is to no. It's not allowing me to do anything. I I will continue if that's okay by council with that presentation.

Everything that I'm gonna state is contained within the staff report that was provided to the city council. So the item this evening, it's a request to to engage QA contractors to to assist the city with permanent paving, for utility ditches. Think of water, water leaks. So currently, when a water leak occurs, city staff will go in. We will repair the water leak.

We'll put a temporary pavement on there. Once we have, a decent number of temporary repairs, we will bring in a contractor to make permanent repairs because the city, does not own the equipment to make the permanent repairs. That's approximately a $150,000 a year. That can fluctuate depending on the number of water leaks. But, for example, I think this year, we had north of 80 water leaks.

Last year, we were roughly a 100 water leaks. So the number's pretty consistent, roughly a 150,000 a year. The second part would be to pay valleys. Council earlier this year approved a budget of $390,000, and that's to make improvements to unpaved valleys, and that is one of the two programs we have to make alley repairs. The third program is approximately half $1,000,000 that council approved this year, and that's for the 10 by 10 program.

That's a pilot program that that, we brought before this council around June. And the concept behind that program is to make slightly larger repairs permanent repairs above and beyond our traditional filling potholes. After time, over several winters or every time it rains, the patch or or the puddle repair sometimes comes undone, and we wanna make more permanent repairs. Again, this was a pilot program, and this was for half $1,000,000. Staff did do a an RFP.

We received four bids back, and those and those bids range from $2,800,000 to $4,600,000. We are recommending that select low bid, which again is QA contractors. Only because the bids came in higher. The city staff and or the RFP was very clear that Citi staff is only gonna pay the amount of money we have, which is a little bit more than a million dollars. The reason that the bids come in higher is we we're trying to compare apples to apples.

So we identified what, certain different scenarios, and the bidders bid on those. And then we extrapolated those figures to determine who the low bid was, which, again, was QA based on the amount of work that we anticipate. So the total cost is, again, a little bit north of a million dollars. That does not mean we're gonna spend the full million dollars, but, hopefully, we spend the full million dollars because we know we have a lot of street work repair. And, again, the item this evening is to approve a contract with QA contractors. The budget was previously, approved by council, and it's in this year's operating budget. So, again, this evening is only for the contract with QA, and that concludes my presentation.

Thank you, city manager Rodriguez. Bringing it back to my colleagues for any questions or concerns. I see none. I will open up to public comment at this time. Anybody in the chamber? I see none. Anybody online or on Zoom? Thank you. City Clerk Gonzalez, I will close public comment and bring it back to my colleagues for a motion and a second.

Approve. I'll second.

I have a motion and a second. All those in favor, aye. Aye. Those opposed? Motion passes unanimously. Thank you for that. Next item.

Item d four, preparation of the 2025 urban water management plan.

So it looks like man mouse is not working on this item either. So for context, every five years at every jurisdiction, in the state that provides water and the number I I don't recall off top of my head is, it's over certain population size. I think it's 30,000 people. Must prepare an urban water management plan. The city last prepared an urban water management plan in 2020. The guidelines for the 2025 urban water management plan were released in November. City staff prepared an RFP. We did receive, some bids back. Those bids, we are currently reviewing them as we speak. The the urban water management plan, it's a state mandated plan.

The the guidelines were released by the state in November. The plan itself must be submitted by the June 2026. So we have from today about six and a half months, which does not provide us, a tremendous amount of time or, to complete. During the budget process already this year, staff allocated or, asked counsel to allocate 30,000 for its preparation. We have received some bids back.

We have not selected a a potential firm to assist us with that. We're still going through that process, but the bids are all in excess of $30,000. We have several bids that are beneath $75,000. As a city manager, council has authorized me to make purchases of less than $75,000. However, we do not have a budget for for up to $75,000.

So this evening, this item is a request of council to allocate an additional $45,000 providing staff up to $75,000 to select a firm to, to complete the urban water management plan. The contract itself would not necessarily have to come back as long as the contract itself is less than 75,000. And right now, staff feels comfortable that we have adequate bids that would allow us to select, the appropriate firm. The challenge with this item is is that right now, we have a special meeting planned on January 14. Our next regular scheduled meeting's on February 4.

And to use one of Joe's phrases, we don't have a lot of runway. And so because it's due at the end of, June and, again, the the guidelines were just recently released, so that did not give us a lot of flexibility. So this evening, staff, is requesting that council allocate up to $45,000 in addition to the previously allocated 30,000 for no more than $75,000 to complete the urban water management plan, and that would come out of the water fund. And that concludes my presentation now.

Again, thank you for that report. Bringing it back to my colleagues. Any questions or concerns? I open it up for public comments. I see none. Anybody online or on Zoom?

We have none, mayor.

Thank you. City clerk, I will close public comment and ask for a motion in a second.

Do approve item D four.

Second. Thank you for that. All those in favor, aye. Aye. Those opposed? Motion passes unanimously. Next item.

Item e one, two thousand twenty six, list of annual proclamations.

And just my luck, the mouse started working as soon as I finished.

Good evening, mayor and council. Alicia Gonzales, city clerk. This evening, bring before you the 2,026 list of annual proclamations. For some background at the 07/19/2023 city council meeting, council approved a resolution officially adopting a chapter within the protocols guidebook titled ceremonial documents. The policy aims to define the protocols, procedures, standards concerning the city's ceremonial documents.

Annually, staff will prepare the proposed list of proclamations for the upcoming year, and modifications require a majority vote. Council council members may submit a request to the city clerk to be abated from signing. Before you, is a list of the twenty twenty six proclamations. It's very there were actually no changes from last year. As you can see, there's no proclamations in January except for the one that was approved this evening, because it was a request from the Big Brothers Big Sisters, that was approved on consent. Other than that, the only other month without any proclamations is December. However, all the other proclamations remain the

same. Bless you.

Tonight's recommendation staff is recommending council approve the proposed proposed list of proclamations for the upcoming year. I will now turn it back over to you, mayor.

Thank you for that. Bringing it back to my colleagues, councilwoman Evans.

Yes. I'd like to request a proclamation for January for Doctor. Martin Luther King Day, and that's January 19.

And we do have one special meetings on the fourteenth, so it would be for that meeting.

Okay. Any other? K. At this time, I'll open it up for public comment. I see none. Anybody on Zoom or online? No? At that time, I bring it back to my colleague for colleagues for a motion in a second, and that would be including, bringing in, Doctor. Martin Luther King in January. So if I get a motion?

Move to approve?

Thank you. Second.

Oh, so

cool. Who who was the second? Did she get the second? Okay. Thank you. I have a motion and a second. All those in favor, aye. Aye. Thank you for that. Those opposed? Motion passes unanimously. Woo hoo. I got one added. Moving on to the next item.

Is council member reports, announcements, and future agenda items, this portion of the meeting is reserved for the mayor and council members to make brief reports on boards, committees, and other public agencies and at public events, to request updates, to initiate future agenda items, and to take action on matters initiated under this section of the agenda. Under this section, the council may take action only on items specifically agendized in which meet other requirements for action.

Perfect. Thank you for that. I will start with, council member Rodriguez.

Thank you, mayor Gallegos. I just wanted to say how thankful I am that we're over this valley fog or at least we got some sun today, which is great. Looking forward to the holidays and wishing all of my colleagues here, happy holidays and a happy New Year. I also just wanted to we we did attend the, well, I got an opportunity to attend the Christmas tree lighting. I know that that lighting was a a big thing for the community, although it took place at county courthouse. A lot of our city residents attended, not only the the lighting, Christmas in the park, and, again, the Christmas parade. I wish all a happy and safe holidays, and that's all I have, madam mayor.

Thank you for that. Council member Villegas.

Oh, thank you, mayor. I just wanna say thank you everyone for the all the gifts, giveaway with each others. And just wish everybody a safe Christmas and happy New Year, and be safe.

Thank you for that. Council member Evans.

Yes. I wanna say thank you very much. First and foremost, be blessed each and every one of you. The gifts that we receive is because of Jesus and he is the reason for this season. And I am so truly thankful to be here and thankful to see each and every one of you.

I pray that each and one of you have each and every one of you have a blessed Christmas holiday. Also, if you're available on Sunday, we will have the Christmas extravaganza and it's going to be out at the golf course. Which is so very you I'm when I what you guys don't understand is the reason that I do the extravaganza. It started when I lived in Chicago. And my grandson had been diagnosed with lymphoma and when he passed, I was told that we couldn't celebrate his name on his birthday.

So, I started a event there and it was everybody's birthday on December 29 and I brought that from there to here and this is why I I we used to go to the children's hospital on the fourth for oncology, and we gave gifts to all the babies. And when we go out on the twenty second this year and I thank prior chief. I thank PD. I thank the sheriff's department and everyone else that comes out. But if ever you want to see what joy looks like, Come and go with us because you will see the smiles on these babies faces.

They come out no shoes on, no coats. Some of them in pajamas and they are just thankful to be able to receive something because some of them receive nothing other than what we give them that day. I thank you, mister Tackett. I thank Elsa for everyone else that is participating. I thank you so very much. I want to say happy birthday to Ronaldo today, and happy birthday yesterday to Alicia. And for each and every one of you, have a merry Christmas, and god bless you. And we'll see you soon. Thank you.

Thank you. Council mayor pro tem Zakaria.

I knocked off the line. Just like, again, to say thank you for the opportunity you guys gave me to, serve this year and look forward to next year. I know, Jose, you didn't mention your golf tournament you were involved in. I can't it's

Santa's I was waiting for you to say Santa's bag.

There. Santa's bag. It's it's another opportunity to, get gifts for the those in need for the holy family table. So we look forward to that donation. Thankful that it didn't rain for the parade because that was my first year in attendance. It was freezing, but it was nice that it didn't rain, but, another great opportunity. And, again, just looking forward to next year. So thank you, guys.

Thank you for your comments. Council member Montez.

Yeah. It's kind of hard to believe another year in the books. And I do wanna say thank you to, to everybody, all the community, all staff members that, are really doing all the work. I know we're up here. We're making some of the decisions, but it's you all that make the city run, and we really do appreciate it.

And thank you for I couldn't even see the agenda today because my area was covered with gifts, so thank you for that. There will be another opportunity to give, back to the community. Saturday is gonna be the last, food drive for the food bank, so people are are encouraged to to go out there and volunteer. It will be very cold, probably. I don't think it's gonna be wet this time, but it will be cold. So if anybody is wishing to continue to give, again, this is season for it. So hopefully, everybody has a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Thank you for your comments. And I just have a few things. I'd like to give a shout out to our fire and PD for going out to Valley Children's and helping pass out gifts to those children who want are not gonna really see a Christmas at home. So thank you for being there to put a smile on their face. I did hear they're more excited to see you guys than Santa.

So kudos to our team that was out there. Star of Hope is gonna be happening with our PD and CAPMC on, tomorrow night. And, a Jolly Holly tour, we sold out, 10 buses in twenty minutes. So if you're around to Friday night from six to eight, you there is a stop at my house. You're more than welcome to come have cookies and cocoa with, the rush of 200 people feeding them in less than ten minutes and putting them back on the bus.

It's really exciting. And with that, I just wanna wish our staff and our community a very Merry Christmas and give thanks to all those that are donating canned food, toys, coats, shoes to those in need in the city of Madeira. And a shout out happy birthday to our city manager. And with that, I'm gonna turn it over to our attorney for, closing session here.

Thank you very much, mayor. We have two items for closed session. One item is, g one, public employee performance evaluation pursuant to government code section five four nine five seven b one, title city manager. Item g two is conflict of labor negotiators pursuant to government code section five four nine five seven point six, unrepresented employee, city manager. I do not anticipate there will be any announcements. Thank you.

Hey. Thank you for that. We will go in a closed session. If we don't see you when we come back, everybody, safe travels, have a good evening.

For public comment. You.

Oh, that's right. I open up for public comment. Thank you. Anybody online on Zoom? Okay.

I closed pop time. Thank you, attorney. I forgot my cushion. Oh, it's okay. I'm only gonna be here for a minute.

Alright. Well, every time I go to sit down, I'm like, oh. Oh, people are texting me on the phone.

Thank you, baby. Mics are on. Hey,

city attorney. When you have the minute, if you could bring us back.

Thank you very much, madam mayor. There's no reportable action in closed session.

Thank you for that. And I will adjourn this meeting at oh. Oh, thank you. 08:35, and we'll see you on 01/14/2026. See you next year, everyone. Good night.

Oh my. Merry, merry Christmas.