City Council - Regular Meeting

Call to order. The special meeting for the San Diego City Council is called to order at 6.03 p.m. There is no reportable actions or nothing on the agenda, so I'll go ahead and close that meeting. That meeting is closed. So the May 21st, 2026 regular meeting of the Senior City Council is called to order at 6.03 p.m. Under Brown Act Government Code Section 54953C2, the legislative body of a local agency shall publicly report any action taken and the vote or abstention on that action of each member present for the action. Today, the invocation will be done by Pastor Paul Kennedy. I'll do the flag salute and then we'll have a roll call. Please stand.

Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for the opportunity to serve the people of Sanger with humility and purpose. Grant them the wisdom to make decisions that are just and fair. Give them the clarity of thought, patience in discussion, and the courage to act on the best interest of all. Help us to listen with open hearts and put aside personal agendas and to work together for the unity of the common good. May our deliberations be guided by integrity, compassion, and a genuine desire to improve the lives of those who work and live in the city of Sanger. And bless and protect our first responders and all those who work to keep our city moving. We ask these blessings in Jesus' name.

Amen. Flag salute. Ready? Salute. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Vino Rocco.

Mayor Gonzales. Here. Mayor Pro Tem Martinez. Council member Hurtado. Council member Montelongo.

Here.

Council member Melendez.

Here.

Item C, agenda approval, additions and or deletion. I'll accept the motion. Make a motion to approve. We have a motion.

I'll second.

We have a motion and a second. All those in favor, signify by saying aye. Aye. All those opposed? Hearing none, that motion carries 4-0 on being absent. Move on to item E, public forum. This portion of the meeting is reserved for members of the public who wish to address the council on any matter not listed on the agenda and within the subject matter jurisdiction of the city council. Each speaker is limited to three minutes. Speakers shall address all comments to the mayor and to the council. As a body and not to any particular council member member of the staff speakers are asked, but not required to state their name and address the council is prohibited by law from taking any actions on items not on the agenda. If anybody in the public is wishing to speak, please come to the podium.

Okay, guys. Good evening. I think you might know what I'm going to be talking about. Great trip you guys had at Los Osos. It's been three months now, guys. I mean, three different meetings that I haven't received the answers that I asked for the first time. And that was what is Project R? That's what it was listed at. I didn't get any answer on that. Also, what fund did you take that money? It was taxpayers' money, I'm sure. And you don't think it should have been approved by taxpayers? Or you just grab the money and go wherever you want, when you want? I've been asking this for a while now. Also, Mr. Olson himself said that the whole trip to the coast was over $3,000. And the bills, it only listed 2,000. So I could find out where that went. It was basically the rooms. So the other $1,000, 1,500, whatever it is, who took care of that bill? Because you just didn't go up there and stand and look at the water. You had to eat. Who paid for that? Your golf, that's expensive on the coast when you go to the coast. I don't know around here, but I'm thinking it's about with a cart. You're probably looking around $80, maybe a person. I don't know. You probably got a deal, though, with the rooms and the food and the carts, but there's no answers. I need to know those because it makes you guys look bad because it looks like somebody's paying for this, which I think they are. And who? Is this favoritism? Is somebody paying back a favor to you guys? And you would, the only way you could explain it is say something. Just let it fester for months now. So, you know, this is, I kept calling that crossing on Amun and Bethel. Remember that? It took a year, two years I talked on that. So don't think I'm going to forget this. I'm going to come back and talk about it. And it took somebody to die and get injured at that crossing before things started happening. But yeah, dude, I'm not going to forget. So just, you know, let's just get it over with and start telling me what's going on. Thank you.

Mayor, I have a rundown if you'd like me to give it. Yeah, go ahead. So for the, when we went out and did our executive retreat, we spent a total of $3,796.23 out of the general fund meetings account. That was the total. Lodging and fees were just right at $1,900. Meals were at about $516. The facility cost for the meeting day was $879. Golf was $350. And the total was $3,796. Had we done it locally and used Wonder Valley for day use and used our local golf course, we would have spent about $3,700 local. and that wouldn't have included us spending the night together, not together, but you know, to have dinner and to breakfast. And if we would have done the same thing locally that we did over at the coast, which is why we went there by the way, cause it was a good deal. Um, wonder Valley overnight would have cost us 5,300 for the same, the same types of activities. So again, I thought, um, it did come out of the general fund, the meetings accounts, all of our budgets have, have meeting accounts in them. Um, So 3,600 for 12 of us to go out and do a retreat. I have some study sessions, kind of set some goals and priorities is like I said, and it's the first time we've had an executive team that's fully staffed in over two years. So it's just a good chance to get out of the, the everyday hustle and bustle here and get out and work on city stuff and get to know each other a little bit on a personal level and just help, help improve the integrity of the camaraderie of, uh, of my team. So. I hope that answers the rest of your questions, but that's all I got to say.

Okay, thank you. Is there any other public comment?

Thank you. Good evening, Mayor Gonzales, members of the Santa Cruz City Council. My name is Emer O'Brien. You may recognize my name. I was the superintendent in Clovis Unified for quite a while. I actually spent a lot of time getting to know many of your former superintendents, Mark Johnson, Adela Jones, Matt Nava, and of course I know Dennis Wickman. I'm running for Fresno County Superintendent of Schools. I'm really running for this because I want all the kids in Fresno County to have the opportunities that the kids in Sanger have. And I did a press conference on Tuesday and I talked about Sanger because Sanger Unified School District has been named as one of 108 school districts nationwide across the entire nation. And there are actually 11 in California, two in our county. Sanger Unified is one of them and Kings Canyon Joint Unified is the other. and they were identified as districts on the rise because of their increases in math and reading. My goal is that every district in Fresno County should be a district on the rise. And Sanger and Kings Canyon and other districts like Clay and Clovis are showing everybody what's possible. And so my goal is to to if I if I am elected to help all of our district superintendents, particularly our districts out in our rural areas who are very under resourced and in need of a lot of support from the County Office of Education. I'd like to leverage all of that, all of those resources to particularly help our rural districts. I'm not sure if everybody understands or knows that. You know, the large districts like Fresno and Clovis, they have a lot of resources, you know, big teams. But a lot of our rural districts, I've actually over the last 10 months been out to all of our districts and talked with our district superintendents and they need help. We have over half of our kids in the county not reading on grade level. And even more actually struggling with math. And I know none of you think that's good. And neither do I. And there are things we can do about it. We have a new law on the books to help us. And it makes this a very exciting time because we're going to need to orchestrate that from the county time up, I can tell. Oh, it's not? Have I got 45 seconds? My goodness. I will just tell you then, because I am excited about that law. It's called the Golden State Literacy Plan. It's the first time that the state of California has made such a historic investment in early literacy. And there's a lot of money on the table, but districts won't be able to access it if they don't get help to, you know, all the regulations, the usual, right? And if we're not careful, Fresno County will get left behind. So I want to make sure that that doesn't happen. The grant dollars will be gone in 2029. And I don't want us to kind of be fine for a year or two and then do a spike and drop. I want us to put systems in place so that we can all, our kids can continue to thrive into the future. I'll leave some brochures with your clerk. Yeah. Thank you very much for your time. Appreciate it. And congratulations, by the way.

Thank you. Yeah, you got the mic.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. Please hear me out. And I kind of wrote a letter to myself pertaining to you guys, okay? What's happening with the Sanger Chamber of Commerce and the City of Sanger? This is only me talking, okay? Please hear me out. Why can't both sides work together like before? Once again, there seems to be no transparency like always, and nobody knows what's going on. I have a suspicion and a gut feeling that something is not right because I feel that there's a power grab, favoritism, and what I call cornerism, which I believe has been going on our committee, especially when it comes to hiring. Last but not least, please, for the sake of our community of Sangre, try to work out these issues in good faith and keep funding the Chamber of Commerce. So help us God. Also, I have a question to ask Mr. Olson. Doesn't this have to, as far as the trip you took to Los Altos, doesn't it have to come back to us, the public, to get permission for that? I kind of find that kind of really... You know, we're the citizens, and we are your bosses. We should know what's going on. I find that kind of really, honestly, not so much downgrading, but taking advantage of the issue. I never speak like this, but it did bother me, okay, honestly. Why couldn't you have done it at the senior center, at the community center, all these three buildings you got right here? or even where the chamber meets sometimes, or that room where we met before. Remember when we had a meeting there? Why couldn't that happen? You know, this is city, and again, fun for you guys. It wasn't fun for us because we're the taxpayers. We have a right to question you. Why this happen? You know? Really, personally, I have nothing against you guys, but this is strictly business. I hate to say that. But please, when something like that happens again, please let the community know what's going on. And once again, like I said in my letter, there's no transparency. You know, it's embarrassing. And I hate to do this to you, but you know what? That's my own gut feelings, okay? I'm getting tired and honestly, I don't know how many more meetings I can attend. I have a lot of issues and I've been told something yesterday that I didn't like, okay? But unfortunately, I'll keep fighting as long as I can. And God, so help me God, okay? Thank you very much.

Is there any other public comment? Seeing no other public comment, the public comment is closed. We'll move to the 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 discussions of these items. If discussion is desired, a member of the audience or council member may request an item be removed from the consent calendar and will be considered separately. Does anybody in the council wish to remove any items? Go ahead. F5. Anybody else? Is there anybody from the public that would wish to remove an item? F5, yes. OK, in regards to the consent calendar, with the exception of F3, F5, and F6, do I have a motion to approve? So moved. Thank you. Do I second?

Second.

We've got a motion and a second. All those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. All those opposed? Hearing none, that motion carries 4-0, 1 being absent. Item F3.

I can go ahead and start, Mayor. I just wanted to get a brief update from staff.

Oh, sorry.

F3.

Okay, guys, you know, looking through the bills, I noticed, you know, salaries and all. Maybe because of raises you guys just received, I guess you're paying them out now, but it's getting pretty up there, you know. I've seen $5,000, $6,000, and a lot of $4,000 pay halves, you know. More now, just recently. The question I have is some of these people are salary. If they're salary, why isn't their pay consistent on the pay halves? You get paid twice a month. Oh, I don't want to disturb anybody.

So I can defer to the finance director, but we did have all the pending negotiations go through, um, the city employees were granted 3% for this year retro back to June. So what you're seeing is a tail end of all those negotiations, the retro activities, and then whatever vacations people might be cashing out at your end.

Yeah, but I wasn't done yet. The question I, I have along with it though, in the future, the people that are salaried, uh, say it's 10,000 a month. You would think that they would get, uh, 5,000 one half, 5,000 the other half. Is that how that works? Or sometimes I see a difference, like 5,000 one half and then six the next half. That doesn't equal 10,000.

The only way it goes different is there are some pay periods that have three paychecks in a month, and they only take certain deductions out of our check on the first two checks. So on the third check, which I think in July we have a third check because we pay every two weeks, we will have a bigger check at the end of the month from the first two because we have less deductions coming up.

I could get that because, like I say, normally the way it was handled when I was doing things, we got paid for the hours, which if it was a 30-day half, you worked for it. If it was a 28-day half on the month, you got over. But I guess you guys don't work that way then. It's the days? Is that how it works?

Yeah, we work on 26 pay periods a year. 26, okay. 26 pay periods, so every two weeks is how the pay system is set up.

Right, okay. Yeah, and if we can, that's all right.

I'll talk to you about that later.

I'd like to meet with you about that form that you just read out to me about the breakdown, if I could meet you and get that with the breakdown so I can have it for my records.

Absolutely. Absolutely.

Is there any other comments to item F3? Seeing none, we'll move to F5. F5.

I'll go ahead and get started now. Just wanted a quick update from staff looking at this emergency plan and see where we're currently at. I know that in April was reported that there would be an end to the actual declaration and I wanted to see where we're at. I know there was the emergency for the lift station. However, I just kind of want to get an update and give my comments afterwards. Thank you.

S. Browns, would you come up and take care of that one, please?

Good evening, Mayor and Council. To answer your question, as the staff report states, we do have piping on the digester project that still needs to be completed, as well as the thickener, clarifier, all scheduled to be completed at the end of May. We did have delays due, like you mentioned, to the lift station on Northern Greenwood. SCADA project is nearly complete. It's waiting on some elements that are due related to the digester. The emergency, we plan not to be in the emergency further than the end of the fiscal year.

Yeah, I just wanted to provide comments regarding the declaration because I feel like this timeline keeps expanding and I just want to get a clarification from staff. If we have these projects in the pipeline, we know what needs to get done at the wastewater treatment plant. What is the point to continue being in the declaration when the City Council has already approved the work?

this far um so is there a potential is there potential funding we're looking at and is that why it's continuing to be open um what is the reasoning for it to continue to expand and continue to it's a legal it's a legal requirement to bring it back to this council um maybe the city attorney can answer better but for us we have to keep bringing it back to keep keep the the emergency regulation going it's a requirement

So if I may, Mayor, one of the ways the public contracting code sets out this process that you have to do for purchasing, I'm sure you're familiar with that, the bidding, the going through the RFP process and everything else. However, if we have an emergency circumstance under a declared emergency that is renewed on a regular basis by the City Council, you do not have to go through that process. It short circuits it. So what that's allowed you to do is probably cut off, I would say, a year or maybe two years at least, I would say, and all the work that's been done on the plant by using this process. It is not obviously something that what everybody wants to use, right? And it requires a lot more work on behalf of the City Council But as a result of your work and result of keeping this emergency in place, it's allowed you to get it much faster down the line. So the only reason that we're probably having it at this point is the work still isn't done. It looks like we've got an additional eight, maybe nine weeks out there, but we don't know what's going to come up. And that's been the problem with the plant is we don't know what's going to come up. So if we were 100% sure that everything was done out there, it was just a matter of finishing up, I can see the council saying, hey, we don't need the emergency at this place. The problem is that it always seems like there's a surprise at the wastewater treatment plant.

Yep. Thank you, Shannon. And just to conclude with that comment, I understand the process and I understand that this expedites the bid process as well. And my concern is the transparency and all of this. I think we've been on it for about a year, maybe a little bit over and or two years. Yeah. And I think it's time to kind of finalize. And kind of look at what our options are because I you know I feel like that wastewater treatment plan is going to have a lot of problems in the future and and it's going to continue giving problems if we don't. You know, make the necessary changes, but I don't necessarily agree continuing to bypass the bid process and not being like open when there's you know change orders or any issues that arise, for example, like we have you know, we have to be waiting. to see these extensions. And that's just my comments. Thank you.

Thank you. Is there any other comment from the council with regards to item F5?

I do appreciate the meetings I have with the city manager once a week. And we talk about the wastewater treatment plant, including I meet with the director regularly just to see how the wastewater treatment is going. And only because I went there and saw how it was before. And I recently did a tour. And I would hope all of you do a tour because it will explain a lot what they're doing and see what else has to happen to make sure we're in compliance. The compliance from the state goes way back, way back before any of us were even on the council. And I don't think any of the councils knew that there was issues out there, but now we do. And now this city manager is working on it. So I really believe it's imperative that we keep it. We do what we gotta do to get the right things. They're being transparent. It's on our council agenda. We could always ask the staff for more information by talking to them, meeting with them. That's what I'm doing. I think some of you guys are doing the same thing too. So I think this is a good opportunity to keep going and make things great happen out there. And what I saw this last time I went, it was, I would say like 90% better than what it was two years ago. And what I saw. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Go out to the public. Is there any public comment in regards to item 5?

Oh, okay.

Any other public comment in regards to item 5? Seeing none, public comment is closed. I'll come back to council. Are there any further comments?

I'll go ahead and comment as well. I kind of agree with my colleague here. We have made a lot of improvements to this plant. I know that emergency repair is not the best wording for it but the plant was neglected for so many years and nathan and staff most of our staff that is here now is fairly new to their positions and they have always brought updates to us they've always let us know what needs to be done what needs to be repaired how much how much the cost is of everything and i feel like they inherited a problem that was not their problem, but they've done an awesome job fixing the problem. So that's why I support them. And I want to say thank you.

Yes. And I know Public Works is out there. You don't go to that job and think, okay, we're just going to drag this out for another year. No, that's not. You guys want to get it done. And I understand that. And I also understand that, you know, as a former maintenance guy, the job is done when it's done. You can't just stop a job and you just have to keep working and working and working. Um, you know, there's a saying for every 10, 10 minute maintenance job is one broken bolt away from being a month long job. So, you know, we understand like when you're working out there, there could be something else happen like it, like it just did. And you got to pull all your people off that job and go work another job. So anyway, I just want to say thanks. Um, I know it's coming to an end. It's not going to continue forever. And in regards to item F5, do I have a motion to approve?

I have a motion.

We have a motion. I'll second. And a second. All those in favor, signify by saying aye. Aye. All those opposed? Hearing none, that motion carries 4-0. One being absent. Item F6.

Mr. Rocha, was there something? I can answer for you on F6.

Yeah, I'd like to comment that that's that's one of the most positive things that I've seen in Sanger happening. You want to go over it first so people know what I'm talking about. And I can save my three minutes.

As far as the the money spaghetti?

So they know what I'm talking about. I was just going to be saying something with this guy talking about. I don't want to waste my three minutes reading that.

It is on the staff report.

Okay, you guys don't have to know anything. A lot of people don't read that. I mean, come on, just read it. Explain it first and I'll ask my question.

Basically what it is, we get grants through CalRecycle and we're getting a grant for $7,019 and that'll be used to purchase outdoor drinking fountains with water bottle filling stations. So it's an allotment of money the city gets and then we use it for the required purpose. So we'll be, I'm not sure how many water fountains can we take care of with that $7,019, do you know? Two? Expensive.

Okay. Well, that's kind of why I needed that red. I needed some more info on that because my thing was going to be, this is great. Because it would have been nice if we could have strategically placed something up the city of Sanger where they might be really used quite a bit. And if we had the money for all that, you know, that's why I said, man, this would be pretty good for the people of Sanger. But, damn, too then, huh? Okay, well. Yeah, I was kind of looking at that price there. And I said, man, if we could have like, I don't know how many we're going to have 10 or what, you know, and it's going to be at the parks or wherever. But you answered my question. So anyways, well, it's still good.

Thank you.

Is there any other public comment in regards to item six? So you know the comment? uh bring the council in regards to item f6 do i have a motion to approve all motion got a motion i'll second motion in a second in regards to item f6 do i have a i had a motion and a second all those in favor signify by saying aye aye aye all those opposed hearing none that motion carries four zero one b next item g

Hey, so item G will be presented by the finance director. It's the acceptance of the Transportation Development Act, PDA funds, non-transit operations, fiscal and compliance audit for fiscal years ending June 30th, 2022 and 2023.

Good evening, Mayor, Council Members. The Transportation Development Act requires agencies receiving local transportation fund or state transit assistance funds to complete an annual physical and compliance audit. The audit evaluates whether transportation revenues and expenditures are properly accounted for and whether the agency complied with applicable TDA statutes and regulations. Price Page and Company Certified Public Accountants completed the audit for the fiscal years ended June 30, 2023 and 2022. The audit resulted in an unmodified opinion and identified no findings. I'm going to repeat that, no findings. So good audit for us. Staff is requesting acceptance of the completed audit report and authorization to submit the report in compliance with the TDA requirements. Acceptance of the reports will help document the city's continued compliance with the requirements of the Transportation Development Act and to ensure transparency. Any questions?

No findings. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, we'll come to the council. Do you have any questions, comments for item G1? Council Member Toto? Council Member Toto this time.

I just want to say good job.

Okay. In regards to item G1, is there any public comment in regard to no findings? Good job. Okay. Back to the council. Do I have a motion to approve item G1? So moved. We'll have a motion and a second. All those in favor signify by saying aye.

Aye.

Aye. All those opposed? Hearing none, that motion carries 4-0. One being absent.

item h city manager okay first up tonight is the parks and rec director doug golden all right good evening mayor council uh first i want to address uh issue regards to uh the city and the chamber uh I am actively working with the Chamber directly on a couple events that are coming rather quickly, including a small business event on the 26th, as well as the Chamber's annual gala on June 5th, where we have actually donated both of those spaces for those events for them to be used free of charge. I've been working closely with Isaiah in regards to both of those events and looking forward to both of them being very successful, especially that small business event, learning how to take out loans, loan event for those small businesses and the citizens of the City of Sanford. Another side is we are opening our new splash pad starting tomorrow. And for the beginning of it, we're gonna have it open obviously all weekend for Memorial Weekend. And then every weekend following that, so the next three weekends following that, the weekend of the 29th, 30th, 31st, and the weekend of the 5th, 6th, and 7th. And then starting the week of June 12th, which is the last day of Sanger Unified, we will then be open on a daily basis with the exception of Mondays. Mondays will be a maintenance day, which is something that... the public works director and I have spoken about and hopefully in helping with the longevity of it, just having that Monday off, we will send out a new flyer, uh, which will post those, those hours of operation again, when that time comes, uh, when we start that again on that 12th week. And then finally, um, Wanted to speak about a project that was just finished that was kind of near and dear and kind of right out of the gate when I first came into this position. We just completed a concrete project for the sidewalks and walkways at the senior center. that lead all the way from the bus stop, all the way up to and around through the front of the senior center itself, as well as continuing along the north side, all the way down the front of the senior center with a walkway that now connects the senior center walkway to the pathway in community center park. I know the seniors do like to go out and go for their walks. So now they can walk safely, not only getting to the senior center, but as well as going out for their walks, walking around the park. It's been received very well. The seniors are very happy with that and looking forward to some continued projects in the future, improving the senior center and the opportunities for the seniors to come out. Thank you. Great.

Thanks for all the hard work.

Thank you.

Okay. Thanks, Doug. So just a few things from my office. In observations on Memorial Day, the city offices will be closed this Monday, May 25th. like to invite everybody out for the groundbreaking ceremony celebrating Sanger Veterans Memorial Plaza phase two. That'll be Tuesday, May 26th at 11 a.m. at Veterans Park on Jensen and Indianola Avenue. And then PD is having their Sanger Bike Rodeo this Saturday, May 23rd here in the parking lot and West Street, West Avenue will be closed down for the event as well for the bicycle rodeo. bicycle and e-bike. So if you have kids out there, know of kids in your neighborhood, maybe let their parents know if they're not, if they haven't heard, but yeah, spread the word should be a good event. And then I had a notice today from the County of Kings. There is a, there's a business who wants to do surface mining operations about 1.5 miles outside of Sanger. They were denied the project. Currently it's a 619 acre site and, approximately 1.5 miles southeast of the city of Sanger between the Kings River and Riverbend Avenues. East Goodfellow Avenue bisects the project site, which is composed of seven parcels. So they are appealing to the Board of Supervisors of County of Fresno, and they've set a hearing for Tuesday, the second day of June, at 9.30 a.m. So if anybody wants to come out and listen to that, it'll be at the Fresno County Board of Supervisors for an appeal. The company is appealing the planning department's decision, but it would be a reclamation 1.5 miles outside of the city. And that's all I have. Thank you. Oh, okay. Up next is Esperanza Rosales, Public Works Director.

Hi, good evening. I do want to start off, first of all, that we're the team in the city are very saddened by the tragic loss of one of our own one of our employees, Alex Lopez, who worked at the wastewater plant. So we could take a moment of silence and his honor. Thank you. And we do want to extend our heartfelt condolences to his family. And the team is really affected. And we will miss Alex. And as soon as service information is given to us, we'll share it with council in case they would like to attend. On another note, this week we celebrate National Public Works Week. So I wanted to take a brief moment and recognize my team. We have an incredible group of men and women that serve the Public Works Department. And, like, over the past year, the team's... manage very heavy compliance mandates, infrastructure, rehabilitations, utility coordinations, and then all while responding to day-to-day and emergencies around the clock. So a big thank you to them. Personally, I wanted to thank the managers, analysts, operators, maintenance, and field crews. And I welcome the council and the community to celebrate our week. And that's all.

you guys should get a month they're too busy they only get a week is there anything else to imagine that's it mayor mayor can i toss him for 30 seconds go ahead sir after 43 years of wanting to learn how to fly i just wanted to say i finally got my piles lessons last night

All right, we'll go to item I. Reports and matters initiated by city council members. This portion of the meeting is reserved for the mayor and the council members to make brief reports on boards, committees, and other public agencies and at public events to initiate new matters and to request updates and to initiate new agenda items. Under this section, the council may take action on any items specifically agendized and which meet other requirements for action. Council Member Hurtado.

Thank you, Mayor. I wanted to bring up an item because I believe residents deserve transparency regarding any discussions that impact the future operation oversight of our wastewater treatment plant. So I would like to get an update from staff on the privatization that is currently underway there.

So the option to privatize is underway. We haven't made a full decision yet if that's a path we're going to go, but it's looking like we're leaning that way. We have, since I've been here, we've ran three or four recruitments for wastewater operators and have failed at every opportunity. We cannot find people qualified or will come for what we offer. So that being said, we did reach out to the bargaining unit and they said, yeah, you guys feel free to go out. The plan is to, we've only received one quote so far. We're still waiting on a second quote. I believe it's due in this week, maybe. So we can see where we're at on the costs. And then the goal would be for our current employees. They will sit down with our HR and then they'll have the opportunity to, if they want to stay as a city employee, they will transfer to an open spot that we have. They could choose to retire or quit if that's something they'd want to do, or they have the option of interviewing with the new company and leaving the city and staying on as a, as a private individual working out at the wastewater plant. Um, I don't, did you anything else I can answer off of that?

Yeah, I think it's, um, I think it's important to have more transparency in the process. And I would like to agenda as this item, even if it's like a report to the council, um, when it comes to the actual, uh, you know, the actual finish of the transition. I mean, are we going to, as a council, are we going to be voting on this item or is it something that staff?

Absolutely. We can't do anything without council's approval on that. So it'll come back to council and then you'll be able to ask any of the questions. It'll be outlined. The contracts will be outlined in that proposal or contract should, should we get there.

And then currently we're looking for requests for proposals. Is that what I'm hearing?

No, we're just meeting with some of the local groups. Only two people have come out and toured the plant. And we're waiting on, we have one proposal from them current or from one of the people that came through and the other one, they do a lot of water systems in the area and throughout California. We're still waiting. They've been requested a little more information. I believe it was last week. So once we get those proposals, the staff will sit down and we'll look at the two proposals and see which one we think is best for the city before we move anything forward from there.

And the only one currently is RHR that has been, has come forward.

No, the only one we have right now is SUSP.

Okay. And do you know when this item will be coming back to council?

Once we work out the logistics, I was hoping to have it wrapped up before the fiscal year. I don't think we're going to hit that timeline because we still have to wait for the other proposals, go through them and set appointments to see what our employees are opting to do. And if they want a chance with the new companies, then we'll bring those reps down from the company we choose to go with so they can meet with our employees and tell them all about their benefits packages and everything they would have if they chose to go the private route so they have information to make a decision that's best for them.

Okay. Thank you.

And if I could add, you should not see any disruption of services or anything like that. It should be a seamless transaction and No, we should know the difference.

Is that it? Yeah. Okay. That's where we went too long ago. I have nothing.

City Manager took care of all the stuff I needed.

I just want to say thank you, though, to staff for keeping me informed of the issue that we're having at North and Greenwood. Appreciate the feedback and the updates when citizens are asking. So thank you for doing that for me. Appreciate it.

I do want to start off saying my condolences to Mr. Lopez's family. I also want to make a comment that one of our constituents made about the funding for the employees that went out. Where did you guys go out to?

The executive staff.

The executive staff. So that event was something that Nathan brought to our attention. And just as we have funding for us to do our professional development, they also have funding to do their professional development. And maybe we can further discuss this when we do budget and maybe be more transparent in the lining of that for the budget. That way you guys also have a budget. I do think that it's important that staff has that bonding time. I mean, you guys work really hard I know that recently Mr. Lopez passed away, that has nothing to do with that, but I did drive out of town to go to work every morning and staff was out there, even though they're going through this hardship of an employee, they were out there working. They had the cone set up, they're out there working hard and they deserve time to bond as staff and get to know each other. Just like we go to our conferences and we grow on our professional development. So maybe we'll do a line for staff. That way you guys can have that opportunity. I know that at my work, we do that. We do events. We do quarterly events. We go out with our team members and we get to know each other and then it helps out a lot at work. You guys have that special bond that you built outside of work and it makes it way easier to work together as a team. So I do support that. I also wanted to know, about a little bit more about what my colleague just asked about the private company. I wasn't aware of that. I wish, Nathan, you would have been more open to us when these decisions are made, especially before they make. an appointment with HR if something's going to be affecting their jobs. And if we have the final decision, then that should have been brought up to our attention a little sooner. So when you make decisions like that or things that are going to change, like a private company's going to try to come in or whatever the situation is, if you could bring that to our attention before it happens. Because I don't want to hear from my colleague. I want to hear from you as our city manager. I also would appreciate that we do a ribbon cutting. for JFK Park and if we do our future ribbon cuttings in the evenings or weekends, you guys are having that one that's on a Tuesday, I'm at work. I think that that should also be brought up to council so that we can all attend. I know we have brought that in the past to your attention so we can have that as well. Another thing that I wanted to bring up is thank you Doug for working with the chamber and thank you Isaiah for the events that are gonna happen What else do I know? I think that's it for now. Thank you.

Thank you. Two things. On these ribbon cuttings, the businesses come to us and they say they kind of give us the dates and times. We do ask if we can do them at lunch or early in the morning, but a lot of times they want to do them at specific times on specific days. And I don't really press hard to be like, well, our council only can be here on these days because we're doing them a service by giving them a ribbon cutting, but we can keep that in mind. And then the privacitation was brought up before I even pulled the trigger on that with the council. I don't know if it was a meeting you may not have been at, but I can't discuss when we talked about it, but it was definitely brought up to council before I made that decision.

That's it. Okay. I just have A couple of things. One, Memorial Day, the American Legion and the VFW and the AMVETS all take turns in doing a Memorial Day ceremony out at the Sanger Memorial. cemetery so this year the america legion is doing it um it's going to be at 11 o'clock so i'd like to invite everybody to go out there at 11 o'clock i'll be there um as as a veteran here on the council um sheriff margaret mims is going to be the chief speaker and so you know i would just like everybody to go out there have a chance to go out to our beautiful cemetery you know a It's a place for burial. The cemetery district does an outstanding job of making that place look really nice. So please come out and just hear the stories and the speakers and stuff like that. It's a really moving ceremony. And then another thing, we just got back from Las Vegas at the ICSC convention. It's an international event. um conference of shopping centers and basically we go there i know i've talked about it quite a bit we go there and try to get businesses to come into the city of sanger i went along with our community development director and city manager and we sat down and had a total of 14 meetings in like two days um i i did a real quick addition on my steps and it was almost 50,000. So yeah, we're huffing that place up and down the Las Vegas Convention Center, trying our best to get businesses to come to the City of Sanger. There was a lot of positivity about the City of Sanger. And one of the things is because, you know, when we go there, they see us again and they're like, oh, hey, Mayor. You know, what's going on, Nathan? And, you know, it just kind of builds that bond. And, you know, sometimes we go there and we talk and try to get them to come to the City of Sanger. And sometimes it takes a while. Like, for instance, tractor supply. I've been going to this meeting for the past three years. And, you know, finally it came to fruition. And the tractor supply is going to be opening up here pretty soon. It was kind of good to see that when we do go to these meetings and we walk in and the people that we're meeting would say, We know about Sanger. We want Sanger. What can we do so that we can be in Sanger? We already know about you guys. And that happened on several occasions. And, you know, it was really good feeling, you know, walking into a positive meeting. And we did have some, too, though, that were like, well, we thought you were Sanger, Texas. So that one didn't go too well. But he still was like, okay, I want to help you guys. Send me your information you have, and I'll try to point you in the right direction, even though that he was looking for something in Texas. But he offered to help us out. Yeah, but, um, but the positive, the more is more positive than, than there was, uh, these kind of mixed up ones. But, um, yeah, we had again, 13 positive meetings, uh, with, with hotel groups, with, uh, fast food industry, with, um, some technical groups, um, I had a meeting with signage people for electronic signage. We had meetings with our retail strategies people, and we went over our game plan for them. We had meetings with different sit-down restaurants, and they were all positive notes. So I just want you guys to know, and everybody knows that the City of Sanger is the Christmas tree city. I bring it up every time. I wear my pin just so that they know that we are the Christmas tree city. And I just want everybody to know that we are out there working hard for you. And hopefully we'll get some new businesses coming into town. And we'll have more of these ribbon cuttings and groundbreakings. And, you know, it keeps anger on the move. We have a good council. You know, we all work together, and I think that's kind of proof in the pudding is when you start seeing all these things start to move, you know, new housing, new businesses, new streets, new roads, public works doing an outstanding job. You know, they have good direction from the council and the city manager, and we're all just, you know, working as one good team. But anyway, with that said, I was hoping to get out of here before 7 o'clock, and it happened. So this meeting is adjourned at 6.55.