City Council - Regular Meeting

All right. We are back from closed session. City Attorney, do we have any reportable action from closed session to this evening? No reportable action, Mr. Mayor. Thank you. With that, we will adjourn the special meeting on 5 p.m. and come back for our regular meeting at 6 p.m. in about eight minutes.

All right, everybody, take your seats. We're going to get started with our meeting. Everybody, welcome to our Selma City Council regular meeting. It's Tuesday, September 1, 2026. It's 6 p.m. It's our meeting in the Selma City Council Chambers at 1710 Tucker Street, Selma, California, 93662. Teleconference phone number is 301-715-8592. Webinar ID is 891. 6 8 6 4 5 0 0 5 went on the phone. If you wish to address the council during the public comment, part of the agenda, press star nine to raise your hand and we will select you from the meeting queue for a star six to unmute and mute yourself. No

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. Would you call the roll, please?

Here. Potential conflict of interest. Any council member who has a potential conflict of interest may now identify the item and recuse themselves from discussing and voting on the matter. Agenda changes or deletions to better accommodate members of the public or inconvenience in the order of presentation. Items on the agenda may not be presented or acted on in the order listed. Additions to the agenda may be added only pursuant to California Government Code Section 54954.2B. City Attorney, do we have any agenda changes or deletions at this time?

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

Thank you. City Manager, how long is that CUP good for? What's the timeline on that?

Got it. So this is ultimately a PG&E rule for undergrounding utilities, which the city incorporated into its code, municipal code, but is it required in that location right there by anything other than the city's municipal code at that particular location?

So it sounds like you are trying to work with this developer here and taking into account the business closure and the inconvenience for all of the Starbucks aficionados out there. So once you get that report back from PG&E, you'll be contacting Mr. Gill and his partner to review that with them. Is that correct? Yes. Okay.

Great. Yeah, next step is for PG&E to get back to our folks with the city, and then they can look at that and discuss it more with you in terms of what we can do to make this a situation that everybody can live with. Okay, thank you. Thank you for coming out. Good evening. Anybody in the chat? Oh, okay. Communications.

City Manager, can you maybe ask the PD to make sure that they lock them as well? whenever they possibly can, barring any emergencies. I think that takes care of a lot of the problems there. And I've been by Brentlinger in the morning too, and there are definitely people milling around there, which they should, it's their park, but sometimes people will cause damage like that. But at night is when it can really take place. Thank you for that. Moral communications.

We had a. agenda item at the last meeting on signs and banners. I didn't notice anything regarding political signs or any kind of expressions of speech politically. Is there anything in there regarding political signs and timelines?

The people asking code enforcement to do their job and restrict political signs that could only happen if they were placed illegally. Is that correct for the city code?

Because we don't have anything specific.

Thank you. Anybody else with the oral communications?

Thank you. I seem to recall that that ordinance is in place, the 10% rule, because PD wanted to be able to look in and see if there was a robbery being committed. Really wouldn't apply to retail businesses. City Manager, do you have any information on that one? In terms of how much when the youth who attend the schools, but speaking on behalf of the city, I think that's a very important topic. And I know the Selma PD and the fire department deal with the effects of drug use. Okay, with that, thank you for your call. And we will move on from oral communications to special presentations of which

Am I missing something? Where's the big novelty check that goes with that? It's coming. It's in the mail. Congratulations. Thanks for all your help with that. Thank you, director.

Because I recall that original grant money was slated for Rockwell. When it got changed, it got diverted, and there was no piping that was going to be necessary at Rockwell Pond. We were going to put a big soccer field in for the kids and go from there and the 28 acres, which we're still hoping to do with the regional park. So, yeah, that makes sense that it wasn't in that original $4.5 million grant award.

David, I have a question. On the... by the railroad, operation by the railroad with the fiber optic. Where are we at on that issue right there?

I know we've been, I've been on here for a while. I'm sorry, man. It involves Amberwood. That's why, you know, that's why, you know, it's a technical thing, but it's very important at the, for the future of development, you know? So, you know, and thank you on that issue there, David.

She didn't graduations on your son going to Oregon State to toss communications director.

Do you have a signed or a contract for signature for review yet with ice America?

and we will be placing a recycled class two base rock and compacting that on that location so that that we can have that accessible for parking during big events at pioneer yep i have one more question on the front of the senior center there's uh there's like there's striping there like for a crosswalk for safety for the seniors it's kind of faded can we you think we can find some paint to

How about the stoplights at Whitson and Floral? What's going on with those?

That's good. Thank you for painting that picture. Equipment storage as well. Cal Ripken. It's really nice. The bandits are definitely benefiting from that. They have a nice equipment storage. It's always been an issue with Schaefer and they've got a nice home at Brentlinger now. So thank you for that. Sure. They always want the potholes filled out.

Keep rolling? Okay, let's keep going. We will move on from departmental reports to regular business. It's item 5-1, and that is to adopt Resolution 2026-94 for award of on-call grant writing and procurement services agreements to Towns and Public Affairs, Inc., Blaze and Associates, LLC, and InterWest Consulting Group, City Manager. Okay.

And I'm happy to answer any questions. Thank you for your report. Does council have any questions for the city manager?

Yeah, I like Townsend, believe it or not. I like Townsend guys. We had them before and they did a great job, what they do. They're not, you know, and I like Jason's plans, how he lays out this situation with the unique plan. And I like, you know, people on call, association, engineering, stuff like this. That's the thinking outside the box, Jason, and your staff. I thank you for that. And I would recommend, my person, I would recommend Townsend.

I would say the same, but only if we're actually paying BNA Grant Services and InterWest Consulting Group. It's my understanding we wouldn't pay them unless there's a need and they're kind of on call and they offer an hourly rate. Is that correct?

So it just adds resources to the city's infrastructure. toolbox here in order to get that money. And as we saw tonight from director Fletcher, we got 35,000 in grants just from someone who really knows what they're doing for the, the art center and to augment that with a really first-class outfit like towns and public affairs. I think it's going to be a force multiplier for the city. Cause we, we do have a lot of projects going and you know, we are looking to, minimize the cost disruption to the public to the absolute minimum so i think this is a really a really good move um this is a agenda i

Just got discontinued. They disappeared. Yeah.

Anybody else with a comment? Anybody in the chat with a comment?

Okay. I'm willing to make a motion to pick Townsend.

Well, Townsend with the plan that you associated with.

Because like you said earlier, we need the expertise and talents that we need to facilitate some of these streamlined issues that we have. And especially now, more than ever. Okay. Call the roll, please.

Yes. Item passes. Thank you. And we will now move on to future agenda items. This is council request for future agenda items not subject to public comment. Items require a consensus. Does council have any items or an item they would like to propose at this time? Councilman Trejo? Councilman Avalos?

Yes, I do. Yes, I do. I like to actually revisit our people that serve, you know, like like, like he said about Peter, you know, Peter is alien, but also people that in our community that were in government, you know, like Dennis Lujan, uh, you know, and Mike Durr that created the art center, him and his wife and Dennis, his expertise as far as is, uh, how would I say is his willingness to help people in a different dynamic way. Okay. And I want to name a park after him. And in the park, I know we've been dragging around this situation, but I like to streamline it. I like to change Ringle Park

And it collapsed. But the things turned out. I guess God looked out for us and we got insurance money on the deal. Okay. But we built the art center. So I like to... tell my colleagues to change these names for Mike Durer and Dennis Lujan, like Ringgold Park and the Art Center to Durer Art Center. Because they were a part of where we're at today. If it wasn't for them, we wouldn't be where Selma's at. They were a part of the Walmarts and they were a part of the development way back then. And to me, that's respect.

Oh, absolutely. Those are two giants in Selma's political history. Just a point of clarification, do parks or buildings get named after people who are still alive, or do they have to be deceased?

No, I think we should do it before they die. The reason why I say that, I mean, when you're dead, they don't get to see it. I think it's very important that to do this. You know, I mean, it's great memories for people to see their legacy.

I think the city does it out of liability, doesn't it? I mean, just in terms of people.

Yeah. I mean, we recognize people who they are.

Yeah. Nothing against anybody living, but You know, it's just, I think that's the point of the policy.

Yeah, but I know. We could change policy, guys. We change policy and direction, okay?

That's a different agenda item. You want to change that too? Yes, I'm going to change that too. Buildings and parks can be named after living people.

Yes, I want to change those because, you know.

Because those are two different items. Two different items. They're related, but they're two different items.

Two different items. One's this. I think we'll table it. Table it. We need a consensus. Yeah. So what was it?

No discussion. It's just whether we're going to put these two items on a agenda item.

No, no, this got picked too. We're going to do it. We do it right. Okay. I'm just telling you straight up, Johnny. Okay.

Okay. Two, two separate items, not together, but it'd be two separate items. Okay.

Yeah. I want to change the policy on naming buildings. Amend the policy of some dying. And one would be specifically for Dennis Lujan and Mike Durr.

No, I would probably put Lujan Park, abbreviate it.

Well, actually, we'll change the policy.

I'm good with that. Everybody good with looking at that? All right. Mine would be maybe just a status. I've requested this before, but looking for the amendment of the general plan for that very area that Mayor Pro Tem is talking about to make sure that low density is defined and shown as the usage of that area. Everybody good with that?

Great idea. Absolutely. Get them started early. That's a really cool project.

On the school board, they used to have a student?

Who uses the parks? The kids. You're really good.

Sounds good. Thank you. Thank you for that. We'll move on now to council reports. Councilman Trujillo. Report. Councilman Adelos. Back on it.

Well, you know, I actually, I was out touring the city today, looking at work, looking at public works job guys. They're going to job on the parks. Okay. I was looking at the fire department. Great job out there, guys. The fire trucks, you know, I was in Fresno. Your ambulance with the community hospital, they were there. Good job. Right on it. Police department out there patrolling, pulling cars over, checking them out and keeping crime down. Good job, guys. You know, stay safe. Tell the guys, stay safe. All right. Don't take chances, please. And and I and. I see the flock cameras are in play

Councilman Oscara. Do you want to move on? Come back? Yeah. Okay. Mayor Pro Tem.

I attended the same one, News and Brews, Fresno County. I think it was a Mid-Valley event that was, Nice that they did it, and they said that Selma's event was the best attended one that they had. So that's good for Selma. We definitely take an interest in current events and politics and things that affect our town. That's what I love about this town. Everybody gets involved. I attended the same Selma Chamber Appreciation event. Thank you to the Chamber of Commerce for that. Saw a nice representative set from the American Legion. Thank you to them for participating. I attended a Selma cemetery

Great question. I think that was something I brought up previously. Are we making any progress on ordering the polos for our commission members?

I think we should get one for every single one of them. They volunteer their time, and that's the essence of local government, in my opinion. Awesome.

I have a comment. I saved it for last. There was a reason why. And the reason why I saved this comment for last is people running for office. You know, I don't care for school board, you know, healthcare or whatever. When you run for office, when you put up your signs and people's properties, please, please ask the owners or the people that live there, if it's okay. And you get these calls and says, Hey, people are just put a sign. They didn't tell me I come over here and there's a sign in front of my house. I didn't, I don't know this person shows up. I didn't give him permission, but you kno

Thank you, Councilman. I completely agree. Anybody in the chat with a comment? Mayor, I see no hands raised at this time.