City Council - Special Meeting

All right.

We're going to start our meeting now. Everybody welcome from your Labor Day weekend to our Selma City Council special meeting. It's Tuesday, September 8, 2026, and it's 6 p.m. in the Selma City Council Chambers at 1710 Tucker Street, Selma, California, 93662. The teleconference phone number is 301-715-8592. webinar id is eight nine one six eight six four five zero zero five one 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 we will select you from the meeting queue press star six to unmute and mute yourself notice to meeting attendees members of the audience shall not engage in disorderly or boisterous conduct including the utterance of threatening or abusive language or other acts which disturb disrupt or impede or otherwise render orderly conduct of a city council meeting infeasible would you please call the role council member avalos here council member sagara here council member trujillo here mayor tim gara here mayor robertson here potential conflicts of interest any council member who has a potential conflict of interest may now identify the item 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 549.54.2B. City Attorney, do we have any agenda changes or deletions?

Nothing to add or to delete, Mr. Mayor.

Thank you, City Attorney. 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? That we will move on to our public hearing. This is our one and only item tonight for this special meeting, and it is a consideration and necessary action on the resolution of necessity declaring the public interest and necessity to require the taking or acquisition of identified real property for a municipal improvement project. In this case, that would be the intersection safety improvements at McCall and Dinuba. City Attorney.

Mayor, members of the council, this is the date for the hearing, which is reserved specifically to people who have received notice of this hearing so that they can address the four items that are set forth on the notice of the hearing and the four items that are listed in your resolution of necessity as determinations that you wish to make. The council determined more than a year ago that it would be necessary to acquire certain private property in order to establish a traffic signal at the intersection of Dinuba and McCall. In May of this year, several offers, which are statutory offers required by law, went out to approximately six or seven property owners. and those offered those property owners the appraised value, which is what you're required to offer, to purchase that part of their property that is needed to establish this traffic signal. There have been a few that have agreed to what we have offered them and are conveying the property to us. are in the process of conveying the property to us, but there are four that have not yet agreed for various different reasons. So before you actually acquire the property through eminent domain, and eminent domain is simply a process of filing in court, so the court can determine what price you have to pay for that property before you can file in court, you have to adopt a resolution of necessity. So we sent notices out to four different property owners, notifying them that on today's date at 6 p.m., we would conduct this public hearing for adoption of the necessary resolution of necessity to initiate the eminent domain process. The determinations you are required to make and the determinations that this hearing is on and the matters as to which these people have been given notice and an opportunity to be heard are those listed in section three of the resolution. And those are just simply this, that the public interest and necessity require the proposed project. And in this case, the project is simply the establishment of the streetlight at that intersection. That the proposed project is planned or located in the manner that will be most compatible with the greatest public good and least private injury. That the property described in the resolution of necessity is necessary for the proposed project and that the offer required by section 7267.2 of the government code has been made to the owner or owners of record of the property that is to be taken or acquired. You'll find, I think, that most people will want to talk about price. That isn't really your concern or consideration. We're required to offer the appraised value according to our appraiser, which is what we did back in May. We've negotiated with some of these property owners and reached agreement with some of them. but the price is typically what everybody likes to talk about the most. So you can allow them to talk about that, but I think it's important that everybody understand that's not something you're deciding. Your hands are tied as far as the price goes. You're required to offer them fair market value, and that's to be determined by an appraiser. So, I passed out a amended resolution before you open the meeting. And just to clue you in on what's been amended, there is item A under the fourth whereas of your resolution. It said in the original resolution that the property at this location, which is APN, 35869001 totaled 19.19 square feet. That is a typographical error. It was actually a typographical error in the offer that was made to these people, which is where it comes from. But the correct amount and the offer shows them in great detail diagrams of what's to be taken and there are other areas in the offer where the correct amount of square footage, which is 1,919 acres, 1,919 square feet, which totals to 0.04 acres. That is the correct, that's the only change to that resolution. The rest of it is exactly the same as the one that appears in your packet, but I just wanted to call that to your attention. And with that, Mr. Mayor, we can open the hearing and allow those who wish to be heard to be heard on those matters that are listed in the resolution of necessities.

Point of clarification, city attorney, thank you for that report. Did all of the affected property owners receive notice that this declaration of necessity was going to take place tonight at the council meeting?

We mailed notice to all of the property owners. And we have a proof of service that is signed by your city manager. Attesting to that mailing. There is one that went to the wrong address and it was returned to us. And that one is 40 mm T farms llc. The the person that is apparently the sole principal officer. Of that llc is theodore alper. I telephoned Mr. Alper on Friday, and again today, I was able to leave a lengthy voice message, but I have not connected with him. He knows about this hearing. I've invited him to attend. If he does attend, great. If he doesn't attend, what I'm going to suggest to you at the end of this hearing is that you take the matter under submission. And I have sent to Mr. Alper a letter and a revised notice of intention to adopt resolution of necessity, setting a continued hearing at which he, and only he, can provide, or his representative can speak to the items under consideration on this resolution necessity, and we would simply have a continued hearing at your next regular meeting on September 15th, if he shows up then. If he doesn't show up then, you simply decide whatever you're going to decide. Do we need a vote to take the matter under submission or just a consensus? Will that be enough? We would take a vote to take the matter under submission as to those who have had an opportunity to be heard. And we would continue it by vote. And everything here requires a four-fifths vote. Everything. Whether it's being continued, whether it's being adopted. Yeah, do anything with this except by a fourth-fifth vote.

So next week, if Mr. Alple didn't show up, it would be up to the council to decide whether to take the matter under submission again and continue that by a fourth-fifth vote or to stop it there and say that's it and declare the resolution of necessity and take the vote for that, which would require four out of five votes. Is that correct? That's correct. Okay. So tonight we have the people here, the landowners here. So we'd love to hear from you folks, and we're going to open the public hearing and take your input. One difference between tonight and other public hearings is usually oral communications is limited to three minutes. City Attorney, is it limited to three minutes tonight? Unlimited.

Okay.

Opening the public hearing, and now the stage is yours.

Good evening, Mayor, City Council members, and everyone present here. With due respect, I just want to request you, we are missing one thing. I think Pledge of Allegiance, we didn't do that today.

We had a special meeting tonight, sir. Special meetings, we don't do the Pledge of Allegiance. Or departmental reports.

No worries. I was going through and it was showing that That's why I like on the- That was in error, the way the meeting was described. Really appreciate it. So I wanted to make sure, you know, like another thing, as CTO Tony has mentioned, they mailed, you know, like notifications to everyone. But unfortunately, every time there is a discussion about my property in city, I never get notifications. And for two days, I didn't get notification till I spoke to Stephen. He's from Jules and, you know, like Hammer and Jules company. And he informed me there is going to be like a special meeting in City Hall today. And he forwarded email and he suggested and. I have requested, you know, a few more information to make sure, you know, like if city data and like whatever I'm like looking at is correct or not. And we need time. And I was very disappointed because I get, you know, like maybe I don't know, like I I live right over there at Makala and Danuba, but from city I don't get no mails, no notifications. So that's my request. And another thing, I was earlier to clear doubts, I requested city and city manager helped and... David and Muhammad and Stephen, they did show up. But there are so many aspects to consider. And we don't have an accurate map. And still Stephen is sending me, you know, like whatever information he's getting. So I request you don't expedite this thing. Give us some time. We need to go through it. we report these properties with after working hard. And if city wants to rush, it's like, and also like not sending out notifications. That's injustice to us that I want to request you. Thank you, sir.

City attorney.

We're going to continue this matter necessarily because there is one person missing that is entitled to be heard. There's nothing wrong with the, I can provide Mr. This is Mr. Singh, correct? I can provide Mr. Singh with the actual notice that was given to him or that was mailed to him. We can't ever tell if it was ever received. We just know we put it in the mail, right? I can give him the actual notice right now. It doesn't really tell you much of anything other than we're having this hearing. But I'm happy to give that to you and I'm happy to recommend to the council that they give you the additional time that we're going to continue this to, which is going to be September 15th. Will that work?

Okay. So we'll add Mr. Alper and Mr. Singh to the list of potential speakers for the next meeting. Yes. Okay. Would anybody else like to be heard on this?

Jacqueline Harper, 9989 East Dinuba Avenue. I spoke with Jennifer Medrotsky at Hammer and Jewel Association office. We reached an agreement about the right-of-way easement in the front of my house. We agreed and I am now waiting for the papers to sign. Therefore, no resolution of necessity is needed in this case.

Thank you. Certainly no resolution of necessity is needed as to her as soon as we have the papers signed. Sorry. But we can certainly wait for the papers to be signed. You can adopt the resolution. You're not going to do that until the 15th, and likely those papers may be signed. We'll simply amend the resolution to take out Ms. Harper's property. And that's your address, ma'am?

Number D. That's D. Yeah, letter D. Does that give you enough time to sign the docs? Okay. All right. Anybody else?

Mayor, council, thank you for this time. I'm up here for the property of 9810 South McCall Avenue. And I know this meeting was about opposition, but we just wanted to be courteous to the city and let you know that we do have our own appraiser and he should have it done in 30 days. And so he'll be contacting the city on that because we just want the fair market value. And like you said, city attorney, that's what many people are asking is fair market value. So we just want to let you know we have our own appraiser and that they'll be getting to you guys in 30 days or so. Also concerning receiving letters, we've been getting letters at two different addresses. The house that's on the property at 9810 South McCall And the renter actually gave it to my sister and said, hey, this came for your brother. And then we get one at our residence on 12445 South New Wolf Avenue. So can we consolidate and at least get the correspondence to one address so that we'll be aware of when these meetings are? And we've only gotten two letters. But I've heard that this process has been going on for a while now. Is that true? Or am I hearing rumors?

They sent out the offers in May.

Oh, okay.

Did the offer come to your correct address, ma'am?

The offers? No, we're not familiar with any offers. We're just about council meetings about the property.

Well, there was an offer. It would have been a letter from Hammer, Jewell & Associates. Okay.

My brother is, has hired a council. And so he, I don't know if they received anything, but my brother's not here, but I will, can I let him know if he asked, I mean, if he did receive a quote or something or is it passed or why, why don't we do this?

Okay. Why don't you give me your name?

Okay. Okay. Now or later?

Yeah.

Okay. Carol. Carol. C-A-R-O-L. Yamashita. Y-A-M-A-S-H-I-T-A. And I'm the sister of the owner, John Renge. R-E-N-G-E. Have you been in contact with him?

That property is owned in trust. Yes. And I believe there are three trustees. There's four, right? Four.

Yeah. Cause my brother and then us three sisters.

So I think that is the address of record in the real property records of the County. So our hands are kind of tied as to who we send these to.

Okay.

We're required to send it to the address that is reflected in the real property records. Okay. So if you want to change addresses for this purpose, you really have to go down and change it at the county recorder's office.

Okay.

But these will just go automatically because we're not allowed to do anything else.

Okay.

they would go automatically to wherever the trustees have set their address. Okay.

So, but so will they be going to the rental or the, the house that's the, you know, the rentees at 98 10, or is it going to my brother's?

It is going to 12, four, four, five South.

Okay. This last one went to the, the, Yeah, 9810. And the renter said, hey, I think this is for your brother. Elaine, you want to come up here?

Let's see.

So we just want to... Whoever the trustees were, but it went to the 9810.

This one says it was also mailed to 12445 South DeWolf Avenue.

What, the last letter?

The notice of intent to adopt the resolution of necessity.

Oh, we haven't gotten it. Not that we know of.

Yeah. Can we let my brother know? Or how do we go about?

Yeah. And, you know, we understand you shouldn't get the wrong impression. Just because we're doing this does not mean we stop talking about it. what you need for the property.

Yes. Yes.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And it doesn't stop you from getting their appraisal.

Oh, okay. Okay. Yeah. We just, and I think we, you know, we didn't oppose the whining of the road. It's just that we wanted to request fair market value. So, and you answered that, that this is not the meeting.

So like I say, their, their hands are really. Yeah.

Yeah.

We're required to get an appraiser, and he tells us what the value is. We're required to offer that amount. If you come back with an amount within the ballpark range, we're more than likely to take it. That's just the way these things work. Our hands are tied with respect to what we offer and what we're willing to take, what we can take.

Yeah.

And just to note, the letters were sent out by staff on August 21st. So that was a Friday of when those letters were sent out.

Oh, this is my other sister. Hello, everyone.

My name is Vivian Renge Takeuchi. How much time do we have then to get this all done?

You have as much time as you need, ma'am. Okay. Like I say, we're doing this because we've got, there are certain property owners that won't communicate with us. As long as you're communicating with us.

Okay. Very good. Thank you.

We're happy with that.

Okay. Thank you. Okay. Thanks.

The resolution of necessity applies to those now three properties that haven't communicated back with the city. How many offers has the city sent out so far? The initial appraisal and then I believe it was six or seven.

Six properties. And then, as Neil mentioned, we have one owner that has agreed and signed the deed. And then two of them that are currently working through, including one here tonight.

And then that leaves three left. But it's only been one offer that's gone out. Right from the city. Okay. Anybody else? Okay. We will close the public hearing with that and bring the matter back to council. City attorney, is it your advice that we take this matter under submission and continue it until the next meeting?

That is my recommendation. I would add that we're specifically doing that for TMMT Farms LLC, which did not in fact get the notice of intention to adopt the resolution of necessity. And we're also doing it for Mr. Singh. And I believe it's either your wife or his core for them also to be heard on these items as well. and in order to potentially remove Mrs. Harper from the resolution of necessity entirely.

And describe what happens after that declaration of necessity is voted on by the council. If that passes, what would happen from there?

Well, the resolution of necessity gives me... direction and the authority to file in court for eminent domain. And I simply file a complaint in court, which, you know, if you're a defendant in court and anybody that gets filed against would be a defendant in court, you're required to respond to that in some fashion, or we take your default. I'm only going to file in court when I know that you're ready to take the property because the court will give you immediate possession of the property. And when you're ready is going to be when all of your plans are done, all the various engineering work is done and everything else. We're a bit out from that. So I would suspect that nothing is going to happen for probably 30, 40 days at least. After that time, if we're not able to come to some sort of an agreement with these people, and we're always willing to talk about that, then and only then do we file in court. When we file in court... We're required to deposit the full amount with a state agency that we have offered in exchange for this property. And typically the case just is one to decide what the fair market value is. Because that's what you're required to pay and that's all you can pay. And so you typically end up with a trial after you've already taken the property, after the traffic light in this case has gone up. You end up with a trial aimed at determining what you have to pay for the property that you took.

So what this does is it allows the city to move forward with something the city has needed for many years, which is a four-way stoplight at Dinuba and McCall. while the property owners are still able to negotiate either with the city or with a trier of fact in terms of what that value really is for that land. Is that correct? That's correct.

But once you adopt the resolution of necessity, the matters recited in the resolution of necessity are conclusively established for all time. You can never contest them again. And those are just the four items that I read to you. That establishes your right to take the property. The only condition on your obligation is that you have to pay the fair market value.

After the resolution of necessity is declared, can the city move forward with our city engineer policy? to move and whoever is doing, working on the engineering for this project, to move forward with plans and to get this out to bid. That allows the city to move forward. So I think this is an issue where the interests of public safety are paramount. They outweigh the interests of individual landowners to get the particular price for their land, which is determined by appraisal. However, their rights are never set aside. They are simply put in another venue while the city is able to pursue this public safety project for the good of our city.

That's correct. And as I've tried to emphasize to the young ladies that were up there, We are always willing to talk to you about how much you're getting paid.

And city engineer, what are we looking at in terms, city manager, what are we looking at in terms of timeline if this moves forward after the next meeting? Do we have a timeline here of the process from here?

Sure. So we're continuing as it is now with finishing the engineering plans from the consultant that's designing the signal. He's reviewing. He's changing the plan, sending those back to us. Our staff is reviewing. We'll be communicating back to him. The other piece is we're working and submitting for relocation of certain utilities, PG&E, AT&T. There's multiple overhead utilities. That process is underway and will take some time. That timeline will be based on those utilities. And then the other part of this is this project is funded through CMAQ, which is monitored and administered by Caltrans. And so we have to do everything by their process. And so the right of way has to be certified. That's why there is a consultant to get the right of way. So we'll be working through that process and getting certification from Caltrans That all is the answer to the timeline that's required to get to the point where everything is approved and ready to go out to bid. And the funding for the construction will have to be authorized by Caltrans as well. So the long-winded answer is we're still working on it. The timeline will have to be based on the consulting engineer, PG&E, the utilities that have to be underground, and then our work with Caltrans to get to the construction phase. potentially could be months. It's going to take time to get through the PG&E portion, Caltrans. So we will not be ready to go to construction in 30 days or 45 days. It's going to take time to get through the relocation utility piece as well.

Are we potentially looking at end of the year or first quarter of next year, if all goes smoothly?

If all goes well and our timing, actually, you know, we would want to wait until the rain is over to start a construction project. The other piece, even when we go out to bid and the contractor is chosen, they're going to have to order the equipment and the poles. So there may, there's some of those pieces may be longer lead items just to acquire that equipment. So that'll go into the timeline of the actual construction. to where we may go out to bid, award a contractor, but then their time until you see vehicles and shovels will be based on when that equipment is available. So that'll get added to the timeline as well.

But we can also work with the contractor who's selected to, once awarded, potentially start ordering that in a timely manner. So that way it helps to cut down on some of that lead time.

Because this is a top priority for the city and we want to make sure we put every resource we can towards it. It's just a huge public safety item. We've waited five years already and we need to move forward as expeditiously as possible on that. And I think everybody here understands that. But we just need to keep following through like we are right now with this resolution of necessity. Do you have a comment?

And just to clarify on the funding, the funding has already been established. Is that correct?

Yes. It's been awarded to the city. We have to request authorization to use the funding. And there's a procedure for that.

Okay. Good. Thank you.

Okay, so can we take a vote to take this matter under submission until the next city council meeting in one week from tonight, during which Mr. Alper and Mr. Singh will be invited or able to give their testimony if they would like at that meeting. Is there a motion? I'll make a motion on that issue. Is there a second? I'll second. Call the roll, please.

Council Member Avalos?

Yes.

Council Member Oseguera?

Yes.

Council Member Trujillo?

Yes.

Mayor Pertemguera? Yes. Mayor Robertson?

Yes. And since this is a special meeting, we don't go through a lot of the other parts of the meeting, nor all communications. We're just going to adjourn the meeting. Wish everyone a good evening, and we hope to see you a week from tonight at 6 p.m. Thank you.