Visalia City Council Meeting - November 20, 2023

The Visalia City Council met on Monday, November 20, 2023, for a work session that began at 5:30 PM, followed by a closed session at 5:52 PM, and the regular session convened at 7:00 PM. The meeting was adjourned at 9:06 PM. All five council members were present: Mayor Brian Poochigian, Vice Mayor Brett Taylor, and Council Members Steve Nelsen, Emmanuel Hernandez Soto, and Liz Wynn. The council considered a wide range of routine matters, two major public hearings, and several consent calendar items. The meeting featured extensive public comment from Barry Caplan repeatedly arguing that agenda item summaries were too long and violated the Brown Act, and a proposal for a new clean-up initiative, among other important decisions.

Consent Calendar

• Item 1: Authorization to read ordinances by title only was approved unanimously without discussion.
• Items 2-12: These were individually pulled from the Consent Calendar by Barry Caplan, who used each item as a platform to argue that the agenda descriptions were excessively detailed, violating the Brown Act. Each item was nonetheless approved with 5-0 votes after separate discussion. Key approvals included: a Notice of Completion for the Greenway Trail Phase 2 pedestrian bridge (with $n $n10,000 from Measure R Trailways); a $334,250 construction contract to JT2 Inc. for pathway improvements from Main Street to the Transit Center; second reading and adoption of Ordinance No. 2023-13 for state-mandated medical marijuana delivery rules (SB 1186); an annual street sweeping contract of $1,868,741 with SCA of CA, LLC; a $317,600 playground structure replacement at Riverway Sports Park; a $128,965 Arbor replacement at Whitendale Park; a $142,000 transfer from AT&T Mobility for water feature repair; nomination of Council Member Liz Wynn to the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District Governing Board; appointments of Council Members to the Tulare County Task Force on Homelessness and the merits of groundwater board; a $285,000 contract for vegetation removal at Eastside Regional Park along with grant acceptance; and a $202,573 animal shelter service agreement with the City of Dinuba. Despite the pull requests, each item passed unanimously.

Work Session Action Item

• Solid Waste Environment Enhancement Program (SWEEP): Presented by Public Works Director Nick Bartsch and Manager Jason Serpa. The program is designed to clean up blight, illegal dumping, and windblow debris across the city. The initiative would split the city into four quadrants, assign five full-time employees (all along), and use the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds for the initial equipment and first year's operation. The annual cost is estimated at $558,690, and the initial capital outlay is $327,550. ARPA covers most of the first year, but there is a shortfall of $25,350 in the first year, which the council was asked to appropriate from the reserve. $25,350 from the Solid Waste Enterprise Fund. Discussion included strong support from the mayor, council members, and the public, but also concerns about permanent funding. Vice Mayor Taylor proposed a year-long pilot program to test desirability. The motion passed 5-0. Public comment from Jim Reeves expressed support for the program.

Public Comments & Testimony

• Barry Caplan: The Barry Caplan gave the most extensive and repeated public comment, speaking at nearly every agenda item. He argued that the agenda item descriptions for consent and regular items were "verbatim" and not compliant with the Brown Act. He provided handouts with shorter wording suggested by ChatGPT. He asked the council to direct staff to write 20-word summaries. The city attorney stated the Brown Act requirements, but Caplan was not satisfied. Other speakers including Matthew Box and his friend Noemi also expressed the views on agenda length and neighborhood representation, and Damian Lopez from the cemetery district spoke in favor of his item.
• Winter Irrigation schedule: Barry Caplan, Water Conservation Manager, noted in public comment that starting December 1st, the winter irrigation schedule would ban overhead sprinklers on turf grass for three months (December 1 to end of February). This exempts trees, shrubs, and gardens.
• Procedural Comments: While public comment items were on the agenda, there was additional public testimony on the agenda items and the length of the meeting, but most of the scheduled public hearing items were dominated again by Barry Caplan's along with a few others.

Discussion Items

1. East Side Regional Park Project (Public Hearing): The council considered certification of the Final Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for the East Side Regional Park, annexation of approximately 128 acres, and a General Plan Amendment to redesignate 41 acres from residential to parks/open space. Principal Planner Brandon Smith and Dawn Marple from the consultant firm provided details. Key components included noise mitigation (an 8-foot sound wall along Tower Street), lighting mitigation, and traffic impacts. Some intersections exceed congestion standards, but the statement of overriding considerations was adopted. The council approved all three actions both. The attached action with corresponding resolutions (2023-54, 55, 56) was moved by Council Member Nelsen and seconded by Vice Mayor Taylor. The motion carried 5-0.

2. Visalia Maallee Cemetery District public hearing: The city conducted a public hearing for the cemetery to change its designation from residential to public and rezone to Q-P (Quasi-Public). The district had removed the eminent domain policy, provided 90 days rent-free to any tenants, and withdrew encroachment area is 12 properties. Associate Planner Cristobal Carrillo presented the outreach from May 2023, where the community had input. Council member Hernandez-Soto opposed, noting that only four affected residents showed up at the community meeting were opposed, and that they preferred a location away from the existing neighborhood. Council member Wynn listened to the leadership's communications. Council member Nelsen and Taylor voted for the change, citing the cemetery district's due diligence. The motion passed 4-1, with Council member Hernandez Soto voting no.

3. Measure N Spending Plan Amendment: This was the second of two public hearings to amend the spending plan for police vehicles. The council approved advancing purchase of one marked patrol vehicle for FY 2024/2024 and allocating $30,000 to address budget shortfall for FY 2023/2024 vehicle purchases. Dan Ford presented the request. The motion by Vice Mayor Taylor and Nelsen carried 5-0.

Key Outcomes

• Approved: SWEEP Clean-up Program, all consent calendar items (8-16), certification of the East Side Park EIR, initiated annexation and general plan amendment, and the Cemetery District and related policy changes and resolutions for the police vehicle purchase.
• Votes: All items passed with 5-0 except the cemetery item which was 4-1.
• Next Council Meetings: Monday, December 4 & December 18, 2023 at 7:00 PM.
• Direction to Staff: The council expressed support for some of the procedural changes but made no official directive to change the template. Staff were thanked for the thorough summary—contrary to public comments—and encouraged to continue a balanced approach.