Visalia City Council Meeting February 20, 2024: Capital Plan, Animal Code, WRF, STR Discussion, Homekey Grant
Visalia City Council Meeting – February 20, 2024
The Visalia City Council held a work session starting at 4:00 PM and a regular session at 7:00 PM on Tuesday, February 20, 2024, in the City Council Chambers. The work session covered new employee introductions, a review of the Capital Improvement Program (CIP) for FY2024/25 and 2025/26, proposed updates to the Municipal Code Title 6 regarding animal regulation, a condition assessment and facility plan update for the Water Reclamation Facility (WRF), and a discussion on short-term rental (STR) regulation. The regular session included a resolution authorizing a Homekey grant application for the Majestic Gardens Project, a public hearing on business regulations amendments, and a consent calendar with 13 routine items. All votes were unanimous (5–0) except where noted.
Consent Calendar
- Approved items 1–4 and 6–13 in one motion. Key approvals included: acceptance of a $102,504 Officer Wellness and Mental Health Grant; a $236,259 consultant contract with Provost & Pritchard for the Cameron Creek Linear Recharge Project; authorization to apply for a $200,000 CHP Cannabis Tax Fund Grant; a $188,228 change order for Groundwater Recharge Basin G; a $72,453 landscape maintenance contract; a $40,205 contract for Automatic License Plate Reader software; alley abandonment; purchase of five CNG-powered solid waste trucks for $2,466,220; appropriation of up to $55,700 for Independence Day celebrations; approval of an agricultural conservation easement form; and a $86,542 fire department grant application.
- Item 5 (Notice of Completion for Houston Roundabout Landscaping) was pulled and approved separately with unanimous vote.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Kathy Faulkner (Visalia Environmental Alliance) recognized former Council Member Greg Collins as an environmental hero for his long service. Several other speakers (Mark Wall, Bill Osak, Noel Bringhurst, Sophia Pacheco) also praised Collins’ contributions to concentric growth, waterways, and conservation. Greg Collins accepted the award and highlighted the city’s conservation achievements.
- Taylor Heine (Visalia) requested a crosswalk on the St. John’s River bridge to connect the bike path safely.
Discussion Items (Work Session)
- New Employee Introductions – The Finance Department welcomed Gladys Ruiz (Administrative Analyst) and Roxanna Plasencia (Accounting Assistant); Parks & Recreation introduced Daniel Scott Rhea (Landscape Inspector), Katrina Bond (Accounting Assistant), and Stephany Soto (Recreation Coordinator).
- Capital Improvement Program (CIP) Review – Melody Murch (Assistant Finance Director) presented the first of five CIP review meetings, covering six funds (Corp Yard, Wastewater Trunkline, Building Safety, Animal Services, Airport, Wastewater). Staff answered questions on project timelines, vehicle replacement policies (10 years/125,000 miles for non-safety vehicles), zero-emission vehicle mandates (full compliance by 2045), and funding for the “Dump on Us” program (grants ending June 30, 2024). No action was taken.
- Animal Services & Municipal Code Title 6 Changes – Kelli Kincaid and Candace Harrington presented data (3,741 animal intakes in 2023, 25% euthanasia rate, 4.2% adoption rate) and proposed updates: aligning owner-surrendered animal holding periods with state law, modernizing terminology (e.g., replacing “pound master”), and exploring options for feral cats via public nuisance ordinance and community input. Council directed staff to draft ordinance revisions and seek community input. Motion passed unanimously.
- Water Reclamation Facility Condition Assessment & Facility Plan Update – Reese Fisher (Carollo Engineers) presented findings: the plant’s effective capacity is about 13.9 MGD (down from rated 18 MGD) due to high-strength wastewater loading and underperforming digesters. Immediate recommendations included upgrading TWAS pumps, adding a third screw press, constructing a new digester, and improving sludge storage. Nick Bartsch noted a $6 million in cash for near-term projects and that a full master plan would be presented later in spring. Council received the report; no action required.
- Short-Term Rental Regulation Discussion – Josh Dan presented options: annual renewal, buffer/spacing criteria, caps on permits, and a hosted vs. non-hosted distinction. Staff noted only 16 applications filed (11 approved) and one ongoing complaint from the same property. Council debated; some members favored adding restrictions to protect neighborhoods, while others argued the current ordinance is working and further rules would be bureaucratic. A motion was made (Council Member Wynn, seconded by Council Member Nelsen) to take no action on new regulations but to have staff return in six months with a status update on permits and compliance. Motion passed unanimously (5–0).
Regular Session Items
- Homekey Funds Resolution (Item 1) – Margie Perez (Housing Specialist) presented a resolution authorizing a joint application with RHCB Development LP and Visalia Homekey LP for Homekey Round 3.0 funding not to exceed $15 million for the Majestic Gardens Project, serving households at 0–30% area median income. The resolution also authorized the Mayor as signatory and the City Manager to sign Resolution 2024-02. Approved unanimously.
- Business Regulations Amendment (Item 2) – Melody Murch requested opening the public hearing and continuing the item to the March 4, 2024 meeting for first reading. Council opened the hearing and continued it unanimously.
Key Outcomes
- Unanimous votes (5–0) on: consent calendar (except item 5), item 5 separately, animal services direction, Homekey resolution, business regulations continuation, and STR status update direction.
- Direction to staff: Prepare draft ordinance for animal code changes, including feral cat options and public outreach; return with a status report on short-term rental permits and complaints in six months.
- No action taken on CIP review and WRF condition assessment; staff will bring back master plan update and refined cost estimates.
Meeting Transcript
The work session of the Viselia City Council. We're gonna begin with public comments. This is time for people to provide public comment on issues within the jurisdiction of the Visalia City Council and items listed on the closed session. The council asks that you keep your comments concise and positive. Creative criticism presented with appropriate courtesy is welcome. Each speaker will be allowed three minutes and a timer will notify you when your time is expired. Please begin your comments by stating and spelling your name and providing your city of residence. Seeing no one running to the microphone, we're gonna move into our work session items. Number one new employee introductions will begin with finance department. Good afternoon, Council at Melody March from your finance department here to welcome a couple employees that are new to our department. Uh we want to welcome Gladys Ruiz. You may recognize her as an administrative analyst to the finance department in the purchasing division. Gladys has been with the city for 17 years. She started at the police department as a police record specialist and was in that department for about two years. She then accepted a position in administration as an office assistant and promoted a few times until her most recent assignment as senior administrative assistant. She was in administration for 15 years. Gladys and her husband Ross, who also works for the City of Iselia, have two children and they live here in Viselia. Please welcome Gladys to the purchasing division. She'd like to say just a few words. Thank you, Council. Lastly, Michelle and Allison. It was a one it was a lot of wonderful years working in administration. And I enjoyed working closely with you and with counsel. And I'm very grateful that I was able to gain the knowledge and the skills necessary to help grow my career within the city. And I am very grateful and excited for the opportunity to work with purchasing and with the purchasing staff. Thank you. Thank you. We're only slightly better. We're very excited. We would also like to welcome Roxana Placentia to the finance department. Roxana started work as an office assistant in transit in May of 22 and operated the first floor ticket counter until she recently was chosen for promotion to an accounting assistant position with our business tax division. She lives here in Viselia with her longtime partner. And we'd like to welcome Roxana to Business Tax. And the two of them will come up and receive a welcome from you all. Maybe spot. Congratulations. Thank you. Thank you. Congratulations. Congratulations, Miss Month. Is that okay? Yes. All right, we're gonna move into parks and recreation now. Good evening, Mayor, fellow counsel. I'm here to introduce uh two of our um new employees in the recreation department. First is Daniel Scott Ray. Uh he comes to us with uh many many years of government uh background, uh, started off as a custodian, worked for several years as a parks maintenance person, and most recently he was a parks um ranger for the city of Tulary and came over and now he's our uh landscape inspector. Um Scott likes to enjoy watching movies, uh, 3D movies, things like that. Um I've worked actually worked with Scott for several years in Hanford, so it's good to have him here. He has a lot of knowledge and hopefully we'll work to keep our um L's up to par and keep the contractors in line.
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