At the onset it seemed innocent enough. Any new subdivision agreement, or extension thereof, is brought to council’s agenda whether in the consent calendar or general business, Josh McDonnell, community and economic development director, told the Voice.

Consent calendar item #8 read:

“Subject to receipt of certification that required bonding for remaining improvements will remain in place for the duration of the term of the agreement, authorize the City Manager to execute an amendment to the subdivision improvement agreement for the Tesori subdivision reflecting a twelve (12) month time extension from date of Council approval, resulting in a new subdivision improvement agreement expiration date of June 5, 2018.”

The Tesori subdivision

The Tesori subdivision is a project undertaken by Greg Nunley, who was elected to city council in 2016, while the project was well underway. He had recused himself from voting on the item, as normally done when a councilmember has a conflict of interest.

Michael Noland, an attorney for the Lagomarsino Group out of Visalia, stepped up alleging a California Government Code 1090 violation for the councilman and the city.

A 1090 violation is that of a “public official acting in his or her official capacity knowingly made or caused to be made a contract in which he or she had a financial interest,” according to PublicCEO.

Noland also attempted to raise doubt as to whether the necessary bond currently existed to maintain the agreement. A public records act request (PRA) revealed bonding for the agreement had expired, and as such a new contract would have to be initiated, he said.

Staff reports doesn’t verify existence of bonds, he said. Staff reports do not reveal that bonds do exist. “I think you are agreeing to a subdivision agreement that does not have bonds to guarantee the payment of the offsite construction, if it is not completed by the subdivider.”

And thirdly, Noland said, “On both former inquiries, Mr. Miller [the city engineer] responded it was not a renewable contract.”

Nunley, speaking as a citizen, responded, stating the bond doesn’t expire until June 23 of this year, and he had just paid an invoice to renew it for another year. He read a letter from his bonding provider – the bond automatically renews on June 23 and remains in full-force until the improvements are finished.

“For this project, we’ve been waiting 10 years for a reimbursement agreement to do the off sites of this project which it calls for in the subdivision agreement,” he said. “We are entitled to off-site reimbursements from the state highway fund that pays these expenses.

“The City of Tulare has neglected to provide us with a reimbursement agreement and it states in the subdivision agreement that if we start the improvements,” he emphasized, “if we start the improvements, as the developer, without having the reimbursement agreement in the amount $700,000 of improvements to be reimbursed to us for finishing an arterial road, that should have been handled with a specific plan when the school went in, that we can’t start the improvements.

“Does the city expect us to start improvements without a reimbursement agreement in place?”

He added that San Joaquin Valley Homes, with a neighboring development, received a reimbursement agreement within six months.

He asked for the Tesori agreement extension to be conditionally approved for one year.

Further opposition

Real estate broker and lifelong Tulare resident, Charlie Ramos, stood up and asked why council didn’t just wait for the bond renewal and/or off-site improvements to begin, and/or until the reimbursement agreement is taken care of, prior to the extension renewal. “Why take the cart before the horse and favor a councilmember?” he asked.

Visalia attorney, Michael Lampe, also commented referring to the Bella Oaks subdivision, also developed by Nunley, where two prior lots had been released [for development]. “There was supposed to be an agreement entered into with one of Mr. Nunley’s entities, and he refused to enter the agreement?” directing the question to Michael Miller, city engineer.

Apologizing to Lampe, McDonnell intervened, stating it was customary for the public to address the mayor, and for the mayor to then call upon staff for comment.

“I think we all know what that means, thank you,” Lampe responded.

Take a breather

Nunley wanted to address Lampe’s question – “the bonding amount of Tesori actually covered probably over 90% of the improvements for Bella Oaks. Isn’t that right Mr. Miller?”

In a moment of levity, meeting attendees rebuked him, telling him to address the mayor not a city employee. It did bring a grin to the developer’s face, and with a chuckle he continued his comment.

“And, there was no bond for Bella Oaks, Mr. Lampe.” He responded.

City Engineer Miller stated this was the last council meeting prior to the necessity of the extension renewal, and that upon renewal the city should receive a hard copy of the bonding agreement as verification.

According to City Attorney Heather Phillips, whose office had checked with the Fair Political Practices Commission, no 1090 violation exists.

“I just want to make the council aware that we have checked with the Fair Political Practices Commission, the FPPC, and they provided us with a written opinion that the council member is allowed to enter into contracts with respect to subdivisions,” she said.

Nunley concurred later to the Voice, saying he had researched any potential conflicts prior to running for city council.

“I can still develop land and I can do subdivisions,” he said.

Waiting for the reimbursement is costing him $13,000 per year, as he renews his bond, he added.

He rarely talks with the city’s community development or engineering offices, Nunley said. He has his staff communicate with them to avoid any conflict. “I get treated worse now than when Don Dorman was there,” he said. Dorman was a previous city manager, who retired in the fall of 2016.

Why the interest?

The Lagomarsino Group was the master developer of Del Lago, in which Tesori is a subdivision. Del Lago includes Plaza del Lago, a retail component of the development, which includes Wal-Mart; Home Depot, etc. according to the Lagomarsino Group website. The group remains interested in Del Lago as a whole, Miller told the Voice.

In an interview following the meeting, Nunley said he knew the reasoning for the Lagomarsino Group’s interest. “Fred [Lagomarsino] wants me to do the improvements, so he doesn’t have to.”

A call to Noland, representing the Lagomarsino Group, for comment had not been returned as of publication time.

Why the delays?

The original Tesori subdivision improvement agreement was recorded not quite five years ago, in November, 2013. The reimbursement agreement is complicated and involves a lot of parties, Miller said. “It has been back and forth, as to what items are reimbursable.”

Electrical lines, maintained by Southern California Edison along Mooney Blvd. include city, county and state jurisdictions, he said.

While the state is responsible for the actual Highway 63, which is Mooney Blvd., the city maintains the property on the west side of the street and the county on the east, McDonnell added. Electrical could involve all three, as power poles could need to be moved, and lines may need to be taken underground requiring an easement. And, there is also the matter of arterial roadways.

Currently, an agreement sits on Nunley’s desk, according to city staff.

It is true that a reimbursement agreement for San Joaquin Valley Homes was signed fairly quickly, earlier this year.

“There were no arguments as to what was reimbursable or not,” Miller said, adding the city didn’t have to start from scratch because the Tesori agreement acted as a template for the
San Joaquin Valley Homes agreement.

What’s at stake?

The Tesori development’s offsite reimbursable agreements could run approximately $700,000, Nunley said. Actually, around $800,000 for which the developer would be responsible for approximately $100,000. Those reimbursements would come from builders for each individual property, referred to as difs, and would be paid to the city which in turn would reimburse the developer, in this case Nunley’s company.

As a developer, Nunley risks reimbursement of his expenses if no agreement is in place, as per Municipal Code, Chapter 8.64.020. He does not want to lose those funds.

Municipal Code – Chapter 8.64.020 (A)(2)

§ 8.64.020   Reimbursement agreements.

(A)   Whenever improvements are required to be installed adjacent to property other than that being developed or in greater size or capacity than that required for the development of the property under consideration, the applicant installing the improvements may be eligible to enter into a reimbursement agreement with the city if the following conditions are satisfied:

(1)   The city and applicant agree that the improvements significantly benefit and serve property that is not within the subdivision or site development area;

(2)   All anticipated oversize improvement costs have been reviewed and approved by the City Engineer, and included in the subdivision improvement agreement or separate development agreement, prior to the start of their construction;

(3)   The improvements are included in the city’s development impact fee program as a fee generating component, unless otherwise authorized by City Council;

(4)   The city and applicant enter into a reimbursement agreement in a form approved by the City Attorney; and

(5)   The applicant submits evidence of the actual costs of the improvements described in the reimbursement agreement as follows:

(a)   Evidence shall be provided in the form of receipted bills, canceled checks, or contracts, and shall be subject to the review and approval of the City Engineer.

(b)   Evidence shall be submitted within 90 days of the city’s acceptance of the improvements by notice of completion. If the required evidence is not submitted within this time period, the applicant shall not be eligible for any reimbursements under this ordinance.

Following the item being the agenda item placed on hold, while staff searched out the various documents needed for review, and the city attorney reviewing those documents, the council voted 3-0 for the extension at the end of the council meeting. Nunley recused himself.

Attempting to dig a deeper hole didn’t pan out

Earlier, during the public comment period, Ramos, the realtor, raised the potential of councilmembers receiving special favors, such as city permits, citing a personal well within city limits which he felt inappropriate. “It should be capped,” he added.

Ramos implied that maybe it had been done without permission, “oops, I made a mistake,” adding that because it was done by a member of the council who could get away with that. He did not mention any names.

Nunley later verified the comments were aimed at him. While building his own property on three acres within the Tesori subdivision, he wanted to maintain a well for irrigation purposes, as allowed by the city. Private wells on property within city limits date back to when there was no city water service in place. There is currently a city resolution, dating back to the early ‘90s, allowing for well development by private land owners for irrigation purposes.

Nunley submitted a well application for his own property in May, 2017, which was approved. He shared the paperwork with the Voice, indicating it was all above board. He also stated he has shared the information with the concerned Ramos.

And lastly, the city attorney’s contract

With so much going on at the last council meeting, it should also be noted the renewal of the city attorney’s contract had not placed on the agenda. An employee performance evaluation for the city attorney as submitted by Councilman Nunley was set for the closed session agenda, however, the mayor cancelled closed session that night. The former contract with the attorney expired on June 6.

While the city and its attorney do not currently have a contract, Goyette & Associates’ attorneys Heather Phillips and Sarah Tobias are still working for the city, according to Phillips.

“The contract has expired, though we are working with the City to get a new one in place following the Council’s 4-1 vote and notice of intention to extend/renew the contract [during the May 1 council meeting],” Phillips said in an email. “Since no retainer agreement is in place, we revert to the original hourly agreement we had with the City when we were appointed in an interim capacity [in 2017]. I anticipate that a contract will be on the agenda for the next meeting.”

The post Tulare councilman defends developer work, denies favoritism appeared first on Valley Voice.

In the first Tulare City Council meeting following Tulare Mayor Carlton Jones igniting the Ag community on social media, and subsequent attempt to hose down the flames by hosting a private town hall meeting last week, hundreds of Tulare citizens and members of the Ag community showed up to make their voices heard Tuesday night.

The council chambers overflowed with the 104 audience seats taken, an additional 40 temporary seats filled in the lobby and 80 in the Olympic Room. Beyond seating, numerous interested parties stood alongside the walls and in the halls. Sound was piped into the lobby and overflow room. And, for those unable to attend, the meeting was live streamed to the Valley Voice’s Facebook page with 766 concurrent viewers at one time and more than 2,400 comments made during the meeting.

The original comments made by the mayor on a private Facebook page, and reproduced on My Job Depends on Ag’s page on May 18, claimed such things as agriculture “strips the natural resources and contaminates our ground water and air” and “causes asthma and valley fever, cancer and kills bees.”

Adding to Tulare citizens’ ire is that the mayor had removed an item from the council meeting’s agenda – that of restructuring of the mayoral position within council, which was asked to be placed on the agenda by Councilman Jose Sigala. According to Interim City Manager Willard Epps, he was placing the item on the agenda last week. However, at some point it was omitted prior to formal publication of the meeting.

During a K-TIP radio interview on June 4, Jones said:

“He [Councilman Sigala] did submit it again for the fourth time and just in the sake of the way we flow at our meetings, if Jose would like his opportunity to grandstand in front of the crowd that’s gonna be there Tuesday night he can make that request, and if the council decides they want to put it on, they can put it on. And then once that happens, there’s nothing the mayor or one council member can do to remove it.

“It’s one of those issues where we’re gonna keep beating this dead horse, and the council in the past have not wanted to deal with that. My term ends in November. If they change their mind, they have every right to do that, at the end of the council meeting where we go over the topics of interest from each council member, if that’s something that Jose wants to bring up and request from the council, and put on our next agenda, that’s how they’ll do that. But for Jose to just kind of want to tell the interim city manager, here, this is what I want you to do and we’re gonna do it in the wake of what’s happening, that’s just not how we do it.”

So aggravated are some citizens, they have recently formed a recall group working to pull Jones from city council altogether. Many citizens met the night of Jones’ town hall handing out recall stickers on the street corner of the hall where the forum took place. They were also in attendance at the council meeting.

Council attendees were offered “My Job Depends on Ag” yard signs and barbeque beef sandwiches across from the Tulare Library, where council meetings are held, just prior to the council meeting.

Following the customary flag salute and invocation, public comments began. Councilman Sigala asked what happened to the restructuring of the mayor agenda item and whether it was the mayor who had taken it off. He also asked that the public comment period be extended and that each comment be reduced from a normal three minutes to one minute per speaker, as it appeared numerous individuals wanted to comment.

After being reprimanded for speaking out of turn, the mayor admitted it was he who pulled the item off the agenda. Jones also stated that he was going to suggest waiving any overall time limit on public comments, allowing all interested the opportunity to speak while retaining the regular three minute per speaker time limit.

Citizens’ comments

One of the first to speak, John Parreira, said he has lived in Tulare most all of his life and admitted this was his first time to attend a council meeting. He said he found what the mayor had wrote to “be appalling. The mayor needs to go out to the farm and see what goes on, and learn about what happens.”

To applause, Parreira said, “Mayor, please do us a favor, step down!”

Xavier Avila, a Land O’Lakes board member, said he “echoed” the mayor should resign as mayor, “and not only as mayor, but I think you should resign from city council.”

In speaking to the other three council members in attendance, he referred to the fact that there is now a boycott to stop buying things in Tulare. “You should look into how much farmers and dairyman buy in this town.” The other towns are going to get the tax dollars from their purchases, not Tulare, he added. “The wound is so deep, it’s not going to heal, it’s going to fester. At this point, it’s a financial burden on the city and I think you have a fiduciary duty to look out for that.”

Dr. Edward Henry, a retired veterinarian who took care of dairy cows in both Tulare and Kings Counties, submitted the Tulare County Crop and Livestock report from 2016, one copy for public record and one for the mayor, for review. Tulare County’s total production of crop and livestock for that year was $6.3 billion, with milk and dairy totaling $1.6 billion, he read. He also shared that Tulare County ships to 75 different countries in the world and he read the top 10 off.

“Now tell me that these countries would be accepting our food products, if they were so toxic, causing cancer – these countries could not do that,” he said.

Tulare Ag teacher, David Caetano, told council he gave his students an assignment to write a letter to the mayor in response to his Facebook comments. Students were allowed to agree or disagree, but had to justify everything they said. He brought 42 of the letters with him, giving them to the city clerk. He was joined by six Tulare FFA members, one of whom, Macy Wilbourn, read her letter.

“Open-mindedness, honesty and communication skills are all qualities that make a good leader,” she said. “You were definitely honest in your message, and you definitely communicated your opinion and got your point across with this post, however you have proven to be extremely close-minded which can be detrimental to our town with you as our leader. . . You now have to deal with the consequences that come with attacking the majority of our town. Drive through your town Mr. Jones and what do you see? Agriculture. Agriculture that feeds the population of not just our county, but of the entire world.”

Wilbourn pointed out that 60% of Tulare’s tax revenue comes from agriculture. “I’ve been educated, not trained, to know that agriculture benefits the community,” she said, referring to the mayor’s Facebook comments that he could not be educated. She pointed out the diseases the mayor attributed to Ag were not actually caused by Ag, but rather genetics, fungus and so forth. “Agriculture is the heart of Tulare,” she concluded.

Numerous others spoke including Dennis Mederos, who grew up on a dairy, and has practiced law in Tulare for 40 years. Mederos wanted to make it clear that being conservative or liberal has nothing to do with the conflict at hand.

“In the community I grew up in, we respected the views of others, and the political positions that they had,” he said. But, that wasn’t the issue.

“The situation has gone on long enough,” he said, “we have turmoil . . . it’s time for you to act and deal with this.” He asked the council members to following what Councilman Sigala had requested to reorganize.

The public comment period lasted 1 ½ hours.

What started the Ag community fury?

The original Facebook comment was screenshotted in by Erik Wilson of Dos Palos, from a conversation taking place on his sister’s Facebook page. Subsequently, it had also started Tulare talking.

“Here’s your mayor Tulare. Tulare, Ca home to the World Ag Expo. The most productive agricultural county in the entire USA. Tulare Ag generates more dollars alone than some states do. And this is your mayor? What a complete moron,” Wilson said with the post.

The mayor had written:

“You’re having a conversation in your head. Ag depends on the people. Ag strips the natural resources and contaminates our ground water and air. Ag causes asthma and valley fever, cancer and kills bees. You can’t educate me. You’re trained. You can share with me what you’ve been trained to think. We can debate the difference between what you think and what I think.”

To put this in context, a conversation had evolved on Wilson’s sister’s personal Facebook page regarding thoughts as to whether Governor Jerry Brown and the state government are restricting agriculture and limiting water supplies to Valley farmers. The posts just prior to Jones’ read.

“I just don’t understand how you can be the mayor of Tulare and hate agriculture. You’re literally biting the hands that feed you.”

“I don’t hate anything,” Jones wrote. “Ag depends on the people. I know you agree with that but. Thats the way it is. Our Military protects your right to Farm. Our Government, “The People” Subsidizes your industry. I love Ag. I don’t like people who claim to hate California, while taking so much from California. If you don’t like it leave.”

“Like all the people that make the statements have been fed an agenda, environmentally, socially and financially, they write articles, create restrictions, enforce sanctions and yet make absolutely zero effort to go visit family farms to gain a better understanding. So all that tells me is we have a bunch of “educated” fools that would rather stay ignorant and complacent in their agendas to get votes than to be educated in their understanding of Agriculture. I’m in education and my job without a doubt depends on Agriculture. Every rural community I serve, the children I teach, the entire infrastructure if [of] those towns depend on Ag,” Kayla Wilson responded.

Restructuring of the council and mayor will be on the next council agenda

Later in the council meeting, during council reports, Councilman Greg Nunley requested discussion of the restructure of the mayor position be placed on the next meeting’s agenda. He did make it clear that he did not think Jones intended to say anything negative about Tulare. Discussion ensued with Sigala stating that the mayor could resign.

“I think the right thing to do tonight, Mr. Mayor, is for you to resign as mayor.”

After mentioning that he had defended Sigala from some criticism after intense opposition to Sigala’s sanctuary city proposal, Jones said, “Don’t ever quit. I was voted into this position and I’m not quitting on the people who voted me here. That will never happen and I hope you don’t think that’s an option.”

Sigala said, he was not asking Jones to quit the council, just the position as mayor.

The city attorney Heather Phillips intervened, “I am going to break in at this point, OK, you guys are getting way off track.”

A consensus was made with Nunley, Sigala and Vice Mayor Maritsa Castellanoz for a reorganization of the council and the mayor’s position to be placed on the June 19 agenda.

The post Tulare citizens erupt in protest at council meeting appeared first on Valley Voice.

Tulare Police Captain Fred Ynclan and Lieutenant Jerod Boatman are back on the job after being placed on paid administrative leave November 7 of last year.

While they were under formal investigation, the reason for their being placed on leave and reinstated remains a private, personnel-related manner.

In a press release, Interim TPD Chief Barry Jones stated the investigation into the officers to be complete.

“The last eight months have been very challenging for all of us, I would hope that we can move forward in a positive manner as a team for a common good,” he said. “There is an earnest commitment for improvement and better communications, but only as a team will this be accomplished.”

Cpt. Ynclan is to oversee patrol and investigation; Lt. Boatman is in charge of patrol shifts, Jones said.

A positive or negative?

Not everyone is pleased with the decision.

One TPD officer told the Tulare Police Officers Union attorney, Roger Wilson, that morale is the lowest this officer has seen in more than 10 years, Wilson told the Valley Voice.

“Rank and file are concerned about accountability,” Wilson said. “They are concerned about the system, as it works in Tulare.”

Since the department learned of the impending reinstatement of Ynclan and Boatman late last week, some officers have quit and others are looking for employment elsewhere, Wilson added. “There’s an exodus now.”

Wilson spoke at a December, 2017 council meeting while Ynclan, Boatman and former police chief, Wes Hensley, were all on administrative leave.

He spoke of a recent poll taken through private emails of Tulare police officers, which was not an official department survey.

“The results of the poll showed the union members are in favor of the city manager’s decision to place the command staff members on paid administrative leave and to continue with his investigation of those staff members’ conduct,” Wilson said at the time. “Further, the results of the poll show that the union members have no confidence in the leadership abilities of Chief Hensley.”

Wilson had presented a press release as an extension of his comments.

Ynclan and Boatman’s leave commenced one month and one week following that of their former chief.

At the time, then-city manager Joe Carlini said he and Interim Chief Jones discussed the situation surrounding Ynclan and Boatman, with Carlini deciding Jones should place the two on leave status.

Carlini was also the official who placed Hensley on leave on September 27 – and the official who fired him on March 20.

That firing was just a few hours prior to receiving his own pink slip from the Tulare City Council.

Both Hensley and Carlini worked as at-will employees and, according to their contracts, their employment could be terminated at any time with reason or for no reason at all.

Investigator John McGinness, a former Sacramento County Sheriff, was hired to investigate the three police command staff officers on January 19 at $150/hour.

McGinness’ hours and the total expense of the investigation has not yet been made public.

Based on the captain and lieutenant’s pay and benefits in 2016, Tulare has spent $23,290 per month for the two, equaling roughly $157,208 for the approximate six months and three weeks they have been on paid administrative leave.

It should be noted that Hensley was fired with the premise of not having anything to do with the investigation, two months into it.

Just why he had been on paid leave for six months and the city paid for an investigation into him for two months, while the former city manager ruminated over the decision of firing him, is not clear.

Why was Hensley fired?

In Carlini’s written words, Hensley was fired “to further the goals of this Organization, due to a loss of confidence in your ability to lead the Police Department in a manner that is consistent with the goals of this Organization; having management style that is incompatible with this Organization’s/Administration’s goals and the philosophies of leadership upon which they are based.”

Hensley was not fired for any reason of misconduct, his termination letter read. In a response to the Voice’s public information request, there is no written set of goals or philosophies for the police department.

With the reinstatement of Ynclan and Boatman, the firing of Hensley remains suspect. While a technicality of being fired without reason is permissible, the city council having fired Carlini just hours following his act of terminating the chief, is not consistent with their not having faith in Carlini’s leadership as city manager which includes that termination.

Hensley hired attorney Michael Lampe shortly following his paid administrative leave status. Following his permanent termination, they are still at work.

On May 1, Hensley, through his attorney, filed a Petition of Writ of Mandate with the Superior Court of California asking:

1. A peremptory writ of mandate pursuant to California Code of Civil Procedure 13 §1094.5, directing Respondent City of Tulare to provide Hensley an administrative appeal of his termination as Chief of Police, conducted in compliance with Government Code §11513(b) and the Public Safety Officers Procedural Bill of Rights Act (Government Code §§3300-3312). In the alternative, Hensley seeks a peremptory writ of mandate directing the City to set aside its March 20, 2018, Notice of Termination of Hensley’s employment with the City.
2. For multiple civil penalties as set forth in Government Code §3309.5(e).
3. For costs of suit and attorneys’ fees incurred in bringing this action.
4. For such other relief as this court may consider proper.

The Tulare PD has just hired a recent graduate of the police academy as well as two more entry-level officers pending their background investigations, Jones said. The department is holding more interviews on Monday being down six to eight officers, he added.

Dave Adalian’s reporting contributed to this article.

The post Investigation closed – Tulare PD captain, lieutenant return to work following 6+ months of paid leave appeared first on Valley Voice.

It reads:

“This morning Tulare Council Member Jose Sigala made a formal request to the City Manager Willard Epps, to place the reorganization of the Mayor on the next city council agenda.

Council Member Sigala would like to have the item on the agenda to provide the council the opportunity to have an open, transparent and public discussion about the leadership of our city.

The City Manager has the authority to place items on the agenda.

If you agree with Council Member Sigala, please call the City Manager today to support his effort.

He can be reached at 559-684-42000 or by email at wepps@tulare.ca.gov.”

This is the fourth time Sigala has approached the subject. The last time he made the request to former city manager Joe Carlini who placed it on the agenda, but it was omitted by the Mayor Carlton Jones. Sigala subsequently asked council to vote on having the item placed on the agenda – it was shot down 3-2.

This time Sigala is asking for community support in their letting Interim City Manager Epps know their feelings.

“I’ve been getting a lot of calls from those in my district and outside of my district,” Sigala told the Voice. “I heed to their calls.”

Sigala said he recognizes the recent upset within the agricultural community with Mayor Jones in regard to remarks made on Facebook by Jones. However, it is not the only reason for his bringing the mayor restructuring up again.

When the Voice reached out to the city earlier this afternoon, it had received some 15 phone calls from concerned citizens – some anonymous, others leaving their names, asking Epps to place Sigala’s request on the agenda

“Councilman Sigala has made the request,” Epps told the Voice. “I, as city manager, will honor a councilmember’s request.”

Epps further stated that he asked the city attorney to provide counsel to him on the subject.

“In the past the mayor has made the final decision,” Epps said. “I am waiting legal response.”

Mayor Jones was contacted for comment, but once again hung up on this reporter.

The post Tulare Councilman Sigala requests reorganization of mayor placed on agenda and community comments appeared first on Valley Voice.

Wednesday, May 23, 2018, U.S. Congressman David G. Valadao (CA-21) participated in the Congressional Foster Youth Caucus annual Foster Youth Shadow Day.

Congressman David Valadao, who is a member of the Congressional Foster Youth Caucus, hosted Ms. Jessica Lopez-Jimenez of Mendota, California at the nation’s capital. During the event, Jessica had the opportunity to get an in-depth look at Congress and the legislative process. In addition to attending a local television interview with Congressman Valadao, Jessica participated in policy meetings with the Congressman and his staff. Additionally, Congressman Valadao and Jessica discussed child welfare policy over lunch before taking a tour of the United States Capitol.

“I appreciate Jessica and all the others who have traveled to Washington to share their stories and help us improve the foster care system. Hearing her story is such an inspiration and our community is incredibly lucky to have individuals like her giving back,” Congressman Valadao stated.

Jessica said during her visit, “I am so thankful Congressman Valadao is involved in the Congressional Foster Youth Caucus and took the time to hear my story today. I want to take what I have learned back to the many organizations I am a part of to give them an insight on how the system works and what our elected officials can do to make change happen.”

The post Congressman Valadao Participates in Foster Youth Shadow Day appeared first on Valley Voice.

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Comments by Tulare Mayor Carlton Jones have spread like wildfire after he claimed that agriculture “strips the natural resources and contaminates our ground water and air” and “causes asthma and valley fever, cancer and kills bees.” His comment’s got agricultural leaders talking.

A heated discussion broke out Friday on the “My Job Depends on Ag” Facebook page when Jones’ comment was shared by one of its administrators.

The comment was screenshotted in by Erik Wilson of Dos Palos, from a conversation taking place on his sister’s Facebook page. Subsequently, it has also started Tulare talking.

“Here’s your mayor Tulare. Tulare, Ca home to the World Ag Expo. The most productive agricultural county in the entire USA. Tulare Ag generates more dollars alone than some states do. And this is your mayor? What a complete moron,” Wilson said with the post.

The mayor had written:

“You’re having a conversation in your head. Ag depends on the people. Ag strips the natural resources and contaminates our ground water and air. Ag causes asthma and valley fever, cancer and kills bees. You can’t educate me. You’re trained. You can share with me what you’ve been trained to think. We can debate the difference between what you think and what I think.”

To put this in context, a conversation had evolved on Wilson’s sister’s personal Facebook page regarding thoughts as to whether Governor Jerry Brown and the state government are restricting agriculture and limiting water supplies to Valley farmers. The posts just prior to Jones’ read.

“I just don’t understand how you can be the mayor of Tulare and hate agriculture. You’re literally biting the hands that feed you.”

“I don’t hate anything,” Jones wrote. “Ag depends on the people. I know you agree with that but. Thats the way it is. Our Military protects your right to Farm. Our Government, “The People” Subsidizes your industry. I love Ag. I don’t like people who claim to hate California, while taking so much from California. If you don’t like it leave.”

“Like all the people that make the statements have been fed an agenda, environmentally, socially and financially, they write articles, create restrictions, enforce sanctions and yet make absolutely zero effort to go visit family farms to gain a better understanding. So all that tells me is we have a bunch of “educated” fools that would rather stay ignorant and complacent in their agendas to get votes than to be educated in their understanding of Agriculture. I’m in education and my job without a doubt depends on Agriculture. Every rural community I serve, the children I teach, the entire infrastructure if [of] those towns depend on Ag,” Kayla Wilson responded.

Then came Jones’ controversial post, shared by Erik Wilson to My Job Depends on Ag. The exchange became quite heated on private page between a few different people. Erik Wilson told Jones, as an administrator of the My Job Depends on Ag Facebook group he was going to share the post on the group.

“I’m blasting you on my Facebook page called My Job Depends on Ag. 81,000 people are reading your dumbass comments. Many of them are from Tulare. Have a nice day Mayor”

Wilson is a co-founder of the My Job Depends on Ag movement. He said he has never met Jones, nor had any conversation with him, until now. He grew up in a big city, he said, but now his job does depend on Ag – he owns a custom Ag spraying business. It gives him a special insight into both sides of various Ag-related issues, he said.

“I read posts like these from people all the time,” he said. “I thought that’s one of the dumbest,” he said of the mayor’s post. “And, I didn’t even yet know he was mayor. I’m aghast the mayor of the largest Ag city in the country would say those things. I couldn’t let a public official get away with it – I’m thoroughly disgusted.”

Another administrator of My Job Depends on Ag is third-generation Lindsay-Strathmore citrus farmer, Eric Beam. He commented on the Facebook post a few hours later.

“Surely he’s [Jones] not talking about the thousands of generational family farms that built his community and continue to support it. Surely he’s not talking about the many thousands of jobs that Ag provides to those who live in his community. Surely he’s not talking about the tax revenue generated by his city when farmers and dairymen buy vehicles, tractors, parts and services at local businesses. Surely he’s not talking about the folks who sit on school boards after long days of work on farms. Surely he’s not talking people who live and work on their farms in THEIR community. I’ll be the first to admit that Ag isn’t perfect and that we have some work to do in certain areas, but for a sitting city leader to have such a disconnect with his community takes ignorance to a whole new level. Mr. Jones, you have a standing invitation to come and spend some time at my family’s farm that has been operating in Tulare County for over 70 years. Hopefully I can educate you on what it means to be a part of the community. You need it….. “

“It bothers me a lot that farmers continue to be vilified and separated out from the rest of the community,” Beam said in an interview. “We live here. Tulare is really the center of agriculture – when stuff [equipment] breaks down, you go to Tulare. It’s where the Farm Show is held. About one-third of the people there are employed through the dairy business alone”

One commenter, Vicki Fien Dykstra, shared a graph from Wikipedia indicating the four largest employers from Tulare are involved with Ag.

“What really bothers me,” Beam said, “Is that he [Jones] said, ‘You can’t educate me.’ You don’t deserve to be a community leader if you can’t listen and lead the community.”

Executive Director of the Tulare County Farm Bureau Tricia Stever-Blattler put out the following statement:

“The Tulare County Farm Bureau has been alerted to the comments on the My Job Depends on Ag Facebook page and are deeply disturbed by the perspective voiced by Carlton Jones.  As the mayor of a city located in the epicenter of Agriculture his comments reflect a perspective that we would disagree with strongly. While we have work to do in educating this individual we believe his comments should not be allowed to speak for the heart and will of Tulare’s citizens, many of which are deeply rooted in agriculture and recognize the positive impact and economic vitality that agriculture provides to our county, state and nation.”

While he did not wish to speak for the Farm Bureau itself, current president Joe Russell, a citrus farmer in Visalia, did have some personal comments to share.

“I think it’s ridiculous,” he said. “California grows the safest food in the world. Most people don’t know what it takes to be a California farmer. We have the most stringent regulations in the country and the world.

“If there is a problem, bring it forward to us. Find a solution.”

Tulare’s Interim City Manager Willard Epps said the comments didn’t reflect on the council or city as a whole.

“The mayor has his own opinions,” Epps said. “Don’t judge the city, or the other council members by the mayor’s comments. Everyone is able to express their own opinion.”

Mayor Jones was unavailable for comment. As per usual when this reporter reached out to him, he hung up on her. As of about 2pm on Friday, Tulare City Hall had received approximately a dozen calls from concerned people regarding the mayor’s comments.

The main city line had also received a handful more calls. The My Job Depends on Ag group’s Facebook page has 335 shares on the original post with 455 emoji responses, and an abundance of comments upon comments made.

Included are remarks from various Tulare citizens inviting anyone and everyone to attend the city’s next council meeting, June 5, to voice their opinion.

The post Tulare Mayor takes on the Ag community appeared first on Valley Voice.

The city of Tulare just may get a third Sister City thanks to one councilman’s heritage. Jose Sigala has asked other council members to support the possibility of partnering up with a city from the state of Jalisco in Mexico.

“In my district, there are a lot of people who immigrated from, or who have descended from relatives from the state of Jalisco,” Sigala said. Those people include Sigala, whose parents came from there.

Sigala said he believed that Tulare had not had any activity with its existing Sister Cities since 1996.

He came up with the idea of adding a Jalisco city last year and has been working on learning all of the criteria involved. He has talked with the consul at the Consulate of Mexico in Fresno, who was excited about the possibility, but who also suggested Tulare wait until after the July national elections in Mexico, so there wouldn’t be an interruption in the process.

Current Sister Cities

Actually, Tulare had a visit from Raquel Ferreira, a city council member and director of cultural affairs from Angra do Heroismo in January, 2016.

Angra do Heroismo is a city on the Azorean island of Terceira in Portugal – an island from which many involved in the Tulare dairy industry have descended.

Ferreria’s visit proceeded a celebration the 50th anniversary of Sister City relationship, and she came bearing Portuguese books gifted to Tulare’s library.

The April, 2016 anniversary celebration was attended by Angra Mayor Dr. Alamo Meneses and a delegation from the city.

Tulare’s second Sister City is Inverell in New South Wales, Australia. It, too, was a relationship started in the 1960’s with former Tulare Mayor Willard Glass and family having hosted an Australian foreign exchange student from Inverell, said Tulare historian Chris Harrell, manager of the Tulare Historical Museum.

The last formal visit to Inverell by a Tulare representative was by former Tulare mayor, Claude Retherford and his wife, in November of 1996.

A letter of condolence for the passing of former Inverell mayor, Jerry Bottrell, was sent by former Tulare mayor, Richard Ortega, in October, 2005, a copy of which is the last formal correspondence in Tulare’s records.

While there has been little connection with Inverell in recent years, the ties between Tulare and the island of Terceira remain strong. The Tulare-Angra do Heroismo Sister City Foundation remains active with regular meetings and a Facebook page with 600 likes.

The page stays current with Portuguese-American activities and posts including that honoring foundation members Mario and Joe Simoes having been named Dairy Family of the Year by Tulare County Dairy Women and the Tulare Chamber of Commerce. The Simoes, twin brothers, emigrated with from the Azores as teenagers, in the early 1950’s.

“I think the Sister City program, itself, is a good one,” Harrell said. “Towns can have a lot of Sister Cities. I think the one he [Sigala] is thinking about makes perfect sense. And, because of so many people in Tulare from the Azores, Angra was a good fit as well.”

Honoring Angra do Heroismo

There is a display representing Angra do Heroismo in the Tulare Historical Museum.

There is even a larger appreciation for the Portuguese city in downtown’s Tower Square, built in the early 1970’s featuring 18th century Portuguese architecture. The centerpiece of the design is a clock tower, known as the Angra Tower.

In the museum, there is a medal awarded to the late Joseph L. Soares, who played an integral role between the Sister Cities.

The medal signifies the order of Prince Henry, the Navigator, and is the highest award given to a civilian from the Portuguese government.

While the connection between Tulare and Angra do Heroismo remains active, another Sister City could be a welcomed edition by both Tulare and a new sister.

Sigala said he will pursue the issue further after the Mexican elections.

For now, he has the blessing of the council to continue his research and it will be brought back for further discussion by the city council once more is known and a potential city is named.

Sigala is pleased that Harrell and the museum are also excited about the project, and he hopes to earn more support for the project through the Tulare Chamber and the Tulare Kings Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

The post Tulare considering a third Sister City in Jalisco, Mexico appeared first on Valley Voice.

In an attempt to justify his argument for contracting Tulare’s city attorney last June, Mayor Carlton Jones shared a schedule of legal fees for the city from 2007 through 2016 during the May 1 City Council meeting.

He argued that in during that period, the city had paid out millions to more than 20 firms; what he failed to mention was those dollars were not always spent to represent the city.

His presentation came in support of extending the contract with the city’s legal firm, Goyette & Associates, Inc., for another year. The current contract expires on June 6 and came up for discussion on the Tulare City Council’s agenda. However, his arguments weren’t particularly accurate.

“When I first saw this sheet that everyone is looking at – this was before we hired Goyette & Associates – if you look between 2007 and 2008, there was one, two, three, four, five, six different firms that were paid legal fees of $567,409.58,” Jones said.

“And, in 2008-2009, there were one, two, three, four, five, six, seven different firms paid $1,064,561.45; the next year all most $700,000; 2010-2011 was $1.14m. And, also in that year we paid Mike Lampe $275,000,” he added. “The next year was the lowest between six, $293,000; the next year $400,000; the next year $400,000; the next year $378,000; the next year, between 2015 and 2016, total legal fees between 10 separate firms – $8,072,000. We’re averaging over $1 mil in legal fees between 22 different attorneys and firms.

“We now have one firm that we pay $30,000. As long as I have been on council since 2010-11, I’ve never heard of itemizing this. We pay a flat amount – it doesn’t matter if a department goes over, or if it goes under, we still pay their attorneys’ fees. At the end of this year, we know, that we’ll pay $360,000.

“Looking at this was part of my extreme vetting. Paying $360,000 a year makes a lot more sense than paying $1 million dollars a year.

“So, whenever anybody asks me why we’re paying $30,000 a month, because I don’t want to pay a million dollars a year. We have a great firm and it would be silly for us to have unnecessary work. We have enough people like Lampe, that’s going to do that for us. So, to do it for ourselves is kind of pointless.”

It’s not all actual city attorney fees

Tulare’s finance director, Darlene Thompson, corrected the mayor after his presentation.

“Can I make a clarification on the report that the mayor just brought out. We did spend a lot of money on attorney fees in prior years, but that is when we had a redevelopment agency, who at that point had their own attorneys and I just picked up all attorneys at that point in there. . . Redevelopment had their own funds to pay for those fees,” she said.

She further stated that she was asked to provide for payments for all attorneys — not just city attorneys — when preparing the document.

From 2007 – 2011, the city’s former redevelopment agency had its own legal contract with a separate firm. Those fees totaled $894,400 for those four years, according to the analysis Jones presented.

Another example, and a far more expensive one, is that of lawsuit settlements paid by the city, as well as the fees between 2008 and 2016 spent on a potential race track that never materialized.

Jones further cited the payment of $275,000 in “fees” to Michael Lampe, an attorney who has become a thorn in the mayor’s side as of late. Lampe represents former Tulare Police Chief Wes Hensley in a suit against the city for his termination; he also represents former resident, Ben Brubaker, in a California Public Records Act lawsuit against the city.

Lampe later told the Voice that the payment, marked as being made in 2010-11, was not for legal fees but rather a payment “in settlement of three separate lawsuits relating to a failed motor sports complex.”

The Voice reached out to the finance director for further clarification.

She had prepared the document as a request for any payment to any attorney, regardless of the purpose of the payment, she said. Payments made to Bingham, McCutcheon, and Best, Best & Kreiger were also for redevelopment work, which she admittedly forgot to indicate as such. She added that Best, Best & Kreiger did serve as the city attorneys for a month or two, following the dissolution of the redevelopment agency.

There were also a few firms that provided specialty work, such as The Zappia Law Firm, which did private investigative work in an employee-related issue; Jones & Mayer, where some Tulare PD officers went for training; and Highsmith & Colantuono, who represented a co-op of California cities in a lawsuit with the state’s Department of Finance Redevelopment Agency. Thompson said she was unsure of the exact function of Smith, Lozano, but it was not basic legal work as well. It would take time to research that exact work, she said. All of the above needs to be deducted for a comprehensive cost of legal fees paid for routine city attorney work, leaving the following:

$232,336 in the 2007-2008 time period; $255,608 for 2008-09; $262,505 for 2009-10; $311,777 for 2010-11; $284,634 for 2011-12; $287,801 for 2012-13; $320,768 for 2013-14; $221,712 for 2014-15; $331,383 for 2015-16.

An average of $278,725 per year over a nine-year period.

(Best, Best & Kreiger for 2011-12 and 2012-13 was left in the Voice accounting as city attorney fees, as was Smith, Lozano, for the benefit of the doubt. July, 2016- Dec.16, 2016 was not included, as only part of the year was represented.)

Non-litigation vs. litigation attorney fees

Vice Mayor Maritsa Castellanoz tried to break down the average of dollars per hour for the current attorney versus previous city attorneys, estimating from 297 work hours by Goyette & Associates to be $100.74/hour. She listed former attorneys’ costs as being: David Hale’s non-litigation fees – $160/hour; Martin Koczanowicz – $160/hour; Cassedy and Whitmore – $285/hour; and so forth.

“So, currently, were paying under what we paid these other attorneys for non-litigation if I’m reading this correctly,” she said.

City Attorney Heather Phillips responded, “That’s total hours – litigation and non-litigation.”

Councilman Greg Nunley interjected, “If we have a couple of big issues that we could spend half a million or a million dollars on – you’re going to handle those right?”

“Those fall within our contract, we have not ever invoked the other services portion of the contract,” Phillips replied.

“No matter what, our complete exposure is $360,000/year,” Nunley expressed.

“Correct,” Philips said.

Nunley added, “And looking at this sheet, out of nine years on this sheet, we’ve only spent less than $300,000 – one year we spent $293,000, the rest of it is $400,000-plus. So, if we have a big item – I mean if we go five years and don’t have any big issues, then we’re still going to save money, but if we have one big issue, it’s going to save a bunch of money.”

In the Goyette & Associates current contract with the city, it does allow for legal work outside the realm of the specified general law, labor and litigation. The contract reads as follows –

• Fixed Monthly Fee

City shall pay to G&A a fixed monthly fee of Thirty Thousand dollars ($30,000), payable on a monthly basis, for all services listed in Section 1 (General, Labor & Litigation) of this Agreement. Despite the Hourly Services Fee Section detailed below, it is the intent of the parties for G&A to provide as much of the overall legal services needed by the City under the terms of the Fixed Monthly Fee section of this agreement.

• Hourly Fee Services to be Rendered by Attorneys of G&A

In addition to the items described in Subsection 3.a. above G&A Attorneys will render additional legal services on behalf of the City, if requested and authorized to do so by the City, and if agreed to by G&A, at a rate of $190/hr. for senior attorneys, $170/hr. for junior attorneys and $125/hr. for the work of paralegals and law clerks and subject to the conditions herein. Any hourly fees incurred will be due only if approved by the City in advance.

Just what those items could be and whether additional fees may be imposed, are up for speculation. Similarly, former attorneys did charge more per hour for litigation work, former city attorneys Koczanowicz and Hale charged $30/hour more for litigation work vs. non-litigation work.

Councilman Nunley did ask that council address, in a future closed session, the concerns that departments “are being held up,” referring to work not being done in a timely fashion, as part of the city attorney evaluation process. That issue came up in a recent deposition taken for the Brubaker lawsuit against the city.

Request for Proposal; Billing itemizations

The fact that a Request for Proposal (RFP) was prepared, but never released prior to the hiring of Goyette & Associates was also discussed. This, too, was brought up in the aforementioned deposition, as reported by the Voice.

Castellanoz asked if there was a RFP done prior to Hale, the city’s attorney before Goyette & Associates, being hired.

Deputy City Clerk Roxanne Yoder explained that Hale was already serving as assistant city attorney. Former city attorneys, Koczanowicz and Hale, while not in the same legal firm, had been under contract with the city as a legal team. Koczanowicz retired, and the city replaced him with Hale, as a “continuity between the two,” she said.

Castellanoz reiterated that no RFP was distributed at that time, and so the council had set a precedent that it was not necessary to do so.

In recent history, Tulare has mostly contracted its attorneys by the hour. Koczanowicz worked for a flat fee of $10,100/month during part of 2015, according to Thompson.

Koczanowicz also provided itemized statements at the time, conflicting with Jones’s statement that he had never heard of itemizing work done on a flat rate contract. Other cities with attorneys on a flat fee basis, such as Visalia, also receive itemized billings.

Such invoices are very much needed, Thompson said, to differentiate which departments the costs need to be attributed to – this aids in budgeting. Departments such as water, sewer and solid waste, which is not a part of the general fund, receives an income as it bills the city’s constituents.

Councilman Jose Sigala motioned the Interim City Manager to write a proposal extension. In his motion, Sigala added there to be explicit office hours in Tulare for the city attorneys, and for written regular reports as to updates of legal work performed be provided to the city manager and council — reports are required in the current contract, but were provided via regular meetings with the prior city manager, rather than in written form.

What he did not add to his motion was Jones’ attempt to omit the city attorneys having to itemize their monthly billing.

The council voted 4-1, with Councilman David Macedo against.

Sigala’s motion was simply to write the proposed extension, and not a motion to retain the firm beyond its current contract.

“It’s the beginning of a process,” Sigala said in follow-up.

Following the meeting, Macedo expressed his concerns regarding the current legal arrangement to the Voice.

“I have always felt the city should have an attorney that is well versed in municipal law, and I don’t feel at this point, that’s what we have,” he said. “And, I’ll leave it at that.”

Download a scan of the table presented by Jones here, and an Excel sheet based on the data here.

Schedule of Legal Fees July 1, 2007 to December 16, 2016

The post Tulare Mayor’s analysis misrepresents attorneys’ fees at council meeting appeared first on Valley Voice.