Caring Community
Council to look at use of CARES funds
The Porterville City Council will host a regular meeting on Tuesday night, and on the agenda is one administrative hearing, three public hearings and two scheduled matters. At this time, the Council is conducting its meetings electronically, streaming live via Youtube, to help slow the spread of COVID-19. Members of the public are encouraged to submit comments for both oral communications and the public hearings via email to councilmeetingcomments@ci.porterville.ca.us
The first of scheduled matters is city staff’s request for direction regarding the use of the federal CARES Act Community Development Block Grant to deal with the impact of the coronavirus.
According to the staff report, “On March 27, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act), Public Law 116-136, was signed into law to respond to the growing effects of this historic public health crisis. The CARES Act legislation provided approximately $2 trillion in emergency relief and economic stimulus intended to combat the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. The bill’s provisions include cash payments to individuals, expanded unemployment benefits, assistance and relief to business, states, local governments, airports and transit, additional funding to Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in the form of the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG).”
The City of Porterville is looking to use some of these funds to modify the city’s current Business Assistance Program (BAP) that’s already funded with CDBG entitlement funds. The modifications to the program would “target businesses affected by COVID-19 and offer forgivable business loans, providing short-term working
capital to enable retention of jobs held by low-and moderate-income persons. HUD considers a job to be permanent if it is sustained for a minimum of two years.” City staff is only looking for Council direction on how to use the funds, and to direct staff to bring back necessary documents to utilize the CDBG funds.
The final scheduled matter is the approval of the continuance of the proclamation of local emergency due to COVID-19. At the last meeting, the Council reviewed the status of existence of local emergency, and acted to continue its resolution of proclamation. Staff is now looking to the Council to receive the report of status and review of the Proclamation of Local Emergency, determine if the need exists to continue the declaration, and take action and/or provide direction to city staff as deemed necessary.
Before the Council moves to the public hearings and scheduled matters, each Council member will be given the opportunity to report on any recent meetings they attended. These reports will include updates about the Tulare County Task Force on Homelessness meeting, the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District board meeting, and the Tulare County Association of Governments and Transportation Authority meeting. Council reports will be followed by updates from city staff regarding the status of the city’s water conservation and an update on the acceptance and issuance of proclamations.
Once all of the reports have been given, the Council will open oral communications. At this time, any submitted comments will be read aloud to the Council by city staff.
After oral communications is closed, the Council will move to the consent calendar. The consent calendar currently sits at 10 items. Council members can request to pull items from the consent calendar for further discussion. A complete list of the consent calendar items up for Council approval can be found at the end of this article.
The first item set for Council discussion on Tuesday evening is the appeal made by a Zoning Administrator in regards to a Request for Proposal (RFP) that was submitted for a retail cannabis dispensary operating permit.
According to the staff report, “On March 31, 2020, the Zoning Administrator issued a determination to Authentic Porterville that the application for a Request for Proposals (“RFP”) did not meet the submittal requirements by failing to register as a plan holder through the Public Purchase webpage. The RFP stated in Section II Summary of Cannabis Request for Proposals, as well as Section IX Submittal Instructions, ‘No proposal shall be received from an applicant who has not registered as a plan holder on the Public Purchase website.’ As a result of failing to register as a plan holder, staff was unable to open and review said application and the materials were returned.”
Because of the disruption in the application process, staff is recommending the Council consider appealing the RFP.
After the administrative hearing has closed, the Council will move forward to the three public hearings for the evening. The first is a continued hearing regarding the consolidation of the Central Mutual Water Company to the city’s water system. At the last meeting, the Council began to discuss this item and opened the public hearing, but at the request of the Central Mutual Water Company, the Council continued the hearing for Tuesday night. The Central Mutual Water Company requested the continuance in hopes more feedback from the community would be submitted.
The second public hearing on the agenda for Tuesday night concerns the adoption of the 2020 fiveyear consolidated plan and 2019-2020 action plan for investment of Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) entitlement funds. The state requires each city to prepare a threeto-five year consolidation plan addressing the needs and planned developments for housing within the city. The last plan for Porterville was prepared in 2015, hence the need for a new one in 2020. City staff is recommending the Council open the public hearing and collect comments from the public before adopting the draft resolution to approve the 2020 Five-year Consolidated Plan and 2020/21 Action Plan, and authorize the City Manager to execute all necessary documents.
The final public hearing for the night will address transitioning from Phase IV of the City’s water conservation plan to Phase III. The City has been operating through the winter months in Phase IV of the water conservation plan, and is now looking to begin implementing Phase III. Phase III is a mandatory odd/even 2-day watering week schedule. Odd addresses would be allowed to water on Tuesday and Saturday and even addresses on Wednesday and Sunday. Staff is suggesting the Council conduct the public hearing to consider transitioning to Phase III effective June 1, and direct staff to transition back to Phase IV on December 1. In Phase IV, residents are allowed one watering day on the weekends.
After the final public hearing is closed, Council will move forward to scheduled matters.
The following is a complete list of all consent calendar items up for approval by the Council:
1. Request for Approval to Purchase Sophos Endpoint Advanced with Intercept X
2. Approve Amendment No. 1 to Federal Transit Administration Award CA90-Z116-00 and Authorize the Purchase of Transit Vehicles
3. Authorization for Repair of Streets Loader
4. Authorization to Repair City Wells No. 17 and No.18
5. Acceptance of project — Two (2) Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) Refuse Trucks
6. Acceptance of Project — Demolition of the City Library Located at 41 W Thurman Avenue
7. Authorization to Execute Consultant Agreement - Engineering Services for Pavement Management Update Implementation and Asset Management Development
8. Approval of SB1 Project List for Fiscal Year 2020/2021
9. Amendment to Employee Pay and Benefit Plan - Unrepresented Management Employees within the Fire Department
10. Status and Review of Local Emergency: Drought
This meeting of the Porterville City Council is scheduled for Tuesday, April 21, beginning at 6:30 p.m. The live stream of the meeting can be found at https://www.youtube.com/ channel/uc5kuhsrnmnl9nwhjvtnjvva