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Council Approves $16.7 Million Budget

The Kerman City Council approved a $16.721,096 annual budget Wednesday evening, July 18. This compares to the $14.6 million budget approved last year.

City Manager Ron Manfredi said the city is in "a very strong fiscal position," with reserve funds building up nicely over the last four or five years.

In general terms the City plans on spending $4.5 million on personnel, $3.8 million on maintenance and operations, and $8.1 million on major construction projects.

Major planned expenditures this include $2.2 million for police operations; $2.9 million for construction of new facilities; $1.9 million for new parks; $1.6 million for new water facilities construction; and $1.5 million for street construction.

Projects planned for the near future include a $2.4 million expansion of city hall, with new council chambers (planned to break ground late this year), and a $3.1 million wastewater treatment plant expansion, set to begin construction sometime in 2008.

On the personnel side the City will be adding three new full-time positions.

• One officer will be added to the police department, bringing the total staff to 19 ‘sworn’ officers (including the chief) and three ‘non-sworn’ staffers.

• One new maintenance worker for the Public Works department, alone with several part-time employees for the ‘heavy park use and mowing’ season.

• One general maintenance worker, to help with additional parks coming on-line and with upkeep at the Community/Teen Center. A part-time clerical position will also be hired to help with records.

In other actions last week the City Council:

HOLDS OFF ON RECYCLING ORDINANCE

The council tabled a proposed new ordinance which would have added more rules to the buying and selling of metal for recycling.

The city was working on the new ordinance, at the request of Fresno County officials, in an effort to curb the theft of recyclable metal.

Local and area scrap metal recyclers have complained that the new regulations would be too costly, and would harm their businesses.

Recently, however, a court has issued an injunction against Fresno County’s similar scrap metal ordinance, and so until the legal issue is settled the Kerman ordinance will be placed on hold.

NORTHEAST ANNEXATION HEARING

A public hearing was held on a resolution approving a large annexation of land (from Fresno County into the City of Kerman) in the northeast quarter of the town.

The resolution was mostly a ‘housekeeping’ fix, amending a staff error which listed the size of the annexation at 115 acres, when it is actually just under 130 acres.

Speaking during the public hearing local resident Tom Witt complained about the expense of having to switch from a septic system and water well to the City’s systems, and about an increase in noise and traffic from construction.

City staff said that in the past they have been willing to work with homeowners on the expense, offering long term no interest loans, which over a period of time probably equal the amount which would have to be spent maintaining independent systems.

The annexation passed without dissent. Councilman Jack Sidhu abstained from the voting, citing a conflict of interest because of owning property in the area.

APPROVE GRANT CONSULTANT

The council approved the hiring of the firm of California Consulting (Steve Samuelian) to help the city research and write grants applications, for a monthly fee of $2,500.

City Manager Ron Manfredi said City staff does not have the time to work on grants and, even more importantly, to sound out the various governmental agencies which offer them.

Mayor Trinidad Rodriguez agreed, saying that Samuelian is "highly admired" for his work in this area.

The City is looking for grant funds to help with expanding the wastewater treatment plant; to purchase and develop property for parks; to fund a school resource officer; to help build industrial infrastructure; and to help out with city hall expansion plans.

The council agreed to try the consultant firm for six or seven months, to see how it goes.

LIKE SCHOOL ZONE IDEA

The Council expressed approval of the idea of creating a school speed zone along Whitesbridge Rd., from the corner of Del Norte to the end of the Kerman Christian School property.

Dan Shelton, speaking on behalf of the school, said high speed traffic in the area, especially by trucks, is a hazard to young children. He went on to thank Chief of Police Bill Newton for his quick response to the idea.

Although the property is along a state highway, officials say it should be possible to establish the zone, following the passage of a council resolution and ordinance.

Metal Recycling Ordinance Triggers Debate

A proposed new City of Kerman ordinance which would tighten up controls on the selling and buying of recycled metal drew some differing opinions at the Kerman City Council meeting Wednesday evening, June 20.

Police Chief Bill Newton told the council that in recent years the increasing value of metal has resulted in skyrocketing levels of theft. Locally, thieves have been stripping electrical wires out of homes under construction and from ag water pumps.

The problem exists throughout the central Valley, and the new ordinance is in line with efforts by Fresno County to set up standardized practices for recyclers, tightening up on their record keeping, to make it more difficult for thieves to get away with selling stolen metal, and to slow the whole process down.

Last week Fresno County Board of Supervisor Phil Larson was on hand to pitch for acceptance of the new ordinance, along with several representatives of the Fresno County Sheriff’s Dept. and members of the district attorney’s office. He said the theft of metal has been affecting the rural areas “very heavily.”

A representative of the DA’s office said that, although there has been “no problem” with the local yard (Dreams Recycling), it was “very important to have uniform rules” throughout the county.

The new ordinance would require a license plate number, or a vehicle identification number or thumbprint for every transaction. In addition, recycling yards would be required to keep the metal on hand for five days, as sometimes victims (particularly farmers with equipment spread out over a wide area), don’t realize right away that they’ve been ripped off.

A further requirement would prevent recyclers from paying in cash for metal, and would require them to pay only by check - putting a deliberate delay in the transaction, as officials say many of the metal sales are for quick cash to support a meth habit.

Local recycling yard operator Louis Lopez spoke against some of the provisions of the new law, saying they would be difficult for a small business to handle. He said he can’t afford to write 15 or 20 checks a day, nor to pay for a secretary to do all the paperwork. He also was against the requirement to hold new metal for five days - “can you imagine what my little yard would look like in five days!” He also tweaked Chief Newton, who had criticized his paperwork, saying he “made it sound like I’m a crook.”

Despite the criticisms the council appears to favor the new law. Kerman Mayor Trinidad Rodriguez admitted there are some concerns about how it will affect small recyclers such as Lopez, but said “we need a system to take care ... it’s not small time anymore.” The proposed ordinance will face a further public hearing at a future council meeting.

Annexation Adds 115 Acres to City

An annexation approved by the City Council last Wednesday, June 20, will bring 115 acres into the City of Kerman.

Last week the council took the first actions to bring the area, known as the “Northeast Annexation” into the city limits, detaching the land from the County of Fresno. The area is bounded by Whitesbridge and Kearney, Vineland and Goldenrod. It consists of 106 single family lots, 10 multi-family lots, an assisted living unit for 36 senior citizens, two general commercial lots, a 20 acre elementary school site, storm drainage basins, a neighborhood park and common landscaped areas.

Officials say it will square-off the city’s boundaries in that part of town. The council also took action to change the areas zoning from limited agricultural (20 acre parcels) to smaller urban and commercial lots.

The main developer involved with the project is Mitch Covington, who has several other residential projects either completed or underway in Kerman.

An area resident spoke during the meeting last week, bringing up concerns about lighting, parking and school dropoff zones. He was told these matters would be addressed in further public hearings as the details of the various projects are hammered out.