[0:00] of the Orland City Council for Tuesday, September 1st, 2026, to order.

[0:06] Roll call, please.

[0:08] Let the record show we have a quorum with all council members present.

[0:13] Okay. We're going to go into closed session.

[0:15] Any of the public have

[0:17] something they would like to say? Comments, restrict it to three minutes.

[0:21] Do I have any public comments? None online and no one present, so we'll move on to

[0:26] the closed session, please.

[0:36] We will reconvene and to regular session.

[0:39] We have no reportable action from the closed session tonight. Pledge of allegiance.

[0:46] Yes. All right. Stand if you are able.

[0:50] Salute. Pledge. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the

[0:56] United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands,

[1:01] one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

[1:13] Okay. We'll look at Orland communications and public comments.

[1:17] Of course, we're going to limit them to three minutes, and after you are recognized

[1:22] by the leader, we will be more than happy to yield you my time for any other

[1:26] comments tonight, so you all know. Okay.

[1:32] Good evening.

[1:36] Good evening, Mayor and Councilmember.

[1:41] Excuse me, but I missed a couple of meetings, and I want to ask a question.

[1:47] Maybe you can answer it or not. I don't know.

[1:50] Is the big tank hooked up and in service?

[1:53] I'm going to let our city manager respond to that because I'm sure he's fully up to

[1:59] date on that.

[2:02] It is hooked up, but it is not in service.

[2:06] To my understanding, the last missing electrical piece, we're waiting for the

[2:10] control room, and finally-

[2:12] The one that's supposed to be in July.

[2:14] Yeah, it's finally here.

[2:16] It came.

[2:16] It did come in. So we're just waiting on the contractors to finish up that last bit

[2:21] of work on the tank. The well on the end of Walker Street is still missing one

[2:26] component. So that project's still on hold waiting for that, but that's where we

[2:31] stand at this point.

[2:34] Question, will it be hooked up to the internet?

[2:42] Let's see.

[2:42] It'll be hooked up to a SCADA system, which is internet-based, but it won't be

[2:48] accessible for public internet, but it will be controlled by those employees.

[2:54] Well, I'm concerned with the threats that we get over-

[2:59] Yeah

[2:59] ... from overseas.

[3:01] Yeah.

[3:01] About internet connections and support.

[3:04] Yeah.

[3:04] That was my question.

[3:06] It's like all of our wells. Everything's connected, so it can be controlled easily

[3:10] through the internet, but at the end of the day, it also can be controlled

[3:13] independently.

[3:14] Okay.

[3:15] So when we had the fire on Railroad and all the power got shut off in town during

[3:18] that fire, they had to manually go fire up all the wells for that.

[3:23] So we still have the ability to control it.

[3:26] It just takes a little bit longer to get the employees out and go turn it manually

[3:31] on.

[3:32] Okay.

[3:32] We're not going to be completely shut down if something happened on a cyberattack.

[3:37] Thank you very much. I appreciate it.

[3:38] Very good questioning. Thank you. Anything else?

[3:42] I'll take a public comment tonight.

[3:45] No? Okay. Well, we're going to move on to the administrative business portion of

[3:49] it. I'm sorry. The consent calendar.

[3:52] We have four.

[3:54] The city council minutes from August 16th, the Recreation Commission minutes from

[4:00] April 22nd, and the ABC minutes from February 10th. Any comments on any of those?

[4:06] No. Okay. Do I have a motion?

[4:12] Madam Mayor, I move to approve the consent calendar as presented.

[4:16] I'll second.

[4:18] Motion is made and seconded. All those in favor?

[4:20] Aye.

[4:21] Aye.

[4:22] Opposed? None. The motion is carried. All right.

[4:25] We're going to move on to administrative business, the Feline Population Reduction

[4:29] Program history. The status of the $25,000 allocation, reimbursements,

[4:35] and requested direction from Justin McKeon. Over to you, Justin.

[4:41] Good evening, Mayor, Council.

[4:45] In a quest to try to clean up some of the outstanding things that have been on the

[4:50] city's books, and having talked to Valerie Johnson about trying to find a complete

[4:55] record of everything that's happened in.

[4:58] The mayor's also asked about trying to get to the point of where we're at right

[5:03] now. And so I worked on the history side of this.

[5:09] Scott worked on the other part of this.

[5:11] So mine was the history, to try to bring you guys up to speed on everything that's

[5:16] transpired over the last three years as far as meetings and decisions, and just

[5:21] everything that went into it. And so that was my side of it.

[5:26] As far as the rest of it, from the legal opinion sides of it, I would defer to

[5:30] Scott on that. But this is really just a chance to clear the air, set the record

[5:35] straight on what has happened over the last three years, and then for you guys to

[5:40] make a decision what you want to do going forward.

[5:43] And so that's what this is tonight.

[5:46] Thanks, Scott. To you.

[5:49] I'm happy to answer any questions.

[5:51] So the status of the money is outlined in the staff report.

[5:54] It was initially designated American

[6:00] Recovery funds, but it's not restricted.

[6:04] So, there's no restriction to that.

[6:09] But at the same time, as outlined in the staff report, the program was never

[6:14] implemented. The intended state reimbursement program was never implemented.

[6:19] So it was left out in the open. The city currently has no outstanding

[6:24] obligation regarding that side of the program.

[6:27] Sounds good.

[6:29] Up to the council at this point.

[6:30] Okay. So we're going to open for public comment.

[6:36] You want to go, Maggie?

[6:39] Thank you so much.

[6:41] I'll just comment on this, and we'll make it very, very easy because in the

[6:45] beginning, when we began and came about, it was out of pure need.

[6:51] And there was a lot of suffering going on with the cat situation,

[6:57] and we were getting inundated. Let's make it a long story short.

[7:02] I would just like to be thankful and grateful and very

[7:08] gracious thus far. We did,

[7:13] in all honesty, set this whole political angle and getting involved with how

[7:19] the city council and county works and what have you.

[7:22] It's been an experience and learning experience with that.

[7:26] We want to stay on the gracious side of things.

[7:29] And actually, we did go forth and implemented the program with

[7:35] the wherewithal that we thought that everything had been approved and it's gone

[7:40] forth and continued. We've done so far $10,000 worth

[7:46] of spays and neuters, felines from the city and the county.

[7:49] We didn't differentiate against the county lions or city.

[7:55] They come from everywhere. So we fixed them.

[7:58] And with that, graciously, we like to have that be set behind us.

[8:03] The city has no obligation. The county, we know their stand.

[8:08] Mostly what we'd like to see going forward is the city of Orland staying

[8:14] on the same page and the same board with us on our stance towards the cat

[8:19] situation, with the solution being spay and neuter.

[8:22] Whether it be TNR or what have you, the program, we have a benefit in our county

[8:28] that we have sanctuary. We have 20 acres, and we are able and willing to

[8:33] help the county and city cats. We are getting calls from the county for help, and

[8:39] thus far, we're helping. Thank you. Please let me continue just a minute.

[8:43] And with that, we want the monies and that we've spent so far thus far out of our

[8:49] own pocket, hidden treasures, and

[8:52] self-fund it to be our donations of the city and county.

[8:57] What you do with the decision you make with the $25,000 that was allocated,

[9:02] and as the rest, whichever page. We're in agreement.

[9:07] We like to give these donations. We love it, and we receive them.

[9:10] But we're going to go forward. We want to be on the same page with our city.

[9:15] We're proud of them. So that's far, and we've made a dent

[9:21] in the cat problem. We heard police level went a long way go, but we're not going

[9:26] to be asking for funding in the future. We're self-funded. We have other options.

[9:31] We're self-sustainable at this point.

[9:33] We want to be on good terms with our city, and that's where we want to leave it.

[9:37] So at this point, we know our city doesn't have any money, and we wanted to stay on

[9:42] the Asian side and go through convincing city pass any caps

[9:47] going forward to now.

[9:49] Thank you.

[9:49] Thank you so much for your commentary. I appreciate that. Any others?

[9:55] Any online?

[9:57] No. All right. Council. JC, would you like to start?

[10:05] Justin, I want to thank you and your staff.

[10:06] This is a great detailed staff report, and I recommend anybody in the public that

[10:12] hasn't seen it yet, we'll have meetings pulled up online, and you can actually see

[10:16] what the city council has done in the past, and you have a better understanding of

[10:22] what they're talking about tonight.

[10:24] So it's a thick packet, so by all means, look at it.

[10:30] For me, when I look back at the notes and talking to some of the previous

[10:34] council members and talking with some of the board of supervisors, this was going

[10:38] to be a great program, I think. However, we needed to have a partnership,

[10:44] and we lost that partnership with the county because of funds.

[10:50] So we have to look at it ourselves now. What can we do?

[10:54] What kind of... If we could probably design our own thing, but again, who's going

[10:58] to implement it? Who's going to run it?

[11:01] Can we talk to the sheriff to see if he would run it?

[11:04] If he would implement it, maybe not charge us any admin fees on top of it.

[11:09] Would you like that-

[11:10] Or would like to talk about other options.

[11:14] Can we come up on part of here?

[11:16] I'm sorry. We've got people on TV, but go on then. Quick question, councilman.

[11:21] So we do have our sheriff on board. He's very supportive.

[11:25] He actually donated $20,000 to us over a year ago, and it was very helpful.

[11:30] It helped us get our spay and surgery room completed, and we did 1,000 surgeries

[11:35] when we were in town. So-

[11:37] What about now, though?

[11:38] Sheriff is-

[11:39] Because I know that you have said, I knew that he had given you guys some funds,

[11:43] but does he have the funds to give now?

[11:45] Yeah.

[11:46] Talking with some of the board supervisors, they were hoping that there'd be some

[11:49] funds available somewhere, but they said, "Don't hold your breath."

[11:53] I believe Sheriff Gibbs just recently

[11:55] He wants to go help me at this point.

[11:58] Yeah.

[12:00] And I believe that they get those monies from the licensing for the dogs.

[12:04] There's-

[12:05] And let me ask you this again, because you and I had a couple of discussions.

[12:08] But when you believe, did they tell you they have-

[12:11] Yes

[12:11] ... or just your interpretation of what they may have said?

[12:14] He has told me that he's on board to help me.

[12:18] Okay. Okay.

[12:19] I believe so.

[12:21] Okay.

[12:21] Yes, I believe people's words.

[12:25] Thank you.

[12:25] Well, we and I talked before, and I said, "When you talk with a politician, listen

[12:30] to what they say, not what you assume they said."

[12:34] No.

[12:34] Right? And then if you're not sure, then by all means, ask for specification with

[12:38] any politician.

[12:40] Right. But he said he was supportive to us. Yes.

[12:44] So, for me, unless we can have a partnership with the county,

[12:49] I don't see this thing moving forward any further.

[12:53] And if we were to, say, not have a partnership, then I think that we have our own

[12:58] financial issues as well. Then maybe we should just resend the last

[13:04] city council vote and go ahead and just absorb that back and

[13:10] general fund use it for whatever we need it for.

[13:16] Okay. Thoughts on this?

[13:19] Yes.

[13:24] So

[13:26] my wife is a researcher at the animal shelter, and they

[13:30] got a lot of help from... Sorry.

[13:34] The neighborhood cat advocates got me to return, and they did all the Butte

[13:39] County... They do all the Butte Counties return

[13:44] cats over there. And of course, it looks like they've done about 20,000 cats, so

[13:49] about 1,500 cats per year.

[13:53] And they get a bunch of donations to assist with this program.

[13:58] And I'm sure that they won't end anytime soon.

[14:04] So it's going to be a lot. There's going to be a financial burden for

[14:11] who knows how long until we do something,

[14:16] find something that can be permanent.

[14:18] Yeah.

[14:20] I think we've already set this money aside.

[14:23] I think there is a need for this program,

[14:28] even if the county cannot proceed, if they cannot afford with this.

[14:35] Since we've already set the money aside, I think we should move forward with this,

[14:38] and then hopefully the county will join on. Someone's got to start it.

[14:40] So we've already set the money, but we have the support here.

[14:46] I think we should move on with it. Stop at $10,000 if the county

[14:52] can join the board with us, then maybe we can

[14:57] keep eye funds to this problem that we do have a cat problem population.

[15:02] There's a lot of stray cats. Certain areas

[15:07] are more impacted than others.

[15:13] And along with that, I think we also need to look at the root cause of why there

[15:17] are so many cats.

[15:20] People, residents don't spay, neuter the cats, so we can do some education on

[15:26] that and

[15:28] try to give more education to our residents to not...

[15:33] Try not to feed stray cats because then of course they'll repopulate.

[15:37] And so just along with this, there needs to be education.

[15:44] That's what I'd say.

[15:46] Okay. Thank you. Now we go to John.

[15:50] I mean, pretty simple for me. Is your government responsible

[15:56] for taking care of people's animals? No. Can we help our neighbors?

[16:01] Absolutely. To me, this is one of those issues to where

[16:07] people like you, Valerie, the folks that are good-hearted who want to go help out

[16:11] an issue, that's great. But at a point, now that you're talking about Valerie, too,

[16:15] is where funds are tight. I'm all for even the money, figuring out a way in the

[16:19] original to go do this back in '22 or '23

[16:24] to do that

[16:26] reimbursable for the citizens that reside in New Orleans before it, before again,

[16:32] mostly for householders with cats and with dogs.

[16:35] But here and there, I think it's a good start, and then maybe in the near future,

[16:39] we can get more broad in terms of how we do things.

[16:46] To chime on what JC said, we, you know, waiting for the county is going to be a

[16:49] while, and I don't think we need to partner with them per se.

[16:53] But then again, my final point is going to be, and I don't want to burden the staff

[16:58] who already have to shut the doors one day a week to be able to deal with one

[17:02] thing. But I think with patience and time, we can get this solved, and we won't

[17:06] ever fix it, no pun intended, but we definitely can

[17:11] help address the issue. So we'll just do it one person at a time.

[17:15] That's good.

[17:17] Well, let me just first say thank you, Valerie.

[17:21] We did meet, and you said it's going to be a really short meeting, and I'm going to

[17:25] make it really easy, and you did. I think what people say matters.

[17:31] You said, and what I heard you say tonight, is there, in your view, you and your

[17:35] board believe there's no obligation by the city of this.

[17:39] What you seek is us to be supportive of the mission, which we can do just by saying

[17:44] what you're doing is a good thing. And so I'll say it's a good thing.

[17:49] The other thing I heard you say is that

[17:54] you're self-funded.

[17:56] And that's a good thing.

[17:58] I also did a little research on that Cat Alliance out of Chico, and they are

[18:04] also self-funded. So here's what we know about the good neighbors in New Orleans

[18:09] and Glenn County is they love pets, and

[18:16] when they see a need to help, they give

[18:20] So I think the solution here is to continue for us to be positive about the idea

[18:26] that there is a place where we're trying to reduce the feline population.

[18:31] They're breeding by eliminating the ability to breed.

[18:35] If you want to know why there's a problem, I can tell you.

[18:38] Cats breed, and they breed fast, and they breed often, and they have large litters.

[18:41] The problem is that individuals who are cat owners don't care for

[18:47] their cats, and they don't take responsibility for their cats when they choose not

[18:53] to, or neglect having them spayed and neutered, and then they breed, and

[18:58] then those feral cats, those new cats, become feral in the county.

[19:04] So I think yours is one of many solutions.

[19:07] I think it's the more humane solution than trapping and euthanizing.

[19:12] And so I'm so glad that you came tonight. I'm so glad that we met.

[19:18] I think you see where this is going. I think I do, too.

[19:21] I think the financial needs of the city are paramount for this,

[19:28] for

[19:30] me in particular, but I think for this group.

[19:33] And so the fact that you took the gracious exit option for us, thank you for that,

[19:40] because I will also support returning those funds back to the general fund.

[19:44] You're welcome. Blessing.

[19:46] Yeah. And I see that and yeah, I believe that. Thank you, Valerie.

[19:53] Okay.

[19:56] It's difficult to be where we are because a promise was made back in 2023

[20:02] to address what was a serious problem.

[20:06] Yeah, a serious problem in the city limits. It certainly is.

[20:11] I've told the story of my own son, six-year-old son, being bit by a feral cat, and

[20:16] my inability to find out whether or not that cat had rabies, because the cat died

[20:20] two days later for no good reason, found it dead in the backyard.

[20:25] So having feral cats running around that are not

[20:31] being cared for, some people are very, very gentle and care enough that they throw

[20:37] food out for them. Putting food out does not make them overpopulate.

[20:42] They will populate whether you feed them or someone else puts food out for them.

[20:48] The way to manage the problem is the TNR program.

[20:53] And actually, I had gone to former management at the city of Orland

[20:59] before Valerie ever came along, trying to have a discussion over the issue,

[21:05] and the response was, "It's not a city problem." It is a city problem.

[21:10] We're in a really good place now, because we actually, the numbers, I truly

[21:15] believe, Valerie, are going down.

[21:17] Our business right there on Highway 99, there were cats everywhere,

[21:23] all the time. They were in the dumpsters, they were underneath buildings, they were

[21:27] flops. That population has decreased, and I would have to, and Valerie

[21:33] actually provided some traps for me to trap some of them, have them fixed, and

[21:39] allow them to either stay with Valerie or return them to the streets.

[21:43] And so the population is going down, but it's going down because something is being

[21:48] done. So Valerie's effort is paying off.

[21:53] The city is benefiting from Valerie's effort.

[21:56] Now, I want to make sure I 100% understand you.

[21:59] You're saying you do not need the 25,000 that the city has previously

[22:05] discussed providing you, and that you were thinking you were going to get when you

[22:10] went out and built your facility, your spay, neuter facility?

[22:17] Go ahead.

[22:17] At the time, when we were first in town, I was desperate for money because the

[22:22] overtime was high, and I was under a lot of stress.

[22:26] So I think that that came about in a desperate way.

[22:30] But since we did move out to our ranch, and we

[22:36] have the future of the Rampant Pit Judges is going to continue after I'm gone.

[22:41] My son is taking over gateway. But

[22:45] we don't have that. We have a viable sustainability at this time, and we've gone

[22:51] viral on TikTok, which is providing a lot of-

[22:54] A lot of film there, isn't it?

[22:56] A lot of amazing people.

[22:58] My other question to you.

[23:01] We-

[23:01] The history with this, what I understood was that it was not going to you.

[23:06] It was a voucher program where anyone could trap or take a cat to any vet,

[23:12] and any vet would get the $100 reimbursement.

[23:15] That's the original, and we had

[23:21] wanted to go for that, and that was our original proposal.

[23:24] But nobody at the vets did not come forward. Nobody did.

[23:28] So the vets weren't going to sign off.

[23:29] They weren't interested. So we did go forward and do all of the work, and I met

[23:34] with all the different counties for advice and to find out how a voucher

[23:39] program is actually enacted and

[23:44] we can go forth with it. And a lot of counties, Colusa County helped us, the

[23:49] sheriff's department there, animal control, and a lot of people, Chico NCA,

[23:56] Sarah Downs came here, actually, and we met in the ad hoc committee with them

[24:01] there, Matt Romano. So I believe that's where with-- I don't blame anyone here

[24:06] because there's been so many changes, and just like Chief Chaney, he helped

[24:12] and stepped right in to help find out what the issue was, and Councilman Elliott,

[24:18] and you too, Mayor Barna. I do appreciate everybody doing some homework and finding

[24:23] out, getting to the bottom, because when words are said in conversation, it's

[24:27] different. Conversation is not what's in the book there that's not house to take

[24:32] care of. So we get that, and with that, there's no blame anywhere.

[24:37] We

[24:38] always just wanted to have a solution for the cats, the most humane.

[24:44] Euthanizing, trapping cats, euthanizing is not the correct way.

[24:47] If you leave the stray cats out on the street, they're going to not

[24:53] feed them and have a program. There is no responsible feeders as well.

[24:57] That's a whole other story. But you need to have a program of feeders trapping

[25:02] follow-through. Fix them. If they're not able to TNR return where they come from,

[25:08] we have that option, which is a real blessing in our county because a lot of them

[25:11] don't have that. They only have TNR. We have a sanctuary.

[25:15] So if right now, if I were to feel like I have

[25:21] three cats, they're eating my cats' cat food because they're strays, and they're

[25:25] coming along, and I decide, "Okay, I'm going to do something about that," and I

[25:30] were to come to you and ask for a trap, you'd give me a trap, and I can bring the

[25:36] cats out. And then what is it going to cost me to have the cats fixed?

[25:39] Our program is that we have a new sponsorship program of the people.

[25:43] They're buying people and it's foreign people.

[25:46] And for an example, we had a call that was desperate. A woman hoarding cats.

[25:51] She didn't start out right, but living in an apartment in Live Oak, out of our

[25:55] county, which we're helping as well.

[25:59] She had me out by 6:00 PM, and the cats were all going to be fed out to the street.

[26:03] And you're talking 10 cats that are five males and five females.

[26:07] Well, the females all had litters. So now you're talking...

[26:12] Exponentially a lot of cats.

[26:14] So we said yes, bring them. So it was $100 each.

[26:17] So we take a surrender for $100 each.

[26:20] We offer lifetime wellness, care, fixing if they need to be fixed,

[26:26] and a free roaming on a 20-acre sanctuary.

[26:30] So I guess my question was, I'm just a retired senior-

[26:34] Yeah

[26:34] ... let's say, and it's going to cost me $300, or it's not going to cost me $300

[26:40] because you have a program that's going to help me, a retired senior, pay for the

[26:45] cost.

[26:45] Okay, so this woman that was evicted obviously had no money.

[26:49] So we put it out there, and about three or four shelters and rescuers got together,

[26:57] Placer County, Butte County, and us.

[27:01] And between all of us, within, mind you, five hours, we raised

[27:06] $7,000. We moved those cats in. So-

[27:09] So there's some of these who help the folks that don't.

[27:12] That was a sponsorship that came forth in a great way for one situation in an

[27:18] emergency in five hours worth of time. But that was very impressive to us.

[27:23] And since then, we've had several more donations come in at $100 each for those

[27:28] kind of people that don't have money.

[27:30] And those also, the people that have cat issues that want to do the

[27:36] right thing and get them in and get fixed, we have that option now that we can have

[27:40] an account, a fund for them, or we can put it out there, and as it comes in, it

[27:44] comes in quick. So people are good. It's a lot better.

[27:49] Had we known in the beginning, maybe we'd have gone there.

[27:52] But we came to our city and county first, as we thought we would, to tell about the

[27:57] problem.

[27:58] And my concern is if-

[28:00] We want people to continue what you've started, that they are going to trap, and

[28:05] that they are going to get through this.

[28:08] And I don't want it to die because people now say, "Well, I'm going to have to pay

[28:13] $300 to fix these three cats, and I don't have the money, so those cats are just

[28:17] going to have to have babies."

[28:19] We found the opposite. It's actually working the opposite because when we were

[28:24] doing the voucher program, and we had all the extra paperwork that we created, a

[28:29] lot of the people said, "You know, I don't really want all this, and I just want

[28:31] maybe $100." And $100 is kind of a new fee, and that's easy to come up

[28:37] with. It's not that hard. So $100 for fixing a spay of a female or a

[28:43] male is a great deal. It includes the rabies vaccine.

[28:47] We have that cat on the table. We give them a pain shot always, and we let it go

[28:51] home. And then if they have fleas, mites, worms, or anything, we treat it.

[28:56] So the people can pay that extra for the worms and the mites and what have you if

[28:59] they like, but if there's not, we're still going to treat that cat while we have

[29:03] that cat.

[29:03] Oh.

[29:05] Whoops.

[29:06] Terry?

[29:08] Yes.

[29:11] Terry?

[29:13] It's Bruce. Hello, Bruce. How are you today?

[29:16] Damn it.

[29:17] Okay.

[29:20] Bruce, you're on.

[29:23] Maybe he don't-

[29:24] Bruce?

[29:27] I don't know.

[29:29] Is he talking? Yeah.

[29:30] Yeah, he's got technical difficulties.

[29:34] Oh, technical difficulties. Bruce, are you there?

[29:37] Yeah.

[29:37] Okay. So you're saying the program will go on whether or not it's funded by the

[29:43] city. So it sounds like we're not going to end people's ability to

[29:49] continue what we've started, and that is to be able to get the cats fixed so that

[29:53] we continue to reduce population.

[29:55] What I want mostly is for us to be on the same page as

[30:00] far as the solution, to be the humane answer for our community

[30:06] because we're making an impact with the other counties that are coming up.

[30:11] They have the same problem, but they're coming up in a trend of the food

[30:17] bans, I believe, and the responsible feeders, even if you have to get to the point

[30:21] of certifying them, like what's going on in Shasta County, which is disastrous.

[30:26] But they've got a whole mess up there as well with a lot of starving cats because

[30:30] the stray cats, the feral cats, community cats, they're an abandoned cat.

[30:36] Somehow or another, the route is people move, and they leave them.

[30:41] That's a big cause. We have a lot of those cats. So that's how they come about.

[30:46] So, it's a slow death of starvation for them cats

[30:52] if not being fed in the traps. And we don't want to see that because then you get

[30:55] the disease factor. Doctor, uh, councilman, uh,

[31:02] well-

[31:03] John. John Durden.

[31:05] John, that's awesome. We were going to see, four, few years ago, we were finding

[31:10] dead kitties on the ground on the way to school, and the kids were picking them up.

[31:14] So we don't want that. Yeah. It sounds like what we can offer you probably, and

[31:19] this will be a five-member decision, but maybe rather since we are in dire need of

[31:24] the funds to stay in the city's conquer, if you're very healthy, obviously, and

[31:29] you're able to continue the mission that you've started, maybe what we can do is

[31:33] exactly what Alex said. Maybe we can participate in assisting you with an

[31:37] educational program, either through our mailers, we have bill mailers, an

[31:43] educational program that educates the public on the need to continue to

[31:49] work towards a sustainable population of cats that are healthy.

[31:54] It's your legacy because you're going to be remembered as being kind to the cats in

[31:59] a humane way. You're not going to be on the record for other ways that are not that

[32:04] good and that don't really work. Thank you very much for all the information you've

[32:08] provided us tonight and for all the work that you're putting in to take care of our

[32:12] kitties and our community as well. Thank you. Okay.

[32:16] So I think with all that being said, I don't think there's even a...

[32:20] What needs to follow? To kill-

[32:22] I'm sorry, I just saw the shirt of one member of the audience.

[32:25] I'm sorry if I'm laughing. I finally read it. I didn't know what it said.

[32:30] I think just for clarity, it'd be useful for, if you'd be willing to say, that's

[32:34] what I'm hearing. To re-designate

[32:39] to the general public.

[32:39] That would be my motion then, is some quick question.

[32:44] Is that a resection?

[32:45] Yeah, my motion.

[32:46] Oh, it can be. It can be.

[32:49] Okay.

[32:49] Make the motion.

[32:49] You should.

[32:49] No, you can do it if you want.

[32:53] Well, I make a motion that the $25,000 previously designated for the feral cat

[32:58] program be returned to the general fund, designated for

[33:04] other means of the community. And that

[33:10] we

[33:11] have a discussion about additional means of supporting the program

[33:16] by education. Can I do that?

[33:20] You can.

[33:21] Do I even need to do that?

[33:23] No, probably not. That was-

[33:24] We were talking, if you-

[33:25] Yeah.

[33:25] Direction, I think it's good.

[33:27] Okay.

[33:27] Yeah.

[33:29] Because I think that would help. People need to know that they do have the vehicle

[33:33] too, because I don't want to see it go backwards.

[33:36] It really has been successful once it's started.

[33:39] So second to my first half of the motion. Okay, all those in favor?

[33:45] Aye.

[33:46] Opposed? None. The motion is carried.

[33:48] Thank you, Ms. Johnson.

[33:50] Thank you, Mandy.

[33:52] Oops.

[33:55] I have bottle babies.

[33:56] That's all right.

[33:58] Thank you.

[34:02] All right.

[34:05] Okay.

[34:10] That's all right.

[34:11] And how Carrie has been doing this actually put Oregon on the map in a very

[34:17] positive way. She literally has thousands upon thousands of followers

[34:23] of her

[34:25] hidden treasures out there from all over the world and for the care that we

[34:30] provide as a community for our cats.

[34:33] So that's a good positive thing for Oregon.

[34:37] Yep.

[34:37] These items. Okay, we're going to move on to the next one.

[34:41] Thank you for your patience while I move yours.

[34:47] 824 Fourth Street. Did you want to make a discussion, Dustin?

[34:54] Sure.

[34:56] So this is another one of the issues that we've been sitting on the back burner but

[35:01] needs to get addressed. So I got you guys a history.

[35:05] I learned things about this property I didn't even know.

[35:08] So we got you guys a history, a financial analysis, and we're kind of looking for

[35:13] direction. It basically reads with history and then kind of a menu as to what some

[35:19] of your guys' options are.

[35:21] And then depending on choices of options as far as what we would do to move forward

[35:26] as staff. The biggest one, I guess I would like to say to you guys is winter's

[35:32] coming, and it's not weatherproof right now with that face open.

[35:36] So, at the very least, making a decision whether we're wrapping it back

[35:42] in plastic again, which has to be fixed several times every winter because as soon

[35:46] as there's a high wind, it opens it back up.

[35:48] But I would just like that, keep that in the back of your mind that that's coming,

[35:52] and we really need to do something so it doesn't get water damage in it if...

[35:56] Unless demo is the choice, then I guess that part doesn't matter.

[36:00] So it really is based on what you guys want to do with this building, or if you

[36:05] want to limit it down to a couple different options that we can look into for you.

[36:10] We're just trying to get this moving in a direction.

[36:13] Realistically, your next city manager's going to be dealing with this, but I'd like

[36:17] to just be able to hand them where something is a little bit narrower than this

[36:21] broad scope that you're looking at right now.

[36:24] So I think just a broad overview and some direction from you guys as to what you

[36:29] guys' thoughts are for the future of this thing.

[36:32] Well, thank you for a very in-depth report for us to sift through.

[36:37] It's got a lot of information. It does give us many choices.

[36:40] Do I have any public comment on this issue?

[36:44] Online?

[36:46] No. Okay. Then wait. Do you want to take the lead on this one?

[36:51] Yeah. So this starts before my first stint on city council, but I came towards the

[36:57] end of it. There was a lot of optimism at the time on the council.

[37:02] We were not yet aware that the Great Recession was looming, and real estate had

[37:07] been a very solid investment

[37:10] Now we have the benefit of hindsight.

[37:13] That was 2005 when this property was acquired, 2008 when I came on the council

[37:19] at the time of the Great Recession, which really changed the

[37:25] numbers. So here we are, literally 18 years later, and we

[37:31] still have a property that we've invested hundreds of thousands of dollars in that

[37:36] currently is of no value to anyone, and in fact, is an expense

[37:42] at best, and an eyesore at least. I think it's pretty obvious to me that

[37:48] it's a great location for a future city

[37:52] facility because of its proximity to the existing police department.

[37:58] I think the best option is option two, and that is to demolish the site and

[38:02] eliminate the eyesore, eliminate ongoing cost, and more importantly, ongoing

[38:07] potential liability of a building that could come down, a building that could be an

[38:12] attractive nuisance to somebody who thinks this is "Call of Duty"

[38:18] in real life where you can go in there and play.

[38:21] I think it's the least expensive option right now, except for the option of doing

[38:25] nothing. And I don't think the option of doing nothing is an option.

[38:28] So if it were me, I would remove the property and make the site

[38:34] safe,

[38:36] and then allow a future time when the economics allow to see what's the best and

[38:41] highest use of that property, develop it for the city's use, is probably my

[38:46] preference, or sell it, and now you have a clean property that's more sellable for

[38:51] maybe a future business that could benefit the city of Orlando and the citizens of

[38:55] Orlando downtown. That's my recommendation.

[38:58] John?

[39:01] I'm sure everybody here and everybody on this council has a plethora of

[39:08] recommendations of what to do, and usually it's either you sell it or bulldoze it

[39:13] or give it to somebody who'd appreciate it more than us.

[39:16] Listening to everybody, I'm on board with option two, demolish,

[39:21] build something new, keep it to develop later.

[39:27] But I think the best thing right now would be is to see if

[39:33] somebody would be willing to buy it, at least get some of the money back, and

[39:38] hopefully that person would have the funds to do something quicker than what we'd

[39:41] be able to do as a municipality.

[39:44] That's where I'm at. I'm easy either way.

[39:48] Unfortunately, to do a city hall there,

[39:53] it's just too small of a site, especially as the town grows.

[39:58] We've got a library park across the street.

[40:00] But with that being said, for somebody else that wants to come in and develop it

[40:04] and do something really nice with it, like we've heard about other buildings

[40:07] downtown, other facilities, it would be really nice to see who

[40:13] bites and who is interested. That's my two cents.

[40:18] Mark?

[40:21] Since I was around back when we purchased that building, I was never a big fan of

[40:26] that building, to be genuine.

[40:29] Didn't think it was going to meet our needs because we had a big general plan put

[40:33] together, and they were talking about how big the city was going to be and stuff

[40:36] like that. I could see it's already outgrowing that block already for a police

[40:42] department. So for me, I agree with Wayne and John about option two, but I

[40:48] lean more towards option three of selling it.

[40:51] But I'm all for about demoing it also because I think it's prime location.

[40:56] But if you get somebody to make a good offer, I'm all about turning it down.

[41:07] I would say if I go with option two, demolish and build new.

[41:12] I personally would not want to sell the property because I think it's prime

[41:17] location. You're not going to

[41:20] find other more properties within downtown to keep as

[41:27] public government property. You'd have to build outside the city, and we

[41:32] run the risk of relocating everything and

[41:36] trying to communicate between two different sites miles away,

[41:42] and trying to make it as multi-purpose as possible

[41:48] of a site so that maybe business, other city property, some

[41:54] campus, a deal.

[41:59] Yeah, so I'm up. Yeah. Okay. So I tend to go towards the

[42:04] number three for a couple of different reasons.

[42:07] One is I think the estimates for demolition of that property are so far under what

[42:12] the reality is, like we have tried to get down and haul out that property.

[42:17] Personally, I know of a home that I owned that we had to haul off to debris because

[42:22] the house burned down, and it was $135,000 just to haul

[42:28] off to debris. This we're talking, it's already been established that there is

[42:34] hazardous materials in the building, so it's not just going to be hauled to the

[42:38] dump, it's going to be hauled to Coal River, roof of the house, for instance.

[42:43] So cost of demolition, I think, are going to far outweigh the value of the

[42:46] property. And as a couple of you said, the property is just too small.

[42:53] It's not realistic to think you're going to build Orland's future city hall,

[42:57] parking, and everything that needs to go with it on that tiny little parcel and

[43:01] have it last very long. We already own the parcel that is contiguous where the new

[43:07] water tank was. That's a nice big parcel of property that if we're going to build

[43:11] it, let's build it where we have room to grow, not right there in the middle of

[43:15] town. And then the other reason is it doesn't, in my mind, have historical value.

[43:20] And although we don't feel that it's warranted for us to renovate that building,

[43:25] especially when the very first estimate was $130,000 just to get underneath

[43:31] it to the studs of the building to see what the structure actually is.

[43:39] Honestly, I think that we can build a building over on the other city-owned

[43:43] property and build something much nicer that allows room for growth.

[43:47] And this, the historical value, maybe a buyer would actually do something.

[43:52] I'm one of those people that bought a historical building that maybe others would

[43:55] have torn down. That's the 501 building that for a while was Discovery Center.

[44:00] It's now they just hauled in trash cans, and we have a doctor and his wife out of

[44:05] Chico that's just about to build a nice little coffee shop there.

[44:10] Only because I went in there and made the first effort because that building had

[44:14] been for sale for many years. Nobody wanted to touch it.

[44:17] I went in, I cleaned it up, I renovated it, I showed the real jewel of what's in

[44:21] this town, and so it was preserved.

[44:24] Purity Building very well, if you got the right buyer, might do that.

[44:28] And we have actually had, when I first came onto this council in closed session, we

[44:33] had very high interest in that building purchase at that day.

[44:37] So I wouldn't be surprised if we were able to find one of our local

[44:42] developers who has developed many of the other properties in this town.

[44:46] Don't know who that might be. I can tell you it won't be me.

[44:49] But one of those people may walk in there and decide that there's worth here and be

[44:53] able to turn it into a business complex with multiple offices.

[44:57] We're short on office space. We ourselves couldn't find office space to move City

[45:02] Hall to so that we could serve the congregation on the police department, but maybe

[45:06] someone else will. So I think that before we just tear it down, spend the money

[45:11] that its value has, spend it all on a tear down, let's go ahead and offer it

[45:17] up for sale. And if we're able to sell it, then that's going to be money for us to

[45:23] start really seriously thinking about the next city hall, because we still need to

[45:29] do it. The police department needs to be able to expand in that space.

[45:32] So let's get that done. That's my vote.

[45:35] So at this point, I guess I need a motion to somebody.

[45:38] You're seeking direction, is that correct?

[45:40] Or is it just direction?

[45:41] You're seeking direction.

[45:43] Is the direction a motion of one, two, three, four, five? Or what's a motion?

[45:48] What is direction? What should we do?

[45:50] It can be whatever the council-

[45:52] Do you have a preference?

[45:52] ... agrees is the best option. So I like what you said.

[45:56] What I basically heard is option three is plan A, and option two is plan B.

[46:01] And I'm 100% comfortable that if somebody would buy that and make it a useful

[46:05] amenity for the citizens of Orland in a downtown business district, that's ideal

[46:09] for everyone

[46:11] Given that we do have property here, not my first choice.

[46:16] I think your choice over there on the road with the right way, that land that's for

[46:20] purchase there is the ideal place to expand city offices and city government.

[46:25] So

[46:28] I'm perfectly comfortable with that kind of direction.

[46:30] Pursue the sale, but not forever.

[46:33] Yeah.

[46:33] I don't want to be talking about this in two years.

[46:35] If nobody buys, nobody buys, then I think we were talking about option two, and

[46:40] figuring out how to pay for that. That

[46:44] might be our cleanup grant that we might look for, a city beautification grant, a

[46:49] downtown improvement grant, whatever they want to call it.

[46:53] If it exists, that would be what I would call plan B.

[47:00] So I guess you would investigate

[47:04] maybe a stage to get this appraisal?

[47:07] Yeah. We're looking to get an appraisal and a real estate agent, and that's the

[47:10] only thing I'd like to see if I can get you guys to agree to, is if we're going to

[47:15] look at trying to sell it, at least spending a little bit of money to wrap it back

[47:19] up so we don't incur more damage. Like somebody earlier going into winters,

[47:25] maybe try to do something to weatherproof that exposed face.

[47:29] Yeah, we do that anyways.

[47:30] Yeah, we do do that anyways. I just want to make sure you guys are good.

[47:34] We'll use a little bit of option four. It's tied together.

[47:38] Why don't you do pre-appraisal stuff?

[47:40] We'll see what...

[47:42] Okay.

[47:44] Understood.

[47:45] Okay. That's good.

[47:48] Okay.

[47:50] So we have the resolution for a memorandum of understanding with the United Public

[47:54] Employees of California Local 792 general unit for the period July 1, 2026 through

[48:00] June 30, 2027. Justin?

[48:05] Yeah. So in the last closed session,

[48:08] I believe all the terms were agreed to between the city and the union, and

[48:14] everything was formalized and voted on and passed.

[48:16] And so we're just bringing it to you for the final piece to finish this up for the

[48:22] year, for the memorandum of understanding.

[48:25] Any public comments

[48:28] online? No. Okay.

[48:33] I think we've kind of fairly well covered this-

[48:35] Yeah

[48:36] ... previously. So motion please.

[48:39] I would make a motion to adopt resolution number 2026 next in line, which is a

[48:44] resolution of the city council, or the City of Orland, approving a memorandum of

[48:49] understanding between the City of Orland and the employees represented by the

[48:53] United Public Employees of California Local 792 general unit for the

[48:59] one-year period effective July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2027.

[49:05] Second.

[49:07] All those in favor?

[49:08] Aye.

[49:09] Opposed? No. Motion carries. So now we go to the resolution approving a memorandum

[49:15] of understanding with the United Public Employees of California Local 792, the

[49:19] mid-management unit for the period July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2027.

[49:25] Any discussion with public and comments? No.

[49:30] Nothing online. I believe we're probably in a position where

[49:36] we just were that we've had live discussions and already agreed and been home with

[49:41] this stuff. We have read through the resolution.

[49:44] Yeah.

[49:44] And it's in line with what we have previously agreed to, therefore a motion.

[49:51] Go ahead.

[49:53] I hear none. I would again make a resolution approving a memorandum of

[49:56] understanding with the United Public Employees Union of California Local 792

[50:01] mid-management unit for the period July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2027,

[50:07] as indicated in the packet.

[50:09] I'll second the motion.

[50:12] Okay. So the motion made is seconded. All those in favor?

[50:16] Aye.

[50:16] Opposed? No. That motion carries as well.

[50:20] So we now have a city manager verbal report.

[50:23] Anything new, Justin?

[50:27] On a good note, last Monday here as a flyer went out into the world to

[50:33] hire the new city manager.

[50:34] Yeah.

[50:35] So, staff helped with

[50:38] creating a little bit more warm and friendly atmosphere in it, and everybody felt

[50:42] it was a little on the cold side, but some input from staff added some-

[50:46] Yeah

[50:46] ... people and some life to it through some of the photos.

[50:50] So everybody participated in trying to get that out and get it finished.

[50:54] I believe September 25th is your close on it, and so hopefully we come back with

[51:01] lots of good applications for you guys to review.

[51:04] Okay.

[51:06] I believe

[51:08] we'll be able to bring waste management to you guys at the next meeting.

[51:11] I had a nice little talk with Jonathan about the waste management contract, and I

[51:17] believe a very simple resolution to that will be coming.

[51:20] So I'm hoping we can get that presented to you guys at the next city council

[51:24] meeting, which will take care of quite a few of our outstanding issues that we

[51:29] have.

[51:31] I know Joanne's working hard on trying to close out some of the delinquent stuff

[51:35] with the state under finance. We're closing out some of the delinquent stuff with

[51:40] the housing with the state. So I believe,

[51:44] fingers crossed, that we're actually going to make it across the finish line and

[51:47] get all those things done in time. So this should make, I'm hoping, for a pretty

[51:53] clean slate for your next city manager to walk in here and start dealing with

[51:59] the things you guys like to-

[52:01] Fantastic. Thank you.

[52:04] Any reports?

[52:05] Wonderful. Very impressive.

[52:09] Council?

[52:11] Real quick. Just wanted to thank Justin and his staff for everything that they've

[52:15] been doing. It finally feels like we're getting out of that stuck in a rut, and

[52:20] we're probably moving forward with everything. So I really appreciate that.

[52:24] The only thing I have is, I attended, we had a short waste management meeting last

[52:28] week. I think it was like a 20-minute meeting. That was it. That's all I know.

[52:34] Any additions?

[52:34] Yes.

[52:37] I attended the planning commission meeting last week, I think.

[52:41] There was a discussion about rezoning a property on South and Baps from Par 1 R3.

[52:47] That discussion will continue to the next planning commission meeting, so if you're

[52:50] interested, please attend. The recreation commission, I met with them at that

[52:55] meeting as well.

[52:57] Successful summer. Jujitsu classes continue for adults, so if you're interested in

[53:02] that,

[53:03] please check it out on the recreation website.

[53:07] And then soccer season begins for the youth.

[53:11] And then I wanted to... I was thinking about the EEC,

[53:16] the Economic and Development Commission, and the huge finance manager or director,

[53:21] and I was thinking maybe perhaps they can join forces and perhaps also do budget

[53:27] discussions or finance discussions, whatever that entails to

[53:31] kind of... Now that we have that avenue to increase awareness of

[53:38] transparency of the finances in Orland, the City of Orland.

[53:41] I think that's it.

[53:45] Dan?

[53:48] I'll just wait until you go through me.

[53:50] Oh, that's good.

[53:52] No, and then I totally echo what JC said, and for people that don't

[53:58] get to see Justin Chaney's face from the position I'm at, this man has done a

[54:02] wonderful job, but he absolutely does not like it.

[54:06] And for all of us in this world who have had to do things we do not like or are

[54:10] uncomfortable with, I appreciate him and I appreciate his staff.

[54:14] I cannot wait to get our chief back to do what the chief needs to do.

[54:17] And thank him for doing all the stuff he's doing, and especially his wonderful

[54:21] wife, Joni, who's putting up with him during the strike time.

[54:24] Other than that, I can echo what JC said.

[54:29] It's so nice to actually be moving forward.

[54:32] It's a breath of fresh air, and I will leave with that.

[54:37] Okay.

[54:38] Yesterday we had our first meeting of the ad hoc committee.

[54:41] Two representatives, myself and Council Member McDermott, met with Tony Ayren and

[54:47] Grant Carmona. Those are both county supervisors, including the president of the

[54:52] county board supervisors, along with the chief administrative officer for the

[54:57] county. That's Scott DeMoss. I'm going to tell you that it went exactly like we had

[55:02] hoped it would. We acknowledged that we're neighbors. We have common cause.

[55:08] We're public servants, and we're here for the people.

[55:11] And so this tax agreement largely got out of hand, but I think only because we

[55:17] didn't get together and talk like neighbors with common cause who care about the

[55:22] citizens of the county and cities that we serve.

[55:26] So I think that the results of this going forward, it will be ultimately the

[55:31] council's full participation that will matter.

[55:34] But I think we set the tone on both sides, and I think we are going to work through

[55:39] this. And the results of this, and I fully expect, will be good for all.

[55:45] So we have to participate. That's all I have to report.

[55:50] Okay. Very good. Again, I do believe this is First Friday, so the arts commission

[55:56] usually has the gallery open on First Friday.

[55:59] So if there's anyone out there that wants to go, I really like believing in the

[56:02] Rosendale Art Gallery right now. It's a fabulous direction.

[56:08] No, we call only report tonight, and thank you folks for coming.

[56:12] It's been a lovely meeting. Thank you.

City Council Meeting | September 1, 2026

Transcript