GRIDLEY, CA (MPG) - The meeting came to order at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, February 20. Council Members in attendance were Mike Farr, Bruce Johnson, J. Angel Calderon, Catalina Sanchez, and James Roberts.

The January 2024 Expenditure Report was produced and can be viewed by the public at http://gridley.ca.us/public/uploads/pdfs/022024_Agenda.pdf.

Items on the agenda for consideration and discussion were:

Item #4, the 2024 energy efficiency rebate programs, presented by Finance Director Elisa Arteaga.
Item #5, discussion concerning city consultants, presented by Vice Mayor Bruce Johnson.
Item #6, AT&T phone utility service discussion, presented by Council Member Catalina Sanchez.

Elisa Arteaga began the discussion for item #4 with the staff report. “We’ve talked about this in the past, bringing forth rebates and what programs we want to bring to the residents of this town. Historically we have had energy efficiency services that have helped us with a lot of these programs. They usually come in and do the energy audits where they would go into people’s homes and do a review. We used to send them out when a customer would come in with concerns about their utility services. This was pre-COVID. We also used to refer customers to HEAP which is an energy program where they give an allotment of a flat amount based on income. The issue with HEAP is, you can give a customer funds every year, but other than rebates, assisting customers with finding ways to lower their costs is important. There is also the website development where customers can click on a link and find which rebates they may be interested in. This will be a new format coming soon.”

She asked the Council to consider the need to develop programs that will assist not just low-income and seniors, but will be available to everyone, including commercial customers. And getting the information out there through bill inserts and online.

When asked where the money would come from for these programs, Arteaga pointed out, “There is a section on everyone’s utility bill titled ‘Public Benefit.’ It is a percentage of the consumption that customers are getting billed for. There’s a formula where 2.85% of the bill is taken each month for the public benefit programs. It can go up or down depending on how much energy you use, but that percentage is put into a special fund. The city cannot use that fund for anything other than something that benefits the public. That would be utilized to establish the programs and also to continue to fund some of these programs.”

In conclusion, Arteaga said she would like to get back with the consultants and find out how much it’s going to cost for each program. She also suggested looking into EV (Electronic Vehicle) programs. “A rebate could be available for anyone who purchases an EV. There is one EV project that is currently underway. Two properties in Gridley have been purchased specifically for establishing EV charging stations,” she said.

Item #5 was presented by Vice Mayor Bruce Johnson. He put forth the possibility of opening a full-time planning position as opposed to having consultants on call, and also wanted to review the contracts that are over five years old. “The financial cost of doing a full-time planning position would be the main thing for sure. But we need as much information brought back to us so we can make a decision on that,” he said.

A study was suggested by Sanchez to look into what other cities in the area are doing with their city planning departments. “Other cities have a full planning department and we don’t. We could do a city-to-city comparison and find out what benefit or what hardships that may bring.”

Mayor Farr said, “I believe that is a good idea to bring that forward and look at it because our city is growing. Housing complexes are going up — a lot of things are growing too. I think we need a full-time planner behind the desk downstairs to facilitate the projects as things move on.”

Arteaga added, “It’s important that we do a study session. Because we can look at all the services and we can tackle it by looking into services vs employee comparisons.” The Council agreed.

Item #6 was brought to the Council by Catalina Sanchez. “AT&T wants approval from the CPUC (California Public Utilities Commission) to discontinue the obligation of providing landline services. There is a map available online as to who would be those impacted customers, and that would be around 500,000 people. So right now that process is pending and they are having a few scheduled public hearings in February and March on this matter. Basically, there have already been people speaking up, saying they are really concerned about this. They believe AT&T is a reliable service to them, especially in rural areas where wi-fi may not be reliable.”

AT&T sent out a letter to their customers stating, “that no customer is being left without service, and we are not canceling service in California. Our customers will not lose access to voice services. If they do not have alternatives, ATT will continue to provide them with copper-based traditional service. AT&T is working to update antiquated copper phone lines to ensure customers have better technologies from them or another provider.”

Sanchez said, “The letter says, no changes are being served at this time and we’ll let you know when and if any changes will affect your service. So that means after, whether they are approved or not, that all this can change, so I don’t see any clear commitment.”

Sanchez called for a motion to submit a letter of opposition to AT&T’s request to the CPUC to end their obligation under their current obligation as a carrier. A roll call vote was called and passed by 4 to 1.

The city administrator reports included a Butte County COVID review, recommendations on a public health plan, and a plan on emergency operations in the future. Gridley needs to be prepared for not just viruses, but floods, earthquakes, and such. When COVID hit, all were unprepared. Grants are available for health and emergency services. The Council agreed to address the emergency preparedness of Gridley.

The meeting adjourned at 6:53 p.m. The next meeting is scheduled for March 4. 

There’s a whole section of agendas, minutes, and videos of the City Council meetings on the Gridley website, go to http://gridley.ca.us/government-and-departments/city-council.