~By Elias Funez/The West Stanislaus Journal~
A handful of concerned Patterson residents approached the dais during the public comment period of the regularly scheduled meeting of the Patterson City Council on Tuesday February 2.,to ask for an update regarding the recent rash of Patterson shootings.
“By way of update, there have been two shootings in the city since Sunday night,” Chief Jeff Dirkse explained to the council chambers. “The one on Sunday night was a homicide. One person is dead and another person was wounded in that. The person who was wounded is stable undergoing medical treatment at this time. The shooting last night, another person was wounded in that shooting. At this point it is not a public safety threat, I can tell you that much. We are investigating it, and doing our job with that, and we can probably provide some more updates in the future, but at this point I’m not going to say anything about where the investigation is heading.
“There was one shooting where someone was shot, and another shooting where a vehicle or something was hit, not a person,” Dirkse said in reference to a Zinnia Ct. shooting that left two vehicles and a residence struck, but no reported injuries.
“Are we going to get a police station or not?” Daniel Cruthis from Moray Way in Patterson bluntly asked the council during the public comment period.
“We have law enforcement,” Mayor Molina replied.
“We have law enforcement, but we do not have anybody here,” Cruthis quickly responded. “ You can literally commit a crime and be out of town before the cops are here. You can shake your head no, but I moved over here from the Bay Area to get away from the crime. And I understand that where ever I go there is going to be crime, break- ins are going to happen, shootings are going to happen, whether it’s natural selection or it is what it is, it’s going to happen. I understand the change in the prison system, the problem is that they (criminals) know they’re not going to do hard time right away for a repeat offense,” Cruthis said.
“At this rate if it’s going to keep up, I’ll be moving out of Patterson, this is unacceptable.”
Councilman Farinha interjected with a point of clarification regarding the comments about a city police department.
“Most of the time crime statistically doesn’t happen during the day… and it would be nice to see a cop drive by my house at 11:30 at night. If we could have a little more presence in the evening and early morning hours it would deter a lot of [criminals]. The problem is that crime is like water, it seeps to the lowest point when it is soft. So my question is, do we want to be the lowest point and soft, or would we rather deter them (criminals) from coming here in general,” Cruthis said to the council.
Chief Dirkse, “So I’m not going to answer specific questions about the ongoing investigation as I eluded to. But let me tell you these are not random acts of violence. Let’s just leave it at that, regarding the current incidents. Homicides are not a predictable event, they happen, and at some level there is nothing we can do about them.”
We are proactively engaging the criminal element in this city. Crime in this city is at its lowest rate statistically in the last five years. Council has been provided with those statistics, we can share them with you if you’d like and that is a fact. There has been a downward trend in the last five years.
Regardless of who polices this city, there will still be crime here whether it is the Sheriff’s department as your police force or a Patterson Police department, there will be crime in this city. This is not a staffing issue, as your chief I will tell you that I have adequate staffing. It is a crime issue and there are criminals who are intent on committing crimes against each other. So with that being said, as we specifically look at some of the gang problems, and these are gang related incidents, gang crime is not a law enforcement problem, and it is a community problem. It is something that we all have to solve. What I would ask, with the audience here is that if you have opinions or thoughts on how we can fix this gang problem, because Patterson has a gang problem.
Farinha chimed in saying that the Sheriff’s department is enforcing the same penal code that a city run police department would enforce.
Councilwoman Deborah Novelli also chimed in saying that she feels confident with her chief right now, and urged folks to write their legislators regarding repealing AB 109 which has provided significant challenges to law enforcement since it was passed.
Another community member approached the dais regarding the recent violence.” I was planning on going face to face with some of the people involved, most of those guys are not going to talk to the cops, my plan was to talk to the people on the streets and trying to work with them that way. The cops can only do so much, so it’s really up to us and our community to talk to them. “
Bill Oxenrider from Orkney Dr. approached the dais to reflect on what some of the citizens had to say about the past two night’s violence. “You know that social media is far ahead of us. There were people going to bed last night already complaining that the police department hadn’t solved the crime that happened just last night, ‘cause that’s how fast things work now a days and the city council and police department need to be sensitive to that. We should have gotten a response or it would have helped to have gotten a response from the Chief sooner, maybe a public announcement. ‘Yes we are aware of what happened, we have things under control and we are working on it, rather than ‘police aren’t releasing information at this time’ people here are used to a quiet town, we don’t take these things lightly.” Oxenrider went on to ask Chief Dirkse since he stated that there was already enough staffing, and that staffing wasn’t an issue, would the Chief not be seeking additional personnel or resources.
“I will never turn down staff or toys,” Chief Dirkse responded, which evoked laughter amongst the council and staff.
“Just so everyone understands, we do take these things seriously, and if we could get faster feedback when things like this happen it would be appreciated,” Oxenrider said before heading back to his seat.
“I will tell you up front that I know a lot more about both of these incidents that I am willing to tell you. But because it is an ongoing investigation… there is only so much that we can release. I do understand what you are saying about the social media thing, as far as getting updates out quicker. I will acknowledge the fact that most of our social media folks do work during the day, that is changing. My sergeants are all going to social media training so that they know how and when and the type of appropriate message to put out, so that we can at midnight at two in the morning or what not, and we are not there yet, and I acknowledge that.
Patterson’s Amanda Hillsdale approached the dais saying that she sat down and talked with Chief Dirkse for 45 minutes on Tuesday Feb 2 where Dirkse told her that the city is too small to support its own police department, but she told the council that in the future the city should move to a hybrid city and county law enforcement system.
“We need to be better witnesses and better neighbors, our objective should be getting to know the people, developing some kind of relationship with people so that we know if something is out of place,” Mayor Molina said. “If you see something out of sorts, say something, report something, we need to stop being afraid in this community as a whole. So if we want the element out, if we want to do something as a community, that is where we need to start.”
Lustgarten restraining order discussion
While the council was working on approving the consent calendar items on the agenda, Councilmember Lustgarten brought up concerns in regards to the December 1st meeting. She stated that the council reported out of closed session that the city council confirmed reopening the restraining order against herself and sought to remove Lustgarten from office during the closed session of that evening. The paper work was filed for that court document with a time stamp from the courts placed on the document at 3:09 p.m. three hours prior to when the council members were to have supposedly discussed the item, alluding to the fact that the city attorney’s had already proceeded with the action against her without actually seeking consent from the council during the closed session.
“Closed session starts at 6, usually ends by 7 pm, and I would just like to make a special note that the paperwork for that was filed that afternoon at 3:09 pm on December 1st. Just wondering how you all made a vote in closed session from 6 to 7 o’clock but the paperwork for it was already filed earlier that afternoon. How did that happen?”
City Attorney Tom Hallinan replied, “If I would have gotten that ahead of time I could look at it, but as we are sitting here I can’t.”
“I just found it very interesting that you reported out a vote that happened that night at 6 and 7, but the action had already taken place that afternoon at 3 pm. That’s one question that is pretty big in my mind,” Lustgarten said.
Sunshine ordinance discussion
Councilwoman Lustgarten brought up the desire of having a sunshine ordinance originally looked at by the council about a year ago, to be brought back to the council in time for Sunshine Week in the month of March.
“I think I’d like to see us have a workshop, there is a lot of that ordinance that needed to be reworked, not at a council meeting but at a workshop where we won’t spend three hours here hashing it out,” Councilman Dennis McCord said.
Lustgarten replied that Mr. McCord as well as the rest of the council had one month to suggest any changes in the previously proposed sunshine ordinance, but no one from the council nor the community had submitted any issues or changes to the ordinance and that the ordinance she proposed contained aspects that have been approved in other California cities with similar demographics.
New City Employees
City Manager Ken Irwin announced new city staff including the new finance director for the city, Saadiah Ryan and firefighters Daniel Rodriguez and Steven Kuchac, whose titles are firefighter paramedics.
Retiring city employee honored
Mayor Luis Molina read a proclamation for Javier Gonzalez’s retirement after 28 years of service to the city, since 1987. Gonzalez worked with the seniors, parks and recreation, and public works over the years and continued to work for the city after having to have part of his foot amputated after sustaining a spider bite from a brown recluse. Gonzalez was glad that then Parks and Recreation Director Adrienne Chaney offered him a new detail with the Parks and Recreation department in order to keep him employed, which fulfilled his desire to keep working despite his disability. His family, who was also in attendance, said that his disability hasn’t slowed him down, and that it is hard for them to keep up with him at times. Gonzalez received a standing ovation from everyone in attendance at Tuesday ‘s council meeting and will remain as a liaison and part time worker for the city in the future.
2015-2023 Housing and Community Development Draft City of Patterson Housing Element
Council was presented with the 2015-2023 Patterson Housing Element of the General Plan. State law requires cities to renew their housing elements every eight years and must address the following.
- An analysis of population and employment trends
- An analysis of the city’s fair share of the regional housing needs
- An analysis of household characteristics
- A parcel by parcel inventory of land suitable for residential development at all densities
- An analysis of the governmental and non-governmental constraints on the improvement, maintenance, and development of housing
- An analysis of local requirements for special needs housing
- An analysis of opportunities for energy conservation
- An analysis of publicly assisted housing developments that may convert to non-assisted housing developments
A PowerPoint presentation put together by city staff regarding the housing element did not play, and the city agenda packet showed for 11 potential rezone sites around the city, however these maps were left out of the packet.
Despite the holes in the presentation given by Ted Holzem of Sacramento based Mintier Harnish planning consultants, and a couple of comments about NIMBY-ism (Not In My Back Yard) by Councilmember Farinha, council members were pleased with the presentation and the work put in to the State required housing element and passed the item 5-0.
Mistletoe season
Robert Andrade with the city’s Public Works department gave a presentation regarding the seasonal need for the abatement of nuisance mistletoe from trees throughout the city of Patterson. A total of 32 addresses with nuisance mistletoe was presented. The item passed 5-0.
Proposal to change meeting dates tabled
A staff report from the City Attorney’s office was presented to the council with the suggestion of changing the current meeting dates of the first and third Tuesday’s of the month to either the first and third Wednesday’s or second and fourth Wednesday’s of the month in order to “streamline rules and regulations regarding the City of Patterson’s city council meetings.”
A provision in the amended Ordinance 789 states that the City wishes to establish a new and more defined approach to city council meetings to avoid conflicts with scheduling and encourage citizens to attend regular meetings.
Despite the desire to avoid scheduling conflicts, the proposed changes in the ordinance seemed to have created more scheduling conflicts amongst council members.
“I really can’t attend the second and fourth Wednesday’s of the month, I have a prior requirements which I will keep, so that doesn’t work for me. I am flexible to do the first and third Wednesday’s of the month.” Councilman McCord said when the item was brought up.
Councilman Farinha, who was the most outspoken proponent of changing the meeting dates, said that this item had been brought up before, however, the other councilors could not recall a previous discussion on the topic.
Councilwoman Novelli was ok with a change to the first and third Wednesday with the caveat that the agenda would still be made available on the Thursday prior to the meeting.
Mayor Luis Molina brought up that the third Wednesday of the month at 6:00 pm is when the Stanislaus Council of Governments (StanCOG) meets in Modesto. Molina stated that he is the council’s representative to sit on the StanCOG meetings and would not want to see a vacancy on either the City Council or StanCOG created due to this scheduling conflict that would be created if the council’s meetings were changed to Wednesdays.
While City Attorney Tom Hallinan stated that changing the day to Wednesday would give staff an extra day to answer questions of the council members, Councilwoman Sheree Lustgarten suggested that staff just work to get the agendas out earlier so as not have to change the meeting dates.
“I don’t like the idea of not having a representative at the StanCOG meeting,” Lustgarten said. “Those meetings are important.”
“Let me ask this, Mr. Hallinan,” Molina said. “Based on discussion that didn’t happen at a council meeting, was it yourself, Mr. White, your team bringing this forward? Requested by anybody? Because I want to find out why?”
“ I don’t know the last thing to precipitate brining it forward,” City Attorney Tom Hallinan responded. “My colleague prepared the report and I was not privy as to why.”
Mayor Molina was concerned that there wasn’t enough discussion from the public on this item and that this was a serious change being proposed.
Following the public comment period on the item, Councilwoman Lustgarten suggested bringing the item back for further analysis and Councilwoman Novelli seconded that motion. However during the discussion regarding that motion, councilman Farinha interjected again, “I think the staff report is pretty clear, there are a lot of other matters that require more deliberation, but I think this one does not require more time. I would advocate that we experiment with this for awhile.” At that time Councilman Farinha made a motion to change the meeting dates to the first and third Wednesdays which Mayor Molina briefly entertained.
After a minute passed without a councilmember seconding Farinha’s motion, Councilman McCord brought up the fact that Councilwoman Lustgarten originally had a motion on the table to bring the item back for further analysis.
“What extra information were you hoping to get?” Farinha asked Councilwoman Novelli.
“Just want to look at various options, and see what other options there are with StanCOG,” said Novelli.
“I don’t think there are,” Farinha replied seriously.
“Well Dennis can’t make it because of Lions, let’s go talk to the Lions Club,” Novelli said half jokingly to ease the seriousness of the matter.
“I would really like to know, I can’t believe that it was just a conversation that this became an agenda item,” Mayor Molina said. “Regardless, we’ve had just two (public) comments tonight.” Molina went on to speak of the importance of showing up to the StanCOG meetings regarding the allocation of funds in relation to a county wide ½ cent sales tax.
The City Manager Ken Irwin did not say anything in regards to this item during the meeting.
The item was tabled on a 4-1 vote with Councilman Farinha dissenting, and will return before the council during the February 16 meeting of the city council.
Parks and Recreation/Beautification Committee appointments
The city announced their selections of Chichi Jack, Vivian Ratlife, and Calvin Love to the newly formed Parks and Recreation/Beautification Committee, and announced that the Patterson Joint Unified School District chose Rob Cozart and Elias Funez as their selections to fill the five member board. Alternates for the board were initially suggested, however, no names were brought forth by Mayor Molina. Mayor Molina, and Councilman McCord of the City Council as well as James Leonard and Carlos Fieros from the school district, sat on the interviewing panel. 11 candidates were interviewed for the position. Meetings will be the third Wednesdays of the month, the first meeting of which is slated for February 17, to be held at 5:00 p.m. at Council Chambers.
Mayor pro-tem selected
Councilwoman Lustgarten suggested that the next person in the rotation to receive the Mayor pro-tem designation would be Councilwoman Novelli. The council reached a quick consensus on the matter and Councilwoman Novelli will take the Mayor pro-tem designation from Councilman Farinha. Mayor pro-tem sits as the acting mayor of the city in the absence of the mayor during council meetings.
Mayor’s final state of the city address announced
Mayor Molina announced that he will not be seeking re-election to the city council as Mayor, stating that he will be giving his final state of the city address on Monday February 29th at either City Hall or the Hammon Senior Center. The location of that meeting will be announced at the February 16th meeting of the City Council.
Closed session report
Mayor Molina reported after an hour and a half special closed session meeting of the council on items regarding a) anticipated litigation, b) City Manager performance evaluation, and c) Conference with legal counsel regarding the existing case of the City of Patterson vs. Sheree Lustgarten. Mayor Molina reported that they gave direction to staff regarding the items. Councilwoman Lustgarten was excused from the closed session meeting for item c).
Need for funeral procession reform cited
Community volunteers with area churches approached the dais during the public comment period at the beginning of the regularly scheduled meeting to address the need for the city to address the funeral processions in the city. Mark Kuhn of Hillview Funeral Chapel, Pastor Tim Bennefeld of Golden Valley Baptist Church, and representatives of the Knights of Columbus expressed the need for assistance with funeral processions. It was stressed that out of town folks attending a funeral in Patterson, are not used to the streets, and fear not being able to find the cemetery if the funeral procession gets separated. Others feared for the safety of those in the funeral procession and stated that this could become a liability issue for the city.
City Manager Ken Irwin stated that this item will be on the City Council’s agenda on the first meeting in March.