Willows City Council candidates answer tough questions

Oct. 5—The Glenn County Business Association hosted a town hall Sept. 22 to provide a nonpartisan platform for seven Willows City Council candidates to tackle tough issues.

Marlena Sparkman, president of the association, said the event was well received by the community, with nearly 100 people attending in person and approximately 300 shares of the livestream on Facebook.

"The big shock of the evening was that they were still in attendance after the break," said Sparkman. "This was attributed to the level of importance the citizens of Willows is placing on this election."

According to Sparkman, several questions were addressed during the meeting, but due to time constraints, Sparkman said several questions intended for the candidates went unanswered, so each of the seven city council candidates submitted their responses after the meeting.

Of the 19 questions asked of the seven city council candidates, here is a look at some of what they had to say.

Q: Why are we outsourcing business instead of hiring our local companies on Marti Brown's advice? Many are her admitted friends and associates. Do you think this is right? What would you do in the future? Examples of out of county contracts include city a) business licenses, b) street banners, c) pool bid and d) surveys.

Domenighini: City business licenses — This is being done on a short term basis because we did not have the city staff to do this function last year. As we finish filling vacant positions, this will be brought back in house. Street banners — This company approached the city with this suggestion. Pool bid — The city engineer selected the estimate from a list of firms recommended by the city's insurance carrier. Surveys — There are not any qualified firms in the county. If there are, then let me know.

For these out of contract I would be happy to discuss with anyone if they know of local businesses that provide these services.

Griffith: Because the city has not had staff to perform such functions, they have been outsourced. If local businesses were available and qualified, they would have been used. The city is at present filling positions and will be bringing some of these outsourced functions back in house.

Hofhenke: This has been happening for years, Marti Brown is just bold faced about her cronyism because she doesn't respect the citizens of Willows in the least bit. I would work to bring everything possible in house and all contractor bids would prioritize local contractors. Circulating our money back into the hands of our people and allowing us to grow and thrive with pride in our work is the way forward for our small town. Why did the for-profit, friend of Marti Brown, get their sign permits waived and staff fees waived for the banner program? Only to charge our local businesses sponsorship fees for those signs? I doubt any local business ever got their sign permit fee waived. I'm sure the banners will look great, but why the difference in experience with the city permit process?

Pride: City business licenses — it is my understanding that this was contracted out until the city has new software that can handle the issuance, tracking and reporting of business licenses more efficiently. I don't think that the transition to the new vendor was handled well, nor do I believe it was the best use of funds. A better option may have been to temporarily suspend the issuance of business licenses and fees until such time as the new software was in place.

Street banners — this is a program where the cost to the city is some staff time in preparing materials for planning commission and city council review. The city was approached by this vendor, who offered their services to provide the banner program for businesses to advertise on poles throughout the downtown area. The theme that was used for the banners was developed locally, and I think that they turned out really great. Businesses participating in this program pay for the sponsorship, and that money is retained by the vendor.

Pool bid — In regard to recreational activities that could be brought to Willows, I think that we need to really reach out to the community to determine what they want to see and focus on developing a Master Recreation Plan for the city. Having an overall plan will provide the needed information to prioritize existing funds, seek new funding and encourage volunteer participation. In regard to using an out of area contractor, that may have been due to the need for have an appropriately licensed pool contractor familiar with municipal pools and the various state requirements outlined in the California Health & Safety Code, the California Code of Regulations pertaining to public swimming pools, as well as the California Building Code. I believe that the enforcing agent for public pools is the Director of Environmental Health. I completely agree that additional inspections and reports should be obtained.

My thoughts for the city pool are, in addition to obtaining a second opinion inspection and quote on the condition and repair needs of the city pool would be to:

1. Assess grant opportunities for funding the needed repairs and/or improvements. Grants are available through USDA and the city of Orland was getting some information for me on grants that they were aware of for pools "in dire need" of repair. Other citizens have also put together resources for financing not only repairs, but for ongoing maintenance and staffing. Apparently the city has funding available for the pool as there is discussion about helping to fund the school pool repairs. This money can be used as match funding.

2. Continue the discussions with WUSD to partner, however shift the focus to making the investment in the city pool instead. This partnership could leverage school grant funds and possibly even future maintenance funds.

3. Consider the cost and viability of improvements to the pool which would allow for a longer pool "season" ... for example adding solar to heat the pool for extended use and making modifications to allow for swim meets. Increased uses and swim meets can help to generate income as well.

Surveys — I don't think that the survey should have ever been done. I don't think it was well thought out, it was implemented poorly, and there has been no action taken on the results that I have seen or heard.

Thomas: My effort will be to bring as many services that are currently outsourced back home. Far too many of our dollars leave town and don't circulate through our businesses. Outsourced vendors have no vested interest in the success or services available in Willows.

Vodden: We would have to ask the city manager. Choosing friends and former business associates without a bidding and vetting process is bad business and has the look of impropriety. To the extent that it looks bad and raises questions as to its impropriety, no. Follow the rules and optimize the city's position in all transactions.

City business licenses — This is a weird one. Not sure why and how this pencils out.

Street banners — Interesting. Purchased three and know that this is fluff. The city gets no money from it as I understand. Cosmetics and different look.

Pool bid — Seems way too high but we will see soon enough.

Surveys — Waste of time, waste of money. Knew most all of what they said.

Q: It is commonly known that there is horrible red tape starting a business in Willows. Have you ever started and/or operated a business in Willows? What is your opinion of our planning commission, Karen Mentele and how do you propose to rectify this situation should you be voted in? How have you worked with this situation if you are currently with the council? Why is Karen from another county and so difficult to reach?

Domenighini: Any time you hear that, check into the details of the specific incident. While some were bashing the city over this issue at the candidates' night September 22nd, during the break I was introduced to a new business owner in Willows. He was very complimentary regarding city staff in getting him through the approval process and opening his business. That happens many times, for projects big and small. Ask Rumiano Cheese about their experience: they were very complimentary regarding their experience with city staff at their ribbon cutting last summer. If it wasn't for city staff, Rumiano Cheese and its 200+ employees would have left Glenn County. So check into the details — many times it starts because the applicant does not want to comply with building code requirements, the applicant may want to put a business where it is not allowed (incompatible or not allowed use: would you really want an animal rendering business near your residence or business?). Get the details before making a wide ranging statement like this.

Griffith: Willows are a small community and unfortunately the city budget will not allow for a full-time city planner. Therefore we have to settle for a part-time consultant. We do need to make sure that all state regulations are followed to avoid penalties and fines. However, I would like to see the city council look at streamlining the process.

Hofhenke: I have started a mixed martial arts business in Willows, once before I moved and again after I moved back to Willows. I have had extremely negative encounters with Karen Mantele, who has refused to answer simple questions, delayed my permits purposely, and down right yelled into my face when I asked her for clarification. I am far from the only person who has had this experience. Someone with such a negative track record should not be allowed to continue to hurt our city. An incredible amount of time has passed while one person has single handedly held our city back and hurt its citizens. I believe one of the most important things we can do is come up with a plan to replace Karen Mantele and then execute that plan as soon as possible.

Pride: I do operate a business in Willows. I have felt frustration with the process, including being able to easily find what is required in the municipal code, getting questions answered in a timely way at the counter, and oftentimes getting the sense that the answer is "no" before the question is even asked. I was appointed to the Planning Commission in January of 2022, and think that this commission needs to be involved much earlier in the planning process for projects and updates to code. Currently, items are agendized based on what the City Planner has for the commissioner's consideration. I have been asking for more information sooner, to be given the opportunity to provide input to proposed projects sooner, and essentially to be more proactive in the planning process. If I am elected to the city council, I would like to pursue having staff with some planning knowledge available at the counter on a daily basis to help with planning related questions, to provide assistance in completing applications and generally taking care of as much of the planning related work as possible. Higher level reviews and CEQA determinations could be out-sourced to a higher level planning contractor. The city's current planner, Karen Mantele, works for a firm that the city has contracted with, and works approximately 16 hours per week for the city of Willows. I would imagine that this is the reason that she does not live in Willows.

Thomas: I managed and owned Glenn County Title, now Timios Title from 1995 to my retirement in 2020. I believe we have lost too many opportunities due to overly strict application of Planning requirements and large pass-through account deposits. That is why I see a need for a change to a "can do attitude" within the city leadership and a "how can the city help applicants gain approval and open/expand their business."

Vodden: Can't say other than read on. It is easier to say no, especially when you have books to prove you are right. Getting Thunderhill built required dealing with every level of administration that exists from Caltrans, Fish and Game, Air Quality, Planning commission, planners, staff, and the supervisors. It was a PHD education for me and we made it. The key is a willingness to take risks, a desire to find solutions and perseverance by all involved. Having a planner that books hours and does not live here and who has a record of quoting the books is not a good start. I propose to have every application that comes into the city reviewed by a committee composed of planning, executive, and staff with the goal to prioritize those with the greatest impact so that we, all of us, can walk it through the process from the start with YES as the goal. No more no because it says we can't do it in some book. There are YES books in planning, there have always been. That is how Thunderhill got built, we used the yes book. The current development process in Willows would not have built Thunderhill Park and they would have been right. But building it would have been right too. It all depends on taking some level of risk, really wanting the project, finding the yes book and doing the work, all of it.

For a complete list of the candidate answers, contact the Glenn County Business Association at 530-616-8638 or visit www.glenncountybusinessassociation.com.