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Votes at a glance: Fortuna City Council actions on Feb. 4, 2025
Summary
The Fortuna City Council unanimously approved a range of administrative and policy items Feb. 4, including an appointment schedule for a vacant council seat, adoption of an organics ordinance, amended council governance policies, two retired-annuitant hires and an intra-departmental hours transfer.
At its Feb. 4 meeting the Fortuna City Council approved several items by unanimous voice vote or roll call. Key outcomes:
- Consent calendar: Approved by voice vote; items included minutes, disbursements and professional services contracts for water and sewer projects.
- City council vacancy: The council selected Option 1B — announce the vacancy on Feb. 4, solicit applications with a March 4 filing deadline and hold a special public meeting to interview and select an appointee on March 10, 2025. The council cited Government Code section 36512 and scheduled the process to meet the March 28 deadline for appointment. Vote: Connolly — aye; King — yes; Mayor Pro Tem Trent — yes; Mayor Johnson — yes.
- Ordinance 2024-770: Second reading and adoption of Ordinance 2024-770 amending Title 8, Chapter 8.14 (Organic Reduction and Recycling). The ordinance requires qualifying commercial edible-food generators to register with Humboldt County Environmental Health, pay a registration fee (staff estimated about $80) and submit to annual inspections to verify contracts with food-recovery agencies, recordkeeping and safe handling practices. Vote: unanimous.
- Amended City Council Policies, Procedures and Governance Manual: Council adopted the revised manual, which reorganizes sections on roles and responsibilities, attendance (references to California Government Code section 36513), communication protocols, conflict-of-interest language and other clarifying edits. Vote: unanimous.
- Field use policy and nonprofit youth-league rental fee: Adopted. See separate coverage for details; council set a $20 per-player per-season fee and deleted a proposed sentence limiting the fee to Eel River Valley residents. Vote: unanimous.
- Retired annuitant appointments (resolutions): The council approved two resolutions to hire retired annuitants as extra-help staff: Resolution 2025-01 to appoint Allen (Alan) Mendez as a reserve police officer (limited by CalPERS retired-annuitant hour cap of 960 hours per fiscal year); and Resolution 2025-02 to appoint Kathleen Radcliffe as a part-time transit bus driver. Both resolutions were approved by roll call; council members voted yes.
- Transfer of hours: Council approved transferring 11 hours per week from the recreation part-time allocation to transit part-time allocation to maintain transit dispatch coverage. Vote: unanimous.
The council discussed but did not adopt a professional services agreement for a community visioning/strategic-planning engagement that had an initial budget request of $18,810 (potentially reducible if staff supports the work); several council members expressed concern about the timing and cost and the item was not approved at this meeting.
Ending: The council scheduled a special meeting on March 10, 2025 to consider applications for the vacant council seat and will return to administrative follow-ups as staff implements the adopted actions.
