Buckle Up for 2007's ‘Wild Ride’

Tulare - The New Year is two weeks old and Tulare residents who haven't fastened their seat belts yet may well want to buckle up.

“It's going to be a wild ride,” Mayor Craig Vejvoda said. “And I don't mean that in a bad way. It's going to be exciting.”

Already this year, the City Council and Redevelopment Agency board have met to discuss possible projects each will under take if they can fund redevelopment in a new way, restructure the agency's debt and float separate $16 million bonds to address major needs.

One project emerged as the top priority with both boards during that discussion: Construction of north and south Union Pacific Railroad track grade separations.

For decades Tulare residents have urged the city to find a way to pay for at least one underpass or overpass that would allow traffic to travel across the tracks when trains pass.

Now city leaders are talking about building grade separations at Cartmill Avenue and at Bardsley and/or Paige avenues.

“There's only one thing we could say that would be more popular than that: '[We're] fixing all the potholes,'” redevelopment board member Mark Richmond said.

City leaders in 2007 also are expected to adopt a General Plan to guide growth through 2025 and consider a 700-acre motor sports complex adjacent to the International Agri-Center and a meat packing plant adjacent to the city's wastewater treatment plant.

Vejvoda predicted local residents will see unprecedented economic development in 2007.

“It's sort of the convergence of the stars, if you think about where we're at,” he said.

Tulare County and the city are growing and “we're continuing to be discovered by the outside world,” he said. “We're starting to show up on people's radar. Instead of us going outside of town [for goods and entertainment], outsiders are going to come here and that's not too far off.”

At the same time, voters have passed state and county measures that can help Tulare build the infrastructure it needs to “do this right,” Vejvoda said. “So we can take care of our Cartmill [Highway 99] interchange, the Paige interchange, the Commercial interchange. These are big ticket items.”

Voters in 2006 also passed a state school construction bond that is expected to give College of the Sequoias millions of dollars to start laying the groundwork this year for building a Tulare campus.

The availability of money to do these projects could put Tulare in an interesting position, City Manager Darrel Pyle said.

“We will probably be approaching a scenario where we will have more resources and projects than we will have contractors and engineers in the Valley to build them,” Pyle said. “Those projects are going to be going on statewide, so we're going to be competing for materials as well.”

Tulare began planning for several of these projects, including the Highway 99 interchange improvements, before the new money became available, which Pyle said could “allow us to strike first” when it comes to lining up contractors and engineers.

What follows is a brief summary of major tasks and issues the city will face in the New Year:

General Plan

The City Council could approve a new general plan as early as spring, after a series of public hearings.

Consultants are working on an environmental impact report for the “preferred” land use map that would continue to promote concentric growth and infill development, especially in the downtown, and would set the stage for new industry.

That map earmarks 2,700 acres in the county, but within Tulare's planning area, for industrial development. The city has run out of land to sell to new industries, especially those requiring large pieces of property.

Because the plan would surround the residential Matheny Tract with industrial land, the council is considering earmarking the properties there for light industrial growth.

Such a move is likely to generate controversy, but proponents have said it could be the answer to eliminating blight in the neighborhood, which remains in the county.

“Matheny will absolutely come up in discussions,” Pyle said.

Motor Sports Complex

The Environmental Impact Report for the motor sports complex will probably be completed in 2007 and public hearings could be held, Pyle said.

“They're a lot further along than anybody realizes,” Pyle said, reporting the city expects to have initial site plans in hand for review in four to six weeks.

Under an agreement Fresno developer Bud Long signed with the city, the International Agri-Center and the Tulare Industrial Site Foundation, he must have all the necessary approvals for the project in hand by June 2008.

The proposal calls for a one-mile super speedway track, a quarter-mile drag strip, hotels, a theme park, a recreational vehicle park, retail businesses and offices.

Meat Packing Plant

The city has entered into an option agreement with Western Pacific Meat Packing to sell 66.5 acres at the northeast corner of Paige Avenue and Enterprise Street if certain criteria are met.

While the option won't expire until Jan.1, 2008, city officials said it is possible the project could break ground in 2007 if the company can line up the necessary financing and get the required planning and building approvals.

“It's about a one-year project to build,” Public Works Director Lew Nelson said.

Planning Director Mark Kielty said he expects to take a final Environmental Impact Report to the Planning Commission in February and to the City Council after that.

Public Safety

The city's growth will make it imperative the city start planning for a fourth fire station this year.

“Station four is going to have to go north of Prosperity and east of Mooney,” Fire Chief Michael Threlkeld said.

That area has experienced so much growth the chief is worried the department will not be able to meet its goal of responding to emergencies there within four minutes at least 90 percent of the time.

The department also needs to relocate its west Tulare station and has a site secured on the southwest corner of Cross Avenue and West Street. Threlkeld said he is exploring whether constructing both stations at the same time would save the city money.

In the Police Department, Chief Roger Hill said he expects to re-open the department's two neighborhood community centers on the Mulcahy and Lincoln school campuses this year and to reinstate the department's Problem Oriented Policing team.

Both programs were halted to put more patrol officers on the street and will resume when the department fills all the new positions the Measure I sales tax vote funded and other vacancies, Hill said.

The department had 10 unfilled positions on Dec. 31, but Hill said he hopes to fill 5 of the slots within 30 days.

Library

City officials said they should know in February whether The Meridian Property Company will be able to put together a development package that would include building a new library on city-owned property on the southwest corner of Cross Avenue and M Street.

“It didn't look like they had much luck with the initial plan,” Library Director Michael Stowell said. “We're still waiting to see if they have a proposal just for the library block.”

Meridian officials originally wanted to buy land to the west of the library block for a combination office development and library project but did not find willing sellers and may be looking to the east side, Stowell said.

The existing library was built for a community of 18,000 people and the city now has more than 50,000 residents.

Stowell said he hopes the project becomes a high enough priority that a new library will get built even if Meridian is unable to package a deal.

“If we wait, it's only going to get more expensive,” he said.

Park Projects

Tulareans will see the groundbreaking and completion of phase one of Del Lago Park in 2007, said Milt Stowe, director of Parks, Recreation and Library.

This is the phase that will serve as both a ponding basin in heavy rains and a playground for the new Mission Valley School that is expected to open in the 2007-08 school year. The Del Lago residential subdivisions are in northeast Tulare off Hillman Street to the north of the Plaza Del Lago shopping center.

This is also expected to be the year that a skateboard park in built within Topham Park on the southeast corner of West Tulare Avenue and I Street, Stowe said.

“We hope to out to bid in January or February,” he said.

Redevelopment

The Tulare Redevelopment Agency has a plate full of projects that Pyle and director Bob Nance expect will move forward in 2007. They include:

· Development of the northwest corner of Cross Avenue and J Street, where Tulare businessman Jim Pidgeon wants to build a quick lube business, and of the southwest corner, where The Orosco Group of Monterey wants to construct a shopping center. Both projects have been on hold because Union Pacific initially was unwilling to sell the property to the agency.

· Cleanup of the former Imperial Pallet Company site on South K Street. The agency should find out the extent of the contamination this year and will hopefully find money to clean up the site in 2008, Nance said.

· Development of TuleVista, a residential development that will include affordable and market-rate homes, on seven acres between D and E streets north of Elm Avenue in west Tulare. The property includes the 3-acre former county yard site.

Road Projects

In addition to Highway 99 interchange improvement and construction projects that may move closer to fruition in 2007, Tulare residents could see major improvements to J Street, where the old highway once existed.

“A good portion of J Street will be reconstructed,” Nelson said. “We'll find out how much will be when the bids are opened.

The project promises to be costly since all of the old Highway 99 concrete below the asphalt has to be removed and it is 8 to 10 inches thick, he said.

Cartmill Crossing

Planning Director Mark Kielty expects Cartmill Crossing developers will have a draft environmental impact report ready for review within the next 30 to 60 days.

Developers R. W. Henry and Associates of Moraga and Ben Ennis of Porterville have plans to build a regional shopping center on 130 acres north of Cartmill Avenue at the Highway 99 interchange.

Once the environmental report is done, the Planning Commission and City Council can ask the Tulare County Local Agency Formation Commission for approval to annex the property.

Other Projects

Other improvements and changes anticipated include:

· Construction of Phase IV of Preferred Outlets at Tulare, which Kielty said he expects will begin in the summer or early fall.

· Installation of water meters on every residential property by the end of 2007. The city has ordered 10,000 meters that can be read by a remote reader driving down the street, Nelson said.

· The start of construction on the new industrial wastewater treatment plant.

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Kumar Target of Conflict Investigation; Blasts Accusers

By Julie Fernandez

Tulare - Dr. Parmod Kumar, who said he learned two weeks ago he is the subject of a conflict-of-interest investigation by the Tulare County District Attorney, charged “the politics of personal destruction” is continuing in the Tulare hospital district.

Kumar, who was elected president of the Tulare Local HealthCare District board of directors on Jan. 3, said he will cooperate fully with the investigation.

“My life is an open book,” he said. “I hope the DA will see the truth and at the end of the day they will see there's nothing to it.”

Fellow board member Deanne Martin-Soares has questioned Kumar's change of heart about a proposed medical offices/surgery center plan the district is considering and implied publicly that he opposes the plan because he wants to build his own surgery center. Kumar has denied the allegation repeatedly.

“The surgery center is one of the things they want to talk to me about,” he said.

Kumar said he was “a bit surprised” when told of the investigation.

He said he is not upset with investigators but with those who are leveling the allegations. He suspects the request for an investigation came from “people who are unhappy with the election results,” Kumar said. Two physicians, Drs. Lonnie Smith and Prem Kamboj, overwhelmingly defeated two incumbents in the November election.

“The community should be appalled at what they [the accusers] are doing to me and my family,” he said. “Soon good people won't come forward to serve on this board if they're subject to this kind of harassment.”

The District Attorney's Office could not be reached for comment before deadline.

Chief Financial Officer

The rumor mill kicked up a notch when hospital directors refused at their Jan. 3 meeting to hire Mike McGinnis as the district's permanent chief financial officer as had been expected. They, instead, extended his consulting contract until the end of January.

Speculation has been that Kumar and the new directors are going to try to bring fired Chief Financial Officer Lucy Reimche back. Reimche, whose financial skills were universally praised, was dismissed after the board determined her relationships with other employees were damaged beyond repair.

“This place is full of rumors,” Kumar said. “We have had no discussion about anything of that matter at all.”

With Chief Executive Officer Bob Montion on a medical leave, he said directors don't want to do anything right now “except maintain the day-to-day operations of the hospital.”

Kamboj agreed.

“We've gone though such a negative thing about the previous CFO, we wanted to take time and be careful who the permanent hire is,” he said. “Let's not rush when we don't have the permanent CEO back on the job.”

Denise Perry, the district's interim CEO, said the board felt the hiring of a financial officer should be done by a permanent CEO.

“They feel—and understandably so—that things are in the state of flux right now,” Perry said.

Martin-Soares said she did not agree with the decision because the by-laws say the hiring of a financial officer is the chief executive's responsibility and Perry already had hired McGinnis.

“Granted she [Perry] is interim, but I think we gave Denise that authority when we appointed her,” she said, adding she was concerned about both “micro-management” by the board and with how long Montion might be gone.

“I think he [McGinnis] is a very qualified individual and I think we have to move forward with the business of the district,” Martin-Soares said.

Discussions Postponed

The board at its Jan. 3 meeting postponed the scheduled discussion of the $85 million hospital expansion project and the proposed plan to build an east campus that would include a surgery center. It also delayed appointing members to various hospital and board committees.

“There was too much on the agenda,” Kumar said, adding he wanted to give the two new board members time to “get up to speed” on the projects.

Perry, who had made recommendations for the board to consider, said the delay will affect the hospital expansion's timeline but not significantly.

“The project design team is still meeting weekly,” she said “We're at a point where we need the master planning committees input.”

Among the recommendations that Perry made in her written progress report to the board was one calling for formation of an ad hoc committee to further explore the outpatient east campus idea.

The east campus plan was a bone of contention during the recent election and it is an issue that needs to be settled soon.

Perry, in her report, said the concept “is a critical component of maintaining financial stability for the district” and also affects the expansion at the main campus.

“Moving outpatient services (surgery, endoscopy, medical imaging, respiratory therapy, sleep lab) out of the main hospital to an outpatient campus will allow the hospital expansion to meet size and cost projections for construction and stay within the funding available from the general obligation bond,” she said.

Kumar has said he is not opposed to the surgery center, but to the proposed partnership with a private developer.

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2006 Small Business of the Year Serves Community Well

Tulare - When David Eddy, joined the accountancy firm of Adair and Evans in 2001, he wanted to make sure the partners did not have a problem with his community commitments.

Eddy was pleased to discover his community involvement was not a problem and was welcomed and even encouraged.

“If you're going to live and work in the community, you need to be involved,” the firm's senior accountant Mike Erwin said, summarizing the firm's long held philosophy.

This history of involvement was the reason former recipients of the Tulare chamber of Commerce's prestigious Small Business of the Year award selected Adair and Evans to receive the honor for 2006.

“Instead of just being a business that takes cares of its clients and meets their needs, they recognize the interest they have in the community at large,” said attorney Dennis Mederos of Horswill Mederos & Soares, the 2005 Small Business of the Year.

“They just stood out with their commitment,” Mederos said. “They've had a number of individuals on different boards throughout the community, including the chamber itself.”

The Chamber will honor the accounting firm at its annual awards dinner at 6 p.m. Friday, Jan. 26, in the Heritage Complex at the International Agri-Center, 4500 South Laspina St.

Willard Epps, a Tulare Fire Department battalion chief, and Tulare County Supervisor Connie Conway will accept the 2006 Man and Woman of the Year and Morris Levin & Son Hardware the 2006 Large Business of the Year. Tickets, $32 for chamber members and $40 for non-members, are available by calling 686-1547.

Adair and Evans bears the names of retired accountants Joe Adair and Don Evans, who themselves gave years of service to the community.

Adair was a member of the Tulare Local HealthCare District board of directors from 1975 to 1998 and served as president, vice president and treasurer at various times. He also is a past member of the Tulare Planning Commission and a member of the Tulare Kiwanis Club.

Evans was a founding member of the Tulare Improvement Program board of directors and its second president. He was also the chamber's 1989 Man of the Year and the 1989 Business Man of the Year. He is a member and past president of the Tulare Rotary Club.

Firm's Roots

The firm's roots to back to 1956, when John W. Lynch, a public accountant who had just resigned from the Internal Revenue Service opened an office on east Tulare Avenue in the John Iacano building east of Canby's.

Adair joined the firm as its senior accountant in January 1959 when Lynch was elected to the state Board of Equalization. A year later, the firm acquired the accounting practice of Carmel S. Harris, bringing the total number of full-time people to four.

After the practice of Andrew Dokas was acquired in January 1963, the offices were relocated across from the Tulare Post Office where Bank of the West is now located.

Adair became a partner that year and Don Evans in 1964. The firm then became known as Lynch, Adair and Evans, and relocated to 345 Kern St. where Eldon Cory has his accountancy practice. When Lynch retired in 1965, the name was changed to Adair & Evans, Certified Public Accountants.

The practice continued to grow and in 1973 the firm constructed a new office at 121 East Kern Ave., which was the first new building in the Downtown Redevelopment Project Area. Another new office was constructed next door at 111 East Kern five years later as the firm had grown to include 14 full-time and two part-time people.

That building was expanded in 1986 and in 1995 the old offices at 121 and 123 East Kern were reacquired. The accountancy firm of Joncoaltz and Rowland was acquired in 2000 and Helen Saulsbury's tax practice in 2005.

In addition to its 11 accountants, the practice today has 11 support staff members.

“We really appreciate this recognition, but they're the ones who make this happen,” Erwin said.

Community Activities

The firms' five partners have been involved in a long list of community activities, including the following:

§ Erwin, past member and president of the Tulare City School District Board of Trustees and member and past president of the Kiwanis Club of Greater Tulare.

§ Eric M. White, past chamber president, chairman of the chamber's Leadership Tulare Advisory Committee and member and past president of Sunrise Rotary.

§ Lance E. Morris, chamber board vice chair of finance and a member of its governmental affairs committee. He is a member and past president of the Noon Kiwanis Club.

§ Bret Stuber, member and past president of Tulare Improvement Program board, member and past president of the Tulare Rotary Club and member of the Tulare County Family Services board.

§ David Eddy, member and president of the Tulare FFA boosters, member of the city Library Board and the Tulare County Creative Center Foundation. Member and past president Noon Kiwanis.

Accountants Tim Dodson and John Oppedyk have advanced into the shareholders-in- training program and Tulare residents can expect to see continued leadership and service from Adair and Evans as they and other new partners come aboard in the future.

“If they're going to become shareholders, they're required to go through Leadership Tulare,” White said. The program offers participants an introduction to all facets of Tulare's community life, leadership development and opportunities for service.

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Plaza Café Gets New Owner

Tulare - Santos Montes, a chef for 22 years at such popular Visalia restaurants as Vintage Press and Gina's, is the new owner of the Plaza Café in the Anchor Lighting Center, 2375 East Tulare Ave.

Montes, who took over the restaurant about two weeks ago, is a native of Naiyarit, Mexico. He owned and operated Burrito Express in Visalia until he sold it recently.

“I sold it because it was too small,” Montes said. “A lot of people wanted to come in.”

He spent seven years as a chef with the Vintage Press, where he said he learned a lot about not only cooking but food presentation as well. He then spent five years at Michael on Main and later with Little Italy and Gina's.

The menu at Santos' Plaza Café features Italian, Mexican and American food.

The breakfast menu features a variety of burritos priced from $3.99 to $4.50 and scrambles in the $5.95 to $6.95 range, as well as Huevos Rancheros.

The lunch menu includes burgers, tacos, salads, wet burritos, soups and sandwiches with prices ranging from $3.95 to $6.95. The Horseman, one of the sandwiches, includes beef that he has roasted for eight hours.

Dinner customers can select from the restaurant's regular fare or from the dinner specials, which one recent Saturday evening included such items as Chicken Marsala and Penne Pasta with Shrimp.

Montes said he plans to add fillet mignon and other beef dishes to the menu soon. Dinner prices ranged from $8.99 to $15.99.

The restaurant is open Mondays through Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.

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Moore Aviation Passing Torch

by Steve Pastis

Tulare - The talk around Tulare is that after more than 60 years, Moore Aviation is closing its hangar doors and Bob Moore is retiring.

“That's what people say,” Moore said. “And slowly but surely, I'm getting out of it.”

Although Moore is “retired out of the crop dusting business,” Moore Aviation is still in business, at least until it sells off the rest of its business interests.

Since 1946, the company has been involved in selling pesticides, seeds and aircraft fuel, as well as in operating an air tanker business that put out fires in Central Oregon.

“It's all been related to some type of ag,” Moore explained.

“My brother started the business after World War II,” recalled Moore. “He came out of the service and was spraying rice in the Sacramento Valley. He moved to Tulare to spray cotton.”

During the war, Hank was a flying instructor in the U.S. Air Force while Bob served as a radar mechanic. Although Bob didn't fly in the war, he had experience as a private pilot, flying Cessnas for fun and for business, taking people up to look at fields.

Hank became the first pilot for Moore Aviation, while Bob ran its business operations. The brothers (including another as a silent partner) were business partners for 60 years until Hank died last year. The plans and process of selling off the components of Moore Aviation were underway before then.

“We've been selling off to people who've been working for us,” Moore said. “It was important for us that they continue on. We want them to continue on with our business. We always felt that way.”

A year ago Doyle Jones, who had started with Moore Aviation in 1990, bought the company's equipment and customer base for his own business, Tulare Ag Flying Service. Jones has been a pilot since 1974 and a crop duster since 1982.

Neither Moore nor Jones has seen much excitement or adventure in their business. “Business is business,” Moore explained. “A lot of things have happened, but nothing outstanding. Business is business.”

“It's a job,” added Jones. “It's like riding a bicycle. The airplane is part of you just like a bicycle is part of you. It's not really anything fantastic.”

Moore Aviation is also getting out of TBM Aviation, its air tanker business in Central Oregon, selling off the business it started 50 years ago with 14 army surplus airplanes. Again, the decision was made to sell “to the people who had worked for us,” Moore said. The sale, to the maintenance supervisor for the past 25 years, is currently in process.

Perhaps there is some excitement or adventure in using airplanes to put out fires?

“Guys tell me there is,” Moore replied. “When you go over a fire, the air changes. Those pilots are skilled pilots as good as any.”

Within moments of being interviewed, Moore was once again busy on the telephone and taking care of business.

“He's not going to ever retire,” Jones said, adding that he expects to see Moore continue to come into the office and spend his days the same way he has for the past 60 years.

“It's not going to be much different than what I've been doing,” Moore agreed. He said he will also continue to travel, stay involved in World Ag Expo and keep up with what is happening with the Tulare City Council, where he served as a member from the late 1950s to the early 1970s.

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