Council Seat Appointment to Follow Election

Tulare - Who will fill the seat of former Vice Mayor Phil Vandegrift won't be decided until after Tuesday's election in which Tulare voters will fill seats now held by Richard Ortega and David Macedo. Vandegrift resigned on Oct. 8.

Macedo is seeking a fourth term, but Ortega decided not to seek re-election. Businessman Skip Barwick, retired Tulare Police Chief Roger Hill and teacher Art Cabello also are seeking election.

The City Council will meet election night as it falls on a regularly scheduled meeting date, but doesn't plan to interview applicants until two days later on Nov. 4.

If a large number of people seek Vandegrift's seat, then they may attempt Tuesday to whittle the number to a manageable amount. They must conduct all interviews and deliberations in open session. The deadline for applying for the seat is 5 p.m. Friday.

As of press time, a number of people, had either expressed interest or filed applications. Those include: John Beck, retired Tulare City School District superintendent; Cabello; former City Councilwoman Linda Crase, who serves on the Planning Commission; Craig Hancock, a former council candidate who is chairman of the Parks and Recreation Commission; Jeff Killion, vice chairman of the Tulare Planning Commission; Derek Thomas, a former council candidate and farmer Mark Watte.

At one point during the Oct. 19 discussion, the council had with City Attorney Martin D. Koczanowicz, Macedo asked if the council had the power to extend the city charter's 30-day deadline to fill the vacant seat, but the attorney said the council has until Nov. 7 to make the decision.

Failure to agree on a selection would give the mayor unilateral power to make the decision, he said.

“We owe it to you to find a person that all four of us can agree upon,” Macedo said to those in the audience of the well-attended council meeting.

Councilman Wayne Ross said people think the decision is going to be made based on one issue, which he didn't identify although controversy over the proposed 711-acre racetrack complex adjacent to the International Agri-Center has divided the council and the community.

“We have so many more issues in the community,” Ross said, adding the council votes unanimously 97 percent of the time.

He called for a “healthy debate” in the quest to find someone who is open, does his homework and is informed.

Settlement Approved

Vandegrift's resignation on Oct. 8 was key to a preliminary settlement to resolve three civil lawsuits, including one former mayor Tom Drilling filed against him.

That action alleged Vandegrift accepted $200,000 from Hidden Oak Development after it sold property to the city in 2008 in violation of state conflict of interest law.

The former vice mayor, who did not vote on the sale, has said the money was paid for work he did in connection with the property for Hidden Oak before that company asked the city to buy the land.

A day of mediation on Oct. 8 resulted in the tentative settlement involving the Vandegrift case, a second suit Drilling brought against Councilman Richard Ortega charging a conflict-of-interest violation and a third case in which a group of Tulare residents filed against the city, charging Brown Act and Public Information Act violations.

(The Federal Political Practices Commission has since ruled Ortega did not have a conflict when he voted on a memorandum of understanding and a later agreement with the racetrack developers while sitting on a for-profit foundation involved with the sale.)

The City Council formally approved the settlement Oct. 19 after they, with the help of Koczanowicz, decided who could vote.

Ortega recused himself because he was a defendant in one of the cases and then Ross did the same, explaining he had been advised by the FPPC that it would be best for him not to vote because some of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit are also clients of his.

That left the council with less than a quorum to vote.

Koczanowicz, declaring the need to invoke what is called “the rule of necessity,” put Ortega's and Ross' names on separate sheets of paper, folded them and then asked the deputy city clerk to draw one.

Ortega's name was drawn and he attended the closed session so the council would have a quorum, but then he did not vote.

So the vote to settle was 2-0 with only Mayor Craig Vejvoda and Macedo voting.

The settlement is not final until both the Tulare Industrial Site Development Foundation and Tulare County Superior Court approves the details, which were reported in the Oct. 14 Tulare Voice.

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New Mural Window to Tulare Memories

Tulare - Three of the four exam rooms in Dr. Patricia Drilling's Tulare dental office have windows to the outside world. But the fourth room offers patients who were living here in the 1960s a window to their memories.

Drilling invited the community last week to view the large mural her long-time friend Colleen Mitchell-Veyna painted of downtown Tulare, looking north on K Street from Kern Avenue in the 1960s.

“It looks like you're in an upstairs window looking down,” Drilling said.

The scene is based on a black and white photo that can be found on the front inside cover of “Tulare Legends and Trivia from A to Z,” written by the late Derryl Dumermuth and his wife, Wanda, but the mural in Drilling's office was done in earthy green tones to complement the office.

“The big challenge was we were looking at photos and we had to find out what some of the signs said,” Mitchell-Veyna said.

She painted the mural on canvas that she put up on her living room wall and took it about two weeks ago to Drilling's office, where it was installed. Calvin Stapleton made the wood frame for the mural.

“It brings back fond memories for me and I hope for others,” Drilling said.

The four-story Hotel Tulare, which stood on the northeast corner of K Street and Tulare Avenue, stands out in the photo because of its size and because it is no longer part of the Tulare skyline, having been destroyed by fire in 1983.

“One of the things that is special to me about the mural is my Dad [Dr. Tom Drilling] worked at the Hotel Tulare when he was in high school and college and my grandmother [Nina Drilling] also worked as a waitress there,” Drilling said.

She reports many Tulare residents who were youngsters in the 1960s share fond memories of Cooper's toy store, but have trouble recalling that Gordon's Electric was immediately to the north of it. The appliance store continues to operate in downtown Tulare but at a different location on East King Avenue.

Veyna-Mitchell, who graduated from Tulare Union High School in 1982 with Drilling, has painted more than 100 murals in cities across the country. She also does the murals for Black Bear Diners.

Her public murals can be viewed in Fresno, Reno, Exeter, Lodi, Lompoc, Vale, Ore., Tehachapi, Phoenix, San Francisco, Portland, Cayucos, Visalia, Kingsburg and, of course, Tulare.

Among the other murals she has completed here are: “Rankin Field,”505 East Tulare Ave.; “Linders,” 160 South K St.; and the Bob Mathias and Sim Iness mural on the side on the Tulare Chamber of Commerce building, 220 East Tulare Ave.

Two of her murals, depicting the burning of Tulare's dreaded irrigation bonds, hang inside City Hall and two others, honoring the earliest residents of this area, the Yokut people, were painted on the front of the Civic Affairs Building, 125 South M St.

Mitchell-Veyna is also painting murals for Black Bear Diners and will do one on the water tank at Happy Trails Therapeutic Riding Academy in Tulare.

She and about 25 other artists are opening a cooperative gallery, to be called The Main Gallery, in Visalia on Nov. 25.

In addition to murals, Mitchell-Veyna paints portraits, tapestries and environmental art and does commissioned work.

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Measure W Makes Charter Changes

Tulare - Tulare voters by and large are aware of the Nov. 2 City Council race or the two local school board contests, but Measure W will most likely come as a mini-surprise to those who have not yet voted.

The measure is an attempt to make technical changes to the city charter that better reflect the Tulare of 2010. Measure W calls for:

• Initiatives, referendums and recalls to be circulated as allowed by the California Elections Code.

Existing charter language mandates petitions are placed in no less than three public places in the city and voters go to those places to sign.

• Municipal Elections to be held in even-numbered years and on the same date as California's general election.

The existing language ties the date to local school district elections and was written at a time when school districts had ties to the charter, Deputy City Clerk Jennifer Gomez said.

• Lifting of the prohibition on the city manager and any other city employee from taking an active part in contributing and raising money for a candidate for city office.

Then-interim City Attorney Seth Merewitz wrote in an analysis of the measure:

“Because this [existing] charter potentially restricts city employees from exercising their First Amendment rights to contribute money towards political campaigns, it would be removed from the city's charter.

Because there is no date with the charter entry, Gomez said she suspects that restriction might date back to the city's incorporation.

• Changes in publication requirements for city ordinances and for advertising bids.
Rather than require a summary of an ordinance, with the vote, to be published in a newspaper of general circulation in the city for one day, it would require this be done in a daily newspaper. Gomez said the change would make it consistent with language covering public hearing notices.

Measure W would no longer require that public bids be advertised in a daily newspaper of general circulation published in the city.

• Deletion of obsolete references to the Department of Health and Advisory Board of Health. The reference to “Recreation, Parks and Library Director” would be changed to reflect the city now has a recreation and parks director and a library director, two separate positions.

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Nunes, Carreno Vie for COS Board Seat

Tulare - Incumbent Ken Nunes and challenger Sesar Carreno are running for the Ward 2 seat on the College of the Sequoias board at an exciting time as construction of the college's Tulare Center is under way.

This is also a difficult time for COS and all state community colleges because the state fiscal crunch has made it impossible to operate in the business as usual mode.
The COS board, for example, has cut summer school for 2011, a move Nunes supported and Carreno criticized.

The Tulare Voice asked the two Tulare residents to respond to several questions to help readers get to know them better.

Why are you running for Ward 2?

Carreno: I think we need an educator's perspective on the COS board.

Currently there are four board members with business backgrounds.

We need someone who will speak for the students and impart the educational perspective to the decision making process. Our students need an advocate for them and I hope to be that voice.

Nunes: Gerald Benton and I were the co-chairs of Measure J, and it was approved overwhelmingly. This campus will be a great opportunity not only for students in the local area but will create lots of great jobs. I also look forward to the college farm and agriculture program moving to the 500 acre Tulare site. COS also is working with the Tulare Joint Union High School District on a partnership to move the high school farm to COS and possibly combine the two dairy programs.

What sets you apart from your opponent?

Carreno: I am a classroom teacher with 16 years of experience working with diverse populations. I know what our students need to learn, or be taught in order to be successful in a college setting ... As a classroom teacher and educator I feel that my experience sets me apart from my challenger.

Nunes: My long-term commitment to COS, my work on Measure J and my extensive background as a CPA [certified public accountant] make me the most qualified. Eight years on the COS Foundation gave me great insight into the inter-workings of the COS campus. It also gave me a great opportunity to provide for students who may otherwise not have the financial ability to either attend COS or a four year college beyond that. As far as I know my opponent has no history with COS whatsoever, he is a teacher and is supported by the COS teachers union.

Briefly talk about the issues with summer school and how you would propose to fix the problem.

Nunes: Unfortunately the summer school decision came down to a budget decision. Prior to eliminating summer school COS was faced with a budget deficit of approximately $1million dollars. This shortfall is anticipated to be funded once again from reserves, depleting those reserves to less than $2 million. They were approximately $5 million in June 2007. In addition the state system's office recommends…schools maintain a reserve of 5 percent of general fund expenditures. COS' general fund expenditures are approximately $55 million, so the reserve level should be close to $3 million. As you can see, we are woefully short. In summary it came down to making a cut that affected the least number of students. Cutting summer school will have an impact on approximately 600 full time equivalent students (FTES), but it will save the college approximately $850,000.

COS would have had to cut twice as many classes in the fall and spring to save the equivalent money from cancelling summer classes. The major factor is that approximately 75 percent of summer courses are taught by full-time faculty as opposed to the average rate for all classes during regular sessions.

This is an example of tough decisions that board members are asked to make. Yes, we realize that students are very much affected, but I felt we needed to make a decision to ensure that we will be here in the future to serve all students. I do not believe in making a vote because it may be politically expedient; the summer school decision is an example of that.

Carreno: If elected I would hope to be very creative in seeking funding for summer school, which is vital for students entering college, making up credits or trying to get ahead.

As a college student I took advantage of summer school so I could graduate on time. As a board member I would probably fund summer school through attrition.
Last year 10 or more teachers retired early. I would support not filling those positions for the near future. Also, I would provide a scaled-down summer school, not a $1 million extravaganza, but rather one that offers classes that are essential for the majority of the students.

Not providing something is a travesty of our current board … As an educator I would put the students first. Since the rainy day has arrived we could use a few dollars from the reserves to provide a basic summer school for our students.

How do you envision the Tulare campus in 10 years?

Carreno: In ten years I envision a vibrant campus teeming with plenty of activity. The Tulare campus could rival the main campus in Visalia for enrollment. In the next 10 years, I also foresee a sensational Ag program and campus that would serve the Tulare residents as well as the south county residents.

When the current construction is completed, the main buildings will contain several state-of-the-art classrooms. The classrooms will have wireless Internet, laptops, smart boards, Kindles, smart board tablets, high-tech teaching equipment such as LCD projectors, ELMO's and other innovations. Also, the science labs will have the most advanced and cutting-edge equipment for our students and instructors.

My personal hope is that we build a first-rate library which will provide students with wireless Internet access that can become a Mecca for them to further their studies … In short I see a vibrant campus teeming with life and eager students ready to learn and be taught by first class instructors.

Nunes: The site plan for the COS Tulare campus calls for a build out as a fully accredited college, but this will probably take at least 10 to 20 years, depending on enrollment and funding.

Certainly, in the next 10 years, I see all three phases being completed and enrollment at 3,000 to 6,000 FTES (full time equivalent students).

The COS agriculture program will once again be one of the best, if not the best, in the state and will draw students from throughout California.

The joint venture with the high school district with respect to the school farm will provide great opportunities for area students. Students with the desire to transfer to four year institutions will be able to do so without ever leaving the Tulare campus.

In addition to the opportunities afforded to the students, the Tulare campus will provide great employment possibilities to an area with a very high unemployment rate.

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