Call to Order
The meeting was called to order at 6:00 pm by Mayor Bill Powers.
1. Pledge of Allegiance
  Led by Mayor Bill Powers
2. Roll Call
  
  Present: Mayor Bill Powers, Mayor Pro Tem Pat Morton, Councilmember Stan Peiler, Councilmember Leah Turner, Councilmember Jim Murphy
  
  Staff Present: Interim City Manager, Jon Kennedy, Deputy City Clerk, Jason Shaw, City Attorney, Steve Gross (remotely)
Public Comments
There were no public comments.
Selection of Mayor and Mayor Pro Tem
Mayor Bill Powers opened the nominations for Mayor. Councilmember Jim Murphy nominated Councilmember Pat Morton for Mayor.
Councilmember Jim Murphy motioned to approve. A second was made by Councilmember Stan Peiler.

The roll call vote:

Aye Mayor Bill Powers Aye Mayor Pro Tem Pat Morton Aye Councilmember Stan Peiler Aye Councilmember Leah Turner Aye Councilmember Jim Murphy
Selection of Mayor and Mayor Pro Tem
Mayor Bill Powers opened the nominations for Mayor Pro Tem. Councilmember Leah Turner nominated Councilmember Jim Murphy for Mayor Pro Tem.
Councilmember Leah Turner motioned to approve. A second was made by Councilmember Stan Peiler.

The roll call vote:

Aye Mayor Bill Powers Aye Mayor Pro Tem Pat Morton Aye Councilmember Stan Peiler Aye Councilmember Leah Turner Aye Councilmember Jim Murphy
Renew State of Emergency Proclamation
Interim City Manager Jon Kennedy explained that this was the same State of Emergency Proclamation that has been renewed before. This has to be done for our public assistance applications from the past winter storm disaster. Might be the last time we need to do this but will need to check.
Councilmember Bill Powers motioned to approve. A second was made by Councilmember Leah Turner.

The roll call vote:

Aye Councilmember Stan Peiler Aye Councilmember Leah Turner Aye Mayor Pat Morton Aye Mayor Pro Tem Jim Murphy Aye Councilmember Bill Powers
Consent Agenda
1. Claims- Adopt Resolution No. 2563 authorizing payment of claims for the period of November 9th, 2023 though December 13th, 2023.
  Accounts Payable: $194,117.04
  Payroll: $92,623.65
  Total: $286,740.69
  AP Check Run #45377 – 45474
  
  Payroll Check Run #17319 – 17324
  Please note there was a zero transcribed into incode and the check numbers on the check register are off due to that extra zero that got keyed in
2. Approval of the Minutes from 11-08-23
Mayor Pat Morton had two corrections to the 11-08-23 minutes. The Call to Order time needed to be added (6:00 PM) and an r was missing from the word through under City Communications section 3, part A. Councilmember Bill Powers motioned as amended.
Councilmember Bill Powers motioned to approve. A second was made by Mayor Pro Tem Jim Murphy.

The roll call vote:

Aye Councilmember Stan Peiler Aye Councilmember Leah Turner Aye Mayor Pat Morton Aye Mayor Pro Tem Jim Murphy Aye Councilmember Bill Powers
CITY COMMUNICATIONS
1. City Council Communications / Committee Reports
  
  Councilmember Leah Turner: No report.
  Councilmember Stan Peiler: Had citizens approach him asking about possibility lighting up the large tree in the park for Christmas.
  Councilmember Bill Powers: Attended the Plumas County Transportation Commission meeting and LAFCo meeting.
  Noted that there are challenges facing the City and its citizens in regards to connecting homes with newer piping to the City sewer and water system which is much older. Looking into grants to help pay for the costs. It would cost around $35,000.000 to replace all the pipes in downtown. May have to break it down into sections.
  Mentioned the Rio Grande project was moving forward; looking at resurfacing the streets. With winter weather coming, wanted to designate some areas of town as sled hills.
  Mayor Pro Tem Jim Murphy: Attended LAFCo meeting. Wants to call a special City Council meeting to discuss forming an ad hoc search committee to begin the process of finding a permanent City Manager.
  Mayor Pat Morton: Attended the Beckwourth Fire Department meeting, LAFCo meeting, and the Plumas County Transportation Commission meeting. Thought the City's tree lighting was good. Continuing to work on the Tree Angel's program.
2. Staff Communications / Fire Report / Sheriff's Report / Air Quality Report
  
  Fire Report: No fire report.
  Sheriff's Report: No Sheriff's report.
  Air Quality Report by Targeted Airshed Grant Specialist Mikki Brown: In Plumas County in 2023, they had 114 chimney sweeps redeemed, with 27 still outstanding. 29 wood sheds were constructed. For woodstove change outs, there were 119 completed, with 55 in zone 1, 39 in zone 2, and 25 being heat pumps. That's compared to in 2022 they only had 91 chimney sweeps redeemed, 12 wood sheds constructed, and 61 woodstove change outs.
3. City Manager's Report
  
  Interim City Manager Jon Kennedy: County finally approved the City's purchase of the La Jolla property. The cameras have been ordered for upgrading the audio and video of City meetings. Convinced PCIRC to reopen the Portola Resource Center in January.
  We might see some FEMA money soon and noted the many man hours spent working on getting those funds. Mentioned the pipe replacement project Councilmember Bill Powers was talking about, was already in process of being dealt with.
Public Hearing on Proposed 2023 Refuse Collection rates
Interim City Manager Jon Kennedy explained the rate change process for garbage rates. Noted that complaints are way down from last year.
Mayor Pat Morton opened the Public Hearing on the refuse rate increase. Lindsey Shaw from the public commented she opposed the rate increase. Mayor Pat Morton closed the public hearing.
Motion to approve refuse rate increase in the amount of 2.51%.
Mayor Pro Tem Jim Murphy motioned to approve. A second was made by Councilmember Stan Peiler.

The roll call vote:

Aye Councilmember Stan Peiler Aye Councilmember Leah Turner Aye Mayor Pat Morton Aye Mayor Pro Tem Jim Murphy Aye Councilmember Bill Powers
Bank Account Signatures
Interim City Manager Jon Kennedy recommended that Mayor Pat Morton be added as an authorized signature on the City's bank account, and former Councilmember Tom Cooley be removed.
Motion made by Councilmember Peilar to remove Tom Cooley as signer, add Mayor Pat Morton as signer to the City of Portola's checking account ending in *00422. Mayor Pro-Tem Murphy seconded.
Councilmember Stan Peiler motioned to approve. A second was made by Mayor Pro Tem Jim Murphy.

The roll call vote:

Aye Councilmember Stan Peiler Aye Councilmember Leah Turner Aye Mayor Pat Morton Aye Mayor Pro Tem Jim Murphy Aye Councilmember Bill Powers
Letter of Support for grant for Plumas County PC Transportation Commission
Interim City Manager Jon Kennedy explained that the Plumas Transportation Commission is looking to the Council for a letter of support for a grant for EV charging stations.
Mikki Brown from the public asked where the County EV stations were going to be located.
Interim City Manager Jon Kennedy said he didn't know where Plumas County planned to place these but noted the City is already in the process of getting EV charging stations on Commercial St.
Mayor Pro Tem Jim Murphy motioned to approve. A second was made by Councilmember Bill Powers.

The motion passed with the following vote:
5 In Favor 0 Opposed
0 Abstained 0 Absent Recused
2023 Audit Information
Financial Officer Susan Scarlett wanted this on the agenda as an Informational item. It will also be placed on the first meeting agenda in January.
City Website
Interim Jon Kennedy stated that our current website provided by CivicPlus is very clunky. CivicPlus is planning to increase our pricing this year. One issue that came up at the recent SCORE Board meeting was the need for ADA compliance on our websites. CivicPlus can provide this for an additional charge.
Streamline was brought up as a possible option to not only do the ADA compliance but also host the entire website. Far less clunky then CivicPlus and the ADA compliance is included. Transition to the new website should be seamless. It's $2500 to setup for the transition. Also includes a messaging system that we can use to send out email alerts to citizens.
Attorney Steve Gross said he wanted to change a couple things in the user agreement. The Interim City Manager and the City Attorney will get together to finalize the agreement with Streamline.
Motion to approve changing the Portola City website provider to Streamline.
Councilmember Leah Turner motioned to approve. A second was made by Councilmember Stan Peiler.

The roll call vote:

Aye Councilmember Stan Peiler Aye Councilmember Leah Turner Aye Mayor Pat Morton Aye Mayor Pro Tem Jim Murphy Aye Councilmember Bill Powers
Community Engagement Position
Mayor Pro Tem Jim Murphy met with Interim City Manager Jon Kennedy, Finance Officer Susan Scarlett and Leah Turner about Code Enforcement in the City. The feeling is they are not getting enough results out of the current Code Enforcement contract. We could be getting 4 days of work verse the one day we are getting now for less money.
It was proposed to create a new Community Engagement Coordinator part time position that would handle Code Enforcement in the city. They would not have a uniform and would hand out administration citations verse tickets that would go through the court system.
City Attorney Steve Gross wanted clarification on what was being decided.
The City Council reached a consensus on moving forward with the new position and directed staff to bring back a job description at a future council meeting.
Adjournment
Mayor Pat Morton adjourned the meeting at 7:12 PM