The City of California Board of Alderman was called to order by Mayor Norris Gerhart on Monday, May 4, for its regular monthly meeting.
With the new California Board of Aldermen in session, Carol Rackers was nominated and approved as President of the Council and Brian Scrivner approved as City Clerk. The mayor then appointed the City Attorney and Department Supervisors with no changes made.
In other new business, the council approved closing streets for the annual Annunciation Catholic Church Picnic on June 7 and approved the fireworks bid of $6,000 by Premier Pyrotechnics for Independence Day. That is a 2,665 shot count.
Following closed session, the council amended the budget by $11,000 and awarded the bid for the "Welcome to California" sign to Rackers Manufacturing in the amount of $70,313.79. The California Area Chamber of Commerce is donating $30,000 for the project.
A group of individuals involved in inviting vendors in appeared before the council seeking to obtain clarification of the business license process, including the requirement for insurance to obtain the license. The matter was discussed, with the council's previous decision to enforce the ordinances on the books until they might be amended.
The City Clerk and City Attorney were instructed to obtain information from other municipalities about how the business licenses and application for business licenses are handled by those entities. A special meeting was set for June 8 to compare and discuss the business license application processes to determine if the applicable ordinances are in need of amendment and what amendments should be made.
The next regular monthly meeting of the City Council will be Monday, June 1, at 7 p.m. at City Hall.