Concerned citizen Tracey Stewart spoke at Tuesday’s regular Fillmore City Council meeting, asking for help from the city to have Sierra Northern Railway move their graffiti-covered railcars from the present Grand Avenue-7th Street railroad tracks.
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Items 9.A-D approved 5-0

Item 9-E continued to April 25 with 5-0 vote.
9.A REQUEST: That the City Council adopt Resolution Number 23-3933 declaring a real property at the northeast corner of Mountain View and Santa Clara Streets in the City of Fillmore (“Property”) to be surplus, authorizing offers for the purchase of the Property pursuant to the Surplus Land Act, and finding these activities to be exempt from CEQA. RECOMMENDATION That the City Council approve Resolution No. 23-3933 declaring the Property to be surplus, authorizing offers for the purchase of the Property pursuant to the Surplus Land Act, and finding these activities to be exempt from CEQA.

9.B SUMMARY: Staff is requesting the City Council to the Council initiate annual proceedings and review the FY 2023-24 proposed assessments for the City’s Landscape and Lighting (L&L) Assessment Districts. In order for the City to proceed, the City Council must also approve the Preliminary Annual Engineer’s Reports for Fiscal Year 2023-24, adopt the attached resolutions, and set a public hearing date for May 23, 2023.

RECOMMENDATION: City staff recommends the City Council take the following actions: 1. Adopt Resolution 23-3931 - A Resolution of the City Council of the City of Fillmore, California Initiating Proceedings for the Annual Levy of Assessments for the Heritage Valley Landscape and Lighting District No. 2007-1 for Fiscal Year 2023/2024, Pursuant to the Provisions of Part 2 of Division 15 of the California Streets and Highways Code; 2. Adopt Resolution 23-3925 - A Resolution of the City Council of the City of Fillmore, California Preliminarily Approving the Engineer’s Annual Levy Report for the Heritage Valley Landscape and Lighting District No. 2007-1 for Fiscal Year 2023/2024; 3. Adopt Resolution 23-3926 - A Resolution of the City Council of the City of Fillmore, California Declaring its Intention to Levy and Collect Annual Assessments for the Heritage Valley Landscape and Lighting District No. 2007-1 for Fiscal Year 2023/2024 and Setting a Public Hearing to Consider This Proposal; 4. Adopt Resolution 23-3927 - A Resolution of the City Council of the City of Fillmore.

9-C REQUEST Staff recommends that the City Council adopt Resolution No. 23-3932 declaring its intention to levy the annual assessment, approve the preliminary Annual Engineer’s Report for Fiscal Year 2023-24, and set a Public Hearing for May 23, 2023, to receive public comments on the proposed assessments.

CITY COUNCIL GOAL This addresses the City Council’s goal to strive to ensure that Fillmore has the necessary components for new construction and maintenance of all infrastructure. RECOMMENDATIONS City staff recommends that the City Council take the following actions: 1 Adopt Resolution No. 23-3932 Declaring the Intention to Levy the Annual Assessment for FY 2022-23 for Fillmore Storm Drain Maintenance Assessment District Nos. 01, 01A, 03, 04, 05, 06, 07A, 07B, and 07C.
9.D REQUEST The owner of property located at 461 Central, LLC (Alex Glasscock, “Owner”), is requesting that the City Council approve a second amendment to the Property Remediation Agreement (Attachment 1) for the property located at 461 Central Avenue (“Property”). The requested amendment to the Agreement will allow the Applicant until October 20, 2023 to complete the last two items required pursuant to the Conditions of Approval. Currently, under the Agreement and the time extensions previously granted, these last two (undergrounding utilities and installing benches) tasks are required to be completed by April 20, 2023.

STAFF RECOMMENDATION Staff recommends that City Council: 1) Approve the Second Amendment to Property Remediation Agreement with 461 Central, LLC to extend the deadline to October 20, 2023.
9.E RE: PROPOSITION 218 HEARING FOR WATER AND SEWER RATES FOR 2023 THOUGH 2027 REQUEST Staff recommends that City Council conduct the Proposition 218 hearing for the sewer and water rates and accept the results of the Proposition 218 Hearing regarding the City’s 2023-2027 water rates by adopting Resolution No. 23-3914. Further, staff recommends that City Council accept the results of the Proposition 218 Hearing regarding the City’s 2023-2027 sewer rates by adopting Resolution No 23-3915.

RECOMMENDATION Staff recommends that City Council accept the results of the Proposition 218 Hearing regarding the City’s 2023-2027 water rates by adopting Resolution No. 23-3914. Further, staff recommends that City Council accept the results of the Proposition 218 Hearing regarding the City’s 2023-2027 sewer rates by adopting Resolution No. 23-3915.

Fillmore Middle School’s New Resource Officer, Deputy Yolanda Avila

Courtesy https://www.blog.fillmoreusd.org/fillmore-unified-school-district-blog/2...

The Fillmore Unified School District would like to welcome Deputy Yolanda Avila to Fillmore Middle School as our new School Resource Officer. Please stay tuned for meet-and-greet opportunities!

Deputy Avila said, “My name is Yolanda Ávila, and I am the new Fillmore School Resource Officer. I am a proud native of Ventura County. I was born and raised in the City of Oxnard with my siblings. I am fluent in Spanish and English, and this has provided me the opportunity to better serve our diverse community. Throughout my career, I have served Ventura County in various assignments. I have served in the county jail and as a patrol officer for the City of Moorpark. While working for the Sheriff’s Office. I have been fortunate enough to have the opportunity to use my passion for mentoring and developing youth throughout my career. I have worked with our local AYSO, and have made it a goal to volunteer in local schools. I look forward to using my life-long experiences and drive to help students as Fillmore’s newest SRO.”

Don’t miss the 2023 Fillmore Flower Show on Saturday and Sunday, April 15 and 16 from 1p.m. to 4p.m., at the Fillmore active Adult Center, 533 Santa Clara Street. This year’s theme is “Garden Treasures.” Check-in your entries Saturday, April 15 at 7:30a.m. Above are winners from a previous flower show. Photo credit Jan Lee.
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By Jan Lee

Since 1919, the Flower Show has been a tradition in Fillmore. You will want to participate in this historic event on Saturday, April 15 and Sunday, April 16 at the Active Adult Center on Santa Clara Street in Fillmore. The theme this year is “Garden Treasures”. Bring your entry Saturday morning between 7:30 and 10 a.m. Cost is $5 to exhibit, no matter how many entries you have. All Youth entries are free.

The Flower Show will be open for public viewing from 1-4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Admission is FREE.

What will you see at the Fillmore Flower Show? Youth compositions and art, single stem cut flowers of all sizes, shapes and colors, bouquets, arrangements large and small, potted plants and dish gardens. You will hear some lovely live music. You can taste yummy cookies. You can smell the most fragrant rose. You can’t touch the exhibits, but you can pick up some plants at the plant boutique.

But there are bonuses also. Your entry might win an award. You might meet a new friend. There are people who attend the Flower Show who are expert floriculturists who might share some ideas with you. Enjoy the community where you live. Come to the Fillmore Flower Show.

Courtesy Fillmore Historical Museum

The following story about the villages on Rancho Sespe appeared in the Fillmore Herald on June 22, 1949. If you would like to hear more about living on Rancho Sespe, join us on Zoom on Thursday, April 20 at 7 pm. There is no charge, but you need to pre-register at https://www.fillmorehistoricalmuseum.org/special-events .
“Rancho Sespe Workers Provided Homes in Sespe Village and Oak Village”

Approximately three miles west of Fillmore, nestled in the heart of the grove studded Santa Clara Valley, lies Rancho Sespe, home and means of livelihood to over 1,000 people. Most of the workers in this vast ranch live in two villages on the property – Rancho Sespe Village, the oldest and located south of highway 126, and Oak Village, constructed in 1948 and lying north of the highway.

In these two villages live the men and women who do the planting, irrigating, pruning, pickings, work in the $500,000 packing house, and the other countless and necessary labors that re needed to produce the varied and high-grade products of the ranch. These products include oranges, lemons, grapefruit, walnut, hay, cattle, horses, turkeys, and practically anything imaginable in the way of crops and livestock.

On the ranch, including the two villages, the visitor will find 218 houses, resident units of the laborers, foremen, ranch officials and their families. Rent on these units runs anywhere in the neighborhood of $8 to $15 per month depending upon the dwelling and the family. The majority of the dwelling units contain two or three bedrooms, kitchen, living room bath and other living facilities as well as a garage in many instances.

The first houses were built on the site of the present village south of the east-west highway in 1908, the year the first extensive planting on the ranch took place. During the ensuing years, the village grew along with the increased citrus acreage, reaching the proportions that now meet the eye.

It is safe to say that the majority of the ranch workers, which include Mexican, white and recently 17 families of European displaced persons (mostly German, Poles, Ukrainians, Latvians, Czechs and Armenians), have been employed by the ranch approximately two to five years. Many have been residents of the vast Santa Clara valley ranch for 25 years.

Then, there are a few of the real “old timers” like Adolpho Godines, Jesus Garcia and Alejo Davalos, who have seen the results of their care of the groves and other ranch projects gain in proportion for the past 30 years. The ranch is their home. . . their personal pride and joy.

In Sespe Village a general store is run by Albert Reyes, where the residents can purchase most of their needs for living. A lot of their trading is also done in Fillmore and Santa Paula. Once in a while a non-denominational church service is held in the huge dance pavilion in the village, but most of the time residents of the villages attend their respective churches in neighboring cities.

Last Sunday, the new German-Russian arrivals were transported by the ranch to Ventura to attend church services.

Most of the entertainment sought by those living on the ranch is found in the neighboring cities, but every once in a while, the pavilion is a scene of merrymaking as gay music is supplied for dancing feet and all join in an evening of fun.

As a person travels along the miles of asphalt and dirt roads that interlace the vast ranch holdings like a giant cobweb, he sees many teams of fine draft horses pulling tank wagons for oil heaters and spray rigs. These horses raised on the ranch are used in preference to motorized methods, for the overhead in using tractors for the job would be prohibitive. Used only during certain seasons, the tractors would remain idle for months at a time in some cases.

It is interesting to note that the powerful horses bred by the ranch are used a Santa Anita race track, pulling the track sweepers. Comments on their fine appearance are heard on every hand.

Residents of the Rancho Sespe are not all employed in the citrus groves, walnut groves or hay fields. Throughout the year the machine shop must keep the ranch equipment in shape; carpenters must keep the offices, laboratory, packing house and resident buildings in top repair; there is painting, piping, road repair and countless other tasks that keep the ranch employees busy throughout the 12 months of the year. This ranch is one of the very few with such an extensive year-round pay roll instead of seasonal operations as is that case in many instances.

“This helps everyone,” stated T. A Lombard general manager of the ranch. “If we have year-round work, the men on the ranch feel that they have permanent employment and that this is their home. That is the way it should be.”
Another feature of the ranch is the new packing house, north of the highway and near Oak Village, the new counterpart of Sespe Village.

From the unloading platform to the refrigerated basement in which 175 carloads of fruit can be put under refrigeration and stored, the plant is spotless. Lighting is supplied by glass skylights and aided by fluorescent light fixtures throughout the building, lending a bright, pleasant atmosphere in which the 160-odd workers perform their tasks.

In spite of the speed with which they work, there is a marked absence of the confusion usually caused by haste. Another notable feature is the fact that there is ample room for every operation with no crowding necessary.
Most of these workers live in either Oak Village or Sespe Village, although a number of them live on other parts of the ranch, Fillmore and their surrounding communities.

Children of the ranch employees attend elementary and high schools in Fillmore, for the most part. Sespe Village even has a kindergarten building, supervised during its weekly sessions by Mrs. Jake Stoll.

All-in-all, the ranch is self-supporting, and the villages are little communities within themselves. Near the large machine shop, lab, and machine shed and other ranch buildings stands a large barracks for the “bachelor” set of the ranch. A large messhall is nearby, and several hundred yards to the east, also on the highway, stand the little office building that is the nerve center of this vast agricultural achievement – a Spanish land grant that once reached through the valley from Piru creek to the San Clemente islands off our western shores; the Carrillo family; Tom Moore (sic); the Keith Spaldings and now Cal Tech.

Until the turn of the century cattle were the product of the ranch, with vast herds roaming the territory. Through the years, these herds gave way to agriculture, until now although cattle are still raised by the ranch, citrus is the outstanding product, with roughly 800 carloads per year leaving the ranch – all through the untiring efforts of the residents of Rancho Sespe.

On March 29, 2023, deputies assigned to the Fillmore station and West County Special Enforcement Unit contacted and arrested numerous subjects for various violations, including narcotics and the possession of a short-barreled rifle.
During the month of March of 2023, deputies assigned to the Fillmore station received information related to probationers and drug users who were frequenting a residence located in the 200 block of Fillmore Street. Detectives followed up on the information and began an investigation.

On March 29, 2023, detectives conducted surveillance operations and witnessed activity at the residence that was consistent with possible narcotics trafficking. During the surveillance, deputies observed Jayden Mercado arrive at the residence in his vehicle and leave a short time later. Deputies, including a K9 Unit, conducted a traffic stop of Mercado and subsequently arrested him for being under the influence of a controlled substance. During a search of Mercado’s vehicle, deputies located a loaded, short-barreled, .22 caliber rifle, ammunition, drug paraphernalia, fentanyl, and methamphetamine.

Mercado is a Santa Paula resident, and his previous criminal convictions prohibit him from owning and or possessing firearms or ammunition. Mercado was booked at the Pre-Trial Detention Facility for various drug and illegal firearm charges. Following Mercado’s arrest, deputies conducted a probation search at the residence in the 200 block of Fillmore Street. During the probation search, deputies contacted and arrested Albert Morales, Diana Raya, and Jessica Quezada for narcotics related charges. All four subjects were booked at the Pre-Trial Detention Facility.

Report Number: 23-39641
Location: 200 Block of Fillmore Street / Fillmore Ca.
Date & Time: March 29, 2023 @ 2:30 P.M.
Unit(s) Responsible: Fillmore Patrol Services / Fillmore Detective Bureau / West County Special Enforcement Unit
(S)uspects, (V)ictims, (P)arty, (D)ecedent City of Residence Age
(S-1) Albert Morales Fillmore 43
(S-2) Rafael Prado Santa Paula 26
(S-3) Diana Raya Fillmore 23
(S-4) Jessica Quezada Santa Paula 26
(S-5) Jayden Mercado Santa Paula 25
Prepared by: Sergeant Will Hollowell
Approved by: Captain Eduardo Malagon