The Isleton Observer

08/31/2025

Sorry folks, out sick today. See you next week......

08/31/2025

How many staff hours were spent on the "Confidential Investigation" of Mayor Walton and Vice-Mayor Kent?

How many hours of staff time are being used for the "Invited" response to the Grand Jury Report by the City Manager and City Attorney?

The Brown Act makes it pretty clear the people have to right to know......

08/29/2025

Why are more people in Isleton going hungry?

It's a question we should all be asking. Our local food bank, a lifeline for so many, shut down months ago.

It's frustrating to see our city do so little to keep it open, especially when we know that a significant portion of our population—up to 20%—live below the poverty line. Many of these residents don't have a car or a ride to Walnut Grove, making it nearly impossible to get the help and food they need.

On top of this, City Management (edited for clarity, was not criticizing city employees) was given a 30% increase in sewer bills. Who do you think this will hit the hardest? I know, the families who are already struggling to make ends meet, not those in comfortable homes.

It's time for the city to stop saying "no" and start asking "how." There is no valid reason not to find a way to help our most vulnerable neighbors. We have concrete solutions right in front of us.

Why not offer an incentive to a local property owner to host the food bank? Or, even better, why not use the Community Center? We've done it before, and it's a perfectly reasonable solution.

I know City Management will say, "we can't." But we should say, "we can." I would be more than happy to volunteer to open and close the Community Center on Tuesdays during their open hours. And I know I'm not the only one. We, the people of Isleton, were never asked.

It was easier for them to just say no and collect their paychecks.

Let's show them that we can make a difference. We can do more than just watch while our neighbors go hungry.

08/29/2025

08/25/2025

An anonymous stranger doesn't like my fact sharing.
Please respect my privacy during this difficult time. 🤣🤣🤣

08/24/2025

As Californians recover from fires and Gov. Gavin Newsom tries to fast-track the Delta Conveyance Project, we must learn from our past.

08/24/2025

A while back I had posted that placing an item on the agenda at the request of less than a majority of City Council was improper. In fact I sent an email to all the members of the City Council explaining this and it was ignored by some on council. I’m going to dig a little deeper into this and a couple of other things regarding the agenda in general.

First off according to the document titled (linked below) “City of Isleton – Standard Operating Procedures”

Section 1 – Operation of City Council Meeting
Sub-Sec S:

“Council Comments are designed for Councilmembers to comment on items of general interest or to request that an item be placed on a further agenda. The latter requires a consensus of the council.”

So when council member Suarez requested that “City Council Re-organization” be placed on the agenda, she needed the consensus of the City Council to do so. As she had no consensus, it was not proper for the City Manager to place “City Council Re-organization” on the agenda. It clearly violates the City of Isleton’s standard operating procedures – it is a long held practice and procedure of Isleton’s City Council. All on the word of our City Manager saying he could, supported by those who refuse to double check anything he says and Fire Chief Mimiaga cheering him on (Hey Chief, you wanted to know what rule? Here you go) – apparently he can do anything by just saying he can.

In regards to the calling of special meetings, according to our Standard Operating Procedures (Section 1, Sub-Sec E):

“Special meetings may be called by the Mayor provided notice is given as required under California State Law and shall be limited to those items listed in the noticed agenda.”

The standard operating procedures do not give the City Manager the authority to call a special meeting and in fact doesn’t give a majority of City Council the authority either.

The fact the majority did not “call” for a meeting and one was held anyway, is also a violation of not only our SOP, but state law as well.

This needs to stop, the City Manager needs to be reined in – and if the City Attorney is going to allow this to continue, we need an independent City Attorney.

https://www.cityofisleton.com/files/e4493265d/Standard_Operation_Procedures_for_City_Co6948.pdf

08/24/2025

At least $4.7 million in debt, on the edge of filing for bankruptcy.

So what exactly are the meager amounts of money we have been going toward?

How much has the “Confidential Investigation" cost us to date? How much more is it going to be? Remember when someone got all ruffly when I said Council approved “undisclosed, unknown, uncontrolled and unmentioned number of staff hours for the City Manager and City Attorney to “investigate” Mayor Walton and Vice Mayor Kent?”

So, let’s go word by word here:

Undisclosed – did anyone mention how many hours it was going to take? No.

Unknown – do we have any idea how many hours have been spent and how much is left? No.

Uncontrolled – Sure staff can only work so many hours a month, but how many of those monthly hours are being spent and how many more?

How many hours does the City Manager sit staring at Facebook looking for posts about his exploits and printing them out? How much of that does the city pay for?

How much are we going to be paying for the “invited” responses from the City Manager and City Attorney to the Grand Jury report? Remember the report “is” a legal document that specified that the only required response was from the City Council.

I have a sitting member of a current Grand Jury willing to explain that “Required” and “Invited” mean two very different things, and if it isn’t in writing in the Grand Jury Report it isn’t “Required.”

At what point does representing something that is not a legal requirement as something that is, and billing the city for the time spent doing it constitute a crime (fraud by deception)? City Council members, please take note if the only reasons you are approving the hours spent on these responses are because of the representations made by the City Manager (notice the City Attorney has never actually rendered an opinion on this) those notes may be an important reference for you in front of a Civil or Criminal Grand Jury.

How much do we pay for the City Attorney to be at every City Council meeting? It isn’t required by ordinance and ZOOM works for us members of the public. We get charged hourly for the meeting plus travel plus lodging plus per diem. Wouldn’t it be cheaper for our broke city just to have them ZOOM in to the meetings? At least that way we can be sure what she says is actually on the record since she has no microphone at the meetings.

Same question regarding our “CFO.” Reciting the monthly ledger doesn’t require her to be at the meetings in person and us paying for travel plus lodging plus per diem. Any questions could be answered via ZOOM.

We’re broke, remember?

Does anyone know what the costs to the city for bankruptcy would be vs. an $800,000 loan from the county? Especially given Measure A and B funds are set to expire and businesses tax revenue will also be down given the current behavior of the City Manager.

A bankruptcy might forgive some of what we owe and allow us to renegotiate the rest. It is up to the court to decide if the city’s terms are reasonable or not, not the creditors. Unlike a regular bankruptcy, a Chap 9 Bankruptcy Court cannot seize city assets.

Why does City Council have no idea? Is this oversight or rubber stamping?

I would hate to default on a loan from the County – that would surely screw us forever.

08/23/2025

Short noticed – Again!

On the agenda that was just released is the sewer rate increase. From reading the materials supplied they want to raise your sewer bill by almost 30% starting in 8 days and another 25% a year later.

Not made prominent is that you can stop this and tell them to come up with a plan that doesn’t have such a high sudden impact to the people and families of Isleton.

But it will take an effort from you. You have JUST 3 DAYS to send in a written statement that you oppose the rate hike done in this manner.

If 50% of the people paying for sewer service voice their opposition to the rate hike, it cannot go through. But, the catch is it has to be in writing.

Voicing your opposition requires that you jump through hoops (you know to make it easy, right?):

“ To oppose the proposed wastewater rate increases, property owners or tenants may submit written protests prior to the close of the public hearing either by mail to PO Box 716 Isleton, CA 95641 or in person at City Hall or at the public hearing. Written protests must be signed and include identification of the property involved in the protest by assessor parcel number or address. If written protests against the rate adjustments are submitted by more than 50% of the affected properties, the proposed rate adjustments will not be adopted. Only one protest per property will be counted.”

Just trying to keep the people of Isleton informed of what is happening -- to you.

08/23/2025

Current California Records Act Violations 08/23/25 -- The city has to respond within 10 calendar days.

08/22/2025

Question:

When filing complaint forms to the Sacramento County Grand Jury, do you do a separate form for each incident or can you submit an attachment with all the incidents and evidence?

Communication from the public can provide valuable information to the grand jury. Anyone may ask the grand jury to conduct an investigation of any issue within its jurisdiction. By law, the proceedings of the grand jury are confidential. The ability to investigate a complaint may be affected by work...