The Reedley 6-20-19 E-edition

Orange Cove High honors its ‘Titan Towers’ for 2019
Panorama
Highlights from a defensive battle in City-County football
Sports
Vol. 130, No. 24 | Thursday, June 20, 2019
By Jon Earnest
jon@midvalleypublishing.com
A woman has accused Monsi- gnor John Esquivel of St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church in Reedley of sexual misconduct; claiming she was sexually abused when Esquivel was serving as priest at the St. Jo- seph Catholic Church in Bakersfield in the 1980s.
In a June 17 news conference in Bakersfield, 52-year-old Sylvia Gomez Ray said she was sexu-
Council
approves
budget for
2019-2020
By Jon Earnest
jon@midvalleypublishing.com
The Reedley City Council’s adoption of the city’s budget for 2019-2020 proved to be a relatively painless process on June 11.
The council voted 4-0 — mem- ber Mary Fast was absent — to approve four resolutions and an authorization for a $38.55 million budget covering the period of July 1 to June 30, 2020. It included reso- lutions to update the master salary table for all employees and revise salary and benefit scheduled for unrepresented (management) em- ployees. The council also formally adopted the budget while also serv- ing as the successor agency to the former Redevelopment Agency and as the board to the Reedley Housing Authority.
“It’s always a milestone to be bringing this forward,” said Paul Melikian, assistant city manager, as he addressed the council. “It’s a lot of the work on the back end, and then a lot of work on your part to go through everything.”
Some budget adjustments were mandatory as part of the Califor- nia Minimum Wage increase from $12 to $13 per hour on Jan. 1, 2020. Those were pay levels for part-time employees, primarily in the Com- munity Services Department. Also, a new part-time equipment operator is being added to the part-time sal- ary table.
Other notable salary table ad- justments:
• The addition of a senior ac- countant and associate engineer classifications, which are titles only and not a request for new positions. It allows for future professional growth and retention of staff with extensive specialized knowledge and training.
• A 1 percent cost of living in- crease, effective July 1, for mem- bers of the Reedley Public Safety Employees Association (RPOA).
See BUDGET on page A3
ally abused by Esquivel in the four months she worked as a secretary at the church in the mid 1980s. Go- mezRaysaidshewas17or18atthe time when the incidents occurred, and her attorney said they recently filed allegations on her behalf with the state Attorney General’s office as well as with police in Bakersfield and Reedley.
The Diocese of Fresno put out a June 17 news release saying that it planned to follow procedures and
www.reedleyexponent.com
Reedley (Fresno County) CA 93654 | 50 cents St. Anthony priest accused of sexual misconduct
Bakersfield woman claims she was molested by Msgr. John Esqivel in 1980s
report to the Ba- kersfield Police Department. The diocese has a policy to report all al- legations of sexual abuse of a minor, no mat- ter how long ago the alleged abuse occurred.
Esquivel did not comment on the allegations. He has served a dozen years leading St. Anthony’s, and was the first priest ordained by the Dio- cese of Fresno in 1968. He was hon- ored April 27, 2018 during a Mass of
Thanksgiving at the new St. Anthony Church on Frankwood Avenue.
Gomez Ray was joined at the news conference in front of the Bakersfield church by her lawyer, Joseph George, along with Joey Pi- scitelli, Northern California leader for the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP).
The Bakersfield Californian newspaper reported that Gomez Ray said she began working with Esquivel after she joined a youth group at the church and he assigned her duties including counting mon- etary donations. She later was of- fered a position as secretary, replac- ing a woman who she said at news
conference also had endured sexual abuse from Esquivel.
Gomez Ray said at the news con- ference that she had been groped, touched inappropriately and verbal- ly abused during her time at St. Jo- seph’s, according to The Californian.
Gomez Ray said she reported the abuse to adults at the time, but said they dismissed her and “shut her down,” which she said made her feel guilty and ashamed.
The paper reported that Gomez Ray said “it never entered my mind” to report the abuse to authorities. “I buried this, but I never forgot,”
See ESQUIVEL on page A6
Reedley College’s new leader
ABOVE: Jerry Buckley, the new president of Reedley College, stood next to the college’s “Clyde” statue on June 6. Buckley began his stint as presi- dent of Reedley College on June 3.
LEFT: Buckley answered a question during a presi- dents forum at the college on Jan. 29. The State Center Community College District Board of Trust- ees appointed Buckley as the college’s president on March 5. Also vying for the position was Donna Berry, vice president for administrative services at the college for seven-plus years. Berry served as RC’s interim president for the 2018-19 school year after the departure of Sandra Caldwell.
Photos by Jon Earnest / The Exponent
Jerry Buckley began his role as president June 3
By Jon Earnest
jon@midvalleypublishing.com
Despite his San Diego area roots, coming to the Central Valley felt like going home to Jerry Buck- ley, Reedley College’s new presi- dent.
“It’s a small community that has that warmth and special connection between people,” said Buckley, who officially started his new job on June 3. That tied in with the 63-year- old’s upbringing in rural San Diego County, where his first job in higher education was at Grossmont College (El Cajon) in 1990.
One of Buckley’s first official actions as president was attending the Reedley Middle College High School graduation on June 5. He talked about how RMCHS is a clas- sic example of “dual enrollment.”
“Middle college high schools are very important, because it taps in- to one particular group of students that have unique needs,” he said. “What’s unique about Reedley? It’s really, with the rest of this district, worked hard to open up the doors for dual enrollment opportunities beyond just the middle college high school. So, it’s interesting that we now have so many different ways for students to advance their educa- tion quickly and effectively. [They can] either enter a job market or ac- tually jump into a four-year univer- sity that much more effectively.”
Buckley has worked with mid- dle college high school programs before, spending two years at Mira- mar College and six years in Santa Clarita when he was at College of the Canyons.
“Down in Santa Clarita, we had a waiting list of 400 students to get in- to that middle college high school,” he said. “I know we don’t quite have
See BUCKLEY on page A3
Final Town Hall meeting June 24 Staff Report
The last of six monthly Reedley Town Hall meetings for 2019 is scheduled for 6 p.m. on Monday, June 24, at the Reedley Community Center’s Senior Room.
The topic is “Drought, Con- tamination and Your Front Lawn” and will discuss water quality and quantity in Reedley.
The public is invited to at- tend. For more information, call City Hall at 637-4200, ext. 212.
Classifieds - B5
See PARKING LOT on page A3
Sports - B3-4 Lights & Sirens - A3 Obituaries - A2-3 Opinion - A4
Msgr. John Esquivel
Council OKs latest in parking lot project
Staff Report
The Reedley City Council took the next step toward converting the old Royal Valley building site to a parking lot on June 11, authorizing City Manager Nicole Zieba to negoti- ate and enter into a consulting con- tract to begin construction of a park- ing lot designed to hold 75 vehicles.
On a 4-0 vote (council member Mary Fast was absent), the council approved the next phase, which will design and construct the fenced lot that will feature elevated solar struc- tures. Also planned is a secure stor- age area, security lighting, draining, fencing and other improvements.
John Robertson, city engineer, said a portion of the north end of the parcel is reserved for future expan- sion of the police department. There
Directory - A5 Legals - B6-7
will be 54 stalls on site for city em- ployees and police, and at the south end will be an additional 21 stalls for public and general parking use.
Construction and other costs will come between $475,000 to $500,000, and are covered in the 2019-2020 budget by available redevelopment agency bond proceeds. There will be no impact to the general fund.
Robertson said the goal to finish construction is November in order to meet requirements in an agreement with solar company Pacific Power. An electric vehicle charging station will remain in the general area of its current site off of 9th Street.
Robertson told Mayor Frank Pinon said he was excited with the progress of the project, and asked how many of
Jon Earnest / The Exponent
The site of the former Royal Valley packing shed, now an open lot, will be turned into a parking lot featuring solar panels.