Page 1 - Reedley Exponent 6-21-18 E-edition

Great Western Elementary School explores the outdoors
Panorama
Three local players represent County football All-Stars
Sports
Vol. 129, No. 25 | Thursday, June 21, 2018
www.reedleyexponent.com
Reedley (Fresno County) CA 93654 | 50 cents City annexes parcel at Manning/Buttonwillow
United Health Centers clinic will be first tenant at site
By Jon Earnest
jon@midvalleypublishing.com
The Reedley City Council on June 12 unani- mously approved the annexation of a 19-acre parcel at the northeast corner of Manning and Buttonwillow avenues. The lot will be anchored by a United Health Centers clinic.
The annexation was one of three related
resolutions approved on a 5-0 vote. Also ap- proved was an environmental assessment and mitigated negative declaration as well as a first reading amending the city’s zoning map.
David Phillips, community and staff devel- opment officer for United Health Centers, said the construction process should mean jobs for about 60 people.
“We’ve been in Reedley a number of years, and our health center has grown out of the seams,” Phillips said of the current site in the Reedley Shopping Center at 1560 E. Manning Ave. “It’s one of the busiest sites that we have.
We look forward to being a great community partner.”
Ellen Moore, associate planner for the city, said in her presentation to the council that the UHC health clinic of nearly 20,000 square feet is phase one of the project. Phase two will in- clude about 80,000 square feet of commercial and mixed use buildings.
“The property is bordered on two sides by city limits and already is within the general plan planning area,” she said.
Phillips said that United Health Centers intends to add significantly more services in
the new clinic. That will include more medical and optometry services and dental, behavioral health and chiropractic services. There also will be a lab and pharmacy at the site.
“We’ll have a comprehensive health center when it’s complete,” he said.
Council member Ray Soleno asked Phil- lips if there were specific plans for the cur- rent building being vacated. Phillips said the company’s tendency is to use as much space as possible.
See ANNEX on page A2
Council approves budget for 2018-19
By Jon Earnest
jon@midvalleypublishing
The Reedley City Council on June 12 approved the city’s 2018- 2019 budget — including a separate budget item vote regarding Vehicle Impact Fee funding for the city’s trash division that was opposed by Council Member Mary Fast.
The majority of the $42.344 mil- lion budget passed on a unanimous vote. Fast voiced her opposition in council comment about the resolu- tions, and the council moved to vote separately on vehicle impact fees go- ing to fund trash collection services. That passed by a 4-1 vote, with Fast voting “no.”
Paul Melikian, assistant city manager, said the city tried to be as transparent as possible in crafting this year’s budget.
“The one major thing that we’re exceptionally proud of that I want to call out is that we are adding to the general fund reserve through the adoption of this budget,” he said. “We feel as staff that this is abso- lutely key to be able to weather the CalPERS storm.”
Melikian was highlighting the California Public Employees’ Re- tirement System state mandate for cities that will dramatically increase costs in coming years.
The initial three-part resolution passed by the council included:
• Revised the proposed 2018-19 budget to the adopted budget.
• Approved a master salary table that will fix the pay for all appointed employees. The salary table includes six revisions recom- mended by council during budget workshops last month.
• Sets forth the salary-related compensation and benefits for un- represented (management, confiden-
See BUDGET on page A6
Passing the torch
Caldwell finishing 5-year run as RC president, Berry named as interim By Jon Earnest
jon@midvalleypublishing.com
As Sandra Caldwell closes the book on her five years as president of Reedley College, a replacement has been named for the coming school year.
Donna Berry — currently the college’s vice president of admin- istrative services
— will serve as
interim presi-
dent for the 2018-
19 school year.
Her appoint-
ment formally
was approved by
the State Cen-
ter Community
College District
Board of Trustees on June 12.
During an informal farewell gathering for Caldwell on June 13 in the college’s administration building, the departing president turned to Berry and said, “This lady is going to do a fabulous job. The vice presidents have been in- credible advisers, and a great team. They are prepared, and ready to step in.”
The brief event was a tribute to Caldwell, whose last day will be Ju- ly 1. She left that evening for Chey- enne, Wyo., where she was taking care of some early business with her new job as executive director of the Wyoming Community College Commission.
College staff and administration officials shared good-bye hugs and handshakes with Caldwell. Berry’s brief remarks praised the presi- dent for her work with Reedley Col- lege and establishing campuses in Oakhurst and Madera.
See CALDWELL on page A6
Sandra Caldwell
ABOVE: Donna Berry, Reedley Col- lege’s vice president of administra-
tive services, right, hugged Sandra Caldwell, Reedley College president, during an informal farewell gathering for Caldwell on June 13 at the college administration building. State Center Community College District trustees on June 12 approved the appointment of Berry as the college’s interim president effective July 2.
LEFT: From left are Donna Berry, Reed- ley College’s interim president effective July 2; Ron Nishinaka, State Center Com- munity College District trustee; and San- dra Caldwell.
Photos by Jon Earnest / The Exponent
Reedley resident moved by Honor Flight experience
Jon Earnest / The Exponent
Arthur Johnson stood with his wife, Margaret, in the backyard of their west Reed- ley home. Johnson, who served in the Air Force from 1952 to 1956, was a Korean War veteran who took the Central Valley Honor Flight to Washington, D.C. in April.
Classified - B6-7 Directory - A5 Legals - B5
Air Force veteran Arthur Johnson made April visit to Washington, D.C.
By Jon Earnest
jon@midvalleypublishing.com
Arthur Johnson has one vivid memory of his time in Korea as an Air Force police officer in the mid 1950s.
“It was the coldest winter I ever spent,” he said. “I recently watched the Winter Olympics [in February] and I saw that snow on the ground. It brought back a lot of memories being out there in those Mickey Mouse boots and parkas.”
The 85-year-old Reedley resident’s two years in Ko- rea — shortly after the end of the Korean conflict — was part of his four years of service in the Air Force. Johnson was one of 63 veterans — ranging from World War II to Korea and Vietnam — who attended the Central Valley Honor Flight to Washington, D.C. on April 9-11.
“It was an emotional time and definitely was an hon- or for me to go,” Johnson said of the flight. He shared how visiting the memorials to military in World War II, Korea and Vietnam was emotional.
“I can see why Vietnam veterans are really broken up when they go to that memorial. I was, too,” he said. “Every name of the 58,000 dead are listed. It’s an L- shaped figure and starts in 1959 and ends in 1975. Every
Sports - B3-4 Lights & Sirens - A3
name is carved into it.”
Johnson said he was touched by the Korean War me-
morial as well. It’s a display that shows statues of nine infantry members on patrol.
“If you look into that wall you see all kinds of images. It was emotional,” he said.
Johnson is a retired educator, having taught for 30 years at Manteca High School and later San Joaquin Delta College in Stockton. He and his wife, Margaret, lived in Northern California for a decade after he retired. They moved to Reedley in 2002.
Johnson grew up on the Gulf Coast in Texas, graduat- ing from Kirbyville High School in 1952. He joined the Air Force after graduation, training to become an Air Force Military Police officer at Parks Air Force Base near Pleasanton in the Bay Area.
It was there where Johnson met Margaret Solum, whose parents lived in the Bay Area and worked at Kai- ser Shipyard. The couple later got engaged and made plans to marry in Texas, where Johnson was stationed at Sheppard Air Force Base in Wichita Falls.
“The Air Force policy at that time is if you had less than 12 months of service, they wouldn’t send you over- seas,” he said. “So we felt we were pretty safe. As it turned out, we had 14 months [of service] so I took a chance on two months.”
See JOHNSON on page A6 Obituaries - A2-3 Opinion - A4