Molly Davis, Staff Writer
Posted: 01/21/2012 03:24:10 PM PST
REDLANDS – Oranges. They’re all over Redlands. In the groves, on the street signs, on the city’s logo, even on the masthead of this newspaper.
And for the past few weeks, oranges have had members of the city baffled as they try to understand who has been managing the city’s groves.
The city owns nearly 200 acres of citrus groves, including oranges and grapefruits, and has an entire commission, the Citrus Preservation Commission, dedicated to advising the City Council on the “acquisition, improvement, preservation and retention of citrus properties within the city,” according to the Municipal Code.
But when it comes to farming these groves, who’s in charge?
That’s the question that took the city and the council weeks to resolve. At its meeting on Jan. 17, the council took a step to decisively answer who will take care of the groves.
After a bid process in November, Larry Jacinto Farms, who had been farming many of the city’s 16 groves, received a four-year contract of $821,585 for care, maintenance and harvest of the city’s groves.
But Jacinto wasn’t the only one farming the groves. Pete Marcum of Redlands Farming has been farming the groves, too. Both businesses have been working without contracts for years.
At the Dec. 20 City Council meeting, the Quality of Life department’s senior project manager Danielle Garcia said that a shift in departmental responsibilities in the last fiscal year led the citrus budget to her department.
In an effort to review the budget, and ultimately save city funds, Garcia found that the farming had not been contracted like other city services. In fact, there were no contracts, just invoices.
“I’m sure you’re all aware that agriculture, specifically citrus grove farming, doesn’t lend itself very easily to arbitrary stop-start times,” she told the council.
After this revelation, the city worked to find a way to effectively budget an area that is unlike other city departments, whose revenues flux by the season.
“The uniqueness and intrinsic value of the city’s citrus preservation program does not lend itself easily to the Request for Bid Process, and in the past, these farming services have not been formally bid,” the Dec. report said. “However, in the current financial climate, staff is attempting to bring financial order to the process of managing the farming service contracts.”
Garcia told the council she couldn’t find a model for Redlands’ citrus groves because other cities don’t own and operate their own groves.
“We’re the only city in the nation that does this,” Councilman Jon Harrison said at the Jan. 17 council meeting. “We do it because it’s something our community believes in. It needs to be approached somewhat differently.”
But how to approach it caused concern among staff, the commission, councilmen and the farmers who have been caring for these groves for years.
To read entire story, click here.
The Redlands City Council needs to “put the squeeze” on City Manager Nabar Martinez.
“Martinez is one bad apple” say citizens of Colton and Lynnwood (right next to Bell) where he previously “served” in a similar capacity.
Larry J from the Beach doesn’t deserve all this bad press resulting from Martinez mismanaging the City’s orange groves… while a local Redlands farmer doesn’t even get the credit just approved by City Council for having his business in town.
What is it now Nabar, u don’t want to take the credit for giving away the $400K that was in the citrus account just a few short years ago, even though you haven’t let the City’s Citrus Commission do their job in reviewing all the invoicing (done exclusively by purchase order, in violation of the Municipal Code procurement process) for the last 2 years! What a revelation, your statement at the City Council meeting, that you didn’t want “staff to be blamed” for this misadministration of public contracting. Hasn’t this abortion of process been performed under your watch as City Manager over and during the last 5 years (come April 2012)?
The City Council better smarten up soon… Martinez has to go!
This is pretty funny. The WORST MANAGED city in the East Valley cant figure out who farms the City Orange Groves. I cant figure out who is more stupid and incompetent , the ignorant fools on the city council OR the incompentent city manager with the checkered past.
REDLANDS: ALWAYS FUNNY< never competent.
The council is a failure for not getting rid of the city manager.