The meeting started light with Walnut recognizing a local business, but when the public got their turn to speak the tone changed.

Puffect Bakery Cafe, located on 385 S. Lemon Ave Suite B, was recognized by the council as the summer business of the quarter for this year,

After a brief presentation, a Walnut resident was recognized on behalf of the business.

After some laughter and positive talk about baked cookies, oral communication came fresh out of the oven.

While the first speaker spoke positively of students that graduated from Nogales High School, and talked about the principal change at Oswalt Academy, the next speaker railed against the schools.

He said that 82 percent of students at Nogales are not passing standards, and that they have not been meeting standards for 16 years.

Walnut schools are doing the opposite of Rowland schools, he said. Walnut High School has 79 to 81 percent of their students meeting standards.

Following him was a member of United Walnut Taxpayers who served up a burnt cookie regarding the West Parcel.

They said they were displeased that the city agreed to bypass the planning community for Mt. SAC’s West Parcel Solar Project, and that the city owes gratitude to Dennis Major.

Major spent 100s of hours going over geology reports and checked maps for the history of the region. He determined there were problems with the congressional report, and found inconsistencies.

When Major went up to speak, he introduced Don Terres the president and executive geologist of Terrestrial Solutions Inc. after saying a few words about the situation.

Terres went over the report and found more than the 25 comments and questions originally mentioned for the report, and agreed with the 25 that were made.

He pointed out that the document said land was moving and also said it was stable to build upon, which are two conflicting statements when talking about a potential landslide.

Terres further described that it could cause failure to the gas main, and that the project should not be continued until all issues are addressed.

The next speaker, said this landslide could cause a potential gridlock on one of the most congested intersections in the city.
He then said the chance of a landslide was 70 percent, using Terres’ factor number, and Terres nodded that he was correct.

When he made Mt. SAC president William Scroggins aware of these demands, the speaker said Scroggins told him that he just comes with anything.

A resident in the affected area said his home was damaged everyday, and that this project would not only affect the intersection.

After those crumbs were served, the council approved the minutes 4-0, with council member Mary Su absent on a trip.

The council then stamped a 3-1 approval on an improvement to Valley Boulevard.

Mayor Nancy Tragarz said she was not provided much of the information she asked for during the council meeting beforehand, meaning she was not able to see images or know the exact square foot dimensions of the project.

It is unknown whether or not the council was not given this material ahead of the meeting, and if the other members that approved the project rubber stamped the approval.

The council then passed the consent calendar, half as one item, and the remaining three as individual items.

The only thing of note came from item eight, which appropriates funds.

It was said that the ending balance of the 2017-2018 fiscal year is unknown and it will not be known until October, when the city audit takes place.

This was only made available after Tragarz asked about the funds, and if they ended on a positive or negative last year.

The city council then recessed to a housing authority meeting, and they passed the two items on that agenda without any discussion, before adjourning the meeting and beginning closed session.

The next city council meeting is on Sept. 26, with the announcement being made that the Sept. 12 meeting is cancelled.