At its Jan. 15 meeting, between the announcement that Councilmember Kenneth Lambert resigned at the beginning of the meeting and the announcement after the closed session at the end of the meeting that Fire Chief Paul Tualla was named acting city manager, the Los Banos City Council meeting conducted other business.
The council’s Jan. 15 meeting was the first that included the new city council members Evan Sanders from District 2 and Marcus Chavez from District 3, who were selected at a special council meeting on Jan. 8. The other city council members present were Mayor Michael Amabile and Councilmember Deborah Lewis from District 4.
Mayor Amabile announced that City Manager Josh Pinheiro had resigned, and he wished Pinheiro the best.
Chief Tualla gave a report that a fire truck and four Los Banos firefighters (Capt. Brian Thompson, firefighters Edward Casho and Diego Flores and Acting Engineer Jesus Miramontes) had been deployed to the Los Angeles area to help fight the Eaton fire. Tualla reported the firefighters have been on duty for about a week and have helped other firefighters bring about 45% containment of the Eaton fire.
The Los Banos firefighters were also assigned to the humanitarian support of people in the affected area and to urban search and rescue task forces.
Also during the meeting it was announced that the new animal shelter building, the Monroe Avenue waterline replacement project and the West I Street sewer lift station rehabilitation project have been completed.
In addition, Mayor Amabile proclaimed Monday, Jan. 20 as Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day in Los Banos, The council approved the appointment of Dave Anderson to the Airport Advisory Committee, and James Davis and Gregory Hicks to the Planning Commission.
