City Hall Chambers were packed for Tuesday night’s Biggs City Council special meeting. Residents turned out in force to take advantage of the council’s ear, sharing concerns and looking for answers from their elected officials regarding the 6th Street project. Photo by Seti Long

BIGGS, CA (MPG) - Biggs City Council held a special meeting the night of Tuesday, Oct. 1 to address multiple items on the agenda, and specifically, the 6th Street development currently troubling many in the community.

With Biggs City Administrator Josh Cook on leave and city attorney Greg Einhorn at a previous commitment, councilmembers navigated the meeting on their own.

Biggs Mayor Brian Bassett addressed those in chambers before opening the meeting and promptly turned over the floor to the packed chambers for public comment.

Eight residents approached the podium to speak on a number of issues, including Vanessa Bogg, who detailed an incident involving the city administrator allegedly attempting to confront her husband over an online post at their home.

Others, such as Mandy Mattos, shared disapproval of the tone and choice of words of 6th Street property owner Kory Hamman has used in social media/public discussions about Biggs residents and Biggs itself, while wondering exactly where additional tax revenue would be generated by the project.

Stephanie McDonald raised concerns about parking and its impact on the streets and child pedestrian safety was brought up by Vickie Harrison. 

Others questioned whether preliminary reports that have been competed, such as a traffic study, were relevant to the current project as they alleged that the reports were completed before the addition of apartments to the project.

Council listened and Mayor Bassett urged residents with questions to give their concerns to the City of Biggs in writing before the next meeting so officials could try to get answers to them.

With the floor closed, council moved on to approve the resolution to authorize the City Administrator to “Execute A Substitution of Trustee and Deed of Reconveyance,” heard department reports from CAL FIRE’s Chip Fowler and approved resolutions adopting Caltrans Standard Specifications and plans for 2nd Street bicycle and pedestrian improvements before tabling the rest of the agenda until next week’s regular meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 8.