BIGGS, CA, (MPG) - Over the past few months, the City of Biggs and its City Council have been addressing the concerns of residents within their community and dealing with internal issues.

At the Tuesday, Aug. 13 meeting, Agenda Item 1 was the review of the Sixth Street Apartment Proposal, which would see the addition of two housing complexes creating 42 apartments and 18 single-family homes in Biggs. The project was to be located off of 6th Street, near cross street Dakota Avenue.

Further discussion on the matter was held at the Sept. 10 council meeting, Agenda Item 3 calling for further review and community discussion on the Sixth Street Subdivision Map.

The community had begun to express concerns to City Council questioning if Biggs infrastructure could support the project, and discussions between the project’s facilitator Kory Hamman, Councilmembers and the public, both at City Council meetings and online posts, became inflamed.

On Friday, Sept. 27, the council held a special meeting and in closed session regarding the city administrator’s employee performance. At that time, Josh Cook was serving as city administrator and took a self-imposed administrative leave.

At another special meeting scheduled on Oct. 1, council approved a Resolution No. 2024-17 authorizing “the City Administrator to Execute a Substitution of Trustee and Deed of Reconveyance” while Cook was out on leave and tabled some of the other agenda items until a time either administrative staff or their city attorney could be present to advise.

At the regularly scheduled Oct. 8 meeting, the council appointed Biggs City Clerk Roben Benish as acting city administrator while Cook was on leave.

Meanwhile, the council continued to provide open discussion time on the agenda for public concerns or questions to be posed regarding the 6th Street housing project.

Another special meeting was called for Wednesday, Oct. 16, in which the only listed item was that of the city attorney requesting City Council’s authority to retain Municipal Resource Group LLC (MRC) for investigative services. 

Further details from that agenda simply outline that “Based on the nature of the investigation, the City Attorney estimates that the fees for this service are $18,500, and requests reimbursement authority in that amount” and did not clarify what the investigation was in regard to. The council voted to approve the investigation and allow attorney Greg Einhorn to proceed.

Again, Biggs City Council found need to hold another special meeting Oct. 31, with a closed session discussion listed on the agenda as “Public Employee Performance” entitled “City Administrator.”

At the Nov. 12 regularly scheduled meeting, the council approved the appointment of former Gridley City Administrator, Cliff Wagner, as Interim City Administrator for an indefinite time period, presumably while Cook remains on leave.

At that meeting, Biggs City Council also formerly accepted the resignation of Vice-Mayor Chuck Nuchols, who notified the City of Biggs via resignation letter dated Oct. 10.

Additional information including detailed agendas can be found on the City of Biggs website at https://www.biggs-ca.gov/Government/Agendas--Minutes/index.html.