Hanford process for OKing $12.5M settlement criticized | Guest Commentary

This meeting was to discuss the nine-year disagreement between Helena Chemical and the City of Hanford. The disagreement stems from 2014, when our City of Hanford granted a conditional use permit numbered 2014-02 to Helena to expand their facility on East Lacey Boulevard.

That would include storage for dry and liquid fertilizers. After the council approved the permit, John Kashian, a Fresno developer, stopped the engineering work of the Costco shopping center due in part to Helena's continued presence across the street from his development. He said the fertilizer plant would not be appealing to his investment and it would be difficult to lease property to future businesses.

The 2014 Hanford City Council then called a special meeting to rescind its approval of the zoning change that allowed Helena to expand. The City of Hanford later came back with a proposal to purchase Helena's facility on East Lacey Boulevard, while Helena would purchase a new facility in the Kings Industrial Park. The city would then agree to compensate Helena for relocation expenses as explained through a memorandum of understanding.

In 2015 talks between the City of Hanford and Helena broke down, causing what would be one of our largest city "boondoggles" caused by poor city leadership, incompetent legal advice by our city attorney's office, and a developer looking to find his "quick buck."

Now our current Hanford City Council, lead by Mayor Travis Paden and Vice-Mayor Mark Kairis, who have very limited knowledge of the Helena lawsuit being that they were seated on council Dec. 6, 2022, led the charge to give away taxpayers funds to Helena in the amount of $12.5 million without considering all the findings of this lawsuit. Vice-Mayor Mark Kairis publicly stated at this meeting, "When I make my decisions, I rely on the expert opinions of our city manager, city staff, and city attorney."

This comes from a councilman that prior to being elected, appears to only have attended one council meeting, that was in February 2021. This behavior appears to me that Mr. Paden and Mr. Kairis are the beginnings of what is known as "policy bureaucrats" rubber-stamping staff wishes without knowledge and not taking public input as recently outlined in a Facebook message by Councilwoman Kalish Morrow where she summarized, "I cannot take bad advice from the public, even if it's popular bad advice." This appears to be the arrogance a few on council are taking. Each council person was elected to represent the voice and needs of "We the People."